All string arrays declared in a STRING ARRAY declaration are of the same string type. If no string type is specified, the default character type is used. The default character type can be designated by the compiler control option ASCII. If no such compiler control option is used, the default character type is EBCDIC. For more information, refer to Default Character Type.

The restrictions that apply to arrays also apply to string arrays. For more information on bound pair lists, subarray selectors, and arrays, see ARRAY Declaration.