Variable-Length Character Fields
Variable-length character fields have a declared maximum length and a current length that can vary while a program is running. The storage allocated for variable-length character fields is 2 bytes longer than the declared maximum length. The leftmost 2 bytes are an unsigned integer field containing the current length in characters. The actual character data starts at the third byte of the variable-length field.
You define a variable-length character data field by using the LIKE keyword on a definition specification where the parameter is a variable-length character field.
By default, a variable-length field is initialized to have a current length of zero.
Example
For examples of using variable-length fields, refer to the following topics.