Just wanted to chime in with additional data on this...

Granted, if you are working with a format specified by an outside
agency then you have to live with their format spelcification.
However, when operating within your own organization and/or
if you get to specify the record interchange format then the
following might be of interest to you.

When we began working with files on hp-ux/linux we decided
(after some trial and error) to go completely text based for
all our numeric items. No binary, no packed decimal, no signed
overpunch. We now use formats like this:

01  MY-RECORD.
    03  MY-FIELD-1         PIC S9(13)V99
                           SIGN IS LEADING SEPARATE.
    03  MY-FIELD-2         PIC S9(13)V99
                           SIGN IS LEADING SEPARATE.


The reason we chose this is because:

a. unix systems have so many cool tools that operate on text based
   files it makes file viewing/handling easier.

b. the cobol standard for signed overpunch allows for implementation
   choice of the representation for +/-. Our research found three (3)
   different implementations for compilers that ran on unix platforms.

c. exhaustive benchmarks found this format was faster in all
   operations than packed decimal on hp-ux/linux.

d. easier language interoperability with this format.

duane

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