IBM Mainframe Forum

Hi All

Can we pack character data ..
If in input we have X(04) fld with data ABCD , i need to pack it to below whose def is X(02).
AC
BD
without changing the value.
Can you please help me out.

Your "requirement" is not clear -- what do you want to do if the PIC X(4) data is 'WXYZ'? -- which cannot be stored, at all, in a 2-byte variable? For the general case, a 4-byte character field cannot be stored in a 2-byte character field without using some encoding method (Google Huffman coding for one example of how it can be done).

If you are talking about numeric data only (0 to 9 and possibly the hexadecimal values A,B,C,D,E,F), what have you tried and where are you having problems? Have you read the COBOL Language Reference manual (link at the top of this page) on internal representations of data and used that to get an idea how to proceed?

Hello,

This appears to be just a continuation of your other topic about the same situation.

Now, as then, you have not clearly posted what you are tryinig to do.

Show several "input" values and how you want these values stored by your peocess. Explain what should happen if the input data is MNTR.

HI

My input have characters only from A-F and numebers.
Sample is 7AFB016G.I need to pack this as..
7F06
AB1G

Well, you are stuck then. G is not valid as a representation of a value in hexadecimal notation.

And G is not in the range A-F (unless someone changed the English alphabet overnight)

oops ...I am sorry,Sample is 7AFB016C.

There is more than one way to do this.

Note that you have 16 values (0-9, A-F). These have a hex representation as characters F0-F9, C1-C6, and also a hex representation when "packed" in a byte - or two, one when on the "left" and one when on the right - ?0-?9, ?A-?F and 0?-9?, A?-F?.

So, at the heart, there can all come down to a simple 1-to-1 relationship.

Then you have some technical stuff, like you can't access a single byte as a binary value in Cobol.