When do we get field’s content as *? and how to overcome it?

AT NEW and ENDAT is used to detect a change in the value of the field between the loop passes. The field that is specified in AT NEW is called control level. The code between AT NEW and ENDAT will be executed during the first loop pass and every time the value of the control level changes or any other field left to the control level changes. Between AT NEW and ENDAT all the fields in the work area that are right to the control level are filled with zeros and asterisks. We can declare a local workarea apart from Loop’s work area to resolve this issue