Limitations and Precautions - Data Limits and Unsupported File Formats

Data Size Limits
Item Value Remarks
Maximum record length 32767 bytes  
Minimum record length 1 byte  
Maximum number of items in a record 3000  
Maximum length of character data items 32767 bytes  
Maximum number of digits in numeric items 18 digits Includes fractional part of the number.
Maximum levels of nesting in OCCURS clause 7  
Maximum number of items in a COPY library 3000 Includes group items.
Maximum length of item name 60 bytes  
Maximum number of errors that can be output 9999  
Maximum number of XML files that can be output 100000 Differs according to the file system.

Maximum COBOL I/O file size

The size of the COBOL I/O file that can be processed depends on COBOL and the COBOL runtime system that uses it.

Unsupported File Formats
- Variable length files from mainframe or mini computers (general file)
- Files with multiple record formats (multi-format)