Fixed-length character strings (CHAR) are SQL data types with a driver-defined maximum length. They are declared in COBOL as PIC X(n) where n is an integer between 1 and the maximum length.
For example:
03 char-field1 pic x(5). 03 char-field2 pic x(254).
COBSQL
This maps to the Oracle data type CHAR(n), to the Sybase data type CHAR(n) and to the Informix data type CHAR(n). For both Oracle and Sybase, the largest supported fixed length character string is 255 bytes. For Informix, the largest supported fixed length character is 32KB.
DB2 LUW
This maps to the DB2 data type CHAR. The largest supported fixed length character string is 254 bytes. If you need a character string greater than 254 bytes in length, use a VARCHAR field