How to change the sign of a packed decimal

fundu · New User Joined: 05 Oct 2005 Posts: 2

Hi,

How to change the sign of a packed decimal.

i have a variable like

05 a-var pic s9(3)v99 defined in a copybook

Suppose user entered negative value, I want to change the sign to positive for specific calculations. How can i do that, how can i check that the variable contains Positive value.

Thanks in advance,
Vijay KS

DavidatK · Posted: Tue Mar 21, 2006 2:04 am

Vijay KS,

I think the old fashion way is the most readable and simple.

cheryala · New User Joined: 20 Mar 2006 Posts: 46

Hi,
I think one more working storage variable
05 ABS-OF-A PIC 9(3)V9(2) COMP-3.
After moving data from A to ABS-OF-A use it in the expressions..

Let me know if i'm wrong..

Cheers
RSC

radhakrishnan82 · Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 5:49 pm

I agree that there are other ways to do the same.

I do agree that mulitipying a -ve number with -1 can result a positive value of the same number .Thinking about performance perspective,mulitiplication is a result of repeated addition.So whenever we perform multiplication, it performs addition process,internally.
While holding huge data,this may be a important factor considering its performance.(converting +ve to -ve or vice-versa)

Instead of multiplying a -ve number with -1 to convert it
as a postive value, its better to subtract the -ve number with 0.

mmwife · Super Moderator Joined: 30 May 2003 Posts: 1592

If you will always need a positive value in the field and it comes to you as part of a record, the most efficient way to assure it's positive is to redefine it as PIC 9.. (without the S), then move it to itself. E.g.:

move unsigned-fld to unsigned-fld

This strips the sign whether it's pos or neg. No compare is required.