Display Computation

DISPLAY computation is the most used internal data representation.
It uses the character form, in which one character equals one byte (8 bits) of storage.
If no usage clause is used, then DISPLAY usage will be applied by default.

DISPLAY computation applies to the following data types -

Alphabetic
Alpha-numeric
Numeric

Below table represents the storage occupied based on the number of digits in PICTURE clause –

PICTURE clause	Storage occupied
1 Digit \| Char	1 byte

Practical Example -

Scenario - Describes how DISPLAY computation is used in COBOL programming.

Code -

Full Example

----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----+
       ... 
       WORKING-STORAGE SECTION. 
       01 WS-VAR.
          05 WS-VAR1          PIC 9(06) USAGE DISPLAY.
          05 WS-VAR2          PIC 9(06).
       ... 
       PROCEDURE DIVISION. 
           DISPLAY "WS-VAR1 (DISPLAY COMPUTATION) LENGTH IS: " 
                                      LENGTH OF WS-VAR1.
           DISPLAY "WS-VAR2 LENGTH IS: "  LENGTH OF WS-VAR2.
           ...

Output -

WS-VAR1 (DISPLAY COMPUTATION) LENGTH IS: 000000006  
WS-VAR2 LENGTH IS: 000000006