# EN Editing

The EN data edit descriptor transfers values by using engineering notation. It takes the following form:

ENw.d[Ee]

where w is the total field width, d is the number of places after the decimal point, and e is the number of digits in the exponent.

If w is zero, the processor chooses the field width. If e is present and zero, the exponent part contains the minimal number of digits needed to represent the exponent .

The specified I/O list item must be of type real, or it must be the real or imaginary part of a complex type.

## Rules for Input Processing

On input, the EN data edit descriptor transfers w characters from an external field and assigns their real value to the corresponding I/O list item. The EN descriptor interprets and assigns input data in the same way as the F data edit descriptor. w cannot be zero on input. e, if present, has no effect on input.

The following shows input using the EN edit descriptor (the symbol ^ represents a nonprinting blank character):

    Format     Input           Value
    EN11.3      ^^5.321E+00       5.32100
    EN11.3      -600.00E-03       -.60000
    EN12.3     ^^^3.150E-03        .00315
    EN12.3     ^^^3.829E+03    3829.0

## Rules for Output Processing

On output, the EN data edit descriptor transfers the real value of the corresponding I/O list item, right-justified and rounded to d decimal positions, to an external field that is w characters long if w is positive. The real value is output in engineering notation, where the decimal exponent is divisible by 3 and the absolute value of the significand is greater than or equal to 1 and less than 1000 (unless the output value is zero).

If w is greater than zero, it should be greater than or equal to d+9 to allow for the following:

- A sign (optional if the value is positive and descriptor SP is not in effect)

- One to three digits to the left of the decimal point

- The decimal point

- The d digits to the right of the decimal point

- The exponent

The exponent takes one of the following forms:

Edit Descriptor | Absolute Value of Exponent | Positive Form of Exponent | Negative Form of Exponent
--- | --- | --- | ---
ENw.d | |exp| 99 | E+nn | E-nn
| 99 < |exp| 999 | +nnn | -nnn
ENw.dEe | |exp| 10e - 1 | E+n1n2...ne | E-n1n2...ne

If an exponent exceeds its specified or implied width, or the number of characters produced exceeds the field width, the entire field of width w is filled with asterisks.

The exponent field width (e) is optional; if omitted, the default value is 2. If e is specified, w should be greater than or equal to d + e + 5, or zero.

For an internal value that is an IEEE infinity or an IEEE NaN, the form of the output field is the same as for Fw.d.

The following shows output using the EN edit descriptor (the symbol ^ represents a nonprinting blank character):

    Format     Value         Output
    EN11.2     475867.222    ^475.87E+03
    EN11.5     475867.222    ***********
    EN12.3          0.00069  ^690.000E-06
    EN10.3         -0.5555   **********
    EN11.2          0.0      ^000.00E-03

Parent topic: Real and Complex Editing

## See Also

Forms for data edit descriptors
General rules for numeric editing