ORD - Ordinal position in collating sequence

The ORD function returns an integer value that is the ordinal position of argument-1 in the collating sequence for the program. The lowest ordinal position is 1.
The type of this function is integer.

Format

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FUNCTION ORD (argument-1)

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Argument

1. argument-1 must be one character in length and must be category alphabetic, alphanumeric or national.

Returned value

1. If argument-1 is class alphabetic or alpanumeric, the returned value is the ordinal position of argument-1 in the alphanumeric collating sequence.

2. If argument-1 is class national, the returned value is the ordinal position of argument-1 in the national collating sequence.

See also:        CHAR

Example 9-33

...
DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01  L PIC X VALUE "Z".
01  R PIC X(3).
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
P1 SECTION.
MAIN.
    COMPUTE R = FUNCTION ORD (L).
    DISPLAY R UPON T.
    STOP RUN. 

Result:               234
                          The ordinal position of the letter Z in EBCDIC is 234.