cobol truncate

[cachaza]

Hi  all: ¿ how to move maximum possible value to a binary field ??? for example : move 32767 to ws-var ( where ws-var pic 9(04) comp.)

Thanks a lot. 

[Hein van den Heuvel]

'just do it'... it works but it looks bad when using Cobol itself to display.

Officially you should use BINARY-SHORT or PIC 9(4)  USAGE COMP-5

according to IBM....

http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/comphelp/v7v91/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.aix.cbl.doc%2Fcpari09.htm

Native binary (COMP-5) items

Data items that you declare as USAGE COMP-5 are represented in storage as binary data. However, unlike USAGE COMP items, they can contain values of magnitude up to the capacity of the native binary representation (2, 4, or 8 bytes) rather than being limited to the value implied by the number of 9s in the PICTURE clause

But VMS COB REF:

" BINARY is a synonym for COMPUTATIONAL and COMP.

On Alpha and I64 systems, except for restrictions on the PICTURE
clause, COMPUTATIONAL-5 and COMPUTATIONAL-X are synonyms for
COMPUTATIONAL and COMP."

BINARY-ALTERNATIVE...

Syntax Rule (Format 1)
6. The PICTURE clause is required for every elementary item except an item
specified by the USAGE IS BINARY-CHAR, BINARY-SHORT,

But in practice it is not supported 

( HP COBOL V2.9-1453 on OpenVMS IA64 V8.3-1H1 )

01 a_word USAGE IS BINARY-SHORT.
.....................^
%COBOL-F-SYN4, Invalid USAGE clause
at line number 8 in file SYS$SYSDEVICE:[HEIN]TMP.COB;11
01 a_word USAGE IS BINARY-SHORT.
...^
%COBOL-E-PICREQ, PICTURE clause required - PIC X or PIC 9 assumed, depending on usage

Here is how you can 'just do it', as per DEBUGGER output...

$ run tmp
DBG> go
 comp_5=2767 a_comp=2767 a_hack=2767
DBG> ex/word comp_5, a_comp, a_hack
MY_MAIN_PROGRAM\MY_MAIN_PROGRAM\COMP-5: +32767
MY_MAIN_PROGRAM\MY_MAIN_PROGRAM\A-COMP: +32767
A-HACK of MY_MAIN_PROGRAM\MY_MAIN_PROGRAM\ :    +32767

$ type tmp.cob
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. my-main-program.

DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 comp_5   PIC 9(4) USAGE COMP-5.
01 a_comp   PIC 9(4) USAGE COMP.
* 01 a_word   USAGE IS BINARY-SHORT.
01 a_long   PIC 9(9) USAGE COMP.
01 REDEFINES a_long.
  03 a_hack PIC 9(4).

PROCEDURE DIVISION.
MY_MAIN SECTION.
MAIN.
    MOVE 32767 TO comp_5.
    MOVE 32767 TO a_comp.
*    MOVE 32767 TO a_word.
    MOVE 32767 TO a_long.
    DISPLAY " comp_5=", comp_5 WITH CONVERSION,
            " a_comp=", a_comp WITH CONVERSION,
*            " a_word=", a_comp WITH CONVERSION,
            " a_hack=", a_comp WITH CONVERSION.
    STOP RUN.

 Enjoy,

Hein.

[cachaza]

Thank you very very much !!!!

[Richard J Maher]

Unless it's VAX in which case unsigned integers are not supported