Summary -
In this topic, we described about the Special Insertion Editing with detailed example.
Special insertion editing represents the actual decimal point for alignment purposes. Special insertion editing is valid for either numeric-edited items or external floating-point items.
The period (.) is the special insertion symbol. The period insertion symbol (.) is counted in the size of the item. The period insertion symbol (.) represents the position within the item where the actual decimal point is inserted.
Either the actual decimal point (.) or the assumed decimal point (V) must be specified in one PICTURE character-string but not both.
Practical Example -
Scenario - Below example describes how the special insertion editing used in COBOL programming.
Code -

----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----+----6----+----7--
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IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. SPINEDT.
AUTHOR. MTH.
DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 WS-VARS.
05 WS-VAR PIC 9(5)V9(2).
05 WS-SPE-VAR1 PIC 9(5).9(2).
05 WS-SPE-VAR2 PIC 9999.9.
05 WS-SPE-VAR3 PIC 99.99.
05 WS-SPE-VAR4 PIC 999.99.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
MOVE 00123.45 TO WS-VAR.
MOVE WS-VAR TO WS-SPE-VAR1
WS-SPE-VAR2
WS-SPE-VAR3.
MOVE 1234 TO WS-SPE-VAR4.
DISPLAY "WS-VAR: " WS-VAR.
DISPLAY "WS-SPE-VAR1: " WS-SPE-VAR1.
DISPLAY "WS-SPE-VAR2: " WS-SPE-VAR2.
DISPLAY "WS-SPE-VAR3: " WS-SPE-VAR3.
DISPLAY "WS-SPE-VAR4: " WS-SPE-VAR4.
STOP RUN.
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Output -
