Conversion of numeric data to character format?

Dear COBOL experts,

Is there any equivalent of the following in COBOL, or an easier way to do it 
than fooling around with numeric-edited fields?

CustNbr is a 6-digit signed (USAGE IS DISPLAY) field. I want to put the 
Customer Number (CustNbr) into message data (MessageData) to pass to the 
QMHSNDPM API. If the customer number is 123,and I do the following using 
free-format RPG-IV, 

    MessageData = %char( CustNbr );

the input is 000123 and the output would be 123 (left-justified and all). The 
message looks like Customer Number 123 is not on file.

The only way I know how to do this in COBOL results in 
Customer Number       123 is not on file.

Cheers -- Jay

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Jay Sulzmann
AS/400 Senior Programmer/Analyst
AS/400 Certified RPG IV Developer
 
Hainey Business Systems LLC
8 East Canal Street
Dover, PA  17315
 
Tel:  717-718-9601 Ext. 231
Fax:  717-292-9474
AIM: bluejay0827 
Web: www.hbs-inc.com
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