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Built-in Functions › NUMERIC

NUMERIC

Purpose

Returns TRUE or FALSE to indicate whether an alphanumeric field is a valid candidate for a MOVE to a numeric field or can be used in a computation without a data exception occurring.

Syntax

►►──── NUMERIC ( value ) ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────►◄

Parameters

value

An alphanumeric value tested by the function.

Value can be:

Usage

For EBCDIC or group values, NUMERIC checks the field in isolation, without regard to possible target fields of a move or computation. For example, '999999' will test as a numeric field (TRUE), but an error would occur if this were moved to a field with the picture of 9(4) COMP-3.

NUMERIC does not support validation of floating point numbers.

Because CA ADS and EVAL do not check the DECIMAL POINT IS clause of the OLM SYSGEN statement, NUMERIC does not either. Therefore, a period (.) and a comma (,) will always be the decimal point and the thousands separator respectively.

The types of fields tested for numeric and the tests applied to those fields are:

Field data type

Test NUMERIC applies

Binary

Always returns a TRUE value.

Packed decimal

Follows the IBM standard for what a packed field should contain; and additionally checks for a maximum field length of 16 bytes.

Zoned decimal

Follows the IBM standard for what a zoned decimal field should contain; and additionally checks for a maximum field length of 31 bytes.

EBCDIC or group values

One of the following must be true:

  • There are 0 or more leading spaces
  • The number starts with a plus or minus sign, or a decimal point, or a number from 0 to 9
  • A decimal point or number immediately follows a plus or minus sign
  • There must be at least one digit in the number
  • There may be no characters other than a decimal point embedded in the number
  • There are 0 or more trailing spaces
  • After a digit is encountered, commas are ignored

All other types

Returns a FALSE value.

In general, a single number embedded in an EBCDIC field that may contain a leading sign is considered NUMERIC.

The table below shows valid and invalid examples of NUMERIC values:

Valid examples

Invalid examples

3

.

4.4

-+4

+6

.5.

.5

- . 6

-9

 

Example

In the following example, NUMERIC tests whether MYALPHANUM contains a valid number:

IF (NUMERIC(MYALPHANUM)) THEN
        CALL NUMCALC.
ELSE
        CALL NUMERROR.

Initial value of MYALPHANUM:  123
Statement evaluates TRUE.


Initial value of MYALPHANUM:  M123
Statement evaluates FALSE.