Multiple choice technology mainframe

What is the maximum length of a field you can define using COMP-3?

  1. 8 Bytes

  2. 10 Bytes

  3. 12 Bytes

  4. 16 Bytes
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B Correct answer
Explanation

COMP-3 is packed decimal format in COBOL where each digit occupies 4 bits (half byte or nibble). The maximum length is 18 decimal digits, which requires 9 bytes for the digits plus 1 nibble for the sign, totaling 10 bytes. This is a standard COBOL limitation for packed decimal fields.

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