Size and Number of Data Items

The following table shows the maximum size and number of data items.

Data Item Maximum Size or Number
Alphanumeric/Group 2GB-1 (Native COBOL), 4GB (.NET COBOL)
Alphanumeric Edited/ Numeric Edited Can consist of 32 parts, each of which can contain up to 16 occurrences of a single edited character type subject to a total size of 512 bytes
Numeric

All significant digits must be within 18, 31 or 38 digits of the decimal point, depending on your COBOL environment:

ANSI'85: 18 significant digits

ISO2000: 31 significant digits

Micro Focus: 38 significant digits

COMP/COMP-5 format 8 bytes
EXTERNAL data item No specifiable limit
File record size 62KB
ACCEPT FROM CONSOLE Limits (if any) are imposed by the operating system.
Full screen DISPLAY/ACCEPT One screen less one character (the last character position on the screen is not usable)