CHARSET

Defines the character set of the environment.

Syntax:

>>-.---.--CHARSET--"char-set"--------------><
   +-/-+

Parameters:

char-set: ASCII or EBCDIC.

Properties:

Default:	CHARSET"ASCII"
Phase:	Syntax check
$SET:	Initial

Dependencies:

CHARSET"ASCII" sets DEFAULTBYTE"32", SIGN"ASCII" and NATIVE"ASCII" immediately.

CHARSET"EBCDIC" sets DEFAULTBYTE"0" immediately and SIGN"EBCDIC" and NATIVE"EBCDIC" at end.

Comments:

All literals and collating sequences are handled in the character set specified.

With CHARSET"EBCDIC" set, COBOL system library routines that receive or return alphanumeric data in any parameters do not work. The alphanumeric data must be in ASCII.

For managed COBOL, SIGN"EBCDIC", along with one of HOST-NUMMOVE, HOST-NUMCOMPARE or SIGN-FIXUP is an invalid combination of directives, and is rejected during compilation. For native COBOL, the combination is permitted.