Using attribute bytes

Attribute bytes overlay characters only on the display; the attribute bytes are never recorded in the data. If your data set contains DBCS fields, however, attribute bytes can invalidate them. If you start hardware tabs and insert an attribute byte in the middle of a DBCS field, you invalidate the DBCS field, and it is displayed as an EBCDIC field. When you turn tabs mode off, the attribute bytes are removed and the overlaid character at each tab position is displayed again.

When you are in formatted data edit mode, TABS is ignored.

In tabs mode, you temporarily remove the attribute bytes from a single line. There are two ways to do this:

Blank out the entire line command field using the Erase EOF key.
Place the cursor directly under one of the attribute bytes and press Enter. When you press Enter again, the attribute bytes are reinserted.