D

The D (double-precision floating-point) format specification should be used where speed and/or floating point are required. All numbers internal to Business Rules stored in this format, so almost no effort is required for Business Rules read or write D format.

D can be used with FORM for internal and external files. It is not available with FORM for display files and it cannot be used with full screen processing.

Input characteristics

Since D represents a floating-point number, any number with any amount of decimal positions will be accepted when D is specified. Rounding will not occur. A field length or number of decimal positions is never specified when D is coded. Business Rules eight characters of storage for every D-formatted data item.

Output characteristics

All significant digits in D-formatted data will be output exactly as they were input.

Technical Considerations

1.) By definition, D is not portable. It is native to the floating-point format of the machine.

2.) D may be compatible with non-Business Rules, specifically "C" files.

3.) D is machine dependent, but all machines should support 10e+-307 with up to 15 digits of precision.

See Also

The letter D is also used as a PIC insertion character.