Definition Attributes
Data Definition Language (DDL) Reference Manual — 426798-002
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FILLER Clause
FILLER Clause
The FILLER clause assigns a data type and size to a unnamed field. This clause
reserves space that will never be referred to directly.
FILLER Clause Guidelines
The following points are guidelines for using the FILLER clause:
•
A FILLER field must have its data type and size specified with a PICTURE or
TYPE clause.
•
A FILLER field can be repeated with an OCCURS clause.
•
A FILLER field is always part of a group definition or description, never a stand-
alone field.
•
A FILLER field cannot be referred to directly, but it can be referred to indirectly as
part of a group.
•
A FILLER field cannot be described with a DISPLAY, HEADING, HELP, KEYTAG,
MUST BE, NULL, REDEFINES, or UPSHIFT clause.
•
A FILLER field cannot be used for an SQL VARCHAR field.
•
C and Pascal do not have FILLER clauses. For these languages, DDL generates a
unique name for each FILLER field; the name is of the form FILLER_number. The
number portion of the name is incremented by 1 for each FILLER clause DDL
encounters in the definition. For C, number starts at 0 for each new DDL definition.
For Pascal, number starts at 1 for each new DDL definition.
If the generated name for a FILLER field would be the same as the name of an
existing field or group at the same level, DDL uses the next integer that does not
cause duplication.
You should not access the C or Pascal FILLER data items. The following example
shows a DDL definition containing FILLER clauses translated into C and Pascal
source code.
DDL Definition:
DEF name-struct.
02 first-name PIC X(10).
02 FILLER PIC X(6).
02 second-name PIC X(24).
02 FILLER PIC 9(6).
END.
FILLER
