8. The dtoa Results

• The name dtoa stands for double to ASCII.

• The result represents signed integer in the decimal number system.

• The destination is always 11-byte area of storage in the data segment reserved with a BYTE directive.

• The resulting string of characters has leading blanks if decimal number is shorter than 11 characters:

  • If the number is negative, a minus sign is immediately preceding the digits.

  • Since the decimal range for a word-length 2's complement number is

    • -2,147,483,648 to 2,147,483,647

    there is no danger of generating too many characters to fit in an 11-byte-long field.

  • A positive number will always have at least one leading blank.

• Flags or registers affected: none.