The data type VARCHARC consists of a character length subfield followed by a character string value-subfield.
The declaration for VARCHARC specifies the length of the length subfield, optionally followed by the maximum size of any string. If byte-length semantics are in use for the data file, then the length and the maximum size are both in bytes. If character-length semantics are in use for the data file, then the length and maximum size are in characters. If a maximum size is not specified, then 4 KB is the default regardless of whether byte-length semantics or character-length semantics are in use.
For example:
VARCHARC results in an error because you must at least specify a value for the length subfield.
VARCHARC(7) results in a VARCHARC whose length subfield is 7 bytes long and whose maximum size is 4 KB (the default) if byte-length semantics are used for the data file. If character-length semantics are used, then it results in a VARCHARC with a length subfield that is 7 characters long and a maximum size of 4 KB (the default). Remember that when a maximum size is not specified, the default of 4 KB is always used, regardless of whether byte-length or character-length semantics are in use.
VARCHARC(3,500) results in a VARCHARC whose length subfield is 3 bytes long and whose maximum size is 500 bytes if byte-length semantics are used for the data file. If character-length semantics are used, then it results in a VARCHARC with a length subfield that is 3 characters long and a maximum size of 500 characters.
See "Character-Length Semantics".