The PICTURE Clause (DBCS)

General Rules for All Formats

There are two additional categories of data that can be described with a PICTURE clause: DBCS and DBCS edited. Both these categories must be described as USAGE IS DISPLAY-1.
These categories need not be described as USAGE DISPLAY-1.

DISPLAY-1 is optional for PIC N, but not for PIC G items.

General Rules for DBCS Data

Its PICTURE character-string can contain only the symbol "G"
or "N".
Its contents can be any characters in the DBCS character set.

General Rules for DBCS Edited Data

Its PICTURE character string can contain any combination of the symbols "G" and "B".

General Rules for Editing

The type of editing that can be performed on an item depends on the category to which the item belongs. The table Editing Types for Data Categories in the topic The PICTURE Clause is extended with the information shown in the table below:

Table 1. Editing Types for Data Categories
Category	Type of Editing
DBCS	None
DBCS Edited	Simple insertion "B" only

General Rules for Fixed Insertion Editing

When used in an SBCS item, "B" (space) represents an SBCS space. When used in a DBCS item it represents a DBCS space.

Symbols Used

The functions of these symbols are as follows:

G -	Each "G" represents a character position which can contain only a DBCS character or a DBCS space.
B -	Each "B" represents a character position into which the DBCS space character will be inserted.
N -	Each "N" represents a character position which can contain only a DBCS character or a DBCS space.

Note that each "G" or "B"

or "N"

represents a single double-byte character position.