== Why is this an issue?

The storage of a packed numeric field is most efficient when you code an odd number of digits in the PICTURE description, so that the leftmost byte is fully used. Packed-decimal items are handled as fixed-point numbers for arithmetic purposes.

=== Noncompliant code example

[source,cobol]
----
 01 VAL PIC 9(6) COMP-3.
----

=== Compliant solution

[source,cobol]
----
 01 VAL PIC 9(5) COMP-3.
----

ifdef::env-github,rspecator-view[]

'''
== Implementation Specification
(visible only on this page)

=== Message

Change this field definition to be odd-length.


'''
== Comments And Links
(visible only on this page)

=== on 4 Dec 2018, 21:11:56 Sam Fox wrote:
This rule seems to be incorrectly flagging the following:


----
10  BENE-GROSS-WK-AMT            PIC S9(9)V9(2) COMP-3
                                 OCCURS 010 TIMES.
----

We believe this is due to "OCCURS 10 TIMES" which might inadvertently tripping the even check.

=== on 4 Dec 2018, 21:21:28 Ann Campbell wrote:
\[~SMFox] thanks for your report of this false positive and kudos on identifying the related ticket! However, this should really be reported in the https://community.sonarsource.com[SonarSource Community]. Would you mind opening a thread there, please?

=== on 4 Dec 2018, 21:31:40 Sam Fox wrote:
Created \https://community.sonarsource.com/t/cobol-packed-numeric-fields-should-be-defined-with-odd-length-false-positive/4856


Thanks [~ann.campbell.2]!

endif::env-github,rspecator-view[]