HP 3000 Manuals

Micro Focus COBOL Language Reference - Additional Topics

NCHAR Data 

The NCHAR or JAPANESE directive makes your COBOL compiler recognize the
NCHAR data category in which data is stored in DBCS. It does not prevent
the use of other SBCS data categories; thus you can still use those data
categories in which data is stored in SBCS.

Provided you have the necessary hardware support, NCHAR data items used
in input and output are recognized and their data displayed and accepted
correctly on such devices as screens, keyboard, printers.

MPE/iX 5.0 Documentation