ALPHA Directive

In order to store non-numeric data (like, LOW-VALUES or special codes) in numeric keys, this directive allows a data item that has been defined as numeric in the COBOL program to be treated as alphanumeric text (CHAR (n) n 1-max column length) in the database.

$EFD ALPHA

or

*(( EFD ALPHA ))

or

*>(( EFD ALPHA ))

Moving a non-numeric value such as "A234" into numeric fields without using the $EFD ALPHA directive will cause the field content to be treated as invalid data.

Example

In the following example, the KEY IS code-key has been specified and the following record definition is present. CODE-NUM is a numeric value and is the key field, since group items are disregarded in the database.

01 EMPLOYEE-RECORD.     05 EMP-KEY.        10 EMP-NUM           PIC 9(5).

Using the $EFD ALPHA directive will change a non-numeric value such as "A234" so that the record will not be rejected by the database, since "A234" is an alphanumeric value and CODE-NUM is a numeric value.

01 EMPLOYEE-RECORD.     05 EMP-KEY. $EFD ALPHA        10 EMP-NUM           PIC 9(5).

Now, the following operation can be used without worrying about rejection.

MOVE "C0531" TO CODE-KEY. WRITE CODE-RECORD.