5250 error 0014: Mandatory fill field, must fill to exit

What it means

A programmer can mark an input field as mandatory fill with CHECK(MF) in the DDS, or with CHGINPDFT(MF). The rule is all or nothing. You can skip the field entirely, but if you change any part of it, every position must hold a character. Blanks count as characters, so the rule is about keying every position, not about the value.

The display station enforces this when you try to leave the field. If you press a key that would move the cursor out, such as Field Advance (Tab), and the field is neither full nor untouched, the keyboard locks and 0014 appears. Code 0017 is the same rule caught by a different key. It appears when you press Field Exit, Field+ or Field- in a mandatory-fill field that isn't complete.

Mandatory fill suits values that always have the same length, such as an eight-digit date, a branch code or a fixed-length account number. A short value in those fields is nearly always a typing slip, and the rule catches it before the screen goes back to the program. IBM doesn't allow CHECK(MF) together with the right-adjust checks RB and RZ, so a mandatory-fill field never pads a short value for you.

Common causes

• You typed a short value, for example seven digits in an eight-digit date field, and pressed Tab.
• You pressed Field Exit to finish a short value. Field Exit would blank the rest of the field, which leaves it incomplete, so you get 0017.
• You started typing in the field by mistake and then tried to move to another field.
• The value you have really is shorter than the field, because the screen was designed for values of one fixed length.

How to find the problem

1. Count the positions. The field's underline or highlight shows its full length, and the cursor shows how far you got.
2. Press Help while 0014 or 0017 is on the error line to see the system's text for the error.
3. In the display file source, look for CHECK(MF) on the field, or CHGINPDFT(MF) at record or file level. A file-level CHGINPDFT(MF) makes every input field in the file mandatory fill.

How to fix it

• Press Reset (also called Error Reset) to free the keyboard. In many PC emulators Reset is the left Ctrl key by default. Then type characters in every remaining position of the field.
• For a number shorter than the field, type leading zeros, for example 00012345, if the application treats the value as a number or code.
• To leave the field empty instead, move the cursor back to its first position and press Field Exit. That blanks the whole field, and an empty field is allowed.
• For programmers, if short values are valid, remove CHECK(MF) and check the length in the program. For a numeric field, CHECK(RZ) pads a short value with zeros on Field Exit, which may be what you wanted from MF.
• For programmers, say in the field label how many characters it needs, for example Date (YYYYMMDD).

Technical reviewer: Albert Joseph, WND Software.

Last reviewed 2026-10-18 by the WND Software team. Written in our own words. For the full reference, check IBM’s 3270 or 5250 display documentation.