Multiple choice technology mainframe

How much space ADABAS will need For storing ‘ ‘ in alphanumeric 20 field?

  1. 0 byte

  2. 1 byte

  3. 2 byte

  4. 20 byte
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B Correct answer
Explanation

ADABAS stores a single space character in an alphanumeric 20 field using 1 byte - the space itself. Even though the field is defined as 20 characters, a single space only needs 1 byte of storage (assuming no compression that would expand it). It's not 0 bytes (data exists), not 2 bytes (no length prefix for a single char), and not 20 bytes (only one character stored).

AI explanation

An alphanumeric field defined as length 20 that holds a single space still occupies its full defined storage in ADABAS the same way any fixed-length alphanumeric value would — but a single blank character itself only takes 1 byte of actual character content being stored/considered here. The key point is that ADABAS stores the value based on its content length in this scenario, not the full field width, distinguishing it from the padded fixed-length interpretation.

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