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[cobcurious]

Hi,

I have a requirement to generate different set of statments depending upon the nature of the field. By nature, I mean whether the field is declared as numeric like PIC 9 or alphanumeric like PIC X.

e.g 01 X PIC 9.
01 Y PIC XX.

My COBOL program should generate statements like :
IF X NUMERIC
.....

IF Y IS NOT ALHABETIC
....

Is it possible in COBOL to do so?

Thanks
Tushar Johri

[CICS Guy]

Yes, figuring your program knows that X in a numeric field and Y is alpha-numeric.....

[vivek1983]

cobcurious,

[vkphani]

cobcurious,
I am not clear with your question. Do you want to check for a field if it is numeric or alphabetic? If so, you can use IS NUMERIC clause. This returns true of the field is numeric and false if it is alphabetic.

[Terry_Heinze]

I think Tushar wants his COBOL program to be able to "see" the USAGE (PICTURE) definition of a data item. The answer to that would be "no". Once compiled, the program can only test for values, classes, etc. See the IF statement in the language reference manual.
_________________
....Terry