Constants › Numeric literals

Numeric literals

Purpose

A numeric literal is a numeric value that can be expressed as a fixed-point or floating-point constant.

First Usage

Fixed-Point Numeric Literals

A fixed-point numeric literal is a 1- to 16-digit number with an optional decimal point. The decimal point cannot be in the first or last position of the constant. If the constant does not contain a decimal point, it is an integer.

Fixed-point numeric literals are treated internally as packed decimal numbers and can be used whenever the process command syntax specifies a user-supplied numeric literal.

A fixed-point numeric literal can be signed or unsigned. A unary plus (+) or unary minus (-) can immediately precede the first digit or can be separated from the digit by one or more spaces. The numeric literal is positive if no sign is provided.

Example 1: Fixed-point numeric literal as a value for comparison

The following example compares the value in the field VALUE-2 to the fixed-point numeric literal -13.65:

IF VALUE-2 EQ -13.65
  THEN
    .
    .
    .

Example 2: An integer as a fixed-point numeric literal

The following example moves the integer 31456 to the field VALUE-1:

MOVE 31456 TO VALUE-1.

Second Usage

Floating-Point Numeric Literals

A floating-point numeric literal is a numeric literal whose value is expressed as a mantissa, which represents the number, followed by an exponent (characteristic), which determines the actual decimal position of the number.

All floating-point numeric literals are treated internally as internal short or long floating-point numbers, depending on the size of the mantissa. Floating-point numeric literals can be used whenever the process command syntax specifies an arithmetic expression, the name of a user-defined data field, or a user-supplied numeric constant.

Format of a Floating-Point Numeric Literal:

• The mantissa, coded first, is a 1- to 16-digit number with an optional decimal point. The decimal point can be placed anywhere in the number, including in the first or last position. If no decimal point is included, it is considered to be in the last position. For example:

  1.2564E3
  

  In this example, 1.2564 is the mantissa.

• The character E immediately follows the mantissa. For example:

  1.2564E3
  

• The characteristic, a 1- or 2-digit integer preceded by an optional plus (+) or minus (-) sign immediately follows the character E. If no sign is included, it is assumed to be a plus sign. For example:

  1.2564E3
  

  In this example, 3 is the characteristic.

The value of the floating-point constant is the product of the mantissa, and ten raised to the power of the characteristic.

A floating-point numeric literal can be signed or unsigned. A unary plus (+) or unary minus (-) can immediately precede the first digit or can be separated from the digit by one or more spaces. If no sign is provided, the numeric literal is positive.

Examples

The following examples show the floating-point numeric literals and their fixed point equivalents.