COBOL PICTURE clause

Summary -

In this topic, we described about the below sections -

PICTURE clause
- What is PICTURE Clause?

PICTURE clause specifies the characteristics and editing requirements of the variable. i.e., variable type, length etc.
PICTURE clause only coded with elementary variables and individual variables.
PICTURE clause should not code with an 88-level number, USAGE COMP-1, and USAGE COMP-2.

Syntax -

 level-number variable-name 
				[PIC/PICTURE data-type-character(variable-length)
				[VALUE literal]]
				 
					OR 

 level-number variable-name 
				[PIC/PICTURE picture-symbol(variable-length)
				[VALUE literal]]
				 
					OR 
					
 level-number variable-name 
				[PIC/PICTURE character-string 
				[VALUE literal]]				 
				 
					OR 
					
 level-number variable-name 
				[PIC/PICTURE picture-clause-editing 
				[VALUE literal]]

For example - Declaring a variable of alphabetic type to store a value HELLO.

 01 WS-VAR      PIC A(05) VALUE "HELLO".

level-number - Specifies the level number of the declaration from 01 to 49. In the above example, it is 01.
variable-name - Specifies the name of the variable. In the above example, it is WS-VAR.
data-type-character/picture-symbol - Specifies the type of the variable. In the above example, it is A (Alphabetic).
variable-length - Specifies the variable length to store the data. In the above example, it is 05 (variable length is 5).
literal - Specifies the literal character string. In the above example, it is HELLO.

PICTURE or PIC -

PIC is a short form for PICTURE and has the same meaning.
The PICTURE clause should code with every elementary variable to specify its type along with length.
The PICTURE clause should not specify for below -
- Index data items
- The RENAMES clause
- Internal floating-point data items

character-string -

The character-string defines as a combination of picture-symbol and variable-length.
Character-string can contain a maximum of 50 characters.

PICTURE Symbol -

PICTURE symbol is the letter used to specify the type of the variable during the declaration.
PICTURE character-strings are delimited only by separator space, separator comma, separator semicolon, or separator period.
PICTURE symbols lowercase letters are equivalent to their uppercase representations.
PICTURE symbols are two types -
- PICTURE symbol for data types
- PICTURE symbol for editing.

For example -

A, B, E, G, N, P, S, V, X, Z, CR, DB.

PICTURE symbol for data types -

PICTURE symbol for data types specifies the PICTURE symbols assigned for each data type in COBOL. Those are -

Data Type

PICTURE Symbol

Declaration Meaning

Alphabetic

Alphabetic character or space.
Represents alphabetic data type.

For example -

Input	PICTURE Clause	Output
HELLO	PIC A(5)	HELLO

Numeric

Numeric character.
Represents numeric data type.

For example -

Input	PICTURE Clause	Output
123	PIC 9(5).	00123
000123	PIC 9(4).	0123

Alphanumeric

Alphanumeric character or space.
Represents alphanumeric data type.

For example -

Input	PICTURE Clause	Output
HELLO	PIC X(5)	HELLO
HI	PIC X(5)	HI

Assumed decimal point

Represents the decimal point.
It is not counted in the size of the data item/variable.
For example -

Input	PICTURE Clause	Output
123.45	PIC 999V99	12345
123.45	PIC 99V99	2345

Operational sign

Represents the Sign of the value.
It is not counted in the size of the variable unless a SIGN clause with the SEPARATE CHARACTER phrase is specified.
For example -

Input	PICTURE Clause	Output
-123	PIC S999	12L
+123	PIC S999	12C
-123	PIC S999 SIGN IS LEADING SEPERATE CHARACTER	-123
-123	PIC S999 SIGN IS TRAILING SEPERATE CHARACTER	123-

PICTURE symbol for editing -

PICTURE symbol for editing used to represent the data in the user expected format. PICTURE clause editing has two types to represent the data in user-specified format -

Type PIC Symbols

Insertion editing

Type	PIC Symbols
Simple insertion	`B 0 / (Space)`
Special insertion	`. (Dot)`
Fixed insertion	`cs + - CR DB`
Floating insertion	`cs + -`

ZERO suppression and replacement editing

Type	PIC Symbols
Zero suppression and replacement with spaces	`Z *`
Zero suppression and replacement with asterisks	`Z * + - cs`

Examples -

Below are the total PICTURE clause symbol list -

Symbol

Declaration Meaning

Space insertion character.
Represents numeric-edited and alphanumeric-edited character.
For example -

Input	PICTURE Clause	Output
150682	PIC 99B99B99	15 06 82
15061982	PIC XXBXXBXXXX	15 06 1982

Decimal scaling position but not counted in size of data item.
For example -

Input	PICTURE Clause	Output
77	PIC 99P	77
77	PIC P99	77

Zero suppression character.
For example -

Input	PICTURE Clause	Output
123	PIC ZZZZZ.	123
000123	PIC ZZZZZZ.	123

Zero insertion character.
For example -

Input	PICTURE Clause	Output
1234	PIC 990099.	120034
1234	PIC 999900.	123400

Slash insertion character.
For example -

Input	PICTURE Clause	Output
150682	PIC 99/99/99.	15/06/82

Comma insertion character.
For example -

Input	PICTURE Clause	Output
123456	PIC 999,999.	123,456
12345	PIC zzz,999.	12345

Decimal point or period editing control character.
For example -

Input	PICTURE Clause	Output
1234.56	PIC 9999.99.	1234.56
1234.56	PIC 999.99.	234.56
1234.56	PIC 9999.9.	1234.5

Plus sign insertion editing control character.
For example -

Input	PICTURE Clause	Output
+12345	PIC +9(5).	+12345
-123	PIC +9(3).	-123
-123	PIC 9(3)+.	123-

Minus sign editing control character.
For example -

Input	PICTURE Clause	Output
-123	PIC -9(3).	-123
+123	PIC +9(3).	123
-123	PIC 9(3)-.	123-

Credit editing control character.
For example -

Input	PICTURE Clause	Output
+123	PIC 9(3)CR.	123
-123	PIC 9(3)CR.	123CR

Debit editing control character or Check protect insertion character.
For example -

Input	PICTURE Clause	Output
+123	PIC 9(3)DB.	123
-123	PIC 9(3)DB.	123DB

Currency symbol insertion character. $ is the default.
For example -

Input	PICTURE Clause	Output
000	PIC $,$$9.99.	0.00
90	PIC $$9.00.	$90.00
12345	PIC $$,$$9.	$2,345

Data Type Vs Editing Type -

The type of editing allowed depends on the variable data type. The following table shows the valid type of editing with the corresponding category –

Data Type	Type of editing	Insertion symbol
Alphabetic	None	None
Numeric	None	None
Numeric-edited	Simple insertion Special insertion Fixed insertion Floating insertion Zero suppression Replacement	B 0 / , . cs + - CR DB cs + - Z * Z * + - cs
Alphanumeric	None	None
Alphanumeric-edited	Simple insertion	B 0 /
External floating-point	Special insertion	.