There are five categories of data items, described by the PICTURE clause. These are grouped into three classes: alphabetic, numeric, and alphanumeric. For alphabetic and numeric, the classes and categories are synonymous. The alphanumeric class includes the categories of alphanumeric edited, numeric edited, and alphanumeric (without editing). Every
elementary item belongs to one of the classes and further to one of the categories. The class of a
group item is treated as alphanumeric regardless of the class of
elementary items subordinate to that
group item. The following table depicts the relationship of the class and categories of data items.
