The minus literal character & (an ampersand) replaces a negative sign in a field's value with a literal you supply. If the field's value is positive, this character moves a blank to the string instead of the literal you supply. Do not use this character within an edit string that contains another character designating a sign. CDO Edit 99&"CR" String: DTR Edit 99CR String: Field Value: -15 Edited 15CR Value: Translation of CDO Minus Literal Edit Strings shows how CDO translates CDO minus literal edit strings for other languages. If CDO characters other than CR or DB appear in a string, CDO translates the string as a hyphen (-) for COBOL, DIGITAL DATATRIEVE, and PL/I. CDO passes any CDO character to RPG without performing a translation. Table 6-4 Translation of CDO Minus Literal Edit Strings Minus Literal RPG String CDO COBOL DTR PL/I EDIT Format String PICTURE EDIT PICTURE WORD &"string" CR CR CR CR CR DB DB DB DB DB Any - - - string other string