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shobha acharya
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Joined: 29 Jul 2010
Posts: 1
Location: Bangalore
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| Could anyone explain the difference between ZEROS and ZEROES in COBOL? |
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ofer71
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Joined: 27 Dec 2005
Posts: 2358
Location: Israel
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No difference, simply synonyms, as you can see in the fine manual.
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Figurative constants are reserved words that name and refer to specific constant values. The reserved words for figurative constants and their meanings are:
ZERO/ZEROS/ZEROES
Represents the numeric value zero (0), or one or more occurrences of the character zero (0), depending on context. |
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Robert Sample
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Joined: 06 Jun 2008
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Location: Dubuque, Iowa, USA
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| The E? |
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Bill O'Boyle
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Joined: 14 Jan 2008
Posts: 2501
Location: Atlanta, Georgia, USA
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This also applies to the other figurative constants, such as LOW-VALUE/LOW-VALUES, SPACE/SPACES, HIGH-VALUE/HIGH-VALUES, etc.
Usage of a literal as opposed to its figurative constant can cause unexpected differences. EG:
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03 WS-FIELD PIC X(256).
MOVE '0' TO WS-FIELD.
MOVE ZERO TO WS-FIELD.
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In the first MOVE, WS-FIELD's first-byte will contain a '0', followed by 255 spaces, whereas, in the second MOVE, WS-FIELD will contain ALL '0's.
The motto here is to always use the figurative constant associated with the field's data-type and the compiler will take care of the rest.
Bill |
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