It seems the problem I am encountering is with the ODBC server i'm using. I 
only get the first 3 bytes out of the field, seems the NULL's are terminating 
the record. I'll have to go from here.

Thanks all who replied,
Pete

On 25 November 2005 2:41 pm, Wirt Atmar wrote:
> Pete asks:
> > I'm looking at a field in a dataset. It's an X40 field but it seems that
>
> the
>
> >  data stored in it is server integers "packed" by a Cobol program. I've
>
> used
>
> >  the program to change the values that are stored in this field and the
>
> data
>
> >  is indeed changing but I cannot figure out how the data is actually
>
> stored.
>
> >  Is there a formula on how one would unpack a field that has been packed
> > by
>
> a
>
> >  Cobol program?
>
> I would expect that the data is packed in the standard manner: each nibble
> (4 bits) in the pattern is a binary encoded decimal ranging from 0 ("0000")
> to 9 ("1001"), except for the last nibble, which is the sign of the number.
> If no sign value is specified, the last nibble is the hex value"F"
> ("1111"). Otherwise, it's a "C" (credit; "1100") for a positive value, "D"
> (debit; "1101") for a negative value.
>
> Wirt Atmar
>
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