The data field contains character data. The length, which is optional, is a maximum length. Note the following regarding length:
If a length is not specified, then it is derived from the POSITION
specification.
If a length is specified, then it overrides the length in the POSITION
specification.
If no length is given and there is no POSITION
specification, then CHAR
data is assumed to have a length of 1, unless the field is delimited:
For a delimited CHAR
field, if a length is specified, then that length is used as a maximum.
For a delimited CHAR
field for which no length is specified, the default is 255 bytes.
For a delimited CHAR
field that is greater than 255 bytes, you must specify a maximum length. Otherwise you will receive an error stating that the field in the data file exceeds maximum length.
The syntax for the CHAR
data type is: