Re: Packed Numbers

[Scott Klement <midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Rich,

It really depends on context.  The CALL command, for example, always 
formats a number as 15,5.  That's not a limit, really -- it's the only 
choice.

The CL programming language cannot declare a packed variable larger than 
15 digits.  (No clue why.)    The same is true for CMDs...  15 digit max.

The limit in SQL, DDS and RPG has historically been 30 digits.   In 
V5R2, they upgraded it to 31 digits (which puzzled me) and in V5R3, they 
increased it to 63 digits.

So it really depends on context as to whether the limit is 15, 30, 31 or 
63 digits.


Rich Loeber wrote:
> I'm trying to recall IBM's specifications on size contraints, if any, 
> for packed data fields.  For some reason, I thought packed data was 
> limited to 15 digits, but I can't be sure about this and I'm seeing some 
> data fields that seem to support larger field sizes.
>
> Rich Loeber
> Kisco Information Systems
> http://www.kisco.com