Packed Decimal Data

For both the iSeries™, eServer™ i5, or System i5™ and the workstation, each half-byte represents a value from 0 through 9. The hexadecimal value in the half-byte on the right side of the right-hand byte specifies the sign.

For the iSeries™, eServer™ i5, or System i5™, a value of hex B or hex D in this half-byte represents a negative number.

For DOS random files, only the last half-byte (the half-byte that contains the sign) is changed. For the sign half-byte, the workstation uses hex 3 to indicate a positive number or hex B to indicate a negative number.

For example, X'0865431F' appears as X'08654313'.

For DOS random type-2 files, the last half-byte (the half-byte that contains the sign) is not changed. The sign convention used on the workstation and on the host system is the same.

For example, X'0865431C' appears as X'0865431C'.

The decimal position, if specified, represents the number of decimal digits to the right of the decimal point. The presence of a decimal position is specified in the file description.