FRL data types

This table lists the most commonly used fill characters for flat or fixed-length record layouts:

Data type Usage/Description
Integer Use this for doing math on numbers.
String Use this for most purposes, unless you must do math.
Julian Date This is a continuous count of days and fractions since noon Universal Time on January 1, 4713 BCE, on the Julian calendar.
MMDDYY Y = Year; M = Month; D = Day
MM/DD/YY Y = Year; M = Month; D = Day
YYDDMM Y = Year; M = Month; D = Day
DDMMYY Y = Year; M = Month; D = Day
DD.MM.YY Y = Year; M = Month; D = Day
HHMMSS+Z H = Hour; M = Minute; S = Second; Z = Offset from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)
YYMMDDHMS+Z Y = Year; M = Month; D = Day; H = Hour; M = Minute; S = Second; Z = Offset from Coordinated Universal Time (UTC)
Zoned Decimal Specifies a method of encoding decimal numbers in which each digit requires one byte of storage. The last character contains the number's sign and the last digit.
Numeric Data string