Zoned and Packed Decimal Fields as IDMS Keys › Numeric Formats › Signed Versus Unsigned Keys

Signed Versus Unsigned Keys

The most significant difference when using numeric fields as part of an IDMS key is whether the field has been defined as signed or unsigned. If a field has been defined as signed whether zoned or packed, IDMS will honor the format and will perform comparisons that will recognize functionally equivalent values as being equal.

x'00999C'  equals  x'00999F'

However unsigned fields are treated as character values and functionally equivalent values are not considered equal unless the sign nibbles are also equal.

X'00999C'  is not equal to  x'00999F'