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COBOL - Picture Clause

  • A cláusula Picture é usada para especificar o tipo e o tamanho de um item de dados elementar.

  • Consiste na palavra PIC ou PICTURE seguida pela cláusula de imagem real, onde o tipo e o tamanho são especificados.

  • O tipo é especificado usando um caractere específico selecionado na tabela abaixo. Cada caractere de imagem representa uma posição no item de dados. Caracteres diferentes podem ser combinados dentro da mesma cláusula Picture.

  • Várias ocorrências do mesmo tipo de caractere são indicadas pela repetição do caractere ou pela inclusão de um fator de repetição após o caractere.

Por exemplo, três caracteres alfabéticos podem ser representados com a cláusula PIC AAA ou PIC A(3).

Typically, repetições de menos de quatro caracteres são feitas repetindo o caractere e repetições de quatro ou mais caracteres são feitas com o número entre parênteses.

Caracteres de representação de dados:

Character Purpose Description
X Any character May contain any character including special or unprintable characters
9 Numeric character May contain only the characters 0 through 9
A Alphabetic character May contain only the characters A - Z, a - z, and space

Arithmetic Positioning Characters:

Character Purpose Description
S Numeric sign Does not use any actual storage space, without this character a numeric item would be treated as unsigned
V Implied decimal point Does not use any actual storage space, separates the integer portion of a numeric item from its decimal portion; used to keep track of the decimal point for arithmetic calculations; this character will not print or display; use the actual decimal point character, ".", f r printing
P Numeric place holder Does not use any actual storage space; used to change precision, e.g. 99PPP will hold values in amounts of even 1,000 from zero to 99,000 without actually storing anything for the three lowest order positions; can also be used to represent positions after the decimal, e.g. PP9 will hold values in amounts in even thousandths, from 0 to .009 without actually storing anything for the two highest order positions
Numeric Editing Characters:

Character Purpose Description
- Minus sign Used to display a sign in a printed item, the "-" character will be showed only if the numeric value is negative, the position will be left blank for positive values
+ Plus sign Used to display a sign in a printed item, "-" will be shown for negative values, "+" will be shown for positive values
. Actual decimal point Separates the integer portion of a numeric item from its decimal portion; this character cannot be used in an item involved in a calculation; use the implied decimal point character, "V", for calculations
Z Zero Suppress Replaces leading zeros with blanks; has no effect on non-zero positions or zeros not in leading positions
, Comma Inserts a comma into the data item in this position; commonly used as a separator in numeric data items
$ Dollar sign Inserts a dollar sign into the first position in the data item; commonly used for currency
* Asterisk Replaces leading zeros with asterisks; has no effect on non-zero positions or zeros not in leading positions; commonly used in check writing
CR Credit Used at the end of a PICTURE clause, the CR will appear in the position indicated if the item is negative; will b blank for a positive number
DB Debit Used at the end of a PICTURE clause, the DB will appear in the position indicated if the item is negative; will b blank for a positive number
/ Slash Inserts a slash into the data item in this position; commonly used as a separator in date fields
0 Zero Inserts a zero into the data item in this position; not commonly used


Lista completa de símbolos de cláusula de imagem, veja aqui