The LENGTH function returns an integer equal to the length of the argument in alphanumeric character positions
or national character positions, depending on the class of the argument.
The type of this function is integer.
General Format
Arguments
- Argument-1 can be a nonnumeric literal or a data item of any class or category.
- If argument-1 or any data item subordinate to argument-1 is described with the DEPENDING phrase of the OCCURS clause, the contents of the data item referenced by the data-name specified in the DEPENDING phrase are used at the time the LENGTH function is evaluated.
Returned Values
- If argument-1 is an alphanumeric literal or is an elementary data item of class other than national or is a group data item that does not contain a variable occurrence data item, the value returned is an integer equal to the length of argument-1 in alphanumeric character positions.
If argument-1 is an elementary data item of the class national or is a national literal, the returned value is an integer equal to the length of argument-1 in national character positions.
- If argument-1 is a group data item containing a variable occurrence data item, the returned value is an integer determined by evaluation of the data item specified in the DEPENDING phrase of the OCCURS clause for that variable occurrence data item. This evaluation is accomplished according to the rules in the OCCURS clause dealing with the data item as a sending data item. See the section
The OCCURS Clause in the chapter
Data Division - File and Data Description.
- The returned value includes implicit FILLER characters, if any.
