%Char and Date Fields

[Jon.Paris@xxxxxx]

 >> As I understand the above, I should get a character representation of
the date in USA format. However, I am getting ISO format.


You need to do one of two things.  Either code an externally described DS
in your program using the format of the database file for the description
OR code the DatFmt(*USA) keyword on the H spec of the program.  The first
method is probably the better one as it will handle dates in any format
(i.e. the file can contain dates in multiple formats).

The reason this works (and the cause of your problems) is that RPG assigns
an internal format to all date fields and will convert the date from the
file format (*USA) to the default format (*ISO if you have no DatFmt on the
H spec) on input.  By coding the fields in a DS you effectively tell the
compiler to honor the original format.  The same principal applies to
numerics - everything is converted to packed unless you specify otherwise
by defining the field in a different format.

This is all in the manual somewhere but I can't recall where.

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