C$CARG

C$CARG returns information about the actual parameter that corresponds to a formal parameter in the USING phrase in the Procedure Division header of a subprogram. This information identifies the type and length of the argument and, when the argument is numeric or numeric edited, the number of digits and scale factor for the argument.

Usage

CALL "C$CARG" USING OKAY, ARGUMENT-NAME, 
ARGUMENT-DESCRIPTION

Parameters

OKAY (PIC X)

A one-character alphanumeric data item into which the ASCII character Y is stored if C$CARG successfully identifies the argument named by argument-name; otherwise, the ASCII character N is stored in the data item.

ARGUMENT-NAME (PIC X(N))

The name of a Linkage Section data item named in the Procedure Division header USING list.

ARGUMENT-DESCRIPTION

A ten-character group data item into which the desired information about the argument specified by argument-name is stored. A typical data description for argument-description is as follows:

01 ARGUMENT-DESCRIPTION. 
   02 ARGUMENT-TYPE           PIC 9(2)  BINARY(2). 
   02 ARGUMENT-LENGTH         PIC 9(8)  BINARY(4). 
   02 ARGUMENT-DIGIT-COUNT    PIC 9(2)  BINARY(2). 
   02 ARGUMENT-SCALE          PIC S9(2) BINARY(2).

The argument-description group item will have the correct length only if ARGUMENT-TYPE, ARGUMENT-DIGIT-COUNT, and ARGUMENT-SCALE are allocated as two-byte binary and ARGUMENT-LENGTH is allocated as four-byte binary.

The fields in ARGUMENT-DESCRIPTION have the following meanings:

ARGUMENT-TYPE

returns a number indicating the type of the argument data item. The values and meanings for data type numbers returned in this field are as follows:

Type Number	Data Type	Type Number	Data Type
0	Numeric edited	16	Alphanumeric
1	Unsigned numeric DISPLAY	17	Alphanumeric (justified right)
2	Signed numeric DISPLAY separate	18	Alphabetic
3	Signed numeric DISPLAY	19	Alphabetic (justified right)
4	Signed numeric DISPLAY separate	20	Alphanumeric edited
5	Signed numeric DISPLAY	21	Alphabetic string edited
6	Signed numeric COMP with -Cr compiler option	22	Group (fixed length)
7	Unsigned numeric COMP with -Cr compiler option	23	Group (variable length)
8	Unsigned numeric PACKED-DECIMAL	26	Signed numeric COMP-5
9	Signed numeric PACKED-DECIMAL	27	Unsigned numeric COMP-5
10	Unsigned numeric COMP-6	32	OMITTED
11	Signed numeric BINARY
12	Unsigned numeric BINARY

ARGUMENT-LENGTH

Returns the number of character positions occupied by the argument data item.

ARGUMENT-DIGIT-COUNT

Returns the number of digits defined in the PICTURE character-string for an argument that is a numeric or numeric edited data item as indicated by the ARGUMENT-TYPE field value; otherwise, the value zero is returned for nonnumeric data items. The digit count for a numeric or numeric edited data item does not include any positions defined by the PICTURE symbol P, which represents a scaling position.

ARGUMENT-SCALE

Returns the power of 10 scale factor (that is, the position of the implied or actual decimal point) for an argument that is a numeric or numeric edited data item as indicated by the ARGUMENT-TYPE field value; otherwise, the value zero is returned for nonnumeric data items. If the PICTURE symbol P was used in the description of the data item, the absolute value of the ARGUMENT-SCALE value will exceed the ARGUMENT-DIGIT-COUNT value; in this case, a positive scale value indicates an integer with P scaling positions on the right of the PICTURE character-string and a negative scale value indicates a fraction with P scaling positions on the left of the PICTURE character-string.

Comments

If a calling program passes a called program two or more arguments that begin at the same location (either through redefinition, with reference modification, or because one is a group that contains the other), when the called program asks C$CARG for the parameter descriptions, it always receives that of the first actual argument passed that has the same location, regardless of the name specified in argument-name. In such cases, the C$DARG subprogram may be used to obtain the distinct descriptions by using argument-number.