Enterprise COBOL for z/OS

6.2

Programming Guide

IBM

SC27-8714-01
 Note
Before using this information and the product it supports, be sure to read the general information under
“Notices” on page 867.

Second edition (30 June 2023 update)

This edition applies to Version 6 Release 2 of IBM® Enterprise COBOL for z/OS® (program number 5655-EC6) and to
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© Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 1991, 2023.
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IBM Corp.
Contents

Tables.................................................................................................................xix

Preface.............................................................................................................. xxv
About this information..............................................................................................................................xxv
How this information will help you..................................................................................................... xxv
Abbreviated terms...............................................................................................................................xxv
Comparison of commonly used terms...............................................................................................xxvi
How to read syntax diagrams............................................................................................................xxvii
How examples are shown................................................................................................................ xxviii
Additional documentation and support................................................................................................ xxviii
Summary of changes............................................................................................................................... xxix
Version 6 Release 2 with PTFs installed............................................................................................xxix
Version 6 Release 2...........................................................................................................................xxxii
How to send your comments.................................................................................................................xxxiii

Part 1. Coding your program.................................................................................. 1

Chapter 1. Structuring your program...........................................................................................................3

Identifying a program............................................................................................................................. 3
Identifying a program as recursive...................................................................................................4
Marking a program as callable by containing programs.................................................................. 4
Setting a program to an initial state................................................................................................. 4
Changing the header of a source listing........................................................................................... 5
Describing the computing environment.................................................................................................5
Example: FILE-CONTROL entries..................................................................................................... 6
Specifying the collating sequence.................................................................................................... 7
Defining symbolic characters........................................................................................................... 8
Defining a user-defined class........................................................................................................... 8
Defining files to the operating system.............................................................................................. 8
Describing the data.............................................................................................................................. 11
Using data in input and output operations.....................................................................................11
Comparison of WORKING-STORAGE and LOCAL-STORAGE......................................................... 14
Using data from another program.................................................................................................. 16
Processing the data.............................................................................................................................. 17
How logic is divided in the PROCEDURE DIVISION.......................................................................18
Declaratives.................................................................................................................................... 21

Chapter 2. Using data................................................................................................................................ 23

Using variables, structures, literals, and constants............................................................................ 23
Using variables................................................................................................................................23
Using data items and group items..................................................................................................24
Using literals................................................................................................................................... 25
Using constants...............................................................................................................................26
Using figurative constants.............................................................................................................. 26
Assigning values to data items.............................................................................................................27
Examples: initializing data items....................................................................................................28
Initializing a structure (INITIALIZE).............................................................................................. 31
Assigning values to elementary data items (MOVE)...................................................................... 32
Assigning values to group data items (MOVE)............................................................................... 33
Assigning arithmetic results (MOVE or COMPUTE)........................................................................ 34

iii
 Assigning input from a screen or file (ACCEPT)............................................................................. 35
Displaying values on a screen or in a file (DISPLAY)........................................................................... 35
Displaying data on the system logical output device.....................................................................36
Using WITH NO ADVANCING..........................................................................................................37
Using intrinsic functions (built-in functions)....................................................................................... 38
Using tables (arrays) and pointers....................................................................................................... 39
Storage and its addressability..............................................................................................................39

Chapter 3. Working with numbers and arithmetic.................................................................................... 43

Defining numeric data.......................................................................................................................... 43
Displaying numeric data.......................................................................................................................45
Controlling how numeric data is stored...............................................................................................46
Formats for numeric data.....................................................................................................................47
Examples: numeric data and internal representation................................................................... 50
Data format conversions...................................................................................................................... 51
Conversions and precision..............................................................................................................52
Sign representation of zoned and packed-decimal data.................................................................... 53
Checking for incompatible data (numeric class test)..........................................................................53
Performing arithmetic.......................................................................................................................... 55
Using COMPUTE and other arithmetic statements........................................................................55
Using arithmetic expressions......................................................................................................... 56
Using numeric intrinsic functions................................................................................................... 56
Using math-oriented callable services...........................................................................................58
Using date callable services........................................................................................................... 59
Examples: numeric intrinsic functions........................................................................................... 60
Fixed-point contrasted with floating-point arithmetic........................................................................62
Examples: fixed-point and floating-point evaluations...................................................................63
Using currency signs............................................................................................................................ 64
Example: multiple currency signs.................................................................................................. 65

Chapter 4. Handling tables........................................................................................................................ 67

Defining a table (OCCURS)................................................................................................................... 67
Nesting tables.......................................................................................................................................69
Example: subscripting.................................................................................................................... 70
Example: indexing...........................................................................................................................70
Referring to an item in a table..............................................................................................................70
Subscripting.................................................................................................................................... 71
Indexing.......................................................................................................................................... 72
Putting values into a table....................................................................................................................73
Loading a table dynamically........................................................................................................... 73
Initializing a table (INITIALIZE)..................................................................................................... 73
Assigning values when you define a table (VALUE)....................................................................... 74
Example: PERFORM and subscripting............................................................................................76
Example: PERFORM and indexing.................................................................................................. 77
Creating variable-length tables (DEPENDING ON)............................................................................. 78
Loading a variable-length table...................................................................................................... 80
Assigning values to a variable-length table................................................................................... 80
Complex OCCURS DEPENDING ON..................................................................................................... 81
Example: complex ODO.................................................................................................................. 81
Effects of change in ODO object value........................................................................................... 82
Searching a table.................................................................................................................................. 84
Doing a serial search (SEARCH)......................................................................................................85
Doing a binary search (SEARCH ALL)............................................................................................. 86
Sorting a table...................................................................................................................................... 87
Processing table items using intrinsic functions................................................................................. 87
Example: processing tables using intrinsic functions....................................................................88
Working with unbounded tables and groups.......................................................................................88
Example: Using unbounded tables for parsing XML documents...................................................89

iv
Chapter 5. Selecting and repeating program actions............................................................................... 91
Selecting program actions................................................................................................................... 91
Coding a choice of actions.............................................................................................................. 91
Coding conditional expressions......................................................................................................95
Repeating program actions.................................................................................................................. 99
Choosing inline or out-of-line PERFORM....................................................................................... 99
Coding a loop................................................................................................................................ 100
Looping through a table................................................................................................................101
Executing multiple paragraphs or sections................................................................................. 101

Chapter 6. Handling strings.....................................................................................................................103

Joining data items (STRING)............................................................................................................. 103
Example: STRING statement....................................................................................................... 104
Splitting data items (UNSTRING).......................................................................................................105
Example: UNSTRING statement.................................................................................................. 106
Manipulating null-terminated strings................................................................................................ 108
Example: null-terminated strings................................................................................................ 108
Referring to substrings of data items................................................................................................ 109
Reference modifiers..................................................................................................................... 110
Example: arithmetic expressions as reference modifiers........................................................... 111
Example: intrinsic functions as reference modifiers................................................................... 111
Tallying and replacing data items (INSPECT)....................................................................................112
Examples: INSPECT statement....................................................................................................112
Converting data items (intrinsic functions)....................................................................................... 113
Changing case (UPPER-CASE, LOWER-CASE)............................................................................. 114
Transforming to reverse order (REVERSE)...................................................................................114
Converting to numbers (NUMVAL, NUMVAL-C, NUMVAL-F)........................................................115
Converting from one code page to another................................................................................. 116
Converting to hexadecimal or bit data (HEX-OF, BIT-OF)........................................................... 116
Converting from hexadecimal or bit data (HEX-TO-CHAR, BIT-TO-CHAR).................................117
Evaluating data items (intrinsic functions)........................................................................................ 117
Evaluating single characters for collating sequence................................................................... 118
Finding the largest or smallest data item.................................................................................... 118
Finding the length of data items...................................................................................................120
Finding the date of compilation....................................................................................................121

Chapter 7. Processing data in an international environment................................................................. 123

COBOL statements and national data............................................................................................... 124
Intrinsic functions and national data.................................................................................................127
Unicode and the encoding of language characters........................................................................... 129
Using national data (Unicode) in COBOL........................................................................................... 129
Defining national data items........................................................................................................ 130
Using national literals................................................................................................................... 130
Using national-character figurative constants.............................................................................131
Defining national numeric data items.......................................................................................... 132
National groups.............................................................................................................................132
Using national groups................................................................................................................... 133
Storage of character data............................................................................................................. 136
Converting to or from national (Unicode) representation.................................................................136
Converting alphanumeric, DBCS, and integer to national (MOVE).............................................. 137
Converting alphanumeric or DBCS to national (NATIONAL-OF)................................................. 138
Converting national to alphanumeric (DISPLAY-OF)................................................................... 138
Overriding the default code page................................................................................................. 138
Conversion exceptions................................................................................................................. 139
Example: converting to and from national data...........................................................................139
Processing UTF-8 data.......................................................................................................................140
Using intrinsic functions to process UTF-8 encoded data...........................................................140

v
 Processing Chinese GB 18030 data.................................................................................................. 144
Comparing national (UTF-16) data....................................................................................................145
Comparing two class national operands......................................................................................145
Comparing class national and class numeric operands.............................................................. 146
Comparing national numeric and other numeric operands.........................................................146
Comparing national and other character-string operands.......................................................... 147
Comparing national data and alphanumeric-group operands.................................................... 147
Coding for use of DBCS support.........................................................................................................147
Defining DBCS data.......................................................................................................................148
Using DBCS literals....................................................................................................................... 148
Testing for valid DBCS characters................................................................................................ 149
Processing alphanumeric data items that contain DBCS data....................................................149

Chapter 8. Processing files...................................................................................................................... 151

File organization and input-output devices.......................................................................................151
Choosing file organization and access mode.................................................................................... 152
Format for coding input and output............................................................................................. 153
Allocating files.................................................................................................................................... 154
Checking for input or output errors................................................................................................... 155

Chapter 9. Processing QSAM files........................................................................................................... 157

Defining QSAM files and records in COBOL....................................................................................... 157
Establishing record formats......................................................................................................... 158
Setting block sizes........................................................................................................................ 164
Coding input and output statements for QSAM files.........................................................................166
Opening QSAM files...................................................................................................................... 166
Dynamically creating QSAM files..................................................................................................167
Adding records to QSAM files.......................................................................................................167
Updating QSAM files..................................................................................................................... 167
Writing QSAM files to a printer or spooled data set.....................................................................168
Closing QSAM files........................................................................................................................168
Handling errors in QSAM files............................................................................................................ 169
Working with QSAM files.................................................................................................................... 169
Defining and allocating QSAM files.............................................................................................. 170
Retrieving QSAM files................................................................................................................... 172
Ensuring that file attributes match your program....................................................................... 173
Using striped extended-format QSAM data sets......................................................................... 175
Allocation of buffers for QSAM files............................................................................................. 176
Accessing z/OS UNIX files using QSAM.............................................................................................176
Processing QSAM ASCII files on tape................................................................................................177

Chapter 10. Processing VSAM files......................................................................................................... 179

VSAM files...........................................................................................................................................180
Defining VSAM file organization and records.................................................................................... 181
Specifying sequential organization for VSAM files...................................................................... 182
Specifying indexed organization for VSAM files...........................................................................182
Specifying relative organization for VSAM files........................................................................... 183
Specifying access modes for VSAM files......................................................................................184
Defining record lengths for VSAM files.........................................................................................185
Coding input and output statements for VSAM files......................................................................... 186
File position indicator................................................................................................................... 188
Opening a file (ESDS, KSDS, or RRDS)......................................................................................... 188
Reading records from a VSAM file................................................................................................ 191
Updating records in a VSAM file................................................................................................... 191
Adding records to a VSAM file...................................................................................................... 192
Replacing records in a VSAM file..................................................................................................193
Deleting records from a VSAM file............................................................................................... 193
Closing VSAM files........................................................................................................................ 193

vi
 Handling errors in VSAM files............................................................................................................ 194
Protecting VSAM files with a password............................................................................................. 194
Example: password protection for a VSAM indexed file..............................................................195
Working with VSAM data sets under z/OS and z/OS UNIX............................................................... 195
Defining VSAM files.......................................................................................................................196
Creating alternate indexes........................................................................................................... 196
Allocating VSAM files....................................................................................................................198
Sharing VSAM files through RLS...................................................................................................199
Allocation of record areas for VSAM files.......................................................................................... 201
Improving VSAM performance...........................................................................................................201
Extended addressability support.......................................................................................................202

Chapter 11. Processing line-sequential files.......................................................................................... 205

Defining line-sequential files and records in COBOL........................................................................ 205
Describing the structure of a line-sequential file........................................................................ 206
Control characters in line-sequential files...................................................................................206
Allocating line-sequential files.......................................................................................................... 206
Coding input-output statements for line-sequential files................................................................ 207
Opening line-sequential files....................................................................................................... 208
Reading records from line-sequential files..................................................................................208
Adding records to line-sequential files........................................................................................ 209
Closing line-sequential files......................................................................................................... 209
Handling errors in line-sequential files............................................................................................. 210

Chapter 12. Sorting and merging files.....................................................................................................211

Sort and merge process..................................................................................................................... 212
Describing the sort or merge file....................................................................................................... 212
Describing the input to sorting or merging........................................................................................ 213
Example: describing sort and input files for SORT...................................................................... 214
Coding the input procedure............................................................................................................... 214
Describing the output from sorting or merging................................................................................. 215
Coding the output procedure.............................................................................................................216
Example: coding the output procedure when using DFSORT..................................................... 216
Restrictions on input and output procedures....................................................................................217
Defining sort and merge data sets.....................................................................................................217
Sorting variable-length records......................................................................................................... 218
Requesting the sort or merge............................................................................................................ 218
Setting sort or merge criteria....................................................................................................... 219
Example: sorting with input and output procedures................................................................... 220
Choosing alternate collating sequences...................................................................................... 221
Preserving the original sequence of records with equal keys..................................................... 221
Determining whether the sort or merge was successful.................................................................. 221
Stopping a sort or merge operation prematurely.............................................................................. 222
Improving sort performance with FASTSRT...................................................................................... 222
FASTSRT requirements for JCL.................................................................................................... 223
FASTSRT requirements for sort input and output files................................................................223
Checking for sort errors with NOFASTSRT........................................................................................ 224
Controlling sort behavior................................................................................................................... 225
Changing DFSORT defaults with control statements.................................................................. 226
Allocating storage for sort or merge operations.......................................................................... 226
Allocating space for sort files....................................................................................................... 227
Using checkpoint/restart with DFSORT............................................................................................. 227
Using COBOL user exit routines with DFSORT.................................................................................. 228
Sorting under CICS.............................................................................................................................228
CICS SORT application restrictions..............................................................................................228

Chapter 13. Handling errors.................................................................................................................... 231

Requesting dumps............................................................................................................................. 231

vii
 Handling errors in joining and splitting strings..................................................................................232
Handling errors in arithmetic operations.......................................................................................... 232
Example: checking for division by zero........................................................................................ 233
Handling errors in input and output operations................................................................................ 233
Using the end-of-file condition (AT END).....................................................................................236
Coding ERROR declaratives..........................................................................................................236
Using file status keys.................................................................................................................... 237
Example: file status key................................................................................................................238
Using VSAM status codes (VSAM files only)................................................................................ 238
Example: checking VSAM status codes....................................................................................... 239
Coding INVALID KEY phrases.......................................................................................................240
Example: FILE STATUS and INVALID KEY................................................................................... 241
Handling errors when calling programs............................................................................................ 241
Writing routines for handling errors...................................................................................................242

Part 2. Compiling and debugging your program...................................................243

Chapter 14. Compiling under z/OS..........................................................................................................245

Compiling with JCL.............................................................................................................................245
Using a cataloged procedure........................................................................................................246
Writing JCL to compile programs................................................................................................. 250
Compiling under TSO......................................................................................................................... 252
Example: ALLOCATE and CALL for compiling under TSO............................................................ 253
Example: CLIST for compiling under TSO.................................................................................... 253
Starting the compiler from an assembler program........................................................................... 254
Defining compiler input and output................................................................................................... 256
Data sets used by the compiler under z/OS.................................................................................256
Defining the source code data set (SYSIN).................................................................................. 259
Defining a compiler-option data set (SYSOPTF).......................................................................... 260
Specifying source libraries (SYSLIB)............................................................................................ 260
Defining the output data set (SYSPRINT).................................................................................... 261
Directing compiler messages to your terminal (SYSTERM).........................................................261
Creating object code (SYSLIN or SYSPUNCH)............................................................................. 261
Defining an associated-data file (SYSADATA)..............................................................................262
Defining the Java-source output file (SYSJAVA)..........................................................................262
Defining the debug data set (SYSDEBUG)....................................................................................262
Defining the library-processing output file (SYSMDECK)............................................................ 263
Specifying compiler options under z/OS........................................................................................... 263
Specifying compiler options in the PROCESS (CBL) statement...................................................264
Example: specifying compiler options using JCL........................................................................ 265
Example: specifying compiler options under TSO.......................................................................265
Compiler options and compiler output under z/OS..................................................................... 265
Compiling multiple programs (batch compilation)........................................................................... 266
Example: batch compilation.........................................................................................................267
Specifying compiler options in a batch compilation....................................................................268
Example: precedence of options in a batch compilation............................................................ 268
Example: LANGUAGE option in a batch compilation...................................................................269
Correcting errors in your source program......................................................................................... 270
Generating a list of compiler messages....................................................................................... 271
Messages and listings for compiler-detected errors................................................................... 271
Format of compiler diagnostic messages.................................................................................... 271
Severity codes for compiler diagnostic messages.......................................................................272

Chapter 15. Compiling under z/OS UNIX................................................................................................ 273

Setting environment variables under z/OS UNIX.............................................................................. 273
Specifying compiler options under z/OS UNIX..................................................................................274
Compiling and linking with the cob2 command................................................................................ 275

viii
 Creating a DLL under z/OS UNIX.................................................................................................. 276
Example: using cob2 to compile and link under z/OS UNIX....................................................... 276
cob2 syntax and options...............................................................................................................277
cob2 input and output files.......................................................................................................... 279
Compiling using scripts...................................................................................................................... 280

Chapter 16. Compiling, linking, and running OO applications............................................................... 281

Compiling, linking, and running OO applications under z/OS UNIX................................................. 281
Compiling OO applications under z/OS UNIX.............................................................................. 281
Preparing OO applications under z/OS UNIX...............................................................................282
Example: compiling and linking a COBOL class definition under z/OS UNIX............................. 283
Running OO applications under z/OS UNIX................................................................................. 283
Compiling, linking, and running OO applications in JCL or TSO/E.................................................... 285
Compiling OO applications in JCL or TSO/E.................................................................................285
Preparing and running OO applications in JCL or TSO/E............................................................. 286
Example: compiling, linking, and running an OO application using JCL..................................... 287
Using Java SDKs for z/OS...................................................................................................................288
Object-oriented syntax, and Java 6 or later.................................................................................289

Chapter 17. Compiler options................................................................................................................. 291

Option settings for 85 COBOL Standard conformance..................................................................... 295
Conflicting compiler options.............................................................................................................. 295
ADATA................................................................................................................................................. 297
ADV..................................................................................................................................................... 297
AFP..................................................................................................................................................... 298
APOST/QUOTE....................................................................................................................................298
ARCH...................................................................................................................................................299
ARITH................................................................................................................................................. 300
AWO.................................................................................................................................................... 302
BLOCK0...............................................................................................................................................302
BUFSIZE............................................................................................................................................. 303
CICS.................................................................................................................................................... 303
CODEPAGE..........................................................................................................................................304
COMPILE.............................................................................................................................................307
COPYLOC............................................................................................................................................ 307
COPYRIGHT........................................................................................................................................309
CURRENCY......................................................................................................................................... 309
DATA................................................................................................................................................... 310
DBCS...................................................................................................................................................311
DECK................................................................................................................................................... 311
DEFINE............................................................................................................................................... 311
DIAGTRUNC........................................................................................................................................312
DISPSIGN........................................................................................................................................... 313
DLL...................................................................................................................................................... 314
DUMP.................................................................................................................................................. 316
DYNAM................................................................................................................................................317
EXIT.................................................................................................................................................... 317
EXPORTALL.........................................................................................................................................319
FASTSRT............................................................................................................................................. 320
FLAG................................................................................................................................................... 320
FLAGSTD.............................................................................................................................................321
HGPR.................................................................................................................................................. 323
INITCHECK......................................................................................................................................... 323
INITIAL...............................................................................................................................................325
INLINE................................................................................................................................................ 325
INTDATE............................................................................................................................................. 326
INVDATA............................................................................................................................................. 326
LANGUAGE......................................................................................................................................... 330

ix
 LINECOUNT........................................................................................................................................ 331
LIST.....................................................................................................................................................331
MAP.....................................................................................................................................................332
MAXPCF.............................................................................................................................................. 333
MDECK................................................................................................................................................ 334
NAME.................................................................................................................................................. 335
NSYMBOL........................................................................................................................................... 335
NUMBER............................................................................................................................................. 336
NUMCHECK........................................................................................................................................ 336
NUMPROC...........................................................................................................................................340
OBJECT...............................................................................................................................................341
OFFSET............................................................................................................................................... 341
OPTFILE..............................................................................................................................................342
OPTIMIZE........................................................................................................................................... 343
OUTDD................................................................................................................................................ 344
PARMCHECK.......................................................................................................................................344
PGMNAME.......................................................................................................................................... 345
QUALIFY............................................................................................................................................. 347
RENT................................................................................................................................................... 348
RMODE................................................................................................................................................349
RULES................................................................................................................................................. 350
SEQUENCE..........................................................................................................................................352
SERVICE............................................................................................................................................. 352
SOURCE.............................................................................................................................................. 353
SPACE................................................................................................................................................. 353
SQL......................................................................................................................................................354
SQLCCSID........................................................................................................................................... 355
SQLIMS............................................................................................................................................... 355
SSRANGE............................................................................................................................................ 356
STGOPT...............................................................................................................................................357
SUPPRESS.......................................................................................................................................... 358
TERMINAL.......................................................................................................................................... 358
TEST....................................................................................................................................................359
THREAD.............................................................................................................................................. 363
TRUNC................................................................................................................................................ 364
VBREF................................................................................................................................................. 366
VLR......................................................................................................................................................366
VSAMOPENFS.....................................................................................................................................368
WORD................................................................................................................................................. 369
XMLPARSE.......................................................................................................................................... 369
XREF................................................................................................................................................... 370
ZONECHECK....................................................................................................................................... 371
ZONEDATA.......................................................................................................................................... 372
ZWB.................................................................................................................................................... 375

Chapter 18. Compiler-directing statements........................................................................................... 377

Chapter 19. Debugging............................................................................................................................381

Debugging with source language.......................................................................................................382
Tracing program logic................................................................................................................... 382
Finding and handling input-output errors....................................................................................383
Validating data.............................................................................................................................. 383
Moving, initializing or setting uninitialized data...........................................................................383
Generating information about procedures.................................................................................. 384
Debugging using compiler options.................................................................................................... 385
Finding coding errors....................................................................................................................386
Finding line sequence problems.................................................................................................. 386
Checking for invalid COBOL data or invalid COBOL programs.....................................................386

x
 Checking for valid ranges............................................................................................................. 387
Selecting the level of error to be diagnosed................................................................................ 388
Finding program entity definitions and references......................................................................390
Listing data items..........................................................................................................................390
Using the debugger............................................................................................................................ 391
Getting listings................................................................................................................................... 391
Example: short listing................................................................................................................... 393
Example: SOURCE and NUMBER output......................................................................................396
Example: MAP output................................................................................................................... 396
Reading LIST output..................................................................................................................... 402
Example: XREF output: data-name cross-references................................................................. 420
Example: OFFSET compiler output.............................................................................................. 424
Example: VBREF compiler output................................................................................................ 424
Example: conditional compilation output....................................................................................425
Suppressing information in CEEDUMP processing (IGZ1OPT).........................................................426

Part 3. Targeting COBOL programs for certain environments............................... 427

Chapter 20. Developing COBOL programs for CICS............................................................................... 429

Coding COBOL programs to run under CICS..................................................................................... 429
Getting the system date under CICS............................................................................................431
Calling to or from COBOL programs............................................................................................. 431
Determining the success of ECI calls...........................................................................................432
Compiling with the CICS option......................................................................................................... 433
Separating CICS suboptions.........................................................................................................434
Integrated CICS translator........................................................................................................... 434
Using the separate CICS translator................................................................................................... 435
CICS reserved-word table..................................................................................................................436
Handling errors by using CICS HANDLE............................................................................................ 437
Example: handling errors by using CICS HANDLE....................................................................... 438

Chapter 21. Programming for a Db2 environment................................................................................. 439

Db2 coprocessor................................................................................................................................ 439
Using the separate Db2 precompiler.................................................................................................440
Coding SQL statements......................................................................................................................440
Using SQL INCLUDE with the Db2 coprocessor...........................................................................441
Using character data in SQL statements......................................................................................441
Using national decimal data in SQL statements.......................................................................... 442
Using national group items in SQL statements............................................................................442
Using binary items in SQL statements......................................................................................... 443
Determining the success of SQL statements............................................................................... 443
Compiling with the SQL option.......................................................................................................... 443
Separating Db2 suboptions.......................................................................................................... 444
COBOL and Db2 CCSID determination.............................................................................................. 444
Code-page determination for string host variables in SQL statements...................................... 445
Programming with the SQLCCSID or NOSQLCCSID option......................................................... 446
Differences in how the Db2 precompiler and coprocessor behave..................................................446
Choosing the DYNAM or NODYNAM compiler option........................................................................448

Chapter 22. Developing COBOL programs for IMS................................................................................. 451

IMS SQL coprocessor......................................................................................................................... 451
Coding SQLIMS statements............................................................................................................... 452
Using SQLIMS INCLUDE with the IMS SQL coprocessor............................................................. 452
Using character data in SQLIMS statements............................................................................... 452
Using binary items in SQLIMS statements...................................................................................453
Determining the success of SQLIMS statements........................................................................ 453
Compiling with the SQLIMS option.................................................................................................... 453

xi
 Separating IMS suboptions.......................................................................................................... 454
Compiling and linking COBOL programs for running under IMS.......................................................454
Using object-oriented COBOL and Java under IMS.......................................................................... 455
Calling a COBOL method from a Java application under IMS..................................................... 455
Building a mixed COBOL-Java application that starts with COBOL............................................ 456
Writing mixed-language IMS applications................................................................................... 456

Chapter 23. Running COBOL programs under z/OS UNIX......................................................................459

Running in z/OS UNIX environments.................................................................................................459
Setting and accessing environment variables...................................................................................460
Setting environment variables that affect execution...................................................................461
Runtime environment variables................................................................................................... 461
Example: setting and accessing environment variables............................................................. 462
Calling UNIX/POSIX APIs.................................................................................................................. 462
Accessing main program parameters under z/OS UNIX................................................................... 464
Example: accessing main program parameters under z/OS UNIX............................................. 464

Chapter 24. Developing COBOL programs in the mixed AMODE Language Environment.....................467
COBOL programs in AMODE 31 interacting with Java programs in AMODE 64............................... 467
Application calls between COBOL programs in AMODE 31 and Java programs in AMODE 64..467
Building the mixed AMODE COBOL/Java interoperability application .......................................468
Running the mixed AMODE COBOL/Java interoperability program............................................468
Examples for mixed AMODE COBOL/Java interoperability application .....................................469

Part 4. Structuring complex applications............................................................ 471

Chapter 25. Using subprograms..............................................................................................................473

Main programs, subprograms, and calls........................................................................................... 473
Ending and reentering main programs or subprograms................................................................... 474
Transferring control to another program........................................................................................... 475
Making static calls........................................................................................................................ 476
Making dynamic calls................................................................................................................... 476
AMODE switching..........................................................................................................................478
Performance considerations of static and dynamic calls............................................................480
Making both static and dynamic calls.......................................................................................... 480
Examples: static and dynamic CALL statements.........................................................................481
Calling nested COBOL programs.................................................................................................. 482
Making recursive calls........................................................................................................................485
Calling to and from object-oriented programs.................................................................................. 485
Using procedure and function pointers............................................................................................. 485
Deciding which type of pointer to use..........................................................................................487
Calling alternate entry points....................................................................................................... 488
Making programs reentrant............................................................................................................... 488

Chapter 26. Sharing data.........................................................................................................................491

Passing data....................................................................................................................................... 491
Describing arguments in the calling program.............................................................................. 494
Describing parameters in the called program............................................................................. 494
Testing for OMITTED arguments.................................................................................................. 495
Coding the LINKAGE SECTION.......................................................................................................... 495
Coding the PROCEDURE DIVISION for passing arguments..............................................................496
Grouping data to be passed......................................................................................................... 496
Handling null-terminated strings................................................................................................. 497
Using pointers to process a chained list...................................................................................... 497
Passing return-code information....................................................................................................... 500
Using the RETURN-CODE special register................................................................................... 500
Using PROCEDURE DIVISION RETURNING . . ............................................................................ 500

xii
 Specifying CALL . . . RETURNING................................................................................................. 501
Sharing data by using the EXTERNAL clause.................................................................................... 501
Sharing files between programs (external files)............................................................................... 501
Example: using external files....................................................................................................... 502
Accessing main program parameters under z/OS.............................................................................504
Example: accessing main program parameters under z/OS....................................................... 505

Chapter 27. Creating a DLL or a DLL application.................................................................................... 507

Dynamic link libraries (DLLs)............................................................................................................. 507
Compiling programs to create DLLs...................................................................................................508
Linking DLLs........................................................................................................................................508
Example: sample JCL for a procedural DLL application....................................................................509
Using CALL identifier with DLLs......................................................................................................... 510
Search order for DLLs in the z/OS UNIX file system.................................................................... 510
Using DLL linkage and dynamic calls together.................................................................................. 511
Using procedure or function pointers with DLLs..........................................................................512
Calling DLLs from non-DLLs......................................................................................................... 512
Example: calling DLLs from non-DLLs..........................................................................................513
Using COBOL DLLs with C/C++ programs..........................................................................................514
Using DLLs in OO COBOL applications...............................................................................................514

Chapter 28. Preparing COBOL programs for multithreading..................................................................517

Multithreading.................................................................................................................................... 517
Choosing THREAD to support multithreading................................................................................... 518
Transferring control to multithreaded programs.............................................................................. 519
Ending multithreaded programs........................................................................................................519
Processing files with multithreading................................................................................................. 520
File-definition (FD) storage.......................................................................................................... 520
Serializing file access with multithreading.................................................................................. 521
Example: usage patterns of file input and output with multithreading...................................... 521
Handling COBOL limitations with multithreading............................................................................. 522

Part 5. Using COBOL for Web Services................................................................ 525

Chapter 29. Web Services interface .......................................................................................................527

Chapter 30. Processing JSON input ....................................................................................................... 529

Parsing JSON documents ..................................................................................................................529
How to match JSON names that are not valid COBOL data names to data items .......................... 530
Preventing data items from being populated by the JSON PARSE statement ................................ 530
Handling JSON arrays........................................................................................................................ 531
JSON PARSE example........................................................................................................................ 532

Chapter 31. Producing JSON output ...................................................................................................... 535

Chapter 32. Processing XML input.......................................................................................................... 537

XML parser in COBOL......................................................................................................................... 538
Accessing XML documents................................................................................................................ 539
Parsing XML documents.....................................................................................................................540
Writing procedures to process XML............................................................................................. 541
XML events....................................................................................................................................543
Transforming XML text to COBOL data items.............................................................................. 548
Parsing XML documents with validation...................................................................................... 548
Parsing XML documents one segment at a time..........................................................................551
Handling splits using the XML-INFORMATION special register.................................................. 553
The encoding of XML documents.......................................................................................................554
XML input document encoding.....................................................................................................555

xiii
 Parsing XML documents encoded in UTF-8.................................................................................558
Handling XML PARSE exceptions.......................................................................................................559
How the XML parser handles errors.............................................................................................561
Handling encoding conflicts......................................................................................................... 562
Terminating XML parsing................................................................................................................... 563
XML PARSE examples........................................................................................................................ 563
Example: parsing a simple document..........................................................................................564
Example: program for processing XML........................................................................................ 564
Example: parsing an XML document that uses namespaces...................................................... 569
Example: parsing an XML document one segment at a time...................................................... 572
Example: parsing XML documents with validation......................................................................574

Chapter 33. Producing XML output......................................................................................................... 577

Generating XML output...................................................................................................................... 577
Controlling the encoding of generated XML output.......................................................................... 582
Handling XML GENERATE exceptions................................................................................................582
Example: generating XML.................................................................................................................. 583
Enhancing XML output....................................................................................................................... 587
Example: enhancing XML output..................................................................................................588

Part 6. Developing object-oriented programs......................................................591

Chapter 34. Writing object-oriented programs.......................................................................................593

Example: accounts............................................................................................................................. 594
Defining a class.................................................................................................................................. 596
CLASS-ID paragraph for defining a class..................................................................................... 597
REPOSITORY paragraph for defining a class............................................................................... 598
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION for defining class instance data................................................599
Example: defining a class............................................................................................................. 600
Defining a class instance method...................................................................................................... 600
METHOD-ID paragraph for defining a class instance method.................................................... 601
INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION for defining a class instance method................................................ 602
DATA DIVISION for defining a class instance method................................................................ 602
PROCEDURE DIVISION for defining a class instance method.................................................... 603
Overriding an instance method.................................................................................................... 604
Overloading an instance method................................................................................................. 605
Coding attribute (get and set) methods....................................................................................... 605
Example: defining a method.........................................................................................................606
Defining a client..................................................................................................................................608
REPOSITORY paragraph for defining a client.............................................................................. 609
DATA DIVISION for defining a client............................................................................................ 610
Comparing and setting object references....................................................................................611
Invoking methods (INVOKE)........................................................................................................ 612
Creating and initializing instances of classes.............................................................................. 616
Freeing instances of classes.........................................................................................................617
Example: defining a client............................................................................................................ 618
Defining a subclass............................................................................................................................ 618
CLASS-ID paragraph for defining a subclass............................................................................... 619
REPOSITORY paragraph for defining a subclass......................................................................... 620
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION for defining subclass instance data..........................................620
Defining a subclass instance method.......................................................................................... 620
Example: defining a subclass (with methods)............................................................................. 621
Defining a factory section.................................................................................................................. 622
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION for defining factory data........................................................... 623
Defining a factory method............................................................................................................ 623
Example: defining a factory (with methods)................................................................................ 625
Wrapping procedure-oriented COBOL programs.............................................................................. 630

xiv
 Structuring OO applications...............................................................................................................630
Examples: COBOL applications that run using the java command............................................. 631

Chapter 35. Communicating with Java methods....................................................................................633

Accessing JNI services...................................................................................................................... 633
Handling Java exceptions.............................................................................................................634
Managing local and global references......................................................................................... 635
Java access controls.....................................................................................................................637
Sharing data with Java....................................................................................................................... 637
Coding interoperable data types in COBOL and Java.................................................................. 638
Declaring arrays and strings for Java........................................................................................... 638
Manipulating Java arrays..............................................................................................................640
Manipulating Java strings.............................................................................................................642
Example: J2EE client written in COBOL............................................................................................ 645
Example: invoking Java from a batch COBOL program.....................................................................648

Part 7. Specialized processing............................................................................653

Chapter 36. Interrupts and checkpoint/restart...................................................................................... 655

Setting checkpoints............................................................................................................................655
Designing checkpoints..................................................................................................................656
Testing for a successful checkpoint............................................................................................. 656
DD statements for defining checkpoint data sets....................................................................... 656
Messages generated during checkpoint...................................................................................... 658
Restarting programs...........................................................................................................................658
Requesting automatic restart.......................................................................................................658
Requesting deferred restart......................................................................................................... 659
Formats for requesting deferred restart...................................................................................... 659
Resubmitting jobs for restart........................................................................................................660
Example: restarting a job at a specific checkpoint step.............................................................. 660
Example: requesting a step restart.............................................................................................. 660
Example: resubmitting a job for a step restart............................................................................ 661
Example: resubmitting a job for a checkpoint restart................................................................. 661

Chapter 37. Using zlib compression from a COBOL program.................................................................663

Part 8. Improving performance and productivity.................................................667

Chapter 38. Tuning your program........................................................................................................... 669

Using an optimal programming style.................................................................................................669
Using structured programming.................................................................................................... 670
Factoring expressions...................................................................................................................670
Using symbolic constants.............................................................................................................670
Choosing efficient data types............................................................................................................ 670
Choosing efficient computational data items.............................................................................. 671
Using consistent data types......................................................................................................... 671
Making arithmetic expressions efficient...................................................................................... 671
Making exponentiations efficient................................................................................................. 672
Using VOLATILE clauses efficiently..............................................................................................672
Handling tables efficiently................................................................................................................. 672
Optimization of table references..................................................................................................673
Optimizing your code......................................................................................................................... 674
Optimization..................................................................................................................................674
Choosing compiler features to enhance performance......................................................................675
Performance-related compiler options........................................................................................676
Evaluating performance............................................................................................................... 679
Running efficiently with CICS, IMS, or VSAM.................................................................................... 680

xv
 Choosing static or dynamic calls....................................................................................................... 681

Chapter 39. Simplifying coding............................................................................................................... 683

Eliminating repetitive coding............................................................................................................. 683
Example: using the COPY statement........................................................................................... 684
Using Language Environment callable services................................................................................ 685
Sample list of Language Environment callable services............................................................. 686
Calling Language Environment services...................................................................................... 687
Example: Language Environment callable services.................................................................... 687
Using the format 2 SORT statement to sort a table.......................................................................... 688

Appendix A. Intermediate results and arithmetic precision.................................691

Terminology used for intermediate results.............................................................................................692
Example: calculation of intermediate results......................................................................................... 692
Fixed-point data and intermediate results............................................................................................. 693
Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division........................................................................... 693
Exponentiation................................................................................................................................... 694
Example: exponentiation in fixed-point arithmetic...........................................................................695
Truncated intermediate results......................................................................................................... 695
Binary data and intermediate results................................................................................................ 696
Intrinsic functions evaluated in fixed-point arithmetic.......................................................................... 696
Integer functions................................................................................................................................696
Mixed functions.................................................................................................................................. 697
Floating-point data and intermediate results......................................................................................... 698
Exponentiations evaluated in floating-point arithmetic................................................................... 698
Intrinsic functions evaluated in floating-point arithmetic................................................................ 699
Arithmetic expressions in nonarithmetic statements............................................................................ 699

Appendix B. Converting double-byte character set (DBCS) data.......................... 701

DBCS notation..........................................................................................................................................701
Alphanumeric to DBCS data conversion (IGZCA2D).............................................................................. 701
IGZCA2D syntax................................................................................................................................. 701
IGZCA2D return codes....................................................................................................................... 702
Example: IGZCA2D............................................................................................................................ 703
DBCS to alphanumeric data conversion (IGZCD2A)...............................................................................703
IGZCD2A syntax................................................................................................................................. 703
IGZCD2A return codes....................................................................................................................... 704
Example: IGZCD2A............................................................................................................................ 705

Appendix C. XML reference material...................................................................707

XML PARSE exceptions with XMLPARSE(XMLSS) in effect.....................................................................707
XML PARSE exceptions with XMLPARSE(COMPAT) in effect.................................................................. 709
XML PARSE exceptions that allow continuation................................................................................709
XML PARSE exceptions that do not allow continuation.................................................................... 712
XML GENERATE exceptions.....................................................................................................................715

Appendix D. JSON reference material.................................................................717

JSON GENERATE exceptions...................................................................................................................717
JSON PARSE conditions and associated codes and runtime messages................................................ 717
Nonexception conditions and corresponding values of JSON-STATUS............................................718
Exception conditions, and corresponding values of JSON-CODE.....................................................718
Nonexception condition runtime messages......................................................................................719
Exception condition runtime messages............................................................................................ 720

Appendix E. EXIT compiler option...................................................................... 721

Using the user-exit work area................................................................................................................. 721
Calling from exit modules........................................................................................................................722

xvi
 Processing of INEXIT...............................................................................................................................722
INEXIT parameters............................................................................................................................ 722
Processing of LIBEXIT............................................................................................................................. 723
Processing of LIBEXIT with nested COPY statements......................................................................724
LIBEXIT parameters...........................................................................................................................725
Processing of PRTEXIT............................................................................................................................ 726
PRTEXIT parameters..........................................................................................................................727
Processing of ADEXIT.............................................................................................................................. 728
ADEXIT parameters........................................................................................................................... 728
Processing of MSGEXIT........................................................................................................................... 729
MSGEXIT parameters.........................................................................................................................730
Customizing compiler-message severities........................................................................................731
Example: MSGEXIT user exit............................................................................................................. 733
Error handling for exit modules...............................................................................................................738
Using the EXIT compiler option with CICS, SQL and SQLIMS statements............................................ 740

Appendix F. JNI.cpy copybook........................................................................... 743

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents.......................................................749

Compiler options that affect the SYSADATA file..................................................................................... 749
SYSADATA record types...........................................................................................................................750
Example: SYSADATA................................................................................................................................ 751
SYSADATA record descriptions............................................................................................................... 752
Common header section......................................................................................................................... 753
Job identification record: X'0000'...........................................................................................................755
ADATA identification record: X'0001'......................................................................................................756
Compilation unit start | end record: X'0002'.......................................................................................... 756
Options record: X'0010'.......................................................................................................................... 757
External symbol record: X'0020'.............................................................................................................767
Parse tree record: X'0024'...................................................................................................................... 768
Token record: X'0030'............................................................................................................................. 794
Source error record: X'0032'...................................................................................................................821
Source record: X'0038'............................................................................................................................821
COPY REPLACING record: X'0039'......................................................................................................... 822
Symbol record: X'0042'........................................................................................................................... 823
Symbol cross-reference record: X'0044'................................................................................................ 835
Nested program record: X'0046'.............................................................................................................837
Library record: X'0060'............................................................................................................................837
Statistics record: X'0090'........................................................................................................................ 838
EVENTS record: X'0120'.......................................................................................................................... 838

Appendix H. Using sample programs.................................................................. 843

IGYTCARA: batch application..................................................................................................................843
Input data for IGYTCARA................................................................................................................... 844
Report produced by IGYTCARA......................................................................................................... 845
Preparing to run IGYTCARA............................................................................................................... 846
IGYTCARB: interactive program.............................................................................................................. 847
Preparing to run IGYTCARB............................................................................................................... 847
IGYTSALE: nested program application..................................................................................................849
Input data for IGYTSALE.................................................................................................................... 850
Reports produced by IGYTSALE........................................................................................................ 852
Preparing to run IGYTSALE................................................................................................................ 856
Language elements and concepts that are illustrated........................................................................... 857

Appendix I. Accessing JCL parameters...............................................................863

Appendix J. Accessibility features for Enterprise COBOL for z/OS........................865

xvii
 Notices..............................................................................................................867
Trademarks.............................................................................................................................................. 868
Glossary............................................................................................................ 871
List of resources................................................................................................ 915
Enterprise COBOL for z/OS...................................................................................................................... 915
Related publications................................................................................................................................915

Index................................................................................................................ 919

xviii
Tables

1. FILE-CONTROL entries..................................................................................................................................6

2. FILE SECTION entries................................................................................................................................. 12

3. Assignment to data items in a program......................................................................................................27

4. Effect of RMODE and RENT compiler options on the RMODE attribute.....................................................41

5. Ranges in value of COMP-5 data items.......................................................................................................49

6. Internal representation of numeric items.................................................................................................. 50

7. NUMCLS(PRIM) and valid signs.................................................................................................................. 54

8. NUMCLS(ALT) and valid signs..................................................................................................................... 54

9. Order of evaluation of arithmetic operators............................................................................................... 56

10. Numeric intrinsic functions.......................................................................................................................57

11. Compatibility of math intrinsic functions and callable services.............................................................. 58

12. INTDATE(LILIAN) and compatibility of date intrinsic functions and callable services...........................59

13. INTDATE(ANSI) and compatibility of date intrinsic functions and callable services..............................59

14. Hexadecimal values of the euro sign........................................................................................................65

15. COBOL statements and national data.................................................................................................... 124

16. Intrinsic functions and national character data.....................................................................................127

17. National group items that are processed with group semantics...........................................................135

18. Encoding and size of alphanumeric, DBCS, and national data.............................................................. 136

19. Summary of file organizations, access modes, and record formats of COBOL files............................. 153

20. QSAM file allocation................................................................................................................................170

21. Maximum record length of QSAM files................................................................................................... 174

22. Comparison of VSAM, COBOL, and non-VSAM terminology.................................................................. 179

23. Comparison of VSAM data-set types......................................................................................................180

xix
 24. VSAM file organization, access mode, and record format..................................................................... 181

25. Definition of VSAM fixed-length records................................................................................................ 185

26. Definition of VSAM variable-length records........................................................................................... 186

27. I/O statements for VSAM sequential files.............................................................................................. 187

28. I/O statements for VSAM relative and indexed files.............................................................................. 187

29. Statements to load records into a VSAM file..........................................................................................190

30. Statements to update records in a VSAM file.........................................................................................192

31. Methods for improving VSAM performance........................................................................................... 201

32. Methods for checking for sort errors with NOFASTSRT......................................................................... 225

33. Methods for controlling sort behavior.................................................................................................... 225

34. Compiler data sets.................................................................................................................................. 256

35. Block size of fixed-length compiler data sets........................................................................................ 259

36. Block size of variable-length compiler data sets................................................................................... 259

37. Types of compiler output under z/OS.....................................................................................................265

38. Severity codes for compiler diagnostic messages................................................................................. 272

39. Input files to the cob2 command........................................................................................................... 279

40. Output files from the cob2 command.................................................................................................... 279

41. Commands for compiling and linking a class definition........................................................................ 282

42. java command options for customizing the JVM................................................................................... 284

43. Compiler options.....................................................................................................................................291

44. Mutually exclusive compiler options...................................................................................................... 296

45. EBCDIC multibyte coded character set identifiers................................................................................ 306

46. DISPLAY output with the DISPSIGN(COMPAT) option or the DISPSIGN(SEP) option specified:.........314

47. Setting INVDATA and NUMPROC options when migrating from earlier COBOL versions..................... 327

48. Values of the LANGUAGE compiler option............................................................................................. 330

xx
49. Mapping of removed options to new options......................................................................................... 343

50. Length of record read and file status......................................................................................................368

51. Severity levels of compiler messages.................................................................................................... 388

52. Using compiler options to get listings.................................................................................................... 391

53. Terms used in MAP output......................................................................................................................399

54. Symbols used in LIST and MAP output.................................................................................................. 400

55. Compiler options in the INFO BYTE section.......................................................................................... 403

56. Signature information bytes................................................................................................................... 404

57. Calls between COBOL and assembler under CICS................................................................................ 432

58. Compiler options required for the integrated CICS translator.............................................................. 433

59. Compiler options required for the separate CICS translator.................................................................435

60. TRUNC compiler options recommended for the separate CICS translator.......................................... 436

61. Samples with POSIX function calls........................................................................................................ 463

62. Effects of termination statements..........................................................................................................474

63. Methods for passing data in the CALL statement.................................................................................. 492

64. Compiler options for DLL applications................................................................................................... 508

65. Binder options for DLL applications....................................................................................................... 509

66. Special registers used by the XML parser.............................................................................................. 541

67. Results of processing-procedure changes to XML-CODE with XMLPARSE(XMLSS) in effect...............544

68. Results of processing-procedure changes to XML-CODE with XMLPARSE(COMPAT) in effect............ 545

69. Coded character sets for XML documents............................................................................................. 554

70. Hexadecimal values of white-space characters.................................................................................... 556

71. Aliases for XML encoding declarations.................................................................................................. 557

72. Hexadecimal values of special characters for various EBCDIC CCSIDs............................................... 558

73. XML events and special registers........................................................................................................... 564

xxi
 74. XML events and special registers........................................................................................................... 569

75. XML events and special registers from parsing XML document with an undeclared namespace
prefix.........................................................................................................................................................571

76. Encoding of generated XML if the ENCODING phrase is omitted..........................................................582

77. Structure of class definitions..................................................................................................................596

78. Structure of instance method definitions...............................................................................................601

79. Structure of COBOL clients..................................................................................................................... 608

80. Conformance of arguments in a COBOL client.......................................................................................613

81. Conformance of the returned data item in a COBOL client................................................................... 615

82. Structure of factory definitions...............................................................................................................622

83. Structure of factory method definitions................................................................................................. 623

84. JNI services for local and global references..........................................................................................636

85. Interoperable data types in COBOL and Java........................................................................................ 638

86. Interoperable arrays and strings in COBOL and Java............................................................................ 638

87. Noninteroperable array types in COBOL and Java.................................................................................639

88. JNI array services................................................................................................................................... 640

89. Services that convert between jstring references and national data....................................................642

90. Services that convert between jstring references and alphanumeric data...........................................643

91. Performance-related compiler options..................................................................................................676

92. Performance-tuning worksheet..............................................................................................................680

93. Language Environment callable services............................................................................................... 686

94. Comparison of format 1 and format 2 SORT statements...................................................................... 688

95. IGZCA2D return codes............................................................................................................................702

96. IGZCD2A return codes............................................................................................................................704

97. Reason codes for XML PARSE exceptions that are unique to Enterprise COBOL................................. 707

98. XML PARSE exceptions that allow continuation.................................................................................... 709

xxii
99. XML PARSE exceptions that do not allow continuation (for XMLPARSE(COMPAT))............................. 712

100. XML GENERATE exceptions..................................................................................................................715

101. JSON GENERATE exceptions................................................................................................................717

102. Reason codes for JSON nonexception conditions............................................................................... 718

103. Reason codes for JSON exception conditions..................................................................................... 718

104. Layout of the user-exit work area........................................................................................................ 721

105. INEXIT processing................................................................................................................................ 722

106. INEXIT parameters...............................................................................................................................722

107. LIBEXIT processing.............................................................................................................................. 723

108. LIBEXIT processing with nonnested COPY statements...................................................................... 724

109. LIBEXIT processing with nested COPY statements............................................................................ 725

110. LIBEXIT parameters............................................................................................................................. 725

111. PRTEXIT processing............................................................................................................................. 726

112. PRTEXIT parameters............................................................................................................................ 727

113. ADEXIT processing............................................................................................................................... 728

114. ADEXIT parameters.............................................................................................................................. 728

115. MSGEXIT processing............................................................................................................................ 729

116. MSGEXIT parameters........................................................................................................................... 730

117. FIPS (FLAGSTD) message categories.................................................................................................. 732

118. Actions possible in exit modules for CICS, SQL and SQLIMS statements.......................................... 740

119. SYSADATA record types........................................................................................................................750

120. SYSADATA common header section.....................................................................................................753

121. SYSADATA job identification record..................................................................................................... 755

122. ADATA identification record................................................................................................................. 756

123. SYSADATA compilation unit start | end record.................................................................................... 756

xxiii
 124. SYSADATA options record.................................................................................................................... 757

125. SYSADATA external symbol record...................................................................................................... 767

126. SYSADATA parse tree record................................................................................................................ 768

127. SYSADATA token record....................................................................................................................... 795

128. SYSADATA source error record.............................................................................................................821

129. SYSADATA source record......................................................................................................................821

130. SYSADATA COPY REPLACING record...................................................................................................822

131. SYSADATA symbol record.....................................................................................................................823

132. SYSADATA symbol cross-reference record.......................................................................................... 835

133. SYSADATA nested program record.......................................................................................................837

134. SYSADATA library record...................................................................................................................... 837

135. SYSADATA statistics record.................................................................................................................. 838

136. SYSADATA EVENTS TIMESTAMP record layout................................................................................... 839

137. SYSADATA EVENTS PROCESSOR record layout...................................................................................839

138. SYSADATA EVENTS FILE END record layout........................................................................................ 839

139. SYSADATA EVENTS PROGRAM record layout...................................................................................... 840

140. SYSADATA EVENTS FILE ID record layout........................................................................................... 840

141. SYSADATA EVENTS ERROR record layout............................................................................................840

xxiv
Preface

About this information

This information is for COBOL programmers and system programmers. It helps you understand how
to use Enterprise COBOL for z/OS to compile COBOL programs. It also describes the operating system
features that you might need to optimize program performance or handle errors.
For information about COBOL language, and for references needed to write a program for an IBM COBOL
compiler, see the Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference.
Important: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS is referred to as Enterprise COBOL throughout this information.

How this information will help you

This information will help you write and compile Enterprise COBOL programs. It will also help you define
object-oriented classes and methods, invoke methods, and refer to objects in your programs.
This information assumes experience in developing application programs and some knowledge of COBOL.
It focuses on using Enterprise COBOL to meet your programming objectives and not on the definition of
the COBOL language. For complete information about COBOL syntax, see the IBM Enterprise COBOL for
z/OS Language Reference.
For information about migrating programs to Enterprise COBOL, see the IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS
Migration Guide.
IBM z/OS Language Environment® provides the runtime environment and runtime services that are
required to run Enterprise COBOL programs. You can find information about link-editing and running
programs in the IBM z/OS Language Environment Programming Guide and IBM z/OS Language Environment
Programming Reference.
For a comparison of commonly used Enterprise COBOL and Language Environment terms, see
“Comparison of commonly used terms” on page xxvi.

Abbreviated terms
Certain terms are used in a shortened form in this information. Abbreviations for the product names used
most frequently are listed alphabetically in the following table.

Term used Long form

CICS® CICS Transaction Server
Debug Tool IBM Debug for z/OS (formerly IBM Debug Tool for z/OS and IBM
Debug for z Systems®)1
Enterprise COBOL IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS
Language Environment IBM z/OS Language Environment
MVS™ MVS/ESA
z/OS UNIX z/OS UNIX System Services

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 xxv

 Term used Long form

Note:
1. IBM Debug for z/OS supersedes IBM Debug for z Systems and IBM Debug Tool for z/OS. Not all
references to IBM Debug for z Systems and IBM Debug Tool for z/OS have been changed in the
COBOL documentation library. It is recommended that you upgrade your debugger to the latest level
in order to have the full range of debugging features available. In some cases, you must upgrade your
debugger to a certain version depending on what level of Enterprise COBOL you are using to create
the COBOL application:
• IBM Debug Tool V13.1 supports Enterprise COBOL V5.1 and earlier versions
• IBM Debug for z Systems V14.0 supports Enterprise COBOL V6.1 and earlier versions
• IBM Debug for z Systems V14.1 supports Enterprise COBOL V6.2 and earlier versions
To find out which IBM debug product best suits
your needs, see https://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSQ2R2_14.2.0/
com.ibm.debug.cg.doc/common/dcompo.html?sc=SSQ2R2_latest.

In addition to these abbreviated terms, the term "85 COBOL Standard" is used to refer to the combination
of the following standards:
• ISO 1989:1985, Programming languages - COBOL
• ISO/IEC 1989/AMD1:1992, Programming languages - COBOL: Intrinsic function module
• ISO/IEC 1989/AMD2:1994, Programming languages - Correction and clarification amendment for
COBOL
• ANSI INCITS 23-1985, Programming Languages - COBOL
• ANSI INCITS 23a-1989, Programming Languages - Intrinsic Function Module for COBOL
• ANSI INCITS 23b-1993, Programming Language - Correction Amendment for COBOL
The term "2002 COBOL Standard" is used to refer to the following standard:
• INCITS/ISO/IEC 1989-2002, Information technology - Programming languages - COBOL
The term "2014 COBOL Standard" is used to refer to the following standard:
• INCITS/ISO/IEC 1989:2014, Information technology - Programming languages, their environments and
system software interfaces - Programming language COBOL
The ISO standards are identical to the American National standards.
Other terms, if not commonly understood, are shown in italics the first time that they appear, and are
listed in the glossary.

Comparison of commonly used terms

To better understand the terms used throughout the IBM z/OS Language Environment and IBM Enterprise
COBOL for z/OS information, and to understand which terms are meant to be equivalent, see the following
table.

Language Environment term Enterprise COBOL equivalent

Aggregate Group item
Array A table created using the OCCURS clause
Array element Table element
Enclave Run unit
External data WORKING-STORAGE data defined using the EXTERNAL clause

xxvi Preface
 Language Environment term Enterprise COBOL equivalent
Local data Any non-EXTERNAL data item
Pass parameters directly, by value BY VALUE
Pass parameters indirectly, by reference BY REFERENCE
Pass parameters indirectly, by value BY CONTENT
Routine Program
Scalar Elementary item

How to read syntax diagrams

Use the following description to read the syntax diagrams in this information.
• Read the syntax diagrams from left to right, from top to bottom, following the path of the line.
The ►►─── symbol indicates the beginning of a syntax diagram.
The ───► symbol indicates that the syntax diagram is continued on the next line.
The ►─── symbol indicates that the syntax diagram is continued from the previous line.
The ───►◄ symbol indicates the end of a syntax diagram.
Diagrams of syntactical units other than complete statements start with the ►─── symbol and end with
the ───► symbol.
• Required items appear on the horizontal line (the main path):

required_item

• Optional items appear below the main path:

required_item
optional_item

• If you can choose from two or more items, they appear vertically, in a stack. If you must choose one of
the items, one item of the stack appears on the main path:

required_item required_choice1

required_choice2

If choosing one of the items is optional, the entire stack appears below the main path:

required_item
optional_choice1

optional_choice2

If one of the items is the default, it appears above the main path and the remaining choices are shown
below:

Preface xxvii
 default_choice
required_item
optional_choice

optional_choice

• An arrow returning to the left, above the main line, indicates an item that can be repeated:

required_item repeatable_item

If the repeat arrow contains a comma, you must separate repeated items with a comma:

required_item repeatable_item

• Keywords appear in uppercase (for example, FROM). They must be spelled exactly as shown. Variables
appear in lowercase italics (for example, column-name). They represent user-supplied names or values.
• If punctuation marks, parentheses, arithmetic operators, or other such symbols are shown, you must
enter them as part of the syntax.

How examples are shown

This information shows numerous examples of sample COBOL statements, program fragments, and small
programs to illustrate the coding techniques being described. The examples of program code are written
in lowercase, uppercase, or mixed case to demonstrate that you can write your programs in any of these
ways.
To more clearly separate some examples from the explanatory text, they are presented in a monospace
font.
COBOL keywords and compiler options that appear in text are generally shown in SMALL UPPERCASE.
Other terms such as program variable names are sometimes shown in an italic font for clarity.
If you copy and paste examples from the PDF format documentation, make sure that the spaces in the
examples (if any) are in place; you might need to manually add some missing spaces to ensure that
COBOL source text aligns to the required columns per the COBOL reference format in the Enterprise
COBOL for z/OS Language Reference. Alternatively, you can copy and paste examples from the HTML
format documentation and the spaces should be already in place.

Additional documentation and support

IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS provides Portable Document Format (PDF) versions of the entire
library for this version and for previous versions on the library page at http://www.ibm.com/support/
docview.wss?uid=swg27036733. These documents are also available in Japanese.
Support information is also available at https://www.ibm.com/support/home/product/
B984385H82239E03/Enterprise_COBOL_for_z/OS.

xxviii Preface
Summary of changes
This section lists the major changes that have been made to this document for Enterprise COBOL
Version 6 Release 2 and Version 6 Release 2 with PTFs installed. The changes that are described in
this information have an associated cross-reference for your convenience. The latest technical changes
are marked within >| and |< in the HTML version, or marked by vertical bars (|) in the left margin in the
PDF version.
For a complete list of new and improved features in Enterprise COBOL 6.2 and COBOL 6.2 with PTFs
installed, see What is new in Enterprise COBOL for z/OS 6.2 and COBOL 6.2 with PTFs installed in the
Enterprise COBOL for z/OS What's New.

Version 6 Release 2 with PTFs installed

New and changed compiler options

• The following compiler options are new:
– PI91584: COPYLOC: The new COPYLOC compiler option can be used to add either a PDSE (or PDS)
dataset or z/OS UNIX directory as an additional location to be searched for copy members during the
library phase. (“COPYLOC” on page 307)
– PH05855: INITIAL: The new INITIAL compiler option allows you to get a program that has initial
values in data items each time the program is called, without having to add the IS INITIAL clause
to the PROGRAM-ID paragraph, and without having to use dynamic CALL and CANCEL statements.
(“INITIAL” on page 325)
– PH31500: INVDATA: The new INVDATA compiler option replaces the deprecated ZONEDATA
compiler option and provides users fine-grained control over how the compiler generates code
to handle USAGE DISPLAY and USAGE PACKED-DECIMAL data items that contain invalid data.
(“INVDATA” on page 326)
• The following compiler options are modified:
– PI90571: ZONEDATA: The ZONEDATA option is updated to affect the behaviour of MOVE statements,
comparisons, and computations for USAGE DISPLAY or PACKED-DECIMAL data items that could
contain invalid digits, an invalid sign code, or invalid zone bits. (“ZONEDATA” on page 372)
– PI91585: RULES: New suboptions OMITODOMIN | NOOMITODOMIN are added to the RULES option
to control whether the compiler will issue warning messages for any OCCURS DEPENDING ON
clauses that are specified without integer-1 (the minimum number of occurrences). (“RULES” on page
350)
– PI91586: RULES: New suboptions UNREF | NOUNREFALL | NOUNREFSOURCE are added to the
RULES option to control whether the compiler will report unreferenced data items, and to control
whether the reporting is done only for data items not declared in a copy member (NOUNREFSOURCE)
or all data items (NOUNREFALL). (“RULES” on page 350)
– PI96135: NUMCHECK(PAC): For packed decimal (COMP-3) data items that have an even number of
digits, the unused bits are checked for zeros. (“NUMCHECK” on page 336)
– PI98480: NUMCHECK(ZON): New suboptions ALPHNUM | NOALPHNUM are added to the
NUMCHECK(ZON) option to control whether the compiler will generate code for an implicit numeric
class test for zoned decimal data items that are being compared with an alphanumeric data item,
alphanumeric literal or alphanumeric figurative constant. (“NUMCHECK” on page 336)
– PH04369: RULES(NOEVENPACK) will not issue messages for even-digit PACKED-DECIMAL data
items whose names start with DFH, DSN, EYU or SQL, that is, data items generated for/by CICS
and Db2®. (“RULES” on page 350)
– PH04485: TEST： New suboptions DSNAME | NODSNAME are added to the TEST|
NOTEST(SEPARATE) option to control whether the external file name, which is the SYSDEBUG
dataset name used during compilation, will or will not be stored in the object program. (“TEST”
on page 359)

Preface xxix
 – PH08642: NUMCHECK: Redundant checks previously added by the NUMCHECK option have been
removed, improving performance, and some checks can be done at compile time. Specifying
NUMCHECK may also cause the compiler to produce some messages at compile time instead of at
run time. (“NUMCHECK” on page 336)
– PH09225: INITCHECK: The INITCHECK option can be specified with OPTIMIZE(0). (“INITCHECK”
on page 323)
– PH11667: NUMCHECK(BIN): NUMCHECK(BIN) will check for binary data items (COMP, COMP-4, and
USAGE BINARY) even when TRUNC(BIN) is in effect. (“NUMCHECK” on page 336)
– PH24340: NUMCHECK(ZON): New suboptions LAXREDEF | STRICTREDEF are added to the
NUMCHECK(ZON) option to control whether the compiler will check and issue warning messages
for redefined items. (“NUMCHECK” on page 336)
– PH24413: INITCHECK: New suboptions LAX | STRICT are added to the INITCHECK option to
control whether the compiler will issue warning messages for data items unless they are initialized on
at least one, or on all, logical paths to a statement. (“INITCHECK” on page 323)
– PH26794: NUMCHECK(BIN): New suboptions TRUNCBIN | NOTRUNCBIN are added to the
NUMCHECK(BIN) option to control whether the compiler will generate the checking code for binary
data items. (“NUMCHECK” on page 336)
– PH28546: A new "CONVERTING" phrase is added to the JSON GENERATE and JSON PARSE
statements so that you can generate and parse JSON boolean values. (Chapter 31, “Producing JSON
output ,” on page 535 and Chapter 30, “Processing JSON input ,” on page 529)
Note that COBOL Runtime LE APAR PH26698 must also be applied on all systems where programs
that make use of this new feature are linked or run.
– PTF UI71111 (No APAR number): New functionality is added to NUMCHECK to check alphanumeric
senders whose contents are being moved to a numeric receiver. For alphanumeric senders whose
contents are being moved to a numeric receiver, the compiler treats the sender as a numeric integer
so NUMCHECK generates an implicit numeric class test for each alphanumeric sender. (“NUMCHECK”
on page 336)
– Runtime APAR PH20569(V2R2/V2R3/V2R4): The included DWARF diagnostic information when
TEST(NOSEPARATE) is in effect can be extracted from the LLA/VLF managed programs. (TEST)
– PH36688: RULES: New suboptions LAXREDEF | NOLAXREDEF are added to the RULES option to
inform users of redefined items with mismatched lengths. (“RULES” on page 350)
– PH36690: OFFSET: The OFFSET option behavior is changed. If there are multiple blocks of
instructions for a single line of COBOL code, multiple entries will be generated for those instructions
in the OFFSET table. (“OFFSET” on page 341)
– PH41362: NUMCHECK(ZON): LAXREDEF|STRICTREDEF is deprecated but is tolerated for
compatibility, and it is replaced by the LAX|STRICT option. (“NUMCHECK” on page 336)
– PH50301: NUMCHECK: The NUMCHECK compiler option is updated to avoid generating runtime
checking code of zoned decimal senders in MOVE statements when the receiver is an alphanumeric
data item and NUMCHECK(ZON(LAX)) is in effect. (“NUMCHECK” on page 336)
• The following compiler option is deprecated:
– PH31500: ZONEDATA: This compiler option is deprecated but tolerated and is automatically mapped
to an equivalent form of the new INVDATA compiler option. (“ZONEDATA” on page 372)

IBM-supplied CICS reserved-word table changes

• PI91589: New COBOL words are added to the IBM-supplied CICS reserved-word table. (“CICS
reserved-word table” on page 436)

Statement changes
• PI95081: A new LOC(24|31) phrase is added to the ALLOCATE statement to control the location of
dynamic storage that is acquired, which overrides the influence of the DATA compiler option. (“Storage
and its addressability” on page 39)

xxx Preface
Intrinsic function enhancements
• PI97434: Add support for processing national data items with the following intrinsic functions:
– REVERSE
– ULENGTH
– UPOS
– USUBSTR
– UWIDTH
(“Intrinsic functions and national data” on page 127)
If the updated intrinsic functions (REVERSE, ULENGTH, UPOS, USUBSTR, UWIDTH) in the May
compiler PTFs (UI56120, UI56121, UI56122) are used, then the May Runtime PTF UI56043(V2R1)/
UI56042(V2R2)/UI55861(V2R3) must also be applied to Language Environment on all systems where
these programs are linked or run.
• PI99703:
– The following intrinsic functions are added as IBM extensions:
- BIT-OF
- HEX-OF
(“Converting to hexadecimal or bit data (HEX-OF, BIT-OF)” on page 116)
– The following intrinsic functions are added as part of the 2014 COBOL Standard:
- E
- PI
- TRIM
If the new intrinsic functions (BIT-OF, HEX-OF, E, PI, TRIM) in the July compiler PTFs (UI57342,
UI57343, UI57344, UI57345) are used, then the July Runtime PTF UI57304(V2R1)/UI57303(V2R2)/
UI57302(V2R3) must also be applied to Language Environment on all systems where these programs
are linked or run.
• PH02183:
– The following intrinsic functions are added as IBM extensions:
- BIT-TO-CHAR
- HEX-TO-CHAR
(“Converting from hexadecimal or bit data (HEX-TO-CHAR, BIT-TO-CHAR)” on page 117)
– The following intrinsic functions are added as part of the 2014 COBOL Standard:
- ABS
- BYTE-LENGTH (“Finding the length of data items” on page 120)
- EXP
- EXP10
- NUMVAL-F
- SIGN
- TEST-NUMVAL
- TEST-NUMVAL-C
- TEST-NUMVAL-F
If the new intrinsic functions (BIT-TO-CHAR, HEX-TO-CHAR, NUMVAL-F, TEST-NUMVAL, TEST-NUMVAL-
C, TEST-NUMVAL-F) in the September compiler PTFs (UI58632, UI58633, UI58634) are used, then
the September Runtime PTF UI58596(V2R1)/UI58595(V2R2)/UI58603(V2R3) must also be applied to
Language Environment on all systems where these programs are linked or run.

Preface xxxi
 COBOL/JNI interface enhancement
Runtime APAR PH37101(V2R3/V2R4): An enhancement is made to assist COBOL programs running in
AMODE 31 to interact with Java™ programs in AMODE 64. (“COBOL programs in AMODE 31 interacting
with Java programs in AMODE 64” on page 467)
Note: IBM SDK, Java Technology Edition V8.0.6.35 (JVM) is needed for this enhancement.

Version 6 Release 2

New, changed, and removed compiler options

• The following compiler options are new:
– DEFINE (“DEFINE” on page 311)
– INITCHECK (“INITCHECK” on page 323)
– INLINE (“INLINE” on page 325)
– NUMCHECK (“NUMCHECK” on page 336)
– PARMCHECK (“PARMCHECK” on page 344)
• The following compiler options are modified:
– AFP: The default value is changed to AFP(NOVOLATILE). (“AFP” on page 298)
– ARCH: A new higher level of ARCH(12) is accepted. ARCH(7) is still the default. (“ARCH” on page
299)
– MAXPCF: The default value is changed to MAXPCF(100000) to reflect the increased capacity of the
V6 compiler. (“MAXPCF” on page 333)
– NOSTGOPT: In earlier versions, data items can get optimized with OPT(2) even when NOSTGOPT was
in effect. NOSTGOPT was changed in this version so that no optimization of storage or data items
occurs even with OPT(2). This is especially helpful for WORKING-STORAGE eye-catchers. (“STGOPT”
on page 357)
– SSRANGE: New suboptions MSG and ABD are added to the SSRANGE compiler option to control how
the compiler checks reference modification lengths. (“SSRANGE” on page 356)
– TEST: New suboptions SEPARATE and NOSEPARATE are added to the TEST compiler option
to control program object size on disk while retaining debugging capability. In addition, new
combinations of suboptions are supported in both the TEST and NOTEST compiler options, including
TEST(NODWARF), TEST(SEPARATE), and NOTEST(DWARF,SOURCE). (“TEST” on page 359)
• The following compiler option is removed:
– ZONECHECK is deprecated but is tolerated for compatibility, and it is replaced by NUMCHECK(ZON).
(“ZONECHECK” on page 371)

New statements
• The new JSON PARSE statement converts JSON text to COBOL data formats. (Chapter 30, “Processing
JSON input ,” on page 529)

Debugging changes
• TEST(SEPARATE) supports generating the debug information into side files to control module size
while retaining debugging capability. (“TEST” on page 359)

Listing changes
• Compiler diagnostic messages now appear at the end of the listing, as was the case in COBOL compilers
before Enterprise COBOL V5.

xxxii Preface
 • Addition of MD5 signature to program objects and debug data to allow matching of debug data with
executables even if a program is recompiled. (“Example: MD5 signature” on page 413)
• Three new fields are added at the end of PPA4:
– Offset of the first user-defined data item in WORKING-STORAGE.
– Total length of user-defined data items in WORKING-STORAGE.
– Bit to indicate whether there are EXTERNAL data items.
(“Example: Program prolog areas” on page 415)

Usability enhancements
• Improves usability of the compiler in the z/OS UNIX System Services environment with addition of help
information for the cob2 compiler invocation command. (“cob2 syntax and options” on page 277)

How to send your comments

Your feedback is important in helping us to provide accurate, high-quality information. If you have
comments about this information or any other Enterprise COBOL documentation, send your comments to:
[email protected].
Be sure to include the name of the document, the publication number, the version of Enterprise COBOL,
and, if applicable, the specific location (for example, the page number or section heading) of the text that
you are commenting on.
When you send information to IBM, you grant IBM a nonexclusive right to use or distribute the information
in any way that IBM believes appropriate without incurring any obligation to you.

Preface xxxiii
xxxiv Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Part 1. Coding your program

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 1

2 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 1. Structuring your program

COBOL programs consist of four divisions: IDENTIFICATION DIVISION, ENVIRONMENT DIVISION,

DATA DIVISION, and PROCEDURE DIVISION. Each division has a specific logical function.
To define a program, only the IDENTIFICATION DIVISION is required.
To define a COBOL class or method, you need to define some divisions differently than you do for a
program.

related tasks
“Identifying a program” on page 3
“Describing the computing environment” on page 5
“Describing the data” on page 11
“Processing the data” on page 17
“Defining a class” on page 596
“Defining a class instance method” on page 600
“Structuring OO applications” on page 630

Identifying a program
Use the IDENTIFICATION DIVISION to name a program and optionally provide other identifying
information.
You can use the optional AUTHOR, INSTALLATION, DATE-WRITTEN, and DATE-COMPILED paragraphs
for descriptive information about a program. The data you enter in the DATE-COMPILED paragraph is
replaced with the latest compilation date.

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
Program-ID. Helloprog.
Author. A. Programmer.
Installation. Computing Laboratories.
Date-Written. 09/04/2017.
Date-Compiled. 09/08/2017.

Use the PROGRAM-ID paragraph to name your program. The program-name that you assign is used in
these ways:
• Other programs use that name to call your program.
• The name appears in the header on each page, except the first, of the program listing that is generated
when you compile the program.
• If you use the NAME compiler option, the name is placed on the NAME binder (linkage-editor) control
statement to identify the object module that the compilation creates.
Tip: Do not use program-names that start with prefixes used by IBM products. If you use program-
names that start with any of the following prefixes, your CALL statements might resolve to IBM library
or compiler routines rather than to your intended program:
– AFB
– AFH
– CBC
– CEE
– CEH
– CEL
– CEQ
– CEU

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 3

 – DFH
– DSN
– EDC
– FOR
– IBM
– IFY
– IGY
– IGZ
– ILB
Tip: If a program-name is case sensitive, avoid mismatches with the name that the compiler is looking for.
Verify that the appropriate setting of the PGMNAME compiler option is in effect.

related tasks
“Changing the header of a source listing” on page 5
“Identifying a program as recursive” on page 4
“Marking a program as callable by containing programs” on page 4
“Setting a program to an initial state” on page 4

related references
Compiler limits (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
Conventions for program-names (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Identifying a program as recursive

Code the RECURSIVE attribute on the PROGRAM-ID clause to specify that a program can be recursively
reentered while a previous invocation is still active.
You can code RECURSIVE only on the outermost program of a compilation unit. Neither nested
subprograms nor programs that contain nested subprograms can be recursive. You must code
RECURSIVE for programs that you compile with the THREAD option.
Refer to the “Example: storage sections” on page 14, which shows that a recursive program uses both
WORKING-STORAGE and LOCAL-STORAGE.

related tasks
“Sharing data in recursive
or multithreaded programs” on page 16
“Making recursive calls” on page 485

Marking a program as callable by containing programs

Use the COMMON attribute in the PROGRAM-ID paragraph to specify that a program can be called by the
containing program or by any program in the containing program. The COMMON program cannot be called
by any program contained in itself.
Only contained programs can have the COMMON attribute.

related concepts
“Nested programs” on page 483

Setting a program to an initial state

Use the INITIAL clause in the PROGRAM-ID paragraph to specify that whenever a program is called, that
program and any nested programs that it contains are to be placed in their initial state.
When a program is set to its initial state:
• Data items that have VALUE clauses are set to the specified values.

4 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 • Changed GO TO statements and PERFORM statements are in their initial states.
• Non-EXTERNAL files are closed.

related tasks
“Ending and reentering main programs or subprograms” on page 474
“Making static calls” on page 476
“Making dynamic calls” on page 476

related references
“INITIAL” on page 325

Changing the header of a source listing

The header on the first page of a source listing contains the identification of the compiler and the current
release level, the date and time of compilation, and the page number.
The following example shows these five elements:

PP 5655-EC6 IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS 6.2.0 P170724 Date 09/08/2017 Time 15:05:19
Page 1

The header indicates the compilation platform. You can customize the header on succeeding pages of the
listing by using the compiler-directing TITLE statement.
Notes:
1. If you are using the IBM Enterprise COBOL Value Unit Edition for z/OS product, the header on the first
page of a source listing is the same as that for IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS. The product number
will show 5655-EC6 rather than 5697-V61. The 5697-V61 product number for the Value Unit Edition
product is only significant for product ordering purposes and product registration at installation time.
2. If you are using the IBM Enterprise COBOL Developer Trial for z/OS product, the header on the first
page of a source listing will show the product identifier and current release level of the Developer Trial
product.

related references
TITLE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Describing the computing environment

In the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION of a program, you describe the aspects of the program that depend on
the computing environment.
Use the CONFIGURATION SECTION to specify the following items:
• Computer for compiling the program (in the SOURCE-COMPUTER paragraph)
• Computer for running the program (in the OBJECT-COMPUTER paragraph)
• Special items such as the currency sign and symbolic characters (in the SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph)
• User-defined classes (in the REPOSITORY paragraph)
Use the FILE-CONTROL and I-O-CONTROL paragraphs of the INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION to:
• Identify and describe the characteristics of the files in the program.
• Associate your files with the external QSAM, VSAM, or z/OS UNIX file system data sets where they
physically reside.
The terms file in COBOL terminology and data set in operating-system terminology have essentially the
same meaning and are used interchangeably in this information.

Chapter 1. Structuring your program 5

 For Customer Information Control System (CICS) and online Information Management System (IMS)
message processing programs (MPP), code only the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION header and, optionally,
the CONFIGURATION SECTION. Do not code file definitions in your COBOL programs that will run under
CICS. IMS allows COBOL definition of files only for batch programs.
• Provide information to control efficient transmission of the data records between your program and the
external medium.
“Example: FILE-CONTROL entries” on page 6

related tasks
“Specifying the collating sequence” on page 7
“Defining symbolic characters” on page 8
“Defining a user-defined class” on page 8
“Defining files to the operating
system” on page 8

related references
Sections and paragraphs (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: FILE-CONTROL entries

The following table shows example FILE-CONTROL entries for a QSAM sequential file, a VSAM indexed
file, and a line-sequential file.

Table 1. FILE-CONTROL entries

QSAM file VSAM file Line-sequential file

SELECT PRINTFILE1 SELECT COMMUTER-FILE1 SELECT PRINTFILE1

ASSIGN TO UPDPRINT2 ASSIGN TO COMMUTER2 ASSIGN TO UPDPRINT2
ORGANIZATION IS ORGANIZATION IS ORGANIZATION IS LINE
SEQUENTIAL3 INDEXED3 SEQUENTIAL3
ACCESS IS SEQUENTIAL.4 ACCESS IS RANDOM4 ACCESS IS SEQUENTIAL.4
RECORD KEY IS
COMMUTER-KEY5
FILE STATUS IS5
COMMUTER-FILE-
STATUS
COMMUTER-VSAM-
STATUS.

1. The SELECT clause chooses a file in the COBOL program to be associated with an external data set.
2. The ASSIGN clause associates the program's name for the file with the external name for the actual data
file. You can define the external name with a DD statement or an environment variable.
3. The ORGANIZATION clause describes the file's organization. For QSAM files, the ORGANIZATION clause is
optional.
4. The ACCESS MODE clause defines the manner in which the records are made available for processing:
sequential, random, or dynamic. For QSAM and line-sequential files, the ACCESS MODE clause is optional.
These files always have sequential organization.
5. For VSAM files, you might have additional statements in the FILE-CONTROL paragraph depending on the
type of VSAM file you use.

related tasks
Chapter 9, “Processing QSAM files,” on page 157
Chapter 10, “Processing VSAM files,” on page 179

6 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Chapter 11, “Processing line-sequential files,” on page 205
“Describing the computing environment” on page 5

Specifying the collating sequence

You can use the PROGRAM COLLATING SEQUENCE clause and the ALPHABET clause of the SPECIAL-
NAMES paragraph to establish the collating sequence that is used in several operations on alphanumeric
items.
These clauses specify the collating sequence for the following operations on alphanumeric items:
• Comparisons explicitly specified in relation conditions and condition-name conditions
• HIGH-VALUE and LOW-VALUE settings
• SEARCH ALL
• SORT and MERGE unless overridden by a COLLATING SEQUENCE phrase in the SORT or MERGE
statement
“Example: specifying the collating sequence” on page 7
The sequence that you use can be based on one of these alphabets:
• EBCDIC: references the collating sequence associated with the EBCDIC character set
• NATIVE: references the same collating sequence as EBCDIC
• STANDARD-1: references the collating sequence associated with the ASCII character set defined by
ANSI INCITS X3.4, Coded Character Sets - 7-bit American National Standard Code for Information
Interchange (7-bit ASCII)
• STANDARD-2: references the collating sequence associated with the character set defined by ISO/IEC
646 -- Information technology -- ISO 7-bit coded character set for information interchange, International
Reference Version
• An alteration of the EBCDIC sequence that you define in the SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph
The PROGRAM COLLATING SEQUENCE clause does not affect comparisons that involve national or DBCS
operands.

related tasks
“Choosing alternate collating
sequences” on page 221
“Comparing national (UTF-16)
data” on page 145

Example: specifying the collating sequence

The following example shows the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION coding that you can use to specify a collating
sequence in which uppercase and lowercase letters are similarly handled in comparisons and in sorting
and merging.
When you change the EBCDIC sequence in the SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph, the overall collating
sequence is affected, not just the collating sequence of the characters that are included in the SPECIAL-
NAMES paragraph.

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
. . .
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
CONFIGURATION SECTION.
Source-Computer. IBM-390. Object-Computer. IBM-390
Program Collating Sequence Special-Sequence.
Special-Names.
Alphabet Special-Sequence Is
"A" Also "a"
"B" Also "b"
"C" Also "c"
"D" Also "d"
"E" Also "e"

Chapter 1. Structuring your program 7

 "F" Also "f"
"G" Also "g"
"H" Also "h"
"I" Also "i"
"J" Also "j"
"K" Also "k"
"L" Also "l"
"M" Also "m"
"N" Also "n"
"O" Also "o"
"P" Also "p"
"Q" Also "q"
"R" Also "r"
"S" Also "s"
"T" Also "t"
"U" Also "u"
"V" Also "v"
"W" Also "w"
"X" Also "x"
"Y" Also "y"
"Z" Also "z".

related tasks
“Specifying the collating sequence” on page 7

Defining symbolic characters

Use the SYMBOLIC CHARACTERS clause to give symbolic names to any character of the specified
alphabet. Use ordinal position to identify the character, where position 1 corresponds to character X'00'.
For example, to give a name to the backspace character (X'16' in the EBCDIC alphabet), code:

SYMBOLIC CHARACTERS BACKSPACE IS 23

Defining a user-defined class

Use the CLASS clause to give a name to a set of characters that you list in the clause.
For example, name the set of digits by coding the following clause:

CLASS DIGIT IS "0" THROUGH "9"

You can reference the class-name only in a class condition. (This user-defined class is not the same as an
object-oriented class.)

Defining files to the operating system

For all files that you process in your COBOL program, you need to define the files to the operating system
with an appropriate system data definition.
Depending on the operating system, this system data definition can take any of the following forms:
• DD statement for MVS JCL.
• ALLOCATE command under TSO.
• Environment variable for z/OS or z/OS UNIX. The contents can define either an MVS data set or a file in
the z/OS UNIX file system.
The following examples show the relationship of a FILE-CONTROL entry to the system data definition and
to the FD entry in the FILE SECTION:
• JCL DD statement:

(1)

8 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 //OUTFILE DD DSNAME=MY.OUT171,UNIT=SYSDA,SPACE=(TRK,(50,5))
/*

• Environment variable (export command):

(1)
export OUTFILE=DSN(MY.OUT171),UNIT(SYSDA),SPACE(TRK,(50,5))

• COBOL code:

ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
FILE-CONTROL.
SELECT CARPOOL
ASSIGN TO OUTFILE (1)
ORGANIZATION IS SEQUENTIAL.
. . .
DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION.
FD CARPOOL (2)
LABEL RECORD STANDARD
BLOCK CONTAINS 0 CHARACTERS
RECORD CONTAINS 80 CHARACTERS

(1)
The assignment-name in the ASSIGN clause points to the ddname OUTFILE in the DD statement or
the environment variable OUTFILE in the export command:
• //OUTFILE DD DSNAME=OUT171 . . ., or
• export OUTFILE= . . .
(2)
When you specify a file file-name in a FILE-CONTROL entry, you must describe the file in an FD entry:

SELECT CARPOOL
. . .
FD CARPOOL

related tasks
“Optimizing buffer and device space” on page 10

related references
“FILE SECTION entries” on page 12
FILE SECTION (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Varying the input or output file at run time

The file-name that you code in a SELECT clause is used as a constant throughout your COBOL program,
but you can associate the name of that file with a different system file at run time.
Changing a file-name within a COBOL program would require changing the input statements and output
statements and recompiling the program. Alternatively, you can change the DSNAME value in the DD
statement or the DSN or PATH value in the export command to use a different file at run time.
Environment variable values that are in effect at the time of the OPEN statement are used for associating
COBOL file-names to the system file-names (including any path specifications).
The name that you use in the assignment-name of the ASSIGN clause must be the same as the ddname in
the DD statement or the environment variable in the export command.
The file-name that you use in the SELECT clause (such as SELECT MASTER) must be the same as in the
FD file-name entry.

Chapter 1. Structuring your program 9

 Two files should not use the same ddname or environment variable name in their SELECT clauses;
otherwise, results could be unpredictable. For example, if DISPLAY output is directed to SYSOUT, do not
use SYSOUT as the ddname or environment variable name in the SELECT clause for a file.

Example: using different input files

This example shows that you use the same COBOL program to access different files by coding a DD
statement or an export command before the programs runs.
Consider a COBOL program that contains the following SELECT clause:

SELECT MASTER ASSIGN TO DA-3330-S-MASTERA

Assume the three possible input files are MASTER1, MASTER2, and MASTER3. Before running the program,
code one of the following DD statements in the job step that calls for program execution, or issue one of
the following export commands from the same shell from which you run the program:

//MASTERA DD DSNAME=MY.MASTER1,. . .
export MASTERA=DSN(MY.MASTER1),. . .

//MASTERA DD DSNAME=MY.MASTER2,. . .
export MASTERA=DSN(MY.MASTER2),. . .

//MASTERA DD DSNAME=MY.MASTER3,. . .
export MASTERA=DSN(MY.MASTER3),. . .

Any reference in the program to MASTER will therefore be a reference to the file that is currently assigned
to the ddname or environment-variable name MASTERA.
Notice that in this example, you cannot use the PATH(path) form of the export command to reference a
line-sequential file in the z/OS UNIX file system, because you cannot specify an organization field (S- or
AS-) with a line-sequential file.

Optimizing buffer and device space

Use the APPLY WRITE-ONLY clause to make optimum use of buffer and device space when you create a
sequential file with blocked variable-length records.
With APPLY WRITE-ONLY specified, a buffer is truncated only when the next record does not fit in the
unused portion of the buffer. Without APPLY WRITE-ONLY specified, a buffer is truncated when it does
not have enough space for a maximum-size record.
The APPLY WRITE-ONLY clause has meaning only for sequential files that have variable-length records
and are blocked.
The AWO compiler option applies an implicit APPLY WRITE-ONLY clause to all eligible files. The NOAWO
compiler option has no effect on files that have the APPLY WRITE-ONLY clause specified. The APPLY
WRITE-ONLY clause takes precedence over the NOAWO compiler option.
There is a record area allocated for file processing. However, due to buffer and device space optimization,
the record area may or may not contain the actual record data for processing by the program:
• The file processing occurs in the record area and the data in the record area can be accessed by the
program if one of the following is true:
– The file is EXTERNAL
– The file is contained in a "SAME RECORD AREA" statement in the I-O-CONTROL section
– The program is compiled with the AWO compiler option
• The file processing typically occurs in a buffer and the data in the record area is not guaranteed to be
accessible by the program (storage undefined) if all of the following is true:
– The file is not EXTERNAL
– The file is not contained in a "SAME RECORD AREA" statement in the I-O-CONTROL section

10 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 – The program is compiled with the NOAWO compiler option
Therefore, programs should not reference data directly in the file's record area. Instead, when a file
record is read in, it should be read into a data item defined in WORKING-STORAGE or if read into the
record area, should be immediately moved to a data item in WORKING-STORAGE for use by the program.
For example:

FD MY-INPUT-FILE
LABEL RECORDS ARE STANDARD
RECORDING MODE IS V
BLOCK CONTAINS 0 RECORDS
DATA RECORD IS IN-RECORD-AREA.
01 IN-RECORD-AREA PIC X(100).

WORKING-STORAGE.
01 WS-IN-RECORD-AREA PIC X(100).

PROCEDURE DIVISION.
...
READ MY-INPUT-FILE INTO WS-IN-RECORD-AREA.

related references
“AWO” on page 302

Describing the data

Define the characteristics of your data, and group your data definitions into one or more of the sections in
the DATA DIVISION.
You can use these sections for defining the following types of data:
• Data used in input-output operations: FILE SECTION
• Data developed for internal processing:
– To have storage be statically allocated and exist for the life of the run unit: WORKING-STORAGE
SECTION
– To have storage be allocated each time a program is entered, and deallocated on return from the
program: LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION
• Data from another program: LINKAGE SECTION
The Enterprise COBOL compiler limits the maximum size of DATA DIVISION elements. For details, see
the related reference about compiler limits below.

related concepts
“Comparison of WORKING-STORAGE
and LOCAL-STORAGE” on page 14

related tasks
“Using data in input and output operations” on page 11
“Using data from another program” on page 16

related references
Compiler limits (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Using data in input and output operations

Define the data that you use in input and output operations in the FILE SECTION.
Provide the following information about the data:
• Name the input and output files that the program will use. Use the FD entry to give names to the files
that the input-output statements in the PROCEDURE DIVISION can refer to.
Data items defined in the FILE SECTION are not available to PROCEDURE DIVISION statements until
the file has been successfully opened.

Chapter 1. Structuring your program 11

 • In the record description that follows the FD entry, describe the fields of the records in the file:
– You can code a level-01 description of the entire record, and then in the WORKING-STORAGE
SECTION code a working copy that describes the fields of the record in more detail. Use the READ
INTO statement to bring the records into WORKING-STORAGE. Processing occurs on the copy of data
in WORKING-STORAGE. A WRITE FROM statement writes processed data into the record area defined
in the FILE SECTION.
– The record-name established is the object of WRITE and REWRITE statements.
– For QSAM files only, you can set the record format in the RECORDING MODE clause. If you omit the
RECORDING MODE clause, the compiler determines the record format based on the RECORD clause
and on the level-01 record descriptions.
– For QSAM files, you can set a blocking factor for the file in the BLOCK CONTAINS clause. If you omit
the BLOCK CONTAINS clause, the file defaults to unblocked. However, you can override this with
z/OS data management facilities (including a DD file job-control statement).
– For line-sequential files, you can set a blocking factor for the file in the BLOCK CONTAINS clause.
When you code BLOCK CONTAINS 1 RECORDS, or BLOCK CONTAINS n CHARACTERS, where n
is the length of one logical record in bytes, WRITE statements result in the record being transferred
immediately to the file rather than being buffered. This technique is useful when you want each
record written immediately, such as to an error log.

Programs in the same run unit can share, or have access to, common files. The method for doing this
depends on whether the programs are part of a nested (contained) structure or are separately compiled
(including programs compiled as part of a batch sequence).
You can use the EXTERNAL clause for separately compiled programs. A file that is defined as EXTERNAL
can be referenced by any program in the run unit that describes the file.
You can use the GLOBAL clause for programs in a nested, or contained, structure. If a program contains
another program (directly or indirectly), both programs can access a common file by referencing a GLOBAL
file-name.

related concepts
“Nested programs” on page 483

related tasks
“Sharing files between programs
(external files)” on page 501

related references
“FILE SECTION entries” on page 12

FILE SECTION entries

The entries that you can use in the FILE SECTION are summarized in the table below.

Table 2. FILE SECTION entries

Clause To define Notes
FD The file-name to be referred Must match file-name in the SELECT clause. file-
to in PROCEDURE DIVISION name is associated with a ddname through the
input-output statements assignment-name.
(OPEN, CLOSE, READ, also
START and DELETE for VSAM)

12 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 2. FILE SECTION entries (continued)
Clause To define Notes
BLOCK CONTAINS Size of physical records If the CHARACTERS phrase is specified, size
indicates the number of bytes in a record
regardless of the USAGE of the data items in the
record.
QSAM: If provided, must match information on JCL
or data-set label. If specified as BLOCK CONTAINS
0, or not provided, the system determines the
optimal block size for you.
Line sequential: Can be specified to control
buffering for WRITE statements.
VSAM: Syntax-checked, but has no effect on
execution.

RECORD Size of logical records (fixed Integer size indicates the number of bytes in a
CONTAINS n length) record regardless of the USAGE of the data items in
the record. If the clause is provided, it must match
information on JCL or data-set label. If n is equal to
0, LRECL must be coded on JCL or data-set label.
RECORD IS Size of logical records Integer size or sizes, if specified, indicate the
VARYING (variable length) number of bytes in a record regardless of the
USAGE of the data items in the record. If the
clause is provided, it must match information on
JCL or data-set label; compiler checks that record
descriptions match.
RECORD Size of logical records The integer sizes indicate the number of bytes
CONTAINS n TO m (variable length) in a record regardless of the USAGE of the data
items in the record. If the clause is provided, it
must match information on JCL or data-set label;
compiler checks that record descriptions match.
LABEL RECORDS Labels for QSAM files VSAM: Handled as comments
STANDARD Labels exist QSAM: Handled as comments
OMITTED Labels do not exist QSAM: Handled as comments
data-name Labels defined by the user QSAM: Allowed for (optional) tape or disk
VALUE OF An item in the label records Comments only
associated with file
DATA RECORDS Names of records associated Comments only
with file
LINAGE Depth of logical page QSAM only
CODE-SET ASCII or EBCDIC files QSAM only.
When an ASCII file is identified with the CODE-
SET clause, the corresponding DD statement
might need to have DCB=(OPTCD=Q. . .) or
DCB=(RECFM=D. . .) coded if the file was not
created using VS COBOL II, COBOL for OS/390® &
VM, or IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS.

Chapter 1. Structuring your program 13

 Table 2. FILE SECTION entries (continued)
Clause To define Notes
RECORDING MODE Physical record description QSAM only

related references
FILE SECTION (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Comparison of WORKING-STORAGE and LOCAL-STORAGE

How data items are allocated and initialized varies depending on whether the items are in the WORKING-
STORAGE SECTION or LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION.
WORKING-STORAGE for programs is allocated when the run unit is started.
Any data items that have VALUE clauses are initialized to the appropriate value at that time. For the
duration of the run unit, WORKING-STORAGE items persist in their last-used state. Exceptions are:
• A program with INITIAL specified in the PROGRAM-ID paragraph
In this case, WORKING-STORAGE data items are reinitialized each time that the program is entered.
• A subprogram that is dynamically called and then canceled
In this case, WORKING-STORAGE data items are reinitialized on the first reentry into the program
following the CANCEL.
WORKING-STORAGE is deallocated at the termination of the run unit.
See the related tasks for information about WORKING-STORAGE in COBOL class definitions.

A separate copy of LOCAL-STORAGE data is allocated for each call of a program or invocation of a
method, and is freed on return from the program or method. If you specify a VALUE clause for a LOCAL-
STORAGE item, the item is initialized to that value on each call or invocation. If a VALUE clause is not
specified, the initial value of the item is undefined.
Threading: Each invocation of a program that runs simultaneously on multiple threads shares access to a
single copy of WORKING-STORAGE data. Each invocation has a separate copy of LOCAL-STORAGE data.
“Example: storage sections” on page 14

related tasks
“Ending and reentering main programs or subprograms” on page 474
Chapter 28, “Preparing COBOL programs
for multithreading,” on page 517
“WORKING-STORAGE SECTION for defining class instance data” on page 599

related references
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: storage sections

The following example is a recursive program that uses both WORKING-STORAGE and LOCAL-STORAGE.

CBL pgmn(lu)
*********************************
* Recursive Program - Factorials
*********************************
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
Program-Id. factorial recursive.
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 numb pic 9(4) value 5.
01 fact pic 9(8) value 0.

14 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION.
01 num pic 9(4).
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
move numb to num.

if numb = 0
move 1 to fact
else
subtract 1 from numb
call 'factorial'
multiply num by fact
end-if.

display num '! = ' fact.

goback.
End Program factorial.

The program produces the following output:

0000! = 00000001
0001! = 00000001
0002! = 00000002
0003! = 00000006
0004! = 00000024
0005! = 00000120

The following tables show the changing values of the data items in LOCAL-STORAGE and WORKING-
STORAGE in the successive recursive calls of the program, and in the ensuing gobacks. During the
gobacks, fact progressively accumulates the value of 5! (five factorial).

Recursive calls Value for num in Value for numb in Value for fact in
LOCAL-STORAGE WORKING-STORAGE WORKING-STORAGE
Main 5 5 0
1 4 4 0
2 3 3 0
3 2 2 0
4 1 1 0
5 0 0 0

Gobacks Value for num in Value for numb in Value for fact in
LOCAL-STORAGE WORKING-STORAGE WORKING-STORAGE
5 0 0 1
4 1 0 1
3 2 0 2
2 3 0 6
1 4 0 24
Main 5 0 120

related concepts
“Comparison of WORKING-STORAGE
and LOCAL-STORAGE” on page 14

Chapter 1. Structuring your program 15

Using data from another program
How you share data depends on the type of program. You share data differently in programs that are
separately compiled than you do for programs that are nested or for programs that are recursive or
multithreaded.

related tasks
“Sharing data in separately compiled programs” on page 16
“Sharing data in nested programs” on page 16
“Sharing data in recursive
or multithreaded programs” on page 16
“Passing data” on page 491

Sharing data in separately compiled programs

Many applications consist of separately compiled programs that call and pass data to one another. Use
the LINKAGE SECTION in the called program to describe the data passed from another program.
In the calling program, code a CALL . . . USING or INVOKE . . . USING statement to pass the
data.

related tasks
“Passing data” on page 491
“Coding the LINKAGE SECTION” on page 495

Sharing data in nested programs

Some applications consist of nested programs, that is, programs that are contained in other programs.
Level-01 data items can include the GLOBAL clause. The GLOBAL clause specifies that a data-name is
available to every program contained within the program that defines it, as long as the contained program
does not itself have a definition for that name.
A nested program cannot access data items in a sibling program (one at the same nesting level in the
same containing program), but they can both refer to data items defined with the EXTERNAL clause or
data items in the containing program if they are defined with the GLOBAL clause.

related concepts
“Nested programs” on page 483

Sharing data in recursive or multithreaded programs

If your program has the RECURSIVE attribute or is compiled with the THREAD compiler option, data that is
defined in the LINKAGE SECTION is not accessible on subsequent invocations of the program.
To address a record in the LINKAGE SECTION, use either of these techniques:
• Pass an argument to the program and specify the record in an appropriate position in the USING phrase
in the program.
• Use the format-5 SET statement.
If your program has the RECURSIVE attribute or is compiled with the THREAD compiler option, the
address of the record is valid for a particular instance of the program invocation. The address of the record
in another execution instance of the same program must be reestablished for that execution instance.
Unpredictable results will occur if you refer to a data item for which the address has not been established.

related concepts
“Multithreading” on page 517

related tasks
“Making recursive calls” on page 485
“Processing files with multithreading” on page 520

16 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 related references
“THREAD” on page 363
SET statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Processing the data

In the PROCEDURE DIVISION of a program, you code the executable statements that process the data
that you defined in the other divisions. The PROCEDURE DIVISION contains one or two headers and the
logic of your program.
The PROCEDURE DIVISION begins with the division header and a procedure-name header. The division
header for a program can simply be:

PROCEDURE DIVISION.

You can code the division header to receive parameters by using the USING phrase, or to return a value by
using the RETURNING phrase.
To receive an argument that was passed by reference (the default) or by content, code the division header
for a program in either of these ways:

PROCEDURE DIVISION USING dataname

PROCEDURE DIVISION USING BY REFERENCE dataname

Be sure to define dataname in the LINKAGE SECTION of the DATA DIVISION.

To receive a parameter that was passed by value, code the division header for a program as follows:

PROCEDURE DIVISION USING BY VALUE dataname

To return a value as a result, code the division header as follows:

PROCEDURE DIVISION RETURNING dataname2

You can also combine USING and RETURNING in a PROCEDURE DIVISION header:

PROCEDURE DIVISION USING dataname RETURNING dataname2

Be sure to define dataname and dataname2 in the LINKAGE SECTION.

related concepts
“How logic is divided
in the PROCEDURE DIVISION” on page 18

related tasks
“Coding the LINKAGE SECTION” on page 495
“Coding the PROCEDURE DIVISION
for passing arguments” on page 496
“Using PROCEDURE DIVISION RETURNING . . .” on page 500
“Eliminating repetitive coding” on page 683

related references
The procedure division header (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
The USING phrase (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
CALL statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Chapter 1. Structuring your program 17

How logic is divided in the PROCEDURE DIVISION
The PROCEDURE DIVISION of a program is divided into sections and paragraphs, which contain
sentences, statements, and phrases.
Section
Logical subdivision of your processing logic.
A section has a section header and is optionally followed by one or more paragraphs.
A section can be the subject of a PERFORM statement. One type of section is for declaratives.
Paragraph
Subdivision of a section, procedure, or program.
A paragraph has a name followed by a period and zero or more sentences.
A paragraph can be the subject of a statement.
Sentence
Series of one or more COBOL statements that ends with a period.
Statement
Performs a defined step of COBOL processing, such as adding two numbers.
A statement is a valid combination of words, and begins with a COBOL statement. Statements are
imperative (indicating unconditional action), conditional, or compiler-directing. Using explicit scope
terminators instead of periods to show the logical end of a statement is preferred.
Phrase
A subdivision of a statement.

related concepts
“Compiler-directing statements” on page 19
“Scope terminators” on page 20
“Imperative statements” on page 18
“Conditional statements” on page 18
“Declaratives” on page 21

related references
PROCEDURE DIVISION structure
(Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Imperative statements
An imperative statement (such as ADD, MOVE, INVOKE, or CLOSE) indicates an unconditional action to be
taken.
You can end an imperative statement with an implicit or explicit scope terminator.
A conditional statement that ends with an explicit scope terminator becomes an imperative statement
called a delimited scope statement. Only imperative statements (or delimited scope statements) can be
nested.

related concepts
“Conditional statements” on page 18
“Scope terminators” on page 20

Conditional statements
A conditional statement is either a simple conditional statement (IF, EVALUATE, SEARCH) or a conditional
statement made up of an imperative statement that includes a conditional phrase or option.

You can end a conditional statement with an implicit or explicit scope terminator. If you end a conditional
statement explicitly, it becomes a delimited scope statement (which is an imperative statement).

18 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
You can use a delimited scope statement in these ways:
• To delimit the range of operation for a COBOL conditional statement and to explicitly show the levels of
nesting
For example, use an END-IF phrase instead of a period to end the scope of an IF statement within a
nested IF.
• To code a conditional statement where the COBOL syntax calls for an imperative statement
For example, code a conditional statement as the object of an inline PERFORM:

PERFORM UNTIL TRANSACTION-EOF

PERFORM 200-EDIT-UPDATE-TRANSACTION
IF NO-ERRORS
PERFORM 300-UPDATE-COMMUTER-RECORD
ELSE
PERFORM 400-PRINT-TRANSACTION-ERRORS
END-IF
READ UPDATE-TRANSACTION-FILE INTO WS-TRANSACTION-RECORD
AT END
SET TRANSACTION-EOF TO TRUE
END-READ
END-PERFORM

An explicit scope terminator is required for the inline PERFORM statement, but it is not valid for the
out-of-line PERFORM statement.
For additional program control, you can use the NOT phrase with conditional statements. For example, you
can provide instructions to be performed when a particular exception does not occur, such as NOT ON
SIZE ERROR. The NOT phrase cannot be used with the ON OVERFLOW phrase of the CALL statement, but
it can be used with the ON EXCEPTION phrase.
Do not nest conditional statements. Nested statements must be imperative statements (or delimited
scope statements) and must follow the rules for imperative statements.
The following statements are examples of conditional statements if they are coded without scope
terminators:
• Arithmetic statement with ON SIZE ERROR
• Data-manipulation statements with ON OVERFLOW
• CALL statements with ON OVERFLOW
• I/O statements with INVALID KEY, AT END, or AT END-OF-PAGE
• RETURN with AT END

related concepts
“Imperative statements” on page 18
“Scope terminators” on page 20
related tasks
“Selecting program actions” on page 91

related references
Conditional statements (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Compiler-directing statements
A compiler-directing statement causes the compiler to take specific action about the program structure,
COPY processing, listing control, or control flow.
A compiler-directing statement is not part of the program logic.

related references
Chapter 18, “Compiler-directing statements,” on page 377
Compiler-directing statements (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Chapter 1. Structuring your program 19

 Scope terminators
A scope terminator ends a statement. Scope terminators can be explicit or implicit.
Explicit scope terminators end a statement without ending a sentence. They consist of END followed by a
hyphen and the name of the statement being terminated, such as END-IF. An implicit scope terminator is
a period (.) that ends the scope of all previous statements not yet ended.
Each of the two periods in the following program fragment ends an IF statement, making the code
equivalent to the code after it that instead uses explicit scope terminators:

IF ITEM = "A"
DISPLAY "THE VALUE OF ITEM IS " ITEM
ADD 1 TO TOTAL
MOVE "C" TO ITEM
DISPLAY "THE VALUE OF ITEM IS NOW " ITEM.
IF ITEM = "B"
ADD 2 TO TOTAL.

IF ITEM = "A"
DISPLAY "THE VALUE OF ITEM IS " ITEM
ADD 1 TO TOTAL
MOVE "C" TO ITEM
DISPLAY "THE VALUE OF ITEM IS NOW " ITEM
END-IF
IF ITEM = "B"
ADD 2 TO TOTAL
END-IF

If you use implicit terminators, the end of statements can be unclear. As a result, you might end
statements unintentionally, changing your program's logic. Explicit scope terminators make a program
easier to understand and prevent unintentional ending of statements. For example, in the program
fragment below, changing the location of the first period in the first implicit scope example changes
the meaning of the code:

IF ITEM = "A"
DISPLAY "VALUE OF ITEM IS " ITEM
ADD 1 TO TOTAL.
MOVE "C" TO ITEM
DISPLAY " VALUE OF ITEM IS NOW " ITEM
IF ITEM = "B"
ADD 2 TO TOTAL.

The MOVE statement and the DISPLAY statement after it are performed regardless of the value of ITEM,
despite what the indentation indicates, because the first period terminates the IF statement.
For improved program clarity and to avoid unintentional ending of statements, use explicit scope
terminators, especially within paragraphs. Use implicit scope terminators only at the end of a paragraph
or the end of a program.
Be careful when coding an explicit scope terminator for an imperative statement that is nested within
a conditional statement. Ensure that the scope terminator is paired with the statement for which it was
intended. In the following example, the scope terminator will be paired with the second READ statement,
though the programmer intended it to be paired with the first.

READ FILE1
AT END
MOVE A TO B
READ FILE2
END-READ

20 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 To ensure that the explicit scope terminator is paired with the intended statement, the preceding example
can be recoded in this way:

READ FILE1
AT END
MOVE A TO B
READ FILE2
END-READ
END-READ

related concepts
“Conditional statements” on page 18
“Imperative statements” on page 18

Declaratives
Declaratives provide one or more special-purpose sections that are executed when an exception
condition occurs.
Start each declarative section with a USE statement that identifies the function of the section. In the
procedures, specify the actions to be taken when the condition occurs.

related tasks
“Finding and handling input-output
errors” on page 383

related references
Declaratives (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Chapter 1. Structuring your program 21

22 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 2. Using data

This information is intended to help non-COBOL programmers relate terms for data used in other
programming languages to COBOL terms. It introduces COBOL fundamentals for variables, structures,
literals, and constants; assigning and displaying values; intrinsic (built-in) functions, and tables (arrays)
and pointers.

related concepts
“Storage and its addressability” on page 39

related tasks
“Using variables, structures, literals, and constants” on page 23
“Assigning values to data items” on page 27
“Displaying values on a
screen or in a file (DISPLAY)” on page 35
“Using intrinsic functions (built-in functions)” on page 38
“Using tables (arrays) and pointers” on page 39
Chapter 7, “Processing data in an international
environment,” on page 123

Using variables, structures, literals, and constants

Most high-level programming languages share the concept of data being represented as variables (data
items), structures (group items), literals, or constants.
The data in a COBOL program can be alphabetic, alphanumeric, double-byte character set (DBCS),
national, or numeric. You can also define index-names and data items described as USAGE POINTER,
USAGE FUNCTION-POINTER, USAGE PROCEDURE-POINTER, or USAGE OBJECT REFERENCE. You place
all data definitions in the DATA DIVISION of your program.

related tasks
“Using variables” on page 23
“Using data items and group
items” on page 24
“Using literals” on page 25
“Using constants” on page 26
“Using figurative constants” on page 26

related references
Classes and categories of data (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Using variables
A variable is a data item whose value can change during a program. The value is restricted, however, to
the data type that you define when you specify a name and a length for the data item.
For example, if a customer name is an alphanumeric data item in your program, you could define and use
the customer name as shown below:

Data Division.
01 Customer-Name Pic X(20).
01 Original-Customer-Name Pic X(20).
. . .
Procedure Division.
Move Customer-Name to Original-Customer-Name
. . .

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 23

 You could instead define the customer names above as national data items by specifying their PICTURE
clauses as Pic N(20) and specifying the USAGE NATIONAL clause for the items. National data items are
represented in Unicode UTF-16, in which most characters are represented in 2 bytes of storage.

related concepts
“Unicode and the encoding
of language characters” on page 129

related tasks
“Using national data (Unicode)
in COBOL” on page 129

related references
“NSYMBOL” on page 335
“Storage of character data” on page 136
PICTURE clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Using data items and group items

Related data items can be parts of a hierarchical data structure. A data item that does not have
subordinate data items is called an elementary item. A data item that is composed of one or more
subordinate data items is called a group item.
A record can be either an elementary item or a group item. A group item can be either an alphanumeric
group item or a national group item.
For example, Customer-Record below is an alphanumeric group item that is composed of two
subordinate alphanumeric group items (Customer-Name and Part-Order), each of which contains
elementary data items. These groups items implicitly have USAGE DISPLAY. You can refer to an entire
group item or to parts of a group item in MOVE statements in the PROCEDURE DIVISION as shown below:

Data Division.
File Section.
FD Customer-File
Record Contains 45 Characters.
01 Customer-Record.
05 Customer-Name.
10 Last-Name Pic x(17).
10 Filler Pic x.
10 Initials Pic xx.
05 Part-Order.
10 Part-Name Pic x(15).
10 Part-Color Pic x(10).
Working-Storage Section.
01 Orig-Customer-Name.
05 Surname Pic x(17).
05 Initials Pic x(3).
01 Inventory-Part-Name Pic x(15).
. . .
Procedure Division.
Move Customer-Name to Orig-Customer-Name
Move Part-Name to Inventory-Part-Name
. . .

You could instead define Customer-Record as a national group item that is composed of two
subordinate national group items by changing the declarations in the DATA DIVISION as shown below.
National group items behave in the same way as elementary category national data items in most
operations. The GROUP-USAGE NATIONAL clause indicates that a group item and any group items
subordinate to it are national groups. Subordinate elementary items in a national group must be explicitly
or implicitly described as USAGE NATIONAL.

Data Division.
File Section.
FD Customer-File
Record Contains 90 Characters.
01 Customer-Record Group-Usage National.

24 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 05 Customer-Name.
10 Last-Name Pic n(17).
10 Filler Pic n.
10 Initials Pic nn.
05 Part-Order.
10 Part-Name Pic n(15).
10 Part-Color Pic n(10).
Working-Storage Section.
01 Orig-Customer-Name Group-Usage National.
05 Surname Pic n(17).
05 Initials Pic n(3).
01 Inventory-Part-Name Pic n(15) Usage National.
. . .
Procedure Division.
Move Customer-Name to Orig-Customer-Name
Move Part-Name to Inventory-Part-Name
. . .

In the example above, the group items could instead specify the USAGE NATIONAL clause at the group
level. A USAGE clause at the group level applies to each elementary data item in a group (and thus serves
as a convenient shorthand notation). However, a group that specifies the USAGE NATIONAL clause is not
a national group despite the representation of the elementary items within the group. Groups that specify
the USAGE clause are alphanumeric groups and behave in many operations, such as moves and compares,
like elementary data items of USAGE DISPLAY (except that no editing or conversion of data occurs).

related concepts
“Unicode and the encoding
of language characters” on page 129
“National groups” on page 132

related tasks
“Using national data (Unicode)
in COBOL” on page 129
“Using national groups” on page 133

related references
“FILE SECTION entries” on page 12
“Storage of character data” on page 136
Classes and categories of group items
(Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
PICTURE clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
MOVE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
USAGE clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Using literals
A literal is a character string whose value is given by the characters themselves. If you know the value
you want a data item to have, you can use a literal representation of the data value in the PROCEDURE
DIVISION.
You do not need to define a data item for the value nor refer to it by using a data-name. For example, you
can prepare an error message for an output file by moving an alphanumeric literal:

Move "Name is not valid" To Customer-Name

You can compare a data item to a specific integer value by using a numeric literal. In the example below,
"Name is not valid" is an alphanumeric literal, and 03519 is a numeric literal:

01 Part-number Pic 9(5).

. . .
If Part-number = 03519 then display "Part number was found"

Chapter 2. Using data 25

 You can use the opening delimiter N" or N' to designate a national literal if the NSYMBOL(NATIONAL)
compiler option is in effect, or to designate a DBCS literal if the NSYMBOL(DBCS) compiler option is in
effect.
You can use the opening delimiter NX" or NX' to designate national literals in hexadecimal notation
(regardless of the setting of the NSYMBOL compiler option). Each group of four hexadecimal digits
designates a single national character.

related concepts
“Unicode and the encoding
of language characters” on page 129

related tasks
“Using national literals” on page 130
“Using DBCS literals” on page 148

related references
“NSYMBOL” on page 335
Literals (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Using constants
A constant is a data item that has only one value. COBOL does not define a construct for constants.
However, you can define a data item with an initial value by coding a VALUE clause in the data description
(instead of coding an INITIALIZE statement).

Data Division.
01 Report-Header pic x(50) value "Company Sales Report".
. . .
01 Interest pic 9v9999 value 1.0265.

The example above initializes an alphanumeric and a numeric data item. You can likewise use a VALUE
clause in defining a national or DBCS constant.

related tasks
“Using national data (Unicode)
in COBOL” on page 129
“Coding for use of DBCS support” on page 147

Using figurative constants

Certain commonly used constants and literals are available as reserved words called figurative constants:
ZERO, SPACE, HIGH-VALUE, LOW-VALUE, QUOTE, NULL, and ALL literal. Because they represent fixed
values, figurative constants do not require a data definition.
For example:

Move Spaces To Report-Header

related tasks
“Using national-character
figurative constants” on page 131
“Coding for use of DBCS support” on page 147

related references
Figurative constants (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

26 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Assigning values to data items
After you have defined a data item, you can assign a value to it at any time. Assignment takes many forms
in COBOL, depending on what you want to do.

Table 3. Assignment to data items in a program

What you want to do How to do it
Assign values to a data item or large data area. Use one of these ways:
• INITIALIZE statement
• MOVE statement
• STRING or UNSTRING statement
• VALUE clause (to set data items to the values
you want them to have when the program is in
initial state)

Assign the results of arithmetic. Use COMPUTE, ADD, SUBTRACT, MULTIPLY, or

DIVIDE statements.
Examine or replace characters or groups of characters in a Use the INSPECT statement.
data item.
Receive values from a file. Use the READ (or READ INTO) statement.
Receive values from a system input device or a file. Use the ACCEPT statement.
Establish a constant. Use the VALUE clause in the definition of the
data item, and do not use the data item as a
receiver. Such an item is in effect a constant
even though the compiler does not enforce read-
only constants.
One of these actions: Use the SET statement.
• Place a value associated with a table element in an index.
• Set the status of an external switch to ON or OFF.
• Move data to a condition-name to make the condition
true.
• Set a POINTER, PROCEDURE-POINTER, or FUNCTION-
POINTER data item to an address.
• Associate an OBJECT REFERENCE data item with an
object instance.

“Examples: initializing data items” on page 28

related tasks
“Initializing a structure
(INITIALIZE)” on page 31
“Assigning values to elementary
data items (MOVE)” on page 32
“Assigning values to group
data items (MOVE)” on page 33
“Assigning input from a
screen or file (ACCEPT)” on page 35
“Joining data items (STRING)” on page 103
“Splitting data items (UNSTRING)” on page 105
“Assigning arithmetic results

Chapter 2. Using data 27

 (MOVE or COMPUTE)” on page 34
“Tallying and replacing
data items (INSPECT)” on page 112
Chapter 7, “Processing data in an international
environment,” on page 123

Examples: initializing data items

The following examples show how you can initialize many kinds of data items, including alphanumeric,
national-edited, and numeric-edited data items, by using INITIALIZE statements.

An INITIALIZE statement is functionally equivalent to one or more MOVE statements. The related tasks
about initializing show how you can use an INITIALIZE statement on a group item to conveniently
initialize all the subordinate data items that are in a given data category.
Initializing a data item to blanks or zeros:

INITIALIZE identifier-1

identifier-1 PICTURE identifier-1 before identifier-1 after

9(5) 12345 00000
X(5) AB123 bbbbb1
N(3) 0041004200312 0020002000203
99XX9 12AB3 bbbbb1
XXBX/XX ABbC/DE bbbb/bb1
**99.9CR 1234.5CR **00.0bb1
A(5) ABCDE bbbbb1
+99.99E+99 +12.34E+02 +00.00E+00

1. The symbol b represents a blank space.

2. Hexadecimal representation of the national (UTF-16) characters 'AB1'. The example assumes that
identifier-1 has Usage National.
3. Hexadecimal representation of the national (UTF-16) characters ' ' (three blank spaces). Note
that if identifier-1 were not defined as Usage National, and if NSYMBOL(DBCS) were in effect,
INITIALIZE would instead store DBCS spaces ('4040') into identifier-1.

Initializing an alphanumeric data item:

01 ALPHANUMERIC-1 PIC X VALUE "y".

01 ALPHANUMERIC-3 PIC X(1) VALUE "A".
. . .
INITIALIZE ALPHANUMERIC-1
REPLACING ALPHANUMERIC DATA BY ALPHANUMERIC-3

ALPHANUMERIC-3 ALPHANUMERIC-1 before ALPHANUMERIC-1 after

A y A

Initializing an alphanumeric right-justified data item:

01 ANJUST PIC X(8) VALUE SPACES JUSTIFIED RIGHT.

01 ALPHABETIC-1 PIC A(4) VALUE "ABCD".

28 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 . . .
INITIALIZE ANJUST
REPLACING ALPHANUMERIC DATA BY ALPHABETIC-1

ALPHABETIC-1 ANJUST before ANJUST after

ABCD bbbbbbbb1 bbbbABCD1

1. The symbol b represents a blank space.

Initializing an alphanumeric-edited data item:

01 ALPHANUM-EDIT-1 PIC XXBX/XXX VALUE "ABbC/DEF".

01 ALPHANUM-EDIT-3 PIC X/BB VALUE "M/bb".
. . .
INITIALIZE ALPHANUM-EDIT-1
REPLACING ALPHANUMERIC-EDITED DATA BY ALPHANUM-EDIT-3

ALPHANUM-EDIT-3 ALPHANUM-EDIT-1 before ALPHANUM-EDIT-1 after

M/bb1 ABbC/DEF1 M/bb/bbb1

1. The symbol b represents a blank space.

Initializing a national data item:

01 NATIONAL-1 PIC NN USAGE NATIONAL VALUE N"AB".

01 NATIONAL-3 PIC NN USAGE NATIONAL VALUE N"CD".
. . .
INITIALIZE NATIONAL-1
REPLACING NATIONAL DATA BY NATIONAL-3
INITIALIZE NATIONAL-1 NATIONAL TO VALUE

NATIONAL-3 NATIONAL-1 before NATIONAL-1 after first NATIONAL-1 after

first INITIALIZE INITIALIZE second INITIALIZE
004300441 004100422 004300441 004100422

1. Hexadecimal representation of the national characters 'CD'

2. Hexadecimal representation of the national characters 'AB'

Initializing a national-edited data item:

01 NATL-EDIT-1 PIC 0NN USAGE NATIONAL VALUE N"123".

01 NATL-3 PIC NNN USAGE NATIONAL VALUE N"456".
. . .
INITIALIZE NATL-EDIT-1
REPLACING NATIONAL-EDITED DATA BY NATL-3

NATL-3 NATL-EDIT-1 before NATL-EDIT-1 after

0034003500361 0031003200332 0030003400353

1. Hexadecimal representation of the national characters '456'

2. Hexadecimal representation of the national characters '123'
3. Hexadecimal representation of the national characters '045'

Chapter 2. Using data 29

 Initializing a numeric (zoned decimal) data item:

01 NUMERIC-1 PIC 9(8) VALUE 98765432.

01 NUM-INT-CMPT-3 PIC 9(7) COMP VALUE 1234567.
. . .
INITIALIZE NUMERIC-1
REPLACING NUMERIC DATA BY NUM-INT-CMPT-3

NUM-INT-CMPT-3 NUMERIC-1 before NUMERIC-1 after

1234567 98765432 01234567

Initializing a numeric (national decimal) data item:

01 NAT-DEC-1 PIC 9(3) USAGE NATIONAL VALUE 987.

01 NUM-INT-BIN-3 PIC 9(2) BINARY VALUE 12.
. . .
INITIALIZE NAT-DEC-1
REPLACING NUMERIC DATA BY NUM-INT-BIN-3

NUM-INT-BIN-3 NAT-DEC-1 before NAT-DEC-1 after

12 0039003800371 0030003100322

1. Hexadecimal representation of the national characters '987'

2. Hexadecimal representation of the national characters '012'

Initializing a numeric-edited (USAGE DISPLAY) data item:

01 NUM-EDIT-DISP-1 PIC $ZZ9V VALUE "$127".

01 NUM-DISP-3 PIC 999V VALUE 12.
. . .
INITIALIZE NUM-EDIT-DISP-1
REPLACING NUMERIC-EDITED DATA BY NUM-DISP-3

NUM-DISP-3 NUM-EDIT-DISP-1 before NUM-EDIT-DISP-1 after

012 $127 $ 12

Initializing a numeric-edited (USAGE NATIONAL) data item:

01 NUM-EDIT-NATL-1 PIC $ZZ9V NATIONAL VALUE N"$127".

01 NUM-NATL-3 PIC 999V NATIONAL VALUE 12.
. . .
INITIALIZE NUM-EDIT-NATL-1
REPLACING NUMERIC-EDITED DATA BY NUM-NATL-3

NUM-NATL-3 NUM-EDIT-NATL-1 before NUM-EDIT-NATL-1 after

0030003100321 00240031003200372 00240020003100323

1. Hexadecimal representation of the national characters '012'

2. Hexadecimal representation of the national characters '$127'
3. Hexadecimal representation of the national characters '$ 12'

related tasks
“Initializing a structure

30 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 (INITIALIZE)” on page 31
“Initializing a table (INITIALIZE)” on page 73
“Defining numeric data” on page 43

related references
“NSYMBOL” on page 335

Initializing a structure (INITIALIZE)

You can reset the values of all subordinate data items in a group item by applying the INITIALIZE
statement to that group item. However, it is inefficient to initialize an entire group unless you really need
all the items in the group to be initialized.
The following example shows how you can reset fields to spaces and zeros in transaction records that
a program produces. The values of the fields are not identical in each record that is produced. (The
transaction record is defined as an alphanumeric group item, TRANSACTION-OUT.)

01 TRANSACTION-OUT.
05 TRANSACTION-CODE PIC X.
05 PART-NUMBER PIC 9(6).
05 TRANSACTION-QUANTITY PIC 9(5).
05 PRICE-FIELDS.
10 UNIT-PRICE PIC 9(5)V9(2).
10 DISCOUNT PIC V9(2).
10 SALES-PRICE PIC 9(5)V9(2).
. . .
INITIALIZE TRANSACTION-OUT

Record TRANSACTION-OUT before TRANSACTION-OUT after

1 R001383000240000000000000000 b0000000000000000000000000001
2 R001390000480000000000000000 b0000000000000000000000000001
3 S001410000120000000000000000 b0000000000000000000000000001
4 C001383000000000425000000000 b0000000000000000000000000001
5 C002010000000000000100000000 b0000000000000000000000000001

1. The symbol b represents a blank space.

You can likewise reset the values of all the subordinate data items in a national group item by applying the
INITIALIZE statement to that group item. The following structure is similar to the preceding structure,
but instead uses Unicode UTF-16 data:

01 TRANSACTION-OUT GROUP-USAGE NATIONAL.

05 TRANSACTION-CODE PIC N.
05 PART-NUMBER PIC 9(6).
05 TRANSACTION-QUANTITY PIC 9(5).
05 PRICE-FIELDS.
10 UNIT-PRICE PIC 9(5)V9(2).
10 DISCOUNT PIC V9(2).
10 SALES-PRICE PIC 9(5)V9(2).
. . .
INITIALIZE TRANSACTION-OUT

Regardless of the previous contents of the transaction record, after the INITIALIZE statement above is
executed:
• TRANSACTION-CODE contains NX"0020" (a national space).
• Each of the remaining 27 national character positions of TRANSACTION-OUT contains NX"0030" (a
national-decimal zero).

Chapter 2. Using data 31

 When you use an INITIALIZE statement to initialize an alphanumeric or national group data item,
the data item is processed as a group item, that is, with group semantics. The elementary data items
within the group are recognized and processed, as shown in the examples above. If you do not code the
REPLACING phrase of the INITIALIZE statement:
• SPACE is the implied sending item for alphabetic, alphanumeric, alphanumeric-edited, DBCS, category
national, and national-edited receiving items.
• ZERO is the implied sending item for numeric and numeric-edited receiving items.

related concepts
“National groups” on page 132

related tasks
“Initializing a table (INITIALIZE)” on page 73
“Using national groups” on page 133

related references
INITIALIZE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Assigning values to elementary data items (MOVE)

Use a MOVE statement to assign a value to an elementary data item.
The following statement assigns the contents of an elementary data item, Customer-Name, to the
elementary data item Orig-Customer-Name:

Move Customer-Name to Orig-Customer-Name

If Customer-Name is longer than Orig-Customer-Name, truncation occurs on the right. If Customer-

Name is shorter, the extra character positions on the right in Orig-Customer-Name are filled with
spaces.
For data items that contain numbers, moves can be more complicated than with character data items
because there are several ways in which numbers can be represented. In general, the algebraic values of
numbers are moved if possible, as opposed to the digit-by-digit moves that are performed with character
data. For example, after the MOVE statement below, Item-x contains the value 3.0, represented as 0030:

01 Item-x Pic 999v9.

. . .
Move 3.06 to Item-x

You can move an alphabetic, alphanumeric, alphanumeric-edited, DBCS, integer, or numeric-edited data
item to a category national or national-edited data item; the sending item is converted. You can move
a national data item to a category national or national-edited data item. If the content of a category
national data item has a numeric value, you can move that item to a numeric, numeric-edited, external
floating-point, or internal floating-point data item. You can move a national-edited data item only to a
category national data item or another national-edited data item. Padding or truncation might occur.

For complete details about elementary moves, see the related reference below about the MOVE
statement.
The following example shows an alphanumeric data item in the Greek language that is moved to a
national data item:

CBL CODEPAGE(00875)
. . .
01 Data-in-Unicode Pic N(100) usage national.
01 Data-in-Greek Pic X(100).
. . .
Read Greek-file into Data-in-Greek
Move Data-in-Greek to Data-in-Unicode

32 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 related concepts
“Unicode and the encoding
of language characters” on page 129

related tasks
“Assigning values to group
data items (MOVE)” on page 33
“Converting to or from national (Unicode) representation” on page 136

related references
“CODEPAGE” on page 304
Classes and categories of data (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
MOVE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Assigning values to group data items (MOVE)

Use the MOVE statement to assign values to group data items.

You can move a national group item (a data item that is described with the GROUP-USAGE NATIONAL
clause) to another national group item. The compiler processes the move as though each national group
item were an elementary item of category national, that is, as if each item were described as PIC N(m),
where m is the length of that item in national character positions.
You can move an alphanumeric group item to an alphanumeric group item or to a national group item.
You can also move a national group item to an alphanumeric group item. The compiler performs such
moves as group moves, that is, without consideration of the individual elementary items in the sending
or receiving group, and without conversion of the sending data item. Be sure that the subordinate
data descriptions in the sending and receiving group items are compatible. The moves occur even if a
destructive overlap could occur at run time.

You can code the CORRESPONDING phrase in a MOVE statement to move subordinate elementary items
from one group item to the identically named corresponding subordinate elementary items in another
group item:

01 Group-X.
02 T-Code Pic X Value "A".
02 Month Pic 99 Value 04.
02 State Pic XX Value "CA".
02 Filler PIC X.
01 Group-N Group-Usage National.
02 State Pic NN.
02 Month Pic 99.
02 Filler Pic N.
02 Total Pic 999.
. . .
MOVE CORR Group-X TO Group-N

In the example above, State and Month within Group-N receive the values in national representation
of State and Month, respectively, from Group-X. The other data items in Group-N are unchanged.
(Filler items in a receiving group item are unchanged by a MOVE CORRESPONDING statement.)
In a MOVE CORRESPONDING statement, sending and receiving group items are treated as group items,
not as elementary data items; group semantics apply. That is, the elementary data items within each
group are recognized, and the results are the same as if each pair of corresponding data items were
referenced in a separate MOVE statement. Data conversions are performed according to the rules for the
MOVE statement as specified in the related reference below. For details about which types of elementary
data items correspond, see the related reference about the CORRESPONDING phrase.

related concepts
“Unicode and the encoding
of language characters” on page 129
“National groups” on page 132

Chapter 2. Using data 33

 related tasks
“Assigning values to elementary
data items (MOVE)” on page 32
“Using national groups” on page 133
“Converting to or from national (Unicode) representation” on page 136

related references
Classes and categories of group items
(Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
MOVE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
CORRESPONDING phrase (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Assigning arithmetic results (MOVE or COMPUTE)

When assigning a number to a data item, consider using the COMPUTE statement instead of the MOVE
statement.

Move w to z
Compute z = w

In the example above, the two statements in most cases have the same effect. The MOVE statement
however carries out the assignment with truncation. You can use the DIAGTRUNC compiler option to
request that the compiler issue a warning for MOVE statements that might truncate numeric receivers.
When significant left-order digits would be lost in execution, the COMPUTE statement can detect the
condition and allow you to handle it. If you use the ON SIZE ERROR phrase of the COMPUTE statement,
the compiler generates code to detect a size-overflow condition. If the condition occurs, the code in the
ON SIZE ERROR phrase is performed, and the content of z remains unchanged. If you do not specify
the ON SIZE ERROR phrase, the assignment is carried out with truncation. There is no ON SIZE ERROR
support for the MOVE statement.
You can also use the COMPUTE statement to assign the result of an arithmetic expression or intrinsic
function to a data item. For example:

Compute z = y + (x ** 3)
Compute x = Function Max(x y z)

You can assign the results of date, time, mathematical, and other calculations to data items by using
Language Environment callable services. Language Environment services are available through a standard
COBOL CALL statement, and the values they return are passed in the parameters of the CALL statement.
For example, you can call the Language Environment service CEESIABS to find the absolute value of a
data item by coding the following statement:

Call 'CEESIABS' Using Arg, Feedback-code, Result.

As a result of this call, data item Result is assigned the absolute value of the value in data item
Arg; data item Feedback-code contains the return code that indicates whether the service completed
successfully. You have to define all the data items in the DATA DIVISION using the correct descriptions
according to the requirements of the particular callable service. For the example above, the data items
could be defined as follows:

77 Arg Pic s9(9) Binary.

77 Feedback-code Pic x(12) Display.
77 Result Pic s9(9) Binary.

related references
“DIAGTRUNC” on page 312

34 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Intrinsic functions (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
Language Environment Programming Reference (Callable services)

Assigning input from a screen or file (ACCEPT)

One way to assign a value to a data item is to read the value from a screen or a file.
To enter data from the screen, first associate the monitor with a mnemonic-name in the SPECIAL-NAMES
paragraph. Then use ACCEPT to assign the line of input entered at the screen to a data item. For example:

Environment Division.
Configuration Section.
Special-Names.
Console is Names-Input.
. . .
Accept Customer-Name From Names-Input

To read from a file instead of the screen, make the following change:
• Change Console to device, where device is any valid system device (for example, SYSIN). For example:

SYSIN is Names-Input

device can be a ddname that references a z/OS UNIX file system path. If this ddname is not defined and
your program is running in the z/OS UNIX environment, stdin is the input source. If this ddname is not
defined and your program is not running in the z/OS UNIX environment, the ACCEPT statement fails.
When you use the ACCEPT statement, you can assign a value to an alphanumeric or national group item,
or to an elementary data item that has USAGE DISPLAY, USAGE DISPLAY-1, or USAGE NATIONAL.
When you assign a value to a USAGE NATIONAL data item, input data from the console is converted
from the EBCDIC code page specified in the CODEPAGE compiler option to national (Unicode UTF-16)
representation. This is the only case where conversion of national data is done when you use the ACCEPT
statement. Conversion is done in this case because the input is known to be coming from a screen.
To have conversion done when the input data is from any other device, use the NATIONAL-OF intrinsic
function.

related concepts
“Unicode and the encoding
of language characters” on page 129

related tasks
“Converting alphanumeric
or DBCS to national (NATIONAL-OF)” on page 138

related references
“CODEPAGE” on page 304
ACCEPT statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Displaying values on a screen or in a file (DISPLAY)

You can display the value of a data item on a screen or write it to a file by using the DISPLAY statement.

Display "No entry for surname '" Customer-Name "' found in the file.".

Chapter 2. Using data 35

 In the example above, if the content of data item Customer-Name is JOHNSON, then the statement
displays the following message on the system logical output device:

No entry for surname 'JOHNSON' found in the file.

To write data to a destination other than the system logical output device, use the UPON phrase with a
destination other than SYSOUT. For example, the following statement writes to the file that is specified in
the SYSPUNCH DD statement:

Display "Hello" upon syspunch.

You can specify a file in the z/OS UNIX file system by using the SYSPUNCH DD statement. For example,
the following definition causes DISPLAY output to be written to the file /u/userid/cobol/demo.lst:

//SYSPUNCH DD PATH='/u/userid/cobol/demo.lst',
// PATHOPTS=(OWRONLY,OCREAT,OTRUNC),PATHMODE=SIRWXU,
// FILEDATA=TEXT

The following statement writes to the job log or console and to the TSO screen if you are running under
TSO:

Display "Hello" upon console.

When you display the value of a USAGE NATIONAL data item to the console, the data item is converted
from Unicode (UTF-16) representation to EBCDIC based on the value of the CODEPAGE option. This is the
only case in which conversion of national data is done when you use the DISPLAY statement. Conversion
is done in this case because the output is known to be directed to a screen.
To have a national data item be converted when you direct output to a different device, use the DISPLAY-
OF intrinsic function, as in the following example:

01 Data-in-Unicode pic N(10) usage national.

. . .
Display function Display-of(Data-in-Unicode, 00037)

related concepts
“Unicode and the encoding
of language characters” on page 129

related tasks
“Displaying data on the
system logical output device” on page 36
“Using WITH NO ADVANCING” on page 37
“Converting national to
alphanumeric (DISPLAY-OF)” on page 138
“Coding COBOL programs to run under CICS” on page 429

related references
“CODEPAGE” on page 304
DISPLAY statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Displaying data on the system logical output device

To write data to the system logical output device, either omit the UPON clause or use the UPON clause with
destination SYSOUT.

Display "Hello" upon sysout.

36 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 The output is directed to the ddname that you specify in the OUTDD compiler option. You can specify a file
in the z/OS UNIX file system with this ddname.
If the OUTDD ddname is not allocated and you are not running in the z/OS UNIX environment, a default
DD of SYSOUT=* is allocated. If the OUTDD ddname is not allocated and you are running in the z/OS UNIX
environment, the _IGZ_SYSOUT environment variable is used as follows:
Undefined or set to stdout
Output is routed to stdout (file descriptor 1).
Set to stderr
Output is routed to stderr (file descriptor 2).
Otherwise (set to something other than stdout or stderr)
The DISPLAY statement fails; a severity-3 Language Environment condition is raised.
When DISPLAY output is routed to stdout or stderr, the output is not subdivided into records. The output
is written as a single stream of characters without line breaks.
If OUTDD and the Language Environment runtime option MSGFILE specify the same ddname, both
DISPLAY output and Language Environment runtime diagnostics are routed to the Language Environment
message file.

related tasks
“Setting and accessing environment variables” on page 460
related references
“OUTDD” on page 344
DISPLAY statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Using WITH NO ADVANCING

If you specify the WITH NO ADVANCING phrase, and output is going to a ddname, the printer control
character + (plus) is placed into the first output position from the next DISPLAY statement. + is the
ANSI-defined printer control character that suppresses line spacing before a record is printed.
If you specify the WITH NO ADVANCING phrase and the output is going to stdout or stderr, a newline
character is not appended to the end of the stream. A subsequent DISPLAY statement might add
additional characters to the end of the stream.
If you do not specify WITH NO ADVANCING, and the output is going to a ddname, the printer control
character ' ' (space) is placed into the first output position from the next DISPLAY statement, indicating
single-spaced output.

DISPLAY "ABC"
DISPLAY "CDEF" WITH NO ADVANCING
DISPLAY "GHIJK" WITH NO ADVANCING
DISPLAY "LMNOPQ"
DISPLAY "RSTUVWX"

If you code the statements above, the result sent to the output device is:

ABC
CDEF
+GHIJK
+LMNOPQ
RSTUVMX

The output that is printed depends on how the output device interprets printer control characters.
If you do not specify the WITH NO ADVANCING phrase and the output is going to stdout or stderr, a
newline character is appended to the end of the stream.

related references
DISPLAY statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Chapter 2. Using data 37

Using intrinsic functions (built-in functions)
Some high-level programming languages have built-in functions that you can reference in your program as
if they were variables that have defined attributes and a predetermined value. In COBOL, these functions
are called intrinsic functions. They provide capabilities for manipulating strings and numbers.
Because the value of an intrinsic function is derived automatically at the time of reference, you do not
need to define functions in the DATA DIVISION. Define only the nonliteral data items that you use as
arguments. Figurative constants are not allowed as arguments.
A function-identifier is the combination of the COBOL reserved word FUNCTION followed by a function
name (such as Max), followed by any arguments to be used in the evaluation of the function (such as x, y,
z). For example, the groups of highlighted words below are function-identifiers:

Unstring Function Upper-case(Name) Delimited By Space

Into Fname Lname
Compute A = 1 + Function Log10(x)
Compute M = Function Max(x y z)

A function-identifier represents both the invocation of the function and the data value returned by the
function. Because it actually represents a data item, you can use a function-identifier in most places in the
PROCEDURE DIVISION where a data item that has the attributes of the returned value can be used.
The COBOL word function is a reserved word, but the function-names are not reserved. You can use
them in other contexts, such as for the name of a data item. For example, you could use Sqrt to invoke an
intrinsic function and to name a data item in your program:

Working-Storage Section.
01 x Pic 99 value 2.
01 y Pic 99 value 4.
01 z Pic 99 value 0.
01 Sqrt Pic 99 value 0.
. . .
Compute Sqrt = 16 ** .5
Compute z = x + Function Sqrt(y)
. . .

A function-identifier represents a value that is of one of these types: alphanumeric, national, numeric,
or integer. You can include a substring specification (reference modifier) in a function-identifier for
alphanumeric or national functions. Numeric intrinsic functions are further classified according to the
type of numbers they return.
The functions MAX and MIN can return either type of value depending on the type of arguments you
supply.
Functions can reference other functions as arguments provided that the results of the nested functions
meet the requirements for the arguments of the outer function. For example, Function Sqrt(5)
returns a numeric value. Thus, the three arguments to the MAX function below are all numeric, which is an
allowable argument type for this function:

Compute x = Function Max((Function Sqrt(5)) 2.5 3.5)

related tasks
“Processing table items
using intrinsic functions” on page 87
“Converting data items (intrinsic functions)” on page 113
“Evaluating data items (intrinsic functions)” on page 117

38 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Using tables (arrays) and pointers
In COBOL, arrays are called tables. A table is a set of logically consecutive data items that you define in
the DATA DIVISION by using the OCCURS clause.
Pointers are data items that contain virtual storage addresses. You define them either explicitly with the
USAGE IS POINTER clause in the DATA DIVISION or implicitly as ADDRESS OF special registers.
You can perform the following operations with pointer data items:
• Pass them between programs by using the CALL . . . BY REFERENCE statement.
• Set a pointer to allocated storage or free storage by using the ALLOCATE and FREE statements.
• Move them to other pointers by using the SET statement.
• Compare them to other pointers for equality by using a relation condition.
• Initialize them to contain an invalid address by using VALUE IS NULL.
Use pointer data items to:
• Accomplish limited base addressing, particularly if you want to pass and receive addresses of a record
area that is defined with OCCURS DEPENDING ON and is therefore variably located.
• Handle a chained list.
related tasks
“Defining a table (OCCURS)” on page 67
“Using procedure and function
pointers” on page 485

Storage and its addressability

When you run COBOL programs, the programs and the data that they use reside in virtual storage. Storage
that you use with COBOL can be either below the 16 MB line or above the 16 MB line but below the 2 GB
bar. Two modes of addressing are available to address this storage: 24-bit and 31-bit.
You can address storage below (but not above) the 16 MB line with 24-bit addressing. You can address
storage either above or below the 16 MB line with 31-bit addressing. Unrestricted storage is addressable
by 31-bit addressing and therefore encompasses all the storage available to your program, both above
and below the 16 MB line.
Enterprise COBOL does not directly exploit the 64-bit virtual addressing capability of z/OS; however,
COBOL applications running in 31-bit or 24-bit addressing mode are fully supported on 64-bit z/OS
systems.
Addressing mode (AMODE) is the attribute that tells which hardware addressing mode is supported by your
program: 24-bit addressing, 31-bit addressing, or either 24-bit or 31-bit addressing. These attributes are
AMODE 24, AMODE 31, and AMODE ANY, respectively. The program object and the executing program
each have an AMODE attribute. Enterprise COBOL V5.1.1 object programs are either AMODE MIN for cases
where AMODE 24 is possible, or AMODE 31 in all other cases. See “Restrictions for AMODE” on page 40.
Residency mode (RMODE) is the attribute of a program object that identifies where in virtual storage the
program will reside: below the 16 MB line, or either below or above. This attribute is RMODE 24 or RMODE
ANY.
Enterprise COBOL uses Language Environment services to control the storage used at run time. Thus
COBOL compiler options and Language Environment runtime options influence the AMODE and RMODE
attributes of your program and data, alone and in combination:
DATA
Compiler option that influences the location of storage for WORKING-STORAGE data, I-O buffers, and
parameter lists for programs compiled with RENT.
RMODE
Compiler option that influences the residency mode.

Chapter 2. Using data 39

 RENT
Compiler option to generate a reentrant program.
HEAP
Runtime option that controls storage for the runtime heap. For example, COBOL WORKING-STORAGE
is allocated from heap storage when the COBOL program is compiled with the RENT option and is in
one of the following cases:
• Compiled with Enterprise COBOL V4.2 or earlier releases
• Compiled with the DATA(24) compiler option
• Running in CICS
• A COBOL V5.1.1 or later program in a program object that contains only COBOL programs (except
COBOL 5.1.0) and assembler. There are no Language Environment interlanguage calls within the
program object and no COBOL V5.1.0 programs.
• A COBOL V5 program in a program object where the main entry point is COBOL V5. In this case, the
program object can contain Language Environment interlanguage calls, with COBOL statically linking
with C, C++ or PL/I. All COBOL V5 programs within such program objects (even if they are not the
main entry point) have their WORKING-STORAGE allocated from heap storage.
• A COBOL V6.1 or later program
STACK
Runtime option that controls storage for the runtime stack. For example, COBOL LOCAL-STORAGE is
allocated from stack storage.
ALL31
Runtime option that specifies whether an application can run entirely in AMODE 31.

Restrictions for AMODE

AMODE 24 execution is not supported in the following cases, and the applications must run in AMODE 31.
This is the same set of AMODE 24 restrictions as COBOL V3 and V4.
• Programs containing XML PARSE statements
• Programs containing XML GENERATE statements
• Program objects containing COBOL bound together with C, C++, or PL/I programs, and communicating
via static CALL
• Programs containing object-oriented language syntax, such as INVOKE statements, or object-oriented
class definitions
• Programs compiled with any of the following compiler options:
– DLL
– PGMNAME(LONGUPPER)
– PGMNAME(LONGMIXED)
• Multithreaded applications
Note: A program compiled with the THREAD option can run in AMODE 24, but only in an application that
does not have multiple threads or PL/I tasks.
• Programs run from the z/OS UNIX file system
Note: An AMODE 31 driver program resident in the z/OS UNIX file system can contain a dynamic call to
an AMODE 24 program module resident in an MVS PDSE.
• Programs used as COBOL compiler exit modules that are specified on the EXIT compiler option
• Language Environment enclaves that use XPLINK, including either the enclaves that contain non-
COBOL programs compiled with the XPLINK compiler option, or run with the XPLINK runtime option
Note: To run COBOL programs with addressing mode 24, you must compile all COBOL programs
with Enterprise COBOL V5.1.1, or later versions; or Enterprise COBOL V4.2 or earlier versions. If any
component of a program object is compiled with Enterprise COBOL V5.1.0, the program object must run

40 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
in addressing mode 31. COBOL programs that run with addressing mode 24 must be linked with the
binder option RMODE(24).

Settings for RMODE

The RMODE and RENT options determine the RMODE attribute of your program.

Table 4. Effect of RMODE and RENT compiler options on the RMODE attribute
RMODE compiler option RENT compiler option RMODE attribute
RMODE(AUTO) RENT RMODE ANY
RMODE(AUTO) NORENT RMODE 24
RMODE(24) RENT or NORENT RMODE 24
RMODE(ANY) RENT RMODE ANY
RMODE(ANY) NORENT Compiler option conflict.
If the NORENT option is
specified, the RMODE(24)
or RMODE(AUTO) compiler
option must be specified.

Link-edit considerations: When the object code that COBOL generates has an attribute of RMODE 24, you
must link-edit it with RMODE 24. When the object code that COBOL generates has an attribute of RMODE
ANY, you can link-edit it with RMODE ANY or RMODE 24.

Storage restrictions for passing data

Do not pass parameters that are allocated in storage above the 16 MB line to AMODE 24 subprograms.
Force the WORKING-STORAGE data and parameter lists below the line for programs that run in 31-bit
addressing mode and pass data to programs that run in AMODE 24:
• Compile with the RENT and DATA(24) compiler options, or if the WORKING-STORAGE is on the HEAP
(see previous description of the HEAP option), run them with the HEAP(,,BELOW) runtime option.
• Compile with the NORENT compiler option.

Location of data areas

For reentrant programs, the DATA compiler option, and the HEAP runtime option control whether storage
for data areas such as WORKING-STORAGE SECTION and FD record areas is obtained from below the 16
MB line or from unrestricted storage. Compile programs with RENT and RMODE(ANY) or RMODE(AUTO) if
they will be run with 31-bit addressing in virtual storage addresses above the 16 MB line. The DATA option
does not affect programs that are compiled with NORENT.

Storage for LOCAL-STORAGE data

The location of LOCAL-STORAGE data items is controlled by the STACK runtime option and the
AMODE of the program. LOCAL-STORAGE data items are acquired in unrestricted storage when the
STACK(,,ANYWHERE) runtime option is in effect and the program is running in AMODE 31. Otherwise
LOCAL-STORAGE is acquired below the 16 MB line. The DATA compiler option does not influence the
location of LOCAL-STORAGE data.

Storage for external data

In addition to affecting how storage is obtained for dynamic data areas (WORKING-STORAGE, FD record
areas, and parameter lists), the DATA compiler option can also influence where storage for EXTERNAL

Chapter 2. Using data 41

 data is obtained. Storage required for EXTERNAL data is obtained from unrestricted storage if the
following conditions are met:
• The program is compiled with the DATA(31) and RENT compiler options.
• The HEAP(,,ANYWHERE) runtime option is in effect.
• The ALL31(ON) runtime option is in effect.
In all other cases, the storage for EXTERNAL data is obtained from below the 16 MB line. If you specify
the ALL31(ON) runtime option, all the programs in the run unit must be capable of running in 31-bit
addressing mode.

Storage for QSAM input-output buffers

The DATA compiler option can also influence where input-output buffers for QSAM files are obtained.
See the related references below for information about allocation of buffers for QSAM files and the DATA
compiler option.

Storage for ALLOCATE statement

The DATA compiler option setting influences how ALLOCATE acquires storage:
• If DATA(24) is in effect and the LOC 31 phrase of the ALLOCATE statement is not specified, ALLOCATE
acquires storage from below the 16 MB line.
• If DATA(31) is in effect and the LOC 24 phrase of the ALLOCATE statement is not specified, ALLOCATE
will attempt to acquire storage from above the 16 MB line.

related concepts
“AMODE switching” on page 478
AMODE considerations for heap storage
(Language Environment Programming Guide)

related tasks
Chapter 25, “Using subprograms,” on page 473
Chapter 26, “Sharing data,” on page 491

related references
“Allocation of buffers for QSAM files” on page 176
“Allocation of record areas for VSAM files” on page 201
“DATA” on page 310
“RENT” on page 348
“RMODE” on page 349
“Performance-related compiler options” on page 676
ALLOCATE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
HEAP, STACK, ALL31 (Language Environment Programming Reference)
MVS Program Management: User's Guide and Reference

42 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 3. Working with numbers and arithmetic

In general, you can view COBOL numeric data as a series of decimal digit positions. However, numeric
items can also have special properties such as an arithmetic sign or a currency sign.
To define, display, and store numeric data so that you can perform arithmetic operations efficiently:
• Use the PICTURE clause and the characters 9, +, -, P, S, and V to define numeric data.
• Use the PICTURE clause and editing characters (such as Z, comma, and period) along with MOVE and
DISPLAY statements to display numeric data.
• Use the USAGE clause with various formats to control how numeric data is stored.
• Use the numeric class test to validate that data values are appropriate.
• Use ADD, SUBTRACT, MULTIPLY, DIVIDE, and COMPUTE statements to perform arithmetic.
• Use the CURRENCY SIGN clause and appropriate PICTURE characters to designate the currency you
want.

related tasks
“Defining numeric data” on page 43
“Displaying numeric data” on page 45
“Controlling how numeric data is stored” on page 46
“Checking for incompatible data (numeric class test)” on page 53
“Performing arithmetic” on page 55
“Using currency signs” on page 64

Defining numeric data

Define numeric items by using the PICTURE clause with the character 9 in the data description to
represent the decimal digits of the number. Do not use an X, which is for alphanumeric data items.
For example, Count-y below is a numeric data item, an external decimal item that has USAGE DISPLAY
(a zoned decimal item):

05 Count-y Pic 9(4) Value 25.

05 Customer-name Pic X(20) Value "Johnson".

You can similarly define numeric data items to hold national characters (UTF-16). For example, Count-n
below is an external decimal data item that has USAGE NATIONAL (a national decimal item):

05 Count-n Pic 9(4) Value 25 Usage National.

You can code up to 18 digits in the PICTURE clause when you compile using the default compiler option
ARITH(COMPAT) (referred to as compatibility mode). When you compile using ARITH(EXTEND) (referred
to as extended mode), you can code up to 31 digits in the PICTURE clause.
Other characters of special significance that you can code are:
P
Indicates leading or trailing zeros
S
Indicates a sign, positive or negative
V
Implies a decimal point

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 43

 The s in the following example means that the value is signed:

05 Price Pic s99v99.

The field can therefore hold a positive or a negative value. The v indicates the position of an implied
decimal point, but does not contribute to the size of the item because it does not require a storage
position. An s usually does not contribute to the size of a numeric item, because by default s does not
require a storage position.

However, if you plan to port your program or data to a different machine, you might want to code the sign
for a zoned decimal data item as a separate position in storage. In the following case, the sign takes 1
byte:

05 Price Pic s99V99 Sign Is Leading, Separate.

This coding ensures that the convention your machine uses for storing a nonseparate sign will not cause
unexpected results on a machine that uses a different convention.
Separate signs are also preferable for zoned decimal data items that will be printed or displayed.
Separate signs are required for national decimal data items that are signed. The sign takes 2 bytes of
storage, as in the following example:

05 Price Pic s99V99 Usage National Sign Is Leading, Separate.

You cannot use the PICTURE clause with internal floating-point data (COMP-1 or COMP-2). However, you
can use the VALUE clause to provide an initial value for an internal floating-point literal:

05 Compute-result Usage Comp-2 Value 06.23E-24.

For information about external floating-point data, see the examples referenced below and the related
concept about formats for numeric data.
“Examples: numeric data and internal representation” on page 50
related concepts
“Formats for numeric
data” on page 47
Appendix A, “Intermediate results and arithmetic precision,” on page 691

related tasks
“Displaying numeric data” on page 45
“Controlling how numeric data is stored” on page 46
“Performing arithmetic” on page 55
“Defining national numeric
data items” on page 132

related references
“Sign representation of zoned and packed-decimal data” on page 53
“Storage of character data” on page 136
“ARITH” on page 300
“NUMPROC” on page 340
SIGN clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

44 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Displaying numeric data
You can define numeric items with certain editing symbols (such as decimal points, commas, dollar signs,
and debit or credit signs) to make the items easier to read and understand when you display or print
them.
For example, in the code below, Edited-price is a numeric-edited item that has USAGE DISPLAY. (You
can specify the clause USAGE IS DISPLAY for numeric-edited items; however, it is implied. It means
that the items are stored in character format.)

05 Price Pic 9(5)v99.

05 Edited-price Pic $zz,zz9.99.
. . .
Move Price To Edited-price
Display Edited-price

If the contents of Price are 0150099 (representing the value 1,500.99), $ 1,500.99 is displayed when
you run the code. The z in the PICTURE clause of Edited-price indicates the suppression of leading
zeros.
You can define numeric-edited data items to hold national (UTF-16) characters instead of alphanumeric
characters. To do so, define the numeric-edited items as USAGE NATIONAL. The effect of the editing
symbols is the same for numeric-edited items that have USAGE NATIONAL as it is for numeric-edited
items that have USAGE DISPLAY, except that the editing is done with national characters. For example,
if Edited-price is declared as USAGE NATIONAL in the code above, the item is edited and displayed
using national characters.
To display numeric or numeric-edited data items that have USAGE NATIONAL in EBCDIC, direct them
to CONSOLE. For example, if Edited-price in the code above has USAGE NATIONAL, $ 1,500.99 is
displayed when you run the program if the last statement above is:

Display Edited-price Upon Console

You can cause an elementary numeric or numeric-edited item to be filled with spaces when a value of
zero is stored into it by coding the BLANK WHEN ZERO clause for the item. For example, each of the
DISPLAY statements below causes blanks to be displayed instead of zeros:

05 Price Pic 9(5)v99.

05 Edited-price-D Pic $99,999.99
Blank When Zero.
05 Edited-price-N Pic $99,999.99 Usage National
Blank When Zero.
. . .
Move 0 to Price
Move Price to Edited-price-D
Move Price to Edited-price-N
Display Edited-price-D
Display Edited-price-N upon console

You cannot use numeric-edited items as sending operands in arithmetic expressions or in ADD,
SUBTRACT, MULTIPLY, DIVIDE, or COMPUTE statements. (Numeric editing takes place when a numeric-
edited item is the receiving field for one of these statements, or when a MOVE statement has a numeric-
edited receiving field and a numeric-edited or numeric sending field.) You use numeric-edited items
primarily for displaying or printing numeric data.
You can move numeric-edited items to numeric or numeric-edited items. In the following example, the
value of the numeric-edited item (whether it has USAGE DISPLAY or USAGE NATIONAL) is moved to the
numeric item:

Move Edited-price to Price

Display Price

Chapter 3. Working with numbers and arithmetic 45

 If these two statements immediately followed the statements in the first example above, then Price
would be displayed as 0150099, representing the value 1,500.99. Price would also be displayed as
0150099 if Edited-price had USAGE NATIONAL.
You can also move numeric-edited items to alphanumeric, alphanumeric-edited, floating-point, and
national data items. For a complete list of the valid receiving items for numeric-edited data, see the
related reference about the MOVE statement.
“Examples: numeric data and internal representation” on page 50

related tasks
“Displaying values on a
screen or in a file (DISPLAY)” on page 35
“Controlling how numeric data is stored” on page 46
“Defining numeric data” on page 43
“Performing arithmetic” on page 55
“Defining national numeric
data items” on page 132
“Converting to or from national (Unicode) representation” on page 136

related references
MOVE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
BLANK WHEN ZERO clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Controlling how numeric data is stored

You can control how the computer stores numeric data items by coding the USAGE clause in your data
description entries.
You might want to control the format for any of several reasons such as these:
• Arithmetic performed with computational data types is more efficient than with USAGE DISPLAY or
USAGE NATIONAL data types.
• Packed-decimal format requires less storage per digit than USAGE DISPLAY or USAGE NATIONAL data
types.
• Packed-decimal format converts to and from DISPLAY or NATIONAL format more efficiently than binary
format does.
• Floating-point format is well suited for arithmetic operands and results with widely varying scale, while
maintaining the maximal number of significant digits.
• You might need to preserve data formats when you move data from one machine to another.
The numeric data you use in your program will have one of the following formats available with COBOL:
• External decimal (USAGE DISPLAY or USAGE NATIONAL)
• External floating point (USAGE DISPLAY or USAGE NATIONAL)
• Internal decimal (USAGE PACKED-DECIMAL)
• Binary (USAGE BINARY)
• Native binary (USAGE COMP-5)
• Internal floating point (USAGE COMP-1 or USAGE COMP-2)
COMP and COMP-4 are synonymous with BINARY, and COMP-3 is synonymous with PACKED-DECIMAL.

The compiler converts displayable numbers to the internal representation of their numeric values before
using them in arithmetic operations. Therefore it is often more efficient if you define data items as
BINARY or PACKED-DECIMAL than as DISPLAY or NATIONAL. For example:

05 Initial-count Pic S9(4) Usage Binary Value 1000.

46 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Regardless of which USAGE clause you use to control the internal representation of a value, you use the
same PICTURE clause conventions and decimal value in the VALUE clause (except for internal floating-
point data, for which you cannot use a PICTURE clause).
“Examples: numeric data and internal representation” on page 50

related concepts
“Formats for numeric
data” on page 47
“Data format conversions” on page 51
Appendix A, “Intermediate results and arithmetic precision,” on page 691

related tasks
“Defining numeric data” on page 43
“Displaying numeric data” on page 45
“Performing arithmetic” on page 55

related references
“Conversions and precision” on page 52
“Sign representation of zoned and packed-decimal data” on page 53

Formats for numeric data

Several formats are available for numeric data.

External decimal (DISPLAY and NATIONAL) items

When USAGE DISPLAY is in effect for a category numeric data item (either because you have coded it, or
by default), each position (byte) of storage contains one decimal digit. The items are stored in displayable
form. External decimal items that have USAGE DISPLAY are referred to as zoned decimal data items.
When USAGE NATIONAL is in effect for a category numeric data item, 2 bytes of storage are required
for each decimal digit. The items are stored in UTF-16 format. External decimal items that have USAGE
NATIONAL must only contain valid UTF-16 digits. If they do not, the data is illegal and the behaviour of
the generated code is undefined. External decimal items that have USAGE NATIONAL are referred to as
national decimal data items.
National decimal data items, if signed, must have the SIGN SEPARATE clause in effect. All other rules for
zoned decimal items apply to national decimal items. You can use national decimal items anywhere that
other category numeric data items can be used.
External decimal (both zoned decimal and national decimal) data items are primarily intended for
receiving and sending numbers between your program and files, terminals, or printers. You can also
use external decimal items as operands and receivers in arithmetic processing. However, if your program
performs a lot of intensive arithmetic, and efficiency is a high priority, COBOL's computational numeric
types might be a better choice for the data items used in the arithmetic.

External floating-point (DISPLAY and NATIONAL) items

When USAGE DISPLAY is in effect for a floating-point data item (either because you have coded it, or
by default), each PICTURE character position (except for v, an implied decimal point, if used) takes 1
byte of storage. The items are stored in displayable form. External floating-point items that have USAGE
DISPLAY are referred to as display floating-point data items in this information when necessary to
distinguish them from external floating-point items that have USAGE NATIONAL.
In the following example, Compute-Result is implicitly defined as a display floating-point item:

05 Compute-Result Pic -9v9(9)E-99.

The minus signs (-) do not mean that the mantissa and exponent must necessarily be negative numbers.
Instead, they mean that when the number is displayed, the sign appears as a blank for positive numbers

Chapter 3. Working with numbers and arithmetic 47

 or a minus sign for negative numbers. If you instead code a plus sign (+), the sign appears as a plus sign
for positive numbers or a minus sign for negative numbers.
When USAGE NATIONAL is in effect for a floating-point data item, each PICTURE character position
(except for v, if used) takes 2 bytes of storage. The items are stored as national characters (UTF-16).
External floating-point items that have USAGE NATIONAL are referred to as national floating-point data
items.
The existing rules for display floating-point items apply to national floating-point items.
In the following example, Compute-Result-N is a national floating-point item:

05 Compute-Result-N Pic -9v9(9)E-99 Usage National.

If Compute-Result-N is displayed, the signs appear as described above for Compute-Result, but
in national characters. To instead display Compute-Result-N in EBCDIC characters, direct it to the
console:

Display Compute-Result-N Upon Console

You cannot use the VALUE clause for external floating-point items.
As with external decimal numbers, external floating-point numbers have to be converted (by the
compiler) to an internal representation of their numeric value before they can be used in arithmetic
operations. If you compile with the default option ARITH (COMPAT), external floating-point numbers are
converted to long (64-bit) floating-point format. If you compile with ARITH (EXTEND), they are instead
converted to extended-precision (128-bit) floating-point format.

Binary (COMP) items

BINARY, COMP, and COMP-4 are synonyms. Binary-format numbers occupy 2, 4, or 8 bytes of storage. If
the PICTURE clause specifies that an item is signed, the leftmost bit is used as the operational sign.
A binary number with a PICTURE description of four or fewer decimal digits occupies 2 bytes; five to
nine decimal digits, 4 bytes; and 10 to 18 decimal digits, 8 bytes. Binary items with nine or more digits
require more handling by the compiler. Testing them for the SIZE ERROR condition and rounding is more
cumbersome than with other types.
You can use binary items, for example, for indexes, subscripts, switches, and arithmetic operands or
results.
Use the TRUNC(STD|OPT|BIN) compiler option to indicate how binary data (BINARY, COMP, or COMP-4)
is to be truncated.

Native binary (COMP-5) items

Data items that you define as USAGE COMP-5 are represented in storage as binary data. However,
unlike USAGE COMP items, they can contain values of magnitude up to the capacity of the native binary
representation (2, 4, or 8 bytes) rather than being limited to the value implied by the number of 9s in the
PICTURE clause.
When you move or store numeric data into a COMP-5 item, truncation occurs at the binary field size rather
than at the COBOL PICTURE size limit. When you reference a COMP-5 item, the full binary field size is
used in the operation.
COMP-5 is thus particularly useful for binary data items that originate in non-COBOL programs where the
data might not conform to a COBOL PICTURE clause.
The table below shows the ranges of possible values for COMP-5 data items.

48 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 5. Ranges in value of COMP-5 data items
PICTURE Storage representation Numeric values
S9(1) through S9(4) Binary halfword (2 bytes) -32768 through +32767
S9(5) through S9(9) Binary fullword (4 bytes) -2,147,483,648 through +2,147,483,647
S9(10) through Binary doubleword (8 bytes) -9,223,372,036,854,775,808 through
S9(18) +9,223,372,036,854,775,807
9(1) through 9(4) Binary halfword (2 bytes) 0 through 65535
9(5) through 9(9) Binary fullword (4 bytes) 0 through 4,294,967,295
9(10) through 9(18) Binary doubleword (8 bytes) 0 through 18,446,744,073,709,551,615

You can specify scaling (that is, decimal positions or implied integer positions) in the PICTURE clause
of COMP-5 items. If you do so, you must appropriately scale the maximal capacities listed above. For
example, a data item you describe as PICTURE S99V99 COMP-5 is represented in storage as a binary
halfword, and supports a range of values from -327.68 through +327.67.
Large literals in VALUE clauses: Literals specified in VALUE clauses for COMP-5 items can, with a few
exceptions, contain values of magnitude up to the capacity of the native binary representation. See
Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference for the exceptions.
Regardless of the setting of the TRUNC compiler option, COMP-5 data items behave like binary data does
in programs compiled with TRUNC(BIN).

Packed-decimal (COMP-3) items

PACKED-DECIMAL and COMP-3 are synonyms. Packed-decimal items occupy 1 byte of storage for every
two decimal digits you code in the PICTURE description, except that the rightmost byte contains only one
digit and the sign. This format is most efficient when you code an odd number of digits in the PICTURE
description, so that the leftmost byte is fully used. Packed-decimal items are handled as fixed-point
numbers for arithmetic purposes.

Internal floating-point (COMP-1 and COMP-2) items

COMP-1 refers to short floating-point format and COMP-2 refers to long floating-point format, which
occupy 4 and 8 bytes of storage, respectively. The leftmost bit contains the sign and the next 7 bits
contain the exponent; the remaining 3 or 7 bytes contain the mantissa.
COMP-1 and COMP-2 data items are stored in System z® hexadecimal format.

related concepts
“Unicode and the encoding
of language characters” on page 129
Appendix A, “Intermediate results and arithmetic precision,” on page 691

related tasks
“Defining numeric data” on page 43
“Defining national numeric
data items” on page 132

related references
“Storage of character data” on page 136
“TRUNC” on page 364
Classes and categories of data (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
SIGN clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
VALUE clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Chapter 3. Working with numbers and arithmetic 49

Examples: numeric data and internal representation
The following table shows the internal representation of numeric items.

Table 6. Internal representation of numeric items

Numeric type PICTURE and USAGE and Value Internal representation
optional SIGN clause
External PIC S9999 DISPLAY + 1234 F1 F2 F3 C4
decimal
- 1234 F1 F2 F3 D4
1234 F1 F2 F3 C4
PIC 9999 DISPLAY 1234 F1 F2 F3 F4
PIC 9999 NATIONAL 1234 00 31 00 32 00 33 00 34
+ 1234 C1 F2 F3 F4
PIC S9999 DISPLAY - 1234 D1 F2 F3 F4
SIGN LEADING

+ 1234 4E F1 F2 F3 F4
PIC S9999 DISPLAY - 1234 60 F1 F2 F3 F4
SIGN LEADING SEPARATE

+ 1234 F1 F2 F3 F4 4E
PIC S9999 DISPLAY - 1234 F1 F2 F3 F4 60
SIGN TRAILING
SEPARATE

+ 1234 00 2B 00 31 00 32 00 33 00
34
PIC S9999 NATIONAL
SIGN LEADING - 1234 00 2D 00 31 00 32 00 33 00
SEPARATE 34

+ 1234 00 31 00 32 00 33 00 34 00
2B
PIC S9999 NATIONAL
SIGN TRAILING - 1234 00 31 00 32 00 33 00 34 00
SEPARATE 2D

Binary + 1234 04 D2
PIC S9999 BINARY - 1234 FB 2E
PIC S9999 COMP
PIC S9999 COMP-4

PIC S9999 COMP-5 + 123451 30 39

- 123451 CF C7
1234 04 D2
PIC 9999 BINARY
PIC 9999 COMP
PIC 9999 COMP-4

PIC 9999 COMP-5 600001 EA 60

50 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 6. Internal representation of numeric items (continued)
Numeric type PICTURE and USAGE and Value Internal representation
optional SIGN clause
Internal + 1234 01 23 4C
decimal PIC S9999 PACKED- - 1234 01 23 4D
DECIMAL
PIC S9999 COMP-3

1234 01 23 4F
PIC 9999 PACKED-
DECIMAL
PIC 9999 COMP-3

Internal COMP-1 + 1234 43 4D 20 00

floating point
- 1234 C3 4D 20 00
COMP-2 + 1234 43 4D 20 00 00 00 00 00
- 1234 C3 4D 20 00 00 00 00 00
External PIC +9(2).9(2)E+99 + 12.34E+02 4E F1 F2 4B F3 F4 C5 4E F0
floating point DISPLAY F2
- 12.34E+02 60 F1 F2 4B F3 F4 C5 4E F0
F2
PIC +9(2).9(2)E+99 + 12.34E+02
NATIONAL 00 2B 00 31 00 32 00 2E 00
33
00 34 00 45 00 2B 00 30 00
32

- 12.34E+02
00 2D 00 31 00 32 00 2E 00
33
00 34 00 45 00 2B 00 30 00
32

1. The example demonstrates that COMP-5 data items can contain values of magnitude up to the capacity
of the native binary representation (2, 4, or 8 bytes), rather than being limited to the value implied by the
number of 9s in the PICTURE clause.

Data format conversions

When the code in your program involves the interaction of items that have different data formats,
the compiler converts those items either temporarily, for comparisons and arithmetic operations, or
permanently, for assignment to the receiver in a MOVE or COMPUTE statement.
A conversion is actually a move of a value from one data item to another. The compiler performs any
conversions that are required during the execution of arithmetic or comparisons by using the same rules
that are used for MOVE and COMPUTE statements.
When possible, the compiler performs a move to preserve numeric value instead of a direct digit-for-digit
move.

Chapter 3. Working with numbers and arithmetic 51

 Conversion generally requires additional storage and processing time because data is moved to an
internal work area and converted before the operation is performed. The results might also have to be
moved back into a work area and converted again.

Conversions between fixed-point data formats (external decimal, packed decimal, or binary) are without
loss of precision provided that the target field can contain all the digits of the source operand.

A loss of precision is possible in conversions between fixed-point data formats and floating-point data
formats (short floating point, long floating point, or external floating point). These conversions happen
during arithmetic evaluations that have a mixture of both fixed-point and floating-point operands.

related references
“Conversions and precision” on page 52
“Sign representation of zoned and packed-decimal data” on page 53

Conversions and precision

In some numeric conversions, a loss of precision is possible; other conversions preserve precision or
result in rounding.
Because both fixed-point and external floating-point items have decimal characteristics, references to
fixed-point items in the following examples include external floating-point items unless stated otherwise.
When the compiler converts from fixed-point to internal floating-point format, fixed-point numbers in
base 10 are converted to the numbering system used internally.
When the compiler converts short form to long form for comparisons, zeros are used for padding the
shorter number.

Conversions that lose precision

When a USAGE COMP-1 data item is moved to a fixed-point data item that has more than nine digits, the
fixed-point data item will receive only nine significant digits, and the remaining digits will be zero.
When a USAGE COMP-2 data item is moved to a fixed-point data item that has more than 18 digits, the
fixed-point data item will receive only 18 significant digits, and the remaining digits will be zero.

Conversions that preserve precision

If a fixed-point data item that has six or fewer digits is moved to a USAGE COMP-1 data item and then
returned to the fixed-point data item, the original value is recovered.
If a USAGE COMP-1 data item is moved to a fixed-point data item of nine or more digits and then returned
to the USAGE COMP-1 data item, the original value is recovered.
If a fixed-point data item that has 15 or fewer digits is moved to a USAGE COMP-2 data item and then
returned to the fixed-point data item, the original value is recovered.
If a USAGE COMP-2 data item is moved to a fixed-point (not external floating-point) data item of 18 or
more digits and then returned to the USAGE COMP-2 data item, the original value is recovered.

Conversions that result in rounding

If a USAGE COMP-1 data item, a USAGE COMP-2 data item, an external floating-point data item, or a
floating-point literal is moved to a fixed-point data item, rounding occurs in the low-order position of the
target data item.
If a USAGE COMP-2 data item is moved to a USAGE COMP-1 data item, rounding occurs in the low-order
position of the target data item.
If a fixed-point data item is moved to an external floating-point data item and the PICTURE of the
fixed-point data item contains more digit positions than the PICTURE of the external floating-point data
item, rounding occurs in the low-order position of the target data item.

52 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 related concepts
Appendix A, “Intermediate results and arithmetic precision,” on page 691

Sign representation of zoned and packed-decimal data

Sign representation affects the processing and interaction of zoned decimal and internal decimal data.
Given X'sd', where s is the sign representation and d represents the digit, the valid sign representations
for zoned decimal (USAGE DISPLAY) data without the SIGN IS SEPARATE clause are:
Positive:
C, A, E, and F
Negative:
D and B

The COBOL NUMPROC compiler option affects sign processing for zoned decimal and internal decimal
data. NUMPROC has no effect on binary data, national decimal data, or floating-point data.
NUMPROC(PFD)
Given X'sd', where s is the sign representation and d represents the digit, when you use
NUMPROC(PFD), the compiler assumes that the sign in your data is one of three preferred signs:
Signed positive or 0:
X'C'
Signed negative:
X'D'
Unsigned or alphanumeric:
X'F'
Based on this assumption, the compiler uses whatever sign it is given to process data. The preferred
sign is generated only where necessary (for example, when unsigned data is moved to signed data).
Using the NUMPROC(PFD) option can save processing time, but you must use preferred signs with
your data for correct processing.
NUMPROC(NOPFD)
When the NUMPROC(NOPFD) compiler option is in effect, the compiler accepts any valid sign
configuration. The preferred sign is always generated in the receiver. NUMPROC(NOPFD) is less
efficient than NUMPROC(PFD), but you should use it whenever data that does not use preferred signs
might exist.
If an unsigned, zoned-decimal sender is moved to an alphanumeric receiver, the sign is unchanged
(even with NUMPROC(NOPFD) in effect).

related references
“NUMPROC” on page 340
“ZWB” on page 375

Checking for incompatible data (numeric class test)

The compiler assumes that values you supply for a data item are valid for the PICTURE and USAGE
clauses, and does not check their validity. Ensure that the contents of a data item conform to the
PICTURE and USAGE clauses before using the item in additional processing.
It can happen that values are passed into your program and assigned to items that have incompatible
data descriptions for those values. For example, nonnumeric data might be moved or passed into a field
that is defined as numeric, or a signed number might be passed into a field that is defined as unsigned.
In either case, the receiving fields contain invalid data. When you give an item a value that is incompatible
with its data description, references to that item in the PROCEDURE DIVISION are undefined and your
results are unpredictable.

Chapter 3. Working with numbers and arithmetic 53

 You can use the numeric class test to perform data validation. For example:

Linkage Section.
01 Count-x Pic 999.
. . .
Procedure Division Using Count-x.
If Count-x is numeric then display "Data is good"

The numeric class test checks the contents of a data item against a set of values that are valid for the
PICTURE and USAGE of the data item. For example, a packed decimal item is checked for hexadecimal
values X'0' through X'9' in the digit positions and for a valid sign value in the sign position (whether
separate or nonseparate). An external decimal data item that has USAGE DISPLAY is checked for
hexadecimal values X'0' through X'9' in the digit positions (the lower 4 bits of each byte), for a valid
zone code in the upper 4 bits of each byte and for a valid sign value in the sign position (whether separate
or nonseparate). The sign code is in the upper 4 bits of the sign byte or in a separate byte if SIGN IS
SEPARATE was specified. If the SIGN IS SEPARATE clause is used, the upper four bits of all bytes must
be x'F'.
Note: Although the INVDATA compiler option allows toleration of invalid zone codes in USAGE DISPLAY
numeric (zoned decimal) data items in numeric comparisons, invalid zone codes in zoned decimal data
items will be treated as nonnumeric by the numeric class test.
For zoned decimal and packed decimal items, the numeric class test is affected by the NUMPROC compiler
option and the NUMCLS option (which is set at installation time). To determine the NUMCLS setting used at
your installation, consult your system programmer.
If NUMCLS(PRIM) is in effect at your installation, use the following table to find the values that the
compiler considers valid for the sign.

Table 7. NUMCLS(PRIM) and valid signs

NUMPROC(NOPFD) NUMPROC(PFD)
Signed C, D, F C, D, +0 (positive zero)
Unsigned F F
Separate sign +, - +, -, +0 (positive zero)

If NUMCLS(ALT) is in effect at your installation, use the following table to find the values that the
compiler considers valid for the sign.

Table 8. NUMCLS(ALT) and valid signs

NUMPROC(NOPFD) NUMPROC(PFD)
Signed A to F C, D, +0 (positive zero)
Unsigned F F
Separate sign +, - +, -, +0 (positive zero)

For more information about numeric class condition, see Class condition in the Enterprise COBOL for z/OS
Language Reference.
You can also use the NUMCHECK(ZON,PAC) option to have the compiler generate implicit numeric class
tests for zoned decimal (numeric USAGE DISPLAY) and packed decimal (COMP-3) data items that are
used as sending data items. This numeric class test validates data and also validates sign fields against
the NUMPROC compiler option to help you decide whether you can use NUMPROC(PFD) or not. For details,
see “NUMCHECK” on page 336.
For more information about other invalid data issues, in particular for COBOL migration purposes, see the
FAQ about invalid data in the Enterprise COBOL Migration Guide.

54 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 related references
“NUMCHECK” on page 336
“NUMPROC” on page 340
“INVDATA” on page 326

Performing arithmetic
You can use any of several COBOL language features (including COMPUTE, arithmetic expressions,
numeric intrinsic functions, and math and date callable services) to perform arithmetic. Your choice
depends on whether a feature meets your particular needs.
For most common arithmetic evaluations, the COMPUTE statement is appropriate. If you need to use
numeric literals, numeric data, or arithmetic operators, you might want to use arithmetic expressions. In
places where numeric expressions are allowed, you can save time by using numeric intrinsic functions.
Language Environment callable services for mathematical functions and for date and time operations also
provide a means of assigning arithmetic results to data items.

related tasks
“Using COMPUTE and other arithmetic statements” on page 55
“Using arithmetic expressions” on page 56
“Using numeric intrinsic functions” on page 56
“Using math-oriented callable services” on page 58
“Using date callable services” on page 59

Using COMPUTE and other arithmetic statements

Use the COMPUTE statement for most arithmetic evaluations rather than ADD, SUBTRACT, MULTIPLY,
and DIVIDE statements. Often you can code only one COMPUTE statement instead of several individual
arithmetic statements.
The COMPUTE statement assigns the result of an arithmetic expression to one or more data items:

Compute z = a + b / c ** d - e
Compute x y z = a + b / c ** d - e

Some arithmetic calculations might be more intuitive using arithmetic statements other than COMPUTE.
For example:

COMPUTE Equivalent arithmetic statements

Compute Increment = Increment + 1 Add 1 to Increment

Compute Balance = Subtract Overdraft from Balance

Balance - Overdraft

Compute IncrementOne = Add 1 to IncrementOne,

IncrementOne + 1 IncrementTwo,
Compute IncrementTwo = IncrementThree
IncrementTwo + 1
Compute IncrementThree =
IncrementThree + 1

You might also prefer to use the DIVIDE statement (with its REMAINDER phrase) for division in which you
want to process a remainder. The REM intrinsic function also provides the ability to process a remainder.

Chapter 3. Working with numbers and arithmetic 55

 When you perform arithmetic calculations, you can use national decimal data items as operands just as
you use zoned decimal data items. You can also use national floating-point data items as operands just as
you use display floating-point operands.

related concepts
“Fixed-point contrasted with floating-point arithmetic” on page 62
Appendix A, “Intermediate results and arithmetic precision,” on page 691

related tasks
“Defining numeric data” on page 43

Using arithmetic expressions

You can use arithmetic expressions in many (but not all) places in statements where numeric data items
are allowed.
For example, you can use arithmetic expressions as comparands in relation conditions:

If (a + b) > (c - d + 5) Then. . .

Arithmetic expressions can consist of a single numeric literal, a single numeric data item, or a single
intrinsic function reference. They can also consist of several of these items connected by arithmetic
operators.
Arithmetic operators are evaluated in the following order of precedence:

Table 9. Order of evaluation of arithmetic operators

Operator Meaning Order of evaluation
Unary + or - Algebraic sign First
** Exponentiation Second
/ or * Division or multiplication Third
Binary + or - Addition or subtraction Last

Operators at the same level of precedence are evaluated from left to right; however, you can use
parentheses to change the order of evaluation. Expressions in parentheses are evaluated before the
individual operators are evaluated. Parentheses, whether necessary or not, make your program easier to
read.

related concepts
“Fixed-point contrasted with floating-point arithmetic” on page 62
Appendix A, “Intermediate results and arithmetic precision,” on page 691

Using numeric intrinsic functions

You can use numeric intrinsic functions only in places where numeric expressions are allowed. These
functions can save you time because you don't have to code the many common types of calculations that
they provide.
Numeric intrinsic functions return a signed numeric value, and are treated as temporary numeric data
items.

Numeric functions are classified into the following categories:

Integer
Those that return an integer

56 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Floating point
Those that return a long (64-bit) or extended-precision (128-bit) floating-point value (depending on
whether you compile using the default option ARITH(COMPAT) or using ARITH(EXTEND))
Mixed
Those that return an integer, a floating-point value, or a fixed-point number with decimal places,
depending on the arguments

You can use intrinsic functions to perform several different arithmetic operations, as outlined in the
following table.

Table 10. Numeric intrinsic functions

Number Date and time Finance Mathematics Statistics
handling

LENGTH CURRENT-DATE ANNUITY ABS MEAN

MAX DATE-OF-INTEGER PRESENT-VALUE ACOS MEDIAN
MIN DATE-TO-YYYYMMDD ASIN MIDRANGE
NUMVAL DAY-OF-INTEGER ATAN RANDOM
NUMVAL-C DAY-TO-YYYYDDD COS RANGE
NUMVAL-F INTEGER-OF-DATE E STANDARD-DEVIATION
SIGN INTEGER-OF-DAY EXP VARIANCE
TEST-NUMVAL WHEN-COMPILED EXP10
TEST- YEAR-TO-YYYY FACTORIAL
NUMVAL-C INTEGER
TEST- INTEGER-PART
NUMVAL-F LOG
ORD-MAX LOG10
ORD-MIN MOD
PI
REM
SIN
SQRT
SUM
TAN

“Examples: numeric intrinsic functions” on page 60

You can reference one function as the argument of another. A nested function is evaluated independently
of the outer function (except when the compiler determines whether a mixed function should be
evaluated using fixed-point or floating-point instructions).
You can also nest an arithmetic expression as an argument to a numeric function. For example, in the
statement below, there are three function arguments (a, b, and the arithmetic expression (c / d)):

Compute x = Function Sum(a b (c / d))

You can reference all the elements of a table (or array) as function arguments by using the ALL subscript.
You can also use the integer special registers as arguments wherever integer arguments are allowed.
Many of the capabilities of numeric intrinsic functions are also provided by Language Environment callable
services.

related concepts
“Fixed-point contrasted with floating-point arithmetic” on page 62
Appendix A, “Intermediate results and arithmetic precision,” on page 691

Chapter 3. Working with numbers and arithmetic 57

 related references
“ARITH” on page 300

Using math-oriented callable services

Most COBOL intrinsic functions have corresponding math-oriented callable services that you can use to
produce the same results.
When you compile with the default option ARITH(COMPAT), COBOL floating-point intrinsic functions
return long (64-bit) results. When you compile with option ARITH(EXTEND), COBOL floating-point
intrinsic functions (with the exception of RANDOM) return extended-precision (128-bit) results.
For example (considering the first row of the table below), if you compile using ARITH(COMPAT),
CEESDACS returns the same result as ACOS. If you compile using ARITH(EXTEND), CEESQACS returns
the same result as ACOS.

Table 11. Compatibility of math intrinsic functions and callable services

COBOL intrinsic Corresponding long- Corresponding extended- Results same for intrinsic
function precision Language precision Language function and callable
Environment callable Environment callable service?
service service
ACOS CEESDACS CEESQACS Yes
ASIN CEESDASN CEESQASN Yes
ATAN CEESDATN CEESQATN Yes
COS CEESDCOS CEESQCOS Yes
E CEESDEXP with parm1 set CEESQEXP with parm1 set Yes
to 1.0 to 1.0
EXP CEESDEXP CEESQEXP Yes
EXP10 CEESDXPD with parm1 set CEESQXPQ with parm1 set Yes
to 10.0 to 10.0
LOG CEESDLOG CEESQLOG Yes
LOG10 CEESDLG1 CEESQLG1 Yes
RANDOM1 CEERAN0 none No
REM CEESDMOD CEESQMOD Yes
SIN CEESDSIN CEESQSIN Yes
SQRT CEESDSQT CEESQSQT Yes
TAN CEESDTAN CEESQTAN Yes

1. RANDOM returns a long (64-bit) floating-point result even if you pass it a 31-digit argument and compile with
ARITH(EXTEND).

Both the RANDOM intrinsic function and CEERAN0 service generate random numbers between zero and
one. However, because each uses its own algorithm, RANDOM and CEERAN0 produce different random
numbers from the same seed.
Even for functions that produce the same results, how you use intrinsic functions and Language
Environment callable services differs. The rules for the data types required for intrinsic function
arguments are less restrictive. For numeric intrinsic functions, you can use arguments that are of any
numeric data type. When you invoke a Language Environment callable service with a CALL statement,

58 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 however, you must ensure that the parameters match the numeric data types (generally COMP-1 or
COMP-2) required by that service.
The error handling of intrinsic functions and Language Environment callable services sometimes differs.
If you pass an explicit feedback token when calling the Language Environment math services, you must
check the feedback code after each call and take explicit action to deal with errors. However, if you call
with the feedback token explicitly OMITTED, you do not need to check the token; Language Environment
automatically signals any errors.

related concepts
“Fixed-point contrasted with floating-point arithmetic” on page 62
Appendix A, “Intermediate results and arithmetic precision,” on page 691

related tasks
“Using Language Environment callable
services” on page 685

related references
“ARITH” on page 300

Using date callable services

Both the COBOL date intrinsic functions and the Language Environment date callable services are based
on the Gregorian calendar. However, the starting dates can differ depending on the setting of the INTDATE
compiler option.
When INTDATE(LILIAN) is in effect, COBOL uses October 15, 1582 as day 1. Language Environment
always uses October 15, 1582 as day 1. If you use INTDATE(LILIAN), you get equivalent results
from COBOL intrinsic functions and Language Environment date callable services. The following table
compares the results when INTDATE(LILIAN) is in effect.

Table 12. INTDATE(LILIAN) and compatibility of date intrinsic functions and callable services
COBOL intrinsic function Language Environment callable service Results
DATE-OF-INTEGER CEEDATE with picture string YYYYMMDD Compatible
DAY-OF-INTEGER CEEDATE with picture string YYYYDDD Compatible
INTEGER-OF-DATE CEEDAYS Compatible
INTEGER-OF-DATE CEECBLDY Incompatible

When the default setting of INTDATE(ANSI) is in effect, COBOL uses January 1, 1601 as day 1. The
following table compares the results when INTDATE(ANSI) is in effect.

Table 13. INTDATE(ANSI) and compatibility of date intrinsic functions and callable services
COBOL intrinsic function Language Environment callable service Results
INTEGER-OF-DATE CEECBLDY Compatible
DATE-OF-INTEGER CEEDATE with picture string YYYYMMDD Incompatible
DAY-OF-INTEGER CEEDATE with picture string YYYYDDD Incompatible
INTEGER-OF-DATE CEEDAYS Incompatible

related tasks
“Using Language Environment callable
services” on page 685

Chapter 3. Working with numbers and arithmetic 59

 related references
“INTDATE” on page 326

Examples: numeric intrinsic functions

The following examples and accompanying explanations show intrinsic functions in each of several
categories.
Where the examples below show zoned decimal data items, national decimal items could instead be
used. (Signed national decimal items, however, require that the SIGN SEPARATE clause be in effect.)

General number handling

Suppose you want to find the maximum value of two prices (represented below as alphanumeric items
with dollar signs), put this value into a numeric field in an output record, and determine the length of the
output record. You can use NUMVAL-C (a function that returns the numeric value of an alphanumeric or
national literal, or an alphanumeric or national data item) and the MAX and LENGTH functions to do so:

01 X Pic 9(2).
01 Price1 Pic x(8) Value "$8000".
01 Price2 Pic x(8) Value "$2000".
01 Output-Record.
05 Product-Name Pic x(20).
05 Product-Number Pic 9(9).
05 Product-Price Pic 9(6).
. . .
Procedure Division.
Compute Product-Price =
Function Max (Function Numval-C(Price1) Function Numval-C(Price2))
Compute X = Function Length(Output-Record)

Additionally, to ensure that the contents in Product-Name are in uppercase letters, you can use the
following statement:

Move Function Upper-case (Product-Name) to Product-Name

Date and time

The following example shows how to calculate a due date that is 90 days from today. The first eight
characters returned by the CURRENT-DATE function represent the date in a four-digit year, two-digit
month, and two-digit day format (YYYYMMDD). The date is converted to its integer value; then 90 is added
to this value and the integer is converted back to the YYYYMMDD format.

01 YYYYMMDD Pic 9(8).

01 Integer-Form Pic S9(9).
. . .
Move Function Current-Date(1:8) to YYYYMMDD
Compute Integer-Form = Function Integer-of-Date(YYYYMMDD)
Add 90 to Integer-Form
Compute YYYYMMDD = Function Date-of-Integer(Integer-Form)
Display 'Due Date: ' YYYYMMDD

Finance
Business investment decisions frequently require computing the present value of expected future cash
inflows to evaluate the profitability of a planned investment. The present value of an amount that you
expect to receive at a given time in the future is that amount, which, if invested today at a given interest
rate, would accumulate to that future amount.

60 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
For example, assume that a proposed investment of $1,000 produces a payment stream of $100, $200,
and $300 over the next three years, one payment per year respectively. The following COBOL statements
calculate the present value of those cash inflows at a 10% interest rate:

01 Series-Amt1 Pic 9(9)V99 Value 100.

01 Series-Amt2 Pic 9(9)V99 Value 200.
01 Series-Amt3 Pic 9(9)V99 Value 300.
01 Discount-Rate Pic S9(2)V9(6) Value .10.
01 Todays-Value Pic 9(9)V99.
. . .
Compute Todays-Value =
Function
Present-Value(Discount-Rate Series-Amt1 Series-Amt2 Series-Amt3)

You can use the ANNUITY function in business problems that require you to determine the amount of
an installment payment (annuity) necessary to repay the principal and interest of a loan. The series of
payments is characterized by an equal amount each period, periods of equal length, and an equal interest
rate each period. The following example shows how you can calculate the monthly payment required to
repay a $15,000 loan in three years at a 12% annual interest rate (36 monthly payments, interest per
month = .12/12):

01 Loan Pic 9(9)V99.

01 Payment Pic 9(9)V99.
01 Interest Pic 9(9)V99.
01 Number-Periods Pic 99.
. . .
Compute Loan = 15000
Compute Interest = .12
Compute Number-Periods = 36
Compute Payment =
Loan * Function Annuity((Interest / 12) Number-Periods)

Mathematics
The following COBOL statement demonstrates that you can nest intrinsic functions, use arithmetic
expressions as arguments, and perform previously complex calculations simply:

Compute Z = Function Log(Function Sqrt (2 * X + 1)) + Function Rem(X 2)

Here in the addend the intrinsic function REM (instead of a DIVIDE statement with a REMAINDER clause)
returns the remainder of dividing X by 2.

Statistics
Intrinsic functions make calculating statistical information easier. Assume you are analyzing various city
taxes and want to calculate the mean, median, and range (the difference between the maximum and
minimum taxes):

01 Tax-S Pic 99v999 value .045.

01 Tax-T Pic 99v999 value .02.
01 Tax-W Pic 99v999 value .035.
01 Tax-B Pic 99v999 value .03.
01 Ave-Tax Pic 99v999.
01 Median-Tax Pic 99v999.
01 Tax-Range Pic 99v999.
. . .
Compute Ave-Tax = Function Mean (Tax-S Tax-T Tax-W Tax-B)
Compute Median-Tax = Function Median (Tax-S Tax-T Tax-W Tax-B)
Compute Tax-Range = Function Range (Tax-S Tax-T Tax-W Tax-B)

related tasks
“Converting to numbers (NUMVAL, NUMVAL-C, NUMVAL-F)” on page 115

Chapter 3. Working with numbers and arithmetic 61

Fixed-point contrasted with floating-point arithmetic
How you code arithmetic in a program (whether an arithmetic statement, an intrinsic function, an
expression, or some combination of these nested within each other) determines whether the evaluation is
done with floating-point or fixed-point arithmetic.
Note: Fixed-point evaluations are sometimes done with decimal floating-point instructions, which are
quite different from hex floating-point instructions.
Many statements in a program could involve arithmetic. For example, each of the following types of
COBOL statements requires some arithmetic evaluation:
• General arithmetic

compute report-matrix-col = (emp-count ** .5) + 1

add report-matrix-min to report-matrix-max giving report-matrix-tot

• Expressions and functions

compute report-matrix-col = function sqrt(emp-count) + 1

compute whole-hours = function integer-part((average-hours) + 1)

• Arithmetic comparisons

if report-matrix-col < function sqrt(emp-count) + 1

if whole-hours not = function integer-part((average-hours) + 1)

Floating-point evaluations
In general, if your arithmetic coding has either of the characteristics listed below, it is evaluated in
floating-point arithmetic:
• An operand or result field is floating point.
An operand is floating point if you code it as a floating-point literal or if you code it as a data item that
is defined as USAGE COMP-1, USAGE COMP-2, or external floating point (USAGE DISPLAY or USAGE
NATIONAL with a floating-point PICTURE).
An operand that is a nested arithmetic expression or a reference to a numeric intrinsic function results
in floating-point arithmetic when any of the following conditions is true:
– An argument in an arithmetic expression results in floating point.
– The function is a floating-point function.
– The function is a mixed function with one or more floating-point arguments.
• An exponent contains decimal places.
An exponent contains decimal places if you use a literal that contains decimal places, give the item a
PICTURE that contains decimal places, or use an arithmetic expression or function whose result has
decimal places.
An arithmetic expression or numeric function yields a result that has decimal places if any operand or
argument (excluding divisors and exponents) has decimal places.

Fixed-point evaluations
In general, if an arithmetic operation contains neither of the characteristics listed above for floating point,
the compiler causes it to be evaluated in fixed-point arithmetic. In other words, arithmetic evaluations
are handled as fixed point only if all the operands are fixed point, the result field is defined to be fixed
point, and none of the exponents represent values with decimal places. Nested arithmetic expressions
and function references must also represent fixed-point values.

62 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Arithmetic comparisons (relation conditions)
When you compare numeric expressions using a relational operator, the numeric expressions (whether
they are data items, arithmetic expressions, function references, or some combination of these) are
comparands in the context of the entire evaluation. That is, the attributes of each can influence the
evaluation of the other: both expressions are evaluated in fixed point, or both are evaluated in floating
point. This is also true of abbreviated comparisons even though one comparand does not explicitly appear
in the comparison. For example:

if (a + d) = (b + e) and c

This statement has two comparisons: (a + d) = (b + e), and (a + d) = c. Although (a + d)

does not explicitly appear in the second comparison, it is a comparand in that comparison. Therefore, the
attributes of c can influence the evaluation of (a + d).
The compiler handles comparisons (and the evaluation of any arithmetic expressions nested in
comparisons) in floating-point arithmetic if either comparand is a floating-point value or resolves to a
floating-point value.
The compiler handles comparisons (and the evaluation of any arithmetic expressions nested in
comparisons) in fixed-point arithmetic if both comparands are fixed-point values or resolve to fixed-point
values.
Implicit comparisons (no relational operator used) are not handled as a unit, however; the two
comparands are treated separately as to their evaluation in floating-point or fixed-point arithmetic. In the
following example, five arithmetic expressions are evaluated independently of one another's attributes,
and then are compared to each other.

evaluate (a + d)
when (b + e) thru c
when (f / g) thru (h * i)
. . .
end-evaluate

“Examples: fixed-point and floating-point evaluations” on page 63

related references
“Arithmetic expressions in nonarithmetic statements” on page 699

Examples: fixed-point and floating-point evaluations

The following example shows statements that are evaluated using fixed-point arithmetic and using
floating-point arithmetic.
Assume that you define the data items for an employee table in the following manner:

01 employee-table.
05 emp-count pic 9(4).
05 employee-record occurs 1 to 1000 times
depending on emp-count.
10 hours pic +9(5)ve+99.
. . .
01 report-matrix-col pic 9(3).
01 report-matrix-min pic 9(3).
01 report-matrix-max pic 9(3).
01 report-matrix-tot pic 9(3).
01 average-hours pic 9(3)v9.
01 whole-hours pic 9(4).

These statements are evaluated using floating-point arithmetic:

compute report-matrix-col = (emp-count ** .5) + 1

Chapter 3. Working with numbers and arithmetic 63

 compute report-matrix-col = function sqrt(emp-count) + 1
if report-matrix-tot < function sqrt(emp-count) + 1

These statements are evaluated using fixed-point arithmetic:

add report-matrix-min to report-matrix-max giving report-matrix-tot

compute report-matrix-max =
function max(report-matrix-max report-matrix-tot)
if whole-hours not = function integer-part((average-hours) + 1)

Using currency signs

Many programs need to process financial information and present that information using the appropriate
currency signs. With COBOL currency support (and the appropriate code page for your printer or display
unit), you can use several currency signs in a program.
You can use one or more of the following signs:
• Symbols such as the dollar sign ($)
• Currency signs of more than one character (such as USD or EUR)
• Euro sign, established by the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)

To specify the symbols for displaying financial information, use the CURRENCY SIGN clause (in the
SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph in the CONFIGURATION SECTION) with the PICTURE characters that relate
to those symbols. In the following example, the PICTURE character $ indicates that the currency sign $US
is to be used:

Currency Sign is "$US" with Picture Symbol "$".

. . .
77 Invoice-Amount Pic $$,$$9.99.
. . .
Display "Invoice amount is " Invoice-Amount.

In this example, if Invoice-Amount contained 1500.00, the display output would be:

Invoice amount is $US1,500.00

By using more than one CURRENCY SIGN clause in your program, you can allow for multiple currency
signs to be displayed.

You can use a hexadecimal literal to indicate the currency sign value. Using a hexadecimal literal could
be useful if the data-entry method for the source program does not allow the entry of the intended
characters easily. The following example shows the hexadecimal value X'9F' used as the currency sign:

Currency Sign X'9F' with Picture Symbol 'U'.

. . .
01 Deposit-Amount Pic UUUUU9.99.

If there is no corresponding character for the euro sign on your keyboard, you need to specify it as a
hexadecimal value in the CURRENCY SIGN clause. The hexadecimal value for the euro sign is either
X'9F' or X'5A' depending on the code page in use, as shown in the following table.

64 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Table 14. Hexadecimal values of the euro sign
Code page Applicable countries Modified Euro sign
CCSID from
1140 USA, Canada, Netherlands, Portugal, Australia, New 037 X'9F'
Zealand
1141 Austria, Germany 273 X'9F'
1142 Denmark, Norway 277 X'5A'
1143 Finland, Sweden 278 X'5A'
1144 Italy 280 X'9F'
1145 Spain, Latin America - Spanish 284 X'9F'
1146 UK 285 X'9F'
1147 France 297 X'9F'
1148 Belgium, Canada, Switzerland 500 X'9F'
1149 Iceland 871 X'9F'

related references
“CURRENCY” on page 309
CURRENCY SIGN clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: multiple currency signs

The following example shows how you can display values in both euro currency (as EUR) and Swiss francs
(as CHF).

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. EuroSamp.
Environment Division.
Configuration Section.
Special-Names.
Currency Sign is "CHF " with Picture Symbol "F"
Currency Sign is "EUR " with Picture Symbol "U".
Data Division.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 Deposit-in-Euro Pic S9999V99 Value 8000.00.
01 Deposit-in-CHF Pic S99999V99.
01 Deposit-Report.
02 Report-in-Franc Pic -FFFFF9.99.
02 Report-in-Euro Pic -UUUUU9.99.
01 EUR-to-CHF-Conv-Rate Pic 9V99999 Value 1.53893.
. . .
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
Report-Deposit-in-CHF-and-EUR.
Move Deposit-in-Euro to Report-in-Euro
Compute Deposit-in-CHF Rounded
= Deposit-in-Euro * EUR-to-CHF-Conv-Rate
On Size Error
Perform Conversion-Error
Not On Size Error
Move Deposit-in-CHF to Report-in-Franc
Display "Deposit in euro = " Report-in-Euro
Display "Deposit in franc = " Report-in-Franc
End-Compute
Goback.
Conversion-Error.
Display "Conversion error from EUR to CHF"
Display "Euro value: " Report-in-Euro.

Chapter 3. Working with numbers and arithmetic 65

 The above example produces the following display output:

Deposit in euro = EUR 8000.00

Deposit in franc = CHF 12311.44

The exchange rate used in this example is for illustrative purposes only.

66 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 4. Handling tables

A table is a collection of data items that have the same description, such as account totals or monthly
averages. A table consists of a table name and subordinate items called table elements. A table is the
COBOL equivalent of an array.

In the example above, SAMPLE-TABLE-ONE is the group item that contains the table. TABLE-COLUMN
names the table element of a one-dimensional table that occurs three times.
Rather than defining repetitious items as separate, consecutive entries in the DATA DIVISION, you use
the OCCURS clause in the DATA DIVISION entry to define a table. This practice has these advantages:
• The code clearly shows the unity of the items (the table elements).
• You can use subscripts and indexes to refer to the table elements.
• You can easily repeat data items.
Tables are important for increasing the speed of a program, especially a program that looks up records.

related concepts
“Complex OCCURS DEPENDING
ON” on page 81

related tasks
“Defining a table (OCCURS)” on page 67
“Nesting tables” on page 69
“Referring to an item in a table” on page 70
“Putting values into a table” on page 73
“Creating variable-length
tables (DEPENDING ON)” on page 78
“Searching a table” on page 84
“Sorting
a table” on page 87
“Processing table items
using intrinsic functions” on page 87
“Working with
unbounded tables and groups” on page 88

“Handling tables efficiently” on page 672

Defining a table (OCCURS)

To code a table, give the table a group name and define a subordinate item (the table element) to be
repeated n times.

01 table-name.
05 element-name OCCURS n TIMES.
. . . (subordinate items of the table element)

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 67

 In the example above, table-name is the name of an alphanumeric group item. The table element
definition (which includes the OCCURS clause) is subordinate to the group item that contains the table.
The OCCURS clause cannot be used in a level-01 description.
If a table is to contain only Unicode (UTF-16) data, and you want the group item that contains the table to
behave like an elementary category national item in most operations, code the GROUP-USAGE NATIONAL
clause for the group item:

01 table-nameN Group-Usage National.

05 element-nameN OCCURS m TIMES.
10 elementN1 Pic nn.
10 elementN2 Pic S99 Sign Is Leading, Separate.
. . .

Any elementary item that is subordinate to a national group must be explicitly or implicitly described as
USAGE NATIONAL, and any subordinate numeric data item that is signed must be implicitly or explicitly
described with the SIGN IS SEPARATE clause.
To create tables of two to seven dimensions, use nested OCCURS clauses.
To create a variable-length table, code the DEPENDING ON phrase of the OCCURS clause.
To specify that table elements will be arranged in ascending or descending order based on the values in
one or more key fields of the table, code the ASCENDING or DESCENDING KEY phrases of the OCCURS
clause, or both. Specify the names of the keys in decreasing order of significance. Keys can be of class
alphabetic, alphanumeric, DBCS, national, or numeric. (If it has USAGE NATIONAL, a key can be of
category national, or can be a national-edited, numeric-edited, national decimal, or national floating-point
item.)
You must code the ASCENDING or DESCENDING KEY phrase of the OCCURS clause to do a binary search
(SEARCH ALL) of a table. You can use a format 2 SORT statement to order the table according to its
defined keys, thereby making the table searchable by the SEARCH ALL statement. Note that SEARCH
ALL will return unpredictable results if the table has not been ordered according to the keys.
“Example: binary search” on page 86
related concepts
“National groups” on page 132

related tasks
“Nesting tables” on page 69
“Referring to an item in a table” on page 70
“Putting values into a table” on page 73
“Creating variable-length
tables (DEPENDING ON)” on page 78
“Using national groups” on page 133
“Doing a binary search (SEARCH
ALL)” on page 86
“Defining numeric data” on page 43

related references
OCCURS clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
SIGN clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
ASCENDING KEY and DESCENDING KEY phrases
(Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
SORT statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

68 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Nesting tables
To create a two-dimensional table, define a one-dimensional table in each occurrence of another one-
dimensional table.

For example, in SAMPLE-TABLE-TWO above, TABLE-ROW is an element of a one-dimensional table that

occurs two times. TABLE-COLUMN is an element of a two-dimensional table that occurs three times in
each occurrence of TABLE-ROW.

To create a three-dimensional table, define a one-dimensional table in each occurrence of another

one-dimensional table, which is itself contained in each occurrence of another one-dimensional table. For
example:

In SAMPLE-TABLE-THREE, TABLE-DEPTH is an element of a one-dimensional table that occurs two

times. TABLE-ROW is an element of a two-dimensional table that occurs two times within each
occurrence of TABLE-DEPTH. TABLE-COLUMN is an element of a three-dimensional table that occurs
three times within each occurrence of TABLE-ROW.

In a two-dimensional table, the two subscripts correspond to the row and column numbers. In a three-
dimensional table, the three subscripts correspond to the depth, row, and column numbers.

“Example: subscripting” on page 70

“Example: indexing” on page 70

related tasks
“Defining a table (OCCURS)” on page 67
“Referring to an item in a table” on page 70
“Putting values into a table” on page 73
“Creating variable-length
tables (DEPENDING ON)” on page 78
“Searching a table” on page 84
“Processing table items
using intrinsic functions” on page 87
“Handling tables efficiently” on page 672

related references
OCCURS clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Chapter 4. Handling tables 69

Example: subscripting
The following example shows valid references to SAMPLE-TABLE-THREE that use literal subscripts. The
spaces are required in the second example.

TABLE-COLUMN (2, 2, 1)
TABLE-COLUMN (2 2 1)

In either table reference, the first value (2) refers to the second occurrence within TABLE-DEPTH, the
second value (2) refers to the second occurrence within TABLE-ROW, and the third value (1) refers to the
first occurrence within TABLE-COLUMN.

The following reference to SAMPLE-TABLE-TWO uses variable subscripts. The reference is valid if SUB1
and SUB2 are data-names that contain positive integer values within the range of the table.

TABLE-COLUMN (SUB1 SUB2)

related tasks
“Subscripting” on page 71

Example: indexing
The following example shows how displacements to elements that are referenced with indexes are
calculated.

Consider the following three-dimensional table, SAMPLE-TABLE-FOUR:

01 SAMPLE-TABLE-FOUR
05 TABLE-DEPTH OCCURS 3 TIMES INDEXED BY INX-A.
10 TABLE-ROW OCCURS 4 TIMES INDEXED BY INX-B.
15 TABLE-COLUMN OCCURS 8 TIMES INDEXED BY INX-C PIC X(8).

Suppose you code the following relative indexing reference to SAMPLE-TABLE-FOUR:

TABLE-COLUMN (INX-A + 1, INX-B + 2, INX-C - 1)

This reference causes the following computation of the displacement to the TABLE-COLUMN element:

(contents of INX-A) + (256 * 1)

+ (contents of INX-B) + (64 * 2)
+ (contents of INX-C) - (8 * 1)

This calculation is based on the following element lengths:

• Each occurrence of TABLE-DEPTH is 256 bytes in length (4 * 8 * 8).
• Each occurrence of TABLE-ROW is 64 bytes in length (8 * 8).
• Each occurrence of TABLE-COLUMN is 8 bytes in length.

related tasks
“Indexing” on page 72

Referring to an item in a table

A table element has a collective name, but the individual items within it do not have unique data-names.
To refer to an item, you have a choice of three techniques:

70 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 • Use the data-name of the table element, along with its occurrence number (called a subscript) in
parentheses. This technique is called subscripting.
• Use the data-name of the table element, along with a value (called an index) that is added to the
address of the table to locate an item (as a displacement from the beginning of the table). This
technique is called indexing, or subscripting using index-names.
• Use both subscripts and indexes together.

related tasks
“Subscripting” on page 71
“Indexing” on page 72

Subscripting
The lowest possible subscript value is 1, which references the first occurrence of a table element. In a
one-dimensional table, the subscript corresponds to the row number.
You can use a literal or a data-name as a subscript. If a data item that has a literal subscript is of fixed
length, the compiler resolves the location of the data item.

When you use a data-name as a variable subscript, you must describe the data-name as an elementary
numeric integer. The most efficient format is COMPUTATIONAL (COMP) with a PICTURE size that is smaller
than five digits. You cannot use a subscript with a data-name that is used as a subscript. The code
generated for the application resolves the location of a variable subscript at run time.

You can increment or decrement a literal or variable subscript by a specified integer amount. For example:

TABLE-COLUMN (SUB1 - 1, SUB2 + 3)

You can change part of a table element rather than the whole element. To do so, refer to the character
position and length of the substring to be changed. For example:

01 ANY-TABLE.
05 TABLE-ELEMENT PIC X(10)
OCCURS 3 TIMES VALUE "ABCDEFGHIJ".
. . .
MOVE "??" TO TABLE-ELEMENT (1) (3 : 2).

The MOVE statement in the example above moves the string '??' into table element number 1, beginning
at character position 3, for a length of 2 characters.

“Example: subscripting” on page 70

related tasks
“Indexing” on page 72
“Putting values into a table” on page 73
“Searching a table” on page 84
“Handling tables efficiently” on page 672

Chapter 4. Handling tables 71

Indexing
You create an index by using the INDEXED BY phrase of the OCCURS clause to identify an index-name.
For example, INX-A in the following code is an index-name:

05 TABLE-ITEM PIC X(8)

OCCURS 10 INDEXED BY INX-A.

The compiler calculates the value contained in the index as the occurrence number (subscript) minus
1, multiplied by the length of the table element. Therefore, for the fifth occurrence of TABLE-ITEM, the
binary value contained in INX-A is (5 - 1) * 8, or 32.
You can use an index-name to reference another table only if both table descriptions have the same
number of table elements, and the table elements are of the same length.
You can use the USAGE IS INDEX clause to create an index data item, and can use an index data item
with any table. For example, INX-B in the following code is an index data item:

77 INX-B USAGE IS INDEX.

. . .
SET INX-A TO 10
SET INX-B TO INX-A.
PERFORM VARYING INX-A FROM 1 BY 1 UNTIL INX-A > INX-B
DISPLAY TABLE-ITEM (INX-A)
. . .
END-PERFORM.

The index-name INX-A is used to traverse table TABLE-ITEM above. The index data item INX-B is used
to hold the index of the last element of the table. The advantage of this type of coding is that calculation of
offsets of table elements is minimized, and no conversion is necessary for the UNTIL condition.
You can use the SET statement to assign to an index data item the value that you stored in an index-name,
as in the statement SET INX-B TO INX-A above. For example, when you load records into a variable-
length table, you can store the index value of the last record into a data item defined as USAGE IS
INDEX. Then you can test for the end of the table by comparing the current index value with the index
value of the last record. This technique is useful when you look through or process a table.
You can increment or decrement an index-name by an elementary integer data item or a nonzero integer
literal, for example:

SET INX-A DOWN BY 3

The integer represents a number of occurrences. It is converted to an index value before being added to
or subtracted from the index.
Initialize the index-name by using a SET, PERFORM VARYING, or SEARCH ALL statement. You can then
use the index-name in SEARCH or relational condition statements. To change the value, use a PERFORM,
SEARCH, or SET statement.
Because you are comparing a physical displacement, you can directly use index data items only in
SEARCH and SET statements or in comparisons with indexes or other index data items. You cannot use
index data items as subscripts or indexes.
“Example: indexing” on page 70
related tasks
“Subscripting” on page 71
“Putting values into a table” on page 73
“Searching a table” on page 84
“Processing table items
using intrinsic functions” on page 87
“Handling tables efficiently” on page 672

72 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 related references
INDEXED BY phrase (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
INDEX phrase (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
SET statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Putting values into a table

You can put values into a table by loading the table dynamically, initializing the table with the
INITIALIZE statement, or assigning values with the VALUE clause when you define the table.

related tasks
“Loading a table dynamically” on page 73
“Loading a variable-length table” on page 80
“Initializing a table (INITIALIZE)” on page 73
“Assigning values when you define a table (VALUE)” on page 74
“Assigning values to a variable-length
table” on page 80

Loading a table dynamically

If the initial values of a table are different with each execution of your program, you can define the table
without initial values. You can instead read the changed values into the table dynamically before the
program refers to the table.
To load a table, use the PERFORM statement and either subscripting or indexing.
When reading data to load your table, test to make sure that the data does not exceed the space allocated
for the table. Use a named value (rather than a literal) for the maximum item count. Then, if you make the
table bigger, you need to change only one value instead of all references to a literal.

“Example: PERFORM and subscripting” on page 76

“Example: PERFORM and indexing” on page 77

related references
PERFORM statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Initializing a table (INITIALIZE)

You can load a table by coding one or more INITIALIZE statements.
For example, to move the value 3 into each of the elementary numeric data items in a table called
TABLE-ONE, shown below, you can code the following statement:

INITIALIZE TABLE-ONE REPLACING NUMERIC DATA BY 3.

To move the character 'X' into each of the elementary alphanumeric data items in TABLE-ONE, you can
code the following statement:

INITIALIZE TABLE-ONE REPLACING ALPHANUMERIC DATA BY "X".

When you use the INITIALIZE statement to initialize a table, the table is processed as a group item
(that is, with group semantics); elementary data items within the group are recognized and processed. For
example, suppose that TABLE-ONE is an alphanumeric group that is defined like this:

01 TABLE-ONE.
02 Trans-out Occurs 20.
05 Trans-code Pic X Value "R".
05 Part-number Pic XX Value "13".
05 Trans-quan Pic 99 Value 10.
05 Price-fields.

Chapter 4. Handling tables 73

 10 Unit-price Pic 99V Value 50.
10 Discount Pic 99V Value 25.
10 Sales-Price Pic 999 Value 375.
. . .
Initialize TABLE-ONE Replacing Numeric Data By 3
Alphanumeric Data By "X"

The table below shows the content that each of the twenty 12-byte elements Trans-out(n) has before
execution and after execution of the INITIALIZE statement shown above:

Trans-out(n) before Trans-out(n) after

R13105025375 XXb0303030031

1. The symbol b represents a blank space.

You can similarly use an INITIALIZE statement to load a table that is defined as a national group. For
example, if TABLE-ONE shown above specified the GROUP-USAGE NATIONAL clause, and Trans-code
and Part-number had N instead of X in their PICTURE clauses, the following statement would have the
same effect as the INITIALIZE statement above, except that the data in TABLE-ONE would instead be
encoded in UTF-16:

Initialize TABLE-ONE Replacing Numeric Data By 3

National Data By N"X"

The REPLACING NUMERIC phrase initializes floating-point data items also.

You can use the REPLACING phrase of the INITIALIZE statement similarly to initialize all of the
elementary ALPHABETIC, DBCS, ALPHANUMERIC-EDITED, NATIONAL-EDITED, and NUMERIC-EDITED
data items in a table.
The INITIALIZE statement cannot assign values to a variable-length table (that is, a table that was
defined using the OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause).
“Examples: initializing data items” on page 28
related tasks
“Initializing a structure
(INITIALIZE)” on page 31
“Assigning values when you define a table (VALUE)” on page 74
“Assigning values to a variable-length
table” on page 80
“Looping through a table” on page 101
“Using data items and group
items” on page 24
“Using national groups” on page 133
related references
INITIALIZE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Assigning values when you define a table (VALUE)

If a table is to contain stable values (such as days and months), you can set the specific values when you
define the table.
Set static values in tables in one of these ways:
• Initialize each table item individually.
• Initialize an entire table at the group level.
• Initialize all occurrences of a given table element to the same value.

74 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
related tasks
“Initializing each table
item individually” on page 75
“Initializing a table at
the group level” on page 76
“Initializing all occurrences
of a given table element” on page 76
“Initializing a structure
(INITIALIZE)” on page 31

Initializing each table item individually

If a table is small, you can set the value of each item individually by using a VALUE clause.
Use the following technique, which is shown in the example code below:
1. Define a record (such as Error-Flag-Table below) that contains the items that are to be in the
table.
2. Set the initial value of each item in a VALUE clause.
3. Code a REDEFINES entry to make the record into a table.

***********************************************************
*** E R R O R F L A G T A B L E ***
***********************************************************
01 Error-Flag-Table Value Spaces.
88 No-Errors Value Spaces.
05 Type-Error Pic X.
05 Shift-Error Pic X.
05 Home-Code-Error Pic X.
05 Work-Code-Error Pic X.
05 Name-Error Pic X.
05 Initials-Error Pic X.
05 Duplicate-Error Pic X.
05 Not-Found-Error Pic X.
01 Filler Redefines Error-Flag-Table.
05 Error-Flag Occurs 8 Times
Indexed By Flag-Index Pic X.

In the example above, the VALUE clause at the 01 level initializes each of the table items to the same
value. Each table item could instead be described with its own VALUE clause to initialize that item to a
distinct value.
To initialize larger tables, use MOVE, PERFORM, or INITIALIZE statements.

related tasks
“Initializing a structure
(INITIALIZE)” on page 31
“Assigning values to a variable-length
table” on page 80

related references
REDEFINES clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
OCCURS clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Chapter 4. Handling tables 75

 Initializing a table at the group level
Code an alphanumeric or national group data item and assign to it, through the VALUE clause, the
contents of the whole table. Then, in a subordinate data item, use an OCCURS clause to define the
individual table items.
In the following example, the alphanumeric group data item TABLE-ONE uses a VALUE clause that
initializes each of the four elements of TABLE-TWO:

01 TABLE-ONE VALUE "1234".

05 TABLE-TWO OCCURS 4 TIMES PIC X.

In the following example, the national group data item Table-OneN uses a VALUE clause that initializes
each of the three elements of the subordinate data item Table-TwoN (each of which is implicitly USAGE
NATIONAL). Note that you can initialize a national group data item with a VALUE clause that uses an
alphanumeric literal, as shown below, or a national literal.

01 Table-OneN Group-Usage National Value "AB12CD34EF56".

05 Table-TwoN Occurs 3 Times Indexed By MyI.
10 ElementOneN Pic nn.
10 ElementTwoN Pic 99.

After Table-OneN is initialized, ElementOneN(1) contains NX"00410042" (the UTF-16 representation

of 'AB'), the national decimal item ElementTwoN(1) contains NX"00310032" (the UTF-16 representation
of '12'), and so forth.

related references
OCCURS clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
GROUP-USAGE clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Initializing all occurrences of a given table element

You can use the VALUE clause in the data description of a table element to initialize all instances of that
element to the specified value.

01 T2.
05 T-OBJ PIC 9 VALUE 3.
05 T OCCURS 5 TIMES
DEPENDING ON T-OBJ.
10 X PIC XX VALUE "AA".
10 Y PIC 99 VALUE 19.
10 Z PIC XX VALUE "BB".

For example, the code above causes all the X elements (1 through 5) to be initialized to AA, all the Y
elements (1 through 5) to be initialized to 19, and all the Z elements (1 through 5) to be initialized to BB.
T-OBJ is then set to 3.

related tasks
“Assigning values to a variable-length
table” on page 80

related references
OCCURS clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: PERFORM and subscripting

This example traverses an error-flag table using subscripting until an error code that has been set is
found. If an error code is found, the corresponding error message is moved to a print report field.

***********************************************************
*** E R R O R F L A G T A B L E ***

76 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 ***********************************************************
01 Error-Flag-Table Value Spaces.
88 No-Errors Value Spaces.
05 Type-Error Pic X.
05 Shift-Error Pic X.
05 Home-Code-Error Pic X.
05 Work-Code-Error Pic X.
05 Name-Error Pic X.
05 Initials-Error Pic X.
05 Duplicate-Error Pic X.
05 Not-Found-Error Pic X.
01 Filler Redefines Error-Flag-Table.
05 Error-Flag Occurs 8 Times
Indexed By Flag-Index Pic X.
77 Error-on Pic X Value "E".
***********************************************************
*** E R R O R M E S S A G E T A B L E ***
***********************************************************
01 Error-Message-Table.
05 Filler Pic X(25) Value
"Transaction Type Invalid".
05 Filler Pic X(25) Value
"Shift Code Invalid".
05 Filler Pic X(25) Value
"Home Location Code Inval.".
05 Filler Pic X(25) Value
"Work Location Code Inval.".
05 Filler Pic X(25) Value
"Last Name - Blanks".
05 Filler Pic X(25) Value
"Initials - Blanks".
05 Filler Pic X(25) Value
"Duplicate Record Found".
05 Filler Pic X(25) Value
"Commuter Record Not Found".
01 Filler Redefines Error-Message-Table.
05 Error-Message Occurs 8 Times
Indexed By Message-Index Pic X(25).
. . .
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
. . .
Perform
Varying Sub From 1 By 1
Until No-Errors
If Error-Flag (Sub) = Error-On
Move Space To Error-Flag (Sub)
Move Error-Message (Sub) To Print-Message
Perform 260-Print-Report
End-If
End-Perform
. . .

Example: PERFORM and indexing

This example traverses an error-flag table using indexing until an error code that has been set is found. If
an error code is found, the corresponding error message is moved to a print report field.

***********************************************************
*** E R R O R F L A G T A B L E ***
***********************************************************
01 Error-Flag-Table Value Spaces.
88 No-Errors Value Spaces.
05 Type-Error Pic X.
05 Shift-Error Pic X.
05 Home-Code-Error Pic X.
05 Work-Code-Error Pic X.
05 Name-Error Pic X.
05 Initials-Error Pic X.
05 Duplicate-Error Pic X.
05 Not-Found-Error Pic X.
01 Filler Redefines Error-Flag-Table.
05 Error-Flag Occurs 8 Times
Indexed By Flag-Index Pic X.
77 Error-on Pic X Value "E".
***********************************************************
*** E R R O R M E S S A G E T A B L E ***
***********************************************************
01 Error-Message-Table.

Chapter 4. Handling tables 77

 05 Filler Pic X(25) Value
"Transaction Type Invalid".
05 Filler Pic X(25) Value
"Shift Code Invalid".
05 Filler Pic X(25) Value
"Home Location Code Inval.".
05 Filler Pic X(25) Value
"Work Location Code Inval.".
05 Filler Pic X(25) Value
"Last Name - Blanks".
05 Filler Pic X(25) Value
"Initials - Blanks".
05 Filler Pic X(25) Value
"Duplicate Record Found".
05 Filler Pic X(25) Value
"Commuter Record Not Found".
01 Filler Redefines Error-Message-Table.
05 Error-Message Occurs 8 Times
Indexed By Message-Index Pic X(25).
. . .
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
. . .
Set Flag-Index To 1
Perform Until No-Errors
Search Error-Flag
When Error-Flag (Flag-Index) = Error-On
Move Space To Error-Flag (Flag-Index)
Set Message-Index To Flag-Index
Move Error-Message (Message-Index) To
Print-Message
Perform 260-Print-Report
End-Search
End-Perform
. . .

Creating variable-length tables (DEPENDING ON)

If you do not know before run time how many times a table element occurs, define a variable-length
table. To do so, use the OCCURS DEPENDING ON (ODO) clause.

X OCCURS 1 TO 10 TIMES DEPENDING ON Y

In the example above, X is called the ODO subject, and Y is called the ODO object.

You can also specify unbounded tables and groups, see Variable-length tables in the Enterprise COBOL for
z/OS Language Reference for details.
Two factors affect the successful manipulation of variable-length records:
• Correct calculation of record lengths
The length of the variable portions of a group item is the product of the object of the DEPENDING ON
phrase and the length of the subject of the OCCURS clause.
• Conformance of the data in the object of the OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause to its PICTURE clause
If the content of the ODO object does not match its PICTURE clause, the program could terminate
abnormally. You must ensure that the ODO object correctly specifies the current number of occurrences
of table elements.

The following example shows a group item (REC-1) that contains both the subject and object of the
OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause. The way the length of the group item is determined depends on whether
it is sending or receiving data.

WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 MAIN-AREA.
03 REC-1.
05 FIELD-1 PIC 9.
05 FIELD-2 OCCURS 1 TO 5 TIMES
DEPENDING ON FIELD-1 PIC X(05).

78 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 01 REC-2.
03 REC-2-DATA PIC X(50).

If you want to move REC-1 (the sending item in this case) to REC-2, the length of REC-1 is determined
immediately before the move, using the current value in FIELD-1. If the content of FIELD-1 conforms to
its PICTURE clause (that is, if FIELD-1 contains a zoned decimal item), the move can proceed based on
the actual length of REC-1. Otherwise, the result is unpredictable. You must ensure that the ODO object
has the correct value before you initiate the move.

When you do a move to REC-1 (the receiving item in this case), the length of REC-1 is determined using
the maximum number of occurrences. In this example, five occurrences of FIELD-2, plus FIELD-1,
yields a length of 26 bytes. In this case, you do not need to set the ODO object (FIELD-1) before
referencing REC-1 as a receiving item. However, the sending field's ODO object (not shown) must be set
to a valid numeric value between 1 and 5 for the ODO object of the receiving field to be validly set by the
move.

However, if you do a move to REC-1 (again the receiving item) where REC-1 is followed by a variably
located group (a type of complex ODO), the actual length of REC-1 is calculated immediately before the
move, using the current value of the ODO object (FIELD-1). In the following example, REC-1 and REC-2
are in the same record, but REC-2 is not subordinate to REC-1 and is therefore variably located:

01 MAIN-AREA
03 REC-1.
05 FIELD-1 PIC 9.
05 FIELD-3 PIC 9.
05 FIELD-2 OCCURS 1 TO 5 TIMES
DEPENDING ON FIELD-1 PIC X(05).
03 REC-2.
05 FIELD-4 OCCURS 1 TO 5 TIMES
DEPENDING ON FIELD-3 PIC X(05).

The compiler issues a message that lets you know that the actual length was used. This case requires that
you set the value of the ODO object before using the group item as a receiving field.

The following example shows how to define a variable-length table when the ODO object (LOCATION-
TABLE-LENGTH below) is outside the group:

DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION.
FD LOCATION-FILE
RECORDING MODE F
BLOCK 0 RECORDS
RECORD 80 CHARACTERS
LABEL RECORD STANDARD.
01 LOCATION-RECORD.
05 LOC-CODE PIC XX.
05 LOC-DESCRIPTION PIC X(20).
05 FILLER PIC X(58).
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 FLAGS.
05 LOCATION-EOF-FLAG PIC X(5) VALUE SPACE.
88 LOCATION-EOF VALUE "FALSE".
01 MISC-VALUES.
05 LOCATION-TABLE-LENGTH PIC 9(3) VALUE ZERO.
05 LOCATION-TABLE-MAX PIC 9(3) VALUE 100.
*****************************************************************
*** L O C A T I O N T A B L E ***
*** FILE CONTAINS LOCATION CODES. ***
*****************************************************************
01 LOCATION-TABLE.
05 LOCATION-CODE OCCURS 1 TO 100 TIMES
DEPENDING ON LOCATION-TABLE-LENGTH PIC X(80).

related concepts
“Complex OCCURS DEPENDING
ON” on page 81

Chapter 4. Handling tables 79

 related tasks
“Assigning values to a variable-length
table” on page 80
“Loading a variable-length table” on page 80
“Preventing overlay when adding elements to a variable table” on page 83
“Finding the length of data
items” on page 120

related references
OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause
(Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
Variable-length tables (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Loading a variable-length table

You can use a do-until structure (a TEST AFTER loop) to control the loading of a variable-length table. For
example, after the following code runs, LOCATION-TABLE-LENGTH contains the subscript of the last item
in the table.

DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION.
FD LOCATION-FILE
RECORDING MODE F
BLOCK 0 RECORDS
RECORD 80 CHARACTERS
LABEL RECORD STANDARD.
01 LOCATION-RECORD.
05 LOC-CODE PIC XX.
05 LOC-DESCRIPTION PIC X(20).
05 FILLER PIC X(58).
. . .
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 FLAGS.
05 LOCATION-EOF-FLAG PIC X(5) VALUE SPACE.
88 LOCATION-EOF VALUE "YES".
01 MISC-VALUES.
05 LOCATION-TABLE-LENGTH PIC 9(3) VALUE ZERO.
05 LOCATION-TABLE-MAX PIC 9(3) VALUE 100.
*****************************************************************
*** L O C A T I O N T A B L E ***
*** FILE CONTAINS LOCATION CODES. ***
*****************************************************************
01 LOCATION-TABLE.
05 LOCATION-CODE OCCURS 1 TO 100 TIMES
DEPENDING ON LOCATION-TABLE-LENGTH PIC X(80).
. . .
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
. . .
Perform Test After
Varying Location-Table-Length From 1 By 1
Until Location-EOF
Or Location-Table-Length = Location-Table-Max
Move Location-Record To
Location-Code (Location-Table-Length)
Read Location-File
At End Set Location-EOF To True
End-Read
End-Perform

Assigning values to a variable-length table

You can code a VALUE clause for an alphanumeric or national group item that has a subordinate data
item that contains the OCCURS clause with the DEPENDING ON phrase. Each subordinate structure that
contains the DEPENDING ON phrase is initialized using the maximum number of occurrences.

If you define the entire table by using the DEPENDING ON phrase, all the elements are initialized using the
maximum defined value of the ODO (OCCURS DEPENDING ON) object.

80 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 If the ODO object is initialized by a VALUE clause, it is logically initialized after the ODO subject has been
initialized.

01 TABLE-THREE VALUE "3ABCDE".

05 X PIC 9.
05 Y OCCURS 5 TIMES
DEPENDING ON X PIC X.

For example, in the code above, the ODO subject Y(1) is initialized to 'A', Y(2) to 'B', . . ., Y(5) to 'E',
and finally the ODO object X is initialized to 3. Any subsequent reference to TABLE-THREE (such as in a
DISPLAY statement) refers to X and the first three elements, Y(1) through Y(3), of the table.

related tasks
“Assigning values when you define a table (VALUE)” on page 74
related references
OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause
(Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Complex OCCURS DEPENDING ON

Several types of complex OCCURS DEPENDING ON (complex ODO) are possible. Complex ODO is
supported as an extension to the 85 COBOL Standard.
The basic forms of complex ODO permitted by the compiler are as follows:
• Variably located item or group: A data item described by an OCCURS clause with the DEPENDING ON
phrase is followed by a nonsubordinate elementary or group data item.
• Variably located table: A data item described by an OCCURS clause with the DEPENDING ON phrase is
followed by a nonsubordinate data item described by an OCCURS clause.
• Table that has variable-length elements: A data item described by an OCCURS clause contains a
subordinate data item described by an OCCURS clause with the DEPENDING ON phrase.
• Index name for a table that has variable-length elements.
• Element of a table that has variable-length elements.

“Example: complex ODO” on page 81

related tasks
“Preventing index errors
when changing ODO object value” on page 83
“Preventing overlay when adding elements to a variable table” on page 83

related references
“Effects of change in ODO object value” on page 82
OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause
(Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: complex ODO

The following example illustrates the possible types of occurrence of complex ODO.

01 FIELD-A.
02 COUNTER-1 PIC S99.
02 COUNTER-2 PIC S99.
02 TABLE-1.
03 RECORD-1 OCCURS 1 TO 5 TIMES
DEPENDING ON COUNTER-1 PIC X(3).
02 EMPLOYEE-NUMBER PIC X(5). (1)
02 TABLE-2 OCCURS 5 TIMES (2)(3)
INDEXED BY INDX. (4)
03 TABLE-ITEM PIC 99. (5)
03 RECORD-2 OCCURS 1 TO 3 TIMES

Chapter 4. Handling tables 81

 DEPENDING ON COUNTER-2.
04 DATA-NUM PIC S99.

Definition: In the example, COUNTER-1 is an ODO object, that is, it is the object of the DEPENDING ON
clause of RECORD-1. RECORD-1 is said to be an ODO subject. Similarly, COUNTER-2 is the ODO object of
the corresponding ODO subject, RECORD-2.

The types of complex ODO occurrences shown in the example above are as follows:
(1)
A variably located item: EMPLOYEE-NUMBER is a data item that follows, but is not subordinate to, a
variable-length table in the same level-01 record.
(2)
A variably located table: TABLE-2 is a table that follows, but is not subordinate to, a variable-length
table in the same level-01 record.
(3)
A table with variable-length elements: TABLE-2 is a table that contains a subordinate data item,
RECORD-2, whose number of occurrences varies depending on the content of its ODO object.
(4)
An index-name, INDX, for a table that has variable-length elements.
(5)
An element, TABLE-ITEM, of a table that has variable-length elements.

How length is calculated

The length of the variable portion of each record is the product of its ODO object and the length of its ODO
subject. For example, whenever a reference is made to one of the complex ODO items shown above, the
actual length, if used, is computed as follows:
• The length of TABLE-1 is calculated by multiplying the contents of COUNTER-1 (the number of
occurrences of RECORD-1) by 3 (the length of RECORD-1).
• The length of TABLE-2 is calculated by multiplying the contents of COUNTER-2 (the number of
occurrences of RECORD-2) by 2 (the length of RECORD-2), and adding the length of TABLE-ITEM.
• The length of FIELD-A is calculated by adding the lengths of COUNTER-1, COUNTER-2, TABLE-1,
EMPLOYEE-NUMBER, and TABLE-2 times 5.

Setting values of ODO objects

You must set every ODO object in a group item before you reference any complex ODO item in the group.
For example, before you refer to EMPLOYEE-NUMBER in the code above, you must set COUNTER-1 and
COUNTER-2 even though EMPLOYEE-NUMBER does not directly depend on either ODO object for its value.
Restriction: An ODO object cannot be variably located.

Effects of change in ODO object value

If a data item that is described by an OCCURS clause with the DEPENDING ON phrase is followed in the
same group by one or more nonsubordinate data items (a form of complex ODO), any change in value of
the ODO object affects subsequent references to complex ODO items in the record.
For example:
• The size of any group that contains the relevant ODO clause reflects the new value of the ODO object.
• A MOVE to a group that contains the ODO subject is made based on the new value of the ODO object.
• The location of any nonsubordinate items that follow the item described with the ODO clause is affected
by the new value of the ODO object. (To preserve the contents of the nonsubordinate items, move them
to a work area before the value of the ODO object changes, then move them back.)

82 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
The value of an ODO object can change when you move data to the ODO object or to the group in which
it is contained. The value can also change if the ODO object is contained in a record that is the target of a
READ statement.

related tasks
“Preventing index errors
when changing ODO object value” on page 83
“Preventing overlay when adding elements to a variable table” on page 83

Preventing index errors when changing ODO object value

Be careful if you reference a complex-ODO index-name, that is, an index-name for a table that has
variable-length elements, after having changed the value of the ODO object for a subordinate data item in
the table.

When you change the value of an ODO object, the byte offset in an associated complex-ODO index is no
longer valid because the table length has changed. Unless you take precautions, you will have unexpected
results if you then code a reference to the index-name such as:
• A reference to an element of the table
• A SET statement of the form SET integer-data-item TO index-name (format 1)
• A SET statement of the form SET index-name UP|DOWN BY integer (format 2)
To avoid this type of error, do these steps:
1. Save the index in an integer data item. (Doing so causes an implicit conversion: the integer item
receives the table element occurrence number that corresponds to the offset in the index.)
2. Change the value of the ODO object.
3. Immediately restore the index from the integer data item. (Doing so causes an implicit conversion:
the index-name receives the offset that corresponds to the table element occurrence number in the
integer item. The offset is computed according to the table length then in effect.)
The following code shows how to save and restore the index-name (shown in “Example: complex ODO”
on page 81) when the ODO object COUNTER-2 changes.

77 INTEGER-DATA-ITEM-1 PIC 99.

. . .
SET INDX TO 5.
* INDX is valid at this point.
SET INTEGER-DATA-ITEM-1 TO INDX.
* INTEGER-DATA-ITEM-1 now has the
* occurrence number that corresponds to INDX.
MOVE NEW-VALUE TO COUNTER-2.
* INDX is not valid at this point.
SET INDX TO INTEGER-DATA-ITEM-1.
* INDX is now valid, containing the offset
* that corresponds to INTEGER-DATA-ITEM-1, and
* can be used with the expected results.

related references
SET statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Preventing overlay when adding elements to a variable table

Be careful if you increase the number of elements in a variable-occurrence table that is followed by one
or more nonsubordinate data items in the same group. When you increment the value of the ODO object
and add an element to a table, you can inadvertently overlay the variably located data items that follow
the table.
To avoid this type of error, do these steps:
1. Save the variably located data items that follow the table in another data area.
2. Increment the value of the ODO object.

Chapter 4. Handling tables 83

 3. Move data into the new table element (if needed).
4. Restore the variably located data items from the data area where you saved them.
In the following example, suppose you want to add an element to the table VARY-FIELD-1, whose
number of elements depends on the ODO object CONTROL-1. VARY-FIELD-1 is followed by the
nonsubordinate variably located data item GROUP-ITEM-1, whose elements could potentially be overlaid.

WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 VARIABLE-REC.
05 FIELD-1 PIC X(10).
05 CONTROL-1 PIC S99.
05 CONTROL-2 PIC S99.
05 VARY-FIELD-1 OCCURS 1 TO 10 TIMES
DEPENDING ON CONTROL-1 PIC X(5).
05 GROUP-ITEM-1.
10 VARY-FIELD-2
OCCURS 1 TO 10 TIMES
DEPENDING ON CONTROL-2 PIC X(9).
01 STORE-VARY-FIELD-2.
05 GROUP-ITEM-2.
10 VARY-FLD-2
OCCURS 1 TO 10 TIMES
DEPENDING ON CONTROL-2 PIC X(9).

Each element of VARY-FIELD-1 has 5 bytes, and each element of VARY-FIELD-2 has 9 bytes. If
CONTROL-1 and CONTROL-2 both contain the value 3, you can picture storage for VARY-FIELD-1 and
VARY-FIELD-2 as follows:

To add a fourth element to VARY-FIELD-1, code as follows to prevent overlaying the first 5 bytes of
VARY-FIELD-2. (GROUP-ITEM-2 serves as temporary storage for the variably located GROUP-ITEM-1.)

MOVE GROUP-ITEM-1 TO GROUP-ITEM-2.

ADD 1 TO CONTROL-1.
MOVE five-byte-field TO
VARY-FIELD-1 (CONTROL-1).
MOVE GROUP-ITEM-2 TO GROUP-ITEM-1.

You can picture the updated storage for VARY-FIELD-1 and VARY-FIELD-2 as follows:

Note that the fourth element of VARY-FIELD-1 did not overlay the first element of VARY-FIELD-2.

Searching a table
COBOL provides two search techniques for tables: serial and binary.
To do serial searches, use SEARCH and indexing. For variable-length tables, you can use PERFORM with
subscripting or indexing.

84 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 To do binary searches, use SEARCH ALL and indexing.
A binary search can be considerably more efficient than a serial search. For a serial search, the number
of comparisons is of the order of n, the number of entries in the table. For a binary search, the number of
comparisons is of the order of only the logarithm (base 2) of n. A binary search, however, requires that the
table items already be sorted.

related tasks
“Doing a serial search (SEARCH)” on page 85
“Doing a binary search (SEARCH
ALL)” on page 86

Doing a serial search (SEARCH)

Use the SEARCH statement to do a serial (sequential) search beginning at the current index setting. To
modify the index setting, use the SET statement.
The conditions in the WHEN phrase are evaluated in the order in which they appear:
• If none of the conditions is satisfied, the index is increased to correspond to the next table element, and
the WHEN conditions are evaluated again.
• If one of the WHEN conditions is satisfied, the search ends. The index remains pointing to the table
element that satisfied the condition.
• If the entire table has been searched and no conditions were met, the AT END imperative statement
is executed if there is one. If you did not code AT END, control passes to the next statement in the
program.

You can reference only one level of a table (a table element) with each SEARCH statement. To search
multiple levels of a table, use nested SEARCH statements. Delimit each nested SEARCH statement with
END-SEARCH.

Performance: If the found condition comes after some intermediate point in the table, you can speed up
the search by using the SET statement to set the index to begin the search after that point. Arranging the
table so that the data used most often is at the beginning of the table also enables more efficient serial
searching. If the table is large and is presorted, a binary search is more efficient.
“Example: serial search” on page 85

related references
SEARCH statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: serial search

The following example shows how you might find a particular string in the innermost table of a three-
dimensional table.
Each dimension of the table has its own index (set to 1, 4, and 1, respectively). The innermost table
(TABLE-ENTRY3) has an ascending key.

01 TABLE-ONE.
05 TABLE-ENTRY1 OCCURS 10 TIMES
INDEXED BY TE1-INDEX.
10 TABLE-ENTRY2 OCCURS 10 TIMES
INDEXED BY TE2-INDEX.
15 TABLE-ENTRY3 OCCURS 5 TIMES
ASCENDING KEY IS KEY1
INDEXED BY TE3-INDEX.
20 KEY1 PIC X(5).
20 KEY2 PIC X(10).
. . .
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
. . .
SET TE1-INDEX TO 1
SET TE2-INDEX TO 4

Chapter 4. Handling tables 85

 SET TE3-INDEX TO 1
MOVE "A1234" TO KEY1 (TE1-INDEX, TE2-INDEX, TE3-INDEX + 2)
MOVE "AAAAAAAA00" TO KEY2 (TE1-INDEX, TE2-INDEX, TE3-INDEX + 2)
. . .
SEARCH TABLE-ENTRY3
AT END
MOVE 4 TO RETURN-CODE
WHEN TABLE-ENTRY3(TE1-INDEX, TE2-INDEX, TE3-INDEX)
= "A1234AAAAAAAA00"
MOVE 0 TO RETURN-CODE
END-SEARCH

Values after execution:

TE1-INDEX = 1
TE2-INDEX = 4
TE3-INDEX points to the TABLE-ENTRY3 item
that equals "A1234AAAAAAAA00"
RETURN-CODE = 0

Doing a binary search (SEARCH ALL)

If you use SEARCH ALL to do a binary search, you do not need to set the index before you begin. The
index is always the one that is associated with the first index-name in the OCCURS clause. The index varies
during execution to maximize the search efficiency.
To use the SEARCH ALL statement to search a table, the table must specify the ASCENDING or
DESCENDING KEY phrases of the OCCURS clause, or both, and must already be ordered on the key or
keys that are specified in the ASCENDING and DESCENDING KEY phrases. You can use a format 2 SORT
statement to order the table according to its defined keys, thereby making the table searchable by the
SEARCH ALL statement. Note that SEARCH ALL will return unpredictable results if the table has not
been ordered according to the keys.
In the WHEN phrase of the SEARCH ALL statement, you can test any key that is named in the ASCENDING
or DESCENDING KEY phrases for the table, but you must test all preceding keys, if any. The test must be
an equal-to condition, and the WHEN phrase must specify either a key (subscripted by the first index-name
associated with the table) or a condition-name that is associated with the key. The WHEN condition can be
a compound condition that is formed from simple conditions that use AND as the only logical connective.

Each key and its object of comparison must be compatible according to the rules for comparison of data
items. Note though that if a key is compared to a national literal or identifier, the key must be a national
data item.
“Example: binary search” on page 86

related tasks
“Defining a table (OCCURS)” on page 67

related references
SEARCH statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
General relation conditions (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: binary search

The following example shows how you can code a binary search of a table.
Suppose you define a table that contains 90 elements of 40 bytes each, and three keys. The primary
and secondary keys (KEY-1 and KEY-2) are in ascending order, but the least significant key (KEY-3) is in
descending order:

01 TABLE-A.
05 TABLE-ENTRY OCCURS 90 TIMES
ASCENDING KEY-1, KEY-2
DESCENDING KEY-3
INDEXED BY INDX-1.

86 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 10 PART-1 PIC 99.
10 KEY-1 PIC 9(5).
10 PART-2 PIC 9(6).
10 KEY-2 PIC 9(4).
10 PART-3 PIC 9(18).
10 KEY-3 PIC 9(5).

You can search this table by using the following statements:

SEARCH ALL TABLE-ENTRY

AT END
PERFORM NOENTRY
WHEN KEY-1 (INDX-1) = VALUE-1 AND
KEY-2 (INDX-1) = VALUE-2 AND
KEY-3 (INDX-1) = VALUE-3
MOVE PART-1 (INDX-1) TO OUTPUT-AREA
END-SEARCH

If an entry is found in which each of the three keys is equal to the value to which it is compared (VALUE-1,
VALUE-2, and VALUE-3, respectively), PART-1 of that entry is moved to OUTPUT-AREA. If no matching
key is found in the entries in TABLE-A, the NOENTRY routine is performed.

Sorting a table
You can sort a table by using the format 2 SORT statement. It is part of the 2002 COBOL Standard.
The format 2 SORT statement sorts table elements according to the specified table keys, and it is
especially useful for tables used with SEARCH ALL. You can specify the keys for sorting as part of the
table definition, which can also be used in the SEARCH ALL statement. Alternatively, you can also specify
the keys for sorting as part of the SORT statement, either if you want to sort the table using different keys
than those specified in the table definition, or if the table has no keys specified.
With the format 2 SORT statement, you don't need to use the input and output procedures as you do with
the format 1 SORT statement.
See the following example in which the table is sorted based on specified keys:

WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 GROUP-ITEM.
05 TABL OCCURS 10 TIMES
10 ELEM-ITEM1 PIC X.
10 ELEM-ITEM2 PIC X.
10 ELEM-ITEM3 PIC X.
...
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
...
SORT TABL DESCENDING ELEM-ITEM2 ELEM-ITEM3.
IF TABL (1)...

related references
SORT statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
“Using the format 2 SORT statement to sort a table” on page 688

Processing table items using intrinsic functions

You can use intrinsic functions to process alphabetic, alphanumeric, national, or numeric table items.
(You can process DBCS data items only with the NATIONAL-OF intrinsic function.) The data descriptions
of the table items must be compatible with the requirements for the function arguments.
Use a subscript or index to reference an individual data item as a function argument. For example,
assuming that Table-One is a 3 x 3 array of numeric items, you can find the square root of the middle
element by using this statement:

Compute X = Function Sqrt(Table-One(2,2))

Chapter 4. Handling tables 87

 You might often need to iteratively process the data in tables. For intrinsic functions that accept multiple
arguments, you can use the subscript ALL to reference all the items in the table or in a single dimension of
the table. The iteration is handled automatically, which can make your code shorter and simpler.

You can mix scalars and array arguments for functions that accept multiple arguments:

Compute Table-Median = Function Median(Arg1 Table-One(ALL))

“Example: processing tables using intrinsic functions” on page 88

related tasks
“Using intrinsic functions (built-in functions)” on page 38
“Converting data items (intrinsic functions)” on page 113
“Evaluating data items (intrinsic functions)” on page 117

related references
Intrinsic functions (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: processing tables using intrinsic functions

These examples show how you can apply an intrinsic function to some or all of the elements in a table by
using the ALL subscript.
Assuming that Table-Two is a 2 x 3 x 2 array, the following statement adds the values in elements
Table-Two(1,3,1), Table-Two(1,3,2), Table-Two(2,3,1), and Table-Two(2,3,2):

Compute Table-Sum = FUNCTION SUM (Table-Two(ALL, 3, ALL))

The following example computes various salary values for all the employees whose salaries are encoded
in Employee-Table:

01 Employee-Table.
05 Emp-Count Pic s9(4) usage binary.
05 Emp-Record Occurs 1 to 500 times
depending on Emp-Count.
10 Emp-Name Pic x(20).
10 Emp-Idme Pic 9(9).
10 Emp-Salary Pic 9(7)v99.
. . .
Procedure Division.
Compute Max-Salary = Function Max(Emp-Salary(ALL))
Compute I = Function Ord-Max(Emp-Salary(ALL))
Compute Avg-Salary = Function Mean(Emp-Salary(ALL))
Compute Salary-Range = Function Range(Emp-Salary(ALL))
Compute Total-Payroll = Function Sum(Emp-Salary(ALL))

Working with unbounded tables and groups

You can process an unbounded group as the input parameter to a called program. The memory for the
unbounded group is provided by the calling program. Alternatively, you can define, initialize, and process
unbounded groups in a single program.
To work with unbounded tables and groups in a single program, do these steps:
1. In the LINKAGE SECTION, define an unbounded table (with the syntax of OCCURS n TO
UNBOUNDED), which will be part of an unbounded group.
2. In the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION or LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION, define the OCCURS DEPENDING
ON objects.
3. In the PROCEDURE DIVISION, do these steps to process unbounded groups:
a. Set the OCCURS DEPENDING ON objects.

88 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 b. Use the LENGTH special register or the LENGTH intrinsic function to compute the total size of the
group.
c. Use the CALL statement to call a storage allocation service, such as the Language Environment
service CEEGTST. Allocate enough memory for the total length of the group. You will need a pointer
to this memory (the CEEGTST service returns a pointer).
d. Use the SET statement to establish addressability. For example, SET ADDRESS OF group TO
pointer.
4. Use the unbounded table and its containing unbounded group according to the following rules:
• You can reference unbounded tables in COBOL syntax anywhere a table can be referenced.
• You can reference unbounded groups in COBOL syntax anywhere an alphanumeric or national group
can be referenced, with the following exceptions:
– You cannot specify unbounded groups as a BY CONTENT argument in a CALL statement.
– You cannot specify unbounded groups as data-name-2 on the PROCEDURE DIVISION
RETURNING phrase.
– You cannot specify unbounded groups as arguments to intrinsic functions, except as an argument
to the LENGTH intrinsic function.

related references
“Example: Using unbounded tables for parsing XML documents” on page 89
Example: ALLOCATE and FREE storage for unbounded tables
(Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
Variable-length tables (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause
(Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: Using unbounded tables for parsing XML documents

Consider using unbounded tables when parsing an XML document with an unknown number of repetitive
elements.
You can use any of the following methods:
• Predetermine the number of elements to expect. One method to determine the number of elements
is to parse the XML document twice. During the first parse, count the number of occurrences of each
unbounded element in the corresponding OCCURS UNBOUNDED DEPENDING ON object. Then, allocate
storage for the data items using these computed values, and parse the XML document a second time to
process its payload.
• Pick initial sizes and allow for expansion of the tables. It might be more efficient to set arbitrary limits
in the OCCURS UNBOUNDED DEPENDING ON objects based on previous experience, and parse the
document directly to process its content. For each unbounded element, check if the current limit is
about to be exceeded. If so, allocate more storage for the corresponding array, copy the data from the
old array to the expanded array, then free the storage for the old array.
The following examples illustrate the first method. See the XML schema example, and note that elements
B and C have a maxOccurs value of unbounded, and thus can occur an unlimited number of times in
the sequence within element G. In the XML document example, element B in fact occurs three times, and
element C occurs five times.
In the XML processing program example, the processing procedure for the first XML PARSE statement
simply computes the number of occurrences of elements B and C. After allocating the required storage,
the program executes a second XML PARSE statement to process the XML payload.

XML schema
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<xsd:schema targetNamespace="http://example.org"
xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
<xsd:element name="G">

Chapter 4. Handling tables 89

 <xsd:complexType>
<xsd:sequence>
<xsd:element name="A" type="xsd:string" maxOccurs="1" />
<xsd:element name="B" type="xsd:int" maxOccurs="unbounded" />
<xsd:element name="C" type="xsd:int" maxOccurs="unbounded" />
</xsd:sequence>
</xsd:complexType>
</xsd:element>
</xsd:schema>

XML document
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<p:G xmlns:p="http://example.org" >
<A>Hello</A>
<B>1</B>
<B>2</B>
<B>3</B>
<C>1</C>
<C>2</C>
<C>3</C>
<C>4</C>
<C>5</C>
</p:G>

XML processing program

Identification division.
Program-id. XMLProc.
Data division.
Working-storage section.
01 NB pic S9(9) binary value zero.
01 NC pic S9(9) binary value zero.
01 Gptr pointer.
01 Gsize pic 9(9) binary.
01 Heap0 pic 9(9) binary value zero.
Linkage section.
01 XML-Doc pic X(500000).
01 G.
02 A pic x(5).
02 B pic s9(9) occurs 1 to unbounded depending on NB.
02 C pic s9(9) occurs 1 to unbounded depending on NC.
Procedure division using XML-Doc.
XML parse XML-Doc processing procedure CountElements
Move length of G to Gsize
Call "CEEGTST" using Heap0 Gsize Gptr omitted
Set address of G to Gptr
XML parse XML-doc processing procedure acquireContent
...
Goback.
CountElements.
If xml-event = 'START-OF-ELEMENT'
Evaluate xml-text
When 'B'
Add 1 to NB
When 'C'
Add 1 to NC
When other
Continue
End-evaluate
End-if.
End program XMLProc.

related tasks
“Working with
unbounded tables and groups” on page 88

90 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 5. Selecting and repeating program actions

Use COBOL control language to choose program actions based on the outcome of logical tests, to iterate
over selected parts of your program and data, and to identify statements to be performed as a group.
These controls include the IF, EVALUATE, and PERFORM statements, and the use of switches and flags.

related tasks
“Selecting program actions” on page 91
“Repeating program actions” on page 99

Selecting program actions

You can provide for different program actions depending on the tested value of one or more data items.
The IF and EVALUATE statements in COBOL test one or more data items by means of a conditional
expression.

related tasks
“Coding a choice of actions” on page 91
“Coding conditional expressions” on page 95

related references
IF statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
EVALUATE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Coding a choice of actions

Use IF . . . ELSE to code a choice between two processing actions. (The word THEN is optional.) Use
the EVALUATE statement to code a choice among three or more possible actions.

IF condition-p
statement-1
ELSE
statement-2
END-IF

When one of two processing choices is no action, code the IF statement with or without ELSE. Because
the ELSE clause is optional, you can code the IF statement as follows:

IF condition-q
statement-1
END-IF

Such coding is suitable for simple cases. For complex logic, you probably need to use the ELSE clause.
For example, suppose you have nested IF statements in which there is an action for only one of the
processing choices. You could use the ELSE clause and code the null branch of the IF statement with the
CONTINUE statement:

IF condition-q
statement-1
ELSE
CONTINUE
END-IF

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 91

 Note: NEXT SENTENCE can be very different from CONTINUE, based on location of the following period,
as shown in this example:

IF condition-r
statement-1
ELSE
CONTINUE or NEXT SENTENCE
END-IF
*> CONTINUE goes to statement-2
statement-2
statement-3.
*> NEXT SENTENCE goes to statement-4
statement-4

For details about NEXT SENTENCE, see IF statement in the Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language
Reference.
The EVALUATE statement is an expanded form of the IF statement that allows you to avoid nesting IF
statements, a common source of logic errors and debugging problems.

related tasks
“Using nested IF statements” on page 92
“Using the EVALUATE statement” on page 93
“Coding conditional expressions” on page 95

Using nested IF statements

If an IF statement contains an IF statement as one of its possible branches, the IF statements are said
to be nested. Theoretically, there is no limit to the depth of nested IF statements.
However, use nested IF statements sparingly. The logic can be difficult to follow, although explicit scope
terminators and indentation can help. If a program has to test a variable for more than two values,
EVALUATE is probably a better choice.
The following pseudocode depicts a nested IF statement:

IF condition-p
IF condition-q
statement-1
ELSE
statement-2
END-IF
statement-3
ELSE
statement-4
END-IF

In the pseudocode above, an IF statement and a sequential structure are nested in one branch of the
outer IF. In this structure, the END-IF that closes the nested IF is very important. Use END-IF instead
of a period, because a period would end the outer IF structure also.
The following figure shows the logic structure of the pseudocode above.

92 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
related tasks
“Coding a choice of actions” on page 91

related references
Explicit scope terminators (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Using the EVALUATE statement

You can use the EVALUATE statement instead of a series of nested IF statements to test several
conditions and specify a different action for each. Thus you can use the EVALUATE statement to
implement a case structure or decision table.

You can also use the EVALUATE statement to cause multiple conditions to lead to the same processing, as
shown in these examples:

“Example: EVALUATE using THRU phrase” on page 94

“Example: EVALUATE using multiple WHEN phrases” on page 94

In an EVALUATE statement, the operands before the WHEN phrase are referred to as selection subjects,
and the operands in the WHEN phrase are called the selection objects. Selection subjects can be identifiers,
literals, conditional expressions, or the word TRUE or FALSE. Selection objects can be identifiers, literals,
conditional or arithmetic expressions, or the word TRUE, FALSE, or ANY.
You can separate multiple selection subjects with the ALSO phrase. You can separate multiple selection
objects with the ALSO phrase. The number of selection objects within each set of selection objects must
be equal to the number of selection subjects, as shown in this example:
“Example: EVALUATE testing several conditions” on page 95
Identifiers, literals, or arithmetic expressions that appear within a selection object must be valid operands
for comparison to the corresponding operand in the set of selection subjects. Conditions or the word TRUE
or FALSE that appear in a selection object must correspond to a conditional expression or the word TRUE
or FALSE in the set of selection subjects. (You can use the word ANY as a selection object to correspond
to any type of selection subject.)
The execution of the EVALUATE statement ends when one of the following conditions occurs:
• The statements associated with the selected WHEN phrase are performed.

Chapter 5. Selecting and repeating program actions 93

 • The statements associated with the WHEN OTHER phrase are performed.
• No WHEN conditions are satisfied.
WHEN phrases are tested in the order that they appear in the source program. Therefore, you should order
these phrases for the best performance. First code the WHEN phrase that contains selection objects that
are most likely to be satisfied, then the next most likely, and so on. An exception is the WHEN OTHER
phrase, which must come last.

related tasks
“Coding a choice of actions” on page 91

related references
EVALUATE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
General relation conditions (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: EVALUATE using THRU phrase

This example shows how you can code several conditions in a range of values to lead to the same
processing action by coding the THRU phrase. Operands in a THRU phrase must be of the same class.
In this example, CARPOOL-SIZE is the selection subject; 1, 2, and 3 THRU 6 are the selection objects:

EVALUATE CARPOOL-SIZE
WHEN 1
MOVE "SINGLE" TO PRINT-CARPOOL-STATUS
WHEN 2
MOVE "COUPLE" TO PRINT-CARPOOL-STATUS
WHEN 3 THRU 6
MOVE "SMALL GROUP" TO PRINT-CARPOOL STATUS
WHEN OTHER
MOVE "BIG GROUP" TO PRINT-CARPOOL STATUS
END-EVALUATE

The following nested IF statements represent the same logic:

IF CARPOOL-SIZE = 1 THEN
MOVE "SINGLE" TO PRINT-CARPOOL-STATUS
ELSE
IF CARPOOL-SIZE = 2 THEN
MOVE "COUPLE" TO PRINT-CARPOOL-STATUS
ELSE
IF CARPOOL-SIZE >= 3 and CARPOOL-SIZE <= 6 THEN
MOVE "SMALL GROUP" TO PRINT-CARPOOL-STATUS
ELSE
MOVE "BIG GROUP" TO PRINT-CARPOOL-STATUS
END-IF
END-IF
END-IF

Example: EVALUATE using multiple WHEN phrases

The following example shows that you can code multiple WHEN phrases if several conditions should lead
to the same action. Doing so gives you more flexibility than using only the THRU phrase, because the
conditions do not have to evaluate to values in a range nor have the same class.

EVALUATE MARITAL-CODE
WHEN "M"
ADD 2 TO PEOPLE-COUNT
WHEN "S"
WHEN "D"
WHEN "W"
ADD 1 TO PEOPLE-COUNT
END-EVALUATE

The following nested IF statements represent the same logic:

IF MARITAL-CODE = "M" THEN

94 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 ADD 2 TO PEOPLE-COUNT
ELSE
IF MARITAL-CODE = "S" OR
MARITAL-CODE = "D" OR
MARITAL-CODE = "W" THEN
ADD 1 TO PEOPLE-COUNT
END-IF
END-IF

Example: EVALUATE testing several conditions

This example shows the use of the ALSO phrase to separate two selection subjects (True ALSO True)
and to separate the two corresponding selection objects within each set of selection objects (for example,
When A + B < 10 Also C = 10).
Both selection objects in a WHEN phrase must satisfy the TRUE, TRUE condition before the associated
action is performed. If both objects do not evaluate to TRUE, the next WHEN phrase is processed.

Identification Division.
Program-ID. MiniEval.
Environment Division.
Configuration Section.
Source-Computer. IBM-390. Data Division.
Working-Storage Section.
01 Age Pic 999.
01 Sex Pic X.
01 Description Pic X(15).
01 A Pic 999.
01 B Pic 9999.
01 C Pic 9999.
01 D Pic 9999.
01 E Pic 99999.
01 F Pic 999999.
Procedure Division.
PN01.
Evaluate True Also True
When Age < 13 Also Sex = "M"
Move "Young Boy" To Description
When Age < 13 Also Sex = "F"
Move "Young Girl" To Description
When Age > 12 And Age < 20 Also Sex = "M"
Move "Teenage Boy" To Description
When Age > 12 And Age < 20 Also Sex = "F"
Move "Teenage Girl" To Description
When Age > 19 Also Sex = "M"
Move "Adult Man" To Description
When Age > 19 Also Sex = "F"
Move "Adult Woman" To Description
When Other
Move "Invalid Data" To Description
End-Evaluate
Evaluate True Also True
When A + B < 10 Also C = 10
Move "Case 1" To Description
When A + B > 50 Also C = ( D + E ) / F
Move "Case 2" To Description
When Other
Move "Case Other" To Description
End-Evaluate
Stop Run.

Coding conditional expressions

Using the IF and EVALUATE statements, you can code program actions that will be performed depending
on the truth value of a conditional expression.
You can specify the following conditions:
• Relation conditions, such as:
– Numeric comparisons
– Alphanumeric comparisons
– DBCS comparisons

Chapter 5. Selecting and repeating program actions 95

 – National comparisons
• Class conditions; for example, to test whether a data item:
– IS NUMERIC
– IS ALPHABETIC
– IS ALPHABETIC-LOWER
– IS ALPHABETIC-UPPER
– IS DBCS
– IS KANJI
• Condition-name conditions, to test the value of a conditional variable that you define
• Sign conditions, to test whether a numeric operand IS POSITIVE, NEGATIVE, or ZERO
• Switch-status conditions, to test the status of UPSI switches that you name in the SPECIAL-NAMES
paragraph
• Complex conditions, such as:
– Negated conditions; for example, NOT (A IS EQUAL TO B)
– Combined conditions (conditions combined with logical operators AND or OR)

related concepts
“Switches and flags” on page 96

related tasks
“Defining switches and flags” on page 97
“Resetting switches and flags” on page 98
“Checking for incompatible data (numeric class test)” on page 53
“Comparing national (UTF-16)
data” on page 145
“Testing for valid DBCS
characters” on page 149

related references
General relation conditions (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
Class condition (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
Rules for condition-name entries (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
Sign condition (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
Combined conditions (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Switches and flags

Some program decisions are based on whether the value of a data item is true or false, on or off, yes or no.
Control these two-way decisions by using level-88 items with meaningful names (condition-names) to act
as switches.
Other program decisions depend on the particular value or range of values of a data item. When you use
condition-names to give more than just on or off values to a field, the field is generally referred to as a
flag.
Flags and switches make your code easier to change. If you need to change the values for a condition, you
have to change only the value of that level-88 condition-name.
For example, suppose a program uses a condition-name to test a field for a given salary range. If the
program must be changed to check for a different salary range, you need to change only the value
of the condition-name in the DATA DIVISION. You do not need to make changes in the PROCEDURE
DIVISION.

related tasks
“Defining switches and flags” on page 97
“Resetting switches and flags” on page 98

96 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Defining switches and flags
In the DATA DIVISION, define level-88 items that will act as switches or flags, and give them meaningful
names.
To test for more than two values with flags, assign more than one condition-name to a field by using
multiple level-88 items.
The reader can easily follow your code if you choose meaningful condition-names and if the values
assigned to them have some association with logical values.

“Example: switches” on page 97

“Example: flags” on page 97

Example: switches
The following examples show how you can use level-88 items to test for various binary-valued (on-off)
conditions in your program.
For example, to test for the end-of-file condition for an input file named Transaction-File, you can use the
following data definitions:

WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 Switches.
05 Transaction-EOF-Switch Pic X value space.
88 Transaction-EOF value "y".

The level-88 description says that a condition named Transaction-EOF is in effect when
Transaction-EOF-Switch has value 'y'. Referencing Transaction-EOF in the PROCEDURE
DIVISION expresses the same condition as testing Transaction-EOF-Switch = "y". For example,
the following statement causes a report to be printed only if Transaction-EOF-Switch has been set to
'y':

If Transaction-EOF Then
Perform Print-Report-Summary-Lines
End-if

Example: flags
The following examples show how you can use several level-88 items together with an EVALUATE
statement to determine which of several conditions in a program is true.
Consider for example a program that updates a master file. The updates are read from a transaction
file. The records in the file contain a field that indicates which of the three functions is to be performed:
add, change, or delete. In the record description of the input file, code a field for the function code using
level-88 items:

01 Transaction-Input Record
05 Transaction-Type Pic X.
88 Add-Transaction Value "A".
88 Change-Transaction Value "C".
88 Delete-Transaction Value "D".

The code in the PROCEDURE DIVISION for testing these condition-names to determine which function is
to be performed might look like this:

Evaluate True
When Add-Transaction
Perform Add-Master-Record-Paragraph
When Change-Transaction
Perform Update-Existing-Record-Paragraph
When Delete-Transaction

Chapter 5. Selecting and repeating program actions 97

 Perform Delete-Master-Record-Paragraph
End-Evaluate

Resetting switches and flags

Throughout your program, you might need to reset switches or flags to the original values they had in their
data descriptions. To do so, either use a SET statement or define a data item to move to the switch or flag.
When you use the SET condition-name TO TRUE statement, the switch or flag is set to the original
value that it was assigned in its data description. For a level-88 item that has multiple values, SET
condition-name TO TRUE assigns the first value (A in the example below):

88 Record-is-Active Value "A" "O" "S"

Using the SET statement and meaningful condition-names makes it easier for readers to follow your code.

“Example: set switch on” on page 98

“Example: set switch off” on page 99

Example: set switch on

The following examples show how you can set a switch on by coding a SET statement that moves the
condition name value to the conditional variable.
For example, the SET statement in the following example has the same effect as coding the statement
Move "y" to Transaction-EOF-Switch:

01 Switches
05 Transaction-EOF-Switch Pic X Value space.
88 Transaction-EOF Value "y".
. . .
Procedure Division.
000-Do-Main-Logic.
Perform 100-Initialize-Paragraph
Read Update-Transaction-File
At End Set Transaction-EOF to True
End-Read

The following example shows how to assign a value to a field in an output record based on the transaction
code of an input record:

01 Input-Record.
05 Transaction-Type Pic X(9).
01 Data-Record-Out.
05 Data-Record-Type Pic X.
88 Record-Is-Active Value "A".
88 Record-Is-Suspended Value "S".
88 Record-Is-Deleted Value "D".
05 Key-Field Pic X(5).
. . .
Procedure Division.
Evaluate Transaction-Type of Input-Record
When "ACTIVE"
Set Record-Is-Active to TRUE
When "SUSPENDED"
Set Record-Is-Suspended to TRUE
When "DELETED"
Set Record-Is-Deleted to TRUE
End-Evaluate

98 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Example: set switch off
The following example shows how you can set a switch off by coding a MOVE statement that moves the
condition name value to the conditional variable.
For example, you can use a data item called SWITCH-OFF to set an on-off switch to off, as in the following
code, which resets a switch to indicate that end-of-file has not been reached:

01 Switches
05 Transaction-EOF-Switch Pic X Value space.
88 Transaction-EOF Value "y".
01 SWITCH-OFF Pic X Value "n".
. . .
Procedure Division.
. . .
Move SWITCH-OFF to Transaction-EOF-Switch

Repeating program actions

Use a PERFORM statement to repeat the same code (that is, loop) either a specified number of times or
based on the outcome of a decision.
You can also use a PERFORM statement to execute a paragraph and then implicitly return control to the
next executable statement. In effect, this PERFORM statement is a way of coding a closed subroutine that
you can enter from many different parts of the program.
PERFORM statements can be inline or out-of-line.

related tasks
“Choosing inline or out-of-line PERFORM” on page 99
“Coding a loop” on page 100
“Looping through a table” on page 101
“Executing multiple paragraphs
or sections” on page 101

related references
PERFORM statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Choosing inline or out-of-line PERFORM

An inline PERFORM is an imperative statement that is executed in the normal flow of a program; an
out-of-line PERFORM entails a branch to a named paragraph and an implicit return from that paragraph.
To determine whether to code an inline or out-of-line PERFORM statement, answer the following
questions:
• Is the PERFORM statement used in several places?
Use an out-of-line PERFORM when you want to use the same portion of code in several places in your
program.
• Which placement of the statement will be easier to read?
If the code to be performed is short, an inline PERFORM can be easier to read. But if the code extends
over several screens, the logical flow of the program might be clearer if you use an out-of-line PERFORM.
(Each paragraph in structured programming should perform one logical function, however.)
• What are the efficiency tradeoffs?
An inline PERFORM avoids the overhead of branching that occurs with an out-of-line PERFORM. But
even out-of-line PERFORM coding can improve code optimization, so efficiency gains should not be
overemphasized.
In the 1974 COBOL standard, the PERFORM statement is out-of-line and thus requires a branch to a
separate procedure and an implicit return. If the performed procedure is in the subsequent sequential

Chapter 5. Selecting and repeating program actions 99

 flow of your program, it is also executed in that logic flow. To avoid this additional execution, place the
procedure outside the normal sequential flow (for example, after the GOBACK) or code a branch around it.
The subject of an inline PERFORM is an imperative statement. Therefore, you must code statements (other
than imperative statements) within an inline PERFORM with explicit scope terminators.
“Example: inline PERFORM statement” on page 100

Example: inline PERFORM statement

This example shows the structure of an inline PERFORM statement that has the required scope
terminators and the required END-PERFORM phrase.

Perform 100-Initialize-Paragraph
* The following statement is an inline PERFORM:
Perform Until Transaction-EOF
Read Update-Transaction-File Into WS-Transaction-Record
At End
Set Transaction-EOF To True
Not At End
Perform 200-Edit-Update-Transaction
If No-Errors
Perform 300-Update-Commuter-Record
Else
Perform 400-Print-Transaction-Errors
* End-If is a required scope terminator
End-If
Perform 410-Re-Initialize-Fields
* End-Read is a required scope terminator
End-Read
End-Perform

Coding a loop
Use the PERFORM . . . TIMES statement to execute a procedure a specified number of times.

PERFORM 010-PROCESS-ONE-MONTH 12 TIMES

INSPECT . . .

In the example above, when control reaches the PERFORM statement, the code for the procedure 010-
PROCESS-ONE-MONTH is executed 12 times before control is transferred to the INSPECT statement.
Use the PERFORM . . . UNTIL statement to execute a procedure until a condition you choose is
satisfied. You can use either of the following forms:

PERFORM . . . WITH TEST AFTER . . . . UNTIL . . .

PERFORM . . . [WITH TEST BEFORE] . . . UNTIL . . .

Use the PERFORM . . . WITH TEST AFTER . . . UNTIL statement if you want to execute the
procedure at least once, and test before any subsequent execution. This statement is equivalent to a
do-until structure:

In the following example, the implicit WITH TEST BEFORE phrase provides a do-while structure:

PERFORM 010-PROCESS-ONE-MONTH
UNTIL MONTH GREATER THAN 12
INSPECT . . .

100 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 When control reaches the PERFORM statement, the condition MONTH GREATER THAN 12 is tested. If the
condition is satisfied, control is transferred to the INSPECT statement. If the condition is not satisfied,
010-PROCESS-ONE-MONTH is executed, and the condition is tested again. This cycle continues until the
condition tests as true. (To make your program easier to read, you might want to code the WITH TEST
BEFORE clause.)

Looping through a table

You can use the PERFORM . . . VARYING statement to initialize a table. In this form of the PERFORM
statement, a variable is increased or decreased and tested until a condition is satisfied.
Thus you use the PERFORM statement to control looping through a table. You can use either of these
forms:

PERFORM . . . WITH TEST AFTER . . . . VARYING . . . UNTIL . . .

PERFORM . . . [WITH TEST BEFORE] . . . VARYING . . . UNTIL . . .

The following section of code shows an example of looping through a table to check for invalid data:

PERFORM TEST AFTER VARYING WS-DATA-IX

FROM 1 BY 1 UNTIL WS-DATA-IX = 12
IF WS-DATA (WS-DATA-IX) EQUALS SPACES
SET SERIOUS-ERROR TO TRUE
DISPLAY ELEMENT-NUM-MSG5
END-IF
END-PERFORM
INSPECT . . .

When control reaches the PERFORM statement above, WS-DATA-IX is set equal to 1 and the PERFORM
statement is executed. Then the condition WS-DATA-IX = 12 is tested. If the condition is true, control
drops through to the INSPECT statement. If the condition is false, WS-DATA-IX is increased by 1, the
PERFORM statement is executed, and the condition is tested again. This cycle of execution and testing
continues until WS-DATA-IX is equal to 12.
The loop above controls input-checking for the 12 fields of item WS-DATA. Empty fields are not allowed in
the application, so the section of code loops and issues error messages as appropriate.

Executing multiple paragraphs or sections

In structured programming, you usually execute a single paragraph. However, you can execute a group of
paragraphs, or a single section or group of sections, by coding the PERFORM . . . THRU statement.
When you use the PERFORM . . . THRU statement, code a paragraph-EXIT statement to clearly
indicate the end point of a series of paragraphs.

related tasks
“Processing table items
using intrinsic functions” on page 87

related references
EXIT PERFORM or EXIT PERFORM CYCLE statement
(Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
EXIT PARAGRAPH or EXIT SECTION statement
(Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Chapter 5. Selecting and repeating program actions 101

102 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 6. Handling strings

COBOL provides language constructs for performing many different operations on string data items.
For example, you can:
• Join or split data items.
• Manipulate null-terminated strings, such as count or move characters.
• Refer to substrings by their ordinal position and, if needed, length.
• Tally and replace data items, such as count the number of times a specific character occurs in a data
item.
• Convert data items, such as change to uppercase or lowercase.
• Evaluate data items, such as determine the length of a data item.

related tasks
“Joining data items (STRING)” on page 103
“Splitting data items (UNSTRING)” on page 105
“Manipulating null-terminated
strings” on page 108
“Referring to substrings
of data items” on page 109
“Tallying and replacing
data items (INSPECT)” on page 112
“Converting data items (intrinsic functions)” on page 113
“Evaluating data items (intrinsic functions)” on page 117
Chapter 7, “Processing data in an international
environment,” on page 123

Joining data items (STRING)

Use the STRING statement to join all or parts of several data items or literals into one data item. One
STRING statement can take the place of several MOVE statements.
The STRING statement transfers data into a receiving data item in the order that you indicate. In the
STRING statement you also specify:
• A delimiter for each set of sending fields that, if encountered, causes those sending fields to stop being
transferred (DELIMITED BY phrase)
• (Optional) Action to be taken if the receiving field is filled before all of the sending data has been
processed (ON OVERFLOW phrase)
• (Optional) An integer data item that indicates the leftmost character position within the receiving field
into which data should be transferred (WITH POINTER phrase)
The receiving data item must not be an edited item, or a display or national floating-point item. If the
receiving data item has:
• USAGE DISPLAY, each identifier in the statement except the POINTER identifier must have USAGE
DISPLAY, and each literal in the statement must be alphanumeric
• USAGE NATIONAL, each identifier in the statement except the POINTER identifier must have USAGE
NATIONAL, and each literal in the statement must be national
• USAGE DISPLAY-1, each identifier in the statement except the POINTER identifier must have USAGE
DISPLAY-1, and each literal in the statement must be DBCS
Only that portion of the receiving field into which data is written by the STRING statement is changed.
“Example: STRING statement” on page 104

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 103

 related tasks
“Handling errors in joining and splitting strings” on page 232

related references
STRING statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: STRING statement

The following example shows the STRING statement selecting and formatting information from a record
into an output line.
The FILE SECTION defines the following record:

01 RCD-01.
05 CUST-INFO.
10 CUST-NAME PIC X(15).
10 CUST-ADDR PIC X(35).
05 BILL-INFO.
10 INV-NO PIC X(6).
10 INV-AMT PIC $$,$$$.99.
10 AMT-PAID PIC $$,$$$.99.
10 DATE-PAID PIC X(8).
10 BAL-DUE PIC $$,$$$.99.
10 DATE-DUE PIC X(8).

The WORKING-STORAGE SECTION defines the following fields:

77 RPT-LINE PIC X(120).

77 LINE-POS PIC S9(3).
77 LINE-NO PIC 9(5) VALUE 1.
77 DEC-POINT PIC X VALUE ".".

The record RCD-01 contains the following information (the symbol b indicates a blank space):

J.B.bSMITHbbbbb
444bSPRINGbST.,bCHICAGO,bILL.bbbbbb
A14275
$4,736.85
$2,400.00
09/22/76
$2,336.85
10/22/76

In the PROCEDURE DIVISION, these settings occur before the STRING statement:
• RPT-LINE is set to SPACES.
• LINE-POS, the data item to be used as the POINTER field, is set to 4.
Here is the STRING statement:

STRING
LINE-NO SPACE CUST-INFO INV-NO SPACE DATE-DUE SPACE
DELIMITED BY SIZE
BAL-DUE
DELIMITED BY DEC-POINT
INTO RPT-LINE
WITH POINTER LINE-POS.

Because the POINTER field LINE-POS has value 4 before the STRING statement is performed, data is
moved into the receiving field RPT-LINE beginning at character position 4. Characters in positions 1
through 3 are unchanged.
The sending items that specify DELIMITED BY SIZE are moved in their entirety to the receiving field.
Because BAL-DUE is delimited by DEC-POINT, the moving of BAL-DUE to the receiving field stops when a
decimal point (the value of DEC-POINT) is encountered.

104 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 STRING results
When the STRING statement is performed, items are moved into RPT-LINE as shown in the table below.

Item Positions
LINE-NO 4-8
Space 9
CUST-INFO 10 - 59
INV-NO 60 - 65
Space 66
DATE-DUE 67 - 74
Space 75
Portion of BAL-DUE that precedes the decimal point 76 - 81

After the STRING statement is performed, the value of LINE-POS is 82, and RPT-LINE has the values
shown below.

Splitting data items (UNSTRING)

Use the UNSTRING statement to split a sending field into several receiving fields. One UNSTRING
statement can take the place of several MOVE statements.
In the UNSTRING statement you can specify:
• Delimiters that, when one of them is encountered in the sending field, cause the current receiving field
to stop receiving and the next, if any, to begin receiving (DELIMITED BY phrase)
• A field for the delimiter that, when encountered in the sending field, causes the current receiving field to
stop receiving (DELIMITER IN phrase)
• An integer data item that stores the number of characters placed in the current receiving field (COUNT
IN phrase)
• An integer data item that indicates the leftmost character position within the sending field at which
UNSTRING processing should begin (WITH POINTER phrase)
• An integer data item that stores a tally of the number of receiving fields that are acted on (TALLYING
IN phrase)
• Action to be taken if all of the receiving fields are filled before the end of the sending data item is
reached (ON OVERFLOW phrase)
The sending data item and the delimiters in the DELIMITED BY phrase must be of category alphabetic,
alphanumeric, alphanumeric-edited, DBCS, national, or national-edited.
Receiving data items can be of category alphabetic, alphanumeric, numeric, DBCS, or national. If numeric,
a receiving data item must be zoned decimal or national decimal. If a receiving data item has:
• USAGE DISPLAY, the sending item and each delimiter item in the statement must have USAGE
DISPLAY, and each literal in the statement must be alphanumeric
• USAGE NATIONAL, the sending item and each delimiter item in the statement must have USAGE
NATIONAL, and each literal in the statement must be national

Chapter 6. Handling strings 105

 • USAGE DISPLAY-1, the sending item and each delimiter item in the statement must have USAGE
DISPLAY-1, and each literal in the statement must be DBCS
“Example: UNSTRING statement” on page 106

related concepts
“Unicode and the encoding
of language characters” on page 129

related tasks
“Handling errors in joining and splitting strings” on page 232

related references
UNSTRING statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
Classes and categories of data (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: UNSTRING statement

The following example shows the UNSTRING statement transferring selected information from an input
record. Some information is organized for printing and some for further processing.
The FILE SECTION defines the following records:

* Record to be acted on by the UNSTRING statement:

01 INV-RCD.
05 CONTROL-CHARS PIC XX.
05 ITEM-INDENT PIC X(20).
05 FILLER PIC X.
05 INV-CODE PIC X(10).
05 FILLER PIC X.
05 NO-UNITS PIC 9(6).
05 FILLER PIC X.
05 PRICE-PER-M PIC 99999.
05 FILLER PIC X.
05 RTL-AMT PIC 9(6).99.
*
* UNSTRING receiving field for printed output:
01 DISPLAY-REC.
05 INV-NO PIC X(6).
05 FILLER PIC X VALUE SPACE.
05 ITEM-NAME PIC X(20).
05 FILLER PIC X VALUE SPACE.
05 DISPLAY-DOLS PIC 9(6).
*
* UNSTRING receiving field for further processing:
01 WORK-REC.
05 M-UNITS PIC 9(6).
05 FIELD-A PIC 9(6).
05 WK-PRICE REDEFINES FIELD-A PIC 9999V99.
05 INV-CLASS PIC X(3).
*
* UNSTRING statement control fields:
77 DBY-1 PIC X.
77 CTR-1 PIC S9(3).
77 CTR-2 PIC S9(3).
77 CTR-3 PIC S9(3).
77 CTR-4 PIC S9(3).
77 DLTR-1 PIC X.
77 DLTR-2 PIC X.
77 CHAR-CT PIC S9(3).
77 FLDS-FILLED PIC S9(3).

In the PROCEDURE DIVISION, these settings occur before the UNSTRING statement:
• A period (.) is placed in DBY-1 for use as a delimiter.
• CHAR-CT (the POINTER field) is set to 3.
• The value zero (0) is placed in FLDS-FILLED (the TALLYING field).
• Data is read into record INV-RCD, whose format is as shown below.

106 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Here is the UNSTRING statement:

* Move subfields of INV-RCD to the subfields of DISPLAY-REC

* and WORK-REC:
UNSTRING INV-RCD
DELIMITED BY ALL SPACES OR "/" OR DBY-1
INTO ITEM-NAME COUNT IN CTR-1
INV-NO DELIMITER IN DLTR-1 COUNT IN CTR-2
INV-CLASS
M-UNITS COUNT IN CTR-3
FIELD-A
DISPLAY-DOLS DELIMITER IN DLTR-2 COUNT IN CTR-4
WITH POINTER CHAR-CT
TALLYING IN FLDS-FILLED
ON OVERFLOW GO TO UNSTRING-COMPLETE.

Because the POINTER field CHAR-CT has value 3 before the UNSTRING statement is performed, the two
character positions of the CONTROL-CHARS field in INV-RCD are ignored.

UNSTRING results
When the UNSTRING statement is performed, the following steps take place:
1. Positions 3 through 18 (FOUR-PENNY-NAILS) of INV-RCD are placed in ITEM-NAME, left justified in
the area, and the four unused character positions are padded with spaces. The value 16 is placed in
CTR-1.
2. Because ALL SPACES is coded as a delimiter, the five contiguous space characters in positions 19
through 23 are considered to be one occurrence of the delimiter.
3. Positions 24 through 29 (707890) are placed in INV-NO. The delimiter character slash (/) is placed in
DLTR-1, and the value 6 is placed in CTR-2.
4. Positions 31 through 33 (BBA) are placed in INV-CLASS. The delimiter is SPACE, but because no field
has been defined as a receiving area for delimiters, the space in position 34 is bypassed.
5. Positions 35 through 40 (475120) are placed in M-UNITS. The value 6 is placed in CTR-3. The
delimiter is SPACE, but because no field has been defined as a receiving area for delimiters, the space
in position 41 is bypassed.
6. Positions 42 through 46 (00122) are placed in FIELD-A and right justified in the area. The high-order
digit position is filled with a zero (0). The delimiter is SPACE, but because no field was defined as a
receiving area for delimiters, the space in position 47 is bypassed.
7. Positions 48 through 53 (000379) are placed in DISPLAY-DOLS. The period (.) delimiter in DBY-1 is
placed in DLTR-2, and the value 6 is placed in CTR-4.
8. Because all receiving fields have been acted on and two characters in INV-RCD have not been
examined, the ON OVERFLOW statement is executed. Execution of the UNSTRING statement is
completed.
After the UNSTRING statement is performed, the fields contain the values shown below.

Field Value
DISPLAY-REC 707890 FOUR-PENNY-NAILS 000379
WORK-REC 475120000122BBA
CHAR-CT (the POINTER field) 55
FLDS-FILLED (the TALLYING field) 6

Chapter 6. Handling strings 107

Manipulating null-terminated strings
You can construct and manipulate null-terminated strings (for example, strings that are passed to or from
a C program) by various mechanisms.
For example, you can:
• Use null-terminated literal constants (Z". . . ").
• Use an INSPECT statement to count the number of characters in a null-terminated string:

MOVE 0 TO char-count
INSPECT source-field TALLYING char-count
FOR CHARACTERS
BEFORE X"00"

• Use an UNSTRING statement to move characters in a null-terminated string to a target field, and get the
character count:

WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 source-field PIC X(1001).
01 char-count COMP-5 PIC 9(4).
01 target-area.
02 individual-char OCCURS 1 TO 1000 TIMES DEPENDING ON char-count
PIC X.
. . .
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
UNSTRING source-field DELIMITED BY X"00"
INTO target-area
COUNT IN char-count
ON OVERFLOW
DISPLAY "source not null terminated or target too short"
END-UNSTRING

• Use a SEARCH statement to locate trailing null or space characters. Define the string being examined as
a table of single characters.
• Check each character in a field in a loop (PERFORM). You can examine each character in a field by using a
reference modifier such as source-field (I:1).
“Example: null-terminated strings” on page 108

related tasks
“Handling null-terminated
strings” on page 497
related references
Alphanumeric literals (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: null-terminated strings

The following example shows several ways in which you can process null-terminated strings.

01 L pic X(20) value z'ab'.

01 M pic X(20) value z'cd'.
01 N pic X(20).
01 N-Length pic 99 value zero.
01 Y pic X(13) value 'Hello, World!'.
. . .
* Display null-terminated string:
Inspect N tallying N-length
for characters before initial x'00'
Display 'N: ' N(1:N-Length) ' Length: ' N-Length
. . .
* Move null-terminated string to alphanumeric, strip null:
Unstring N delimited by X'00' into X
. . .
* Create null-terminated string:
String Y delimited by size
X'00' delimited by size

108 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 into N.
. . .
* Concatenate two null-terminated strings to produce another:
String L delimited by x'00'
M delimited by x'00'
X'00' delimited by size
into N.

Referring to substrings of data items

Refer to a substring of a data item that has USAGE DISPLAY, DISPLAY-1, or NATIONAL by using a
reference modifier. You can also refer to a substring of an alphanumeric or national character string that is
returned by an intrinsic function by using a reference modifier.
Note: To get a substring of a character string argument that is encoded in UTF-8, use the USUBSTR
function as described in “Using intrinsic functions to process UTF-8 encoded data” on page 140.
The following example shows how to use a reference modifier to refer to a twenty-character substring of a
data item called Customer-Record:

Move Customer-Record(1:20) to Orig-Customer-Name

You code a reference modifier in parentheses immediately after the data item. As the example shows, a
reference modifier can contain two values that are separated by a colon, in this order:
1. Ordinal position (from the left) of the character that you want the substring to start with
2. (Optional) Length of the required substring in character positions
The reference-modifier position and length for an item that has USAGE DISPLAY are expressed in
terms of single-byte characters. The reference-modifier position and length for items that have USAGE
DISPLAY-1 or NATIONAL are expressed in terms of DBCS character positions and national character
positions, respectively.
If you omit the length in a reference modifier (coding only the ordinal position of the first character,
followed by a colon), the substring extends to the end of the item. Omit the length where possible as a
simpler and less error-prone coding technique.
You can refer to substrings of USAGE DISPLAY data items, including alphanumeric groups,
alphanumeric-edited data items, numeric-edited data items, display floating-point data items, and zoned
decimal data items, by using reference modifiers. When you reference-modify any of these data items, the
result is of category alphanumeric. When you reference-modify an alphabetic data item, the result is of
category alphabetic.
You can refer to substrings of USAGE NATIONAL data items, including national groups, national-edited
data items, numeric-edited data items, national floating-point data items, and national decimal data
items, by using reference modifiers. When you reference-modify any of these data items, the result is of
category national. For example, suppose that you define a national decimal data item as follows:

01 NATL-DEC-ITEM Usage National Pic 999 Value 123.

You can use NATL-DEC-ITEM in an arithmetic expression because NATL-DEC-ITEM is of category

numeric. But you cannot use NATL-DEC-ITEM(2:1) (the national character 2, which in hexadecimal
notation is NX"0032") in an arithmetic expression, because it is of category national.

You can refer to substrings of table entries, including variable-length entries, by using reference
modifiers. To refer to a substring of a table entry, code the subscript expression before the reference
modifier. For example, assume that PRODUCT-TABLE is a properly coded table of character strings. To
move D to the fourth character in the second string in the table, you can code this statement:

MOVE 'D' to PRODUCT-TABLE (2), (4:1)

Chapter 6. Handling strings 109

 You can code either or both of the two values in a reference modifier as a variable or as an arithmetic
expression.
“Example: arithmetic expressions as reference modifiers” on page 111

Because numeric function identifiers can be used anywhere that arithmetic expressions can be used, you
can code a numeric function identifier in a reference modifier as the leftmost character position or as the
length, or both.
“Example: intrinsic functions as reference modifiers” on page 111

Each number in the reference modifier must have a value of at least 1. The sum of the two numbers
must not exceed the total length of the data item by more than 1 character position so that you do not
reference beyond the end of the substring.
If the leftmost character position or the length value is a fixed-point noninteger, truncation occurs to
create an integer. If either is a floating-point noninteger, rounding occurs to create an integer.
The SSRANGE compiler option detects out-of-range reference modifiers, and flags violations with a
runtime message.

related concepts
“Reference modifiers” on page 110
“Unicode and the encoding
of language characters” on page 129

related tasks
“Referring to an item in a table” on page 70

related references
“SSRANGE” on page 356
Reference modification (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
Function definitions (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Reference modifiers
Reference modifiers let you easily refer to a substring of a data item.
For example, assume that you want to retrieve the current time from the system and display its value in an
expanded format. You can retrieve the current time with the ACCEPT statement, which returns the hours,
minutes, seconds, and hundredths of seconds in this format:

HHMMSSss

However, you might prefer to view the current time in this format:

HH:MM:SS

Without reference modifiers, you would have to define data items for both formats. You would also have
to write code to convert from one format to the other.
With reference modifiers, you do not need to provide names for the subfields that describe the TIME
elements. The only data definition you need is for the time as returned by the system. For example:

01 REFMOD-TIME-ITEM PIC X(8).

The following code retrieves and expands the time value:

ACCEPT REFMOD-TIME-ITEM FROM TIME.

DISPLAY "CURRENT TIME IS: "
* Retrieve the portion of the time value that corresponds to

110 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 * the number of hours:
REFMOD-TIME-ITEM (1:2)
":"
* Retrieve the portion of the time value that corresponds to
* the number of minutes:
REFMOD-TIME-ITEM (3:2)
":"
* Retrieve the portion of the time value that corresponds to
* the number of seconds:
REFMOD-TIME-ITEM (5:2)

“Example: arithmetic expressions as reference modifiers” on page 111

“Example: intrinsic
functions as reference modifiers” on page 111

related tasks
“Assigning input from a
screen or file (ACCEPT)” on page 35
“Referring to substrings
of data items” on page 109
“Using national data (Unicode)
in COBOL” on page 129

related references
Reference modification (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: arithmetic expressions as reference modifiers

Suppose that a field contains some right-justified characters, and you want to move those characters to
another field where they will be left justified. You can do so by using reference modifiers and an INSPECT
statement.
Suppose a program has the following data:

01 LEFTY PIC X(30).

01 RIGHTY PIC X(30) JUSTIFIED RIGHT.
01 I PIC 9(9) USAGE BINARY.

The program counts the number of leading spaces and, using arithmetic expressions in a reference
modifier, moves the right-justified characters into another field, justified to the left:

MOVE SPACES TO LEFTY

MOVE ZERO TO I
INSPECT RIGHTY
TALLYING I FOR LEADING SPACE.
IF I IS LESS THAN LENGTH OF RIGHTY THEN
MOVE RIGHTY ( I + 1 : LENGTH OF RIGHTY - I ) TO LEFTY
END-IF

The MOVE statement transfers characters from RIGHTY, beginning at the position computed as I + 1 for a
length that is computed as LENGTH OF RIGHTY - I, into the field LEFTY.

Example: intrinsic functions as reference modifiers

You can use intrinsic functions in reference modifiers if you do not know the leftmost position or length of
a substring at compile time.
For example, the following code fragment causes a substring of Customer-Record to be moved into the
data item WS-name. The substring is determined at run time.

05 WS-name Pic x(20).

05 Left-posn Pic 99.

Chapter 6. Handling strings 111

 05 I Pic 99.
. . .
Move Customer-Record(Function Min(Left-posn I):Function Length(WS-name)) to WS-name

If you want to use a noninteger function in a position that requires an integer function, you can use the
INTEGER or INTEGER-PART function to convert the result to an integer. For example:

Move Customer-Record(Function Integer(Function Sqrt(I)): ) to WS-name

related references
INTEGER (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
INTEGER-PART (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Tallying and replacing data items (INSPECT)

Use the INSPECT statement to inspect characters or groups of characters in a data item and to optionally
replace them.
Use the INSPECT statement to do the following tasks:
• Count the number of times a specific character occurs in a data item (TALLYING phrase).
• Fill a data item or selected portions of a data item with specified characters such as spaces, asterisks,
or zeros (REPLACING phrase).
• Convert all occurrences of a specific character or string of characters in a data item to replacement
characters that you specify (CONVERTING phrase).
You can specify one of the following data items as the item to be inspected:
• An elementary item described explicitly or implicitly as USAGE DISPLAY, USAGE DISPLAY-1, or
USAGE NATIONAL
• An alphanumeric group item or national group item
If the inspected item has:
• USAGE DISPLAY, each identifier in the statement (except the TALLYING count field) must have USAGE
DISPLAY, and each literal in the statement must be alphanumeric
• USAGE NATIONAL, each identifier in the statement (except the TALLYING count field) must have
USAGE NATIONAL, and each literal in the statement must be national
• USAGE DISPLAY-1, each identifier in the statement (except the TALLYING count field) must have
USAGE DISPLAY-1, and each literal in the statement must be a DBCS literal
“Examples: INSPECT statement” on page 112

related concepts
“Unicode and the encoding
of language characters” on page 129

related references
INSPECT statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Examples: INSPECT statement

The following examples show some uses of the INSPECT statement to examine and replace characters.
In the following example, the INSPECT statement examines and replaces characters in data item
DATA-2. The number of times a leading zero (0) occurs in the data item is accumulated in COUNTR.
The first instance of the character A that follows the first instance of the character C is replaced by the
character 2.

77 COUNTR PIC 9 VALUE ZERO.

01 DATA-2 PIC X(11).

112 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 . . .
INSPECT DATA-2
TALLYING COUNTR FOR LEADING "0"
REPLACING FIRST "A" BY "2" AFTER INITIAL "C"

DATA-2 before COUNTR after DATA-2 after

00ACADEMY00 2 00AC2DEMY00
0000ALABAMA 4 0000ALABAMA
CHATHAM0000 0 CH2THAM0000

In the following example, the INSPECT statement examines and replaces characters in data item
DATA-3. Each character that precedes the first instance of a quotation mark (") is replaced by the
character 0.

77 COUNTR PIC 9 VALUE ZERO.

01 DATA-3 PIC X(8).
. . .
INSPECT DATA-3
REPLACING CHARACTERS BY ZEROS BEFORE INITIAL QUOTE

DATA-3 before COUNTR after DATA-3 after

456"ABEL 0 000"ABEL
ANDES"12 0 00000"12
"TWAS BR 0 "TWAS BR

The following example shows the use of INSPECT CONVERTING with AFTER and BEFORE phrases to
examine and replace characters in data item DATA-4. All characters that follow the first instance of the
character / but that precede the first instance of the character ? (if any) are translated from lowercase to
uppercase.

01 DATA-4 PIC X(11).

. . .
INSPECT DATA-4
CONVERTING
"abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz" TO
"ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
AFTER INITIAL "/"
BEFORE INITIAL"?"

DATA-4 before DATA-4 after

a/five/?six a/FIVE/?six
r/Rexx/RRRr r/REXX/RRRR
zfour?inspe zfour?inspe

Converting data items (intrinsic functions)

You can use intrinsic functions to convert character-string data items to several other formats, for
example, to uppercase or lowercase, to reverse order, to numbers, to one code page from another, or to
hexadecimal or binary digits. You can also convert hexadecimal character strings or bit character strings
to alphanumeric data items.
You can use the NATIONAL-OF and DISPLAY-OF intrinsic functions to convert to and from national
(Unicode) strings.

Chapter 6. Handling strings 113

 You can also use the INSPECT statement to convert characters.
“Examples: INSPECT statement” on page 112

related tasks
“Changing case (UPPER-CASE, LOWER-CASE)” on page 114
“Transforming to reverse order (REVERSE)” on page 114
“Converting to numbers (NUMVAL, NUMVAL-C, NUMVAL-F)” on page 115
“Converting from one code page to another” on page 116

“Converting
to hexadecimal or bit data (HEX-OF, BIT-OF)” on page 116
“Converting
from hexadecimal or bit data (HEX-TO-CHAR, BIT-TO-CHAR)” on page 117

Changing case (UPPER-CASE, LOWER-CASE)

You can use the UPPER-CASE and LOWER-CASE intrinsic functions to easily change the case of
alphanumeric, alphabetic, or national strings.

01 Item-1 Pic x(30) Value "Hello World!".

01 Item-2 Pic x(30).
. . .
Display Item-1
Display Function Upper-case(Item-1)
Display Function Lower-case(Item-1)
Move Function Upper-case(Item-1) to Item-2
Display Item-2

The code above displays the following messages on the system logical output device:

Hello World!
HELLO WORLD!
hello world!
HELLO WORLD!

The DISPLAY statements do not change the actual contents of Item-1, but affect only how the letters
are displayed. However, the MOVE statement causes uppercase letters to replace the contents of Item-2.
Note: The UPPER-CASE and LOWER-CASE intrinsic functions do not support alphanumeric arguments
that contain UTF-8 encoded data.

related tasks
“Assigning input from a
screen or file (ACCEPT)” on page 35
“Displaying values on a
screen or in a file (DISPLAY)” on page 35

Transforming to reverse order (REVERSE)

You can reverse the order of the characters in a string by using the REVERSE intrinsic function.

Move Function Reverse(Orig-cust-name) To Orig-cust-name

For example, the statement above reverses the order of the characters in Orig-cust-name. If the
starting value is JOHNSONbbb, the value after the statement is performed is bbbNOSNHOJ, where b
represents a blank space.

related concepts
“Unicode and the encoding
of language characters” on page 129

114 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Converting to numbers (NUMVAL, NUMVAL-C, NUMVAL-F)
The NUMVAL, NUMVAL-C and NUMVAL-F functions convert character strings (alphanumeric or national
literals, or class alphanumeric or class national data items) to numbers. Use these functions to convert
free-format character-representation numbers to numeric form so that you can process them numerically.

01 R Pic x(20) Value "- 1234.5678".

01 S Pic x(20) Value " $12,345.67CR".
01 T Pic x(20) Value "+ 12.345678E+2".
01 Total Usage is Comp-1.
. . .
Compute Total = Function Numval(R) + Function Numval-C(S) + Function Numval-F(T)

Use NUMVAL-C when the argument includes a currency symbol or comma or both, as shown in the
example above. You can also place an algebraic sign before or after the character string, and the sign
will be processed. The arguments must not exceed 18 digits when you compile with the default option
ARITH(COMPAT) (compatibility mode) nor 31 digits when you compile with ARITH(EXTEND) (extended
mode), not including the editing symbols.
Use NUMVAL-F when the argument includes an exponent value, as shown in the example above. You can
also place an algebraic sign before the character string, and the sign will be processed. The arguments
must not exceed 18 digits when you compile with the default option ARITH(COMPAT) (compatibility
mode) nor 31 digits when you compile with ARITH(EXTEND) (extended mode), not including the editing
symbols.
NUMVAL, NUMVAL-C and NUMVAL-F return long (64-bit) floating-point values in compatibility mode, and
return extended-precision (128-bit) floating-point values in extended mode. A reference to either of these
functions represents a reference to a numeric data item.

At most 15 decimal digits can be converted accurately to long-precision floating point (as described in
the related reference below about conversions and precision). Internally NUMVAL uses long-precision
floating calculations to convert the given number to the output, so if the argument to NUMVAL, NUMVAL-C,
or NUMVAL-F has more than 15 digits, it is recommended that you specify the ARITH(EXTEND) compiler
option so that an extended-precision function result that can accurately represent the value of the
argument is returned. Otherwise, the result may lose precision in an unexpected manner.

When you use NUMVAL, NUMVAL-C, or NUMVAL-F, you do not need to statically define numeric data in a
fixed format nor input data in a precise manner. For example, suppose you define numbers to be entered
as follows:

01 X Pic S999V99 leading sign is separate.

. . .
Accept X from Console

The user of the application must enter the numbers exactly as defined by the PICTURE clause. For
example:

+001.23
-300.00

However, using the NUMVAL function, you could code:

01 A Pic x(10).
01 B Pic S999V99.
. . .
Accept A from Console
Compute B = Function Numval(A)

Chapter 6. Handling strings 115

 The input could then be:

1.23
-300

related concepts
“Formats for numeric
data” on page 47
“Data format conversions” on page 51
“Unicode and the encoding
of language characters” on page 129

related tasks
“Converting to or from national (Unicode) representation” on page 136

related references
“Conversions and precision” on page 52
“ARITH” on page 300

Converting from one code page to another

You can nest the DISPLAY-OF and NATIONAL-OF intrinsic functions to easily convert from any code page
to any other code page.
For example, the following code converts an EBCDIC string to an ASCII string:

77 EBCDIC-CCSID PIC 9(4) BINARY VALUE 1140.

77 ASCII-CCSID PIC 9(4) BINARY VALUE 819.
77 Input-EBCDIC PIC X(80).
77 ASCII-Output PIC X(80).
. . .
* Convert EBCDIC to ASCII
Move Function Display-of
(Function National-of (Input-EBCDIC EBCDIC-CCSID),
ASCII-CCSID)
to ASCII-output

related concepts
“Unicode and the encoding
of language characters” on page 129

related tasks
“Converting to or from national (Unicode) representation” on page 136

Converting to hexadecimal or bit data (HEX-OF, BIT-OF)

You can use the HEX-OF or BIT-OF intrinsic functions to convert data of any type to hexadecimal or
binary digits.
The HEX-OF intrinsic function can be used to convert data of any type to a human readable string of
hexadecimal digits ("0" through "9", "A" through "F", and "a" through "f") that represent, in hexadecimal
form, the underlying byte values of the data to be converted. The length of the output hex string in bytes is
two times the length of the input argument string in bytes.
For example, FUNCTION HEX-OF('Hello, world!') returns 'C8859393966B40A6969993845A'.
Note: The first two hexadecimal digits 'C8' correspond to the EBCDIC encoding of the letter 'H'.
The argument to the HEX-OF intrinsic function can be a literal, a data item, or the result of an intrinsic
function.
The BIT-OF intrinsic function can be used to convert data of any type to a human readable string of
binary digits ("0" or "1") that represent, in bit string form, the underlying byte values of the data to be

116 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 converted. The length of the output bit string in bytes is eight times the length of the input argument
string in bytes.
For example, FUNCTION BIT-OF('Hello, world!') returns
'110010001000010110010011100100111001011001101011010000001010011010010110
10011001100100111000010001011010'.
Note: The first eight characters '11001000' of the output string correspond to the hexadecimal value
x'C8', which matches the output of the HEX-OF intrinsic function shown above and corresponds to the
EBCDIC encoding of the letter 'H'.
The argument to the BIT-OF intrinsic function can be a literal, a data item, or the result of an intrinsic
function.

related references
BIT-OF (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
HEX-OF (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Converting from hexadecimal or bit data (HEX-TO-CHAR, BIT-TO-CHAR)

You can use the HEX-TO-CHAR or BIT-TO-CHAR intrinsic functions to convert hexadecimal character
strings (consisting of characters "0" through "9", "A" through "F", and "a" through "f") or bit character
strings (consisting of characters "0" and "1") to alphanumeric data items.
HEX-TO-CHAR
The HEX-TO-CHAR intrinsic function can be used to convert a character string consisting of hexadecimal
digits ("0" through "9", "A" through "F", and "a" through "f") to an alphanumeric character string consisting
of bytes that correspond to the hexadecimal digits in the input character string.
For example,

MOVE 'FFAABB' TO MY-HEX-DATA

FUNCTION HEX-TO-CHAR(MY-HEX-DATA) returns a character string with value x'FFAABB'.

The argument to the HEX-TO-CHAR intrinsic function can be an alphanumeric literal, alphanumeric data
item, or alphanumeric group item. The length of the argument must be a multiple of 2 bytes.
BIT-TO-CHAR
The BIT-TO-CHAR intrinsic function can be used to convert a character string consisting of characters
"0" and "1" to an alphanumeric character string consisting of bytes that correspond to the bit pattern
indicated by the sequence of "0" and "1" characters in the input character string.
For example,

MOVE '1111001000000110' TO MY-BIT-DATA

FUNCTION BIT-TO-CHAR(MY-BIT-DATA) returns a character string with value x'F206'.

The argument to the BIT-TO-CHAR intrinsic function can be an alphanumeric literal, alphanumeric data
item or alphanumeric group item. The length of the argument must be a multiple of 8 bytes.

related references
BIT-TO-CHAR (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
HEX-TO-CHAR (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Evaluating data items (intrinsic functions)

You can use intrinsic functions to determine the ordinal position of a character in the collating sequence,
to find the largest or smallest item in a series, to find the length of data item, or to determine when a
program was compiled.
Use these intrinsic functions:

Chapter 6. Handling strings 117

 • CHAR and ORD to evaluate integers and single alphabetic or alphanumeric characters with respect to the
collating sequence used in a program
• MAX, MIN, ORD-MAX, and ORD-MIN to find the largest and smallest items in a series of data items,
including USAGE NATIONAL data items
• LENGTH to find the length of data items, including USAGE NATIONAL data items, and BYTE-LENGTH to
find the length of data items in bytes, including DBCS data items
• WHEN-COMPILED to find the date and time when a program was compiled

related concepts
“Unicode and the encoding
of language characters” on page 129

related tasks
“Evaluating single characters
for collating sequence” on page 118
“Finding the largest or
smallest data item” on page 118
“Finding the length of data
items” on page 120
“Finding the date of compilation” on page 121

Evaluating single characters for collating sequence

To find out the ordinal position of a given alphabetic or alphanumeric character in the collating sequence,
use the ORD function with the character as the argument. ORD returns an integer that represents that
ordinal position.
You can use a one-character substring of a data item as the argument to ORD:

IF Function Ord(Customer-record(1:1)) IS > 194 THEN . . .

If you know the ordinal position in the collating sequence of a character, and want to find the character
that it corresponds to, use the CHAR function with the integer ordinal position as the argument. CHAR
returns the required character. For example:

INITIALIZE Customer-Name REPLACING ALPHABETIC BY Function Char(65)

The ordinal number associated with a character is not the same as the numeric value (in decimal) of
the hex value of the character. For example, if you are using the EBCDIC collating sequence, the ordinal
number of X'00' is one instead of zero. Similarly, the ordinal number of X'FF' is 256 instead of 255.
Therefore, the ordinal values returned from the ORD intrinsic function when using the EBCDIC collating
sequence range from 1 - 256, not 0 - 255 that are the decimal values of the hex values of the valid
EBCDIC characters.

related references
CHAR (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
ORD (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Finding the largest or smallest data item

To determine which of two or more alphanumeric, alphabetic, or national data items has the largest value,
use the MAX or ORD-MAX intrinsic function. To determine which item has the smallest value, use MIN or
ORD-MIN. These functions evaluate according to the collating sequence.
To compare numeric items, including those that have USAGE NATIONAL, you can use MAX, ORD-MAX,
MIN, or ORD-MIN. With these intrinsic functions, the algebraic values of the arguments are compared.

118 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
The MAX and MIN functions return the content of one of the arguments that you supply. For example,
suppose that your program has the following data definitions:

05 Arg1 Pic x(10) Value "THOMASSON ".

05 Arg2 Pic x(10) Value "THOMAS ".
05 Arg3 Pic x(10) Value "VALLEJO ".

The following statement assigns VALLEJObbb to the first 10 character positions of Customer-record,
where b represents a blank space:

Move Function Max(Arg1 Arg2 Arg3) To Customer-record(1:10)

If you used MIN instead, then THOMASbbbb would be assigned.

The functions ORD-MAX and ORD-MIN return an integer that represents the ordinal position (counting
from the left) of the argument that has the largest or smallest value in the list of arguments that you
supply. If you used the ORD-MAX function in the previous example, the compiler would issue an error
message because the reference to a numeric function is not in a valid place. Using the same arguments as
in the previous example, ORD-MAX can be used as follows:

Compute x = Function Ord-max(Arg1 Arg2 Arg3)

The statement above assigns the integer 3 to x if the same arguments are used as in the previous
example. If you used ORD-MIN instead, the integer 2 would be returned. The examples above might be
more realistic if Arg1, Arg2, and Arg3 were successive elements of an array (table).
If you specify a national item for any argument, you must specify all arguments as class national.

related tasks
“Performing arithmetic” on page 55
“Processing table items
using intrinsic functions” on page 87
“Returning variable results
with alphanumeric or national functions” on page 119

related references
MAX (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
MIN (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
ORD-MAX (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
ORD-MIN (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Returning variable results with alphanumeric or national functions

The results of alphanumeric or national functions could be of varying lengths and values depending on the
function arguments.
In the following example, the amount of data moved to R3 and the results of the COMPUTE statement
depend on the values and sizes of R1 and R2:

01 R1 Pic x(10) value "e".

01 R2 Pic x(05) value "f".
01 R3 Pic x(20) value spaces.
01 L Pic 99.
. . .
Move Function Max(R1 R2) to R3
Compute L = Function Length(Function Max(R1 R2))

This code has the following results:

• R2 is evaluated to be larger than R1.

Chapter 6. Handling strings 119

 • The string 'fbbbb' is moved to R3, where b represents a blank space. (The unfilled character positions in
R3 are padded with spaces.)
• L evaluates to the value 5.
If R1 contained 'g' instead of 'e', the code would have the following results:
• R1 would evaluate as larger than R2.
• The string 'gbbbbbbbbb' would be moved to R3. (The unfilled character positions in R3 would be padded
with spaces.)
• The value 10 would be assigned to L.
If a program uses national data for function arguments, the lengths and values of the function results
could likewise vary. For example, the following code is identical to the fragment above, but uses national
data instead of alphanumeric data.

01 R1 Pic n(10) national value "e".

01 R2 Pic n(05) national value "f".
01 R3 Pic n(20) national value spaces.
01 L Pic 99 national.
. . .
Move Function Max(R1 R2) to R3
Compute L = Function Length(Function Max(R1 R2))

This code has the following results, which are similar to the first set of results except that these are for
national characters:
• R2 is evaluated to be larger than R1.
• The string NX"0066 0020 0020 0020 0020" (the equivalent in national characters of 'fbbbb', where
b represents a blank space), shown here in hexadecimal notation with added spaces for readability, is
moved to R3. The unfilled character positions in R3 are padded with national spaces.
• L evaluates to the value 5, the length in national character positions of R2.

You might be dealing with variable-length output from alphanumeric or national functions. Plan your
program accordingly. For example, you might need to think about using variable-length files when the
records that you are writing could be of different lengths:

File Section.
FD Output-File Recording Mode V.
01 Short-Customer-Record Pic X(50).
01 Long-Customer-Record Pic X(70).
Working-Storage Section.
01 R1 Pic x(50).
01 R2 Pic x(70).
. . .
If R1 > R2
Write Short-Customer-Record from R1
Else
Write Long-Customer-Record from R2
End-if

related tasks
“Finding the largest or
smallest data item” on page 118
“Performing arithmetic” on page 55

related references
MAX (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Finding the length of data items

You can use the LENGTH function in many contexts (including tables and numeric data) to determine
the length of an item. For example, you can use the LENGTH function to determine the length of an

120 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 alphanumeric or national literal, or a data item of any type except DBCS. You can also use the BYTE-
LENGTH function to determine the length of an item in bytes.
LENGTH intrinsic function
The LENGTH function returns the length of a national item (a literal, or any item that has USAGE
NATIONAL, including national group items) as an integer equal to the length of the argument in national
character positions. It returns the length of any other data item as an integer equal to the length of the
argument in alphanumeric character positions.
The following COBOL statement demonstrates moving a data item into the field in a record that holds
customer names:

Move Customer-name To Customer-record(1:Function Length(Customer-name))

BYTE-LENGTH intrinsic function

The BYTE-LENGTH function returns the length of a national item, an alphanumeric item, or a DBCS literal
as an integer equal to the length of the argument in bytes.
LENGTH OF special register
You can also use the LENGTH OF special register, which returns the length in bytes even for national
data. Coding either Function Length(Customer-name) or LENGTH OF Customer-name returns the
same result for alphanumeric items: the length of Customer-name in bytes. The BYTE-LENGTH function
returns the same result as the LENGTH OF special register for all arguments types.
You can use the LENGTH and BYTE-LENGTH functions only where arithmetic expressions are allowed.
However, you can use the LENGTH OF special register in a greater variety of contexts. For example, you
can use the LENGTH OF special register as an argument to an intrinsic function that accepts integer
arguments. (You cannot use an intrinsic function as an operand to the LENGTH OF special register.) You
can also use the LENGTH OF special register as a parameter in a CALL statement.

related tasks
“Performing arithmetic” on page 55
“Creating variable-length
tables (DEPENDING ON)” on page 78
“Processing table items
using intrinsic functions” on page 87

related references
BYTE-LENGTH (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
LENGTH (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
LENGTH OF (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Finding the date of compilation

You can use the WHEN-COMPILED intrinsic function to determine when a program was compiled. The
21-character result indicates the four-digit year, month, day, and time (in hours, minutes, seconds, and
hundredths of seconds) of compilation, and the difference in hours and minutes from Greenwich mean
time.
The first 16 positions are in the following format:

YYYYMMDDhhmmsshh

You can instead use the WHEN-COMPILED special register to determine the date and time of compilation
in the following format:

MM/DD/YYhh.mm.ss

Chapter 6. Handling strings 121

 The WHEN-COMPILED special register supports only a two-digit year, and does not carry fractions of a
second. You can use this special register only as the sending field in a MOVE statement.

related references
WHEN-COMPILED (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

122 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 7. Processing data in an international
environment
Enterprise COBOL supports Unicode UTF-16 as national character data at run time. UTF-16 provides a
consistent and efficient way to encode plain text. Using UTF-16, you can develop software that will work
with various national languages.

Use these COBOL facilities to code and compile programs that process national data:
• Data types and literals:
– Character data types, defined with the USAGE NATIONAL clause and a PICTURE clause that defines
data of category national, national-edited, or numeric-edited
– Numeric data types, defined with the USAGE NATIONAL clause and a PICTURE clause that defines
a numeric data item (a national decimal item) or an external floating-point data item (a national
floating-point item)
– National literals, specified with literal prefix N or NX
– Figurative constant ALL national-literal
– Figurative constants QUOTE, SPACE, HIGH-VALUE, LOW-VALUE, or ZERO, which have national
character (UTF-16) values when used in national-character contexts
• The COBOL statements shown in the related reference below about COBOL statements and national
data
• Intrinsic functions:
– NATIONAL-OF to convert an alphanumeric or double-byte character set (DBCS) character string to
USAGE NATIONAL (UTF-16)
– DISPLAY-OF to convert a national character string to USAGE DISPLAY in a selected code page
(EBCDIC, ASCII, EUC, or UTF-8)
– The other intrinsic functions shown in the related reference below about intrinsic functions and
national data
• The GROUP-USAGE NATIONAL clause to define groups that contain only USAGE NATIONAL data items
and that behave like elementary category national items in most operations
• Compiler options:
– CODEPAGE to specify the code page to use for alphanumeric and DBCS data in your program
– NSYMBOL to control whether national or DBCS processing is used for the N symbol in literals and
PICTURE clauses
You can also take advantage of implicit conversions of alphanumeric or DBCS data items to national
representation. The compiler performs such conversions (in most cases) when you move these items to
national data items, or compare these items with national data items.

related concepts
“Unicode and the encoding
of language characters” on page 129
“National groups” on page 132

related tasks
“Using national data (Unicode)
in COBOL” on page 129
“Converting to or from national (Unicode) representation” on page 136
“Processing UTF-8 data” on page 140
“Processing Chinese GB 18030 data” on page 144

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 123

 “Comparing national (UTF-16)
data” on page 145
“Coding for use of DBCS support” on page 147
Appendix B, “Converting double-byte character set (DBCS) data,” on page 701

related references
“COBOL statements and national data” on page 124
“Intrinsic functions and national data” on page 127
“CODEPAGE” on page 304
“NSYMBOL” on page 335
Classes and categories of data (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
Data categories and PICTURE rules
(Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
MOVE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
General relation conditions (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

COBOL statements and national data

You can use national data with the PROCEDURE DIVISION and compiler-directing statements shown in
the table below.

Table 15. COBOL statements and national data

COBOL Can be national Comment For more information
statement
ACCEPT identifier-1, identifier-2 identifier-1 is converted “Assigning input from a screen or file
from the native code page (ACCEPT)” on page 35
specified in the CODEPAGE
compiler option only if
input is from CONSOLE.
ADD All identifiers can be “Using COMPUTE and other
numeric items that arithmetic statements” on page 55
have USAGE NATIONAL.
identifier-3 (GIVING) can
be numeric-edited with
USAGE NATIONAL.
CALL identifier-2, identifier-3, “Passing data” on page 491
identifier-4, identifier-5;
literal-2, literal-3
COMPUTE identifier-1 can be “Using COMPUTE and other
numeric or numeric- arithmetic statements” on page 55
edited with USAGE
NATIONAL. arithmetic-
expression can contain
numeric items that have
USAGE NATIONAL.
COPY . . . operand-1, operand-2 of Chapter 18, “Compiler-directing
REPLACING the REPLACING phrase statements,” on page 377
DISPLAY identifier-1 identifier-1 is converted “Displaying values on a screen or in a
to EBCDIC only if file (DISPLAY)” on page 35
the CONSOLE mnemonic-
name is specified directly
or indirectly.

124 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 15. COBOL statements and national data (continued)
COBOL Can be national Comment For more information
statement
DIVIDE All identifiers can be “Using COMPUTE and other
numeric items that arithmetic statements” on page 55
have USAGE NATIONAL.
identifier-3 (GIVING) and
identifier-4 (REMAINDER)
can be numeric-edited
with USAGE NATIONAL.
INITIALIZE identifier-1; identifier-2 If you specify REPLACING “Examples: initializing data items” on
or literal-1 of the NATIONAL or REPLACING page 28
REPLACING phrase NATIONAL-EDITED,
identifier-2 or literal-1
must be valid as a sending
operand in a move to
identifier-1.
INSPECT All identifiers and If any of these (other “Tallying and replacing data items
literals. (identifier-2, the than identifier-2, the (INSPECT)” on page 112
TALLYING integer data TALLYING identifier) have
item, can have USAGE USAGE NATIONAL, all
NATIONAL.) must be national.
INVOKE Method-name as “Invoking methods (INVOKE)” on
identifier-2 or literal-1; page 612
identifier-3 or literal-2 in
the BY VALUE phrase
JSON PARSE identifier-2 (the target identifier-1 is not Chapter 30, “Processing JSON
data item); identifier-3 supported as a national input ,” on page 529
(the NAME identifier); data item.
literal-1 (the NAME
substitution); identifier-4
(the SUPPRESS identifier)
MERGE Merge keys The COLLATING “Setting sort or merge criteria” on
SEQUENCE phrase does page 219
not apply.
MOVE Both the sender and Implicit conversions are “Assigning values to elementary data
receiver, or only the performed for valid MOVE items (MOVE)” on page 32
receiver operands.
“Assigning values to group data items
(MOVE)” on page 33

MULTIPLY All identifiers can be “Using COMPUTE and other

numeric items that arithmetic statements” on page 55
have USAGE NATIONAL.
identifier-3 (GIVING) can
be numeric-edited with
USAGE NATIONAL.

Chapter 7. Processing data in an international environment 125

Table 15. COBOL statements and national data (continued)
COBOL Can be national Comment For more information
statement
SEARCH ALL Both the key data The key data item and “Doing a binary search (SEARCH
(binary search) item and its object of its object of comparison ALL)” on page 86
comparison must be compatible
according to the rules of
comparison. If the object
of comparison is of class
national, the key must be
also.
SORT Sort keys The COLLATING “Setting sort or merge criteria” on
SEQUENCE phrase does page 219
not apply.
STRING All identifiers and literals. If identifier-3, the “Joining data items (STRING)” on
(identifier-4, the POINTER receiving data item, is page 103
integer data item, can national, all identifiers
have USAGE NATIONAL.) and literals (other than
identifier-4, the POINTER
identifier) must be
national.
SUBTRACT All identifiers can be “Using COMPUTE and other
numeric items that arithmetic statements” on page 55
have USAGE NATIONAL.
identifier-3 (GIVING) can
be numeric-edited with
USAGE NATIONAL.
UNSTRING All identifiers and If identifier-4, a receiving “Splitting data items (UNSTRING)” on
literals. (identifier-6 and data item, has USAGE page 105
identifier-7, the COUNT NATIONAL, the sending
and TALLYING integer data item and each
data items, respectively, delimiter must have
can have USAGE USAGE NATIONAL, and
NATIONAL.) each literal must be
national.
XML identifier-1 (the generated Chapter 33, “Producing XML output,”
GENERATE XML document); on page 577
identifier-2 (the source
field or fields); identifier-4
or literal-4 (the
namespace identifier);
identifier-5 or literal-5 (the
namespace prefix)

126 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 15. COBOL statements and national data (continued)
COBOL Can be national Comment For more information
statement
XML PARSE identifier-1 (the XML The XML-NTEXT special Chapter 32, “Processing XML input,”
document) register contains on page 537
national character
document fragments
during parsing. XML-
NNAMESPACE and XML-
NNAMESPACE-PREFIX
special registers
contain the associated
namespace identifier and
namespace prefix, if any,
in national characters.

related tasks
“Defining numeric data” on page 43
“Displaying numeric data” on page 45
“Using national data (Unicode)
in COBOL” on page 129
“Comparing national (UTF-16)
data” on page 145

related references
“CODEPAGE” on page 304
Classes and categories of data (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Intrinsic functions and national data

You can use arguments of class national with the intrinsic functions shown in the table below.

Table 16. Intrinsic functions and national character data

Intrinsic function Function type For more information
BIT-OF Alphanumeric BIT-OF (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
BYTE-LENGTH Integer “Finding the length of data items” on page 120
CONTENT-OF Alphanumeric, CONTENT-OF (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language
national, UTF-8, Reference)
integer, or numeric
DISPLAY-OF Alphanumeric “Converting national to alphanumeric (DISPLAY-OF)” on
page 138
FORMATTED-CURRENT-DATE, Alphanumeric, • FORMATTED-CURRENT-DATE (Enterprise COBOL for
FORMATTED-DATE, national, or UTF-8 z/OS Language Reference)
FORMATTED-TIME,
• FORMATTED-DATE (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language
FORMATTED-DATETIME
Reference)
• FORMATTED-TIME (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language
Reference)
• FORMATTED-DATETIME (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS
Language Reference)

HEX-OF Alphanumeric HEX-OF (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Chapter 7. Processing data in an international environment 127

Table 16. Intrinsic functions and national character data (continued)
Intrinsic function Function type For more information
INTEGER-OF-FORMATTED- Integer INTEGRE-OF-FORMATTED-DATE (Enterprise COBOL for
DATE z/OS Language Reference)
LENGTH Integer “Finding the length of data items” on page 120
LOWER-CASE, UPPER-CASE National “Changing case (UPPER-CASE, LOWER-CASE)” on page
114
NUMVAL, NUMVAL-C, NUMVAL- Numeric “Converting to numbers (NUMVAL, NUMVAL-C, NUMVAL-
F F)” on page 115
MAX, MIN National “Finding the largest or smallest data item” on page 118
ORD-MAX, ORD-MIN Integer “Finding the largest or smallest data item” on page 118
REVERSE Alphanumeric or REVERSE (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
national
SECONDS-FORM- Numeric SECONDS-FROM-FORMATTED-TIME (Enterprise COBOL
FORMATTED-TIME for z/OS Language Reference)
TEST-FORMATTED- Integer TEST-FORMATTED-DATETIME (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS
DATETIME Language Reference)
TEST-NUMVAL, TEST- Integer • TEST-NUMVAL (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language
NUMVAL-C, TEST-NUMVAL-F Reference)
• TEST-NUMVAL-C (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language
Reference)
• TEST-NUMVAL-F (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language
Reference)

TRIM Alphanumeric or TRIM (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

national
ULENGTH Integer ULENGTH (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
UPOS Integer UPOS (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
USUBSTR Alphanumeric or USUBSTR (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
national
USUPPLEMENTARY Integer USUPPLEMENTARY (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language
Reference)
UVALID Integer UVALID (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
UWIDTH Integer UWIDTH (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

You can use national decimal arguments wherever zoned decimal arguments are allowed. You can use
national floating-point arguments wherever display floating-point arguments are allowed. (See the related
reference below about arguments for a complete list of intrinsic functions that can take integer or numeric
arguments.)

Related tasks
“Defining numeric data” on page 43
“Using national data (Unicode)
in COBOL” on page 129

Related references
Arguments (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

128 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Classes and categories of data (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
Intrinsic functions (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Unicode and the encoding of language characters

Enterprise COBOL provides basic runtime support for Unicode, which can handle tens of thousands of
characters that cover all commonly used characters and symbols in the world.
A character set is a defined set of characters, but is not associated with a coded representation. A coded
character set (also referred to in this documentation as a code page) is a set of unambiguous rules that
relate the characters of the set to their coded representation. Each code page has a name and is like a
table that sets up the symbols for representing a character set; each symbol is associated with a unique
bit pattern, or code point. Each code page also has a coded character set identifier (CCSID), which is a
value from 1 to 65,536.
Unicode has several encoding schemes, called Unicode Transformation Format (UTF), such as UTF-8,
UTF-16, and UTF-32. Enterprise COBOL uses UTF-16 (CCSID 1200) in big-endian format as the
representation for national literals and data items that have USAGE NATIONAL.
UTF-8 represents ASCII invariant characters a-z, A-Z, 0-9, and certain special characters such as ' @ , .
+ - = / * ( ) the same way that they are represented in ASCII. UTF-16 represents these characters as
NX'00nn', where X'nn' is the representation of the character in ASCII.
For example, the string 'ABC' is represented in UTF-16 as NX'004100420043'. In UTF-8, 'ABC' is
represented as X'414243'.
One or more encoding units are used to represent a character from a coded character set. For UTF-16,
an encoding unit takes 2 bytes of storage. Any character defined in any EBCDIC, ASCII, or EUC code
page is represented in one UTF-16 encoding unit when the character is converted to the national data
representation.
Cross-platform considerations: Enterprise COBOL and COBOL for AIX® support UTF-16 in big-endian
format in national data. If you are porting Unicode data that is encoded in UTF-16LE representation to
Enterprise COBOL from another platform, you must convert that data to UTF-16 in big-endian format to
process the data as national data.

related tasks
“Converting to or from national (Unicode) representation” on page 136

related references
“Storage of character data” on page 136
Character sets and code pages (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Using national data (Unicode) in COBOL

In Enterprise COBOL, you can specify national (UTF-16) data in any of several ways.
These types of national data are available:
• National data items (categories national, national-edited, and numeric-edited)
• National literals
• Figurative constants as national characters
• Numeric data items (national decimal and national floating-point)
In addition, you can define national groups that contain only data items that explicitly or implicitly have
USAGE NATIONAL, and that behave in the same way as elementary category national data items in most
operations.
These declarations affect the amount of storage that is needed.

related concepts
“Unicode and the encoding

Chapter 7. Processing data in an international environment 129

 of language characters” on page 129
“National groups” on page 132

related tasks
“Defining national data
items” on page 130
“Using national literals” on page 130
“Using national-character
figurative constants” on page 131
“Defining national numeric
data items” on page 132
“Using national groups” on page 133
“Converting to or from national (Unicode) representation” on page 136
“Comparing national (UTF-16)
data” on page 145

related references
“Storage of character data” on page 136
Classes and categories of data (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Defining national data items

Define national data items with the USAGE NATIONAL clause to hold national (UTF-16) character strings.

You can define national data items of the following categories:

• National
• National-edited
• Numeric-edited
To define a category national data item, code a PICTURE clause that contains only one or more PICTURE
symbols N.
To define a national-edited data item, code a PICTURE clause that contains at least one of each of the
following symbols:
• Symbol N
• Simple insertion editing symbol B, 0, or /
To define a numeric-edited data item of class national, code a PICTURE clause that defines a numeric-
edited item (for example, -$999.99) and code a USAGE NATIONAL clause. You can use a numeric-edited
data item that has USAGE NATIONAL in the same way that you use a numeric-edited item that has USAGE
DISPLAY.
You can also define a data item as numeric-edited by coding the BLANK WHEN ZERO clause for an
elementary item that is defined as numeric by its PICTURE clause.
If you code a PICTURE clause but do not code a USAGE clause for data items that contain only one or
more PICTURE symbols N, you can use the compiler option NSYMBOL(NATIONAL) to ensure that such
items are treated as national data items instead of as DBCS items.

related tasks
“Displaying numeric data” on page 45

related references
“NSYMBOL” on page 335
BLANK WHEN ZERO clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Using national literals

To specify national literals, use the prefix character N and compile with the option NSYMBOL(NATIONAL).

130 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 You can use either of these notations:
• N"character-data"
• N'character-data'
If you compile with the option NSYMBOL(DBCS), the literal prefix character N specifies a DBCS literal, not
a national literal.
To specify a national literal as a hexadecimal value, use the prefix NX. You can use either of these
notations:
• NX"hexadecimal-digits"
• NX'hexadecimal-digits'
Each of the following MOVE statements sets the national data item Y to the UTF-16 value of the characters
'AB':

01 Y pic NN usage national.

. . .
Move NX"00410042" to Y
Move N"AB" to Y
Move "AB" to Y

Do not use alphanumeric hexadecimal literals in contexts that call for national literals, because such
usage is easily misunderstood. For example, the following statement also results in moving the UTF-16
characters 'AB' (not the hexadecimal bit pattern C1C2) to Y, where Y is defined as USAGE NATIONAL:

Move X"C1C2" to Y

You cannot use national literals in the SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph or as program-names. You can use
a national literal to name an object-oriented method in the METHOD-ID paragraph or to specify a method-
name in an INVOKE statement.

related tasks
“Using literals” on page 25
related references
“NSYMBOL” on page 335
National literals (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Using national-character figurative constants

You can use the figurative constant ALL national-literal in a context that requires national characters. ALL
national-literal represents all or part of the string that is generated by successive concatenations of the
encoding units that make up the national literal.

You can use the figurative constants QUOTE, SPACE, HIGH-VALUE, LOW-VALUE, or ZERO in a context that
requires national characters, such as a MOVE statement, an implicit move, or a relation condition that has
national operands. In these contexts, the figurative constant represents a national-character (UTF-16)
value.
When you use the figurative constant QUOTE in a context that requires national characters, and the
QUOTE compiler option is in effect, its value is NX'0022'. If the APOST compiler option is in effect, its
value is NX'0027'.
When you use the figurative constant HIGH-VALUE in a context that requires national characters, its
value is NX'FFFF'. When you use LOW-VALUE in a context that requires national characters, its value is
NX'0000'.
Restrictions: You must not use HIGH-VALUE or the value assigned from HIGH-VALUE in a way that
results in conversion of the value from one data representation to another (for example, between
USAGE DISPLAY and USAGE NATIONAL). X'FF' (the value of HIGH-VALUE in an alphanumeric context

Chapter 7. Processing data in an international environment 131

 when the EBCDIC collating sequence is being used) does not represent a valid EBCDIC character,
and NX'FFFF' does not represent a valid national character. Conversion of such a value to another
representation results in a substitution character being used (not X'FF' or NX'FFFF'). Consider the
following example:

01 natl-data PIC NN Usage National.

01 alph-data PIC XX.
. . .
MOVE HIGH-VALUE TO natl-data, alph-data
IF natl-data = alph-data. . .

The IF statement above evaluates as false even though each of its operands was set to HIGH-VALUE.
Before an elementary alphanumeric operand is compared to a national operand, the alphanumeric
operand is treated as though it were moved to a temporary national data item, and the alphanumeric
characters are converted to the corresponding national characters. When X'FF' is converted to UTF-16,
however, the UTF-16 item gets a substitution character value and so does not compare equally to
NX'FFFF'.

related tasks
“Converting to or from national (Unicode) representation” on page 136
“Comparing national (UTF-16)
data” on page 145
related references
Figurative constants (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
DISPLAY-OF (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
Support for Unicode: Using Unicode Services

Defining national numeric data items

Define data items with the USAGE NATIONAL clause to hold numeric data that is represented in national
characters (UTF-16). You can define national decimal items and national floating-point items.

To define a national decimal item, code a PICTURE clause that contains only the symbols 9, P, S, and V. If
the PICTURE clause contains S, the SIGN IS SEPARATE clause must be in effect for that item.
To define a national floating-point item, code a PICTURE clause that defines a floating-point item (for
example, +99999.9E-99).
You can use national decimal items in the same way that you use zoned decimal items. You can use
national floating-point items in the same way that you use display floating-point items.

related tasks
“Defining numeric data” on page 43
“Displaying numeric data” on page 45

related references
SIGN clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

National groups
National groups, which are specified either explicitly or implicitly with the GROUP-USAGE NATIONAL
clause, contain only data items that have USAGE NATIONAL. In most cases, a national group item is
processed as though it were redefined as an elementary category national item described as PIC N(m),
where m is the number of national (UTF-16) characters in the group.
For some operations on national groups, however (just as for some operations on alphanumeric groups),
group semantics apply. Such operations (for example, MOVE CORRESPONDING and INITIALIZE)
recognize or process the elementary items within the national group.

132 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Where possible, use national groups instead of alphanumeric groups that contain USAGE NATIONAL
items. National groups provide several advantages for the processing of national data compared to the
processing of national data within alphanumeric groups:

• When you move a national group to a longer data item that has USAGE NATIONAL, the receiving item is
padded with national characters. By contrast, if you move an alphanumeric group that contains national
characters to a longer alphanumeric group that contains national characters, alphanumeric spaces are
used for padding. As a result, mishandling of data items could occur.
• When you move a national group to a shorter data item that has USAGE NATIONAL, the national
group is truncated at national-character boundaries. By contrast, if you move an alphanumeric group
that contains national characters to a shorter alphanumeric group that contains national characters,
truncation might occur between the 2 bytes of a national character.
• When you move a national group to a national-edited or numeric-edited item, the content of the group is
edited. By contrast, if you move an alphanumeric group to an edited item, no editing takes place.
• When you use a national group as an operand in a STRING, UNSTRING, or INSPECT statement:
– The group content is processed as national characters rather than as single-byte characters.
– TALLYING and POINTER operands operate at the logical level of national characters.
– The national group operand is supported with a mixture of other national operand types.
By contrast, if you use an alphanumeric group that contains national characters in these contexts, the
characters are processed byte by byte. As a result, invalid handling or corruption of data could occur.

USAGE NATIONAL groups: A group item can specify the USAGE NATIONAL clause at the group level
as a convenient shorthand for the USAGE of each of the elementary data items within the group. Such
a group is not a national group, however, but an alphanumeric group, and behaves in many operations,
such as moves and compares, like an elementary data item of USAGE DISPLAY (except that no editing or
conversion of data occurs).

related tasks
“Assigning values to group
data items (MOVE)” on page 33
“Joining data items (STRING)” on page 103
“Splitting data items (UNSTRING)” on page 105
“Tallying and replacing
data items (INSPECT)” on page 112
“Using national groups” on page 133

related references
GROUP-USAGE clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Using national groups

To define a group data item as a national group, code a GROUP-USAGE NATIONAL clause at the
group level for the item. The group can contain only data items that explicitly or implicitly have USAGE
NATIONAL.
The following data description entry specifies that a level-01 group and its subordinate groups are
national group items:

01 Nat-Group-1 GROUP-USAGE NATIONAL.

02 Group-1.
04 Month PIC 99.
04 DayOf PIC 99.
04 Year PIC 9999.
02 Group-2 GROUP-USAGE NATIONAL.
04 Amount PIC 9(4).99 USAGE NATIONAL.

Chapter 7. Processing data in an international environment 133

 In the example above, Nat-Group-1 is a national group, and its subordinate groups Group-1 and
Group-2 are also national groups. A GROUP-USAGE NATIONAL clause is implied for Group-1, and
USAGE NATIONAL is implied for the subordinate items in Group-1. Month, DayOf, and Year are national
decimal items, and Amount is a numeric-edited item that has USAGE NATIONAL.
You can subordinate national groups within alphanumeric groups as in the following example:

01 Alpha-Group-1.
02 Group-1.
04 Month PIC 99.
04 DayOf PIC 99.
04 Year PIC 9999.
02 Group-2 GROUP-USAGE NATIONAL.
04 Amount PIC 9(4).99.

In the example above, Alpha-Group-1 and Group-1 are alphanumeric groups; USAGE DISPLAY is
implied for the subordinate items in Group-1. (If Alpha-Group-1 specified USAGE NATIONAL at the
group level, USAGE NATIONAL would be implied for each of the subordinate items in Group-1. However,
Alpha-Group-1 and Group-1 would be alphanumeric groups, not national groups, and would behave
like alphanumeric groups during operations such as moves and compares.) Group-2 is a national group,
and USAGE NATIONAL is implied for the numeric-edited item Amount.

You cannot subordinate alphanumeric groups within national groups. All elementary items within a
national group must be explicitly or implicitly described as USAGE NATIONAL, and all group items within
a national group must be explicitly or implicitly described as GROUP-USAGE NATIONAL.

related concepts
“National groups” on page 132
related tasks
“Using national groups
as elementary items” on page 134
“Using national groups
as group items” on page 135

related references
GROUP-USAGE clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Using national groups as elementary items

In most cases, you can use a national group as though it were an elementary data item.
In the following example, a national group item, Group-1, is moved to a national-edited item, Edited-
date. Because Group-1 is treated as an elementary data item during the move, editing takes place in the
receiving data item. The value in Edited-date after the move is 06/23/2010 in national characters.

01 Edited-date PIC NN/NN/NNNN USAGE NATIONAL.

01 Group-1 GROUP-USAGE NATIONAL.
02 Month PIC 99 VALUE 06.
02 DayOf PIC 99 VALUE 23.
02 Year PIC 9999 VALUE 2010.
. . .
MOVE Group-1 to Edited-date.

If Group-1 were instead an alphanumeric group in which each of its subordinate items had USAGE
NATIONAL (specified either explicitly with a USAGE NATIONAL clause on each elementary item, or
implicitly with a USAGE NATIONAL clause at the group level), a group move, rather than an elementary
move, would occur. Neither editing nor conversion would take place during the move. The value in the first
eight character positions of Edited-date after the move would be 06232010 in national characters, and
the value in the remaining two character positions would be 4 bytes of alphanumeric spaces.

134 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
related tasks
“Assigning values to group
data items (MOVE)” on page 33
“Comparing national data
and alphanumeric-group operands” on page 147
“Using national groups
as group items” on page 135

related references
MOVE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Using national groups as group items

In some cases when you use a national group, it is handled with group semantics; that is, the elementary
items in the group are recognized or processed.

In the following example, an INITIALIZE statement that acts upon national group item Group-OneN
causes the value 15 in national characters to be moved to only the numeric items in the group:

01 Group-OneN Group-Usage National.

05 Trans-codeN Pic N Value "A".
05 Part-numberN Pic NN Value "XX".
05 Trans-quanN Pic 99 Value 10.
. . .
Initialize Group-OneN Replacing Numeric Data By 15

Because only Trans-quanN in Group-OneN above is numeric, only Trans-quanN receives the value 15.
The other subordinate items are unchanged.

The table below summarizes the cases where national groups are processed with group semantics.

Table 17. National group items that are processed with group semantics
Language feature Uses of national group items Comment
CORRESPONDING phrase Specify a national group item for Elementary items within the
of the ADD, SUBTRACT, processing as a group in accordance national group are processed like
or MOVE statement with the rules of the CORRESPONDING elementary items that have USAGE
phrase. NATIONAL within an alphanumeric
group.
Host variable in EXEC Specify a national group item as a host The national group item is in effect
SQL statement variable. shorthand for the set of host
variables that are subordinate to
the group item.
INITIALIZE statement Specify a national group for processing Elementary items within the
as a group in accordance with the rules national group are initialized like
of the INITIALIZE statement. elementary items that have USAGE
NATIONAL within an alphanumeric
group.
Name qualification Use the name of a national group item Follow the same rules
to qualify the names of elementary data for qualification as for an
items and of subordinate group items in alphanumeric group.
the national group.
THROUGH phrase of the To specify a national group item in the The result is an alphanumeric
RENAMES clause THROUGH phrase, use the same rules as group item.
for an alphanumeric group item.

Chapter 7. Processing data in an international environment 135

 Table 17. National group items that are processed with group semantics (continued)
Language feature Uses of national group items Comment
FROM phrase of the XML Specify a national group item in the Elementary items within the
GENERATE statement FROM phrase for processing as a group national group are processed like
in accordance with the rules of the XML elementary items that have USAGE
GENERATE statement. NATIONAL within an alphanumeric
group.

related tasks
“Initializing a structure
(INITIALIZE)” on page 31
“Initializing a table (INITIALIZE)” on page 73
“Assigning values to elementary
data items (MOVE)” on page 32
“Assigning values to group
data items (MOVE)” on page 33
“Finding the length of data
items” on page 120
“Generating XML output” on page 577
“Using national group items in SQL statements” on page 442
related references
Qualification (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
RENAMES clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Storage of character data

Use the table below to compare alphanumeric (DISPLAY), DBCS (DISPLAY-1), and Unicode (NATIONAL)
encoding and to plan storage usage.

Table 18. Encoding and size of alphanumeric, DBCS, and national data
Characteristic DISPLAY DISPLAY-1 NATIONAL
Character encoding unit 1 byte 2 bytes 2 bytes
Code page EBCDIC EBCDIC DBCS UTF-16BE1
Encoding units per graphic 1 1 1 or 22
character
Bytes per graphic character 1 byte 2 bytes 2 or 4 bytes

1. Use the CODEPAGE compiler option to specify the EBCDIC code page that is applicable to
alphanumeric or DBCS data.
2. Most characters are represented in UTF-16 using one encoding unit. In particular, the following
characters are represented using a single UTF-16 encoding unit per character:
• COBOL characters A-Z, a-z, 0-9, space, + - * / = $ , ; . " ( ) > < :'
• All characters that are converted from an EBCDIC or ASCII code page

related concepts
“Unicode and the encoding
of language characters” on page 129

Converting to or from national (Unicode) representation

You can implicitly or explicitly convert data items to national (UTF-16) representation.

136 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 You can implicitly convert alphabetic, alphanumeric, DBCS, or integer data to national data by using the
MOVE statement. Implicit conversions also take place in other COBOL statements, such as IF statements
that compare an alphanumeric data item with a data item that has USAGE NATIONAL.
You can explicitly convert to and from national data items by using the intrinsic functions NATIONAL-OF
and DISPLAY-OF, respectively. By using these intrinsic functions, you can specify a code page for the
conversion that is different from the code page that is in effect with the CODEPAGE compiler option.

related tasks
“Converting alphanumeric,
DBCS, and integer to national (MOVE)” on page 137
“Converting alphanumeric
or DBCS to national (NATIONAL-OF)” on page 138
“Converting national to
alphanumeric (DISPLAY-OF)” on page 138
“Overriding the default code page” on page 138
“Comparing national (UTF-16)
data” on page 145

related references
“CODEPAGE” on page 304
“Conversion exceptions” on page 139

Converting alphanumeric, DBCS, and integer to national (MOVE)

You can use a MOVE statement to implicitly convert data to national representation.

You can move the following kinds of data to category national or national-edited data items, and thus
convert the data to national representation:
• Alphabetic
• Alphanumeric
• Alphanumeric-edited
• DBCS
• Integer of USAGE DISPLAY
• Numeric-edited of USAGE DISPLAY
You can likewise move the following kinds of data to numeric-edited data items that have USAGE
NATIONAL:
• Alphanumeric
• Display floating-point (floating-point of USAGE DISPLAY)
• Numeric-edited of USAGE DISPLAY
• Integer of USAGE DISPLAY
For complete rules about moves to national data, see the related reference about the MOVE statement.
For example, the MOVE statement below moves the alphanumeric literal "AB" to the national data item
UTF16-Data:

01 UTF16-Data Pic N(2) Usage National.

. . .
Move "AB" to UTF16-Data

After the MOVE statement above, UTF16-Data contains NX'00410042', the national representation of
the alphanumeric characters 'AB'.

Chapter 7. Processing data in an international environment 137

 If padding is required in a receiving data item that has USAGE NATIONAL, the default UTF-16 space
character (NX'0020') is used. If truncation is required, it occurs at the boundary of a national-character
position.

related tasks
“Assigning values to elementary
data items (MOVE)” on page 32
“Assigning values to group
data items (MOVE)” on page 33
“Displaying numeric data” on page 45
“Coding for use of DBCS support” on page 147

related references
MOVE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Converting alphanumeric or DBCS to national (NATIONAL-OF)

Use the NATIONAL-OF intrinsic function to convert alphabetic, alphanumeric, or DBCS data to a national
data item. Specify the source code page as the second argument if the source is encoded in a different
code page than is in effect with the CODEPAGE compiler option.
“Example: converting to and from national data” on page 139
related tasks
“Processing UTF-8 data” on page 140
“Processing Chinese GB 18030 data” on page 144
“Processing alphanumeric data items that contain DBCS data” on page 149

related references
“CODEPAGE” on page 304
NATIONAL-OF (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Converting national to alphanumeric (DISPLAY-OF)

Use the DISPLAY-OF intrinsic function to convert national data to an alphanumeric (USAGE DISPLAY)
character string that is represented in a code page that you specify as the second argument.
If you omit the second argument, the output code page is the one that was in effect with the CODEPAGE
compiler option when the source was compiled.
If you specify an EBCDIC or ASCII code page that combines single-byte character set (SBCS) and
DBCS characters, the returned string might contain a mixture of SBCS and DBCS characters. The DBCS
substrings are delimited by shift-in and shift-out characters if the code page in effect for the function is an
EBCDIC code page.
“Example: converting to and from national data” on page 139
related tasks
“Processing UTF-8 data” on page 140
“Processing Chinese GB 18030 data” on page 144

related references
DISPLAY-OF (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Overriding the default code page

In some cases, you might need to convert data to or from a code page that differs from the CCSID that
is specified as the CODEPAGE option value. To do so, convert the item by using a conversion function in
which you explicitly specify the code page.

If you specify a code page as an argument to the DISPLAY-OF intrinsic function, and the code page
differs from the code page that is in effect with the CODEPAGE compiler option, do not use the function

138 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 result in any operations that involve implicit conversion (such as an assignment to, or comparison with, a
national data item). Such operations assume the EBCDIC code page that is specified with the CODEPAGE
compiler option.

related references
“CODEPAGE” on page 304

Conversion exceptions
Implicit or explicit conversion between national data and alphanumeric data can fail and generate a
severity-3 Language Environment condition.

Failure can occur if the code page that you specified implicitly or explicitly is not a valid code page.
A character that does not have a counterpart in the target CCSID does not result in a conversion
exception. Such a character is converted to a substitution character in the target code page.

related references
“CODEPAGE” on page 304

Example: converting to and from national data

The following example shows the NATIONAL-OF and DISPLAY-OF intrinsic functions and the MOVE
statement for converting to and from national (UTF-16) data items. It also demonstrates the need for
explicit conversions when you operate on strings that are encoded in multiple code pages.

CBL CODEPAGE(00037)
* . . .
01 Data-in-Unicode pic N(100) usage national.
01 Data-in-Greek pic X(100).
01 other-data-in-US-English pic X(12) value "PRICE in $ =".
* . . .
Read Greek-file into Data-in-Greek
Move function National-of(Data-in-Greek, 00875)
to Data-in-Unicode
* . . . process Data-in-Unicode here . . .
Move function Display-of(Data-in-Unicode, 00875)
to Data-in-Greek
Write Greek-record from Data-in-Greek

The example above works correctly because the input code page is specified. Data-in-Greek is
converted as data represented in CCSID 00875 (Greek). However, the following statement results in an
incorrect conversion unless all the characters in the item happen to be among those that have a common
representation in both the Greek and the English code pages:

Move Data-in-Greek to Data-in-Unicode

The MOVE statement above converts Data-in-Greek to Unicode representation based on the CCSID
00037 (U.S. English) to UTF-16 conversion. This conversion does not produce the expected results
because Data-in-Greek is encoded in CCSID 00875.

If you can correctly set the CODEPAGE compiler option to CCSID 00875 (that is, the rest of your program
also handles EBCDIC data in Greek), you can code the same example correctly as follows:

CBL CODEPAGE(00875)
* . . .
01 Data-in-Unicode pic N(100) usage national.
01 Data-in-Greek pic X(100).
* . . .
Read Greek-file into Data-in-Greek
* . . . process Data-in-Greek here ...
* . . . or do the following (if need to process data in Unicode):
Move Data-in-Greek to Data-in-Unicode
* . . . process Data-in-Unicode

Chapter 7. Processing data in an international environment 139

 Move function Display-of(Data-in-Unicode) to Data-in-Greek
Write Greek-record from Data-in-Greek

Processing UTF-8 data

To process UTF-8 data, first convert the UTF-8 data to UTF-16 in a national data item. After processing
the national data, convert it back to UTF-8 for output. For the conversions, use the intrinsic functions
NATIONAL-OF and DISPLAY-OF, respectively. Use code page 1208 for UTF-8 data.
National data is encoded in UTF-16, which uses one encoding unit for almost all commonly encountered
characters. With this property, you can use string operations such as reference modification on the
national data. If it is more convenient to retain the UTF-8 encoding, use the Unicode intrinsic functions to
assist with processing the data. For details, see “Using intrinsic functions to process UTF-8 encoded data”
on page 140.
Take the following steps to convert ASCII or EBCDIC data to UTF-8:
1. Use the function NATIONAL-OF to convert the ASCII or EBCDIC string to a national (UTF-16) string.
2. Use the function DISPLAY-OF to convert the national string to UTF-8.
The following example converts Greek EBCDIC data to UTF-8:

Usage note: Use care if you use reference modification to refer to data encoded in UTF-8. UTF-8
characters are encoded with a varying number of bytes per character. Avoid operations that might split a
multibyte character.

related tasks
“Referring to substrings
of data items” on page 109
“Converting to or from national (Unicode) representation” on page 136
“Parsing XML documents
encoded in UTF-8” on page 558
“Using intrinsic functions to process UTF-8 encoded data” on page 140

Using intrinsic functions to process UTF-8 encoded data

If it is more convenient to keep your data encoded in UTF-8, use the Unicode intrinsic functions to
facilitate testing and processing the UTF-8 data.
You can use the following intrinsic functions:
UVALID
To verify that the UTF-8 character data is well-formed
USUPPLEMENTARY
If the data is to be converted to national, and it is important that every character can be represented
by a single 16-bit encoding unit, use the USUPPLEMENTARY function to determine whether a valid
UTF-8 character string contains a Unicode supplementary code point; that is, a code point with a
Unicode scalar value above U+FFFF, requiring a 4-byte representation in UTF-8.
USUBSTR
It provides a convenient alternative to reference modification for referring to substrings of the UTF-8
character string. USUBSTR expects character position and length arguments versus the computed
byte locations and counts required by reference modification.
Auxiliary functions can provide additional information about a valid UTF-8 character string:
ULENGTH
To determine the total number of Unicode code points in the string

140 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
UPOS
To determine the byte position in the string of the nth Unicode code point
UWIDTH
To determine the width in bytes of the nth Unicode code point in the string
The following code fragment illustrates UTF-8 validity checking, and the use of the auxiliary functions:

checkUTF-8-validity.
Compute u = function UVALID(UTF-8-testStr)
If u not = 0
Display 'checkUTF-8-validity failure:'
Display ' The UTF-8 representation is not valid,'
'starting at byte ' u '.'
Compute v = function ULENGTH(UTF-8-testStr(1:u - 1))
Compute u = function UPOS(UTF-8-testStr v)
Compute w = function UWIDTH(UTF-8-testStr v)
Display ' The ' v 'th and last valid code point starts '
'at byte ' u ' for ' w ' bytes.'
End-if.

In the following string, the sequence that starts with x'F5' is not valid UTF-8 because no byte can have a
value in the range x'F5' to x'FF':

x'6162D0B0E4BA8CF5646364'

The output from checkUTF-8-validity for this string is as follows:

checkUTF-8-validity failure:
The UTF-8 representation is not valid, starting at byte 08.
The 04th and last valid code point starts at byte 05 for 03 bytes.

The following code fragment illustrates checking for the presence of a Unicode supplementary code point,
requiring a 4-byte representation in UTF-8:

checkUTF-8-supp.
Compute u = function USUPPLEMENTARY(UTF-8-testStr)
If u not = 0
Display ' checkUTF-8-supp hit:'
Compute v = function ULENGTH(UTF-8-testStr(1:u - 1))
Compute w = function UWIDTH(UTF-8-testStr v + 1)
Display ' The ' v 'th code point of the string'
', starting at byte ' u ','
Display ' is a Unicode supplementary code point, '
'width ' w ' bytes.'
End-if.

In the following string, the sequence x'F0908C82' is a supplementary character (as is any valid UTF-8
sequence beginning with a byte in the range x'F0' to x'F4'):

x'6162D0B0E4BA8CF0908C826364'

The output from checkUTF-8-supp for this string is as follows:

checkUTF-8-supp hit:
The 04th code point of the string, starting at byte 08,
is a Unicode supplementary code point, width 04 bytes.

related references
“CODEPAGE” on page 304

Example: deriving initials from UTF-8 names

The following program uses the Unicode functions to derive composers’ initials from a table of names
in Czech. It is intended to illustrate these functions, and is not necessarily the most efficient way of
doing the task. Although the program processes the composer names in UTF-8, the data begins and
ends in EBCDIC in order to permit a meaningful display of the program source and output. The compiler
option CODEPAGE(1153) ensures that the names are interpreted correctly when translated to and from
Unicode.

Chapter 7. Processing data in an international environment 141

 Program initials

142 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Program initials, continued

Output from program initials

Compute composer initials...
#1: ALD (x'414C44')
#2: LJ (x'4C4A')
#3: RJK (x'524A4B')
#4: PK (x'504B')
#5: JVHV (x'4A564856')

Program toHex
Identification division.
Program-id. toHex.
Data division.
Working-storage section.
1 hexv.
2 pic x(32) value '000102030405060708090A0B0C0D0E0F'.
2 pic x(32) value '101112131415161718191A1B1C1D1E1F'.
2 pic x(32) value '202122232425262728292A2B2C2D2E2F'.
2 pic x(32) value '303132333435363738393A3B3C3D3E3F'.
2 pic x(32) value '404142434445464748494A4B4C4D4E4F'.
2 pic x(32) value '505152535455565758595A5B5C5D5E5F'.
2 pic x(32) value '606162636465666768696A6B6C6D6E6F'.

Chapter 7. Processing data in an international environment 143

 2 pic x(32) value '707172737475767778797A7B7C7D7E7F'.
2 pic x(32) value '808182838485868788898A8B8C8D8E8F'.
2 pic x(32) value '909192939495969798999A9B9C9D9E9F'.
2 pic x(32) value 'A0A1A2A3A4A5A6A7A8A9AAABACADAEAF'.
2 pic x(32) value 'B0B1B2B3B4B5B6B7B8B9BABBBCBDBEBF'.
2 pic x(32) value 'C0C1C2C3C4C5C6C7C8C9CACBCCCDCECF'.
2 pic x(32) value 'D0D1D2D3D4D5D6D7D8D9DADBDCDDDEDF'.
2 pic x(32) value 'E0E1E2E3E4E5E6E7E8E9EAEBECEDEEEF'.
2 pic x(32) value 'F0F1F2F3F4F5F6F7F8F9FAFBFCFDFEFF'.
1 redefines hexv.
2 hex pic xx occurs 256 times.
Local-storage section.
1 i pic 9(4) binary.
1 j pic 9(4) binary value 0.
1 jx redefines j.
2 pic x.
2 jxd pic x.
Linkage section.
1 ostr.
2 ostrv pic xx occurs 1024 times.
1 istr.
2 istrv pic x occurs 1024 times.
1 len pic 9(9) binary.
Procedure division using ostr istr value len.
If len > 1024
Display '>> Error: length ' len ' greater than toHex '
'supported maximum of 1024.'
Stop run
End-if
Perform with test before varying i from 1 by 1 until i > len
Move 0 to j
Move istrv(i) to jxd
Add 1 to j
Move hex(j) to ostrv(i)
End-perform
Goback
.
End program toHex.

Processing Chinese GB 18030 data

GB 18030 is a national-character standard specified by the government of the People's Republic of China.
GB 18030 characters can be encoded in either UTF-16 or in code page CCSID 1392. Code page 1392
is an ASCII multibyte code page that uses 1, 2, or 4 bytes per character. A subset of the GB 18030
characters can be encoded in the Chinese ASCII code page, CCSID 1386, or in the Chinese EBCDIC code
page, CCSID 1388.

Enterprise COBOL does not have explicit support for GB 18030, but does support the processing of GB
18030 characters in several ways. You can:

• Use DBCS data items to process GB 18030 characters that are represented in CCSID 1388.
• Use national data items to define and process GB 18030 characters that are represented in UTF-16,
CCSID 01200.
• Process data in any code page (including CCSID 1388 or 1392) by converting the data to
UTF-16, processing the UTF-16 data, and then converting the data back to the original code-page
representation.
When you need to process Chinese GB 18030 data that requires conversion, first convert the input data
to UTF-16 in a national data item. After you process the national data item, convert it back to Chinese
GB 18030 for output. For the conversions, use the intrinsic functions NATIONAL-OF and DISPLAY-OF,
respectively, and specify code page 1388 or 1392 as the second argument of each function.
The following example illustrates these conversions:

144 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 related tasks
“Converting to or from national (Unicode) representation” on page 136
“Coding for use of DBCS support” on page 147

related references
“Storage of character data” on page 136

Comparing national (UTF-16) data

You can compare national (UTF-16) data, that is, national literals and data items that have USAGE
NATIONAL (whether of class national or class numeric), explicitly or implicitly with other kinds of data in
relation conditions.
You can code conditional expressions that use national data in the following statements:
• EVALUATE
• IF
• INSPECT
• PERFORM
• SEARCH
• STRING
• UNSTRING
For full details about comparing national data items to other data items, see the related references.

related tasks
“Comparing two class national
operands” on page 145
“Comparing class national
and class numeric operands” on page 146
“Comparing national numeric
and other numeric operands” on page 146
“Comparing national and
other character-string operands” on page 147
“Comparing national data
and alphanumeric-group operands” on page 147

related references
Relation conditions (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
General relation conditions (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
National comparisons (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
Group comparisons (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Comparing two class national operands

You can compare the character values of two operands of class national.

Either operand (or both) can be any of the following types of items:
• A national group
• An elementary category national or national-edited data item

Chapter 7. Processing data in an international environment 145

 • A numeric-edited data item that has USAGE NATIONAL

One of the operands can instead be a national literal or a national intrinsic function.

When you compare two class national operands that have the same length, they are determined to be
equal if all pairs of the corresponding characters are equal. Otherwise, comparison of the binary values of
the first pair of unequal characters determines the operand with the larger binary value.
When you compare operands that have unequal lengths, the shorter operand is treated as if it were
padded on the right with default UTF-16 space characters (NX'0020') to the length of the longer
operand.

The PROGRAM COLLATING SEQUENCE clause does not affect the comparison of two class national
operands.

related concepts
“National groups” on page 132

related tasks
“Using national groups” on page 133

related references
National comparisons (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Comparing class national and class numeric operands

You can compare national literals or class national data items to integer literals or numeric data items
that are defined as integer (that is, national decimal items or zoned decimal items). At most one of the
operands can be a literal.

You can also compare national literals or class national data items to floating-point data items (that is,
display floating-point or national floating-point items).

Numeric operands are converted to national (UTF-16) representation if they are not already in national
representation. A comparison is made of the national character values of the operands.

related references
General relation conditions (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Comparing national numeric and other numeric operands

National numeric operands (national decimal and national floating-point operands) are data items of class
numeric that have USAGE NATIONAL.

You can compare the algebraic values of numeric operands regardless of their USAGE. Thus you can
compare a national decimal item or a national floating-point item with a binary item, an internal-decimal
item, a zoned decimal item, a display floating-point item, or any other numeric item.

related tasks
“Defining national numeric
data items” on page 132

related references
General relation conditions (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

146 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Comparing national and other character-string operands
You can compare the character value of a national literal or class national data item with the character
value of any of the following other character-string operands: alphabetic, alphanumeric, alphanumeric-
edited, DBCS, or numeric-edited of USAGE DISPLAY.

These operands are treated as if they were moved to an elementary national data item. The characters
are converted to national (UTF-16) representation, and the comparison proceeds with two national
character operands.

related tasks
“Using national-character
figurative constants” on page 131

related references
National comparisons (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Comparing national data and alphanumeric-group operands

You can compare a national literal, a national group item, or any elementary data item that has USAGE
NATIONAL to an alphanumeric group.

Neither operand is converted. The national operand is treated as if it were moved to an alphanumeric
group item of the same size in bytes as the national operand, and the two groups are compared.
An alphanumeric comparison is done regardless of the representation of the subordinate items in the
alphanumeric group operand.

For example, Group-XN is an alphanumeric group that consists of two subordinate items that have USAGE
NATIONAL:

01 Group-XN.
02 TransCode PIC NN Value "AB" Usage National.
02 Quantity PIC 999 Value 123 Usage National.
. . .
If N"AB123" = Group-XN Then Display "EQUAL"
Else Display "NOT EQUAL".

When the IF statement above is executed, the 10 bytes of the national literal N"AB123" are compared
byte by byte to the content of Group-XN. The items compare equally, and "EQUAL" is displayed.

related references
Group comparisons (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Coding for use of DBCS support

IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS supports using applications in any of many national languages, including
languages that use double-byte character sets (DBCS).
The following list summarizes the support for DBCS:
• DBCS characters in user-defined words (DBCS names)
• DBCS characters in comments
• DBCS data items (defined with PICTURE N, G, or G and B)
• DBCS literals
• DBCS compiler option

Chapter 7. Processing data in an international environment 147

 related tasks
“Defining DBCS data” on page 148
“Using DBCS literals” on page 148
“Testing for valid DBCS
characters” on page 149
“Processing alphanumeric data items that contain DBCS data” on page 149
Appendix B, “Converting double-byte character set (DBCS) data,” on page 701

related references
“DBCS” on page 311

Defining DBCS data

Use the PICTURE and USAGE clauses to define DBCS data items. DBCS data items can use PICTURE
symbols G, G and B, or N. Each DBCS character position is 2 bytes in length.

You can specify a DBCS data item by using the USAGE DISPLAY-1 clause. When you use PICTURE
symbol G, you must specify USAGE DISPLAY-1. When you use PICTURE symbol N but omit the USAGE
clause, USAGE DISPLAY-1 or USAGE NATIONAL is implied depending on the setting of the NSYMBOL
compiler option.
If you use a VALUE clause with the USAGE clause in the definition of a DBCS item, you must specify a
DBCS literal or the figurative constant SPACE or SPACES.

For the purpose of handling reference modifications, each character in a DBCS data item is considered to
occupy the number of bytes that corresponds to the code-page width (that is, 2).

related references
“NSYMBOL” on page 335

Using DBCS literals

You can use the prefix N or G to represent a DBCS literal.

That is, you can specify a DBCS literal in either of these ways:
• N'dbcs characters' (provided that the compiler option NSYMBOL(DBCS) is in effect)
• G'dbcs characters'
You can use quotation marks (") or apostrophes (') as the delimiters of a DBCS literal irrespective of the
setting of the APOST or QUOTE compiler option. You must code the same opening and closing delimiter for
a DBCS literal.
The shift-out (SO) control character X'0E' must immediately follow the opening delimiter, and the
shift-in (SI) control character X'0F' must immediately precede the closing delimiter.
In addition to DBCS literals, you can use alphanumeric literals to specify any character in one of the
supported code pages. However, any string of DBCS characters that is within an alphanumeric literal must
be delimited by the SO and SI characters, and the DBCS compiler option must be in effect for the SO and
SI characters to be recognized as shift codes.
You cannot continue an alphanumeric literal that contains DBCS characters. The length of a DBCS literal is
likewise limited by the available space in Area B on a single source line. The maximum length of a DBCS
literal is thus 28 double-byte characters.
An alphanumeric literal that contains DBCS characters is processed byte by byte, that is, with semantics
appropriate for single-byte characters, except when it is converted explicitly or implicitly to national data
representation, as for example in an assignment to or comparison with a national data item.

related tasks
“Using figurative constants” on page 26

148 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 related references
“APOST/QUOTE” on page 298
“DBCS” on page 311
“NSYMBOL” on page 335
DBCS literals (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Testing for valid DBCS characters

The Kanji class test tests for valid Japanese graphic characters. This testing includes Katakana, Hiragana,
Roman, and Kanji character sets.

The Kanji class test is done by checking characters for the range X'41' through X'7E' in the first byte
and X'41' through X'FE' in the second byte, plus the space character X'4040'.
The DBCS class test tests for valid graphic characters for the code page.
The DBCS class test is done by checking characters for the range X'41' through X'FE' in both the first
and second byte of each character, plus the space character X'4040'.

related tasks
“Coding conditional expressions” on page 95

related references
Class condition (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Processing alphanumeric data items that contain DBCS data

If you use byte-oriented operations (for example, STRING, UNSTRING, or reference modification) on an
alphanumeric data item that contains DBCS characters, results are unpredictable. You should instead
convert the item to a national data item before you process it.
That is, do these steps:
1. Convert the item to UTF-16 in a national data item by using a MOVE statement or the NATIONAL-OF
intrinsic function.
2. Process the national data item as needed.
3. Convert the result back to an alphanumeric data item by using the DISPLAY-OF intrinsic function.

related tasks
“Joining data items (STRING)” on page 103
“Splitting data items (UNSTRING)” on page 105
“Referring to substrings
of data items” on page 109
“Converting to or from national (Unicode) representation” on page 136

Chapter 7. Processing data in an international environment 149

150 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 8. Processing files

Processing data is an essential part of every program. Your program retrieves information, processes it as
you request, and then produces the results.
The source of the information and the target for the results can be one or more of the following items:
• Another program
• Hierarchical or relational database
• Messages from subsystem software
• Direct-access storage device
• Magnetic tape
• Printer
• Terminal
• Card reader or punch
The information as it exists on an external device might be in a physical record or block, a collection of
information that is handled as a unit by the system during input or output operations.
Your COBOL program does not directly handle physical records. It processes logical records. A logical
record can correspond to a complete physical record, part of a physical record, or to parts or all of one or
more physical records. Your COBOL program handles logical records exactly as you have defined them.
In COBOL, a collection of logical records is a file, a sequence of pieces of information that your program
can process.

related concepts
“File organization and input-output devices” on page 151

related tasks
“Choosing file organization and access mode” on page 152
“Allocating files” on page 154
“Checking for input or output errors” on page 155

File organization and input-output devices

Depending on the input-output devices, your file organization can be sequential, line sequential, indexed,
or relative. Decide on the file types and devices to be used when you design your program.
You have the following choices of file organization:
Sequential file organization
The chronological order in which records are entered when a file is created establishes the
arrangement of the records. Each record except the first has a unique predecessor record, and each
record except the last has a unique successor record. Once established, these relationships do not
change.
The access (record transmission) mode allowed for sequential files is sequential only.
Line-sequential file organization
Line-sequential files are sequential files that reside in the z/OS UNIX file system and that contain only
characters as data. Each record ends with a newline character.
The only access (record transmission) mode allowed for line-sequential files is sequential.
Indexed file organization
Each record in the file contains a special field whose contents form the record key. The position of the
key is the same in each record. The index component of the file establishes the logical arrangement

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 151

 of the file, an ordering by record key. The actual physical arrangement of the records in the file is not
significant to your COBOL program.
An indexed file can also use alternate indexes in addition to the record key. These keys let you access
the file using a different logical ordering of the records.
The access (record transmission) modes allowed for indexed files are sequential, random, or dynamic.
When you read or write indexed files sequentially, the sequence is that of the key values. When you
read or write indexed files randomly, the sequence is in a programmer-specified manner. When you
read or write indexed files dynamically, the sequence is sequential or random or both, determined by
the input-output statements used.
Relative file organization
Records in the file are identified by their location relative to the beginning of the file. The first record in
the file has a relative record number of 1, the tenth record has a relative record number of 10, and so
on.
The access (record transmission) modes allowed for relative files are sequential, random, or dynamic.
When relative files are read or written sequentially, the sequence is that of the relative record number.
With IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, requests to the operating system for the storage and retrieval of
records from input-output devices are handled by the two access methods QSAM and VSAM, and the z/OS
UNIX file system.
The device type upon which you elect to store your data could affect the choices of file organization
available to you. Direct-access storage devices provide greater flexibility in the file organization options.
Sequential-only devices limit organization options but have other characteristics, such as the portability of
tapes, that might be useful.
Sequential-only devices
Terminals, printers, card readers, and punches are called unit-record devices because they process
one line at a time. Therefore, you must also process records one at a time sequentially in your
program when it reads from or writes to unit-record devices.
On tape, records are ordered sequentially, so your program must process them sequentially. Use
QSAM physical sequential files when processing tape files. The records on tape can be fixed length or
variable length.
Direct-access storage devices
Direct-access storage devices hold many records. The record arrangement of files stored on these
devices determines the ways that your program can process the data. When using direct-access
devices, you have greater flexibility within your program, because you can use several types of file
organization:
• Sequential (VSAM or QSAM)
• Line sequential (z/OS UNIX)
• Indexed (VSAM)
• Relative (VSAM)

related tasks
“Allocating files” on page 154
Chapter 9, “Processing QSAM files,” on page 157
Chapter 10, “Processing VSAM files,” on page 179
Chapter 11, “Processing line-sequential files,” on page 205
“Choosing file organization and access mode” on page 152

Choosing file organization and access mode

There are several guidelines you can use to determine which file organization and access mode to use in
an application.
Consider the following guidelines when choosing file organization:

152 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 • If an application accesses records (whether fixed-length or variable-length) only sequentially and does
not insert records between existing records, a QSAM or VSAM sequential file is the simplest type.
• If you are developing an application for z/OS UNIX file system that sequentially accesses records that
contain only printable characters and certain control characters, line-sequential files work best.
• If an application requires both sequential and random access (whether records are fixed length or
variable length), a VSAM indexed file is the most flexible type.
• If an application inserts and deletes records randomly, a relative file works well.
Consider the following guidelines when choosing access mode:
• If a large percentage of a file is referenced or updated in an application, sequential access is faster than
random or dynamic access.
• If a small percentage of records is processed during each run of an application, use random or dynamic
access.

Table 19. Summary of file organizations, access modes, and record formats of COBOL files
File organization Sequential Random Dynamic Fixed length Variable
access access access length
QSAM (physical sequential) X X X
Line sequential X X1 X
VSAM sequential (ESDS) X X X
VSAM indexed (KSDS) X X X X X
VSAM relative (RRDS) X X X X X

1. The data itself is in variable format but can be read into and written from COBOL fixed-length
records.

related references
“Format for coding input and output” on page 153
“Control characters in line-sequential files” on page 206

Format for coding input and output

The following example shows the general format of input-output coding. Explanations of the user-
supplied information are shown after the code.

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
. . .
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
FILE-CONTROL.
SELECT filename ASSIGN TO assignment-name (1) (2)
ORGANIZATION IS org ACCESS MODE IS access (3) (4)
FILE STATUS IS file-status (5)
. . .
DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION.
FD filename
01 recordname (6)
nn . . . fieldlength & type (7) (8)
nn . . . fieldlength & type
. . .
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION
01 file-status PICTURE 99.
. . .
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
. . .
OPEN iomode filename (9)
. . .
READ filename

Chapter 8. Processing files 153

 . . .
WRITE recordname
. . .
CLOSE filename
. . .
STOP RUN.

The user-supplied information in the code above is described below:

(1) filename
Any legal COBOL name. You must use the same file-name in the SELECT clause and in the FD entry,
and in the READ, OPEN, and CLOSE statements. In addition, the file-name is required if you use the
START or DELETE statements. This name is not necessarily the actual name of the data set as known
to the system. Each file requires its own SELECT clause, FD entry, and input-output statements.
(2) assignment-name
Any name you choose, provided that it follows COBOL and system naming rules. The name can be 1
- 30 characters long if it is a user-defined word, or 1 - 160 characters long if it is a literal. You code
the name part of the assignment-name in a DD statement, in an ALLOCATE command (TSO), or as an
environment variable (for example, in an export command) (z/OS UNIX).
(3) org
The organization can be SEQUENTIAL, LINE SEQUENTIAL, INDEXED, or RELATIVE. This clause is
optional for QSAM files.
(4) access
The access mode can be SEQUENTIAL, RANDOM, or DYNAMIC. For sequential file processing, including
line-sequential, you can omit this clause.
(5) file-status
The COBOL file status key. You can specify the file status key as a two-character category
alphanumeric or category national item, or as a two-digit zoned decimal (USAGE DISPLAY) or
national decimal (USAGE NATIONAL) item.
(6) recordname
The name of the record used in the WRITE or REWRITE statements.
(7) fieldlength
The logical length of the field.
(8) type
The record format of the file. If you break the record entry beyond the level-01 description, map each
element accurately against the fields in the record.
(9) iomode
The INPUT or OUTPUT mode. If you are only reading from a file, code INPUT. If you are only writing to
a file, code OUTPUT or EXTEND. If you are both reading and writing, code I-O, except for organization
LINE SEQUENTIAL.

related tasks
Chapter 9, “Processing QSAM files,” on page 157
Chapter 10, “Processing VSAM files,” on page 179
Chapter 11, “Processing line-sequential files,” on page 205

Allocating files
For any type of file (sequential, line sequential, indexed, or relative) in your z/OS or z/OS UNIX
applications, you can define the external name with either a ddname or an environment-variable name.
The external name is the name in the assignment-name of the ASSIGN clause.
If the file is in the z/OS UNIX file system, you can use either a DD definition or an environment variable to
define the file by specifying its path name with the PATH keyword.
The environment-variable name must be uppercase. The allowable attributes for its value depend on the
organization of the file being defined.

154 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Because you can define the external name in either of two ways, the COBOL run time goes through the
following steps to find the definition of the file:
1. If the ddname is explicitly allocated, it is used. The definition can be from a DD statement in JCL, an
ALLOCATE command from TSO/E, or a user-initiated dynamic allocation.
2. If the ddname is not explicitly allocated and an environment variable of the same name is set, the
value of the environment variable is used.
The file is dynamically allocated using the attributes specified by the environment variable. At a
minimum, you must specify either the PATH() or DSN() option. All options and attributes must be in
uppercase, except for the path-name suboption of the PATH option, which is case sensitive. You cannot
specify a temporary data-set name in the DSN() option.
File status code 98 results from any of the following cases:
• The contents (including a value of null or all blanks) of the environment variable are not valid.
• The dynamic allocation of the file fails.
• The dynamic deallocation of the file fails.
The COBOL run time checks the contents of the environment variable at each OPEN statement. If
a file with the same external name was dynamically allocated by a previous OPEN statement, and
the contents of the environment variable have changed since that OPEN, the run time dynamically
deallocates the previous allocation and reallocates the file using the options currently set in the
environment variable. If the contents of the environment variable have not changed, the run time uses
the current allocation.
3. If neither a ddname nor an environment variable is defined, the following steps occur:
a) If the allocation is for a QSAM file and the CBLQDA runtime option is in effect, CBLQDA dynamic
allocation processing takes place for those eligible files. This type of "implicit" dynamic allocation
persists for the life of the run unit and cannot be reallocated.
b) Otherwise, the allocation fails.
The COBOL run time deallocates all dynamic allocations at run unit termination, except for implicit
CBLQDA allocations.

related tasks
“Setting and accessing environment variables” on page 460
“Defining and allocating QSAM files” on page 170
“Dynamically creating QSAM files” on page 167
“Allocating VSAM files” on page 198

Checking for input or output errors

After each input or output statement is performed, the file status key is updated with a value that
indicates the success or failure of the operation.
Using a FILE STATUS clause, test the file status key after each input or output statement, and call an
error-handling procedure if a nonzero file status code is returned. With VSAM files, you can use a second
data item in the FILE STATUS clause to get additional VSAM status code information.
Another way of handling errors in input and output operations is to code ERROR (synonymous with
EXCEPTION) declaratives.

related tasks
“Handling errors in input
and output operations” on page 233
“Coding ERROR declaratives” on page 236
“Using file status keys” on page 237

Chapter 8. Processing files 155

156 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 9. Processing QSAM files
Queued sequential access method (QSAM) files are unkeyed files in which the records are placed one
after another, according to entry order.
Your program can process these files only sequentially, retrieving (with the READ statement) records in
the same order as they are in the file. Each record is placed after the preceding record. To process QSAM
files in your program, use COBOL language statements that:
• Identify and describe the QSAM files in the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION and the DATA DIVISION.
• Process the records in these files in the PROCEDURE DIVISION.
After you have created a record, you cannot change its length or its position in the file, and you cannot
delete it. You can, however, update QSAM files on direct-access storage devices (using REWRITE), though
not in the z/OS UNIX file system.
QSAM files can be on tape, direct-access storage devices (DASDs), unit-record devices, and terminals.
QSAM processing is best for tables and intermediate storage.
You can also access byte-stream files in the z/OS UNIX file system using QSAM. These files are binary
byte-oriented sequential files with no record structure. The record definitions that you code in your
COBOL program and the length of the variables that you read into and write from determine the amount of
data transferred.

related concepts
z/OS DFSMS: Using Data Sets (Access methods)

related tasks
“Defining QSAM files and records in COBOL” on page 157
“Coding input and output
statements for QSAM files” on page 166
“Handling errors in QSAM files” on page 169
“Working with QSAM files” on page 169
“Accessing z/OS UNIX files
using QSAM” on page 176
“Processing QSAM ASCII files on tape” on page 177

Defining QSAM files and records in COBOL

Use the FILE-CONTROL entry to define the files in a COBOL program as QSAM files, and to associate the
files with their external file-names.
An external file-name (a ddname or environment variable name) is the name by which a file is known to
the operating system. In the following example, COMMUTER-FILE-MST is your program's name for the
file; COMMUTR is the external name:

FILE-CONTROL.
SELECT COMMUTER-FILE-MST
ASSIGN TO S-COMMUTR
ORGANIZATION IS SEQUENTIAL
ACCESS MODE IS SEQUENTIAL.

The ASSIGN clause name can include an S- before the external name to document that the file is a QSAM
file. Both the ORGANIZATION and ACCESS MODE clauses are optional.

related tasks
“Establishing record formats” on page 158
“Setting block sizes” on page 164

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 157

Establishing record formats
In the FD entry in the DATA DIVISION, code the record format and indication of whether the records are
blocked. In the associated record description entry or entries, specify the record-name and record length.
You can code a record format of F, V, S, or U in the RECORDING MODE clause. COBOL determines the
record format from the RECORD clause or from the record descriptions associated with the FD entry for
the file. If you want the records to be blocked, code the BLOCK CONTAINS clause in the FD entry.
The following example shows how the FD entry might look for a file that has fixed-length records:

FILE SECTION.
FD COMMUTER-FILE-MST
RECORDING MODE IS F
BLOCK CONTAINS 0 RECORDS
RECORD CONTAINS 80 CHARACTERS.
01 COMMUTER-RECORD-MST.
05 COMMUTER-NUMBER PIC X(16).
05 COMMUTER-DESCRIPTION PIC X(64).

A recording mode of S is not supported for files in the z/OS UNIX file system. The above example is
appropriate for such a file.

related concepts
“Logical records” on page 158

related tasks
“Requesting fixed-length format” on page 158
“Requesting variable-length format” on page 159
“Requesting spanned format” on page 161
“Requesting undefined format” on page 163
“Defining QSAM files and records in COBOL” on page 157

related references
“FILE SECTION entries” on page 12

Logical records
COBOL uses the term logical record in a slightly different way than z/OS QSAM.
For format-V and format-S files, a QSAM logical record includes a 4-byte prefix in front of the user data
portion of the record that is not included in the definition of a COBOL logical record.
For format-F and format-U files, and for byte-stream files in the z/OS UNIX file system, the definitions of
QSAM logical record and COBOL logical record are identical.
In this information, QSAM logical record refers to the QSAM definition, and logical record refers to the
COBOL definition.

related references
“Layout of format-F records” on page 159
“Layout of format-V records” on page 160
“Layout of format-S records” on page 162
“Layout of format-U records” on page 163

Requesting fixed-length format

Fixed-length records are in format F. Use RECORDING MODE F to explicitly request this format.
You can omit the RECORDING MODE clause. The compiler determines the recording mode to be F if the
length of the largest level-01 record associated with the file is not greater than the block size coded in the
BLOCK CONTAINS clause, and you take one of the following actions:
• Use the RECORD CONTAINS integer clause (format-1 RECORD clause) to indicate the length of the
record in bytes.

158 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 When you use this clause, the file is always fixed format with record length integer even if there are
multiple level-01 record description entries with different lengths associated with the file.
• Omit the RECORD CONTAINS integer clause, but code the same fixed size and no OCCURS DEPENDING
ON clause for all level-01 record description entries associated with the file. This fixed size is the record
length.
In an unblocked format-F file, the logical record is the same as the block.
In a blocked format-F file, the number of logical records in a block (the blocking factor) is constant for
every block in the file except the last block, which might be shorter.
Files in the z/OS UNIX file system are never blocked.

related concepts
“Logical records” on page 158

related tasks
“Requesting variable-length format” on page 159
“Requesting spanned format” on page 161
“Requesting undefined format” on page 163
“Establishing record formats” on page 158

related references
“Layout of format-F records” on page 159

Layout of format-F records

The layout of format-F QSAM records is shown below.

related concepts
“Logical records” on page 158

related tasks
“Requesting fixed-length format” on page 158
z/OS DFSMS: Using Data Sets (Fixed-length record formats)

related references
“Layout of format-V records” on page 160
“Layout of format-S records” on page 162
“Layout of format-U records” on page 163

Requesting variable-length format

Variable-length records can be in format V or format D. Format-D records are variable-length records on
ASCII tape files. Format-D records are processed in the same way as format-V records.
Use RECORDING MODE V for both. You can omit the RECORDING MODE clause. The compiler determines
the recording mode to be V if the largest level-01 record associated with the file is not greater than the
block size set in the BLOCK CONTAINS clause, and you take one of the following actions:
• Use the RECORD IS VARYING clause (format-3 RECORD clause).

Chapter 9. Processing QSAM files 159

 If you provide values for integer-1 and integer-2 (RECORD IS VARYING FROM integer-1 TO integer-2),
the maximum record length is the value coded for integer-2 regardless of the lengths coded in the
level-01 record description entries associated with the file. The integer sizes indicate the minimum and
maximum record lengths in numbers of bytes regardless of the USAGE of the data items in the record.
If you omit integer-1 and integer-2, the maximum record length is determined to be the size of the
largest level-01 record description entry associated with the file.
• Use the RECORD CONTAINS integer-1 TO integer-2 clause (format-2 RECORD clause). Make integer-1
and integer-2 match the minimum length and the maximum length in bytes of the level-01 record
description entries associated with the file. The maximum record length is the integer-2 value.
• Omit the RECORD clause, but code multiple level-01 records (associated with the file) that are of
different sizes or contain an OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause.
The maximum record length is determined to be the size of the largest level-01 record description entry
associated with the file.
When you specify a READ INTO statement for a format-V file, the record size read for that file is used in
the MOVE statement generated by the compiler. Consequently, you might not get the result you expect if
the record just read does not correspond to the level-01 record description. All other rules of the MOVE
statement apply. For example, when you specify a MOVE statement for a format-V record read in by the
READ statement, the size of the record moved corresponds to its level-01 record description.
When you specify a READ statement for a format-V file followed by a MOVE of the level-01 record, the
actual record length is not used. The program will attempt to move the number of bytes described by
the level-01 record description. If this number exceeds the actual record length and extends outside
the area addressable by the program, results are unpredictable. If the number of bytes described by
the level-01 record description is shorter than the physical record read, truncation of bytes beyond the
level-01 description occurs. To find the actual length of a variable-length record, specify data-name-1 in
format 3 of the RECORD clause of the File Definition (FD).

related tasks
“Requesting fixed-length format” on page 158
“Requesting spanned format” on page 161
“Requesting undefined format” on page 163
“Establishing record formats” on page 158

related references
“FILE SECTION entries” on page 12
“Layout of format-V records” on page 160
Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Migration Guide (Moving from the
VS COBOL II run time)

Layout of format-V records

Format-V QSAM records have control fields that precede the data. The QSAM logical record length is
determined by adding 4 bytes (for the control fields) to the record length defined in your program.
However, you must not include these 4 bytes in the description of the record and record length.

CC
The first 4 bytes of each block contain control information.
LL Represents 2 bytes designating the length of the block (including the CC field).

160 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 BB Represents 2 bytes reserved for system use.
cc
The first 4 bytes of each logical record contain control information.
ll Represents 2 bytes designating the logical record length (including the cc field).
bb Represents 2 bytes reserved for system use.
The block length is determined as follows:
• Unblocked format-V records: CC + cc + the data portion
• Blocked format-V records: CC + the cc of each record + the data portion of each record
The operating system provides the control bytes when the file is written; the control byte fields do not
appear in the description of the logical record in the DATA DIVISION of your program. COBOL allocates
input and output buffers that are large enough to accommodate the control bytes. These control fields
in the buffer are not available for you to use in your program. When variable-length records are written
on unit record devices, control bytes are neither printed nor punched. They appear however on other
external storage devices, as well as in buffer areas of storage. If you move V-mode records from an input
buffer to a WORKING-STORAGE area, the records will be moved without the control bytes.
Files in the z/OS UNIX file system are never blocked.

related concepts
“Logical records” on page 158

related tasks
“Requesting variable-length format” on page 159

related references
“Layout of format-F records” on page 159
“Layout of format-S records” on page 162
“Layout of format-U records” on page 163

Requesting spanned format

Spanned records are in format S. A spanned record is a QSAM logical record that can be contained in one
or more physical blocks.
You can code RECORDING MODE S for spanned records in QSAM files that are assigned to magnetic tape
or to direct access devices. Do not request spanned records for files in the z/OS UNIX file system. You can
omit the RECORDING MODE clause. The compiler determines the recording mode to be S if the maximum
record length (in bytes) plus 4 is greater than the block size set in the BLOCK CONTAINS clause.
For files with format S in your program, the compiler determines the maximum record length with the
same rules as are used for format V. The length is based on your usage of the RECORD clause.
When creating files that contain format-S records and a record is larger than the remaining space in a
block, COBOL writes a segment of the record to fill the block. The rest of the record is stored in the next
block or blocks depending on its length. COBOL supports QSAM spanned records up to 32,760 bytes in
length.
When retrieving files that have format-S records, a program can retrieve only complete records.
Benefits of format-S files: You can efficiently use external storage and still organize your files with logical
record lengths by defining files with format-S records:
• You can set block lengths to efficiently use track capacities on direct access devices.
• You are not required to adjust the logical record lengths to device-dependent physical block lengths.
One logical record can span two or more physical blocks.
• You have greater flexibility when you want to transfer logical records between direct access storage
types.
You will, however, have additional overhead in processing format-S files.

Chapter 9. Processing QSAM files 161

 Format-S files and READ INTO: When you specify a READ INTO statement for a format-S file, the
compiler generates a MOVE statement that uses the size of the record that it just read for that file. If the
record just read does not correspond to the level-01 record description, you might not get the result that
you expect. All other rules of the MOVE statement apply.

related concepts
“Logical records” on page 158
“Spanned blocked and unblocked files” on page 162

related tasks
“Requesting fixed-length format” on page 158
“Requesting variable-length format” on page 159
“Requesting undefined format” on page 163
“Establishing record formats” on page 158

related references
“FILE SECTION entries” on page 12
“Layout of format-S records” on page 162

Spanned blocked and unblocked files

A spanned blocked QSAM file is made up of blocks, each containing one or more logical records or
segments of logical records. A spanned unblocked file is made up of physical blocks, each containing one
logical record or one segment of a logical record.
In a spanned blocked file, a logical record can be either fixed or variable in length, and its size can be
smaller than, equal to, or larger than the physical block size. There are no required relationships between
logical records and physical block sizes.
In a spanned unblocked file, the logical records can be either fixed or variable in length. When the
physical block contains one logical record, the block length is determined by the logical record size. When
a logical record has to be segmented, the system always writes the largest physical block possible. The
system segments the logical record when the entire logical record cannot fit on a track.

related concepts
“Logical records” on page 158

related tasks
“Requesting spanned format” on page 161

Layout of format-S records

Spanned records are preceded by control fields, as explained below.

Each block is preceded by a 4-byte block descriptor field ('BDF' in the image above). There is only one
block descriptor field at the beginning of each physical block.
Each segment of a record in a block is preceded by a 4-byte segment descriptor field ('SDF' in the image)
even if the segment is the entire record. There is one segment descriptor field for each record segment
in the block. The segment descriptor field also indicates whether the segment is the first, the last, or an
intermediate segment.
You do not describe these fields in the DATA DIVISION, and the fields are not available for you to use in
your COBOL program.

related tasks
“Requesting spanned format” on page 161

related references
“Layout of format-F records” on page 159

162 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
“Layout of format-V records” on page 160
“Layout of format-U records” on page 163

Requesting undefined format

Format-U records have undefined or unspecified characteristics. With format U, you can process blocks
that do not meet format-F or format-V specifications.
When you use format-U files, each block of storage is one logical record. A read of a format-U file returns
the entire block as a record. A write to a format-U file writes a record out as a block. The compiler
determines the recording mode to be U only if you code RECORDING MODE U.
It is recommended that you not use format U to update or extend a file that was written with a different
record format. If you use format U to update a file that was written with a different format, the RECFM
value in the data-set label could be changed or the data set could contain records written in different
formats.
The record length is determined in your program based on how you use the RECORD clause:
• If you use the RECORD CONTAINS integer clause (format-1 RECORD clause), the record length is the
integer value regardless of the lengths of the level-01 record description entries associated with the file.
The integer size indicates the number of bytes in a record regardless of the USAGE of its data items.
• If you use the RECORD IS VARYING clause (format-3 RECORD clause), the record length is determined
based on whether you code integer-1 and integer-2.
If you code integer-1 and integer-2 (RECORD IS VARYING FROM integer-1 TO integer-2), the maximum
record length is the integer-2 value regardless of the lengths of the level-01 record description entries
associated with the file. The integer sizes indicate the minimum and maximum record lengths in
numbers of bytes regardless of the USAGE of the data items in the record.
If you omit integer-1 and integer-2, the maximum record length is determined to be the size of the
largest level-01 record description entry associated with the file.
• If you use the RECORD CONTAINS integer-1 TO integer-2 clause (format-2 RECORD clause), with
integer-1 and integer-2 matching the minimum length and the maximum length in bytes of the level-01
record description entries associated with the file, the maximum record length is the integer-2 value.
• If you omit the RECORD clause, the maximum record length is determined to be the size of the largest
level-01 record description entry associated with the file.

Format-U files and READ INTO: When you specify a READ INTO statement for a format-U file, the
compiler generates a MOVE statement that uses the size of the record that it just read for that file. If the
record just read does not correspond to the level-01 record description, you might not get the result that
you expect. All other rules of the MOVE statement apply.

related tasks
“Requesting fixed-length format” on page 158
“Requesting variable-length format” on page 159
“Requesting spanned format” on page 161
“Establishing record formats” on page 158

related references
“FILE SECTION entries” on page 12
“Layout of format-U records” on page 163

Layout of format-U records

With format-U, each block of external storage is handled as a logical record. There are no record-length or
block-length fields.

Chapter 9. Processing QSAM files 163

 related concepts
“Logical records” on page 158

related tasks
“Requesting undefined format” on page 163

related references
“Layout of format-F records” on page 159
“Layout of format-V records” on page 160
“Layout of format-S records” on page 162

Setting block sizes

In COBOL, you establish the size of a physical record by using the BLOCK CONTAINS clause. If you omit
this clause, the compiler assumes that the records are not blocked.
Blocking QSAM files on tape and disk can enhance processing speed and minimize storage requirements.
You can block files in the z/OS UNIX file system, PDSE members, and spooled data sets, but doing so has
no effect on how the system stores the data.
If you set the block size explicitly in the BLOCK CONTAINS clause, the size must not be greater than
the maximum block size for the device. If you specify the CHARACTERS phrase of the BLOCK CONTAINS
clause, size must indicate the number of bytes in a record regardless of the USAGE of the data items in the
record. The block size that is set for a format-F file must be an integral multiple of the record length.
If your program uses QSAM files on tape, use a physical block size of at least 12 to 18 bytes. Otherwise,
the block will be skipped over when a parity check occurs during one of the following actions:
• Reading a block of records of fewer than 12 bytes
• Writing a block of records of fewer than 18 bytes
Larger blocks generally give you better performance. Blocks of only a few kilobytes are particularly
inefficient; you should choose a block size of at least tens of kilobytes. If you specify record blocking and
omit the block size, the system will pick a block size that is optimal for device utilization and for data
transfer speed.
Letting z/OS determine block size: To maximize performance, do not explicitly set the block size for
a blocked file in your COBOL source program. For new blocked data sets, it is simpler to allow z/OS to
supply a system-determined block size. To use this feature, follow these guidelines:
• Code BLOCK CONTAINS 0 in your source program or compile with the BLOCK0 option. For details
about BLOCK0, see “BLOCK0” on page 302.
• Do not code RECORD CONTAINS 0 in your source program.
• Do not code a BLKSIZE value in the JCL DD statement.
Setting block size explicitly: If you prefer to set a block size explicitly, your program will be most flexible
if you follow these guidelines:
• Code BLOCK CONTAINS 0 in your source program or compile with the BLOCK0 option.
• Code a BLKSIZE value in the ddname definition (the JCL DD statement).
For extended-format data sets on z/OS, z/OS DFSMS adds a 32-byte block suffix to the physical record.
If you specify a block size explicitly (using JCL or ISPF), do not include the size of this block suffix in
the block size. This block suffix is not available for you to use in your program. z/OS DFSMS allocates
the space used to read in the block suffix. However, when you calculate how many blocks of an extended-
format data set will fit on a track of a direct-access device, you need to include the size of the block suffix
in the block size.
If you specify a block size that is larger than 32760 directly in the BLOCK CONTAINS clause or indirectly
with the use of BLOCK CONTAINS n RECORDS, the OPEN of the data set fails with file status code 90
unless you define the data set to be on tape.
For existing blocked data sets, it is simplest to:

164 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
• Code BLOCK CONTAINS 0 in your source program or compile with the BLOCK0 option.
• Not code a BLKSIZE value in the ddname definition.
When you omit the BLKSIZE from the ddname definition, the block size is automatically obtained by the
system from the data-set label.
Taking advantage of LBI: You can improve the performance of tape data sets by using the large block
interface (LBI) for large block sizes. When the LBI is available, the COBOL run time automatically uses this
facility for those tape files for which you use system-determined block size. LBI is also used for those files
for which you explicitly define a block size in JCL or a BLOCK CONTAINS clause. Use of the LBI allows
block sizes to exceed 32760 if the tape device supports it.
The LBI is not used in all cases. An attempt to use a block size greater than 32760 in the following cases
is diagnosed at compile time or results in a failure at OPEN:
• Spanned records
• OPEN I-O
Using a block size that exceeds 32760 might result in your not being able to read the tape on another
system. A tape that you create with a block size greater than 32760 can be read only on a system that has
a tape device that supports block sizes greater than 32760. If you specify a block size that is too large for
the file, the device, or the operating system level, a runtime message is issued.
To limit a system-determined block size to 32760, do not specify BLKSIZE anywhere, and set one of the
following items to 32760:
• The BLKSZLIM keyword on the DD statement for the data set
• BLKSZLIM for the data class by using the BLKSZLIM keyword (must be set by your systems
programmer)
• A block-size limit for the system in the DEVSUPxx member of SYS1.PARMLIB by using the keyword
TAPEBLKSZLIM (must be set by your systems programmer)
The block-size limit is the first nonzero value that the compiler finds by checking these items.
If no BLKSIZE or BLKSZLIM value is available from any source, the system limits BLKSIZE to 32760. You
can then enable block sizes larger than 32760 in one of two ways:
• Specify a BLKSZLIM value greater than 32760 in the DD statement for the file and use BLOCK
CONTAINS 0 in your COBOL source.
• Specify a value greater than 32760 for the BLKSIZE in the DD statement or in the BLOCK CONTAINS
clause in your COBOL source.
BLKSZLIM is device-independent.
Block size and the DCB RECFM subparameter: Under z/OS, you can code the S or T option in the DCB
RECFM subparameter:
• Use the S (standard) option in the DCB RECFM subparameter for a format-F record with only standard
blocks (ones that have no truncated blocks or unfilled tracks in the file, except for the last block of the
file). S is also supported for records on tape. It is ignored if the records are not on DASD or tape.
Using this standard block option might improve input-output performance, especially for direct-access
devices.
• The T (track overflow) option for QSAM files is no longer useful.

related tasks
“Defining QSAM files and records in COBOL” on page 157
z/OS DFSMS: Using Data Sets

related references
“FILE SECTION entries” on page 12
“BLOCK0” on page 302
BLOCK CONTAINS clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Chapter 9. Processing QSAM files 165

Coding input and output statements for QSAM files
You can code the following input and output statements to process a QSAM file or a byte-stream file in the
z/OS UNIX file system using QSAM: OPEN, READ, WRITE, REWRITE, and CLOSE.
OPEN
Initiates the processing of files. You can open all QSAM files as INPUT, OUTPUT, or EXTEND
(depending on device capabilities).
You can also open QSAM files on direct access storage devices as I-O. You cannot open z/OS UNIX
files as I-O; a file status of 37 results if you attempt to do so.
READ
Reads a record from the file. With sequential processing, your program reads one record after another
in the same order in which they were entered when the file was created.
WRITE
Creates a record in the file. Your program writes new records to the end of the file.
REWRITE
Updates a record. You cannot update a file in the z/OS UNIX file system using REWRITE.
CLOSE
Releases the connection between the file and your program.
related tasks
“Opening QSAM files” on page 166
“Dynamically creating QSAM files” on page 167
“Adding records to QSAM
files” on page 167
“Updating QSAM files” on page 167
“Writing QSAM files to a
printer or spooled data set” on page 168
“Closing QSAM files” on page 168

related references
OPEN statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
READ statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
WRITE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
REWRITE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
CLOSE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
File status key (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Opening QSAM files

Before a program can use any READ, WRITE, or REWRITE statements to process records in a file, it must
first open the file by using an OPEN statement.
An OPEN statement works if both of the following conditions are true:
• The file is available or has been dynamically allocated.
• The fixed file attributes coded in the ddname definition or the data-set label for the file match the
attributes coded for that file in the SELECT clause and FD entry.
Mismatches in the file-organization attributes, code set, maximum record size, or record format (fixed or
variable) result in file status code 39, and the failure of the OPEN statement. Mismatches in maximum
record size and record format are not errors when opening files in the z/OS UNIX file system.
For fixed-length QSAM files, if you code RECORD CONTAINS 0 in the FD entry, the record size attributes
are not in conflict. The record size is taken from the DD statement or the data-set label, and the OPEN
statement is successful.
Code CLOSE WITH LOCK so that the file cannot be opened again while the program is running.

166 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Use the REVERSED option of the OPEN statement to process tape files in reverse order. The file is
positioned at the end, and READ statements read the data records in reverse order, starting with the last
record. The REVERSED option is supported only for files that have fixed-length records.

related tasks
“Dynamically creating QSAM files” on page 167
“Ensuring that file attributes match your program” on page 173

related references
OPEN statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Dynamically creating QSAM files

Sometimes a QSAM file is unavailable on the operating system, but a COBOL program specifies that the
file be created. Under certain circumstances, the file is created for you dynamically.
A QSAM file is considered to be available on z/OS when it has been identified to the operating system
using a valid DD statement, an export command for an environment variable, or a TSO ALLOCATE
command. Otherwise the file is unavailable.
Note that a DD statement with a misspelled ddname is equivalent to a missing DD statement, and an
environment variable with a value that is not valid is equivalent to an unset variable.
The QSAM file is implicitly created if you use the runtime option CBLQDA and one of the following
circumstances exists:
• An optional file is being opened as EXTEND or I-O.
Optional files are files that are not necessarily available each time the program is run. You define a file
that is being opened in INPUT, I-O, or EXTEND mode as optional by coding the SELECT OPTIONAL
clause in the FILE-CONTROL paragraph.
• The file is being opened for OUTPUT, regardless of the OPTIONAL phrase.
The file is allocated with the system default attributes established at your installation and the attributes
coded in the SELECT clause and FD entry in your program.
Do not confuse this implicit allocation mechanism with the explicit dynamic allocation of files by means
of environment variables. Explicit dynamic allocation requires that a valid environment variable be set.
CBLQDA support is used only when the QSAM file is unavailable as defined above, which includes no valid
environment variable being set.
Under z/OS, files created using the CBLQDA option are temporary data sets and do not exist after the
program has run.

related tasks
“Opening QSAM files” on page 166

Adding records to QSAM files

To add to a QSAM file, open the file as EXTEND and use the WRITE statement to add records immediately
after the last record in the file.
To add records to a file opened as I-O, you must first close the file and open it as EXTEND.

related references
READ statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
WRITE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Updating QSAM files

You can update QSAM files only if they reside on direct access storage devices. You cannot update files in
the z/OS UNIX file system.
Replace an existing record with another record of the same length by doing these steps:

Chapter 9. Processing QSAM files 167

 1. Open the file as I-O.
2. Use REWRITE to update an existing record. (The last file processing statement before REWRITE must
have been a successful READ statement.)

You cannot open as I-O an extended format data set that you allocate in compressed format.

related references
REWRITE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Writing QSAM files to a printer or spooled data set

COBOL provides language statements to control the size of a printed page and control the vertical
positioning of records.

Controlling the page size: Use the LINAGE clause of the FD entry to control the size of your printed page:
the number of lines in the top and bottom margins and in the footing area of the page. When you use the
LINAGE clause, COBOL handles the file as if you had also requested the ADV compiler option.
If you use the LINAGE clause in combination with WRITE BEFORE|AFTER ADVANCING nn LINES, be
careful about the values you set. With the ADVANCING nn LINES phrase, COBOL first calculates the
sum of LINAGE-COUNTER plus nn. Subsequent actions depend on the size of nn. The END-OF-PAGE
imperative phrase is performed after the LINAGE-COUNTER is increased. Consequently, the LINAGE-
COUNTER could be pointing to the next logical page instead of to the current footing area when the
END-OF-PAGE phrase is performed.
AT END-OF-PAGE or NOT AT END-OF-PAGE imperative phrases are performed only if the write
operation completes successfully. If the write operation is unsuccessful, control is passed to the end
of the WRITE statement, and all conditional phrases are omitted.

Controlling the vertical positioning of records: Use the WRITE ADVANCING statement to control the
vertical positioning of each record you write on a printed page.
BEFORE ADVANCING prints the record before the page is advanced. AFTER ADVANCING prints the record
after the page is advanced.
Specify the number of lines the page is advanced with an integer (or an identifier with a mnemonic-name)
following ADVANCING. If you omit the ADVANCING phrase from a WRITE statement, the effect is as if you
had coded:

AFTER ADVANCING 1 LINE

related references
WRITE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Closing QSAM files

Use the CLOSE statement to disconnect your program from a QSAM file. If you try to close a file that is
already closed, you will get a logic error.
If you do not close a QSAM file, the file is automatically closed for you under the following conditions:
• When the run unit ends normally, the run time closes all open files that are defined in any COBOL
programs in the run unit.
• If the run unit ends abnormally and the TRAP(ON) runtime option is in effect, the run time closes all
open files that are defined in any COBOL programs in the run unit.
• When Language Environment condition handling has completed and the application resumes in a
routine other than where the condition occurred, the run time closes all open files that are defined
in any COBOL programs in the run unit that might be called again and reentered.

168 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 You can change the location where the program resumes running (after a condition is handled) by
moving the resume cursor with the Language Environment CEEMRCR callable service or by using
language constructs such as a C longjmp.
• When you use CANCEL for a COBOL subprogram, the run time closes any open nonexternal files that are
defined in that program.
• When a COBOL subprogram with the INITIAL attribute returns control, the run time closes any open
nonexternal files that are defined in that program.
• When a thread of a multithreaded application ends, both external and nonexternal files that you opened
from within that same thread are closed.
File status key data items in the DATA DIVISION are set when these implicit CLOSE operations are
performed, but your EXCEPTION/ERROR declarative is not invoked.
Errors: If you open a QSAM file in a multithreaded application, you must close it from the same thread of
execution from which the file was opened. Attempting to close the file from a different thread results in a
close failure with file-status condition 90.

related references
CLOSE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Handling errors in QSAM files

When an input statement or output statement fails, COBOL does not take corrective action for you. You
choose whether your program should continue running after a less-than-severe input or output error
occurs.

COBOL provides these ways for you to intercept and handle certain QSAM input and output errors:
• End-of-file phrase (AT END)
• EXCEPTION/ERROR declarative
• FILE STATUS clause
• INVALID KEY phrase
If you do not code a FILE STATUS key or a declarative, serious QSAM processing errors will cause a
message to be issued and a Language Environment condition to be signaled, which will cause an abend if
you specify the runtime option ABTERMENC(ABEND).
If you use the FILE STATUS clause or the EXCEPTION/ERROR declarative, code EROPT=ACC in the DCB
of the DD statement for that file. Otherwise, your COBOL program will not be able to continue processing
after some error conditions.
If you use the FILE STATUS clause, be sure to check the key and take appropriate action based on its
value. If you do not check the key, your program might continue, but the results will probably not be what
you expected.

related tasks
“Handling errors in input
and output operations” on page 233

Working with QSAM files

To work with QSAM files in a COBOL program, you define and allocate the files, retrieve them, and ensure
that their file attributes match those in the program. You can also use striped extended-format QSAM data
sets to help improve performance.

related tasks
“Defining and allocating QSAM files” on page 170
“Retrieving QSAM files” on page 172

Chapter 9. Processing QSAM files 169

 “Ensuring that file attributes match your program” on page 173
“Using striped extended-format QSAM data sets” on page 175

related references
“Allocation of buffers for QSAM files” on page 176

Defining and allocating QSAM files

You can define a QSAM file or a byte-stream file in the z/OS UNIX file system by using either a DD
statement or an environment variable. Allocation of these files follows the general rules for the allocation
of COBOL files.
When you use an environment variable, the name must be in uppercase. Specify the MVS data set in one
of these ways:
• DSN(data-set-name)
• DSN(data-set-name(member-name))
data-set-name must be fully qualified and cannot be a temporary data set (that is, it must not start with
&).
Restriction: You cannot create a PDS or PDSE by using an environment variable.
You can optionally specify the following attributes in any order after DSN:
• A disposition value, one of: NEW, OLD, SHR, or MOD
• TRACKS or CYL
• SPACE(nnn,mmm)
• VOL(volume-serial)
• UNIT(type)
• KEEP, DELETE, CATALOG, or UNCATALOG
• STORCLAS(storage-class)
• MGMTCLAS(management-class)
• DATACLAS(data-class)
You can use either an environment variable or a DD definition to define a file in the z/OS UNIX file system.
To do so, define one of the following items with a name that matches the external name in the ASSIGN
clause:
• A DD allocation that uses PATH='absolute-path-name' and FILEDATA=BINARY
• An environment variable with a value PATH(pathname), where pathname is an absolute path name
(starting with /)
For compatibility with releases of COBOL before COBOL for OS/390 & VM Version 2 Release 2, you
can also specify FILEDATA=TEXT when using a DD allocation for z/OS UNIX files, but this use is not
recommended. To process text files in the z/OS UNIX file system, use LINE SEQUENTIAL organization. If
you do use QSAM to process text files in the z/OS UNIX file system, you cannot use environment variables
to define the files.
When you define a QSAM file, use the parameters as shown below.

Table 20. QSAM file allocation

What you want to do DD parameter to use EV keyword to use
Name the file. DSNAME (data-set name) DSN
Select the type and quantity of input- UNIT UNIT for type only
output devices to be allocated for the
file.

170 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 20. QSAM file allocation (continued)
What you want to do DD parameter to use EV keyword to use
Give instructions for the volume in which VOLUME (or let the system VOL
the file will reside and for volume choose an output volume)
mounting.
Allocate the type and amount of space SPACE SPACE for the amount of
the file needs. (Only for direct-access space (primary and secondary
storage devices.) only); TRACKS or CYL for the
type of space
Specify the type and some of the LABEL n/a
contents of the label associated with the
file.
Indicate whether you want to catalog, DISP NEW, OLD, SHR, MOD plus
pass, or keep the file after the job step is KEEP, DELETE, CATALOG, or
completed. UNCATALOG
Complete any data control block DCB subparameters n/a
information that you want to add.

Some of the information about the QSAM file must always be coded in the FILE-CONTROL paragraph, the
FD entry, and other COBOL clauses. Other information must be coded in the DD statement or environment
variable for output files. For input files, the system can obtain information from the file label (for standard
label files). If DCB information is provided in the DD statement for input files, it overrides information on
the data-set label. For example, the amount of space allocated for a new direct-access device file can be
set in the DD statement by the SPACE parameter.
You cannot express certain characteristics of QSAM files in the COBOL language, but you can code them in
the DD statement for the file by using the DCB parameter. Use the subparameters of the DCB parameter to
provide information that the system needs for completing the data set definition, including the following
items:
• Block size (BLKSIZE=), if BLOCK CONTAINS 0 RECORDS or BLOCK0 option was specified at compile
time (recommended)
• Options to be executed if an error occurs in reading or writing a record
• TRACK OVERFLOW or standard blocks
• Mode of operation for a card reader or punch
DCB attributes coded for a DD DUMMY do not override those coded in the FD entry of your COBOL program.
“Example: setting and accessing environment variables” on page 462

related tasks
“Setting block sizes” on page 164
“Defining QSAM files and records in COBOL” on page 157
“Allocating files” on page 154

related references
“BLOCK0” on page 302
“Parameters for creating QSAM files” on page 172
MVS Program Management: User's Guide and Reference

Chapter 9. Processing QSAM files 171

 Parameters for creating QSAM files
The following DD statement parameters are frequently used to create QSAM files.

related tasks
“Defining and allocating QSAM files” on page 170

Retrieving QSAM files

You retrieve QSAM files, cataloged or not, by using job control statements or environment variables.
Cataloged files
All data set information, such as volume and space, is stored in the catalog and file label. All you have
to code are the data set name and a disposition. When you use a DD statement, this is the DSNAME
parameter and the DISP parameter. When you use an environment variable, this is the DSN parameter
and one of the parameters OLD, SHR, or MOD.
Noncataloged files
Some information is stored in the file label, but you must code the unit and volume information, and
the dsname and disposition.
If you are using JCL, and you created the file in the current job step or in a previous job step in the current
job, you can refer to the previous DD statement for most of the data set information. You do, however,
need to code DSNAME and DISP.

related references
“Parameters for retrieving QSAM files” on page 173

172 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Parameters for retrieving QSAM files
The following DD statement parameters are used to retrieve previously created files.

related tasks
“Retrieving QSAM files” on page 172

Ensuring that file attributes match your program

When the fixed file attributes in the DD statement or the data-set label and the attributes that are coded
for that file in the SELECT clause and FD entry are not consistent, an OPEN statement in your program
might not work.
Mismatches in the attributes for file organization, record format (fixed or variable), record length, or the
code set result in file status code 39 and the failure of the OPEN statement. An exception exists for files in
the z/OS UNIX file system: mismatches in record format and record length do not cause an error.
To prevent common file status 39 problems, follow the guidelines for processing existing or new files.

If you have not made a file available with a DD statement or a TSO ALLOCATE command, and your COBOL
program specifies that the file be created, Enterprise COBOL dynamically allocates the file. When the file
is opened, the file attributes that are coded in your program are used. You do not have to worry about file
attribute conflicts.
Remember that information in the JCL or environment variable overrides information in the data-set label.

related tasks
“Processing existing files” on page 174
“Processing new files” on page 175
“Opening QSAM files” on page 166

related references
“FILE SECTION entries” on page 12

Chapter 9. Processing QSAM files 173

 Processing existing files
When your program processes an existing file, code the description of the file in your COBOL program to
be consistent with the file attributes of the data set. Use the guidelines below to define the maximum
record length.

Table 21. Maximum record length of QSAM files

For this format: Specify this:
V or S Exactly 4 bytes less than the length attribute of the data set
F Same value as the length attribute of the data set
U Same value as the length attribute of the data set

The easiest way to define variable-length (format-V) records in a program is to use the RECORD IS
VARYING FROM integer-1 TO integer-2 clause in the FD entry and set an appropriate value for integer-2.
Express the integer sizes in bytes regardless of the underlying USAGE of the data items in the record. For
example, assume that you determine that the length attribute of the data set is 104 bytes (LRECL=104).
Remembering that the maximum record length is determined from the RECORD IS VARYING clause and
not from the level-01 record descriptions, you could define a format-V file in your program with this code:

FILE SECTION.
FD COMMUTER-FILE-MST
RECORDING MODE IS V
RECORD IS VARYING FROM 4 TO 100 CHARACTERS.
01 COMMUTER-RECORD-A PIC X(4).
01 COMMUTER-RECORD-B PIC X(75).

Assume that the existing file in the previous example was format-U instead of format-V. If the 104 bytes
are all user data, you could define the file in your program with this code:

FILE SECTION.
FD COMMUTER-FILE-MST
RECORDING MODE IS U
RECORD IS VARYING FROM 4 TO 104 CHARACTERS.
01 COMMUTER-RECORD-A PIC X(4).
01 COMMUTER-RECORD-B PIC X(75).

To define fixed-length records in your program, either code the RECORD CONTAINS integer clause, or
omit this clause and code all level-01 record descriptions to be the same fixed size. In either case, use a
value that equals the value of the length attribute of the data set. If you intend to use the same program
to process different files at run time, and those files have differing fixed lengths, avoid record-length
conflicts by coding RECORD CONTAINS 0.
If the existing file is an ASCII data set (DCB=(OPTCD=Q)), you must use the CODE-SET clause in the FD
entry for the file.

related tasks
“Processing new files” on page 175
“Requesting fixed-length format” on page 158
“Requesting variable-length format” on page 159
“Requesting undefined format” on page 163
“Opening QSAM files” on page 166

related references
“FILE SECTION entries” on page 12

174 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Processing new files
If your COBOL program writes records to a new file that will be made available before the program runs,
ensure that the file attributes in the DD statement, the environment variable, or the allocation do not
conflict with the attributes in the program.
Usually you need to code only a minimum of parameters when predefining files. But if you need to
explicitly set a length attribute for the data set (for example, you are using an ISPF allocation panel, or
your DD statement is for a batch job in which the program uses RECORD CONTAINS 0), follow these
guidelines:
• For format-V and format-S files, set a length attribute that is 4 bytes larger than that defined in the
program.
• For format-F and format-U files, set a length attribute that is the same as that defined in the program.
• If you open the file as OUTPUT and write it to a printer, the compiler might add 1 byte to the record
length to account for the carriage-control character, depending on the ADV compiler option and the
language used in your program. In such a case, take the added byte into account when coding the
LRECL value.
For example, if your program contains the following code for a file that has variable-length records, the
LRECL value in the DD statement or allocation should be 54.

FILE SECTION.
FD COMMUTER-FILE-MST
RECORDING MODE IS V
RECORD CONTAINS 10 TO 50 CHARACTERS.
01 COMMUTER-RECORD-A PIC X(10).
01 COMMUTER-RECORD-B PIC X(50).

related tasks
“Processing existing files” on page 174
“Requesting fixed-length format” on page 158
“Requesting variable-length format” on page 159
“Requesting undefined format” on page 163
“Opening QSAM files” on page 166
“Dynamically creating QSAM files” on page 167

related references
“FILE SECTION entries” on page 12

Using striped extended-format QSAM data sets

Striped extended-format QSAM data sets can benefit applications that process files that have large
amounts of data or in which the time needed for I/O operations significantly affects overall performance.
A striped extended-format QSAM data set is an extended-format QSAM data set that is spread over
multiple volumes, thus allowing parallel data access.
For you to gain the maximum benefit from using QSAM striped data sets, z/OS DFSMS needs to be able to
allocate the required number of buffers above the 16 MB line. When you develop applications that contain
files allocated to QSAM striped data sets, follow these guidelines:
• Avoid using a QSAM striped data set for a file that cannot have buffers allocated above the 16 MB line.
• Omit the RESERVE clause in the FILE-CONTROL entry for the file. Doing so lets z/OS DFSMS determine
the optimum number of buffers for the data set.
• Compile your program with the DATA(31) and RENT compiler options, and make the program object
AMODE 31.
• Specify the ALL31(ON) runtime option if the file is an EXTERNAL file with format-F, format-V, or
format-U records.

Chapter 9. Processing QSAM files 175

 Note that all striped data sets are extended-format data sets, but not all extended-format data sets are
striped.

related tasks
z/OS DFSMS: Using Data Sets

Allocation of buffers for QSAM files

z/OS DFSMS automatically allocates buffers for storing input and output for a QSAM file above or below
the 16 MB line as appropriate for the file.
Most QSAM files have buffers allocated above the 16 MB line. Exceptions are:
• Programs running in AMODE 24.
• Programs compiled with the DATA(24) and RENT options.
• Programs compiled with the NORENT option.
• EXTERNAL files when the ALL31(OFF) runtime option is specified. To specify the ALL31(ON) runtime
option, all programs in the run unit must be capable of running in 31-bit addressing mode.
• Files allocated to the TSO terminal.
• A file with format-S (spanned) records, if the file is any of the following ones:
– An EXTERNAL file (even if ALL31(ON) is specified)
– A file specified in a SAME RECORD AREA clause of the I-O-CONTROL paragraph
– A blocked file that is opened I-O and updated using the REWRITE statement

related concepts
“Storage and its addressability” on page 39

related tasks
“Using striped extended-format QSAM data sets” on page 175

Accessing z/OS UNIX files using QSAM

You can process byte-stream files in the z/OS UNIX file system as ORGANIZATION SEQUENTIAL files
using QSAM. To do this, specify as the assignment-name in the ASSIGN clause either a ddname or an
environment-variable name.
ddname
A DD allocation that identifies the file with the keywords PATH= and FILEDATA=BINARY
Environment-variable name
An environment variable that holds the runtime value of the z/OS UNIX file system path for the file
Observe the following restrictions:
• Spanned record format is not supported.
• OPEN I-O and REWRITE are not supported. If you attempt one of these operations, one of the following
file-status conditions results:
– 37 from OPEN I-O
– 47 from REWRITE (because you could not have successfully opened the file as I-O)
Usage notes
• File status 39 (fixed file attribute conflict) is not enforced for either of the following types of conflicts:
– Record-length conflict
– Record-type conflict (fixed as opposed to variable)
• A READ returns the number of bytes of the maximum logical record size for the file except for the last
record, which might be shorter.

176 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 For example, suppose that a file definition has level-01 record descriptions of 3, 5, and 10 bytes long,
and you write the following three records: 'abc', 'defgh', and 'ijklmnopqr', in that order. The first READ of
this file returns 'abcdefghij', the second READ returns 'klmnopqr ', and the third READ results in the AT
END condition.
For compatibility with releases of IBM COBOL before COBOL for OS/390 & VM Version 2 Release 2, you
can also specify FILEDATA=TEXT when using a DD allocation for z/OS UNIX files, but this use is not
recommended. To process text files in the z/OS UNIX file system, use LINE SEQUENTIAL organization. If
you use QSAM to process text files in the z/OS UNIX file system, you cannot use environment variables to
define the files.

related tasks
“Allocating files” on page 154
“Defining and allocating QSAM files” on page 170
z/OS DFSMS: Using Data Sets (Using HFS data sets)

Processing QSAM ASCII files on tape

If your program processes a QSAM ASCII file, you must request the ASCII alphabet, define the record
formats, and define the ddname (with JCL).
In addition, if your program processes signed numeric data items from ASCII files, define the numeric
data as zoned decimal items with separate signs, that is, as USAGE DISPLAY and with the SEPARATE
phrase of the SIGN clause.
The CODEPAGE compiler option has no effect on the code page used for conversions between ASCII and
EBCDIC for ASCII tape support. For information about how CCSIDs used for the ASCII tape support are
selected and what the default CCSIDs are, see the z/OS DFSMS documentation.
Requesting the ASCII alphabet: In the SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph, code STANDARD-1 for ASCII:

ALPHABET-NAME IS STANDARD-1

In the FD entry for the file, code:

CODE-SET IS ALPHABET-NAME

Defining the record formats: Process QSAM ASCII tape files with any of these record formats:
• Fixed length (format F)
• Undefined (format U)
• Variable length (format V)
If you use variable-length records, you cannot explicitly code format D; instead, code RECORDING MODE
V. The format information is internally converted to D mode. D-mode records have a 4-byte record
descriptor for each record.
Defining the ddname: Under z/OS, processing ASCII files requires special JCL coding. Code these
subparameters of the DCB parameter in the DD statement:
BUFOFF=[L|n]
L
A 4-byte block prefix that contains the block length (including the block prefix)
n
The length of the block prefix:
• For input, from 0 through 99
• For output, either 0 or 4
Use this value if you coded BLOCK CONTAINS 0.

Chapter 9. Processing QSAM files 177

 BLKSIZE=n

n
The size of the block, including the length of the block prefix
LABEL=[AL|AUL|NL]
AL
American National Standard (ANS) labels
AUL
ANS and user labels
NL
No labels
OPTCD=Q
Q
This value is required for ASCII files and is the default if the file is created using Enterprise COBOL.

related references
z/OS DFSMS: Using Data Sets (Character data conversion)

178 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 10. Processing VSAM files
Virtual storage access method (VSAM) is an access method for files on direct-access storage devices.
With VSAM you can load files, retrieve records from files, update files, and add, replace, and delete
records in files.
VSAM processing has these advantages over QSAM:
• Protection of data against unauthorized access
• Compatibility across systems
• Independence of devices (no need to be concerned with block size and other control information)
• Simpler JCL (information needed by the system is provided in integrated catalogs)
• Ability to use indexed file organization or relative file organization
The following table shows how VSAM terms differ from COBOL terms and other terms that you might be
familiar with.

Table 22. Comparison of VSAM, COBOL, and non-VSAM terminology

VSAM term COBOL term Similar non-VSAM term
Data set File Data set
Entry-sequenced data set (ESDS) Sequential file QSAM data set
Key-sequenced data set (KSDS) Indexed file ISAM data set
Relative-record data set (RRDS) Relative file BDAM data set
Control interval Block
Control interval size (CISZ) Block size
Buffers (BUFNI/BUFND) BUFNO
Access method control block (ACB) Data control block (DCB)
Cluster (CL) Data set
Cluster definition Data-set allocation
AMP parameter of JCL DD statement DCB parameter of JCL DD statement
Record size Record length

The term file in this VSAM documentation refers to either a COBOL file or a VSAM data set.
If you have complex requirements or frequently use VSAM, se the VSAM publications for your operating
system.

related concepts
“VSAM files” on page 180

related tasks
“Defining VSAM file organization and records” on page 181
“Coding input and output
statements for VSAM files” on page 186
“Handling errors in VSAM files” on page 194
“Protecting VSAM files with a password” on page 194
“Working with VSAM data sets under z/OS and z/OS UNIX” on page 195
“Improving VSAM performance” on page 201

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 179

 related references
z/OS DFSMS: Using Data Sets
z/OS DFSMS Macro Instructions for Data Sets
z/OS DFSMS: Access Method Services for Catalogs
“Allocation of record areas for VSAM files” on page 201
“Extended addressability support” on page 202

VSAM files
The physical organization of VSAM data sets differs considerably from the organizations used by other
access methods.
VSAM data sets are held in control intervals (CI) and control areas (CA). The size of the CI and CA is
normally determined by the access method; and the way in which they are used is not visible to you.
You can use three types of file organization with VSAM:
VSAM sequential file organization
(Also referred to as VSAM ESDS (entry-sequenced data set) organization.) In VSAM sequential file
organization, the records are stored in the order in which they were entered.
VSAM entry-sequenced data sets are equivalent to QSAM sequential files. The order of the records is
fixed.
VSAM indexed file organization
(Also referred to as VSAM KSDS (key-sequenced data set) organization.) In a VSAM indexed file
(KSDS), the records are ordered according to the collating sequence of an embedded prime key field,
which you define. The prime key consists of one or more consecutive characters in the records. The
prime key uniquely identifies the record and determines the sequence in which it is accessed with
respect to other records. A prime key for a record might be, for example, an employee number or an
invoice number.
VSAM relative file organization
(Also referred to as VSAM fixed-length or variable-length RRDS (relative-record data set) organization.)
A VSAM relative-record data set (RRDS) contains records ordered by their relative key. The relative key
is the relative record number, which represents the location of the record relative to where the file
begins. The relative record number identifies the fixed- or variable-length record.
In a VSAM fixed-length RRDS, records are placed in a series of fixed-length slots in storage. Each
slot is associated with a relative record number. For example, in a fixed-length RRDS that contains 10
slots, the first slot has a relative record number of 1, and the tenth slot has a relative record number of
10.
In a VSAM variable-length RRDS, the records are ordered according to their relative record number.
Records are stored and retrieved according to the relative record number that you set.
Throughout this information, the term VSAM relative-record data set (or RRDS) is used to mean both
relative-record data sets with fixed-length records and with variable-length records, unless they need
to be differentiated.
The following table compares the characteristics of the different types of VSAM data sets.

Table 23. Comparison of VSAM data-set types

Characteristic Entry-sequenced data Key-sequenced data set Relative-record data set
set (ESDS) (KSDS) (RRDS)
Order of records Order in which they are Collating sequence by key Order of relative record
written field number
Access Sequential By key through an index By relative record number,
which is handled like a key

180 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 23. Comparison of VSAM data-set types (continued)
Characteristic Entry-sequenced data Key-sequenced data set Relative-record data set
set (ESDS) (KSDS) (RRDS)
Alternate indexes Can have one or Can have one or more Cannot have alternate
more alternate indexes, alternate indexes indexes
although not supported in
COBOL
Relative byte RBA cannot change. RBA can change. RRN cannot change.
address (RBA) and
relative record
number (RRN) of a
record
Space for adding Uses space at the end of Uses distributed free space For fixed-length RRDS, uses
records the data set for inserting records and empty slots in the data set
changing their lengths in
For variable-length RRDS,
place
uses distributed free space
and changes the lengths of
added records in place

Space from deleting You cannot delete a Space from a deleted Space from a deleted record
records record, but you can reuse or shortened record is can be reused.
its space for a record of automatically reclaimed in a
the same length. control interval.
Spanned records Can have spanned records Can have spanned records Cannot have spanned records
Reuse as work file Can be reused unless it Can be reused unless it Can be reused
has an alternate index, has an alternate index, is
is associated with key associated with key ranges,
ranges, or exceeds 123 or exceeds 123 extents per
extents per volume volume

related tasks
“Specifying sequential organization for VSAM files” on page 182
“Specifying indexed organization
for VSAM files” on page 182
“Specifying relative organization for VSAM files” on page 183
“Defining VSAM files” on page 196

Defining VSAM file organization and records

Use an entry in the FILE-CONTROL paragraph in the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION to define the file
organization and access modes for the VSAM files in your COBOL program.
In the FILE SECTION of the DATA DIVISION, code a file description (FD) entry for the file. In the
associated record description entry or entries, define the record-name and record length. Code the logical
size of the records by using the RECORD clause.
Important: You can process VSAM data sets in Enterprise COBOL programs only after you define them by
using access method services.

Table 24. VSAM file organization, access mode, and record format
File organization Sequential Random Dynamic Fixed length Variable
access access access length
VSAM sequential (ESDS) Yes No No Yes Yes

Chapter 10. Processing VSAM files 181

 Table 24. VSAM file organization, access mode, and record format (continued)
File organization Sequential Random Dynamic Fixed length Variable
access access access length
VSAM indexed (KSDS) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
VSAM relative (RRDS) Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes

related tasks
“Specifying sequential organization for VSAM files” on page 182
“Specifying indexed organization
for VSAM files” on page 182
“Specifying relative organization for VSAM files” on page 183
“Specifying access modes for VSAM files” on page 184
“Defining record lengths for VSAM files” on page 185
“Using file status keys” on page 237
“Using VSAM status codes
(VSAM files only)” on page 238
“Defining VSAM files” on page 196

Specifying sequential organization for VSAM files

Identify VSAM ESDS files in a COBOL program with the ORGANIZATION IS SEQUENTIAL clause. You can
access (read or write) records in sequential files only sequentially.
After you place a record in the file, you cannot shorten, lengthen, or delete it. However, you can update
(REWRITE) a record if the length does not change. New records are added at the end of the file.
The following example shows typical FILE-CONTROL entries for a VSAM sequential file (ESDS):

SELECT S-FILE
ASSIGN TO SEQUENTIAL-AS-FILE
ORGANIZATION IS SEQUENTIAL
ACCESS IS SEQUENTIAL
FILE STATUS IS FSTAT-CODE VSAM-CODE.

related concepts
“VSAM files” on page 180

Specifying indexed organization for VSAM files

Identify a VSAM KSDS file in a COBOL program by using the ORGANIZATION IS INDEXED clause. Code
a prime key for the record by using the RECORD KEY clause. You can also use alternate keys and an
alternate index.

RECORD KEY IS data-name

In the example above, data-name is the name of the prime key field as you define it in the record
description entry in the DATA DIVISION. The prime key data item can be class alphabetic, alphanumeric,
DBCS, numeric, or national. If it has USAGE NATIONAL, the prime key can be category national, or can be
a national-edited, numeric-edited, national decimal, or national floating-point data item. The collation of
record keys is based on the binary value of the keys regardless of the class or category of the keys.
The following example shows the statements for a VSAM indexed file (KSDS) that is accessed dynamically.
In addition to the primary key, COMMUTER-NO, an alternate key, LOCATION-NO, is specified:

SELECT I-FILE
ASSIGN TO INDEXED-FILE
ORGANIZATION IS INDEXED
ACCESS IS DYNAMIC

182 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 RECORD KEY IS IFILE-RECORD-KEY
ALTERNATE RECORD KEY IS IFILE-ALTREC-KEY
FILE STATUS IS FSTAT-CODE VSAM-CODE.

related concepts
“VSAM files” on page 180

related tasks
“Using alternate keys” on page 183
“Using an alternate index” on page 183

related references
RECORD KEY clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
Classes and categories of data (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Using alternate keys

In addition to the primary key, you can code one or more alternate keys for a VSAM KSDS file. By using
alternate keys, you can access an indexed file to read records in some sequence other than the prime-key
sequence.
Alternate keys do not need to be unique. More than one record could be accessed if alternate keys are
coded to allow duplicates. For example, you could access the file through employee department rather
than through employee number.
You define the alternate key in your COBOL program with the ALTERNATE RECORD KEY clause:

ALTERNATE RECORD KEY IS data-name

In the example above, data-name is the name of the alternate key field as you define it in the record
description entry in the DATA DIVISION. Alternate key data items, like prime key data items, can be
class alphabetic, alphanumeric, DBCS, numeric, or national. The collation of alternate keys is based on
the binary value of the keys regardless of the class or category of the keys.

Using an alternate index

To use an alternate index for a VSAM KSDS file, you need to define a data set called the alternate index
(AIX) by using access method services.
The AIX contains one record for each value of a given alternate key. The records are in sequential order by
alternate-key value. Each record contains the corresponding primary keys of all records in the associated
indexed files that contain the alternate-key value.

related tasks
“Creating alternate indexes” on page 196

Specifying relative organization for VSAM files

Identify VSAM RRDS files in a COBOL program by using the ORGANIZATION IS RELATIVE clause. Use
the RELATIVE KEY IS clause to associate each logical record with its relative record number.
The following example shows a relative-record data set (RRDS) that is accessed randomly by the value in
the relative key:

SELECT R-FILE
ASSIGN TO RELATIVE-FILE
ORGANIZATION IS RELATIVE
ACCESS IS RANDOM
RELATIVE KEY IS RFILE-RELATIVE-KEY
FILE STATUS IS FSTAT-CODE VSAM-CODE.

You can use a randomizing routine to associate a key value in each record with the relative record number
for that record. Although there are many techniques to convert a record key to a relative record number,

Chapter 10. Processing VSAM files 183

 the most commonly used is the division/remainder technique. With this technique, you divide the key by a
value equal to the number of slots in the data set to produce a quotient and remainder. When you add one
to the remainder, the result is a valid relative record number.
Alternate indexes are not supported for VSAM RRDS.

related concepts
“VSAM files” on page 180
“Fixed-length and variable-length RRDS” on page 184

related tasks
“Using variable-length RRDS” on page 184
“Defining VSAM files” on page 196

Fixed-length and variable-length RRDS

In an RRDS that has fixed-length records, each record occupies one slot. You store and retrieve records
according to the relative record number of the slot. A variable-length RRDS does not have slots; instead,
the free space that you define allows for more efficient record insertions.
When you load an RRDS that has fixed-length records, you have the option of skipping over slots and
leaving them empty. When you load an RRDS that has variable-length records, you can skip over relative
record numbers.

Using variable-length RRDS

To use relative-record data sets (RRDS) that have variable-length records, you must use VSAM variable-
length RRDS support.
Do these steps:
1. Define the file with the ORGANIZATION IS RELATIVE clause.
2. Use FD entries to describe the records with variable-length sizes.
3. Define the VSAM file through access-method services as an RRDS.

related tasks
“Defining VSAM files” on page 196
related references
z/OS DFSMS: Access Method Services for Catalogs

Specifying access modes for VSAM files

You can access records in VSAM sequential files only sequentially. You can access records in VSAM
indexed and relative files in three ways: sequentially, randomly, or dynamically.
For sequential access, code ACCESS IS SEQUENTIAL in the FILE-CONTROL entry. Records in indexed
files are then accessed in the order of the key field selected (either primary or alternate). Records in
relative files are accessed in the order of the relative record numbers.
For random access, code ACCESS IS RANDOM in the FILE-CONTROL entry. Records in indexed files
are then accessed according to the value you place in a key field. Records in relative files are accessed
according to the value you place in the relative key.
For dynamic access, code ACCESS IS DYNAMIC in the FILE-CONTROL entry. Dynamic access is a mixed
sequential-random access in the same program. Using dynamic access, you can write one program to
perform both sequential and random processing, accessing some records in sequential order and others
by their keys.
“Example: using dynamic access with VSAM files” on page 185

related tasks
“Reading records from a VSAM file” on page 191

184 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Example: using dynamic access with VSAM files
Suppose that you have an indexed file of employee records, and the employee's hourly wage forms the
record key.
If your program processes those employees who earn between $15.00 and $20.00 per hour and those
who earn $25.00 per hour and above, using dynamic access of VSAM files, the program would:
1. Retrieve the first record randomly (with a random-retrieval READ) based on the key of 1500.
2. Read sequentially (using READ NEXT) until the salary field exceeds 2000.
3. Retrieve the next record randomly, based on a key of 2500.
4. Read sequentially until the end of the file.

related tasks
“Reading records from a VSAM file” on page 191

Defining record lengths for VSAM files

You can define VSAM records to be fixed or variable in length. COBOL determines the record format from
the RECORD clause and the record descriptions that are associated with the FD entry for a file.
Because the concept of blocking has no meaning for VSAM files, you can omit the BLOCK CONTAINS
clause. The clause is syntax-checked, but it has no effect on how the program runs.

related tasks
“Defining fixed-length
records” on page 185
“Defining variable-length
records” on page 186

related references
“FILE SECTION entries” on page 12
Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Migration Guide

Defining fixed-length records

To define VSAM records as fixed length, use one of these coding options.

Table 25. Definition of VSAM fixed-length records

RECORD clause Clause Record length Comments
format
Code RECORD CONTAINS 1 Fixed in size with a length of The lengths of the level-01
integer. integer-3 bytes record description entries
associated with the file do not
matter.
Omit the RECORD clause, but The fixed size that you coded
code all level-01 records that
are associated with the file as
the same size; and code none
with an OCCURS DEPENDING
ON clause.

related references
RECORD clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Chapter 10. Processing VSAM files 185

 Defining variable-length records
To define VSAM records as variable length, use one of these coding options.

Table 26. Definition of VSAM variable-length records

RECORD clause Clause Maximum record length Comments
format
Code RECORD IS VARYING 3 integer-7 bytes The lengths of the level-01
FROM integer-6 TO integer-7. record description entries
associated with the file do not
matter.
Code RECORD IS VARYING. 3 Size of the largest level-01 The compiler determines the
record description entry maximum record length.
associated with the file
Code RECORD CONTAINS 2 integer-5 bytes The minimum record length is
integer-4 TO integer-5. integer-4 bytes.
Omit the RECORD clause, Size of the largest level-01 The compiler determines the
but code multiple level-01 record description entry maximum record length.
records that are associated associated with the file
with the file and are of
different sizes or contain
an OCCURS DEPENDING ON
clause.

When you specify a READ INTO statement for a format-V file, the record size that is read for that file is
used in the MOVE statement generated by the compiler. Consequently, you might not get the result you
expect if the record read in does not correspond to the level-01 record description. All other rules of the
MOVE statement apply. For example, when you specify a MOVE statement for a format-V record read in by
the READ statement, the size of the record corresponds to its level-01 record description.

related references
RECORD clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Coding input and output statements for VSAM files

Use the COBOL statements shown below to process VSAM files.
OPEN
To connect the VSAM data set to your COBOL program for processing.
WRITE
To add records to a file or load a file.
START
To establish the current location in the cluster for a READ NEXT statement.
START does not retrieve a record; it only sets the current record pointer.
READ and READ NEXT
To retrieve records from a file.
REWRITE
To update records.
DELETE
To logically remove records from indexed and relative files only.
CLOSE
To disconnect the VSAM data set from your program.

186 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
All of the following factors determine which input and output statements you can use for a given VSAM
data set:
• Access mode (sequential, random, or dynamic)
• File organization (ESDS, KSDS, or RRDS)
• Mode of OPEN statement (INPUT, OUTPUT, I-O, or EXTEND)
The following table shows the possible combinations of statements and open modes for sequential files
(ESDS). The X indicates that you can use a statement with the open mode shown at the top of the column.

Table 27. I/O statements for VSAM sequential files

Access mode COBOL statement OPEN INPUT OPEN OUTPUT OPEN I-O OPEN EXTEND
Sequential OPEN X X X X
WRITE X X
START
READ X X
REWRITE X
DELETE
CLOSE X X X X

The following table shows the possible combinations of statements and open modes that you can use
with indexed (KSDS) files and relative (RRDS) files. The X indicates that you can use the statement with
the open mode shown at the top of the column.

Table 28. I/O statements for VSAM relative and indexed files
Access mode COBOL statement OPEN INPUT OPEN OUTPUT OPEN I-O OPEN EXTEND
Sequential OPEN X X X X
WRITE X X
START X X
READ X X
REWRITE X
DELETE X
CLOSE X X X X
Random OPEN X X X
WRITE X X
START
READ X X
REWRITE X
DELETE X
CLOSE X X X

Chapter 10. Processing VSAM files 187

 Table 28. I/O statements for VSAM relative and indexed files (continued)
Access mode COBOL statement OPEN INPUT OPEN OUTPUT OPEN I-O OPEN EXTEND
Dynamic OPEN X X X
WRITE X X
START X X
READ X X
REWRITE X
DELETE X
CLOSE X X X

The fields that you code in the FILE STATUS clause are updated by VSAM after each input-output
statement to indicate the success or failure of the operation.

related concepts
“File position indicator” on page 188

related tasks
“Opening a file (ESDS, KSDS, or RRDS)” on page 188
“Reading records from a VSAM file” on page 191
“Updating records in a VSAM file” on page 191
“Adding records to a VSAM file” on page 192
“Replacing records in a VSAM file” on page 193
“Deleting records from a VSAM file” on page 193
“Closing VSAM files” on page 193

related references
File status key (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

File position indicator

The file position indicator marks the next record to be accessed for sequential COBOL requests. You do
not set the file position indicator in your program. It is set by successful OPEN, START, READ, and READ
NEXT statements.
Subsequent READ or READ NEXT requests use the established file position indicator location and update
it.
The file position indicator is not used or affected by the output statements WRITE, REWRITE, or DELETE.
The file position indicator has no meaning for random processing.

related tasks
“Reading records from a VSAM file” on page 191

Opening a file (ESDS, KSDS, or RRDS)

Before you can use WRITE, START, READ, REWRITE, or DELETE statements to process records in a file,
you must first open the file with an OPEN statement.
Whether a file is available or optional affects OPEN processing, file creation, and the resulting file status
key. For example, if you open in EXTEND, I-O, or INPUT mode a nonexistent non-OPTIONAL file, the
result is an OPEN error, and file status 35 is returned. If the file is OPTIONAL, however, the same OPEN
statement returns file status 05, and, for open modes EXTEND and I-O, creates the file.
An OPEN operation works successfully only if you set fixed file attributes in the DD statement or data-set
label for a file, and specify consistent attributes for the file in the SELECT clause and FD entries of your

188 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
COBOL program. Mismatches in the following items result in a file status key 39 and the failure of the
OPEN statement:
• Attributes for file organization (sequential, relative, or indexed)
• Prime record key
• Alternate record keys
• Maximum record size
• Record type (fixed or variable)
How you code the OPEN statement for a VSAM file depends on whether the file is empty (a file that has
never contained records) or loaded. For either type of file, your program should check the file status key
after each OPEN statement.
Note: The VSAMOPENFS option affects the file status key reported from successful OPEN statements
on VSAM files. If the VSAMOPENFS(COMPAT) option is in effect, you will get the status value of 97
when a VSAM OPEN statement is successfully verified. For details about the VSAMOPENFS option, see
“VSAMOPENFS” on page 368.

related tasks
“Opening an empty file” on page 189
“Opening a loaded file (a file with records)” on page 190
related references
“Statements to load records into a VSAM file” on page 190
“VSAMOPENFS” on page 368

Opening an empty file

To open a file that has never contained records (an empty file), use a form of the OPEN statement.
Depending on the type of file that you are opening, use one of the following statements:
• OPEN OUTPUT for ESDS files.
• OPEN OUTPUT or OPEN EXTEND for KSDS and RRDS files. (Either coding has the same effect.) If you
coded the file for random or dynamic access and the file is optional, you can use OPEN I-O.
Optional files are files that are not necessarily available each time a program is run. You can define files
opened in INPUT, I-O, or OUTPUT mode as optional by defining them with the SELECT OPTIONAL clause
in the FILE-CONTROL paragraph.
Initially loading a file sequentially: Initially loading a file means writing records into the file for the first
time. Doing so is not the same as writing records into a file from which all previous records have been
deleted. To initially load a VSAM file:
1. Open the file.
2. Use sequential processing (ACCESS IS SEQUENTIAL). (Sequential processing is faster than random
or dynamic processing.)
3. Use WRITE to add a record to the file.
Using OPEN OUTPUT to load a VSAM file significantly improves the performance of your program. Using
OPEN I-O or OPEN EXTEND has a negative effect on the performance of your program.
When you load VSAM indexed files sequentially, you optimize both loading performance and subsequent
processing performance, because sequential processing maintains user-defined free space. Future
insertions will be more efficient.
With ACCESS IS SEQUENTIAL, you must write the records in ascending RECORD KEY order.
When you load VSAM relative files sequentially, the records are placed in the file in the ascending order of
relative record numbers.
Initially loading a file randomly or dynamically: You can use random or dynamic processing to load
a file, but they are not as efficient as sequential processing. Because VSAM does not support random

Chapter 10. Processing VSAM files 189

 or dynamic processing, COBOL has to perform some extra processing to enable you to use ACCESS IS
RANDOM or ACCESS IS DYNAMIC with OPEN OUTPUT or OPEN I-O. These steps prepare the file for use
and give it the status of a loaded file because it has been used at least once.
In addition to extra overhead for preparing files for use, random processing does not consider any
user-defined free space. As a result, any future insertions might be inefficient. Sequential processing
maintains user-defined free space.

When you are loading an extended-format VSAM data set, file status 30 will occur for the OPEN if z/OS
DFSMS system-managed buffering sets the buffering to local shared resources (LSR). To successfully load
the VSAM data set in this case, specify ACCBIAS=USER in the DD AMP parameter for the VSAM data set to
bypass system-managed buffering.
Loading a VSAM data set with access method services: You can load or update a VSAM data set by
using the access method services REPRO command. Use REPRO whenever possible.

related tasks
“Opening a loaded file (a file with records)” on page 190

related references
“Statements to load records into a VSAM file” on page 190
z/OS DFSMS: Access Method Services for Catalogs (REPRO)

Statements to load records into a VSAM file

Use the statements shown below to load records into a VSAM file.

Table 29. Statements to load records into a VSAM file

Division ESDS KSDS RRDS
ENVIRONMENT
DIVISION SELECT SELECT SELECT
ASSIGN ASSIGN ASSIGN
FILE STATUS ORGANIZATION IS INDEXED ORGANIZATION IS RELATIVE
PASSWORD RECORD KEY RELATIVE KEY
ACCESS MODE ALTERNATE RECORD KEY FILE STATUS
FILE STATUS PASSWORD
PASSWORD ACCESS MODE
ACCESS MODE

DATA FD entry FD entry FD entry

DIVISION
PROCEDURE
DIVISION OPEN OUTPUT OPEN OUTPUT OPEN OUTPUT
OPEN EXTEND OPEN EXTEND OPEN EXTEND
WRITE WRITE WRITE
CLOSE CLOSE CLOSE

related tasks
“Opening an empty file” on page 189
“Updating records in a VSAM file” on page 191

Opening a loaded file (a file with records)

To open a file that already contains records, use OPEN INPUT, OPEN I-O, or OPEN EXTEND.
If you open a VSAM entry-sequenced or relative-record file as EXTEND, the added records are placed after
the last existing records in the file.

190 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 If you open a VSAM key-sequenced file as EXTEND, each record you add must have a record key higher
than the highest record in the file.

related tasks
“Opening an empty file” on page 189
“Working with VSAM data sets under z/OS and z/OS UNIX” on page 195

related references
“Statements to load records into a VSAM file” on page 190
z/OS DFSMS: Access Method Services for Catalogs

Reading records from a VSAM file

Use the READ statement to retrieve (READ) records from a file. To read a record, you must have opened
the file INPUT or I-O. Your program should check the file status key after each READ.
You can retrieve records in VSAM sequential files only in the sequence in which they were written.
You can retrieve records in VSAM indexed and relative record files in any of the following ways:

Sequentially
According to the ascending order of the key you are using, the RECORD KEY or the ALTERNATE
RECORD KEY, beginning at the current position of the file position indicator for indexed files, or
according to ascending relative record locations for relative files
Randomly
In any order, depending on how you set the RECORD KEY or ALTERNATE RECORD KEY or the
RELATIVE KEY before your READ request
Dynamically
Mixed sequential and random
With dynamic access, you can switch between reading a specific record directly and reading records
sequentially, by using READ NEXT for sequential retrieval and READ for random retrieval (by key).
When you want to read sequentially, beginning at a specific record, use START before the READ NEXT
statement to set the file position indicator to point to a particular record. When you code START followed
by READ NEXT, the next record is read and the file position indicator is reset to the next record. You can
move the file position indicator randomly by using START, but all reading is done sequentially from that
point.

START file-name KEY IS EQUAL TO ALTERNATE-RECORD-KEY

When a direct READ is performed for a VSAM indexed file, based on an alternate index for which
duplicates exist, only the first record in the data set (base cluster) with that alternate key value is
retrieved. You need a series of READ NEXT statements to retrieve each of the data set records with the
same alternate key. A file status code of 02 is returned if there are more records with the same alternate
key value to be read; a code of 00 is returned when the last record with that key value has been read.

related concepts
“File position indicator” on page 188
related tasks
“Specifying access modes for VSAM files” on page 184

Updating records in a VSAM file

To update a VSAM file, use these PROCEDURE DIVISION statements.

Chapter 10. Processing VSAM files 191

 Table 30. Statements to update records in a VSAM file
Access ESDS KSDS RRDS
method
ACCESS IS
SEQUENTIAL OPEN EXTEND OPEN EXTEND OPEN EXTEND
WRITE WRITE WRITE
CLOSE CLOSE CLOSE

or or or

OPEN I-O OPEN I-O OPEN I-O

READ READ READ
REWRITE REWRITE REWRITE
CLOSE DELETE DELETE
CLOSE CLOSE

ACCESS IS Not applicable

RANDOM OPEN I-O OPEN I-O
READ READ
WRITE WRITE
REWRITE REWRITE
DELETE DELETE
CLOSE CLOSE

ACCESS IS Not applicable

DYNAMIC OPEN I-O OPEN I-O
(sequential READ NEXT READ NEXT
processing) WRITE WRITE
REWRITE REWRITE
START START
DELETE DELETE
CLOSE CLOSE

ACCESS IS Not applicable

DYNAMIC OPEN I-O OPEN I-O
(random READ READ
processing) WRITE WRITE
REWRITE REWRITE
DELETE DELETE
CLOSE CLOSE

related references
“Statements to load records into a VSAM file” on page 190

Adding records to a VSAM file

Use the COBOL WRITE statement to add a record to a file without replacing any existing records. The
record to be added must not be larger than the maximum record size that you set when you defined the
file. Your program should check the file status key after each WRITE statement.

Adding records sequentially: Use ACCESS IS SEQUENTIAL and code the WRITE statement to add
records sequentially to the end of a VSAM file that has been opened with either OUTPUT or EXTEND.
Sequential files are always written sequentially.

192 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 For indexed files, you must write new records in ascending key sequence. If you open the file EXTEND,
the record keys of the records to be added must be higher than the highest primary record key on the file
when you opened the file.
For relative files, the records must be in sequence. If you include a RELATIVE KEY data item in the
SELECT clause, the relative record number of the record to be written is placed in that data item.

Adding records randomly or dynamically: When you write records to an indexed data set and ACCESS
IS RANDOM or ACCESS IS DYNAMIC, you can write the records in any order.

Replacing records in a VSAM file

To replace a record in a VSAM file, use REWRITE on a file that you opened as I-O. If the file was not
opened as I-O, the record is not rewritten and the status key is set to 49. Check the file status key after
each REWRITE statement.
For sequential files, the length of the replacement record must be the same as the length of the original
record. For indexed files or variable-length relative files, you can change the length of the record you
replace.
To replace a record randomly or dynamically, you do not have to first READ the record. Instead, locate the
record you want to replace as follows:
• For indexed files, move the record key to the RECORD KEY data item, and then issue the REWRITE.
• For relative files, move the relative record number to the RELATIVE KEY data item, and then issue the
REWRITE.

Deleting records from a VSAM file

To remove an existing record from an indexed or relative file, open the file I-O and use the DELETE
statement. You cannot use DELETE on a sequential file.
When you use ACCESS IS SEQUENTIAL or the file contains spanned records, your program must first
read the record to be deleted. The DELETE then removes the record that was read. If the DELETE is not
preceded by a successful READ, the deletion is not done and the status key value is set to 92.
When you use ACCESS IS RANDOM or ACCESS IS DYNAMIC, your program does not have to first read
the record to be deleted. To delete a record, move the key of the record to be deleted to the RECORD KEY
data item, and then issue the DELETE. Your program should check the file status key after each DELETE
statement.

Closing VSAM files

Use the CLOSE statement to disconnect your program from a VSAM file. If you try to close a file that is
already closed, you will get a logic error. Check the file status key after each CLOSE statement.
If you do not close a VSAM file, the file is automatically closed for you under the following conditions:
• When the run unit ends normally, all open files defined in any COBOL programs in the run unit are
closed.
• When the run unit ends abnormally, if the TRAP(ON) runtime option has been set, all open files defined
in any COBOL programs in the run unit are closed.
• When Language Environment condition handling has completed and the application resumes in a
routine other than where the condition occurred, open files defined in any COBOL programs in the
run unit that might be called again and reentered are closed.
You can change the location where a program resumes after a condition is handled. To make this
change, you can, for example, move the resume cursor with the CEEMRCR callable service or use
language constructs such as a C longjmp statement.
• When you issue CANCEL for a COBOL subprogram, any open nonexternal files defined in that program
are closed.

Chapter 10. Processing VSAM files 193

 • When a COBOL subprogram with the INITIAL attribute returns control, any open nonexternal files
defined in that program are closed.
• When a thread of a multithreaded application ends, both external and nonexternal files that were
opened from within that same thread are closed.
File status key data items in the DATA DIVISION are set when these implicit CLOSE operations are
performed, but your EXCEPTION/ERROR declarative is not invoked.
Errors: If you open a VSAM file in a multithreaded application, you must close it from the same thread
of execution. Attempting to close the file from a different thread results in a close failure with file-status
condition 90.

Handling errors in VSAM files

When an input or output statement operation fails, COBOL does not perform corrective action for you.
All OPEN and CLOSE errors with a VSAM file, whether logical errors in your program or input/output errors
on the external storage media, return control to your COBOL program even if you coded no DECLARATIVE
and no FILE STATUS clause.
If any other input or output statement operation fails, you choose whether your program will continue
running after a less-than-severe error.
COBOL provides these ways for you to intercept and handle certain VSAM input and output errors:
• End-of-file phrase (AT END)
• EXCEPTION/ERROR declarative
• FILE STATUS clause (file status key and VSAM status code)
• INVALID KEY phrase
You should define a status key for each VSAM file that you define in your program. Check the status key
value after each input or output request, especially OPEN and CLOSE.
If you do not code a file status key or a declarative, serious VSAM processing errors will cause a message
to be issued and a Language Environment condition to be signaled, which will cause an abend if you
specify the runtime option ABTERMENC(ABEND).

related tasks
“Handling errors in input
and output operations” on page 233
“Using VSAM status codes
(VSAM files only)” on page 238

related references
z/OS DFSMS Macro Instructions for Data Sets (VSAM macro return and
reason codes)

Protecting VSAM files with a password

Although the preferred security mechanism on a z/OS system is RACF, Enterprise COBOL also supports
using explicit passwords on VSAM files to prevent unauthorized access and update.
To use explicit passwords, code the PASSWORD clause in the FILE-CONTROL paragraph. Use this clause
only if the catalog entry for the files includes a read or an update password:
• If the catalog entry includes a read password, you cannot open and access the file in a COBOL program
unless you use the PASSWORD clause in the FILE-CONTROL paragraph and describe it in the DATA
DIVISION. The data-name referred to must contain a valid password when the file is opened.
• If the catalog entry includes an update password, you can open and access it, but not update it,
unless you code the PASSWORD clause in the FILE-CONTROL paragraph and describe it in the DATA
DIVISION.

194 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 • If the catalog entry includes both a read password and an update password, specify the update
password to both read and update the file in your program.
If your program only retrieves records and does not update them, you need only the read password. If
your program loads files or updates them, you need to specify the update password that was cataloged.
For indexed files, the PASSWORD data item for the RECORD KEY must contain the valid password before
the file can be successfully opened.
If you password-protect a VSAM indexed file, you must also password-protect each alternate index in
order to be fully password protected. Where you place the PASSWORD clause is important because each
alternate index has its own password. The PASSWORD clause must directly follow the key clause to which
it applies.

Example: password protection for a VSAM indexed file

The following example shows the COBOL code used for a VSAM indexed file that has password protection.

. . .
INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
FILE-CONTROL.
SELECT LIBFILE
ASSIGN TO PAYMAST
ORGANIZATION IS INDEXED
RECORD KEY IS EMPL-NUM
PASSWORD IS BASE-PASS
ALTERNATE RECORD KEY IS EMPL-PHONE
PASSWORD IS PATH1-PASS
. . .
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 BASE-PASS PIC X(8) VALUE "25BSREAD".
01 PATH1-PASS PIC X(8) VALUE "25ATREAD".

Working with VSAM data sets under z/OS and z/OS UNIX
Be aware of special coding considerations for VSAM files under z/OS and z/OS UNIX for access method
services (IDCAMS) commands, environment variables, and JCL.
A VSAM file is available if all of the following conditions are true:
• You define it using access method services.
• You define it for your program by providing a DD statement, an environment variable, or an ALLOCATE
command.
• It has previously contained a record.
A VSAM file is unavailable if it has never contained a record, even if you have defined the file.
You always get a return code of zero on completion of the OPEN statement for a VSAM sequential file.
Use the access method services REPRO command to empty a file. Deleting records in this manner resets
the high-use relative byte address (RBA) of the file to zero. The file is effectively empty and appears to
COBOL as if it never contained a record.

related tasks
“Defining files to the operating
system” on page 8
“Defining VSAM files” on page 196
“Creating alternate indexes” on page 196
“Allocating VSAM files” on page 198
“Sharing VSAM files through RLS” on page 199

Chapter 10. Processing VSAM files 195

Defining VSAM files
You can process VSAM entry-sequenced, key-sequenced, and relative-record data sets in Enterprise
COBOL only after you define them through access method services (IDCAMS).
A VSAM cluster is a logical definition for a VSAM data set and has one or two components:
• The data component of a VSAM cluster contains the data records.
• The index component of a VSAM key-sequenced cluster consists of the index records.
Use the DEFINE CLUSTER access-method services command to define VSAM data sets (clusters). This
process includes creating an entry in an integrated catalog without any data transfer. Define the following
information about the cluster:
• Name of the entry
• Name of the catalog to contain this definition and its password (can use default name)
• Organization (sequential, indexed, or relative)
• Device and volumes that the data set will occupy
• Space required for the data set
• Record size and control interval sizes (CISIZE)
• Passwords (if any) required for future access
Depending on what kind of data set is in the cluster, also define the following information for each cluster:
• For VSAM indexed data sets (KSDS), specify length and position of the prime key in the records.
• For VSAM fixed-length relative-record data sets (RRDS), specify the record size as greater than or equal
to the maximum size COBOL record:

DEFINE CLUSTER NUMBERED

RECORDSIZE(n,n)

If you define a data set in this way, all records are padded to the fixed slot size n. If you use the RECORD
IS VARYING ON data-name form of the RECORD clause, a WRITE or REWRITE uses the length specified
in DEPENDING ON data-name as the length of the record to be transferred by VSAM. This data is then
padded to the fixed slot size. READ statements always return the fixed slot size in the DEPENDING ON
data-name.
• For VSAM variable-length relative-record data sets (RRDS), specify the average size COBOL record
expected and the maximum size COBOL record expected:

DEFINE CLUSTER NUMBERED

RECORDSIZE(avg,m)

The average size COBOL record expected must be less than the maximum size COBOL record expected.

related tasks
“Creating alternate indexes” on page 196
“Allocating VSAM files” on page 198
“Specifying relative organization for VSAM files” on page 183

related references
z/OS DFSMS: Access Method Services for Catalogs

Creating alternate indexes

An alternate index provides access to the records in a data set that uses more than one key. It accesses
records in the same way as the prime index key of an indexed data set (KSDS).
When planning to use an alternate index, you must know:

196 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
• The type of data set (base cluster) with which the index will be associated
• Whether the keys will be unique or not unique
• Whether the index is to be password protected
• Some of the performance aspects of using alternate indexes
Because an alternate index is, in practice, a VSAM data set that contains pointers to the keys of a VSAM
data set, you must define the alternate index and the alternate index path (the entity that establishes the
relationship between the alternate index and the prime index). After you define an alternate index, make a
catalog entry to establish the relationship (or path) between the alternate index and its base cluster. This
path allows you to access the records of the base cluster through the alternate keys.
To use an alternate index, do these steps:
1. Define the alternate index by using the DEFINE ALTERNATEINDEX command. In it, specify these
items:
• Name of the alternate index
• Name of its related VSAM indexed data set
• Location in the record of any alternate indexes and whether they are unique
• Whether alternate indexes are to be updated when the data set is changed
• Name of the catalog to contain this definition and its password (can use default name)
In your COBOL program, the alternate index is identified solely by the ALTERNATE RECORD KEY
clause in the FILE-CONTROL paragraph. The ALTERNATE RECORD KEY definitions must match the
definitions in the catalog entry. Any password entries that you cataloged should be coded directly after
the ALTERNATE RECORD KEY phrase.
2. Relate the alternate index to the base cluster (the data set to which the alternate index gives you
access) by using the DEFINE PATH command. In it, specify these items:
• Name of the path
• Alternate index to which the path is related
• Name of the catalog that contains the alternate index
The base cluster and alternate index are described by entries in the same catalog.
3. Load the VSAM indexed data set.
4. Build the alternate index by using (typically) the BLDINDEX command. Identify the input file as the
indexed data set (base cluster) and the output file as the alternate index or its path. BLDINDEX reads
all the records in the VSAM indexed data set (or base cluster) and extracts the data needed to build the
alternate index.
Alternatively, you can use the runtime option AIXBLD to build the alternate index at run time. However,
this option might adversely affect performance.
“Example: entries for alternate indexes” on page 197

related tasks
“Using an alternate index” on page 183

related references
Language Environment Programming Reference (AIXBLD (COBOL only))

Example: entries for alternate indexes

The following example maps the relationships between the COBOL FILE-CONTROL entry and the DD
statements or environment variables for a VSAM indexed file that has two alternate indexes.
Using JCL:

//MASTERA DD DSNAME=clustername,DISP=OLD (1)

Chapter 10. Processing VSAM files 197

 //MASTERA1 DD DSNAME=path1,DISP=OLD (2)
//MASTERA2 DD DSNAME=path2,DISP=OLD (3)

Using environment variables:

export MASTERA=DSN(clustername),OLD (1)

export MASTERA=DSN(path1),OLD (2)
export MASTERA=DSN(path2),OLD (3)
. . .
FILE-CONTROL.
SELECT MASTER-FILE ASSIGN TO MASTERA (4)
RECORD KEY IS EM-NAME
PASSWORD IS PW-BASE (5)
ALTERNATE RECORD KEY IS EM-PHONE (6)
PASSWORD IS PW-PATH1
ALTERNATE RECORD KEY IS EM-CITY (7)
PASSWORD IS PW-PATH2.

(1)
The base cluster name is clustername.
(2)
The name of the first alternate index path is path1.
(3)
The name of the second alternate index path is path2.
(4)
The ddname or environment variable name for the base cluster is specified with the ASSIGN clause.
(5)
Passwords immediately follow their indexes.
(6)
The key EM-PHONE relates to the first alternate index.
(7)
The key EM-CITY relates to the second alternate index.

related tasks
“Creating alternate indexes” on page 196

Allocating VSAM files

You must predefine and catalog all VSAM data sets through the access method services DEFINE
command. Most of the information about a VSAM data set is in the catalog, so you need to specify only
minimal DD or environment variable information.
Allocation of VSAM files (indexed, relative, and sequential) follows the general rules for the allocation of
COBOL files.
When you use an environment variable to allocate a VSAM file, the variable name must be in uppercase.
Usually the input and data buffers are the only variables that you are concerned about. You must specify
these options in the order shown, but no others:
1. DSN(dsname), where dsname is the name of the base cluster
2. OLD or SHR
The basic DD statement that you need for VSAM files and the corresponding export command are these:

//ddname DD DSN=dsname,DISP=SHR,AMP=AMORG
export evname="DSN(dsname),SHR"

In either case, dsname must be the same as the name used in the access method services DEFINE
CLUSTER or DEFINE PATH command. DISP must be OLD or SHR because the data set is already
cataloged. If you specify MOD when using JCL, the data set is treated as OLD.

198 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 AMP is a VSAM JCL parameter that supplements the information that the program supplies about the data
set. AMP takes effect when your program opens the VSAM file. Any information that you set through the
AMP parameter takes precedence over the information that is in the catalog or that the program supplies.
The AMP parameter is required only under the following circumstances:
• You use a dummy VSAM data set. For example,

//ddname DD DUMMY,AMP=AMORG

• You request additional index or data buffers. For example,

//ddname DD DSN=VSAM.dsname,DISP=SHR,
// AMP=('BUFNI=4,BUFND=8')

You cannot specify AMP if you allocate a VSAM data set with an environment variable.
For a VSAM base cluster, specify the same system-name (ddname or environment variable name) that you
specify in the ASSIGN clause after the SELECT clause.
When you use alternate indexes in your COBOL program, you must specify not only a system-name (using
a DD statement or environment variable) for the base cluster, but also a system-name for each alternate
index path. No language mechanism exists to explicitly declare system-names for alternate index paths
within the program. Therefore, you must adhere to the following guidelines for forming the system-name
(ddname or environment variable name) for each alternate index path:
• Concatenate the base cluster name with an integer.
• Begin with 1 for the path associated with the first alternate record defined for the file in your program
(ALTERNATE RECORD KEY clause of the FILE-CONTROL paragraph).
• Increment by 1 for the path associated with each successive alternate record definition for that file.
For example, if the system-name of a base cluster is ABCD, the system-name for the first alternate index
path defined for the file in your program is ABCD1, the system-name for the second alternate index path is
ABCD2, and so on.
If the length of the base cluster system-name together with the sequence number exceeds eight
characters, the base cluster portion of the system-name is truncated on the right to reduce the
concatenated result to eight characters. For example, if the system-name of a base cluster is ABCDEFGH,
the system name of the first alternate index path is ABCDEFG1, the tenth is ABCDEF10, and so on.

related tasks
“Allocating files” on page 154

related references
MVS Program Management: User's Guide and Reference

Sharing VSAM files through RLS

By using the VSAM JCL parameter RLS, you can specify record-level sharing with VSAM. Specifying RLS is
the only way to request the RLS mode when running COBOL programs.
Use RLS=CR when consistent read protocols are required, and RLS=NRI when no read integrity protocols
are required. You cannot specify RLS if you allocate your VSAM data set with an environment variable

related tasks
“Preventing update problems with VSAM files in RLS mode” on page 200
“Handling errors in VSAM files in RLS mode” on page 200

related references
“Restrictions when using RLS” on page 200

Chapter 10. Processing VSAM files 199

 Preventing update problems with VSAM files in RLS mode
When you open a VSAM data set in RLS mode for I-O (updates), the first READ causes an exclusive lock of
the record regardless of the value of RLS (RLS=CR or RLS=NRI) that you specify.
If the COBOL file is defined as ACCESS RANDOM, VSAM releases the exclusive lock on the record after a
WRITE or REWRITE statement is executed or a READ statement is executed for another record. When a
WRITE or REWRITE is done, VSAM writes the record immediately.
However, if the COBOL file is defined as ACCESS DYNAMIC, VSAM does not release the exclusive lock on
the record after a WRITE or REWRITE statement, nor after a READ statement, unless the I-O statement
causes VSAM to move to another control interval (CI). As a result, if a WRITE or REWRITE was done, VSAM
does not write the record until processing is moved to another CI and the lock is released. When you use
ACCESS DYNAMIC, one way to cause the record to be written immediately, to release the exclusive lock
immediately, or both, is to define the VSAM data set to allow only one record per CI.
Specifying RLS=CR locks a record and prevents an update to it until another READ is requested for another
record. While a lock on the record being read is in effect, other users can request a READ for the same
record, but they cannot update the record until the read lock is released. When you specify RLS=NRI, no
lock will be in effect when a READ for input is executed. Another user might update the record.
The locking rules for RLS=CR can cause the application to wait for availability of a record lock. This wait
might slow down the READ for input. You might need to modify your application logic to use RLS=CR. Do
not use the RLS parameter for batch jobs that update nonrecoverable spheres until you are sure that the
application functions correctly in a multiple-updater environment.
When you open a VSAM data set in RLS mode for INPUT or I-O processing, it is good to issue an OPEN or
START immediately before a READ. If there is a delay between the OPEN or START and the READ, another
user might add records before the record on which the application is positioned after the OPEN or START.
The COBOL run time points explicitly to the beginning of the VSAM data set at the time when OPEN was
requested, but another user might add records that would alter the true beginning of the VSAM data set if
the READ is delayed.

Restrictions when using RLS

When you use RLS mode, several restrictions apply to VSAM cluster attributes and to runtime options.
Be aware of these restrictions:
• The VSAM cluster attributes KEYRANGE and IMBED are not supported when you open a VSAM file.
• The VSAM cluster attribute REPLICATE is not recommended because the benefits are negated by the
system-wide buffer pool and potentially large CF cache structure in the storage hierarchy.
• The AIXBLD runtime option is not supported when you open a VSAM file because VSAM does not allow
an empty path to be opened. If you need the AIXBLD runtime option to build the alternate index data
set, open the VSAM data set in non-RLS mode.
• Temporary data sets are not allowed.

Handling errors in VSAM files in RLS mode

If your application accesses a VSAM data set in RLS mode, be sure to check the file status and VSAM
feedback codes after each request.
If your application encounters "SMSVSAM server not available" while processing input or output, explicitly
close the VSAM file before you try to open it again. VSAM generates return code 16 for such failures, and
there is no feedback code. You can have COBOL programs check the first 2 bytes of the second file status
area for VSAM return code 16. The COBOL run time generates message IGZ0205W and automatically
closes the file if the error occurs during OPEN processing.
All other RLS mode errors return a VSAM return code of 4, 8, or 12.

200 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 related tasks
“Using VSAM status codes
(VSAM files only)” on page 238

Allocation of record areas for VSAM files

For reentrant COBOL programs, the record areas for VSAM files are allocated above the 16 MB line by
default.
If you specify the DATA(24) compiler option, the VSAM record areas and other dynamic storage areas are
allocated in storage below 16 MB.
Programs that pass data in VSAM file records as CALL...USING parameters to AMODE 24 subprograms
are impacted. You can recompile such programs with the DATA(24) compiler option, or use the Language
Environment HEAP runtime option, to ensure that the records are addressable by the AMODE 24
programs.

Improving VSAM performance

Your system programmer is most likely responsible for tuning the performance of COBOL and VSAM. As an
application programmer, you can control the aspects of VSAM that are listed in the following table.

Table 31. Methods for improving VSAM performance

Aspect of VSAM What you can do Rationale and comments
Invoking access Build your alternate indexes in
methods service advance, using IDCAMS.
Buffering For sequential access, request The default is one index (BUFNI) and two data
more data buffers; for random buffers (BUFND).
access, request more index
buffers. Specify both BUFND and
BUFNI if ACCESS IS DYNAMIC.
Avoid coding additional buffers
unless your application will run
interactively; then code buffers
only when response-time problems
arise that might be caused by
delays in input and output.

Loading records, Use the access methods service The REPRO command can update an indexed
using access REPRO command when: data set as fast or faster than any COBOL
methods services program under these conditions.
• The target indexed data set
already contains records.
• The input sequential data set
contains records to be updated
or inserted into the indexed data
set.
If you use a COBOL program to
load the file, use OPEN OUTPUT
and ACCESS SEQUENTIAL.

File access modes For best performance, access Dynamic access is less efficient than
records sequentially. sequential access, but more efficient than
random access. Random access results in
increased EXCPs because VSAM must access
the index for each request.

Chapter 10. Processing VSAM files 201

 Table 31. Methods for improving VSAM performance (continued)
Aspect of VSAM What you can do Rationale and comments
Key design Design the key in the records This method compresses the key best.
so that the high-order portion is
relatively constant and the low-
order portion changes often.
Multiple alternate Avoid using multiple alternate Updates must be applied through the
indexes indexes. primary paths and are reflected through
multiple alternate paths, perhaps slowing
performance.
Relative file Use VSAM fixed-length relative Although not as space efficient, VSAM fixed-
organization data sets rather than VSAM length relative data sets are more run time
variable-length relative data sets. efficient than VSAM variable-length relative
data sets.
Control interval Provide your system programmer VSAM calculates CISZ to best fit the
sizes (CISZ) with information about the data direct-access storage device (DASD) usage
access and future growth of algorithm, which might not, however, be
your VSAM data sets. From efficient for your application.
this information, your system
An average CISZ of 4K is suitable for
programmer can determine the
most applications. A smaller CISZ means
best control interval size (CISZ)
faster retrieval for random processing at the
and FREESPACE size (FSPC).
expense of inserts (that is, more CISZ splits
Choose proper values for CISZ and therefore more space in the data set).
and FSPC to minimize control A larger CISZ results in the transfer of more
area (CA) splits. You can diagnose data across the channel for each READ. This
the current number of CA splits is more efficient for sequential processing,
by issuing the LISTCAT ALL similar to a large OS BLKSIZE.
command on the cluster, and then
Many control area (CA) splits are unfavorable
compress (using EXPORT, IMPORT,
for VSAM performance. The FREESPACE value
or REPRO) the cluster to omit all CA
can affect CA splits, depending on how the
splits periodically.
file is used.

related tasks
“Specifying access modes for VSAM files” on page 184
z/OS DFSMS: Using Data Sets (Building a resource pool, Selecting the optimal
percentage of free space)

related references
z/OS DFSMS: Access Method Services for Catalogs

Extended addressability support

You can access VSAM data sets that are defined with the extended addressability attribute, use those
VSAM data sets in COBOL programs without COBOL source changes, and maintain compatibility with
previous versions of COBOL.
With extended addressability support, you can define larger VSAM data sets outside of COBOL. The 4 GB
VSAM architectural limit for data set size imposed by using the 4-byte field for the relative byte address
(RBA) is eliminated.
To use the extended addressability, the VSAM data set must be Storage Management Subsystem (SMS)-
managed and be defined as extended format. The size limit for a VSAM data set is determined in either of
the following ways:
• Control Interval (CI) size multiplied by 4 GB

202 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
• Volume size multiplied by 59
For example, a 4 KB CI size yields a maximum data set size of 16 TB, and a 32 KB CI size yields a
maximum data set size of 128 TB. A 4 KB CI size is preferred by many applications for performance
reasons. For extended-format data sets that grow beyond 4 GB, the processing time does not increase.
Extended addressability is also supported for programs compiled with earlier versions: VS COBOL II
programs compiled with RES and any later compilers.
Extended addressability and extended format are not the same concept. Extended format is a
prerequisite for extended addressability. Extended format is a technique that affects the way of storing
count key data (CKD) in a 3390/3380 logical track. Extended format implements data striping and
increases the performance and the reliability of an I/O operation. If a data set is allocated as an
extended-format data set, 32 bytes are added to each physical block.
Restriction: Extended addressability was introduced for KSDS data sets in DFSMS/MVS V1.3. Since
DFSMS/MVS V1.4, extended addressability is supported in record level sharing (RLS). With DFSMS/MVS
V1.5, support for extended addressability is extended to all other VSAM record organizations.

related tasks
z/OS DFSMS: Using Data Sets

Chapter 10. Processing VSAM files 203

204 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 11. Processing line-sequential files
Line-sequential files reside in the z/OS UNIX file system and can contain both printable characters and
control characters as data. Each record ends with an EBCDIC newline character (X'15'), which is not
included in the record length.
Because line-sequential files are sequential, records are placed one after another according to entry
order. Your program can process these files only sequentially, retrieving (with the READ statement)
records in the same order as they are in the file. A new record is placed after the preceding record.
To process line-sequential files in a program, code COBOL language statements that:
• Identify and describe the files in the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION and the DATA DIVISION
• Process the records in the files in the PROCEDURE DIVISION
After you have created a record, you cannot change its length or its position in the file, and you cannot
delete it.

related tasks
“Defining line-sequential files and records in COBOL” on page 205
“Allocating line-sequential files” on page 206
“Coding input-output statements
for line-sequential files” on page 207
“Handling errors in line-sequential files” on page 210
UNIX System Services User's Guide

Defining line-sequential files and records in COBOL

Use the FILE-CONTROL paragraph in the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION to define the files in a COBOL
program as line-sequential files, and to associate the files with the corresponding external file-names
(ddnames or environment variable names).
An external file-name is the name by which a file is known to the operating system. In the following
example, COMMUTER-FILE is the name that your program uses for the file; COMMUTR is the external name:

FILE-CONTROL.
SELECT COMMUTER-FILE
ASSIGN TO COMMUTR
ORGANIZATION IS LINE SEQUENTIAL
ACCESS MODE IS SEQUENTIAL
FILE STATUS IS ECODE.

The ASSIGN assignment-name clause must not include an organization field (S- or AS-) before the
external name. The ACCESS phrase and the FILE STATUS clause are optional.

related tasks
“Describing the structure
of a line-sequential file” on page 206
“Allocating line-sequential files” on page 206
“Coding input-output statements
for line-sequential files” on page 207

related references
“Control characters in line-sequential files” on page 206

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 205

Describing the structure of a line-sequential file
In the FILE SECTION, code a file description (FD) entry for the file. In the associated record description
entry or entries, define the record-name and record length.
Code the logical size in bytes of the records by using the RECORD clause. Line-sequential files are stream
files. Because of their character-oriented nature, the physical records are of variable length.
The following examples show how the FD entry might look for a line-sequential file:
With fixed-length records:

FILE SECTION.
FD COMMUTER-FILE
RECORD CONTAINS 80 CHARACTERS.
01 COMMUTER-RECORD.
05 COMMUTER-NUMBER PIC X(16).
05 COMMUTER-DESCRIPTION PIC X(64).

With variable-length records:

FILE SECTION.
FD COMMUTER-FILE
RECORD VARYING FROM 16 TO 80 CHARACTERS.
01 COMMUTER-RECORD.
05 COMMUTER-NUMBER PIC X(16).
05 COMMUTER-DESCRIPTION PIC X(64).

If you code the same fixed size and no OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause for any level-01 record
description entries associated with the file, that fixed size is the logical record length. However, because
blanks at the end of a record are not written to the file, the physical records might be of varying lengths.

related tasks
“Allocating line-sequential files” on page 206
“Coding input-output statements
for line-sequential files” on page 207

related references
Data division--file description entries
(Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Control characters in line-sequential files

A line-sequential file can contain control characters. Be aware though that if a line-sequential file contains
a newline character (X'15'), the newline character will function as a record delimiter.
Control characters other than newline are treated as data and are part of the record.

Allocating line-sequential files

You can allocate a line-sequential file in the z/OS UNIX file system by using either a DD statement or
an environment variable. Allocation of line-sequential files follows the general rules for allocating COBOL
files.
To allocate a line-sequential file, code a DD allocation or an environment variable that has a name that
matches the external name in the ASSIGN clause:
• A DD allocation:
– A DD statement that specifies PATH='absolute-path-name'
– A TSO allocation that specifies PATH('absolute-path-name')
You can optionally also specify these options:
– PATHOPTS

206 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 – PATHMODE
– PATHDISP
• An environment variable that has a value of PATH(absolute-path-name). No other values can be
specified.
For example, to have your program use z/OS UNIX file /u/myfiles/commuterfile for a COBOL file
that has an assignment-name of COMMUTR, you can use the following command:

export COMMUTR="PATH(/u/myfiles/commuterfile)"

related tasks
“Allocating files” on page 154
“Defining line-sequential files and records in COBOL” on page 205

related references
MVS Program Management: User's Guide and Reference

Coding input-output statements for line-sequential files

Code the input and output statements shown below to process a line-sequential file.
OPEN
To initiate the processing of a file.
You can open a line-sequential file as INPUT, OUTPUT, or EXTEND. You cannot open a line-sequential
file as I-O.
READ
To read a record from a file.
With sequential processing, a program reads one record after another in the same order in which the
records were entered when the file was created.
WRITE
To create a record in a file.
A program writes new records to the end of the file.
CLOSE
To release the connection between a file and the program.

related tasks
“Defining line-sequential files and records in COBOL” on page 205
“Describing the structure
of a line-sequential file” on page 206
“Opening line-sequential
files” on page 208
“Reading records from line-sequential
files” on page 208
“Adding records to line-sequential
files” on page 209
“Closing line-sequential
files” on page 209
“Handling errors in line-sequential files” on page 210

related references
OPEN statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
READ statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
WRITE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
CLOSE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Chapter 11. Processing line-sequential files 207

Opening line-sequential files
Before your program can use any READ or WRITE statements to process records in a file, it must first open
the file with an OPEN statement. An OPEN statement works if the file is available or has been dynamically
allocated.
Code CLOSE WITH LOCK so that the file cannot be opened again while the program is running.

related tasks
“Reading records from line-sequential
files” on page 208
“Adding records to line-sequential
files” on page 209
“Closing line-sequential
files” on page 209
“Allocating line-sequential files” on page 206

related references
OPEN statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
CLOSE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Reading records from line-sequential files

To read from a line-sequential file, open the file and use the READ statement. Your program reads one
record after another in the same order in which the records were entered when the file was created.
Characters in the file record are read one at a time into the record area until one of the following
conditions occurs:
• The record delimiter (the EBCDIC newline character) is encountered.
The delimiter is discarded and the remainder of the record area is filled with spaces. (Record area is
longer than the file record.)
• The entire record area is filled with characters.
If the next unread character is the record delimiter, it is discarded. The next READ reads from the first
character of the next record. (Record area is the same length as the file record.)
Otherwise the next unread character is the first character to be read by the next READ. (Record area is
shorter than the file record.)
• End-of-file is encountered.
The remainder of the record area is filled with spaces. (Record area is longer than the file record.)

related tasks
“Opening line-sequential
files” on page 208
“Adding records to line-sequential
files” on page 209
“Closing line-sequential
files” on page 209
“Allocating line-sequential files” on page 206

related references
OPEN statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
WRITE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

208 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Adding records to line-sequential files
To add to a line-sequential file, open the file as EXTEND and use the WRITE statement to add records
immediately after the last record in the file.
Blanks at the end of the record area are removed, and the record delimiter is added. The characters in the
record area from the first character up to and including the added record delimiter are written to the file
as one record.
Records written to line-sequential files must contain only USAGE DISPLAY and DISPLAY-1 items. Zoned
decimal data items must be unsigned or declared with the SEPARATE phrase of the SIGN clause if signed.

related tasks
“Opening line-sequential
files” on page 208
“Reading records from line-sequential
files” on page 208
“Closing line-sequential
files” on page 209
“Allocating line-sequential files” on page 206

related references
OPEN statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
WRITE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Closing line-sequential files

Use the CLOSE statement to disconnect your program from a line-sequential file. If you try to close a file
that is already closed, you will get a logic error.
If you do not close a line-sequential file, the file is automatically closed for you under the following
conditions:
• When the run unit ends normally.
• When the run unit ends abnormally, if the TRAP(ON) runtime option is set.
• When Language Environment condition handling is completed and the application resumes in a routine
other than where the condition occurred, open files defined in any COBOL programs in the run unit that
might be called again and reentered are closed.
You can change the location where the program resumes (after a condition is handled) by moving
the resume cursor with the Language Environment CEEMRCR callable service or using HLL language
constructs such as a C longjmp call.
File status codes are set when these implicit CLOSE operations are performed, but EXCEPTION/ERROR
declaratives are not invoked.

related tasks
“Opening line-sequential
files” on page 208
“Reading records from line-sequential
files” on page 208
“Adding records to line-sequential
files” on page 209
“Allocating line-sequential files” on page 206

related references
CLOSE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Chapter 11. Processing line-sequential files 209

Handling errors in line-sequential files
When an input or output statement fails, COBOL does not take corrective action for you. You choose
whether your program should continue running after an input or output statement fails.

COBOL provides these language elements for intercepting and handling certain line-sequential input and
output errors:
• End-of-file phrase (AT END)
• EXCEPTION/ERROR declarative
• FILE STATUS clause
If you do not use one of these techniques, an error in processing input or output raises a Language
Environment condition.
If you use the FILE STATUS clause, be sure to check the key and take appropriate action based on its
value. If you do not check the key, your program might continue, but the results will probably not be what
you expected.

related tasks
“Coding input-output statements
for line-sequential files” on page 207
“Handling errors in input
and output operations” on page 233

210 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 12. Sorting and merging files

You can arrange records in a particular sequence by using a SORT or MERGE statement. You can mix SORT
and MERGE statements in the same COBOL program.
Note: The SORT statement, sort processes, and sort restrictions that are described in this topic relate to
the format 1 SORT statement only. For more information about sorting a table by using the format 2 SORT
statement, see “Sorting a table” on page 87.
SORT statement
Accepts input (from a file or an internal procedure) that is not in sequence, and produces output (to a
file or an internal procedure) in a requested sequence. You can add, delete, or change records before
or after they are sorted.
MERGE statement
Compares records from two or more sequenced files and combines them in order. You can add,
delete, or change records after they are merged.
A program can contain any number of sort and merge operations. They can be the same operation
performed many times or different operations. However, one operation must finish before another begins.

With Enterprise COBOL, your IBM licensed program for sorting and merging must be DFSORT or an
equivalent. Where DFSORT is mentioned, you can use any equivalent sort or merge product.
COBOL programs that contain SORT or MERGE statements can reside above or below the 16 MB line.
The steps you take to sort or merge are generally as follows:
1. Describe the sort or merge file to be used for sorting or merging.
2. Describe the input to be sorted or merged. If you want to process the records before you sort them,
code an input procedure.
3. Describe the output from sorting or merging. If you want to process the records after you sort or merge
them, code an output procedure.
4. Request the sort or merge.
5. Determine whether the sort or merge operation was successful.
Restrictions:
• You cannot run a COBOL program that contains SORT or MERGE statements under z/OS UNIX. This
restriction includes BPXBATCH.
• You cannot use SORT or MERGE statements in programs compiled with the THREAD option. This includes
programs that use object-oriented syntax and multithreaded applications, both of which require the
THREAD option. In addition, the COBOL program that uses SORT or MERGE statements cannot call
directly or indirectly other applications that require z/OS Unix System Services or applications that use
multithreading. For example, the JVM uses both of them.
• You cannot use the DFSORT conventional technique. The conventional technique is used in the following
cases:
– The NOBLKSET option is specified. BLKSET is the default when invoking DFSORT.
– Tape device is used for intermediate work storage.
– L5 is used in the RECORD statement of DFSORT OPTION control. L5 specifies the average record
length. Instead of using L5, the same can be specified by using the AVGRLEN=n statement.
To assist migration of legacy COBOL programs, toleration runtime APARs PH20569(V2R2) and
PH21261(V2R3/V2R4) are provided for programs running in AMODE 31. There is no toleration for
AMODE 64. For details, see Using DFSORT option NOBLKSET (Enterprise COBOL Migration Guide).

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 211

 related concepts
“Sort and merge process” on page 212

related tasks
“Sorting
a table” on page 87
“Describing the sort or merge file” on page 212
“Describing the input to sorting or merging” on page 213
“Describing the output from sorting or merging” on page 215
“Requesting the sort or
merge” on page 218
“Determining whether the sort or merge was successful” on page 221
“Stopping a sort or merge operation prematurely” on page 222
“Improving sort performance with FASTSRT” on page 222
“Controlling sort behavior” on page 225
DFSORT Application Programming Guide

related references
“CICS SORT application
restrictions” on page 228
SORT statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
MERGE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Sort and merge process

During the sorting of a file, all of the records in the file are ordered according to the contents of one or
more fields (keys) in each record. You can sort the records in either ascending or descending order of each
key.
If there are multiple keys, the records are first sorted according to the content of the first (or primary) key,
then according to the content of the second key, and so on.
To sort a file, use the format 1 SORT statement.
During the merging of two or more files (which must already be sorted), the records are combined and
ordered according to the contents of one or more keys in each record. You can order the records in either
ascending or descending order of each key. As with sorting, the records are first ordered according to the
content of the primary key, then according to the content of the second key, and so on.
Use MERGE . . . USING to name the files that you want to combine into one sequenced file. The merge
operation compares keys in the records of the input files, and passes the sequenced records one by one
to the RETURN statement of an output procedure or to the file that you name in the GIVING phrase.

related tasks
“Setting sort or merge
criteria” on page 219

related references
SORT statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
MERGE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Describing the sort or merge file

Describe the sort file to be used for sorting or merging. You need SELECT clauses and SD entries even if
you are sorting or merging data items only from WORKING-STORAGE or LOCAL-STORAGE.
Code as follows:
1. Write one or more SELECT clauses in the FILE-CONTROL paragraph of the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION
to name a sort file. For example:

212 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
FILE-CONTROL.
SELECT Sort-Work-1 ASSIGN TO SortFile.

Sort-Work-1 is the name of the file in your program. Use this name to refer to the file.
2. Describe the sort file in an SD entry in the FILE SECTION of the DATA DIVISION. Every SD entry
must contain a record description. For example:

DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION.
SD Sort-Work-1
RECORD CONTAINS 100 CHARACTERS.
01 SORT-WORK-1-AREA.
05 SORT-KEY-1 PIC X(10).
05 SORT-KEY-2 PIC X(10).
05 FILLER PIC X(80).

The file described in an SD entry is the working file used for a sort or merge operation. You cannot perform
any input or output operations on this file and you do not need to provide a ddname definition for it.

related references
“FILE SECTION entries” on page 12

Describing the input to sorting or merging

Describe the input file or files for sorting or merging by following the procedure below.

1. Write one or more SELECT clauses in the FILE-CONTROL paragraph of the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION
to name the input files. For example:

ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
FILE-CONTROL.
SELECT Input-File ASSIGN TO InFile.

Input-File is the name of the file in your program. Use this name to refer to the file.
2. Describe the input file (or files when merging) in an FD entry in the FILE SECTION of the DATA
DIVISION. For example:

DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION.
FD Input-File
LABEL RECORDS ARE STANDARD
BLOCK CONTAINS 0 CHARACTERS
RECORDING MODE IS F
RECORD CONTAINS 100 CHARACTERS.
01 Input-Record PIC X(100).

related tasks
“Coding the input procedure” on page 214
“Requesting the sort or
merge” on page 218

related references
“FILE SECTION entries” on page 12

Chapter 12. Sorting and merging files 213

Example: describing sort and input files for SORT
The following example shows the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION and DATA DIVISION entries needed to
describe sort work files and an input file.

ID Division.
Program-ID. SmplSort.
Environment Division.
Input-Output Section.
File-Control.
*
* Assign name for a working file is treated as documentation.
*
Select Sort-Work-1 Assign To SortFile.
Select Sort-Work-2 Assign To SortFile.
Select Input-File Assign To InFile.
. . .
Data Division.
File Section.
SD Sort-Work-1
Record Contains 100 Characters.
01 Sort-Work-1-Area.
05 Sort-Key-1 Pic X(10).
05 Sort-Key-2 Pic X(10).
05 Filler Pic X(80).
SD Sort-Work-2
Record Contains 30 Characters.
01 Sort-Work-2-Area.
05 Sort-Key Pic X(5).
05 Filler Pic X(25).
FD Input-File
Label Records Are Standard
Block Contains 0 Characters
Recording Mode is F
Record Contains 100 Characters.
01 Input-Record Pic X(100).
. . .
Working-Storage Section.
01 EOS-Sw Pic X.
01 Filler.
05 Table-Entry Occurs 100 Times
Indexed By X1 Pic X(30).
. . .

related tasks
“Requesting the sort or
merge” on page 218

Coding the input procedure

To process the records in an input file before they are released to the sort program, use the INPUT
PROCEDURE phrase of the format 1 SORT statement.
You can use an input procedure to:
• Release data items to the sort file from WORKING-STORAGE or LOCAL-STORAGE.
• Release records that have already been read elsewhere in the program.
• Read records from an input file, select or process them, and release them to the sort file.
Each input procedure must be contained in either paragraphs or sections. For example, to release records
from a table in WORKING-STORAGE or LOCAL-STORAGE to the sort file SORT-WORK-2, you could code as
follows:

SORT SORT-WORK-2
ON ASCENDING KEY SORT-KEY
INPUT PROCEDURE 600-SORT3-INPUT-PROC
. . .
600-SORT3-INPUT-PROC SECTION.
PERFORM WITH TEST AFTER
VARYING X1 FROM 1 BY 1 UNTIL X1 = 100

214 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 RELEASE SORT-WORK-2-AREA FROM TABLE-ENTRY (X1)
END-PERFORM.

To transfer records to the sort program, all input procedures must contain at least one RELEASE or
RELEASE FROM statement. To release A from X, for example, you can code:

MOVE X TO A.
RELEASE A.

Alternatively, you can code:

RELEASE A FROM X.

The following table compares the RELEASE and RELEASE FROM statements.

RELEASE RELEASE FROM

MOVE SORT-EXT-RECORD
TO SORT-RECORD PERFORM RELEASE-SORT-RECORD
PERFORM RELEASE-SORT-RECORD . . .
. . . RELEASE-SORT-RECORD.
RELEASE-SORT-RECORD. RELEASE SORT-RECORD
RELEASE SORT-RECORD FROM SORT-EXT-RECORD

related references
“Restrictions on input and output procedures” on page 217
RELEASE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Describing the output from sorting or merging

If the output from sorting or merging is a file, describe the file by following the procedure below.

1. Write a SELECT clause in the FILE-CONTROL paragraph of the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION to name the
output file. For example:

ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
FILE-CONTROL.
SELECT Output-File ASSIGN TO OutFile.

Output-File is the name of the file in your program. Use this name to refer to the file.
2. Describe the output file (or files when merging) in an FD entry in the FILE SECTION of the DATA
DIVISION. For example:

DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION.
FD Output-File
LABEL RECORDS ARE STANDARD
BLOCK CONTAINS 0 CHARACTERS
RECORDING MODE IS F
RECORD CONTAINS 100 CHARACTERS.
01 Output-Record PIC X(100).

related tasks
“Coding the output procedure” on page 216
“Requesting the sort or
merge” on page 218

related references
“FILE SECTION entries” on page 12

Chapter 12. Sorting and merging files 215

Coding the output procedure
To select, edit, or otherwise change sorted records before writing them from the sort work file into
another file, use the OUTPUT PROCEDURE phrase of the format 1 SORT statement.
Each output procedure must be contained in either a section or a paragraph. An output procedure must
include both of the following elements:
• At least one RETURN statement or one RETURN statement with the INTO phrase
• Any statements necessary to process the records that are made available, one at a time, by the RETURN
statement
The RETURN statement makes each sorted record available to the output procedure. (The RETURN
statement for a sort file is similar to a READ statement for an input file.)
You can use the AT END and END-RETURN phrases with the RETURN statement. The imperative
statements in the AT END phrase are performed after all the records have been returned from the sort
file. The END-RETURN explicit scope terminator delimits the scope of the RETURN statement.
If you use RETURN INTO instead of RETURN, the records will be returned to WORKING-STORAGE, LOCAL-
STORAGE, or to an output area.
DFSORT coding: If you use DFSORT and a RETURN statement does not encounter an AT END condition
before a COBOL program finishes running, the format 1 SORT statement could end abnormally with
DFSORT message IEC025A. To avoid this situation, be sure to code the RETURN statement with the AT
END phrase. In addition, ensure that the RETURN statement is executed until the AT END condition is
encountered. The AT END condition occurs after the last record is returned to the program from the sort
work file and a subsequent RETURN statement is executed.
“Example: coding the output procedure when using DFSORT” on page 216

related references
“Restrictions on input and output procedures” on page 217
RETURN statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: coding the output procedure when using DFSORT

The following example shows a coding technique that ensures that the RETURN statement encounters the
AT END condition before the program finishes running. The RETURN statement, coded with the AT END
phrase, is executed until the AT END condition occurs.

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION.
SD OUR-FILE.
01 OUR-SORT-REC.
03 SORT-KEY PIC X(10).
03 FILLER PIC X(70).
. . .
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 WS-SORT-REC PIC X(80).
01 END-OF-SORT-FILE-INDICATOR PIC X VALUE 'N'.
88 NO-MORE-SORT-RECORDS VALUE 'Y'.
. . .
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
A-CONTROL SECTION.
SORT OUR-FILE ON ASCENDING KEY SORT-KEY
INPUT PROCEDURE IS B-INPUT
OUTPUT PROCEDURE IS C-OUTPUT.
. . .
B-INPUT SECTION.
MOVE . . .. . .. TO WS-SORT-REC.
RELEASE OUR-SORT-REC FROM WS-SORT-REC.
. . .
C-OUTPUT SECTION.
DISPLAY 'STARTING READS OF SORTED RECORDS: '.
RETURN OUR-FILE
AT END

216 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 SET NO-MORE-SORT-RECORDS TO TRUE.
PERFORM WITH TEST BEFORE UNTIL NO-MORE-SORT-RECORDS
IF SORT-RETURN = 0 THEN
DISPLAY 'OUR-SORT-REC = ' OUR-SORT-REC
RETURN OUR-FILE
AT END
SET NO-MORE-SORT-RECORDS TO TRUE
END-IF
END-PERFORM.

Restrictions on input and output procedures

Several restrictions apply to each input or output procedure called by SORT and to each output procedure
called by MERGE.
Observe these restrictions:
• The procedure must not contain any SORT or MERGE statements.
Restriction: In an input or output procedure, you can call a program that follows standard linkage
conventions. However, the called program cannot issue a SORT, MERGE, RELEASE, or RETURN
statement.
• You can use ALTER, GO TO, and PERFORM statements in the procedure to refer to procedure-names
outside the input or output procedure. However, control must return to the input or output procedure
after a GO TO or PERFORM statement.
• The remainder of the PROCEDURE DIVISION must not contain any transfers of control to points inside
the input or output procedure (with the exception of the return of control from a declarative section).
• In an input or output procedure, you can call a program that follows standard linkage conventions.
However, the called program cannot issue a SORT or MERGE statement.
• During a SORT or MERGE operation, the SD data item is used. You must not use it in the output procedure
before the first RETURN executes. If you move data into this record area before the first RETURN
statement, the first record to be returned will be overwritten.
• Language Environment condition handling does not let user-written condition handlers be established in
an input or output procedure.

related tasks
“Coding the input procedure” on page 214
“Coding the output procedure” on page 216
Language Environment Programming Guide (Preparing to link-edit and run)

Defining sort and merge data sets

To use DFSORT under z/OS, code DD statements in the runtime JCL to describe the necessary data sets
that are listed below.
Sort or merge work
Define a minimum of three data sets: SORTWK01, SORTWK02, SORTWK03, . . ., SORTWKnn (where nn is
99 or less). These data sets cannot be in the z/OS UNIX file system.
SYSOUT
Define for sort diagnostic messages, unless you change the data-set name. (Change the name using
either the MSGDDN keyword of the OPTION control statement in the SORT-CONTROL data set, or using
the SORT-MESSAGE special register.)
SORTCKPT
Define if the sort or merge is to take checkpoints.
Input and output
Define input and output data sets, if any.
SORTLIB (DFSORT library)
Define the library that contains the sort modules, for example, SYS1.SORTLIB.

Chapter 12. Sorting and merging files 217

 related tasks
“Controlling sort behavior” on page 225
“Using checkpoint/restart with DFSORT” on page 227

Sorting variable-length records

Your sort work file will be variable length only if you define it to be variable length, even if the input file to
the sort contains variable-length records.
The compiler determines that the sort work file is variable length if you code one of the following
elements in the SD entry:
• A RECORD IS VARYING clause
• Two or more record descriptions that define records that have different sizes, or records that contain an
OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause
You cannot use RECORDING MODE V for the sort work file because the SD entry does not allow the
RECORDING MODE clause.
Performance consideration: To improve sort performance of variable-length files, specify the most
frequently occurring record length of the input file (the modal length) on the SMS= control card or in the
SORT-MODE-SIZE special register.

related tasks
“Changing DFSORT defaults with control statements” on page 226
“Controlling sort behavior” on page 225

Requesting the sort or merge

To read records from an input file (files for MERGE) without preliminary processing, use SORT . . .
USING or MERGE . . . USING and the name of the input file (files) that you declared in a SELECT
clause.
To transfer sorted or merged records from the sort or merge program to another file without any further
processing, use SORT . . . GIVING or MERGE . . . GIVING and the name of the output file that
you declared in a SELECT clause. For example:

SORT Sort-Work-1
ON ASCENDING KEY Sort-Key-1
USING Input-File
GIVING Output-File.

For SORT . . . USING or MERGE . . . USING, the compiler generates an input procedure to open
the file (files), read the records, release the records to the sort or merge program, and close the file (files).
The file (files) must not be open when the SORT or MERGE statement begins execution. For SORT . . .
GIVING or MERGE . . . GIVING, the compiler generates an output procedure to open the file, return
the records, write the records, and close the file. The file must not be open when the SORT or MERGE
statement begins execution.
The USING or GIVING files in a SORT or MERGE statement can be sequential files residing in the z/OS
UNIX file system.
“Example: describing sort and input files for SORT” on page 214
You can also use the FASTSRT compiler option to let IBM DFSORT, or an equivalent product, perform sort
input and output instead of Enterprise COBOL. Using FASTSRT improves the performance of most sort
operations. For details, see “FASTSRT” on page 320.

218 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 If you want an input procedure to be performed on the sort records before they are sorted, use
SORT . . . INPUT PROCEDURE. If you want an output procedure to be performed on the sorted
records, use SORT . . . OUTPUT PROCEDURE. For example:

SORT Sort-Work-1
ON ASCENDING KEY Sort-Key-1
INPUT PROCEDURE EditInputRecords
OUTPUT PROCEDURE FormatData.

“Example: sorting with input and output procedures” on page 220

Restriction: You cannot use an input procedure with the MERGE statement. The source of input to the
merge operation must be a collection of already sorted files. However, if you want an output procedure to
be performed on the merged records, use MERGE . . . OUTPUT PROCEDURE. For example:

MERGE Merge-Work
ON ASCENDING KEY Merge-Key
USING Input-File-1 Input-File-2 Input-File-3
OUTPUT PROCEDURE ProcessOutput.

In the FILE SECTION, you must define Merge-Work in an SD entry, and the input files in FD entries.

related tasks
“Defining sort and merge data sets” on page 217

related references
SORT statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
MERGE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Setting sort or merge criteria

To set sort or merge criteria, define the keys on which the operation is to be performed.
Note: The process of setting sort criteria that is described in this topic relates to the format 1 SORT
statement only. For more information about sorting a table by using the format 2 SORT statement, see
“Sorting a table” on page 87.
Do these steps:
1. In the record description of the files to be sorted or merged, define the key or keys.
There is no maximum number of keys, but the keys must be located in the first 4092 bytes of the
record description. The total length of the keys cannot exceed 4092 bytes unless the EQUALS keyword
is coded in the DFSORT OPTION control statement, in which case the total length of the keys must not
exceed 4088 bytes.
Restriction: A key cannot be variably located.
2. In the SORT or MERGE statement, specify the key fields to be used for sequencing by coding the
ASCENDING or DESCENDING KEY phrase, or both. When you code more than one key, some can be
ascending, and some descending.
Specify the names of the keys in decreasing order of significance. The leftmost key is the primary key.
The next key is the secondary key, and so on.
SORT and MERGE keys can be of class alphabetic, alphanumeric, national, or numeric (but not numeric
of USAGE NATIONAL). If it has USAGE NATIONAL, a key can be of category national or can be a
national-edited or numeric-edited data item. A key cannot be a national decimal data item or a national
floating-point data item.

The collation order for national keys is determined by the binary order of the keys. If you specify a
national data item as a key, any COLLATING SEQUENCE phrase in the SORT or MERGE statement does not
apply to that key.

Chapter 12. Sorting and merging files 219

 You can mix SORT and MERGE statements in the same COBOL program. A program can perform any
number of sort or merge operations. However, one operation must end before another can begin.

related tasks

“Sorting
a table” on page 87

related references
DFSORT Application Programming Guide (SORT control statement)
SORT statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
MERGE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: sorting with input and output procedures

The following example shows the use of an input and an output procedure in a format 1 SORT statement.
The example also shows how you can define a primary key (SORT-GRID-LOCATION) and a secondary key
(SORT-SHIFT) before using them in the format 1 SORT statement.

DATA DIVISION.
. . .
SD SORT-FILE
RECORD CONTAINS 115 CHARACTERS
DATA RECORD SORT-RECORD.
01 SORT-RECORD.
05 SORT-KEY.
10 SORT-SHIFT PIC X(1).
10 SORT-GRID-LOCATION PIC X(2).
10 SORT-REPORT PIC X(3).
05 SORT-EXT-RECORD.
10 SORT-EXT-EMPLOYEE-NUM PIC X(6).
10 SORT-EXT-NAME PIC X(30).
10 FILLER PIC X(73).
. . .
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 TAB1.
05 TAB-ENTRY OCCURS 10 TIMES
INDEXED BY TAB-INDX.
10 WS-SHIFT PIC X(1).
10 WS-GRID-LOCATION PIC X(2).
10 WS-REPORT PIC X(3).
10 WS-EXT-EMPLOYEE-NUM PIC X(6).
10 WS-EXT-NAME PIC X(30).
10 FILLER PIC X(73).
. . .
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
. . .
*****************************************************************************
* This SORT statement will do a 'table sort' using Format 1 SORT, and will *
* sort records in SORT-FILE in an ascending sequence based on the data *
* in sort keys SORT-GRID-LOCATION (primary) and SORT-SHIFT (secondary). *
* The source of the file records is data in table TAB-ENTRY *
* which is acquired in the input procedure 600-SORT3-INPUT and then *
* output back to the table in the output procedure 700-SORT3-OUTPUT. *
*****************************************************************************
SORT SORT-FILE
ON ASCENDING KEY SORT-GRID-LOCATION SORT-
SHIFT
INPUT PROCEDURE 600-SORT3-INPUT
OUTPUT PROCEDURE 700-SORT3-OUTPUT.
. . .
600-SORT3-INPUT.
PERFORM VARYING TAB-INDX FROM 1 BY 1 UNTIL TAB-INDX > 10
RELEASE SORT-RECORD FROM TAB-ENTRY(TAB-INDX)
END-PERFORM.
. . .
700-SORT3-OUTPUT.
PERFORM VARYING TAB-INDX FROM 1 BY 1 UNTIL TAB-INDX > 10
RETURN SORT-FILE INTO TAB-ENTRY(TAB-INDX)
AT END DISPLAY 'Out Of Records In SORT File'
END-RETURN
END-PERFORM.

220 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 related tasks
“Requesting the sort or
merge” on page 218

Choosing alternate collating sequences

You can sort or merge records on the EBCDIC or ASCII collating sequence, or on another collating
sequence. The default collating sequence is EBCDIC unless you code the PROGRAM COLLATING
SEQUENCE clause in the OBJECT-COMPUTER paragraph.
To override the default sequence, use the COLLATING SEQUENCE phrase of the SORT or MERGE
statement. You can use different collating sequences for each SORT or MERGE statement in your program.
The PROGRAM COLLATING SEQUENCE clause and the COLLATING SEQUENCE phrase apply only to keys
of class alphabetic or alphanumeric.

When you sort or merge an ASCII file, you have to request the ASCII collating sequence. To do so, code
the COLLATING SEQUENCE phrase of the SORT or MERGE statement, and define the alphabet-name as
STANDARD-1 in the SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph.

related tasks
“Specifying the collating sequence” on page 7
“Setting sort or merge
criteria” on page 219

related references
OBJECT-COMPUTER paragraph (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
SORT statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
Classes and categories of data (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Preserving the original sequence of records with equal keys

You can preserve the order of identical collating records from input to output.
Use one of these techniques:
• Install DFSORT with the EQUALS option as the default.
• Provide, at run time, an OPTION card that has the EQUALS keyword in the IGZSRTCD data set.
• Use the WITH DUPLICATES IN ORDER phrase in the SORT statement. Doing so adds the EQUALS
keyword to the OPTION card in the IGZSRTCD data set.
Do not use both the NOEQUALS keyword on the OPTION card and the DUPLICATES phrase, or the run
unit will end.

related references
DFSORT Application Programming Guide (OPTION control statement)

Determining whether the sort or merge was successful

The DFSORT program returns a completion code of either 0 (successful completion) or 16 (unsuccessful
completion) after each sort or merge has finished. The completion code is stored in the SORT-RETURN
special register.
You should test for successful completion after each SORT or MERGE statement. For example:

SORT SORT-WORK-2
ON ASCENDING KEY SORT-KEY
INPUT PROCEDURE IS 600-SORT3-INPUT-PROC
OUTPUT PROCEDURE IS 700-SORT3-OUTPUT-PROC.
IF SORT-RETURN NOT=0
DISPLAY "SORT ENDED ABNORMALLY. SORT-RETURN = " SORT-RETURN.
. . .
600-SORT3-INPUT-PROC SECTION.

Chapter 12. Sorting and merging files 221

 . . .
700-SORT3-OUTPUT-PROC SECTION.
. . .

If you do not reference SORT-RETURN anywhere in your program, the COBOL run time tests the
completion code. If it is 16, COBOL issues a runtime diagnostic message.
By default, DFSORT diagnostic messages are sent to the SYSOUT data set. If you want to change this
default, use the MSGDDN parameter of the DFSORT OPTION control card or use the SORT-MESSAGE
special register.

If you test SORT-RETURN for one or more (but not necessarily all) SORT or MERGE statements, the COBOL
run time does not check the completion code.

related tasks
“Checking for sort errors with NOFASTSRT” on page 224
“Controlling sort behavior” on page 225

related references
DFSORT Application Programming Guide (DFSORT messages and return codes)

Stopping a sort or merge operation prematurely

To stop a sort or merge operation, move the integer 16 into the SORT-RETURN special register.
Move 16 into the register in either of the following ways:
• Use MOVE in an input or output procedure.
Sort or merge processing will be stopped immediately after the next RELEASE or RETURN statement is
performed.
• Reset the register in a declarative section entered during processing of a USING or GIVING file.
Sort or merge processing will be stopped immediately after the next implicit RELEASE or RETURN is
performed, which will occur after a record has been read from or written to the USING or GIVING file.
Control then returns to the statement following the SORT or MERGE statement.

Improving sort performance with FASTSRT

Using the FASTSRT compiler option improves the performance of most sort operations. With FASTSRT,
the DFSORT product (instead of Enterprise COBOL) performs the I/O on the input and output files you
name in the SORT . . . USING and SORT . . . GIVING statements.
The compiler issues informational messages to point out statements in which FASTSRT can improve
performance.
Usage notes
• You cannot use the DFSORT options SORTIN or SORTOUT if you use FASTSRT. The FASTSRT compiler
option does not apply to line-sequential files you use as USING or GIVING files.
• If you specify file status and use FASTSRT, file status is ignored during the sort.

related references
“FASTSRT” on page 320
“FASTSRT requirements for JCL” on page 223
“FASTSRT requirements for sort input and output files” on page 223

222 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
FASTSRT requirements for JCL
In the runtime JCL, you must assign the sort work files (SORTWKnn) to a direct-access device, not to tape
data sets.
For the input and output files, the DCB parameter of the DD statement must match the FD description.

FASTSRT requirements for sort input and output files

If you specify FASTSRT but your code does not meet FASTSRT requirements, the compiler issues a
message and the COBOL run time performs the I/O instead. Your program will not experience the
performance improvements that are otherwise possible.
Note: The "sort input and output files" that is described in this topic relates to the format 1 SORT
statement only.
To use FASTSRT, you must describe and process the input files to the sort and the output files from the
sort in these ways:
• You can name only one input file in the USING phrase. You can name only one output file in the GIVING
phrase.
• You cannot use an input procedure on an input file nor an output procedure on an output file.
Instead of using input or output procedures, you might be able to use these DFSORT control
statements:
– INREC
– OUTFILE
– OUTREC
– INCLUDE
– OMIT
– STOPAFT
– SKIPREC
– SUM
Many DFSORT functions perform the same operations that are common in input or output procedures.
Code the appropriate DFSORT control statements instead, and place them either in the IGZSRTCD or
SORTCNTL data set.
• Do not code the LINAGE clause for the output FD entry.
• Do not code any INPUT declarative (for input files), OUTPUT declarative (for output files), or file-specific
declaratives (for either input or output files) to apply to any FDs used in the sort.
• Do not use a variable relative file as the input or output file.
• Do not use a line-sequential file as the input or output file.
• For either an input or an output file, the record descriptions of the SD and FD entry must define the same
format (fixed or variable), and the largest records of the SD and FD entry must define the same record
length.
If you code a RELATIVE KEY clause for an output file, it will not be set by the sort.

Performance tip: If you block your input and output records, the sort performance could be significantly
improved.

QSAM requirements
• QSAM files must have a record format of fixed, variable, or spanned.
• A QSAM input file can be empty.

Chapter 12. Sorting and merging files 223

 • To use the same QSAM file for both input and output, you must describe the file using two different DD
statements. For example, in the FILE-CONTROL SECTION you might code this:

SELECT FILE-IN ASSIGN INPUTF.

SELECT FILE-OUT ASSIGN OUTPUTF.

In the DATA DIVISION, you would have an FD entry for both FILE-IN and FILE-OUT, where FILE-IN
and FILE-OUT are identical except for their names.
In the PROCEDURE DIVISION, your SORT statement could look like this:

SORT file-name
ASCENDING KEY data-name-1
USING FILE-IN GIVING FILE-OUT

Then in your JCL, assuming that data set INOUT has been cataloged, you would code:

//INPUTF DD DSN=INOUT,DISP=SHR
//OUTPUTF DD DSN=INOUT,DISP=SHR

On the other hand, if you code the same file-name in the USING and GIVING phrases, or assign the
input and output files the same ddname, then the file can be accepted for FASTSRT either for input
or output, but not both. If no other conditions disqualify the file from being eligible for FASTSRT on
input, then the file will be accepted for FASTSRT on input, but not on output. If the file was found to be
ineligible for FASTSRT on input, it might be eligible for FASTSRT on output.
A QSAM file that qualifies for FASTSRT can be accessed by the COBOL program while the format 1 SORT
statement is being performed. For example, if the file is used for FASTSRT on input, you can access it in
an output procedure; if it is used for FASTSRT on output, you can access it in an input procedure.

VSAM requirements
• A VSAM input file must not be empty.
• VSAM files cannot be password-protected.
• You cannot name the same VSAM file in both the USING and GIVING phrases.
• A VSAM file that qualifies for FASTSRT cannot be accessed by the COBOL program until the format 1
SORT statement processing is completed. For example, if the file qualifies for FASTSRT on input, you
cannot access it in an output procedure and vice versa. (If you do so, OPEN fails.)

related tasks
DFSORT Application Programming Guide

Checking for sort errors with NOFASTSRT

When you compile with the NOFASTSRT option, the sort process does not check for errors in open, close,
or input or output operations for files that you reference in the USING or GIVING phrase of the format 1
SORT statement. Therefore, you might need to check whether SORT completed successfully.
Note: This topic relates to the format 1 SORT statement only.
The code required depends on whether you code a FILE STATUS clause or an ERROR declarative for the
files referenced in the USING and GIVING phrases, as shown in the table below.

224 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Table 32. Methods for checking for sort errors with NOFASTSRT
FILE STATUS ERROR Then do:
clause? declarative?
No No No special coding. Any failure during the sort process causes the
program to end abnormally.
Yes No Test the SORT-RETURN special register after the format 1 SORT
statement, and test the file status key. (Not recommended if you
want complete file-status checking, because the file status code is
set but COBOL cannot check it.)
Maybe Yes In the ERROR declarative, set the SORT-RETURN special register to
16 to stop the sort process and indicate that it was not successful.
Test the SORT-RETURN special register after the format 1 SORT
statement.

related tasks
“Determining whether the sort or merge was successful” on page 221
“Using file status keys” on page 237
“Coding ERROR declaratives” on page 236
“Stopping a sort or merge operation prematurely” on page 222

Controlling sort behavior

You can control several aspects of sort behavior by inserting values in special registers before the sort or
by using compiler options. You might also have a choice of control statements and keywords.
You can verify sort behavior by examining the contents of special registers after the sort.
The table below lists those aspects of sort behavior that you can affect by using special registers or
compiler options, and the equivalent sort control statement keywords if any are available.

Table 33. Methods for controlling sort behavior

To set or test Use this special register or Or this control statement
compiler option (and keyword if applicable)
Amount of main storage to be SORT-CORE-SIZE special register OPTION (keyword RESINV)
reserved
Amount of main storage to be used SORT-CORE-SIZE special register OPTION (keywords MAINSIZE
or MAINSIZE=MAX)
Modal length of records in a file SORT-MODE-SIZE special register SMS=nnnnn
with variable-length records
Name of sort control statement SORT-CONTROL special register None
data set (default IGZSRTCD)
Name of sort message file (default SORT-MESSAGE special register OPTION (keyword MSGDDN)
SYSOUT)
Number of sort records SORT-FILE-SIZE special register OPTION (keyword FILSZ)
Sort completion code SORT-RETURN special register None

Sort special registers: SORT-CONTROL is an eight-character COBOL special register that contains the
ddname of the sort control statement file. If you do not want to use the default ddname IGZSRTCD, assign
to SORT-CONTROL the ddname of the data set that contains your sort control statements.

Chapter 12. Sorting and merging files 225

 The SORT-CORE-SIZE, SORT-FILE-SIZE, SORT-MESSAGE, and SORT-MODE-SIZE special registers are
used in the SORT interface if you assign them nondefault values. At run time, however, any parameters in
control statements in the sort control statement data set override corresponding settings in the special
registers, and a message to that effect is issued.
You can use the SORT-RETURN special register to determine whether the sort or merge was successful
and to stop a sort or merge operation prematurely.
A compiler warning message (W-level) is issued for each sort special register that you set in a program.

related tasks
“Determining whether the sort or merge was successful” on page 221
“Stopping a sort or merge operation prematurely” on page 222
“Changing DFSORT defaults with control statements” on page 226
“Allocating space for sort files” on page 227
DFSORT Application Programming Guide (Using DFSORT program
control statements)

related references
“Default characteristics of the IGZSRTCD data set” on page 226

Changing DFSORT defaults with control statements

If you want to change DFSORT system defaults to improve sort performance, pass information to DFSORT
through control statements in the runtime data set IGZSRTCD.
The control statements that you can include in IGZSRTCD (in the order listed) are:
1. SMS=nnnnn, where nnnnn is the length in bytes of the most frequently occurring record size. (Use only
if the SD file is variable length.)
2. OPTION (except keywords SORTIN or SORTOUT).
3. Other DFSORT control statements (except SORT, MERGE, RECORD, or END).
Code control statements between columns 2 and 71. You can continue a control statement record by
ending the line with a comma and starting the next line with a new keyword. You cannot use labels or
comments on a record, and a record itself cannot be a DFSORT comment statement.

related tasks
“Controlling sort behavior” on page 225
DFSORT Application Programming Guide (Using DFSORT program
control statements)
related references
“Default characteristics of the IGZSRTCD data set” on page 226

Default characteristics of the IGZSRTCD data set

The IGZSRTCD data set is optional. Its defaults are LRECL=80, BLKSIZE=400, and ddname IGZSRTCD.
You can use a different ddname by coding it in the SORT-CONTROL special register. If you defined a
ddname for the SORT-CONTROL data set and you receive the message IGZ0027W, an OPEN failure
occurred that you should investigate.

related tasks
“Controlling sort behavior” on page 225

Allocating storage for sort or merge operations

Certain parameters set during the installation of DFSORT determine the amount of storage that DFSORT
uses. In general, the more storage DFSORT has available, the faster the sort or merge operations in your
program will be.

226 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 DFSORT installation should not allocate all the free space in the region for its COBOL operation, however.
When your program is running, storage must be available for:
• COBOL programs that are dynamically called from an input or output procedure
• Language Environment runtime library modules
• Data management modules that can be loaded into the region for use by an input or output procedure
• Any storage obtained by these modules
For a specific sort or merge operation, you can override the DFSORT storage values set at installation. To
do so, code the MAINSIZE and RESINV keywords on the OPTION control statement in the sort control
statement data set, or use the SORT-CORE-SIZE special register.
Be careful not to override the storage allocation to the extent that all the free space in the region is used
for sort operations for your COBOL program.

related tasks
“Controlling sort behavior” on page 225
DFSORT Installation and Customization

related references
DFSORT Application Programming Guide (OPTION control statement)

Allocating space for sort files

If you use NOFASTSRT or an input procedure, DFSORT does not know the size of the file that you are
sorting. This can lead to an out-of-space condition when you sort large files or to overallocation of
resources when you sort small files.
If this occurs, you can use the SORT-FILE-SIZE special register to help DFSORT determine the amount
of resource (for example, workspace or hiperspace) needed for the sort. Set SORT-FILE-SIZE to a
reasonable estimate of the number of input records. This value is passed to DFSORT as its FILSZ=En
value.

related tasks
“Controlling sort behavior” on page 225
“Coding the input procedure” on page 214
DFSORT Application Programming Guide

Using checkpoint/restart with DFSORT

You cannot use checkpoints taken while DFSORT is running under z/OS to restart, unless the checkpoints
are taken by DFSORT.
Checkpoints taken by a COBOL program while SORT or MERGE statements execute are invalid; such
restarts are detected and canceled.
To take a checkpoint during a sort or merge operation, do these steps:
1. Add a DD statement for SORTCKPT in the JCL.
2. Code the RERUN clause in the I-O-CONTROL paragraph:

RERUN ON assignment-name

3. Code the CKPT (or CHKPT) keyword on an OPTION control statement in the sort control statement data
set (default ddname IGZSRTCD).

related concepts
Chapter 36, “Interrupts and checkpoint/restart,” on page 655

Chapter 12. Sorting and merging files 227

 related tasks
“Changing DFSORT defaults with control statements” on page 226
“Setting checkpoints” on page 655

Using COBOL user exit routines with DFSORT

You can write DFSORT E15 and E35 user exit routines in COBOL. For details about the COBOL user exit
routine interface, refer to Using your own user exit routines in the z/OS DFSORT Application Programming
Guide.
Note that the following rules apply:
• The COBOL routine should not contain SORT or MERGE statements.
• The COBOL routine should not return by using STOP RUN.
• The return code to be passed back to DFSORT must be set using the RETURN-CODE special register.
• DFSORT might use high-half of the general registers. If the COBOL exit routine is compiled with
Enterprise COBOL V5 or later versions, the HGPR(PRESERVE) compiler option must be used. This is
the default setting of the HGPR option.

Related references
“HGPR” on page 323
RETURN-CODE (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Sorting under CICS

There is no IBM sort product that is supported under CICS. However, you can use the format 1 SORT
statement with a sort program you write that runs under CICS to sort small amounts of data. You can also
use the format 2 SORT statement under CICS to sort tables.
You must have both an input and an output procedure for the format 1 SORT statement. In the input
procedure, use the RELEASE statement to transfer records from the COBOL program to the sort program
before the sort is performed. In the output procedure, use the RETURN statement to transfer records from
the sort program to the COBOL program after the sort is performed.
The format 2 SORT statement is supported under CICS and you don't need to write a special SORT
program.

related tasks
“Coding the input procedure” on page 214
“Coding the output procedure” on page 216
“Coding COBOL programs to run under CICS” on page 429

related references
“CICS SORT application
restrictions” on page 228
“CICS reserved-word table” on page 436

CICS SORT application restrictions

Several restrictions apply to COBOL applications that run under CICS and use the format 1 SORT
statement.
The restrictions are:
• Format 1 SORT statements that include the USING or GIVING phrase are not supported.
• Sort control data sets are not supported. Data in the SORT-CONTROL special register is ignored.
• These CICS commands in the input or output procedures can cause unpredictable results:
– CICS LINK
– CICS XCTL

228 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 – CICS RETURN
– CICS HANDLE
– CICS IGNORE
– CICS PUSH
– CICS POP
You can use CICS commands other than these if you use the NOHANDLE or RESP option. Unpredictable
results can occur if you do not use NOHANDLE or RESP.

related references
“CICS reserved-word table” on page 436

Chapter 12. Sorting and merging files 229

230 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 13. Handling errors

Put code in your programs that anticipates possible system or runtime problems. If you do not include
such code, output data or files could be corrupted, and the user might not even be aware that there is a
problem.
The error-handling code can take actions such as handling the situation, issuing a message, or halting the
program. You might for example create error-detection routines for data-entry errors or for errors as your
installation defines them. In any event, coding a warning message is a good idea.
Enterprise COBOL contains special elements to help you anticipate and correct error conditions:
• User-requested dumps
• ON OVERFLOW in STRING and UNSTRING operations
• ON SIZE ERROR in arithmetic operations
• Elements for handling input or output errors
• ON EXCEPTION or ON OVERFLOW in CALL statements
• User-written routines for handling errors
related tasks
“Handling errors in joining and splitting strings” on page 232
“Handling errors in arithmetic operations” on page 232
“Handling errors in input
and output operations” on page 233
“Handling errors when calling programs” on page 241
“Writing routines for handling errors” on page 242

Requesting dumps
You can cause a formatted dump of the Language Environment runtime environment and the member
language libraries at any prespecified point in your program by coding a call to the Language Environment
callable service CEE3DMP.

77 Title-1 Pic x(80) Display.

77 Options Pic x(255) Display.
01 Feedback-code Pic x(12) Display.
. . .
Call "CEE3DMP" Using Title-1, Options, Feedback-code

To have symbolic variables included in the formatted dump, compile with the TEST compiler option and
use the VARIABLES subparameter of CEE3DMP. You can also request, through runtime options, that a
dump be produced for error conditions of your choosing.

You can cause a system dump at any prespecified point in your program. Request an abend without
cleanup by calling the Language Environment service CEE3ABD with a cleanup value of zero. This callable
service stops the run unit immediately, and a system dump is requested when the abend is issued.

related references
“TEST” on page 359
Language Environment Debugging Guide
Language Environment Programming Reference (CEE3DMP--generate dump)

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 231

Handling errors in joining and splitting strings
During the joining or splitting of strings, the pointer used by STRING or UNSTRING might fall outside the
range of the receiving field. A potential overflow condition exists, but COBOL does not let the overflow
happen.
Instead, the STRING or UNSTRING operation is not completed, the receiving field remains unchanged,
and control passes to the next sequential statement. If you do not code the ON OVERFLOW phrase of the
STRING or UNSTRING statement, you are not notified of the incomplete operation.
Consider the following statement:

String Item-1 space Item-2 delimited by Item-3

into Item-4
with pointer String-ptr
on overflow
Display "A string overflow occurred"
End-String

These are the data values before and after the statement is performed:

Data item PICTURE Value before Value after

Item-1 X(5) AAAAA AAAAA
Item-2 X(5) EEEAA EEEAA
Item-3 X(2) EA EA
Item-4 X(8) bbbbbbbb1 bbbbbbbb1
String-ptr 9(2) 0 0
1. The symbol b represents a blank space.

Because String-ptr has a value (0) that falls short of the receiving field, an overflow condition occurs
and the STRING operation is not completed. (Overflow would also occur if String-ptr were greater
than 9.) If ON OVERFLOW had not been specified, you would not be notified that the contents of Item-4
remained unchanged.

Handling errors in arithmetic operations

The results of arithmetic operations might be larger than the fixed-point field that is to hold them, or you
might have tried dividing by zero. In either case, the ON SIZE ERROR clause after the ADD, SUBTRACT,
MULTIPLY, DIVIDE, or COMPUTE statement can handle the situation.
For ON SIZE ERROR to work correctly for fixed-point overflow and decimal overflow, you must specify
the TRAP(ON) runtime option.
The imperative statement of the ON SIZE ERROR clause will be performed and the result field will not
change in these cases:
• Fixed-point overflow
• Division by zero
• Zero raised to the zero power
• Zero raised to a negative number
• Negative number raised to a fractional power
Floating-point exponent overflow occurs when the value of a floating-point computation cannot be
represented in the System z floating-point operand format. This type of overflow does not cause SIZE
ERROR; an abend occurs instead. You could code a user-written condition handler to intercept the abend
and provide your own error recovery logic.

232 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Example: checking for division by zero
The following example shows how you can code an ON SIZE ERROR imperative statement so that the
program issues an informative message if division by zero occurs.

DIVIDE-TOTAL-COST.
DIVIDE TOTAL-COST BY NUMBER-PURCHASED
GIVING ANSWER
ON SIZE ERROR
DISPLAY "ERROR IN DIVIDE-TOTAL-COST PARAGRAPH"
DISPLAY "SPENT " TOTAL-COST, " FOR " NUMBER-PURCHASED
PERFORM FINISH
END-DIVIDE
. . .
FINISH.
STOP RUN.

If division by zero occurs, the program writes a message and halts program execution.

Handling errors in input and output operations

When an input or output operation fails, COBOL does not automatically take corrective action. You choose
whether your program will continue running after a less-than-severe input or output error.
You can use any of the following techniques for intercepting and handling certain input or output
conditions or errors:
• End-of-file condition (AT END)
• ERROR declaratives
• FILE STATUS clause and file status key
• File system status code
• Imperative-statement phrases in READ or WRITE statements
For VSAM files, if you specify a FILE STATUS clause, you can also test the VSAM status code to direct
your program to error-handling logic.
• INVALID KEY phrase
To have your program continue, you must code the appropriate error-recovery procedure. You might code,
for example, a procedure to check the value of the file status key. If you do not handle an input or output
error in any of these ways, a severity-3 Language Environment condition is signaled, which causes the run
unit to end if the condition is not handled.
The following figure shows the flow of logic after a VSAM input or output error:

Chapter 13. Handling errors 233

 The following figure shows the flow of logic after an input or output error with QSAM or line-sequential
files. The error can be from a READ statement, a WRITE statement, or a CLOSE statement with a REEL/
UNIT clause (QSAM only).

234 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
*Possible phrases for QSAM are AT END, AT END-OF-PAGE, and INVALID KEY; for line sequential, AT
END.
**You need to write the code to test the file status key.
***Execution of your COBOL program continues after the input or output statement that caused the error.

related tasks
“Using the end-of-file condition
(AT END)” on page 236
“Coding ERROR declaratives” on page 236
“Using file status keys” on page 237
“Handling errors in QSAM files” on page 169
“Using VSAM status codes
(VSAM files only)” on page 238
“Handling errors in line-sequential files” on page 210
“Coding INVALID KEY phrases” on page 240

related references
File status key (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Chapter 13. Handling errors 235

Using the end-of-file condition (AT END)
You code the AT END phrase of the READ statement to handle errors or normal conditions, according
to your program design. At end-of-file, the AT END phrase is performed. If you do not code an AT END
phrase, the associated ERROR declarative is performed.
In many designs, reading sequentially to the end of a file is done intentionally, and the AT END condition
is expected. For example, suppose you are processing a file that contains transactions in order to update
a master file:

PERFORM UNTIL TRANSACTION-EOF = "TRUE"

READ UPDATE-TRANSACTION-FILE INTO WS-TRANSACTION-RECORD
AT END
DISPLAY "END OF TRANSACTION UPDATE FILE REACHED"
MOVE "TRUE" TO TRANSACTION-EOF
END READ
. . .
END-PERFORM

Any NOT AT END phrase is performed only if the READ statement completes successfully. If the READ
operation fails because of a condition other than end-of-file, neither the AT END nor the NOT AT END
phrase is performed. Instead, control passes to the end of the READ statement after any associated
declarative procedure is performed.
You might choose not to code either an AT END phrase or an EXCEPTION declarative procedure, but to
code a status key clause for the file instead. In that case, control passes to the next sequential instruction
after the input or output statement that detected the end-of-file condition. At that place, have some code
that takes appropriate action.

related references
AT END phrases (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Coding ERROR declaratives

You can code one or more ERROR declarative procedures that will be given control if an input or output
error occurs during the execution of your program. If you do not code such procedures, your job could be
canceled or abnormally terminated after an input or output error occurs.
Place each such procedure in the declaratives section of the PROCEDURE DIVISION. You can code:
• A single, common procedure for the entire program
• Procedures for each file open mode (whether INPUT, OUTPUT, I-O, or EXTEND)
• Individual procedures for each file
In an ERROR declarative procedure, you can code corrective action, retry the operation, continue, or
end execution. (If you continue processing a blocked file, though, you might lose the remaining records
in a block after the record that caused the error.) You can use the ERROR declaratives procedure in
combination with the file status key if you want a further analysis of the error.
Multithreading: Avoid deadlocks when coding I/O declaratives in multithreaded applications. When an
I/O operation results in a transfer of control to an I/O declarative, the automatic serialization lock
associated with the file is held during the execution of the statements within the declarative. If you
code I/O operations within your declaratives, your logic might result in a deadlock as illustrated by the
following sample:

Declaratives.
D1 section.
Use after standard error procedure on F1
Read F2.
. . .
D2 section.
Use after standard error procedure on F2
Read F1.

236 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 . . .
End declaratives.
. . .
Rewrite R1.
Rewrite R2.

When this program is running on two threads, the following sequence of events could occur:
1. Thread 1: Rewrite R1 acquires lock on F1 and encounters I/O error.
2. Thread 1: Enter declarative D1, holding lock on F1.
3. Thread 2: Rewrite R2 acquires lock on F2 and encounters I/O error.
4. Thread 2: Enter declarative D2.
5. Thread 1: Read F2 from declarative D1; wait on F2 lock held by thread 2.
6. Thread 2: Read F1 from declarative D2; wait on F1 lock held by thread 1.
7. Deadlock.

related references
EXCEPTION/ERROR declarative (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Using file status keys

After each input or output statement is performed on a file, the system updates values in the two digit
positions of the file status key. In general, a zero in the first position indicates a successful operation, and
a zero in both positions means that nothing abnormal occurred.
Establish a file status key by coding:
• The FILE STATUS clause in the FILE-CONTROL paragraph:

FILE STATUS IS data-name-1

• Data definitions in the DATA DIVISION (WORKING-STORAGE, LOCAL-STORAGE, or LINKAGE

SECTION), for example:

WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 data-name-1 PIC 9(2) USAGE NATIONAL.

Specify the file status key data-name-1 as a two-character category alphanumeric or category national
item, or as a two-digit zoned decimal or national decimal item. This data-name-1 cannot be variably
located.
Your program can check the file status key to discover whether an error occurred, and, if so, what type of
error occurred. For example, suppose that a FILE STATUS clause is coded like this:

FILE STATUS IS FS-CODE

FS-CODE is used by COBOL to hold status information like this:

Follow these rules for each file:

• Define a different file status key for each file.

Chapter 13. Handling errors 237

 Doing so means that you can determine the cause of a file input or output exception, such as an
application logic error or a disk error.
• Check the file status key after each input or output request.
If the file status key contains a value other than 0, your program can issue an error message or can take
action based on that value.
You do not have to reset the file status key code, because it is set after each input or output attempt.
For VSAM files, you can additionally code a second identifier in the FILE STATUS clause to get more
detailed information about VSAM input or output requests.
You can use the file status key alone or in conjunction with the INVALID KEY phrase, or to supplement
the EXCEPTION or ERROR declarative. Using the file status key in this way gives you precise information
about the results of each input or output operation.

“Example: file status key” on page 238

related tasks
“Using VSAM status codes
(VSAM files only)” on page 238
“Coding INVALID KEY phrases” on page 240
“Finding and handling input-output
errors” on page 383

related references
FILE STATUS clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
File status key (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: file status key

The following example shows how you can perform a simple check of the file status key after opening a
file.

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. SIMCHK.
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
FILE-CONTROL.
SELECT MASTERFILE ASSIGN TO AS-MASTERA
FILE STATUS IS MASTER-CHECK-KEY
. . .
DATA DIVISION.
. . .
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 MASTER-CHECK-KEY PIC X(2).
. . .
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
OPEN INPUT MASTERFILE
IF MASTER-CHECK-KEY NOT = "00"
DISPLAY "Nonzero file status returned from OPEN " MASTER-CHECK-KEY
. . .

Using VSAM status codes (VSAM files only)

Often the COBOL file status code is too general to pinpoint the disposition of a request. You can get more
detailed information about VSAM input or output requests by coding a second data item in the FILE
STATUS clause.

FILE STATUS IS data-name-1 data-name-8

The data item data-name-1 shown above specifies the COBOL file status key, which you define as a
two-character alphanumeric or national data item, or as a two-digit zoned decimal or national decimal
item.

238 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 The data item data-name-8 specifies the VSAM status code, which you define as a 6-byte alphanumeric
group data item that has three subordinate 2-byte binary fields. The VSAM status code contains
meaningful values when the COBOL file status key is not 0.
You can define data-name-8 in the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION, as in VSAM-CODE below.

01 RETURN-STATUS.
05 FS-CODE PIC X(2).
05 VSAM-CODE.
10 VSAM-R15-RETURN PIC S9(4) Usage Comp-5.
10 VSAM-FUNCTION PIC S9(4) Usage Comp-5.
10 VSAM-FEEDBACK PIC S9(4) Usage Comp-5.

Enterprise COBOL uses data-name-8 to pass information supplied by VSAM. In the following example,
FS-CODE corresponds to data-name-1 and VSAM-CODE corresponds to data-name-8:

“Example: checking VSAM status codes” on page 239

related references
FILE STATUS clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
File status key (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
z/OS DFSMS Macro Instructions for Data Sets (VSAM macro return and
reason codes)

Example: checking VSAM status codes

The following example reads an indexed file (starting at the fifth record), checks the file status key after
each input or output request, and displays the VSAM status codes when the file status key is not zero.
This example also illustrates how output from this program might look if the file being processed
contained six records.

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. EXAMPLE.
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
FILE-CONTROL.
SELECT VSAMFILE ASSIGN TO VSAMFILE
ORGANIZATION IS INDEXED
ACCESS DYNAMIC
RECORD KEY IS VSAMFILE-KEY
FILE STATUS IS FS-CODE VSAM-CODE.
DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION.
FD VSAMFILE
RECORD 30.
01 VSAMFILE-REC.
10 VSAMFILE-KEY PIC X(6).
10 FILLER PIC X(24).
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 RETURN-STATUS.

Chapter 13. Handling errors 239

 05 FS-CODE PIC XX.
05 VSAM-CODE.
10 VSAM-RETURN-CODE PIC S9(2) Usage Binary.
10 VSAM-COMPONENT-CODE PIC S9(1) Usage Binary.
10 VSAM-REASON-CODE PIC S9(3) Usage Binary.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
OPEN INPUT VSAMFILE.
DISPLAY "OPEN INPUT VSAMFILE FS-CODE: " FS-CODE.

IF FS-CODE NOT = "00"

PERFORM VSAM-CODE-DISPLAY
STOP RUN
END-IF.

MOVE "000005" TO VSAMFILE-KEY.

START VSAMFILE KEY IS EQUAL TO VSAMFILE-KEY.
DISPLAY "START VSAMFILE KEY=" VSAMFILE-KEY
" FS-CODE: " FS-CODE.
IF FS-CODE NOT = "00"
PERFORM VSAM-CODE-DISPLAY
END-IF.

IF FS-CODE = "00"
PERFORM READ-NEXT UNTIL FS-CODE NOT = "00"
END-IF.

CLOSE VSAMFILE.
STOP RUN.

READ-NEXT.
READ VSAMFILE NEXT.
DISPLAY "READ NEXT VSAMFILE FS-CODE: " FS-CODE.
IF FS-CODE NOT = "00"
PERFORM VSAM-CODE-DISPLAY
ELSE
DISPLAY VSAMFILE-REC
END-IF.

VSAM-CODE-DISPLAY.
DISPLAY "VSAM-CODE ==>"
" RETURN: " VSAM-RETURN-CODE,
" COMPONENT: " VSAM-COMPONENT-CODE,
" REASON: " VSAM-REASON-CODE.

Below is a sample of the output from the example program that checks VSAM status-code information:

OPEN INPUT VSAMFILE FS-CODE: 00

START VSAMFILE KEY=000005 FS-CODE: 00
READ NEXT VSAMFILE FS-CODE: 00
000005 THIS IS RECORD NUMBER 5
READ NEXT VSAMFILE FS-CODE: 00
000006 THIS IS RECORD NUMBER 6
READ NEXT VSAMFILE FS-CODE: 10
VSAM-CODE ==> RETURN: 08 COMPONENT: 2 REASON: 004

Coding INVALID KEY phrases

You can include an INVALID KEY phrase in READ, START, WRITE, REWRITE, and DELETE statements for
VSAM indexed and relative files. The INVALID KEY phrase is given control if an input or output error
occurs due to a faulty index key.
You can also include the INVALID KEY phrase in WRITE requests for QSAM files, but the phrase has
limited meaning for QSAM files. It is used only if you try to write to a disk that is full.
Use the FILE STATUS clause with the INVALID KEY phrase to evaluate the status key and determine
the specific INVALID KEY condition.
INVALID KEY phrases differ from ERROR declaratives in several ways. INVALID KEY phrases:
• Operate for only limited types of errors. ERROR declaratives encompass all forms.
• Are coded directly with the input or output statement. ERROR declaratives are coded separately.
• Are specific for a single input or output operation. ERROR declaratives are more general.

240 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 If you code INVALID KEY in a statement that causes an INVALID KEY condition, control is transferred
to the INVALID KEY imperative statement. Any ERROR declaratives that you coded are not performed.
If you code a NOT INVALID KEY phrase, it is performed only if the statement completes successfully.
If the operation fails because of a condition other than INVALID KEY, neither the INVALID KEY nor
the NOT INVALID KEY phrase is performed. Instead, after the program performs any associated ERROR
declaratives, control passes to the end of the statement.
“Example: FILE STATUS and INVALID KEY” on page 241

Example: FILE STATUS and INVALID KEY

The following example shows how you can use the file status code and the INVALID KEY phrase to
determine more specifically why an input or output statement failed.
Assume that you have a file that contains master customer records and you need to update some of these
records with information from a transaction update file. The program reads each transaction record, finds
the corresponding record in the master file, and makes the necessary updates. The records in both files
contain a field for a customer number, and each record in the master file has a unique customer number.
The FILE-CONTROL entry for the master file of customer records includes statements that define indexed
organization, random access, MASTER-CUSTOMER-NUMBER as the prime record key, and CUSTOMER-
FILE-STATUS as the file status key.

.
. (read the update transaction record)
.
MOVE "TRUE" TO TRANSACTION-MATCH
MOVE UPDATE-CUSTOMER-NUMBER TO MASTER-CUSTOMER-NUMBER
READ MASTER-CUSTOMER-FILE INTO WS-CUSTOMER-RECORD
INVALID KEY
DISPLAY "MASTER CUSTOMER RECORD NOT FOUND"
DISPLAY "FILE STATUS CODE IS: " CUSTOMER-FILE-STATUS
MOVE "FALSE" TO TRANSACTION-MATCH
END-READ

Handling errors when calling programs

When a program dynamically calls a separately compiled program, the called program might be
unavailable. For example, the system might be out of storage or unable to locate the program object.
If the CALL statement does not have an ON EXCEPTION or ON OVERFLOW phrase, your application might
abend.
Use the ON EXCEPTION phrase to perform a series of statements and to perform your own error handling.
For example, in the code fragment below, if program REPORTA is unavailable, control passes to the ON
EXCEPTION phrase.

MOVE "REPORTA" TO REPORT-PROG

CALL REPORT-PROG
ON EXCEPTION
DISPLAY "Program REPORTA not available, using REPORTB."
MOVE "REPORTB" TO REPORT-PROG
CALL REPORT-PROG
END-CALL
END-CALL

The ON EXCEPTION phrase applies only to the availability of the called program on its initial load. If the
called program is loaded but fails for any other reason (such as initialization), the ON EXCEPTION phrase
is not performed.

related references
Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Migration Guide

Chapter 13. Handling errors 241

Writing routines for handling errors
You can handle most error conditions that might occur while your program is running by using the
ON EXCEPTION phrase, ON SIZE ERROR phrase, or other language constructs. But if an extraordinary
condition such as a machine check occurs, usually your application is abnormally terminated.
Enterprise COBOL and Language Environment provide a way for a user-written program to gain control
when such conditions occur. Using Language Environment condition handling, you can write your own
error-handling routines in COBOL. They can report, analyze, or even fix up a program and enable it to
resume running.
Most messages from the COBOL runtime are produced by signaling the corresponding condition. This
means that your error handler will get control. For I (Information) and W (Warning) level conditions, you
can simply percolate the condition, and the runtime will take care of displaying the message and resuming
the execution. In particular, this is required for various compiler generated runtime diagnostics with a MSG
option (for example, SSRANGE(,MSG)) to work as intended.
When you write your own error-handling routines for an application, the COBOL programs must be
compiled with appropriate compiler options. For more information, see “OPTIMIZE” on page 343.
To have Language Environment pass control to a user-written error program, you must first identify and
register its entry point to Language Environment. PROCEDURE-POINTER data items enable you to pass
the entry address of procedure entry points to Language Environment services.

related tasks
“Using procedure and function
pointers” on page 485

related references
“OPTIMIZE” on page 343

242 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Part 2. Compiling and debugging your program

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 243

244 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 14. Compiling under z/OS
You can compile Enterprise COBOL programs under z/OS using job control language (JCL), TSO
commands, CLISTs, or ISPF panels.
For compiling with JCL, IBM provides a set of cataloged procedures, which can reduce the amount of JCL
coding that you need to write. If the cataloged procedures do not meet your needs, you can write your
own JCL. Using JCL, you can compile a single program or compile several programs as part of a batch job.
When compiling under TSO, you can use TSO commands, CLISTs, or ISPF panels.
You can also compile in a z/OS UNIX shell by using the cob2 command.
You might instead want to start the Enterprise COBOL compiler from an assembler program, for example,
if your shop has developed a tool or interface that calls the Enterprise COBOL compiler.
As part of the compilation step, you need to define the data sets needed for the compilation and specify
any compiler options necessary for your program and the required output.
The compiler translates your COBOL program into language that the computer can process (object code).
The compiler also lists errors in your source statements and provides supplementary information to help
you debug and tune your program. Use compiler-directing statements and compiler options to control
your compilation.
After compiling your program, you need to review the results of the compilation and correct any compiler-
detected errors.

related tasks
“Compiling with JCL” on page 245
“Compiling under TSO” on page 252
Chapter 15, “Compiling under z/OS UNIX,” on page 273
“Starting the compiler from an assembler program” on page 254
“Defining compiler input and output” on page 256
“Specifying compiler options under z/OS” on page 263
“Compiling multiple programs (batch compilation)” on page 266
“Correcting errors in your source program” on page 270

related references
Chapter 18, “Compiler-directing statements,” on page 377
“Data sets used by the compiler under z/OS” on page 256
“Compiler options and compiler output under z/OS” on page 265

Compiling with JCL

Include the following information in the JCL for compilation: job description, statement to invoke the
compiler, and definitions of the needed data sets (including the directory paths of z/OS UNIX files, if any).
The simplest way to compile your program under z/OS is to code JCL that uses a cataloged procedure. A
cataloged procedure is a set of job control statements in a partitioned data set called the procedure library
(SYS1.PROCLIB).
The following JCL shows the general format for using a cataloged procedure.

//jobname JOB parameters

//stepname EXEC [PROC=]procname[,{PARM=|PARM.stepname=}'options']
//SYSIN DD data-set parameters
. . . (source program to be compiled)
/*
//

Additional considerations apply when you use cataloged procedures to compile object-oriented programs.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 245

 “Example: sample JCL for a procedural DLL application” on page 509

related tasks
“Using a cataloged procedure” on page 246
“Writing JCL to compile programs” on page 250
“Specifying compiler options under z/OS” on page 263
“Specifying compiler options in a batch compilation” on page 268
“Compiling programs to create DLLs” on page 508

related references
“Data sets used by the compiler under z/OS” on page 256

Using a cataloged procedure

Specify a cataloged procedure in an EXEC statement in your JCL.
For example, the following JCL calls the IBM-supplied cataloged procedure IGYWC for compiling an
Enterprise COBOL program and defining the required data sets:

//JOB1 JOB1
//STEPA EXEC PROC=IGYWC
//COBOL.SYSIN DD *
000100 IDENTIFICATION DIVISION
* (the source code)
. . .
/*

You can omit /* after the source code. If your source code is stored in a data set, replace SYSIN DD *
with appropriate parameters that describe the data set.
You can use these procedures with any of the job schedulers that are part of z/OS. When a scheduler
encounters parameters that it does not require, the scheduler either ignores them or substitutes
alternative parameters.
If the compiler options are not explicitly supplied with the procedure, default options established at the
installation apply. You can override these default options by using an EXEC statement that includes the
required options.
You can specify data sets to be in the z/OS UNIX file system by overriding the corresponding DD
statement. However, the compiler utility files (SYSUTx) and copy libraries (SYSLIB) you specify must
be MVS data sets.
Additional details about invoking cataloged procedures, overriding and adding to EXEC statements, and
overriding and adding to DD statements are in the Language Environment information.
related tasks
Language Environment Programming Guide

related references
“Compile procedure (IGYWC)” on page 246
“Compile and link-edit procedure (IGYWCL)” on page 248
“Compile, link-edit, and run procedure (IGYWCLG)” on page 249
MVS Program Management: User's Guide and Reference

Compile procedure (IGYWC)

IGYWC is a single-step cataloged procedure for compiling a program. It produces an object module. The
compile steps in all other cataloged procedures that invoke the compiler are similar.
You must supply the following DD statement, indicating the location of the source program, in the input
stream:

//COBOL.SYSIN DD * (or appropriate parameters)

246 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
If you use copybooks in the program that you are compiling, you must also supply a DD statement for
SYSLIB or other libraries that you specify in COPY statements. For example:

//COBOL.SYSLIB DD DISP=SHR,DSN=DEPT88.BOBS.COBLIB

//IGYWC PROC LNGPRFX='IGY.V6R2M0',

// LIBPREFIX='CEE'
//*
//* COMPILE A COBOL PROGRAM
//*
//* PARAMETER DEFAULT VALUE USAGE
//* LNGPRFX IGY.V6R2M0 PREFIX FOR LANGUAGE DATA SET NAMES
//* LIBPRFX CEE PREFIX FOR LIBRARY DATA SET NAMES
//*
//* CALLER MUST SUPPLY //COBOL.SYSIN DD . . .
//*
//* CALLER MUST ALSO SUPPLY //COBOL.SYSLIB DD . . . for COPY statements
//*
//COBOL EXEC PGM=IGYCRCTL,REGION=0M
//STEPLIB DD DSNAME=&LNGPRFX..SIGYCOMP,DISP=SHR (1)
// DD DSNAME=&LIBPRFX..SCEERUN,DISP=SHR
// DD DSNAME=&LIBPRFX..SCEERUN2,DISP=SHR
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=*
//SYSLIN DD DSNAME=&&LOADSET,UNIT=SYSALLDA,
// DISP=(MOD,PASS),SPACE=(CYL,(1,1)),
//SYSUT1 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT2 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT3 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT4 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT5 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT6 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT7 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT8 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT9 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT10 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT11 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT12 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT13 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT14 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT15 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSMDECK DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))

(1)
STEPLIB can be installation-dependent.
“Example: JCL for compiling in the z/OS UNIX file system” on page 247

Example: JCL for compiling in the z/OS UNIX file system

The following job uses procedure IGYWC to compile a COBOL program, demo.cbl, that is located in the
z/OS UNIX file system. The job writes the generated compiler listing demo.lst, object file demo.o, and
SYSADATA file demo.adt in the z/OS UNIX file system.

//UNIXDEMO JOB ,
// TIME=(1),MSGLEVEL=(1,1),MSGCLASS=H,CLASS=A,REGION=50M,
// NOTIFY=&SYSUID,USER=&SYSUID
//COMPILE EXEC IGYWC,
// PARM.COBOL='LIST,MAP,RENT,FLAG(I,I),XREF,ADATA'
//SYSPRINT DD PATH='/u/userid/cobol/demo.lst', (1)
// PATHOPTS=(OWRONLY,OCREAT,OTRUNC), (2)
// PATHMODE=(SIRUSR,SIWUSR), (3)
// FILEDATA=TEXT (4)
//SYSLIN DD PATH='/u/userid/cobol/demo.o',
// PATHOPTS=(OWRONLY,OCREAT,OTRUNC),
// PATHMODE=(SIRUSR,SIWUSR)
//SYSADATA DD PATH='/u/userid/cobol/demo.adt',
// PATHOPTS=(OWRONLY,OCREAT,OTRUNC),
// PATHMODE=(SIRUSR,SIWUSR)
//SYSIN DD PATH='/u/userid/cobol/demo.cbl',
// PATHOPTS=ORDONLY,
// FILEDATA=TEXT,
// RECFM=F

Chapter 14. Compiling under z/OS 247

 (1)
PATH specifies the path name of a file in the z/OS UNIX file system.
(2)
PATHOPTS indicates the access for the file (such as read or read-write) and sets the status for the file
(such as append, create, or truncate).
(3)
PATHMODE indicates the permissions, or file access attributes, to be set when a file is created.
(4)
FILEDATA specifies whether the data is to be treated as text or as binary.
You can use a mixture of files in the z/OS UNIX file system (PATH='unix-directory-path') and traditional
MVS data sets (DSN=mvs-data-set-name) in the compilation DD statements (shown in this example as
overrides). However, the compiler utility files (DD statements SYSUTx) and COPY libraries (DD statements
SYSLIB) must be MVS data sets.

related references
“Data sets used by the compiler under z/OS” on page 256
UNIX System Services Command Reference
MVS JCL Reference

Compile and link-edit procedure (IGYWCL)

IGYWCL is a two-step cataloged procedure to compile and link-edit a program.
The COBOL job step produces an object module that is input to the binder (linkage-editor). You can add
other object modules. You must supply the following DD statement, indicating the location of the source
program, in the input stream:

//COBOL.SYSIN DD * (or appropriate parameters)

If the program uses copybooks, you must also supply a DD statement for SYSLIB or other libraries that
you specify in COPY statements. For example:

//COBOL.SYSLIB DD DISP=SHR,DSN=DEPT88.BOBS.COBLIB

//IGYWCL PROC LNGPRFX='IGY.V6R2M0',

// LIBPRFX='CEE',
// PGMLIB='&&GOSET',GOPGM=GO
//*
//* COMPILE AND LINK EDIT A COBOL PROGRAM
//*
//* PARAMETER DEFAULT VALUE USAGE
//* LNGPRFX IGY.V6R2M0 PREFIX FOR LANGUAGE DATA SET NAMES
//* SYSLBLK 3200 BLOCK SIZE FOR OBJECT DATA SET
//* LIBPRFX CEE PREFIX FOR LIBRARY DATA SET NAMES
//* PGMLIB &&GOSET DATA SET NAME FOR LOAD MODULE
//* GOPGM GO MEMBER NAME FOR LOAD MODULE
//*
//* CALLER MUST SUPPLY //COBOL.SYSIN DD . . .
//*
//* CALLER MUST ALSO SUPPLY //COBOL.SYSLIB DD . . . for COPY statements
//*
//COBOL EXEC PGM=IGYCRCTL,REGION=0M
//STEPLIB DD DSNAME=&LNGPRFX..SIGYCOMP,DISP=SHR (1)
// DD DSNAME=&LIBPRFX..SCEERUN,DISP=SHR
// DD DSNAME=&LIBPRFX..SCEERUN2,DISP=SHR
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=*
//SYSLIN DD DSNAME=&&LOADSET,UNIT=SYSALLDA,
// DISP=(MOD,PASS),SPACE=(CYL,(1,1)),
//SYSUT1 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT2 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT3 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT4 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT5 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))

248 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 //SYSUT6 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT7 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT8 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT9 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT10 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT11 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT12 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT13 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT14 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT15 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSMDECK DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//LKED EXEC PGM=IEWBLINK,COND=(8,LT,COBOL),REGION=0M
//SYSLIB DD DSNAME=&LIBPRFX..SCEELKEX,DISP=SHR (2)
// DD DSNAME=&LIBPRFX..SCEELKED,DISP=SHR
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=*
//SYSLIN DD DSNAME=&&LOADSET,DISP=(OLD,DELETE)
// DD DDNAME=SYSIN
//SYSLMOD DD DSNAME=&PGMLIB(&GOPGM),
// SPACE=(CYL,(3,1,1)),
// UNIT=SYSALLDA,DISP=(MOD,PASS),DSNTYPE=LIBRARY
//SYSUT1 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))

(1)
STEPLIB can be installation-dependent.
(2)
SYSLIB can be installation-dependent.

Compile, link-edit, and run procedure (IGYWCLG)

IGYWCLG is a three-step cataloged procedure to compile, link-edit, and run a program.
The COBOL job step produces an object module that is input to the binder (linkage-editor). You can add
other object modules. If the COBOL program refers to any data sets, you must also supply DD statements
that define these data sets. You must supply the following DD statement, indicating the location of the
source program, in the input stream:

//COBOL.SYSIN DD * (or appropriate parameters)

If the program uses copybooks, you must also supply a DD statement for SYSLIB or other libraries that
you specify in COPY statements. For example:

//COBOL.SYSLIB DD DISP=SHR,DSN=DEPT88.BOBS.COBLIB

//IGYWCLG PROC LNGPRFX='IGY.V6R2M0',

// LIBPRFX='CEE',GOPGM=GO
//*
//* COMPILE, LINK EDIT AND RUN A COBOL PROGRAM
//*
//* PARAMETER DEFAULT VALUE USAGE
//* LNGPRFX IGY.V6R2M0 PREFIX FOR LANGUAGE DATA SET NAMES
//* LIBPRFX CEE PREFIX FOR LIBRARY DATA SET NAMES
//* GOPGM GO MEMBER NAME FOR LOAD MODULE
//*
//* CALLER MUST SUPPLY //COBOL.SYSIN DD . . .
//*
//* CALLER MUST ALSO SUPPLY //COBOL.SYSLIB DD . . . for COPY statements
//*
//COBOL EXEC PGM=IGYCRCTL,REGION=0M
//STEPLIB DD DSNAME=&LNGPRFX..SIGYCOMP,DISP=SHR (1)
// DD DSNAME=&LIBPRFX..SCEERUN,DISP=SHR
// DD DSNAME=&LIBPRFX..SCEERUN2,DISP=SHR
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=*
//SYSLIN DD DSNAME=&&LOADSET,UNIT=SYSALLDA,
// DISP=(MOD,PASS),SPACE=(CYL,(1,1)),
//SYSUT1 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT2 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT3 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT4 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT5 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT6 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))

Chapter 14. Compiling under z/OS 249

 //SYSUT7 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT8 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT9 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT10 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT11 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT12 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT13 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT14 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT15 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSMDECK DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//LKED EXEC PGM=IEWBLINK,COND=(8,LT,COBOL),REGION=0M
//SYSLIB DD DSNAME=&LIBPRFX..SCEELKEX,DISP=SHR (2)
// DD DSNAME=&LIBPRFX..SCEELKED,DISP=SHR
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=*
//SYSLIN DD DSNAME=&&LOADSET,DISP=(OLD,DELETE)
// DD DDNAME=SYSIN
//SYSLMOD DD DSNAME=&&GOSET(&GOPGM),SPACE=(CYL,(1,1,1)),
// UNIT=SYSALLDA,DISP=(MOD,PASS),DSNTYPPE=LIBRARY
//SYSUT1 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//GO EXEC PGM=*.LKED.SYSLMOD,COND=((8,LT,COBOL),(4,LT,LKED)),
// REGION=0M
//STEPLIB DD DSNAME=&LIBPRFX..SCEERUN,DISP=SHR (1)
// DD DSNAME=&LIBPRFX..SCEERUN2,DISP=SHR
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=*
//CEEDUMP DD SYSOUT=*
//SYSUDUMP DD SYSOUT=*

(1)
STEPLIB can be installation-dependent.
(2)
SYSLIB can be installation-dependent.
In the procedure to run a program (GO statement), a valid DDName is up to 8 characters in length.
In the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION of the COBOL program, there is a FILE CONTROL paragraph whose
assignment-name should match the DDName. For example:

//GO.DDName DD DSN=data-set-name

Writing JCL to compile programs

If the cataloged procedures do not provide you with the flexibility that you need for more complex
programs, write your own job control statements. The following example shows the general format of JCL
used to compile a program.

//jobname JOB acctno,name,MSGCLASS=1 (1)

//stepname EXEC PGM=IGYCRCTL,PARM=(options) (2)
//STEPLIB DD DSNAME=IGY.V6R2M0.SIGYCOMP,DISP=SHR (3)
// DD DSNAME=SYS1.SCEERUN,DISP=SHR
// DD DSNAME=SYS1.SCEERUN2,DISP=SHR
//SYSUT1 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(subparms) (4)
//SYSUT2 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(subparms)
//SYSUT3 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(subparms)
//SYSUT4 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(subparms)
//SYSUT5 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(subparms)
//SYSUT6 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(subparms)
//SYSUT7 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(subparms)
//SYSUT8 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(subparms)
//SYSUT9 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(subparms)
//SYSUT10 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(subparms)
//SYSUT11 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(subparms)
//SYSUT12 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(subparms)
//SYSUT13 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(subparms)
//SYSUT14 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(subparms)
//SYSUT15 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(subparms)
//SYSMDECK DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(subparms)
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=A (5)
//SYSLIN DD DSNAME=MYPROG,UNIT=SYSALLDA, (6)
// DISP=(MOD,PASS),SPACE=(subparms)
//SYSIN DD DSNAME=dsname,UNIT=device, (7)
VOLUME=(subparms),DISP=SHR

250 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
(1)
The JOB statement indicates the beginning of a job.
(2)
The EXEC statement specifies that the Enterprise COBOL compiler (IGYCRCTL) is to be invoked.
(3)
This DD statement defines the data set where the Enterprise COBOL compiler resides.
The Language Environment SCEERUN and SCEERUN2 data sets must be included in the concatenation
(together with the compiler SIGYCOMP data set), unless the Language Environment data sets are
available in the LNKLST.
(4)
The SYSUT DD statements define the utility data sets that the compiler will use to process the source
program. All SYSUT files must be on direct-access storage devices.
(5)
The SYSPRINT DD statement defines the data set that receives output from compiler options such as
LIST and MAP. SYSOUT=A is the standard designation for data sets whose destination is the system
output device.
(6)
The SYSLIN DD statement defines the data set (the object module) that receives output from the
OBJECT compiler option.
(7)
The SYSIN DD statement defines the data set (source code) to be used as input to the job step.
You can use a mixture of files in the z/OS UNIX file system (PATH='unix-directory-path') and traditional
MVS data sets (DSN=mvs-data-set-name) in the compilation DD statements for the following data sets:
• Sources files
• Object files
• Listings
• ADATA files
• Debug files
• Executable modules
However, the compiler utility files (DD statements SYSUTx) and COPY libraries (DD statement SYSLIB)
must be MVS data sets.
For more examples about the cataloged procedures in JCL, refer to “Using a cataloged procedure” on
page 246 and its following topics.

“Example: user-written JCL for compiling” on page 251

“Example: sample JCL for a procedural DLL application” on page 509

related references
MVS JCL Reference
MVS Program Management: User's Guide and Reference

Example: user-written JCL for compiling

The following example shows a few possibilities for adapting the basic JCL.

//JOB1 JOB (1)

//STEP1 EXEC PGM=IGYCRCTL,PARM='OBJECT' (2)
//STEPLIB DD DSNAME=IGY.V6R2M0.SIGYCOMP,DISP=SHR
// DD DSNAME=SYS1.SCEERUN,DISP=SHR
// DD DSNAME=SYS1.SCEERUN2,DISP=SHR
//SYSUT1 DD UNIT=SYSDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT2 DD UNIT=SYSDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT3 DD UNIT=SYSDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))

Chapter 14. Compiling under z/OS 251

 //SYSUT4 DD UNIT=SYSDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT5 DD UNIT=SYSDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT6 DD UNIT=SYSDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT7 DD UNIT=SYSDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT8 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT9 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT10 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT11 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT12 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT13 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT14 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT15 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSMDECK DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=A
//SYSLIN DD DSNAME=MYPROG,UNIT=SYSDA,
// DISP=(MOD,PASS),SPACE=(TRK,(3,3))
//SYSIN DD * (3)
000100 IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
. . .
/* (4)

(1)
JOB1 is the name of the job.
(2)
STEP1 is the name of the sole job step in the job. The EXEC statement also specifies that the
generated object code should be placed on disk or tape (to be used as input to the link step).
(3)
The asterisk indicates that the input data set follows in the input stream.
(4)
The delimiter statement /* separates data from subsequent control statements in the input stream.

Compiling under TSO

Under TSO, you can use TSO commands, command lists (CLISTs), REXX execs, or ISPF to compile
programs using traditional MVS data sets. You can use TSO commands or REXX execs to compile
programs using z/OS UNIX files.
With each method, you need to allocate the data sets and request the compilation:
1. Use the ALLOCATE command to allocate data sets.
For any compilation, allocate the work data sets (SYSUTn) and the SYSIN and SYSPRINT data sets.
If you specify certain compiler options, you must allocate other data sets. For example, if you specify
the TERMINAL compiler option, you must allocate the SYSTERM data set to receive compiler messages
at your terminal.
You can allocate data sets in any order. However, you must allocate all needed data sets before you
start to compile.
2. Use the CALL command at the READY prompt to request compilation:

CALL 'IGY.V6R2M0.SIGYCOMP(IGYCRCTL)'

You can specify the ALLOCATE and CALL commands on the TSO command line, or, if you are not using
z/OS UNIX files, you can include them in a CLIST.
You can allocate z/OS UNIX files for all the compiler data sets except the SYSUTx utility data sets and the
SYSLIB libraries. ALLOCATE statements have the following form:

Allocate File(SYSIN) Path('/u/myu/myap/std/prog2.cbl')

Pathopts(ORDONLY) Filedata(TEXT)

“Example: ALLOCATE and CALL for compiling under TSO” on page 253
“Example: CLIST for compiling under TSO” on page 253

252 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 related references
“Data sets used by the compiler under z/OS” on page 256

Example: ALLOCATE and CALL for compiling under TSO

The following example shows how to specify ALLOCATE and CALL commands when you are compiling
under TSO.

[READY]
ALLOCATE FILE(SYSUT1) CYLINDERS SPACE(1 1)
[READY]
ALLOCATE FILE(SYSUT2) CYLINDERS SPACE(1 1)
[READY]
ALLOCATE FILE(SYSUT3) CYLINDERS SPACE(1 1)
[READY]
ALLOCATE FILE(SYSUT4) CYLINDERS SPACE(1 1)
[READY]
ALLOCATE FILE(SYSUT5) CYLINDERS SPACE(1 1)
[READY]
ALLOCATE FILE(SYSUT6) CYLINDERS SPACE(1 1)
[READY]
ALLOCATE FILE(SYSUT7) CYLINDERS SPACE(1 1)
[READY]
ALLOCATE FILE(SYSUT8) CYLINDERS SPACE(1 1)
[READY]
ALLOCATE FILE(SYSUT9) CYLINDERS SPACE(1 1)
[READY]
ALLOCATE FILE(SYSUT10) CYLINDERS SPACE(1 1)
[READY]
ALLOCATE FILE(SYSUT11) CYLINDERS SPACE(1 1)
[READY]
ALLOCATE FILE(SYSUT12) CYLINDERS SPACE(1 1)
[READY]
ALLOCATE FILE(SYSUT13) CYLINDERS SPACE(1 1)
[READY]
ALLOCATE FILE(SYSUT14) CYLINDERS SPACE(1 1)
[READY]
ALLOCATE FILE(SYSUT15) CYLINDERS SPACE(1 1)
[READY]
ALLOCATE FILE(SYSMDECK) CYLINDERS SPACE(1 1)
[READY]
ALLOCATE FILE(SYSPRINT) SYSOUT
[READY]
ALLOCATE FILE(SYSTERM) DATASET(*)
[READY]
ALLOCATE FILE(SYSLIN) DATASET(PROG2.OBJ) NEW TRACKS SPACE(3,3)
[READY]
ALLOCATE FILE(SYSIN) DATASET(PROG2.COBOL) SHR
[READY]
CALL 'IGY.V6R2M0.SIGYCOMP(IGYCRCTL)' 'LIST,NOCOMPILE(S),OBJECT,FLAG(E,E),TERMINAL'
.
(COBOL listings and messages)
.
[READY]
FREE
FILE(SYSUT1,SYSUT2,SYSUT3,SYSUT4,SYSUT5,SYSUT6,SYSUT7,SYSUT8,SYSUT9,SYSUT10,SYSUT11,SYSUT12,
SYSUT13,SYSUT14,SYSUT15,SYSMDECK,SYSPRINT,SYSTERM,+
SYSIN,SYSLIN)
[READY]

Example: CLIST for compiling under TSO

The following example shows a CLIST for compiling under TSO. The FREE commands are not required.
However, good programming practice dictates that you free files before you allocate them.

PROC 1 MEM
CONTROL LIST
FREE F(SYSUT1)
FREE F(SYSUT2)
FREE F(SYSUT3)
FREE F(SYSUT4)
FREE F(SYSUT5)
FREE F(SYSUT6)
FREE F(SYSUT7)

Chapter 14. Compiling under z/OS 253

 FREE F(SYSUT8)
FREE F(SYSUT9)
FREE F(SYSUT10)
FREE F(SYSUT11)
FREE F(SYSUT12)
FREE F(SYSUT13)
FREE F(SYSUT14)
FREE F(SYSUT15)
FREE F(SYSMDECK)
FREE F(SYSPRINT)
FREE F(SYSIN)
FREE F(SYSLIN)
ALLOC F(SYSPRINT) SYSOUT
ALLOC F(SYSIN) DA(COBOL.SOURCE(&MEM)) SHR REUSE
ALLOC F(SYSLIN) DA(COBOL.OBJECT(&MEM)) OLD REUSE
ALLOC F(SYSUT1) NEW SPACE(1,1) CYL UNIT(SYSALLDA)
ALLOC F(SYSUT2) NEW SPACE(1,1) CYL UNIT(SYSALLDA)
ALLOC F(SYSUT3) NEW SPACE(1,1) CYL UNIT(SYSALLDA)
ALLOC F(SYSUT4) NEW SPACE(1,1) CYL UNIT(SYSALLDA)
ALLOC F(SYSUT5) NEW SPACE(1,1) CYL UNIT(SYSALLDA)
ALLOC F(SYSUT6) NEW SPACE(1,1) CYL UNIT(SYSALLDA)
ALLOC F(SYSUT7) NEW SPACE(1,1) CYL UNIT(SYSALLDA)
ALLOC F(SYSUT8) NEW SPACE(1,1) CYL UNIT(SYSALLDA)
ALLOC F(SYSUT9) NEW SPACE(1,1) CYL UNIT(SYSALLDA)
ALLOC F(SYSUT10) NEW SPACE(1,1) CYL UNIT(SYSALLDA)
ALLOC F(SYSUT11) NEW SPACE(1,1) CYL UNIT(SYSALLDA)
ALLOC F(SYSUT12) NEW SPACE(1,1) CYL UNIT(SYSALLDA)
ALLOC F(SYSUT13) NEW SPACE(1,1) CYL UNIT(SYSALLDA)
ALLOC F(SYSUT14) NEW SPACE(1,1) CYL UNIT(SYSALLDA)
ALLOC F(SYSUT15) NEW SPACE(1,1) CYL UNIT(SYSALLDA)
ALLOC F(SYSMDECK) NEW SPACE(1,1) CYL UNIT(SYSALLDA)
CALL 'IGY.V6R2M0.SIGYCOMP(IGYCRCTL)'

related references
TSO/E Command Reference

Starting the compiler from an assembler program

You can start the Enterprise COBOL compiler from within an assembler program by using the ATTACH or
the LINK macro by dynamic invocation. You must identify the compiler options and the ddnames of the
data sets to be used during processing.
For example:

symbol {LINK|ATTACH} EP=IGYCRCTL,PARAM=(optionlist[,ddnamelist]),VL=1

EP
Specifies the symbolic name of the compiler. The control program (from the library directory entry)
determines the entry point at which the program should begin running.
PARAM
Specifies, as a sublist, address parameters to be passed from the assembler program to the compiler.
The first fullword in the address parameter list contains the address of the COBOL optionlist. The
second fullword contains the address of the ddnamelist.
optionlist
Specifies the address of a variable-length list that contains the COBOL options specified for
compilation. This address must be written even if no list is provided.
The optionlist must begin on a halfword boundary. The 2 high-order bytes contain a count of the
number of bytes in the remainder of the list. If no options are specified, the count must be zero. The
optionlist is freeform, with each field separated from the next by a comma. No blanks or zeros should
appear. The compiler recognizes only the first 100 characters.
ddnamelist
Specifies the address of a variable-length list that contains alternative ddnames for the data sets used
during compiler processing. If standard ddnames are used, the ddnamelist can be omitted.
The ddnamelist must begin on a halfword boundary. The 2 high-order bytes contain a count of the
number of bytes in the remainder of the list. Each name of less than 8 bytes must be left justified and

254 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 padded with blanks. If an alternate ddname is omitted from the list, the standard name is assumed. If
the name is omitted, the 8-byte entry must contain binary zeros. You can omit names from the end by
shortening the list.
All SYSUTn data sets specified must be on direct-access storage devices and have physical sequential
organization. They must not reside in the z/OS UNIX file system.
The following table shows the sequence of the 8-byte entries in the ddnamelist.

Alternative ddname 8-byte entry Name for which alternative ddname is substituted
1 SYSLIN
2 Not applicable
3 Not applicable
4 SYSLIB
5 SYSIN
6 SYSPRINT
7 SYSPUNCH
8 SYSUT1
9 SYSUT2
10 SYSUT3
11 SYSUT4
12 SYSTERM
13 SYSUT5
14 SYSUT6
15 SYSUT7
16 SYSADATA
17 SYSJAVA
18 SYSDEBUG
19 SYSMDECK
20 DBRMLIB
21 SYSOPTF
22 SYSUT8
23 SYSUT9
24 SYSUT10
25 SYSUT11
26 SYSUT12
27 SYSUT13
28 SYSUT14
29 SYSUT15

VL
Specifies that the sign bit is to be set to 1 in the last fullword of the address parameter list.

Chapter 14. Compiling under z/OS 255

 When the compiler completes processing, it puts a return code in register 15.

related tasks
“Defining compiler input and output” on page 256

related references
“Data sets used by the compiler under z/OS” on page 256
“Compiler options and compiler output under z/OS” on page 265

Defining compiler input and output

You need to define several kinds of data sets that the compiler uses to do its work. The compiler takes
input data sets and libraries and produces various types of output, including object code, listings, and
messages. The compiler also uses utility data sets during compilation.

related tasks
“Defining the source code data set (SYSIN)” on page 259
“Defining a compiler-option data set (SYSOPTF)” on page 260
“Specifying source libraries (SYSLIB)” on page 260
“Defining the output data set (SYSPRINT)” on page 261
“Directing compiler messages to your terminal (SYSTERM)” on page 261
“Creating object code (SYSLIN or SYSPUNCH)” on page 261
“Defining an associated-data file (SYSADATA)” on page 262
“Defining the Java-source output file (SYSJAVA)” on page 262
“Defining the library-processing output file (SYSMDECK)” on page 263

related references
“Data sets used by the compiler under z/OS” on page 256
“Compiler options and compiler output under z/OS” on page 265

Data sets used by the compiler under z/OS

The following table lists the function, device requirements, and allowable device classes for each data set
that the compiler uses.

Table 34. Compiler data sets

Type ddname Function Required? Device Allowable Can be in
requirement device z/OS
s classes UNIX file
system?
Input SYSIN1 Reading source Yes Card reader; Any Yes
program intermediate
storage
SYSOPTF Reading compiler If OPTFILE is in effect Card reader; Any Yes
options intermediate
storage;
direct
access
SYSLIB or Reading user source If program has COPY or Direct SYSDA No
other copy libraries (PDSs or BASIS statements access
libraries1 PDSEs)

256 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 34. Compiler data sets (continued)
Type ddname Function Required? Device Allowable Can be in
requirement device z/OS
s classes UNIX file
system?
Utility2 SYSUT1, Work data set used Yes Direct SYSALLDA No
SYSUT2, by compiler during access
SYSUT3, compilation
SYSUT4,
SYSUT6
SYSUT5 Work data set used If program has COPY, Direct SYSALLDA No
by compiler during REPLACE, or BASIS access
compilation statements
SYSUT7 Work data set used Yes Direct SYSALLDA No
by compiler to access
create listing
SYSUT8, Work data set used Yes Direct SYSALLDA No
SYSUT9, by compiler during access
SYSUT10, compilation
SYSUT11,
SYSUT12,
SYSUT13,
SYSUT14,
SYSUT15

Chapter 14. Compiling under z/OS 257

Table 34. Compiler data sets (continued)
Type ddname Function Required? Device Allowable Can be in
requirement device z/OS
s classes UNIX file
system?
Output SYSPRINT1 Writing storage Yes Printer; SYSSQ, Yes
map, listings, and intermediate SYSDA,
messages storage standard
output class
A
SYSTERM Writing progress and If TERM is in effect Output Yes
diagnostic messages device; TSO
terminal
SYSPUNCH Creating object code If DECK is in effect Card punch; SYSSQ, Yes
direct SYSDA
access
SYSLIN Creating object If OBJECT is in effect Direct SYSSQ, Yes
module data set access SYSDA
as output from
compiler and input
to binder (linkage-
editor)
SYSADATA1 Writing associated If ADATA is in effect Output Yes
data file records device
SYSJAVA Creating generated If compiling a class (Must be a Yes
Java source file for a definition z/OS UNIX
class definition file)
SYSUDUMP, Writing dump If DUMP is in effect Direct SYSDA Yes
SYSABEND, (should be rarely used) access
or
SYSMDUMP
SYSDEBUG Writing symbolic If Direct SYSDA Yes
debug information TEST(...,SEP,...) access
tables to a data set is in effect
separate from the
object module
SYSMD Processing Yes Direct access SYSALLDA Yes
ECK for the
MDECK
option, or a
work data
set if
NOMDECK is
specified

1. You can use the EXIT option to provide user exits from these data sets.
2. Utility data sets must be single volume, and cannot have DSNTYPE=LARGE (SYSUT1 - SYSUT15).

related references
“Logical record length and block size” on page 259
“EXIT” on page 317

258 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Logical record length and block size
For compiler data sets other than the work data sets (SYSUTn) and z/OS UNIX files, you can set the block
size by using the BLKSIZE subparameter of the DCB parameter. The value must be permissible for the
device on which the data set resides. The values you set depend on whether the data sets are fixed length
or variable length.
For fixed-length records (RECFM=F or RECFM=FB), LRECL is the logical record length; and BLKSIZE
equals LRECL multiplied by n where n is equal to the blocking factor.
The following table shows the defined values for the fixed-length data sets. In general, you should not
change these values, but you can change the value for the following data sets:
• SYSDEBUG: You can specify any LRECL in the listed range, with 1024 recommended.
• SYSPRINT, SYSDEBUG: You can specify BLKSIZE=0, which results in a system-determined block size.

Table 35. Block size of fixed-length compiler data sets

Data set RECFM LRECL (bytes) BLKSIZE1
SYSDEBUG2 F or FB 80 to 10243 LRECL x n
SYSIN F or FB 80 80 x n
SYSLIB or other copy libraries F or FB 80 80 x n
SYSLIN F or FB 80 80 x n
SYSMDECK F or FB 80 80 x n
SYSOPTF F or FB 80 80 x n
SYSPRINT2 F or FB 133 133 x n
SYSPUNCH F or FB 80 80 x n
SYSTERM F or FB 80 80 x n

1. n = blocking factor
2. If you specify BLKSIZE=0, the system determines the block size.
3. The default LRECL for SYSDEBUG is 1024.

For variable-length records (RECFM=V), LRECL is the logical record length, and BLKSIZE equals LRECL
plus 4.

Table 36. Block size of variable-length compiler data sets

Data set RECFM LRECL BLKSIZE (bytes) minimum acceptable
(bytes) value
SYSADATA VB 1020 1024

Defining the source code data set (SYSIN)

Define the data set that contains your source code by using the SYSIN DD statement as shown below.

//SYSIN DD DSNAME=dsname,UNIT=SYSSQ,VOLUME=(subparms),DISP=SHR

You can place your source code or BASIS statement directly in the input stream. To do so, use this SYSIN
DD statement:

//SYSIN DD *

Chapter 14. Compiling under z/OS 259

 The source code or BASIS statement must follow the DD * statement. If another job step follows the
compilation, the EXEC statement for that step must follow the /* statement or the last source statement.

Defining a compiler-option data set (SYSOPTF)

Define a data set that contains the compiler options for your COBOL program by coding the SYSOPTF DD
statement as shown below.

//SYSOPTF DD DSNAME=dsname,UNIT=SYSDA,VOLUME=(subparms),DISP=SHR

To use a compiler-option data set, specify OPTFILE either as a compiler invocation option or in a
PROCESS or CBL statement in your source program.
Within the SYSOPTF data set:
• Specify compiler options in free form between columns 2 and 72, using the same syntax as you use for
invocation options or for compiler options in a PROCESS or CBL statement.
• Code an asterisk (*) in column 1 to cause a line to be treated as a comment.
• Optionally code sequence numbers in columns 73 through 80; those columns are ignored.
You can optionally place the compiler options directly in the input stream after the SYSOPTF DD
statement if you compile using the OPTFILE option:

//COB EXEC PGM=IGYCRCTL,PARM='OPTFILE'

//SYSOPTF DD DATA,DLM=@@
SSRANGE ARITH(COMPAT)
OPTIMIZE
. . .
@@
//SYSIN DD . . .

You can concatenate multiple SYSOPTF DD statements if you have multiple compiler-option data sets:

//SYSOPTF DD DSNAME=dsname1, . . .
// DD DSNAME=dsname2, . . .

Compiler options that are in later data sets in the concatenation take precedence over options in earlier
data sets in the concatenation.

related references
“Logical record length and block size” on page 259
“OPTFILE” on page 342

Specifying source libraries (SYSLIB)

Use SYSLIB DD statements if your program contains COPY or BASIS statements. These DD statements
define the libraries (partitioned data sets) that contain the data requested by COPY statements in the
source code or by BASIS statements in the input stream.

//SYSLIB DD DSNAME=copylibname,DISP=SHR

Concatenate multiple DD statements if you have multiple copy or basis libraries:

//SYSLIB DD DSNAME=PROJECT.USERLIB,DISP=SHR
// DD DSNAME=SYSTEM.COPYX,DISP=SHR

Libraries are on direct-access storage devices. They cannot be in the z/OS UNIX file system when you
compile with JCL or under TSO.

260 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Defining the output data set (SYSPRINT)
You can use ddname SYSPRINT to produce a listing. The listing includes the results of the default or
requested options of the PARM parameter (that is, diagnostic messages and the object-code listing).
You can direct the output to a SYSOUT data set, a printer, a direct-access storage device, or a magnetic-
tape device. For example:

//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=A

The SYSPRINT data set can be a sequential data set, a PDS or PDSE member, or a z/OS UNIX file. For
details about how to specify the record format, record length, and block size of the SYSPRINT data set,
see the related reference below.

related references
“Logical record length and block size” on page 259

Directing compiler messages to your terminal (SYSTERM)

If you are compiling under TSO, you can define the SYSTERM data set to send compiler messages to your
terminal.

ALLOC F(SYSTERM) DA(*)

You can define SYSTERM in various other ways, for example to a SYSOUT data set, a data set on disk, a file
in the z/OS UNIX file system, or to another print class.

Creating object code (SYSLIN or SYSPUNCH)

When using the OBJECT compiler option, you can store the object code on disk as a traditional MVS data
set or a z/OS UNIX file, or on tape. The compiler uses the file that you define in the SYSLIN or SYSPUNCH
DD statement.

//SYSLIN DD DSNAME=dsname,UNIT=SYSDA,
// SPACE=(subparms),DISP=(MOD,PASS)

Use the DISP parameter of the SYSLIN DD statement to indicate whether the object code data set is to
be:
• Passed to the binder (linkage-editor)
• Cataloged
• Kept
• Added to an existing cataloged library
In the example above, the data is created and passed to another job step, the binder (linkage-editor) job
step.
Your installation might use the DECK option and the SYSPUNCH DD statement. B is the standard output
class for punch data sets:

//SYSPUNCH DD SYSOUT=B

You do not need the SYSLIN DD statement if the NOOBJECT option is in effect. You do not need the
SYSPUNCH DD statement if the NODECK option is in effect.

related references
“OBJECT” on page 341
“DECK” on page 311

Chapter 14. Compiling under z/OS 261

Defining an associated-data file (SYSADATA)
Define a SYSADATA file if you use the ADATA compiler option.

//SYSADATA DD DSNAME=dsname,UNIT=SYSDA

The SYSADATA file will be a sequential file that contains specific record types that have information about
the program that is collected during compilation. The file can be a traditional MVS data set or a z/OS UNIX
file.

related references
“ADATA” on page 297

Defining the Java-source output file (SYSJAVA)

Add the SYSJAVA DD statement if you are compiling an OO program. The generated Java source file is
written to the SYSJAVA ddname.

//SYSJAVA DD PATH='/u/userid/java/Classname.java',
// PATHOPTS=(OWRONLY,OCREAT,OTRUNC),
// PATHMODE=SIRWXU,
// FILEDATA=TEXT

The SYSJAVA file must be in the z/OS UNIX file system.

related tasks
“Compiling OO applications in JCL or TSO/E” on page 285

Defining the debug data set (SYSDEBUG)

When you compile from JCL or from TSO and specify the TEST(...,SEP,...) compiler option, the
symbolic debug information tables are written to the data set that you specify in the SYSDEBUG DD
statement.

//SYSDEBUG DD DSNAME=dsname,UNIT=SYSDA

The SYSDEBUG data set can be a sequential data set, a PDS or PDSE member, or an HFS file. For details
about how to specify the record format, record length, and block size of the SYSDEBUG data set, see the
related reference below about logical record length and block size.
Language Environment uses SYSDEBUG for its dump services. If the TEST|
NOTEST(...,SEPARATE(DSNAME),...) compiler option is in effect, the SYSDEBUG dataset name is
stored in the object program and is used as the default at run time. You can change the name of that data
set at run time by using the SYSDEBUG COBOL debug file user exit, IGZIUXB. You can direct IBM z/OS
Debugger to a renamed data set using the SET DEFAULT LISTINGS command, user exit EQAUEDAT, or
the EQADEBUG DD statement.
The dataset name that you specify in DDNAME SYSDEBUG might be used by several IBM products,
including Language Environment, IBM z/OS Debugger , Fault Analyzer, and Application Performance
Analyzer. For details, see the documentation of those individual products.

related tasks
Language Environment Customization (Modifying the COBOL debug file name)
z/OS Debugger User's Guide (How does z/OS Debugger locate COBOL and PL/I
separate debug files)

related references
“Logical record length and block size” on page 259
“TEST” on page 359

262 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Defining the library-processing output file (SYSMDECK)
The SYSMDECK DD allocation is required for all compilations. If you specify the MDECK compiler option,
the SYSMDECK DD allocation must specify a permanent MVS data set or a z/OS UNIX file. However, if you
use the NOMDECK option, SYSMDECK can alternatively be specified as a utility (temporary) data set.
The following example specifies a permanent dataset name:

//SYSMDECK DD DSNAME=dsname,UNIT=SYSDA

The following example specifies a z/OS UNIX file:

//SYSMDECK DD PATH='/path/filename.dek',
//FILEDATA=TEXT,
//PATHOPTS=(ORDWR,OCREAT,OTRUNC),
//PATHMODE=(SIRUSR,SIWUSR)

The following example specifies a utility (temporary) data set:

//SYSMDECK DD UNIT=SYSALLDA

The SYSMDECK file will contain a copy of the updated input source after library processing, that is, the
result of COPY, BASIS, REPLACE, EXEC SQL INCLUDE, and EXEC SQLIMS INCLUDE statements.
related references
“MDECK” on page 334

Specifying compiler options under z/OS

The compiler is installed with default compiler options. While installing the compiler, the system
programmer can fix compiler option settings to, for example, ensure better performance or maintain
certain standards. You cannot override any compiler options that are fixed.
For options that are not fixed, you can override the default settings by specifying compiler options in any
of these ways:
• Code them on the PROCESS or CBL statement in COBOL source.
• Include them when you start the compiler, either on the PARM parameter on the EXEC statement in the
JCL or on the command line under TSO.
• Include them in a SYSOPTF data set, and specify the OPTFILE compiler option in either of the above
ways.

The compiler recognizes the options in the following order of precedence from highest to lowest:
1. Installation defaults that are fixed by your site
2. Values of the BUFSIZE, OUTDD, SQL, and SQLIMS compiler options in effect for the first program in a
batch
3. Options specified on PROCESS (or CBL) statements, preceding the IDENTIFICATION DIVISION
4. Options specified on the compiler invocation (JCL PARM parameter or the TSO CALL command)
5. Installation defaults that are not fixed

This order of precedence also determines which options are in effect when conflicting or mutually
exclusive options are specified.
The precedence of options in a SYSOPTF data set depends on where you specify the OPTFILE compiler
option. For example, if you specify OPTFILE in a PROCESS statement, the SYSOPTF options supersede
the options that you specify in the compiler invocation. For further details, see the related reference
below about the OPTFILE option.

Chapter 14. Compiling under z/OS 263

 Most of the options come in pairs; you select one or the other. For example, the option pair for a
cross-reference listing is XREF | NOXREF. If you want a cross-reference listing, specify XREF; if you do not,
specify NOXREF.
Some options have subparameters. For example, if you want 44 lines per page on your listings, specify
LINECOUNT(44).

“Example: specifying compiler options using JCL” on page 265

“Example: specifying compiler options under TSO” on page 265

related tasks
“Defining a compiler-option data set (SYSOPTF)” on page 260
“Specifying compiler options
in the PROCESS (CBL) statement” on page 264
“Specifying compiler options in a batch compilation” on page 268

related references
“Compiler options and compiler output under z/OS” on page 265
Chapter 17, “Compiler options,” on page 291
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295
“OPTFILE” on page 342

Specifying compiler options in the PROCESS (CBL) statement

Within a COBOL program, you can code most compiler options in PROCESS (CBL) statements. Code the
statements before the IDENTIFICATION DIVISION header and before any comment lines or compiler-
directing statements.

PROCESS(CBL) statement syntax

PROCESS

CBL options-list

If you do not use a sequence field, you can start a PROCESS statement in column 1 or after. If you use
a sequence field, the sequence number must start in column 1 and must contain six characters; the first
character must be numeric. If used with a sequence field, PROCESS can start in column 8 or after.
You can use CBL as a synonym for PROCESS. CBL can likewise start in column 1 or after if you do not use a
sequence field. If used with a sequence field, CBL can start in column 8 or after.
You must end PROCESS and CBL statements at or before column 72.
Use one or more blanks to separate a PROCESS or CBL statement from the first option in options-list.
Separate options with a comma or a blank. Do not insert spaces between individual options and their
suboptions.
You can code more than one PROCESS or CBL statement. If you do so, the statements must follow one
another with no intervening statements. You cannot continue options across multiple PROCESS or CBL
statements.
Your programming organization can inhibit the use of PROCESS (CBL) statements by using the default
options module of the COBOL compiler. If PROCESS or CBL statements that are not allowed by the
organization are found in a COBOL program, the COBOL compiler generates error diagnostics.

related references
Reference format (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
CBL (PROCESS) statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

264 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Example: specifying compiler options using JCL
The following example shows how to specify compiler options under z/OS using JCL.

. . .
//STEP1 EXEC PGM=IGYCRCTL,
// PARM='LIST,NOCOMPILE(S),OBJECT,FLAG(E,E)'

Example: specifying compiler options under TSO

The following example shows how to specify compiler options under TSO.

. . .
[READY]
CALL 'SYS1.LINKLIB(IGYCRCTL)' 'LIST,NOCOMPILE(S),OBJECT,FLAG(E,E)'

Compiler options and compiler output under z/OS

When the compiler finishes processing your source program, it will have produced one or more outputs,
depending on the compiler options that were in effect.

Table 37. Types of compiler output under z/OS

Compiler option Compiler output Type of output
ADATA Information about the program being compiled Associated-data file
DLL Object module that is enabled for DLL support Object
DUMP System dump, if compilation ended with abnormal Listing
termination (requires SYSUDUMP, SYSABEND, or
SYSMDUMP DD statement); should be used rarely
EXPORTALL Exported symbols for a DLL Object
FLAG List of errors that the compiler found in your program Listing
LIST Listing of object code in machine and assembler Listing
language
MAP(HEX) or MAP(DEC) Map of the data items in your program Listing
MDECK Expansion of library-processing statements in your Library-processing side
program file
NUMBER User-supplied line numbers shown in listing Listing
OBJECT or DECK with Your object code Object
COMPILE
OFFSET Map of the relative addresses in your object code Listing
OPTIMIZE(1) or Optimized object code Object
OPTIMIZE(2)
RENT Reentrant object code Object
SOURCE Listing of your source program Listing
SQL SQL statements and host variable information for Db2 Database request module
bind process (DBRM)
TERMINAL Progress and diagnostic messages sent to terminal Terminal

Chapter 14. Compiling under z/OS 265

Table 37. Types of compiler output under z/OS (continued)
Compiler option Compiler output Type of output
TEST(DWARF) DWARF format debugging information in the object Object
module, to enable interactive debugging
TEST(NOSEP) Information tables for IBM z/OS Debugger and for Object
formatted dumps
TEST(SEP) Information tables for IBM z/OS Debugger and for Separate debug file
formatted dumps
NOTEST(DWARF) Basic DWARF format diagnostic information, to enable Object
application failure analysis tools
VBREF Cross-reference listing of statements in your source Listing
program
XREF Sorted cross-reference listing of names of procedures, Listing
programs, and data

Listing output from compilation will be in the data set defined by SYSPRINT; object output will be in
SYSLIN or SYSPUNCH. Progress and diagnostic messages can be directed to the SYSTERM data set and
included in the SYSPRINT data set. The database request module (DBRM) is the data set defined in
DBRMLIB. The separate debug file is the data set defined in SYSDEBUG.
Save the listings you produced during compilation. You can use them during the testing of your work if you
need to debug or tune. You might also use the listings for diagnosis and debugging after the application is
in production.
After compilation, fix any errors that the compiler found in your program. If no errors were detected, you
can go to the next step in the process: binding (link-editing) your program. (If you used compiler options
to suppress object code generation, you must recompile to obtain object code.)

related tasks
Language Environment Programming Guide (Preparing to link-edit and run)

related references
“Messages and listings for compiler-detected errors” on page 271
Chapter 17, “Compiler options,” on page 291

Compiling multiple programs (batch compilation)

You can compile a sequence of separate COBOL programs by using a single invocation of the compiler.
You can link the object program produced from this compilation into one program object or separate
program objects, controlled by the NAME compiler option.
When you compile several programs as part of a batch job, you need to:
• Determine whether you want to create one or more program objects.
• Terminate each program in the sequence.
• Specify compiler options, with an awareness of the effect of compiler options specified in programs
within the batch job.
To create separate program objects, precede each set of objects with the NAME compiler option. When
the compiler encounters the NAME option, the first program in the sequence and all subsequent programs
until the next NAME compiler option is encountered are link-edited into a single program object. Then each
successive program that is compiled with the NAME option is included in a separate program object.
Use the END PROGRAM marker to terminate each program in the sequence except the last program in the
batch (for which the END PROGRAM marker is optional). Alternatively, you can precede each program in
the sequence with a CBL or PROCESS statement.

266 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 If you omit the END PROGRAM marker from a program (other than the last program in a sequence of
separate programs), the next program in the sequence will be nested in the preceding program. An error
can occur in either of the following situations:
• A PROCESS statement is in a program that is now nested.
• A CBL statement is not coded entirely in the sequence number area (columns 1 through 6).
If a CBL statement is coded entirely in the sequence number area (columns 1 through 6), no error
message is issued for the CBL statement because it is considered a label for the source statement line.
“Example: batch compilation” on page 267

related tasks
“Specifying compiler options in a batch compilation” on page 268

related references
“NAME” on page 335

Example: batch compilation

The following example shows a batch compilation for three programs (PROG1, PROG2, and PROG3) and the
creation of two program objects using one invocation of the IGYWCL cataloged procedure.
The following steps occur:
• PROG1 and PROG2 are link-edited together to form one program object that has the name PROG2. The
entry point of this program object defaults to the first program in the program object, PROG1.
• PROG3 is link-edited by itself into a program object that has the name PROG3. Because it is the only
program in the program object, the entry point is also PROG3.

//jobname JOB acctno,name,MSGLEVEL=1

//stepname EXEC IGYWCL
//COBOL.SYSIN DD *
010100 IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
010200 PROGRAM-ID PROG1.
. . .
019000 END PROGRAM PROG1.
020100 IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
020200 PROGRAM-ID PROG2.
. . .
029000 END PROGRAM PROG2.
CBL NAME
030100 IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
030200 PROGRAM-ID PROG3.
. . .
039000 END PROGRAM PROG3.
/*
//LKED.SYSLMOD DD DSN=&&GOSET (1)
/*
//P2 EXEC PGM=PROG2
//STEPLIB DD DSN=&&GOSET,DISP=(SHR,PASS) (2)
. . . (3)
/*
//P3 EXEC PGM=PROG3
//STEPLIB DD DSN=&&GOSET,DISP=(SHR,PASS) (2)
. . . (4)
/*
//

(1)
The data-set name for the LKED step SYSLMOD is changed to the temporary name &&GOSET, without
any member name.
(2)
The temporary data set &&GOSET is used as the STEPLIB for steps P2 and P3 to run the compiled
programs. If the Language Environment library does not reside in shared storage, you must also add
the library data set as a DD statement for STEPLIB.

Chapter 14. Compiling under z/OS 267

 (3)
Other DD statements and input that are required to run PROG1 and PROG2 must be added.
(4)
Other DD statements and input that are required to run PROG3 must be added.

related references
Language Environment Programming Guide (IBM-supplied cataloged procedures)

Specifying compiler options in a batch compilation

You can specify compiler options for each program in the batch sequence either with a CBL or PROCESS
statement that precedes the program, or upon invocation of the compiler.
If a CBL or PROCESS statement is specified in the current program, the compiler resolves the CBL or
PROCESS statements together with the options in effect before the first program. If the current program
does not contain CBL or PROCESS statements, the compiler uses the settings of options in effect for the
previous program.

You should be aware of the effect of certain compiler options on the precedence of compiler option
settings for each program in the batch sequence. Compiler options are recognized in the following order of
precedence, from highest to lowest:
1. Installation defaults that are fixed at your site
2. Values of the BUFSIZE, DEFINE, OUTDD, SQL, SQLIMS, and TEST compiler options in effect for the first
program in the batch
3. Options on CBL or PROCESS statements, if any, for the current program
4. Options specified in the compiler invocation (JCL PARM or TSO CALL)
5. Installation defaults that are not fixed
If any program in the batch sequence requires the BUFSIZE, DEFINE, OUTDD, SQL, SQLIMS, or TEST
option, that option must be in effect for the first program in the batch sequence. (When processing BASIS,
COPY, or REPLACE statements, the compiler handles all programs in the batch as a single input file.)
If you specify the option for the batch, you cannot change the NUMBER and SEQUENCE options during the
batch compilation. The compiler treats all programs in the batch as a single input file during NUMBER and
SEQUENCE processing under the option; therefore, the sequence numbers of the entire input file must be
in ascending order.
If the compiler diagnoses the LANGUAGE option on the CBL or PROCESS statement as an error, the
language selection reverts to what was in effect before the compiler encountered the first CBL or
PROCESS statement. The language in effect during a batch compilation conforms to the rules of
processing CBL or PROCESS statements in that environment.

“Example: precedence of options in a batch compilation” on page 268

“Example: LANGUAGE option in a batch compilation” on page 269

related references
“DEFINE” on page 311

Example: precedence of options in a batch compilation

The following example listing shows the precedence of compiler options for batch compilation.

PP 5655-EC6 IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS 6.2.0 P170724 Date 09/08/2017. . .
Invocation parameters:
NOTERM
PROCESS(CBL) statements:
CBL CURRENCY,FLAG(I,I)
Options in effect: All options are installation defaults unless otherwise noted:

268 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 NOADATA
ADV
QUOTE
ARITH(COMPAT)
NOAWO
NOBLOCK0
BUFSIZE(4096)
. . .
CURRENCY Process option PROGRAM 1
. . .
FLAG(I,I) Process option PROGRAM 1
. . .
NOTERM INVOCATION option
. . .
End of compilation for program 1
. . .

PP 5655-EC6 IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS 6.2.0 P170724 Date 09/08/2017. . .
PROCESS(CBL) statements:
CBL APOST
Options in effect:
NOADATA
ADV
APOST Process option PROGRAM 2
ARITH(COMPAT)
NOAWO
NOBLOCK0
BUFSIZE(4096)
. . .
NOCURRENCY Installation default option for PROGRAM 2
. . .
FLAG(I) Installation default option
. . .
NOTERM INVOCATION option remains in effect
. . .
End of compilation for program 2

Example: LANGUAGE option in a batch compilation

The following example shows the behavior of the LANGUAGE compiler option in a batch environment. The
default installation option is ENGLISH (abbreviated EN), and the invocation option is XX, a nonexistent
language.

CBL LANG(JP),FLAG(I,I),APOST (1)

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION. (2)
PROGRAM-ID. COMPILE1.
. . .
END PROGRAM COMPILE1.
CBL LANGUAGE(YY) (3)
CBL LANGUAGE(JP),LANG(!!) (4)
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION. (2)
PROGRAM-ID. COMPILE2.
. . .
END PROGRAM COMPILE2.
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. COMPILE3.
. . .
END PROGRAM COMPILE3.
CBL LANGUAGE(JP),LANGUAGE(YY) (5)
. . .

(1)
The installation default is EN. The invocation option was XX, a nonexistent language. EN is the
language in effect.
(2)
After the CBL statement is scanned, JP is the language in effect.
(3)
CBL resets the language to EN. YY is ignored because it is superseded by JP.

Chapter 14. Compiling under z/OS 269

 (4)
!! is not alphanumeric and is discarded.
(5)
CBL resets the language to EN. YY supersedes JP but is nonexistent.
For the program COMPILE1, the default language English (EN) is in effect when the compiler scans the
invocation options. A diagnostic message is issued in mixed-case English because XX is a nonexistent
language identifier. The default EN remains in effect when the compiler scans the CBL statement. The
unrecognized option APOST in the CBL statement is diagnosed in mixed-case English because the CBL
statement has not completed processing and EN was the last valid language option. After the compiler
processes the CBL options, the language in effect becomes Japanese (JP).
In the program COMPILE2, the compiler diagnoses CBL statement errors in mixed-case English because
English is the language in effect before the first program is used. If more than one LANGUAGE option
is specified, only the last valid language specified is used. In this example, the last valid language
is Japanese (JP). Therefore Japanese becomes the language in effect when the compiler finishes
processing the CBL options. If you want diagnostics in Japanese for the options in the CBL and PROCESS
statements, the language in effect before COMPILE1 must be Japanese.
The program COMPILE3 has no CBL statement. It inherits the language in effect, Japanese (JP), from the
previous compilation.
After compiling COMPILE3, the compiler resets the language in effect to English (EN) because of the
CBL statement. The language option in the CBL statement resolves the last-specified two-character
alphanumeric language identifier, YY. Because YY is nonexistent, the language in effect remains English.

Correcting errors in your source program

Messages about source-code errors indicate where the error occurred (LINEID). The text of a message
tells you what the problem is. With this information, you can correct the source program.
Although you should try to correct errors, it is not always necessary to correct source code for every
diagnostic message. You can leave a warning-level or informational-level message in a program without
much risk, and you might decide that the recoding and compilation that are needed to remove the
message are not worth the effort. Severe-level and error-level errors, however, indicate probable program
failure and should be corrected.
In contrast with the four lower levels of severities, an unrecoverable (U-level) error might not result from
a mistake in your source program. It could come from a flaw in the compiler itself or in the operating
system. In such cases, the problem must be resolved, because the compiler is forced to end early and
does not produce complete object code or a complete listing. If the message occurs for a program that
has many S-level syntax errors, correct those errors and compile the program again. You can also resolve
job set-up problems (such as missing data-set definitions or insufficient storage for compiler processing)
by making changes to the compile job. If your compile job setup is correct and you have corrected the
S-level syntax errors, you need to contact IBM to investigate other U-level errors.
After correcting the errors in your source program, recompile the program. If this second compilation
is successful, proceed to the link-editing step. If the compiler still finds problems, repeat the above
procedure until only informational messages are returned.

related tasks
“Generating a list of compiler messages” on page 271

related references
“Messages and listings for compiler-detected errors” on page 271

270 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Generating a list of compiler messages
You can generate a complete listing of compiler diagnostic messages with their message numbers,
severities, and text by compiling a program that has program-name ERRMSG.
You can code just the PROGRAM-ID paragraph, as shown below, and omit the rest of the program.

Identification Division.
Program-ID. ErrMsg.

related tasks
“Customizing compiler-message severities” on page 731

related references
“Messages and listings for compiler-detected errors” on page 271
“Format of compiler diagnostic messages” on page 271

Messages and listings for compiler-detected errors

As the compiler processes your source program, it checks for COBOL language errors, and issues
diagnostic messages. These messages are collated in the compiler listing (subject to the FLAG option).
Each message in the listing provides information about the nature of the problem, its severity, and
the compiler phase that detected it. Wherever possible, the message provides specific instructions for
correcting an error.
The messages for errors found during processing of compiler options, CBL and PROCESS statements, and
BASIS, COPY, or REPLACE statements are displayed near the top of the listing.
The messages for compilation errors (ordered by line number) are displayed near the end of the listing for
each program.
A summary of all problems found during compilation is displayed near the bottom of the listing.

related tasks
“Correcting errors in your source program” on page 270
“Generating a list of compiler messages” on page 271

related references
“Format of compiler diagnostic messages” on page 271
“Severity codes for compiler diagnostic messages” on page 272
“FLAG” on page 320

Format of compiler diagnostic messages

Each message issued by the compiler has a source line number, a message identifier, and message text.
Each message has the following form:

nnnnnn IGYppxxxx-l message-text

nnnnnn
The number of the source statement of the last line that the compiler was processing. Source
statement numbers are listed on the source printout of your program. If you specified the NUMBER
option at compile time, the numbers are the original source program numbers. If you specified
NONUMBER, the numbers are those generated by the compiler.
IGY
A prefix that identifies that the message was issued by the COBOL compiler.

Chapter 14. Compiling under z/OS 271

 pp
Two characters that identify which phase or subphase of the compiler detected the condition that
resulted in a message. As an application programmer, you can ignore this information. If you are
diagnosing a suspected compiler error, contact IBM for support and include this information.
xxxx
A four-digit number that identifies the message.
l
A character that indicates the severity level of the message: I, W, E, S, or U.
message-text
The message text; for an error message, a short explanation of the condition that caused the error.
Tip: If you used the FLAG option to suppress messages, there might be additional errors in your program.

related references
“Severity codes for compiler diagnostic messages” on page 272
“FLAG” on page 320

Severity codes for compiler diagnostic messages

Conditions that the compiler can detect fall into five levels or categories of severity.

Table 38. Severity codes for compiler diagnostic messages

Level or category of Return Purpose
message code
Informational (I) 0 To inform you. No action is required, and the program runs
correctly.
Warning (W) 4 To indicate a possible error. The program probably runs correctly as
written.
Error (E) 8 To indicate a condition that is definitely an error. The compiler
attempted to correct the error, but the results of program execution
might not be what you expect. You should correct the error.
Severe (S) 12 To indicate a condition that is a serious error. The compiler was
unable to correct the error. The program does not run correctly,
and execution should not be attempted. Object code might not be
created.
Unrecoverable (U) 16 To indicate an error condition of such magnitude that the
compilation was terminated.

The final return code at the end of compilation is generally the highest return code that occurred for any
message during the compilation.
You can suppress compiler diagnostic messages or change their severities, however, which can have an
effect upon the final compilation return code. For details, see the related information.

related tasks
“Customizing compiler-message severities” on page 731

related references
“Processing of MSGEXIT” on page 729

272 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 15. Compiling under z/OS UNIX
Compile Enterprise COBOL programs under z/OS UNIX by using the cob2 command. Under z/OS UNIX,
you can compile any COBOL program that you can compile under z/OS. The object code generated by the
COBOL compiler can run under z/OS.
As part of the compilation step, you define the files needed for the compilation, and specify any compiler
options or compiler-directing statements that are necessary for your program and for the output that you
want.
The main job of the compiler is to translate COBOL programs into language that the computer can
process (object code). The compiler also lists errors in source statements and provides supplementary
information to help you debug and tune programs.

related tasks
“Setting environment variables
under z/OS UNIX” on page 273
“Specifying compiler options under z/OS UNIX” on page 274
“Compiling and linking with the cob2 command” on page 275
“Compiling using scripts” on page 280
“Compiling, linking, and running OO applications under z/OS UNIX” on page 281

related references
“Data sets used by the compiler under z/OS” on page 256
“Compiler options and compiler output under z/OS” on page 265

Setting environment variables under z/OS UNIX

An environment variable is a name that is associated with a string of characters and that defines some
variable aspect of the program environment. You use environment variables to set values that programs,
including the compiler, need.
Set the environment variables for the compiler by using the export command. For example, to set the
SYSLIB variable, issue the export command from the shell or from a script file:

export SYSLIB=/u/mystuff/copybooks

The value that you assign to an environment variable can include other environment variables or the
variable itself. The values of these variables apply only when you compile from the shell where you issue
the export command. If you do not set an environment variable, either a default value is applied or the
variable is not defined. The environment-variable names must be uppercase.
The environment variables that you can set for use by the compiler are as follows:
COBOPT
Specify compiler options separated by blanks or commas. Separate suboptions with commas. Blanks
at the beginning or the end of the variable value are ignored. Delimit the list of options with quotation
marks if it contains blanks or characters that are significant to the z/OS UNIX shell. For example:

export COBOPT="TRUNC(OPT) XREF"

COBOL_INSTALL_DIR
The cob2 utility and related files are normally installed under the HFS directory /usr/lpp/IBM/
cobol/igyv6r2. If the cob2 utility is installed somewhere else on your system, it is necessary to set
the COBOL_INSTALL_DIR environment variable to that location in order to use the utility.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 273

 SYSLIB
Specify paths to directories to be used in searching for COBOL copybooks if you do not specify
an explicit library-name in the COPY statement. Separate multiple paths with a colon. Paths are
evaluated in order from the first path to the last in the export command. If you set the variable with
multiple files of the same name, the first located copy of the file is used.
For COPY statements in which you have not coded an explicit library-name, the compiler searches for
copybooks in z/OS UNIX directories in this order:
1. In the current directory
2. In the paths you specify with the -I cob2 option
3. In the paths you specify in the SYSLIB environment variable
4. In the locations specified in instances of the COPYLOC option that use the default library name or
specify an explicit library name of SYSLIB
If the copybook is not found in any of the z/OS UNIX directories to be searched, and there are
instances of the COPYLOC option specified without an explicit library name or specified with the
library name SYSLIB, those locations are searched in the order that they were specified.
library-name
Specify the directory path from which to copy when you specify an explicit library-name in the COPY
statement. The environment-variable name is identical to the library-name in your program. You must
set an environment variable for each library; an error will occur otherwise. The environment-variable
name library-name must be uppercase.
text-name
Specify the name of the file from which to copy text. The environment-variable name is identical to the
text-name in your program. The environment-variable name text-name must be uppercase.

related tasks
“Specifying compiler options under z/OS UNIX” on page 274
“Compiling and linking with the cob2 command” on page 275
“Setting and accessing environment variables” on page 460

related references
Chapter 18, “Compiler-directing statements,” on page 377
Chapter 17, “Compiler options,” on page 291
COPY statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Specifying compiler options under z/OS UNIX

The compiler is installed and set up with default compiler options. While installing the compiler, a system
programmer can fix compiler option settings to ensure better performance or maintain certain standards.
You cannot override any compiler options that your site has fixed.
For options that are not fixed, you can override the default settings by specifying compiler options in any
of three ways:
• Code them on the PROCESS or CBL statement in your COBOL source.
• Specify the -q option of the cob2 command.
• Set the COBOPT environment variable.
The compiler recognizes the options in the above order of precedence, from highest to lowest. The
order of precedence also determines which options are in effect when conflicting or mutually exclusive
options are specified. When you compile using the cob2 command, compiler options are recognized in the
following order of precedence, from highest to lowest:
1. Installation defaults fixed as nonoverridable
2. The values of BUFSIZE, SQL, SQLIMS, and OUTDD options in effect for the first program in a batch
compilation

274 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 3. The values that you specify on PROCESS or CBL statements in COBOL source programs
4. The values that you specify in the cob2 command's -q option string
5. The values that you specify in the COBOPT environment variable
6. Installation defaults that are not fixed
Restrictions:
• The SQL coprocessor can be used with a compile job initiated from z/OS UNIX. All the following
conditions must be met for this to work:
– The Db2 data set that contains the Db2 coprocessor services must be included in your STEPLIB,
unless these services are in the LNKLST. Typically, this data set is called xxxxxx.SDSNLOAD. For
example, for DB2® 11 it might be DSNB10.SDSNLOAD, but your installation might have changed the
name.
– The SQL compiler option must be specified.
– The -dbrmlib option of cob2 must be specified. Suppose that file is the name of the input COBOL
file to compile:
- Use dbrmlib=xxx to direct the database request module (DBRM) to an existing PDS data set,
where a new member named file will be created.
- Use -dbrmlib (without =xxx) to send the DBRM to an HFS file named file.dbrm.
The separate SQL precompiler does not run under z/OS UNIX.
• Do not use the SQLIMS compiler option under z/OS UNIX.
• The OPTFILE option is ignored when you compile using the cob2 command under z/OS UNIX.
You can use the COBOPT environment variable, which provides a capability that is comparable to
OPTFILE, instead.

related tasks
“Specifying compiler options
in the PROCESS (CBL) statement” on page 264
“Setting environment variables
under z/OS UNIX” on page 273
“Compiling and linking with the cob2 command” on page 275

related references
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295
Chapter 17, “Compiler options,” on page 291

Compiling and linking with the cob2 command

Use the cob2 command to compile and link COBOL programs from the z/OS UNIX shell. You can specify
the options and input file-names in any order, using spaces to separate options and names. Any options
that you specify apply to all files on the command line.
To compile multiple files (batch compilation), specify multiple source-file names.
When you compile COBOL programs for z/OS UNIX, the RENT option is required. The cob2 command
automatically includes the COBOL compiler options RENT and TERM.
The cob2 command invokes the COBOL compiler that is found through the standard MVS search order.
If the COBOL compiler is not installed in the LNKLST, or if more than one level of IBM COBOL compiler is
installed on your system, you can specify in the STEPLIB environment variable the compiler PDSE that you
want to use. For example, the following statement specifies IGY.V6R2M0 as the compiler PDSE:

export STEPLIB=IGY.V6R2M0.SIGYCOMP

Chapter 15. Compiling under z/OS UNIX 275

 The cob2 command implicitly uses the z/OS UNIX shell command c89 for the link step. c89 is the shell
interface to the linker (the z/OS program management binder).

The default location for compiler input and output is the current directory.
Only files with the suffix .cbl are passed to the compiler; cob2 passes all other files to the linker.
The listing output that you request from the compilation of a COBOL source program file.cbl is written to
file.lst. The listing output that you request from the linker is written to stdout.
The linker causes execution to begin at the first main program.

related tasks
“Creating a DLL under z/OS UNIX” on page 276
“Preparing OO applications under z/OS UNIX” on page 282
UNIX System Services User's Guide

related references
“cob2 syntax and options” on page 277
“cob2 input and output files” on page 279
UNIX System Services Command Reference

Creating a DLL under z/OS UNIX

To create a DLL from the z/OS UNIX shell, you must specify the cob2 option -bdll.

cob2 -o mydll -bdll mysub.cbl

When you specify cob2 -bdll:

• The COBOL compiler uses the compiler options DLL, EXPORTALL, and RENT, which are required for
DLLs.
• The link step produces a DLL definition side file that contains IMPORT control statements for each of the
names exported by the DLL.
The name of the DLL definition side file is based on the output file-name. If the output name has a suffix,
that suffix is replaced with x to form the side-file name. For example, if the output file-name is foo.dll,
the side-file name is foo.x.
To use the DLL definition side file later when you create a module that calls that DLL, specify the side file
with any other object files (file.o) that you need to link. For example, the following command compiles
myappl.cbl, uses the DLL option to enable myappl.o to reference DLLs, and links to produce the
module myappl:

cob2 -o myappl -qdll myappl.cbl mydll.x

“Example: using cob2 to compile and link under z/OS UNIX” on page 276

related tasks
Chapter 27, “Creating a DLL or a DLL application,” on page 507
“Compiling programs to create DLLs” on page 508

related references
“cob2 syntax and options” on page 277
“cob2 input and output files” on page 279

Example: using cob2 to compile and link under z/OS UNIX

The following examples illustrate the use of cob2.
• To compile one file called alpha.cbl, enter:

276 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 cob2 -c alpha.cbl

The compiled file is named alpha.o.

• To compile two files called alpha.cbl and beta.cbl, enter:

cob2 -c alpha.cbl beta.cbl

The compiled files are named alpha.o and beta.o.

• To link two files, compile them without the -c option. For example, to compile and link alpha.cbl and
beta.cbl and generate gamma, enter:

cob2 alpha.cbl beta.cbl -o gamma

This command creates alpha.o and beta.o, then links alpha.o, beta.o, and the COBOL libraries. If the link
step is successful, it produces an executable program named gamma.
• To compile alpha.cbl with the LIST and NOADATA options, enter:

cob2 -qlist,noadata alpha.cbl

• To compile alpha.cbl with the SQL option so that the database request module (DBRM) is written to
member "alpha" of the existing PDS data set USER.COBOL.DBRMLIB, enter:

cob2 -qsql alpha.cbl -o alpha -dbrmlib=USER.COBOL.DBRMLIB

Note: The SQL coprocessor must be in your STEPLIB in order for this to work.
• To compile alpha.cbl with the SQL option so that the database request module (DBRM) is written to
z/OS UNIX file alpha.dbrm, enter:

cob2 -qsql alpha.cbl -o alpha -dbrmlib

Note: The SQL coprocessor must be in your STEPLIB in order for this to work, and you need to use the
SQL coprocessor for Db2 V12 with APAR PI88171 applied.

cob2 syntax and options

You can use the options listed below with the cob2 command. (Do not capitalize cob2.)

cob2 command syntax

cob2
options filenames

If you specify cob2 without any options or input files, the compiler manual page will be displayed.
-bxxx
Passes the string xxx to the linker as parameters. xxx is a list of linker options in name=value format,
separated by commas. You must spell out both the name and the value in full (except for the special
cases noted below). The name and value are case insensitive. Do not use any spaces between -b and
xxx.
If you do not specify a value for an option, a default value of YES is used except for the following
options, which have the indicated default values:
• LIST=NOIMPORT
• ALIASES=ALL

Chapter 15. Compiling under z/OS UNIX 277

 • COMPAT=CURRENT
• DYNAM=DLL
One special value for xxx is dll, which specifies that the executable module is to be a DLL. This string
is not passed to the linker.
-c
Compiles programs but does not link them.
-comprc_ok=n
Controls cob2 behavior on the return code from the compiler. If the return code is less than or equal
to n, cob2 continues to the link step or, in the compile-only case, exits with a zero return code. If
the return code returned by the compiler is greater than n, cob2 exits with the same return code.
When the c89 command is implicitly invoked by cob2 for the link step, the exit value from the c89
command is used as the return code from the cob2 command.
The default is -comprc_ok=4.
-dbrmlib=xxx
Specifies the location to be used for the generated database request module (DBRM). Only valid when
the SQL compiler option is also specified.
• When xxx is not specified, the DBRM is written to a z/OS UNIX file. If the input file for the compile
operation is named file.cbl, then the DBRM file will be named file.dbrm.
• When xxx is specified, xxx represents the name of an existing data set that will hold the generated
DBRM. Note that the provided name xxx is used as-is with no extra qualification performed.
-e xxx
Specifies the name of the program to be used as the entry point of the module. The program must be
one of the programs that will be included in the module. If you do not specify -e, the default entry
point is the first program (file.cbl) or object file (file.o) that you specify as a file name on the cob2
command invocation.
-g
Prepares the program for debugging. Equivalent to specifying the TEST option with no suboptions.
-help
Displays the manual page of the compiler. If you specify cob2 -help, regardless of whether you
provide input files, the compiler manual page is displayed and the compilation stops. This option has
the same effect as -?.
-Ixxx
Adds a path xxx to the directories to be searched for copybooks for which you do not specify a
library-name.
To specify multiple paths, either use multiple -I options, or use a colon to separate multiple path
names within a single -I option value.
For COPY statements in which you have not coded an explicit library-name, the compiler searches for
copybooks in the following order:
1. In the current directory
2. In the paths you specify with the -I cob2 option
3. In the paths you specify in the SYSLIB environment variable
4. In the locations specified in instances of the COPYLOC option that use the default library name or
specify an explicit library name of SYSLIB
-L xxx
Specifies the directory paths to be used to search for archive libraries specified by the -l operand.
-l xxx
Specifies the name of an archive library for the linker. The cob2 command searches for the name
libxxx.a in the directories specified in the -L option, then in the usual search order. (This option is
lowercase l, not uppercase I.)

278 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 -o xxx
Names the object module xxx. If the -o option is not used, the name of the object module is a.out.
-qxxx
Passes xxx to the compiler, where xxx is a list of compiler options separated by blanks or commas.
Enclose xxx in quotation marks if a parenthesis is part of the option or suboption, or if you use blanks
to separate options. Do not insert spaces between -q and xxx.
-v
Displays the generated commands that are issued by cob2 for the compile and link steps, including
the options being passed, and executes them. Here is sample output:

cob2 -v -o mini -qssrange mini.cbl

compiler: ATTCRCTL PARM=RENT,TERM,SSRANGE /u/userid/cobol/mini.cbl
PP 5655-EC6 IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS 6.2.0 in progress ...
End of compilation 1, program mini, no statements flagged.
linker: /bin/c89 -o mini -e // mini.o

-#
Displays compile and link steps, but does not execute them.
-?
Displays the manual page of the compiler. If you specify cob2 -?, regardless of whether you provide
input files, the compiler manual page is displayed and the compilation stops. This option has the same
effect as -help.

related tasks
“Compiling and linking with the cob2 command” on page 275
“Creating a DLL under z/OS UNIX” on page 276
“Setting environment variables
under z/OS UNIX” on page 273

cob2 input and output files

You can specify the following files as input file-names when you use the cob2 command.

Table 39. Input files to the cob2 command

File name Description Comments
file.cbl COBOL source file to be compiled and Will not be linked if you specify the cob2
linked option -c
file.a Archive file Produced by the ar command, to be used
during the link-edit phase
file.o Object file to be link-edited Can be produced by the COBOL compiler, the
C/C++ compiler, or the assembler
file.x DLL definition side file Used during the link-edit phase of an
application that references the dynamic link
library (DLL)

If you use the cob2 command, the following files are created in the current directory.

Table 40. Output files from the cob2 command

File name Description Comments
file Executable module or DLL Created by the linker if you specify the cob2
option -o file
a.out Executable module or DLL Created by the linker if you do not specify the
cob2 option -o

Chapter 15. Compiling under z/OS UNIX 279

 Table 40. Output files from the cob2 command (continued)
File name Description Comments
file.adt Associated data (ADATA) file Created by the compiler if you specify
corresponding to input COBOL source compiler option ADATA
program file.cbl
file.dbg Symbolic information tables for Debug Created by the compiler if you specify
Tool corresponding to input COBOL compiler option TEST(. . .,SEP,. . .)
source program file.cbl
file.dbrm Database request module (DBRM) Created by the compiler if you specify the
-dbrmlib option alone, without xxx specified
file.dek Extended COBOL source output from Created by the compiler if you specify
library processing compiler option MDECK
file.lst Listing file corresponding to input Created by the compiler
COBOL source program file.cbl
file.o Object file corresponding to input Created by the compiler
COBOL source program file.cbl
file.x DLL definition side file Created during the cob2 linking phase when
creating file.dll
class.java Java class definition (source) Created when you compile a class definition

related tasks
“Compiling and linking with the cob2 command” on page 275

related references
“ADATA” on page 297
“MDECK” on page 334
“TEST” on page 359
UNIX System Services Command Reference

Compiling using scripts

If you use a shell script to automate cob2 tasks, you must code option syntax carefully to prevent the
shell from passing invalid strings to cob2.
Code option strings in scripts as follows:
• Use an equal sign and colon rather than a left and right parenthesis, respectively, to specify compiler
suboptions. For example, code -qOPTIMIZE=1:,XREF instead of -qOPTIMIZE(1),XREF.
• Use an underscore rather than an apostrophe where a compiler option requires apostrophes for
delimiting a suboption.
• Do not use blanks in the option string.

280 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 16. Compiling, linking, and running OO
applications
It is recommended that you compile, link, and run object-oriented (OO) applications in the z/OS UNIX
environment. However, with certain limitations explained in the related tasks, it is possible to compile,
link, and run OO COBOL applications by using standard batch JCL or TSO/E commands.

related tasks
“Compiling, linking, and running OO applications under z/OS UNIX” on page 281
“Compiling, linking, and running OO applications in JCL or TSO/E” on page 285
“Using Java SDKs
for z/OS” on page 288

Compiling, linking, and running OO applications under z/OS UNIX

When you compile, link, and run object-oriented applications in a z/OS UNIX environment, application
components reside in the z/OS UNIX file system. You compile and link them by using shell commands,
and run them at a shell command prompt or with the BPXBATCH utility from JCL or TSO/E.

related tasks
“Compiling OO applications under z/OS UNIX” on page 281
“Preparing OO applications under z/OS UNIX” on page 282
“Running OO applications under z/OS UNIX” on page 283

Compiling OO applications under z/OS UNIX

When you compile OO applications in a z/OS UNIX shell, use the cob2 command to compile COBOL client
programs and class definitions, and the javac command to compile Java class definitions to produce
bytecode (suffix .class).
To compile COBOL source code that contains OO syntax such as INVOKE statements or class definitions,
or that uses Java services, you must use these compiler options: RENT, DLL, THREAD, and DBCS. (The
RENT and DBCS options are defaults.)
A COBOL source file that contains a class definition must not contain any other class or program
definitions.
When you compile a COBOL class definition, two output files are generated:
• The object file (.o) for the class definition.
• A Java source program (.java) that contains a class definition that corresponds to the COBOL class
definition. Do not edit this generated Java class definition in any way. If you change the COBOL class
definition, you must regenerate both the object file and the Java class definition by recompiling the
updated COBOL class definition.
If a COBOL client program or class definition includes the file JNI.cpy by using a COPY statement,
specify the include subdirectory of the COBOL install directory (typically /usr/lpp/cobol/include)
in the search order for copybooks. You can specify the include subdirectory by using the -I option of
the cob2 command or by setting the SYSLIB environment variable.

related tasks
Chapter 15, “Compiling under z/OS UNIX,” on page 273
“Preparing OO applications under z/OS UNIX” on page 282
“Running OO applications under z/OS UNIX” on page 283
“Setting and accessing environment variables” on page 460
“Accessing JNI services” on page 633

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 281

 related references
“cob2 syntax and options” on page 277
“DBCS” on page 311
“DLL” on page 314
“RENT” on page 348
“THREAD” on page 363

Preparing OO applications under z/OS UNIX

Use the cob2 command to link OO COBOL applications.
To prepare an OO COBOL client program for execution, link the object file with the following two DLL side
files to create an executable module:
• libjvm.x, which is provided with your IBM Java Software Development Kit.
• igzcjava.x, which is provided in the lib subdirectory of the COBOL install directory in the z/OS UNIX
file system. This DLL side file is also available as the member IGZCJAVA in the SCEELIB PDS (part of
Language Environment).
To prepare a COBOL class definition for execution:
1. Link the object file using the two DLL side files mentioned above to create an executable DLL module.
You must name the resulting DLL module libClassname.so, where Classname is the external
class-name. If the class is part of a package and thus there are periods in the external class-
name, you must change the periods to underscores in the DLL module name. For example, if class
Account is part of the com.acme package, the external class-name (as defined in the REPOSITORY
paragraph entry for the class) must be com.acme.Account, and the DLL module for the class must be
libcom_acme_Account.so.
2. Compile the generated Java source with the Java compiler to create a class file (.class).
For a COBOL source file Classname.cbl that contains the class definition for Classname, you would use
the following commands to compile and link the components of the application:

Table 41. Commands for compiling and linking a class definition

Command Input Output
cob2 -c -qdll,thread Classname.cbl Classname.cbl Classname.o,
Classname.java
Classname.o libClassname.so
cob2 -bdll -o libClassname.so Classname.o
/usr/lpp/java/IBM/J8.0/bin/j9vm/libjvm.x
/usr/lpp/cobol/igyv6r2/lib/igzcjava.x

javac Classname.java Classname.java Classname.class

After you issue the cob2 and javac commands successfully, you have the executable components for
the program: the executable DLL module libClassname.so and the class file Classname.class. All
files from these commands are generated in the current working directory.
“Example: compiling and linking a COBOL class definition under z/OS UNIX” on page 283

related tasks
Chapter 15, “Compiling under z/OS UNIX,” on page 273
“REPOSITORY paragraph for
defining a class” on page 598

related references
“cob2 syntax and options” on page 277
“Object-oriented syntax, and Java 6
or later” on page 289

282 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Example: compiling and linking a COBOL class definition under z/OS UNIX
This example illustrates the commands that you use and the files that are produced when you compile
and link a COBOL class definition, Manager.cbl, using z/OS UNIX shell commands.

The class file Manager.class and the DLL module libManager.so are the executable components of
the application, and are generated in the current working directory.

Running OO applications under z/OS UNIX

It is recommended that you run object-oriented COBOL applications as z/OS UNIX applications. You must
do so if an application begins with a Java program or the main factory method of a COBOL class.
Specify the directory that contains the DLLs for the COBOL classes in the LIBPATH environment variable.
Specify the directory paths for the Java class files that are associated with the COBOL classes in the
CLASSPATH environment variable as follows:
• For classes that are not part of a package, end the class path with the directory that contains the .class
files.
• For classes that are part of a package, end the class path with the directory that contains the "root"
package (the first package in the full package name).
• For a .jar file that contains .class files, end the class path with the name of the .jar file.
Separate multiple path entries with colons.
Note: If the CLASSPATH environment variable contains the filename wildcard (*), the wildcard cannot be
expanded in the case where the JVM is initialized by the COBOL runtime.

related tasks
“Running OO applications that start with a main method” on page 284
“Running OO applications that start with a COBOL program” on page 284
“Running J2EE COBOL clients” on page 284
Chapter 23, “Running COBOL programs under z/OS UNIX,” on page 459
“Setting and accessing environment variables” on page 460
Chapter 34, “Writing object-oriented programs,” on page 593
“Structuring OO applications” on page 630

Chapter 16. Compiling, linking, and running OO applications 283

 Running OO applications that start with a main method
If the first routine of a mixed COBOL and Java application is the main method of a Java class or the main
factory method of a COBOL class, run the application by using the java command and by specifying the
name of the class that contains the main method.
The java command initializes the Java virtual machine (JVM). To customize the initialization of the JVM,
specify options on the java command as in the following examples:

Table 42. java command options for customizing the JVM

Purpose Option
To set a system property -Dname=value
To request that the JVM generate verbose messages about garbage -verbose:gc
collection
To request that the JVM generate verbose messages about class loading -verbose:class
To request that the JVM generate verbose messages about native -verbose:jni
methods and other Java Native Interface activity
To set the initial Java heap size to value bytes -Xmsvalue
To set the maximum Java heap size to value bytes -Xmxvalue

For details about the options that the JVM supports, see the output from the java -h command, or see
the related references.

related references
IBM SDK for Java - Tools Documentation
WebSphere for z/OS: Applications (Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI))

Running OO applications that start with a COBOL program

If the first routine of a mixed COBOL and Java application is a COBOL program, run the application by
specifying the program name at the command prompt. If a JVM is not already running in the process of
the COBOL program, the COBOL run time automatically initializes a JVM.
To customize the initialization of the JVM, specify options by setting the COBJVMINITOPTIONS
environment variable. Use blanks to separate options. For example:

export COBJVMINITOPTIONS="-Xms10000000 -Xmx20000000 -verbose:gc"

related tasks
“Using Java SDKs
for z/OS” on page 288
Chapter 23, “Running COBOL programs under z/OS UNIX,” on page 459
“Setting and accessing environment variables” on page 460

related references
IBM SDK for Java - Tools Documentation
WebSphere for z/OS: Applications (Java Naming and Directory Interface (JNDI))

Running J2EE COBOL clients

You can use OO syntax in a COBOL program to implement a Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE)
client. You can, for example, invoke methods on enterprise beans that run in the WebSphere for z/OS
environment.

284 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Before you run a COBOL J2EE client, you must set the Java system property java.naming.factory.initial to
access WebSphere naming services. For example:

export COBJVMINITOPTIONS
="-Djava.naming.factory.initial=com.ibm.websphere.naming.WsnInitialContextFactory"

“Example: J2EE client written in COBOL” on page 645

Compiling, linking, and running OO applications in JCL or TSO/E

It is recommended that you compile, link, and run applications that use OO syntax in the z/OS UNIX
environment.
However, in limited circumstances it is possible to compile, prepare, and run OO applications by using
standard batch JCL or TSO/E commands. To do so, you must follow the guidelines that are in the related
tasks. For example, you might follow this approach for applications that consist of a COBOL main program
and subprograms that:
• Access objects that are all implemented in Java
• Access enterprise beans that run in a WebSphere server

related tasks
“Compiling OO applications in JCL or TSO/E” on page 285
“Preparing and running OO applications in JCL or TSO/E” on page 286
“Compiling, linking, and running OO applications under z/OS UNIX” on page 281

Compiling OO applications in JCL or TSO/E

If you use batch JCL or TSO/E to compile an OO COBOL program or class definition, the generated object
file is written, as usual, to the data set that has ddname SYSLIN or SYSPUNCH. You must use compiler
options RENT, DLL, THREAD, and DBCS. (RENT and DBCS are defaults.)
If the COBOL program or class definition uses the JNI environment structure to access JNI callable
services, copy the file JNI.cpy from the z/OS UNIX file system to a PDS or PDSE member called JNI,
identify that library with a SYSLIB DD statement, and use a COPY statement of the form COPY JNI in the
COBOL source.
A COBOL source file that contains a class definition must not contain any other class or program
definitions.
When you compile a COBOL class definition, a Java source program that contains a class definition that
corresponds to the COBOL class definition is generated in addition to the object file. Use the SYSJAVA
ddname to write the generated Java source file to a file in the z/OS UNIX file system. For example:

//SYSJAVA DD PATH='/u/userid/java/Classname.java',
// PATHOPTS=(OWRONLY,OCREAT,OTRUNC),
// PATHMODE=SIRWXU,
// FILEDATA=TEXT

Do not edit this generated Java class definition in any way. If you change the COBOL class definition, you
must regenerate both the object file and the Java class definition by recompiling the updated COBOL class
definition.
Compile Java class definitions by using the javac command from a z/OS UNIX shell command prompt, or
by using the BPXBATCH utility.
“Example: compiling, linking, and running an OO application using JCL” on page 287

related tasks
“Compiling with JCL” on page 245
“Compiling under TSO” on page 252
“Specifying source libraries (SYSLIB)” on page 260

Chapter 16. Compiling, linking, and running OO applications 285

 “Defining the Java-source output file (SYSJAVA)” on page 262
“Accessing JNI services” on page 633
“Compiling OO applications under z/OS UNIX” on page 281
“Preparing OO applications under z/OS UNIX” on page 282

related references
“DBCS” on page 311
“DLL” on page 314
“RENT” on page 348
“THREAD” on page 363
Appendix F, “JNI.cpy copybook,” on page 743
UNIX System Services User's Guide (The BPXBATCH utility)

Preparing and running OO applications in JCL or TSO/E

It is recommended that you run OO applications in a z/OS UNIX environment. To run OO applications from
batch JCL or TSO/E, you should therefore use the BPXBATCH utility.
In limited circumstances, however, you can run an OO application by using standard batch JCL (EXEC
PGM=COBPROG) or the TSO/E CALL command. To do so, follow these requirements when preparing the
application:
• Structure the application to start with a COBOL program. (If an application starts with a Java program or
with the main factory method of a COBOL class, you must run the application under z/OS UNIX, and the
application components must reside in the z/OS UNIX file system.)
• Link-edit considerations: Link the program object for the COBOL program into a PDSE. COBOL
programs that contain object-oriented syntax must be link-edited with AMODE 31.
• Ensure that the class files and DLLs associated with the COBOL or Java classes that are used by the
application reside in the z/OS UNIX file system. You must name the class files and DLLs as described in
the related task about preparing OO applications under z/OS UNIX.
• Specify INCLUDE control statements for the DLL side files libjvm.x and igzcjava.x when you bind
the object deck for the main program. For example:

INCLUDE '/usr/lpp/java/IBM/J8.0/bin/j9vm/libjvm.x'
INCLUDE '/usr/lpp/cobol/igyv6r2/lib/igzcjava.x'

• Create a file that contains the environment variable settings that are required for Java. For example, a
file /u/userid/javaenv might contain the three lines shown below to set the PATH, LIBPATH, and
CLASSPATH environment variables.

PATH=/bin:/usr/lpp/java/IBM/J8.0/bin
LIBPATH=/lib:/usr/lib:/usr/lpp/java/IBM/J8.0/bin:/usr/lpp/java/IBM/J8.0/bin/j9vm
CLASSPATH=.:/u/userid/applications

To customize the initialization of the JVM that will be used by the application, you can set the
COBJVMINITOPTIONS environment variable in the same file. For example, to access enterprise beans
that run in a WebSphere server, you must set the Java system property java.naming.factory.initial. For
details, see the related task about running OO applications.
When you run an OO application that starts with a COBOL program by using standard batch JCL or the
TSO/E CALL command, follow these guidelines:
• Use the _CEE_ENVFILE environment variable to indicate the location of the file that contains the
environment variable settings required by Java. Set _CEE_ENVFILE by using the ENVAR runtime option.
• Specify the POSIX(ON) and XPLINK(ON) runtime option.
• Use DD statements to specify files in the z/OS UNIX file system for the standard input, output, and error
streams for Java:
– JAVAIN DD for the input from statements such as c=System.in.read();

286 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 – JAVAOUT DD for the output from statements such as System.out.println(string);
– JAVAERR DD for the output from statements such as System.err.println(string);
• Ensure that the SCEERUN2 and SCEERUN load libraries are available in the system library search order,
for example, by using a STEPLIB DD statement.
“Example: compiling, linking, and running an OO application using JCL” on page 287

related tasks
“Preparing OO applications under z/OS UNIX” on page 282
“Running OO applications under z/OS UNIX” on page 283
“Structuring OO applications” on page 630
UNIX System Services User's Guide (The BPXBATCH utility)
Language Environment Programming Guide (Running an application under batch)

related references
XL C/C++ Programming Guide (_CEE_ENVFILE)
Language Environment Programming Reference (ENVAR)

Example: compiling, linking, and running an OO application using JCL

This example shows sample JCL that you could use to compile, link, and run a COBOL client that invokes a
Java method.
The example shows:
• JCL to compile, link, and run an OO COBOL program, TSTHELLO
• A Java class definition, HelloJ, that contains a method that the COBOL program invokes
• A z/OS UNIX file, ENV, that contains the environment variable settings that Java requires

JCL for program TSTHELLO

//TSTHELLO JOB ,
// TIME=(1),MSGLEVEL=(1,1),MSGCLASS=H,CLASS=A,REGION=200M,
// NOTIFY=&SYSUID,USER=&SYSUID
//*
// SET COBPRFX='IGY.V6R2M0'
// SET LIBPRFX='CEE'
//*
//COMPILE EXEC PGM=IGYCRCTL,
//SYSLIN DD DSNAME=&&OBJECT(TSTHELLO),UNIT=VIO,DISP=(NEW,PASS),
// SPACE=(CYL,(1,1,1))
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=*
//STEPLIB DD DSN=&COBPRFX..SIGYCOMP,DISP=SHR
// DD DSN=&LIBPRFX..SCEERUN,DISP=SHR
// DD DSN=&LIBPRFX..SCEERUN2,DISP=SHR
//SYSUT1 DD UNIT=VIO,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT2 DD UNIT=VIO,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT3 DD UNIT=VIO,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT4 DD UNIT=VIO,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT5 DD UNIT=VIO,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT6 DD UNIT=VIO,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT7 DD UNIT=VIO,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT8 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT9 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT10 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT11 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT12 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT13 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT14 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT15 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSMDECK DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSIN DD *
cbl dll,thread
Identification division.
Program-id. "TSTHELLO" recursive.
Environment division.
Configuration section.
Repository.
Class HelloJ is "HelloJ".

Chapter 16. Compiling, linking, and running OO applications 287

 Data Division.
Procedure division.
Display "COBOL program TSTHELLO entered"
Invoke HelloJ "sayHello"
Display "Returned from java sayHello to TSTHELLO"
Goback.
End program "TSTHELLO".
/*
//LKED EXEC PGM=IEWL,PARM='RENT,LIST,LET,DYNAM(DLL),CASE(MIXED)'
//SYSLIB DD DSN=&LIBPRFX..SCEELKED,DISP=SHR
// DD DSN=&LIBPRFX..SCEELKEX,DISP=SHR
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=*
//SYSTERM DD SYSOUT=*
//SYSLMOD DD DSN=&&GOSET(TSTHELLO),DISP=(MOD,PASS),UNIT=VIO,
// SPACE=(CYL,(1,1,1)),DSNTYPE=LIBRARY
//SYSDEFSD DD DUMMY
//OBJMOD DD DSN=&&OBJECT,DISP=(OLD,DELETE)
//SYSLIN DD *
INCLUDE OBJMOD(TSTHELLO)
INCLUDE '/usr/lpp/java/IBM/J8.0/bin/j9vm/libjvm.x'
INCLUDE '/usr/lpp/cobol/igyv6r2/lib/igzcjava.x'
/*
//GO EXEC PGM=TSTHELLO,COND=(4,LT,LKED),
// PARM='/ENVAR("_CEE_ENVFILE=/u/userid/ootest/tsthello/ENV")
// POSIX(ON) XPLINK(ON)'
//STEPLIB DD DSN=*.LKED.SYSLMOD,DISP=PASS
// DD DSN=&LIBPRFX..SCEERUN2,DISP=SHR
// DD DSN=&LIBPRFX..SCEERUN,DISP=SHR
//SYSOUT DD SYSOUT=*
//CEEDUMP DD SYSOUT=*
//SYSUDUMP DD DUMMY
//JAVAOUT DD PATH='/u/userid/ootest/tsthello/javaout',
// PATHOPTS=(OWRONLY,OCREAT,OTRUNC),
// PATHMODE=(SIRUSR,SIWUSR,SIRGRP)
//JAVAERR DD PATH='/u/userid/ootest/tsthello/javaerr',
// PATHOPTS=(OWRONLY,OCREAT,OTRUNC),
// PATHMODE=(SIRUSR,SIWUSR,SIRGRP)

Definition of class HelloJ

class HelloJ {
public static void sayHello() {
System.out.println("Hello World, from Java!");
}
}

HelloJ.java is compiled with the javac command. The resulting .class file resides in the z/OS UNIX
file system directory u/userid/ootest/tsthello, which is specified in the CLASSPATH environment
variable in the environment variable settings file.

Environment variable settings file, ENV

PATH=/bin:/usr/lpp/java/IBM/J8.0/bin
LIBPATH=/lib:/usr/lib:/usr/lpp/java/IBM/J8.0/bin:/usr/lpp/java/IBM/J8.0/bin/j9vm
CLASSPATH=.:/u/userid/ootest/tsthello

The environment variable settings file also resides in directory u/userid/ootest/tsthello, as

specified in the _CEE_ENVFILE environment variable in the JCL.

Using Java SDKs for z/OS

The Java SDKs for z/OS are based on the XPLINK linkage convention defined by Language Environment.
If the application starts with a Java program or the main factory method of a COBOL class, the XPLINK
environment is automatically started by the java command that starts the JVM and runs the application.
If an application starts with a COBOL program that invokes methods on COBOL or Java classes, you must
specify the XPLINK(ON) runtime option so that the XPLINK environment is initialized. XPLINK(ON) is
not recommended as a default setting, however; you should use XPLINK(ON) only for applications that
specifically require it.

288 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 When you are running an application under z/OS UNIX, you can set the XPLINK(ON) option by using the
_CEE_RUNOPTS environment variable as follows:

_CEE_RUNOPTS="XPLINK(ON)"

Exporting _CEE_RUNOPTS="XPLINK(ON)" so that it is in effect for the entire z/OS UNIX shell session is
not recommended, however. Suppose for example that an OO COBOL application starts with a COBOL
program called App1Driver. One way to limit the effect of the XPLINK option to the execution of
the App1Driver application is to set the _CEE_RUNOPTS variable on the command-line invocation of
App1Driver as follows:

_CEE_RUNOPTS="XPLINK(ON)" App1Driver

related tasks
“Running OO applications under z/OS UNIX” on page 283
“Setting and accessing environment variables” on page 460
related references
“Object-oriented syntax, and Java 6
or later” on page 289
“Runtime environment variables” on page 461
Language Environment Programming Reference (XPLINK)
XL C/C++ Programming Guide (_CEE_RUNOPTS)

Object-oriented syntax, and Java 6 or later

Enterprise COBOL V5.2 and later applications that use object-oriented syntax for Java interoperability are
supported with Java 6 or later.
Earlier versions of Enterprise COBOL applications that use object-oriented syntax for Java interoperability
were supported with Java SDK 1.4.2 and Java 5. To run these applications with Java 6 or later, do these
steps:
1. Recompile and relink the applications using Enterprise COBOL V5.2 or later.
2. Recompile the generated Java class that is associated with each object-oriented COBOL class using
the javac command from Java 6 or later.

related tasks
“Preparing OO applications under z/OS UNIX” on page 282

Chapter 16. Compiling, linking, and running OO applications 289

290 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 17. Compiler options
You can direct and control your compilation by using compiler options or by using compiler-directing
statements (compiler directives).
Compiler options affect the aspects of your program that are listed in the table below. The linked-to
information for each option provides the syntax for specifying the option and describes the option, its
parameters, and its interaction with other parameters.

Table 43. Compiler options

Aspect of your program Compiler option Default Option abbreviations
Source language “APOST/QUOTE” on page QUOTE APOST | Q
298
“ARITH” on page 300 ARITH(COMPAT) AR(C | E)
“CICS” on page 303 NOCICS None
“CODEPAGE” on page 304 CODEPAGE(1140) CP(ccsid)
“CURRENCY” on page 309 NOCURRENCY CURR | NOCURR
“DBCS” on page 311 DBCS None
“NSYMBOL” on page 335 NSYMBOL(NATIONAL) NS(DBCS | NAT)
“NUMBER” on page 336 NONUMBER NUM | NONUM
“QUALIFY” on page 347 QUALIFY(COMPAT) QUA(C | E)
“SEQUENCE” on page 352 SEQUENCE SEQ | NOSEQ
“SQL” on page 354 NOSQL None
“SQLCCSID” on page 355 SQLCCSID SQLC | NOSQLC
“SQLIMS” on page 355 NOSQLIMS None
“SUPPRESS” on page 358 SUPPRESS SUPP
“WORD” on page 369 NOWORD WD | NOWD
“XMLPARSE” on page 369 XMLPARSE(XMLSS) XP(X) | XP(C)
Date processing “INTDATE” on page 326 INTDATE(ANSI) None

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 291

Table 43. Compiler options (continued)
Aspect of your program Compiler option Default Option abbreviations
Maps and listings “LANGUAGE” on page 330 LANGUAGE(ENGLISH) LANG(EN | UE | JA |
JP)
“LINECOUNT” on page 331 LINECOUNT(60) LC
“LIST” on page 331 NOLIST None
“MAP” on page 332 NOMAP None
“OFFSET” on page 341 NOOFFSET OFF | NOOFF
“SOURCE” on page 353 SOURCE S | NOS
“SPACE” on page 353 SPACE(1) None
“TERMINAL” on page 358 NOTERMINAL TERM | NOTERM
“VBREF” on page 366 NOVBREF None
“XREF” on page 370 XREF(FULL) X | NOX
Object deck generation “COMPILE” on page 307 NOCOMPILE(S) C | NOC
“COPYRIGHT” on page 309 NOCOPYRIGHT CPYR | NOCPYR
“DECK” on page 311 NODECK D | NOD
“NAME” on page 335 NONAME, or None
NAME(NOALIAS) if
only NAME is specified
“OBJECT” on page 341 OBJECT OBJ | NOOBJ
“PGMNAME” on page 345 PGMNAME(COMPAT) PGMN(CO | LU | LM)
“SERVICE” on page 352 NOSERVICE SERV | NOSERV

292 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 43. Compiler options (continued)
Aspect of your program Compiler option Default Option abbreviations
Object code control “ADV” on page 297 ADV None
“AFP” on page 298 AFP(NOVOLATILE) None
“ARCH” on page 299 ARCH(7) None
“AWO” on page 302 NOAWO None
“BLOCK0” on page 302 NOBLOCK0 None
“DEFINE” on page 311 NODEFINE DEF | NODEF
“DISPSIGN” on page 313 DISPSIGN(COMPAT) DS(S | C)
“DLL” on page 314 NODLL None
“EXPORTALL” on page 319 NOEXPORTALL EXP | NOEXP
“FASTSRT” on page 320 NOFASTSRT FSRT | NOFSRT
“HGPR” on page 323 HGPR(PRESERVE) None
“INITIAL” on page 325 NOINITIAL None
“INLINE” on page 325 INLINE INL | NOINL
“INVDATA” on page 326 NOINVDATA NOINV | INVD(FNC |
NOFNC,CS | NOCS)
“MAXPCF” on page 333 MAXPCF(100000) None
“NUMCHECK” on page 336 NONUMCHECK NC | NONC
“NUMPROC” on page 340 NUMPROC(NOPFD) None
“OPTIMIZE” on page 343 OPTIMIZE(0) OPT(n)
“OUTDD” on page 344 OUTDD(SYSOUT) OUT
“PARMCHECK” on page 344 NOPARMCHECK PC | NOPC
“TRUNC” on page 364 TRUNC(STD) None
“VLR” on page 366 VLR(STD) VLR(C | S)
“ZONECHECK” on page 371 NOZONECHECK NOZC | ZC(MSG) |
ZC(ABD)
“ZWB” on page 375 ZWB None
Virtual storage usage “BUFSIZE” on page 303 4096 BUF
“DATA” on page 310 DATA(31) None
“DYNAM” on page 317 NODYNAM DYN | NODYN
“RENT” on page 348 RENT None
“RMODE” on page 349 AUTO None
“STGOPT” on page 357 NOSTGOPT SO | NOSO

Chapter 17. Compiler options 293

Table 43. Compiler options (continued)
Aspect of your program Compiler option Default Option abbreviations
Debugging and diagnostics “DIAGTRUNC” on page 312 NODIAGTRUNC DTR | NODTR
“DUMP” on page 316 NODUMP DU | NODU
“FLAG” on page 320 FLAG(I,I) F | NOF
“FLAGSTD” on page 321 NOFLAGSTD None
“INITCHECK” on page 323 NOINITCHECK IC | NOIC
“RULES” on page 350 NORULES RULES(ENDP,EVENP,LXP
RF,
SLCKB,OOM) |
RULES(NOENDP,
NOEVENP,NOLXPRF,NOSL
CKB,
NOOOM,NOUNRA |
NOUNRS)
“SSRANGE” on page 356 NOSSRANGE SSR(ZLEN |
NOZLEN,MSG | ABD) |
NOSSR
“TEST” on page 359 NOTEST None
Other “ADATA” on page 297 NOADATA None
“COPYLOC” on page 307 NOCOPYLOC CPLC
“EXIT” on page 317 NOEXIT NOEX | EX(INX |
NOINX, LIBX | NOLIBX,
PRTX | NOPRTX, ADX |
NOADX, MSGX | NOMSGX)
“MDECK” on page 334 NOMDECK NOMD | MD | MD(C |
NOC)
“OPTFILE” on page 342 None None
“THREAD” on page 363 NOTHREAD None
“VSAMOPENFS” on page VSAMOPENFS(COMPA VS(C | S)
368 T)

Installation defaults: The default compiler options that were set up when your compiler was installed
are in effect for your program unless you override those options. (In some installations, certain compiler
options are fixed so that you cannot override them. If you have problems with the default options, contact
your system administrator.) To determine which are the default options, run a test compilation without
specifying any compiler options. The output listing lists the default options in effect at your site.
Nonoverridable options: In some installations, certain compiler options are fixed so that you cannot
override them. If you have problems with those options, contact your system administrator.
Option specification: Compiler options and suboptions are not case sensitive.
Performance considerations: The AFP, ARCH, ARITH, AWO, BLOCK0, DYNAM, FASTSRT, HGPR, MAXPCF,
NUMCHECK, NUMPROC, OPTIMIZE, PARMCHECK, RENT, SQLCCSID, SSRANGE, STGOPT, TEST, THREAD,
TRUNC, ZONECHECK, and INVDATA compiler options can affect runtime performance.

related tasks
Chapter 14, “Compiling under z/OS,” on page 245
“Compiling under TSO” on page 252

294 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Chapter 15, “Compiling under z/OS UNIX,” on page 273
Chapter 38, “Tuning your program,” on page 669

related references
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295
Chapter 18, “Compiler-directing statements,” on page 377
“Option settings for 85 COBOL Standard conformance” on page 295
“Performance-related compiler options” on page 676

Option settings for 85 COBOL Standard conformance

Compiler options and runtime options are required for conformance with the 85 COBOL Standard.
The following compiler options are required:
• ADV
• DYNAM
• NAME(ALIAS) or NAME(NOALIAS)
• NOBLOCK0
• NOCICS
• NODLL
• NOEXPORTALL
• NOFASTSRT
• NOTHREAD
• NOWORD
• NUMPROC(NOPFD)
• PGMNAME(COMPAT) or PGMNAME(LONGUPPER)
• QUALIFY(COMPAT)
• QUOTE
• TRUNC(STD)
• VLR(STANDARD)
• VSAMOPENFS(SUCC)
• ZWB
You can use the FLAGSTD compiler option to flag nonconforming elements such as IBM extensions.
The following runtime options are required:
• AIXBLD
• CBLQDA(ON)
• TRAP(ON)

related references
Language Environment Programming Reference

Conflicting compiler options

The Enterprise COBOL compiler can encounter conflicting compiler options in either of two ways: both the
positive and negative form of an option are specified at the same level in the hierarchy of precedence, or
mutually exclusive options are specified at the same level in the hierarchy.
When conflicting options are specified at the same level in the hierarchy (such as specifying both DECK
and NODECK in a PROCESS or CBL statement), the option specified last takes effect.

Chapter 17. Compiler options 295

 If you specify mutually exclusive compiler options at the same level, the compiler generates an error
message and forces one of the options to a nonconflicting value. For example, if you specify both OFFSET
and LIST in a PROCESS statement in any order, OFFSET takes effect and LIST is ignored.
However, options coded at a higher level of precedence override any options specified at a lower level of
precedence. For example, if you code OFFSET in a JCL statement but LIST in a PROCESS statement, LIST
takes effect because the options coded in the PROCESS statement and any options forced on by an option
coded in the PROCESS statement have higher precedence.

Table 44. Mutually exclusive compiler options

Specified Ignored1 Forced on1
CICS DYNAM NODYNAM
NORENT RENT
DLL DYNAM NODYNAM
NORENT RENT
EXPORTALL NODLL DLL
DYNAM NODYNAM
NORENT RENT
NORENT RMODE(ANY) RMODE(24)
NSYMBOL(NATIONAL) NODBCS DBCS
OBJECT DECK NODECK
OFFSET LIST NOLIST
PGMNAME(LM | LU) NAME NONAME
TEST NOOBJECT and NODECK OBJECT and NODECK
THREAD INITIAL NOINITIAL
NORENT RENT
WORD FLAGSTD NOFLAGSTD

1. Unless in conflict with a fixed installation default option.

related tasks
“Specifying compiler options under z/OS” on page 263
“Specifying compiler options in a batch compilation” on page 268
“Specifying compiler options under z/OS UNIX” on page 274

related references
“OPTFILE” on page 342

296 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
ADATA
Use ADATA when you want the compiler to create a SYSADATA file that contains records of additional
compilation information.

ADATA option syntax

NOADATA

ADATA

Default is: NOADATA

Abbreviations are: None
On z/OS, the SYSADATA file is written to ddname SYSADATA.
The size of the SYSADATA file generally grows with the size of the associated program.
Option specification: You cannot specify the ADATA option in a PROCESS (or CBL) statement. You can
specify it only in one of the following ways:
• In the PARM parameter of JCL
• As a cob2 command option
• As an installation default
• In the COBOPT environment variable

related references
“Setting environment variables
under z/OS UNIX” on page 273
“cob2 syntax and options” on page 277
Appendix G, “COBOL SYSADATA file contents,” on page 749

ADV
ADV has meaning only if you use WRITE . . . ADVANCING in your source code. With ADV in effect, the
compiler adds 1 byte to the record length to account for the printer control character.

ADV option syntax

ADV

NOADV

Default is: ADV

Abbreviations are: None
Use NOADV if you already adjusted record length to include 1 byte for the printer control character.

Chapter 17. Compiler options 297

AFP
The AFP option controls the compiler usage of the Additional Floating Point (AFP) registers that are
provided by z/Architecture processors.

AFP option syntax

NOVOLATILE

AFP( VOLATILE )

Default is: AFP(NOVOLATILE)

Abbreviations are: None
The Enterprise COBOL compiler generates code that uses the full complement of 16 floating point
registers (FPR) provided by a z/Architecture processor. These FPRs are as follows:
• Original FPRs, which are numbered 0, 2, 4, and 6
• AFP registers, which are numbered 1, 3, 5, 7, and 8-15
AFP(VOLATILE)
If you specify AFP(VOLATILE), the AFP registers 8-15 are considered volatile, which means that they
might be changed by a called subprogram. Therefore, the COBOL compiler generates extra code to
protect the values in these registers.
AFP(NOVOLATILE)
If you specify AFP(NOVOLATILE), the AFP registers 8-15 are considered nonvolatile, which means
that they are known to be unchanged or preserved by every called subprogram. Therefore, the
compiler can generate more efficient code sequences for programs with floating point operations. It is
the normal z/OS architecture convention.

APOST/QUOTE
Use APOST if you want the figurative constant [ALL] QUOTE or [ALL] QUOTES to represent one or more
apostrophe (') characters. Use QUOTE if you want the figurative constant [ALL] QUOTE or [ALL] QUOTES to
represent one or more quotation mark (") characters.

APOST/QUOTE option syntax

QUOTE

APOST

Default is: QUOTE

Abbreviations are: Q | APOST
Delimiters: You can use either quotation marks (") or apostrophes (') as literal delimiters regardless of
whether the APOST or QUOTE option is in effect. The delimiter character used as the opening delimiter for
a literal must be used as the closing delimiter for that literal.

298 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
ARCH
The ARCH option specifies the machine architecture for which the executable program instructions are to
be generated.

ARCH option syntax

7

ARCH( 8 )

10

11

12

Default is: ARCH(7)

Abbreviations are: None
If you specify a higher ARCH level, the compiler generates code that uses newer and faster instructions.
Your application might abend if it runs on a processor with an architecture level lower than what you
specified with the ARCH option. Use the ARCH level that matches the lowest machine architecture where
your application runs.
Current supported architecture levels and groups of models are as follows:
7
Produces code that uses instructions available on the 2094-xxx (IBM System z9® EC) and 2096-xxx
(IBM System z9 BC) models in z/Architecture mode.
Specifically, these ARCH(7) machines and their follow-ons add instructions supported by the
following facilities:
• Extended-immediate facility
• Decimal floating point facility. These instructions might be generated if decimal data is used in
numeric operations.
8
Produces code that uses instructions available on the 2097-xxx (IBM System z10® EC) and 2098-xxx
(IBM System z10 BC) models in z/Architecture mode.
Specifically, these ARCH(8) machines and their follow-ons add instructions supported by the general
instruction extensions facility.
9
Produces code that uses instructions available on 2817-xxx (IBM zEnterprise® 196) and 2818-xxx
(IBM zEnterprise 114) models in z/Architecture mode.
Specifically, these ARCH(9) machines and their follow-ons add instructions supported by the
following facilities:
• High-word facility
• Interlocked access facility
• Load/store-on-condition facility
• Distinct-operands facility
• Population-count facility
10
Produces code that uses instructions available on the 2827-xxx (IBM zEnterprise EC12) and 2828-xxx
(IBM zEnterprise BC12) models in z/Architecture mode.

Chapter 17. Compiler options 299

 Specifically, these ARCH(10) machines and their follow-ons add instructions supported by the
following facilities:
• Execution-hint facility
• Load-and-trap facility
• Miscellaneous-instructions-extension facility
• Transactional-execution facility
• Enhanced decimal floating point facility that enables more efficient conversions between zoned
decimal data items and decimal floating point data items. Instead of converting zoned decimal data
items to packed decimal data items to perform arithmetic, the compiler converts zoned decimal
data items directly to decimal floating point data items, and then back again to zoned decimal data
items after the computations are complete.
11
Produces code that uses instructions available on 2964-xxx (IBM z13®) and 2965-xxx (IBM z13s®)
models in z/Architecture mode.
Specifically, these ARCH(11) machines and their follow-ons add instructions with support of the
following facilities:
• Enhanced decimal floating point facility that enables more efficient conversions between packed-
decimal data items and decimal floating point intermediate result data items.
• Exploitation of the vector extension facility (SIMD) instructions for some INSPECT REPLACING and
INSPECT TALLYING statements.
To use the vector extension facility (SIMD) instructions, the code must be executed on a machine
running on z/OS V2.2, or z/OS V2.1 with the PTFs for APARs OA43803 and PI12412 installed.
12
Produces code that uses instructions available on 3906-xxx (IBM z14) and 3907-xxx (IBM z14® ZR1)
models in z/Architecture mode.
Specifically, these ARCH(12) machines and their follow-ons add instructions that support the
vector packed-decimal facility, which accelerates packed and zoned decimal computation by storing
intermediate results in vector registers instead of in memory.
Note: A higher ARCH level includes the facilities of the lower ARCH levels. For example, ARCH(12)
includes all the facilities of the lower ARCH levels.
For more information about these facilities, see z/Architecture Principles of Operation.

ARITH
ARITH affects the maximum number of digits that you can code for integers, and the number of digits
used in fixed-point intermediate results.

ARITH option syntax

COMPAT

ARITH( EXTEND )

Default is: ARITH(COMPAT)

Abbreviations are: AR(C | E)
When you specify ARITH(EXTEND):
• The maximum number of digit positions that you can specify in the PICTURE clause for packed-decimal,
external-decimal, and numeric-edited data items is raised from 18 to 31.

300 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
• The maximum number of digits that you can specify in a fixed-point numeric literal is raised from 18
to 31. You can use numeric literals with large precision anywhere that numeric literals are currently
allowed, including:
– Operands of PROCEDURE DIVISION statements
– VALUE clauses (for numeric data items with large-precision PICTURE)
– Condition-name values (on numeric data items with large-precision PICTURE)
• The maximum number of digits that you can specify in the arguments to NUMVAL, NUMVAL-C and
NUMVAL-F is raised from 18 to 31.
• The maximum value of the integer argument to the FACTORIAL function is 29.
• Intermediate results in arithmetic statements use extended mode.
When you specify ARITH(COMPAT):
• The maximum number of digit positions in the PICTURE clause for packed-decimal, external-decimal,
and numeric-edited data items is 18.
• The maximum number of digits in a fixed-point numeric literal is 18.
• The maximum number of digits in the arguments to NUMVAL, NUMVAL-C, and NUMVAL-F is 18.
Note: NUMVAL uses long-precision floating point calculations to convert the digits in the argument to
the numeric output. At most, 15 decimal digits can be converted accurately to long-precision floating
point (as described in the related reference below about conversions and precision). Therefore, if the
argument to NUMVAL, NUMVAL-C, or NUMVAL-F has more than 15 digits, it is recommended that you
specify the ARITH(EXTEND) compiler option, so that the result will accurately represent the input
argument.
• The maximum value of the integer argument to the FACTORIAL function is 28.
• Intermediate results in arithmetic statements use compatibility mode.
ARITH(EXTEND) example
This example shows how to use ARITH(EXTEND):

CBL ARITH(EXTEND)
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. SAMPLE
DATE-COMPILED.
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.

01 WS-CHAR PIC X(30).

01 WS-NUM PIC 9(30).
*> Note this will get a syntax error with ARITH(COMPAT)

PROCEDURE DIVISION.

MOVE '651310406401912040024657817701' TO WS-CHAR

MOVE WS-CHAR TO WS-NUM

DISPLAY 'THE CHAR VALUE: ' WS-CHAR

DISPLAY 'THE NUM VALUE: ' WS-NUM

GOBACK.

The output of the example:

THE CHAR VALUE: 651310406401912040024657817701

THE NUM VALUE: 651310406401912040024657817701

related concepts
Appendix A, “Intermediate results and arithmetic precision,” on page 691
“Conversions and precision” on page 52

Chapter 17. Compiler options 301

AWO
If you specify AWO, an implicit APPLY WRITE-ONLY clause is activated for all QSAM files in the program
that have blocked variable-length records.

AWO option syntax

NOAWO

AWO

Default is: NOAWO

Abbreviations are: None

related tasks
“Optimizing buffer and device space” on page 10

related references
“BLOCK0” on page 302
APPLY WRITE-ONLY clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

BLOCK0
Use BLOCK0 to change the compiler default for QSAM files from unblocked to blocked (as if BLOCK
CONTAINS 0 were specified) and thus gain the benefit of system-determined blocking for output files.

BLOCK0 option syntax

NOBLOCK0

BLOCK0

Default is: NOBLOCK0

Abbreviations are: None
Specifying BLOCK0 activates an implicit BLOCK CONTAINS 0 clause for each file in the program that
meets the following three criteria:
• The FILE-CONTROL paragraph either specifies ORGANIZATION SEQUENTIAL or omits the
ORGANIZATION clause.
• The FD entry does not specify RECORDING MODE U.
• The FD entry does not specify a BLOCK CONTAINS clause.
Files for which the resulting BLOCK CONTAINS 0 clause is in effect have a blocking factor that is
determined at run time from the data definition or from the data-set characteristics.
Interaction of the APPLY WRITE-ONLY clause and the AWO compiler option with BLOCK0:
• If NOBLOCK0 is in effect, and the file description of a file that meets the three criteria listed above
specifies APPLY WRITE-ONLY, the compiler issues an error message because APPLY WRITE-ONLY
applies only to blocked files. But if BLOCK0 is in effect, the result is that the file is blocked, and the
APPLY WRITE-ONLY clause is therefore accepted.
• AWO applies to any QSAM files that have blocked variable-length records. If BLOCK0 is in effect, the
result is that more files might be blocked than if NOBLOCK0 were in effect; thus AWO might apply to more
files than it otherwise would.

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 Specifying BLOCK0 for existing programs might result in a change of behavior, and in some cases produce
undesirable results for files opened as INPUT. For example:
• The OPEN INPUT statement fails for files for which no block size can be determined.
• Programs that continue after handling nonzero FILE STATUS codes for files opened as INPUT might
abnormally terminate when executing subsequent I/O statements on those files.
For these reasons, after compiling with BLOCK0 you should investigate and test the effects on your
program.
For recommendations about blocking, see the related reference from the Enterprise COBOL for z/OS
Migration Guide (in the information about migrating from CMPR2 to NOCMPR2).

related tasks
“Optimizing buffer and device space” on page 10
“Setting block sizes” on page 164

related references
“AWO” on page 302
APPLY WRITE-ONLY clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
BLOCK CONTAINS clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Migration Guide
(Recommendation for DCB= parameters of JCL)

BUFSIZE
Use BUFSIZE to allocate an amount of main storage to the buffer for each compiler work data set.
Usually, a large buffer size improves the performance of the compiler.

BUFSIZE option syntax

nnnnn

BUFSIZE( nnnK )

Default is: 4096

Abbreviations are: BUF
nnnnn specifies a decimal number that must be at least 256.
nnnK specifies a decimal number in 1 KB increments, where 1 KB = 1024 bytes.
BUFSIZE cannot exceed the track capacity for the device used, nor can it exceed the maximum allowed
by data management services.

CICS
The CICS compiler option enables the integrated CICS translator and lets you specify CICS suboptions.
You must use the CICS option if your COBOL source program contains EXEC CICS or EXEC DLI
statements and the program has not been processed by the separate CICS translator.

CICS option syntax

NOCICS

CICS
("CICS-suboption-string ")

Default is: NOCICS

Chapter 17. Compiler options 303

 Abbreviations are: None
Use the CICS option only to compile CICS programs. Programs compiled with the CICS option will not run
in a non-CICS environment.
If you specify the NOCICS option, any CICS statements found in the source program are diagnosed and
discarded.
Use either quotation marks or apostrophes to delimit the string of CICS suboptions.
You can partition a long CICS suboption string into multiple suboption strings in multiple CBL or PROCESS
statements. The CICS suboptions are concatenated in the order of their appearance. For example:

//STEP1 EXEC IGYWC, . . .

// PARM.COBOL='CICS("string1")'
//COBOL.SYSIN DD *
CBL CICS('string2')
CBL CICS("string3")
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. DRIVER1.
. . .

The compiler passes the following suboption string to the integrated CICS translator:

"string1 string2 string3"

The concatenated strings are delimited with single spaces as shown. If multiple instances of the same
CICS suboption are found, the last specification of that suboption in the concatenated string prevails. The
compiler limits the size of the concatenated suboption string to 4 KB.

related concepts
“Integrated CICS translator” on page 434
related tasks
“Compiling with the CICS option” on page 433
“Separating CICS suboptions” on page 434
Defining translator options (Developing CICS Applications)

related references
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295

CODEPAGE
Use CODEPAGE to specify the coded character set identifier (CCSID) for an EBCDIC code page for
processing compile-time and runtime COBOL operations that are sensitive to character encoding.

CODEPAGE option syntax

CODEPAGE( ccsid )

Default is: CODEPAGE(1140)

Abbreviations are: CP(ccsid)
ccsid must be an integer that represents a valid CCSID for an EBCDIC code page.
The default CCSID 1140 is the equivalent of CCSID 37 (COM EUROPE EBCDIC), but additionally includes
the euro symbol.
ccsid specifies these encodings:
• The encoding for alphanumeric, national, and DBCS literals in a COBOL source program
• The default encoding of the content of alphanumeric and DBCS data items at run time

304 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
• The encoding for DBCS user-defined words when processed by an XML GENERATE statement to create
XML element and attribute names
• The default encoding of an XML document created by an XML GENERATE statement if the receiving data
item for the document is alphanumeric
• The default encoding assumed for an XML document in an alphanumeric data item when the document
is processed by an XML PARSE statement
The CODEPAGE ccsid is used when code-page-sensitive operations are performed at compile time or run
time, and an explicit CCSID that overrides the default code page is not specified. Such operations include:
• Conversion of literal values to Unicode
• Conversion of alphanumeric data to and from national (Unicode) data as part of move operations,
comparison, or the intrinsic functions DISPLAY-OF and NATIONAL-OF
• Object-oriented language such as INVOKE statements or class definitions and method definitions
• XML parsing
• XML generation
• Processing of DBCS names as part of XML generation at run time
• Processing of SQL string host variables if the SQLCCSID option is in effect
• Processing of source code for EXEC SQL statements
• Processing of source code for EXEC SQLIMS statements
However, the encoding of the following items in a COBOL source program is not affected by the CODEPAGE
compiler option:
• Data items that have USAGE NATIONAL
These items are always encoded in UTF-16 in big-endian format, CCSID 1200.
• Characters from the basic COBOL character set (see the table of these characters in the related
reference below about characters)
Though the encoding of the basic COBOL characters default currency sign ($), quotation mark ("),
and the lowercase Latin letters varies in different EBCDIC code pages, the compiler always interprets
these characters using the EBCDIC code page 1140 encoding. In particular, the default currency sign
is always the character with value X'5B' (unless changed by the CURRENCY compiler option or the
CURRENCY SIGN clause in the SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph), and the quotation mark is always the
character with value X'7F'.
Some COBOL operations can override the CODEPAGE ccsid by using an explicit encoding specification, for
example:
• DISPLAY-OF and NATIONAL-OF intrinsic functions that specify a code page as the second argument
• XML PARSE statements that specify the WITH ENCODING phrase
• XML GENERATE statements that specify the WITH ENCODING phrase
Additionally, you can use the CURRENCY compiler option or the CURRENCY SIGN clause in the SPECIAL-
NAMES paragraph to override:
• The default currency symbol used in the PICTURE character-strings for numeric-edited data items in
your source program
• The currency sign value used in the content of numeric-edited data items at run time
DBCS code pages:
Compile your COBOL program using the CODEPAGE option with the ccsid set to one of the EBCDIC
multibyte character set (MBCS) CCSIDs shown in the table below if the program contains any of the
following items:
• User-defined words formed with DBCS characters
• DBCS (USAGE DISPLAY-1) data items

Chapter 17. Compiler options 305

 • DBCS literals
All of the CCSIDs in the table below identify mixed code pages that refer to a combination of SBCS and
DBCS coded character sets. These are also the CCSIDs that are supported for mixed data by Db2.

Table 45. EBCDIC multibyte coded character set identifiers

National language MBCS CCSID SBCS CCSID DBCS CCSID
component component
Japanese (Katakana-Kanji) 930 290 300
Japanese (Katakana-Kanji with euro) 1390 8482 16684
Japanese (Katakana-Kanji) 5026 290 4396
Japanese (Latin-Kanji) 939 1027 300
Japanese (Latin-Kanji with euro) 1399 5123 16684
Japanese (Latin-Kanji) 5035 1027 4396
Korean 933 833 834
Korean 1364 13121 4930
Simplified Chinese 935 836 837
Simplified Chinese 1388 13124 4933
Traditional Chinese 937 28709 835

Note: If you specify the TEST option, you must set the CODEPAGE option to the CCSID that is used for
the COBOL source program. In particular, programs that use Japanese characters in DBCS literals or DBCS
user-defined words must be compiled with the CODEPAGE option set to a Japanese codepage CCSID.

related concepts
“COBOL and Db2 CCSID determination” on page 444

related tasks
“Using currency signs” on page 64
Chapter 32, “Processing XML input,” on page 537
Chapter 33, “Producing XML output,” on page 577

related references
“CURRENCY” on page 309
“SQLCCSID” on page 355
“TEST” on page 359
“The encoding of XML documents” on page 554
Characters (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

306 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
COMPILE
Use the COMPILE option only if you want to force full compilation even in the presence of serious errors.
All diagnostics and object code will be generated. Do not try to run the object code if the compilation
resulted in serious errors: the results could be unpredictable or an abnormal termination could occur.

COMPILE option syntax

S

NOCOMPILE( E )

COMPILE

NOCOMPILE

Default is: NOCOMPILE(S)

Abbreviations are: C | NOC

Use NOCOMPILE without any suboption to request a syntax check (only diagnostics produced, no object
code). If you use NOCOMPILE without any suboption, several compiler options will have no effect because
no object code will be produced, for example: DECK, LIST, OBJECT, OFFSET, OPTIMIZE, SSRANGE, and
TEST.
Use NOCOMPILE with suboption W, E, or S for conditional full compilation. Full compilation (diagnosis and
object code) will stop when the compiler finds an error of the level you specify (or higher), and only syntax
checking will continue.

related tasks
“Finding coding errors” on page 386

related references
“Messages and listings for compiler-detected errors” on page 271

COPYLOC
Use the COPYLOC compiler option to add either a PDSE (or PDS) dataset or z/OS UNIX directory as an
additional location to be searched for copy members during the library phase. The location specified by
the COPYLOC option is added to the end of the order of locations to search for copy members. For details,
see COPY member search order in the Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference.
COPYLOC is introduced in Enterprise COBOL V6.2 with the PTF for APAR PI91584 installed.

COPYLOC option syntax

NOCOPYLOC

SYSLIB ,
COPYLOC ( DSN ( dataset-name ) )
library-name , PATH ( unix-directory-name )

Default is: NOCOPYLOC

Abbreviations are: CPLC | NOCPLC

Chapter 17. Compiler options 307

 library-name
The library name that the copy location is to be associated with. When library-name is not specified,
the default is SYSLIB, which is the library name assumed in COPY statements that do not include an
explicit library name.
dataset-name
The name of a PDS or PDSE dataset in which the compiler should search for copy members when
processing COPY statements that refer to library library-name.
unix-directory-name
The name of a z/OS UNIX directory in which the compiler should search for copy members when
processing COPY statements that refer to library library-name. The specified path must not exceed
64 characters. To specify a lowercase path, which is standard for z/OS UNIX, the path should be
surrounded in quotes. Otherwise, the path name will be converted to uppercase.
Multiple instances of the COPYLOC option are supported. There is no limit on the number of z/OS UNIX
directories that can be specified, but there is a limit of 256 datasets that can be specified for searching.
Copy locations will be searched in the order that they are specified via the COPYLOC option. This provides
users the ability to mix PDSE (or PDS) locations and z/OS UNIX directories in the search.
If the NOCOPYLOC option is specified, any previous instances of the COPYLOC option are ignored.
To control the searching of copy member locations exclusively using the COPYLOC option, you should
avoid using any of the existing methods for indicating copybook locations, such as, allocating datasets to
a ddname in JCL, or specifying the -I option of the cob2 command. If the compiler is invoked from cob2,
you should also avoid keeping copy members in the current directory, because the current directory will
always be searched before the COPYLOC locations are being searched.
Tip: You might find it convenient to control searching of copy members exclusively using the COPYLOC
option, especially when the compiler is invoked from the cob2 command.
When COPYLOC options are specified in CBL statements, they can be used only on the first program of a
batch program. Therefore, if a file has multiple COBOL programs in it, there can be CBL statements with
COPYLOC options preceding the first program, but not the other programs. The COPYLOC options specified
for the first program (and COPYLOC options specified in PARM of JCL or COPYLOC options specified as
cob2 command options under z/OS UNIX) apply to all programs in a file. The copy locations specified
in COPYLOC options found in CBL cards will be searched after copy locations found in COPYLOC options
specified as invocation parameters.
Example

COPYLOC(MYLIB,DSN(USERID.COBOL.COPYLIB1))
COPYLOC(MYLIB,PATH('/home/userid/copylib1'))
COPYLOC(MYLIB,DSN(USERID.COBOL.COPYLIB2))

For COPY statements that reference library name MYLIB explicitly, if the preceding options were specified
in a single invocation of the compiler and a copy member could not be found in the locations specified in
JCL (or in locations indicated for a cob2 compile), additional searching for the copy member will be done
in the following places sequentially:
1. USERID.COBOL.COPYLIB1 dataset
2. z/OS UNIX directory /home/userid/copylib1
3. USERID.COBOL.COPYLIB2 dataset

related references
COPY statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
COPY member search order (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
ALOWCOPYLOC (Enterprise COBOL Customization Guide)

308 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
COPYRIGHT
Use COPYRIGHT to place a string in the object module if the object module is generated. If the object is
linked into a program object, the string is loaded into memory with that program object.

COPYRIGHT option syntax

NOCOPYRIGHT

COPYRIGHT(' copyright string ')

Default is: NOCOPYRIGHT

Abbreviations are: CPYR | NOCPYR
The copyright string is limited to 64 characters in length.

CURRENCY
You can use the CURRENCY option to provide an alternate default currency symbol to be used for a COBOL
program. (The default currency symbol is the dollar sign ($).)

CURRENCY option syntax

NOCURRENCY

CURRENCY( literal )

Default is: NOCURRENCY

Abbreviations are: CURR | NOCURR
NOCURRENCY specifies that no alternate default currency symbol will be used.
To change the default currency symbol, specify CURRENCY(literal), where literal is a valid COBOL
alphanumeric literal (optionally a hexadecimal literal) that represents a single character. The literal must
not be from the following list:
• Digits zero (0) through nine (9)
• Uppercase alphabetic characters A B C D E G N P R S V X Z or their lowercase equivalents
• The space
• Special characters * + - / , . ; ( ) " =
• A figurative constant
• A null-terminated literal
• A DBCS literal
• A national literal
If your program processes only one currency type, you can use the CURRENCY option as an alternative to
the CURRENCY SIGN clause for indicating the currency symbol you will use in the PICTURE clause of your
program. If your program processes more than one currency type, you should use the CURRENCY SIGN
clause with the WITH PICTURE SYMBOL phrase to specify the different currency sign types.
If you use both the CURRENCY option and the CURRENCY SIGN clause in a program, the CURRENCY option
is ignored. Currency symbols specified in the CURRENCY SIGN clause or clauses can be used in PICTURE
clauses.

Chapter 17. Compiler options 309

 When the NOCURRENCY option is in effect and you omit the CURRENCY SIGN clause, the dollar sign ($) is
used as the PICTURE symbol for the currency sign.
Delimiter: You can delimit the CURRENCY option literal with either quotation marks or apostrophes,
regardless of the APOST|QUOTE compiler option setting.

related tasks
“Using currency signs” on page 64

DATA
The DATA option affects whether storage for dynamic data areas and other dynamic runtime storage is
obtained from above or below the 16 MB line.

DATA option syntax

31

DATA( 24 )

Default is: DATA(31)

Abbreviations are: None
For reentrant programs, the DATA compiler option and the HEAP runtime option control whether storage
for dynamic data areas (such as WORKING-STORAGE and FD record areas) is obtained from below the
16 MB line (DATA(24)) or from unrestricted storage (DATA(31)). (DATA does not affect the location of
LOCAL-STORAGE data; the STACK runtime option controls that location instead, along with the AMODE of
the program.)
Specify DATA(24) for programs that run in 31-bit addressing mode and that pass data arguments to
programs in 24-bit addressing mode. Doing so ensures that the data will be addressable by the called
program.
External data and QSAM buffers: The DATA option interacts with other compiler options and runtime
options that affect storage and its addressability. See the related information for details.
The DATA compiler option setting influences how ALLOCATE acquires storage:
• If DATA(24) is in effect and the LOC 31 phrase of the ALLOCATE statement is not specified, ALLOCATE
acquires storage from below the 16 MB line.
• If DATA(31) is in effect and the LOC 24 phrase of the ALLOCATE statement is not specified, ALLOCATE
will attempt to acquire storage from above the 16 MB line.

related concepts
“Storage and its addressability” on page 39

related tasks
“Making programs reentrant” on page 488
Language Environment Programming Guide (Using runtime options)

related references
“Allocation of buffers for QSAM files” on page 176
“RENT” on page 348
ALLOCATE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

310 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
DBCS
Using DBCS causes the compiler to recognize X'0E' (SO) and X'0F' (SI) as shift codes for the double-
byte portion of an alphanumeric literal.

DBCS option syntax

DBCS

NODBCS

Default is: DBCS

Abbreviations are: None

With DBCS in effect, the double-byte portion of the literal is syntax-checked and the literal remains
category alphanumeric.

related references
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295

DECK
Use DECK to produce object code in the form of 80-column records. If you use the DECK option, be certain
that SYSPUNCH is defined in your JCL for compilation.

DECK option syntax

NODECK

DECK

Default is: NODECK

Abbreviations are: D | NOD

related tasks
“Creating object code (SYSLIN or SYSPUNCH)” on page 261

DEFINE
Use the DEFINE compiler option to assign a literal value to a compilation variable that is defined in
the program by using the DEFINE directive with the PARAMETER phrase. The literal value provided for
the compilation variable in the DEFINE option is sometimes referred to as a "parameter value" for the
corresponding compilation variable. Compilation variables can be used within any of the conditional
compilation directives, including DEFINE, EVALUATE, and IF. When a conditional compilation variable
appears in a conditional compilation directive, it is treated as a symbolic reference to the literal value it
currently represents.
The DEFINE compiler option provides a way for you to assign values to compilation variables from outside
the program source. If that is not needed, it is sufficient to use the DEFINE directive within program
source to define compilation variables.

Chapter 17. Compiler options 311

 DEFINE option syntax
NODEFINE

DEFINE( compilation-variable-name-1 )
= literal-1
1
,

Notes:
1You cannot use "=" if you are invoking the COBOL compiler from the z/OS UNIX shell via the cob2
command.

Default is: NODEFINE

Abbreviations are: DEF | NODEF
compilation-variable-name-1
The name of a compilation variable to be referenced in conditional compilation directives in the
program. If no corresponding DEFINE directive with PARAMETER phrase exists for compilation-
variable-name-1 in the program, any instances of the DEFINE compiler option specified for that
compilation variable are ignored. compilation-variable-name-1 is formed according to the rules of a
data-name user-defined word, except that DBCS characters are not allowed in the name. For details,
see User-defined words in the Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference.
literal-1
The literal value that compilation-variable-name-1 will represent symbolically in conditional
compilation-related directives in the program. literal-1 must be one of the following items:
• An alphanumeric literal, which can be specified as a regular alphanumeric literal ('abcd') or as a
hex literal (x'F1F2F3'). National literals, DBCS literals, and null-terminated alphanumeric literals (Z
literals) are not supported.
• An integer literal.
• A boolean literal (only B'0' and B'1' are supported).
If literal-1 is not specified, a value of B'1' will be assigned to the compilation variable.
Multiple instances of the DEFINE option can be specified to define a value for multiple different
compilation variables. If a single conditional compilation variable is defined more than once, the last
definition of the variable will be used as the value of the corresponding conditional compilation variable.
If NODEFINE appears after previous instances of the DEFINE option, the definitions for all conditional
compilation variables are cancelled.
When DEFINE options are specified in CBL statements, they can be used only on the first program of a
batch program. Therefore, if a file has multiple COBOL programs in it, there can be CBL statements with
DEFINE options preceding the first program, but not the other programs. The DEFINE options specified
for the first program (and DEFINE options specified in PARM of JCL or DEFINE options specified as cob2
command options under z/OS UNIX) apply to all programs in a file.

related references
Conditional compilation (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
DEFINE (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

DIAGTRUNC
DIAGTRUNC causes the compiler to issue a severity-4 (Warning) diagnostic message for MOVE statements
that have numeric receivers when the receiving data item has fewer integer positions than the sending

312 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 data item or literal. In statements that have multiple receivers, the message is issued separately for each
receiver that could be truncated.

DIAGTRUNC option syntax

NODIAGTRUNC

DIAGTRUNC

Default is: NODIAGTRUNC

Abbreviations are: DTR | NODTR
The diagnostic message is also issued for implicit moves associated with statements such as these:
• INITIALIZE
• READ . . . INTO
• RELEASE . . . FROM
• RETURN . . . INTO
• REWRITE . . . FROM
• WRITE . . . FROM
The diagnostic message is also issued for moves to numeric receivers from alphanumeric data-names or
literal senders, except when the sending field is reference modified.
There is no diagnostic message for COMP-5 receivers, nor for binary receivers when you specify the
TRUNC(BIN) option.

related concepts
“Formats for numeric
data” on page 47
“Reference modifiers” on page 110

related references
“TRUNC” on page 364

DISPSIGN
The DISPSIGN option controls output formatting for DISPLAY of signed numeric items.

DISPSIGN option syntax

COMPAT

DISPSIGN( SEP )

Default is: DISPSIGN(COMPAT)

Abbreviations are: DS(C | S)
DISPSIGN(COMPAT)
If you specify DISPSIGN(COMPAT), formatting for displayed values of signed numeric items is
compatible with prior versions of Enterprise COBOL. Overpunch signs are generated in some cases.
DISPSIGN(SEP)
If you specify DISPSIGN(SEP), the displayed values for signed binary, signed packed-decimal, or
overpunch signed zoned-decimal items are always formatted with a leading separate sign.
The following example shows the DISPLAY output with the DISPSIGN(COMPAT) option or the
DISPSIGN(SEP) option specified:

Chapter 17. Compiler options 313

 Table 46. DISPLAY output with the DISPSIGN(COMPAT) option or the DISPSIGN(SEP) option specified:
Data items DISPLAY output with the DISPLAY output with
DISPSIGN(COMPAT) option the DISPSIGN(SEP) option
specified specified
Unsigned binary 111 111
Positive binary 111 +111
Negative binary 11J -111
Unsigned packed-decimal 222 222
Positive packed-decimal 222 +222
Negative packed-decimal 22K -222
Zoned-decimal unsigned 333 333
Zoned-decimal trailing positive 33C +333
Zoned-decimal trailing negative 33L -333
Zoned-decimal leading positive C33 +333
Zoned-decimal leading negative L33 -333

DLL
Use DLL to instruct the compiler to generate an object module that is enabled for dynamic link library
(DLL) support. DLL enablement is required if the program will be part of a DLL, will reference DLLs, or if
the program contains object-oriented COBOL syntax such as INVOKE statements or class definitions.
Note: The DLL option can be overridden for particular CALL statements by using the CALLINTERFACE
directive.

DLL option syntax

NODLL

DLL

Default is: NODLL

Abbreviations are: None

Link-edit considerations: COBOL programs that are compiled with the DLL option must be link-edited
with the RENT and AMODE 31 link-edit options.
NODLL instructs the compiler to generate an object module that is not enabled for DLL usage.

Example
This example shows how to build, link and run two COBOL programs, PROG1 and SUB1, on z/OS UNIX.
Program SUB1 is built as a DLL program and linked as a DLL called mylibdll.so that resides in the
current z/OS UNIX directory. Program PROG1 is essentially a client of DLL mylibdll.so and makes a call
to program SUB1 in the DLL.
Note: In practice, a DLL such as mylibdll.so would typically consist of many COBOL programs linked
together into a DLL.
The example consists of the following files:

314 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
buildrun.sh
z/OS UNIX shell script that builds and runs the example programs
prog1.cbl
COBOL program PROG1, which makes a call to a DLL program
sub1.cbl
COBOL program SUB1, which becomes part of a DLL mylibdll.so
The buildrun.sh script is as follows:

#!/bin/sh

# Remove existing artifact files

rm -f *.o *.lst *.so *.x prog1

# Build SUB1 as a DLL program and link it into a DLL called mylibdll.so,
# which will be written to the current directory
cob2 sub1.cbl -o libmydll.so "-qdll,exportall,rent,list" -bdll

# Build PROG1 with the DLL compiler option as it will be making a call
# to program SUB1 which resides in DLL mylibdll.so, but PROG1 itself
# is not linked as a DLL -- it is linked as a non-DLL program.
# Note that PROG1 must be linked with the side deck mylibdll.x produced
# in the previous step in order for the symbol SUB1 to be resolved
cob2 prog1.cbl -o prog1 libmydll.x "-qdll,list"

# Set LIBPATH to include the current directory so that it will be

# found at runtime when PROG1 is executed
export LIBPATH=.:$LIBPATH

echo ""

# Run PROG1
./prog1

Running the buildrun.sh script produces the following output:

PP 5655-EC6 IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS 6.2.0 in progress ...

End of compilation 1, program SUB1, no statements flagged.
PP 5655-EC6 IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS 6.2.0 in progress ...
End of compilation 1, program PROG1, no statements flagged.

Entered PROG1
Calling DLL routine SUB1 from PROG1
Entered DLL routine SUB1
Exited DLL routine SUB1
Exited PROG1

After PROG1 and SUB1 are compiled and linked, the following files exist in the current z/OS UNIX
directory:

buildrun.sh libmydll.x prog1.cbl prog1.o sub1.lst

libmydll.so prog1 prog1.lst sub1.cbl sub1.o

prog1.cbl:

identification division.
program-id. prog1.
data division.
working-storage section.
procedure division.
MainProgram.
display "Entered PROG1"
display "Calling DLL routine SUB1 from PROG1"
call 'SUB1'
display "Exited PROG1"
goback.
end program prog1.

sub1.cbl:

identification division.

Chapter 17. Compiler options 315

 program-id. sub1.
data division.
working-storage section.
procedure division.
MainProgram.
display 'Entered DLL routine SUB1'
display 'Exited DLL routine SUB1'
goback.
end program sub1.

related tasks
“Making dynamic calls” on page 476
related references
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295
CALLINTERFACE (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

DUMP
Use DUMP to produce a system dump at compile time for an internal compiler error.

DUMP option syntax

NODUMP

DUMP

Default is: NODUMP

Abbreviations are: DU | NODU
Not for general use: The DUMP option should be used only at the request of an IBM representative.
The dump, which consists of a listing of the compiler's registers and a storage dump, is intended primarily
for diagnostic personnel for determining errors in the compiler.
If you use the DUMP option, include a DD statement at compile time to define SYSABEND, SYSUDUMP, or
SYSMDUMP.
With DUMP, the compiler will not issue a diagnostic message before abnormal termination processing.
Instead, a user abend will be issued with an IGYppnnnn message. In general, a message IGYppnnnn
corresponds to a compile-time user abend nnnn. However, both IGYpp5nnn and IGYpp1nnn messages
produce a user abend of 1nnn. You can usually distinguish whether the message is really a 5nnn or a 1nnn
by recompiling with the NODUMP option.
Use NODUMP if you want normal termination processing, including:
• Diagnostic messages produced so far in compilation.
• A description of the error.
• The name of the compiler phase currently executing.
• The line number of the COBOL statement being processed when the error was found. (If you compiled
with OPTIMIZE(1|2), the line number might not always be correct; for some errors, it will be the last
line in the program.)
• The contents of the general purpose registers.
Using the DUMP and OPTIMIZE(1|2) compiler options together could cause the compiler to produce a
system dump instead of the following optimizer message:

"IGYOP3124-W This statement may cause a program exception at

execution time."

316 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 This situation does not represent a compiler error. Using the NODUMP option will allow the compiler to
issue message IGYOP3124-W and continue processing.

related tasks
Language Environment Debugging Guide (Understanding abend codes)

related references
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295

DYNAM
Use DYNAM to cause nonnested, separately compiled programs invoked through the CALL literal
statement to be loaded for CALL, and deleted for CANCEL, dynamically at run time.
Note: The DYNAM option can be overridden for particular CALL statements by using the CALLINTERFACE
directive.
CALL identifier statements always result in a runtime load of the target program and are not affected by
this option.

DYNAM option syntax

NODYNAM

DYNAM

Default is: NODYNAM

Abbreviations are: DYN | NODYN
Restriction: The DYNAM compiler option must not be used in the following cases:
• COBOL programs that are processed by the CICS translator or the CICS compiler option
• COBOL programs that have EXEC SQL statements and are run under CICS or Db2 call attach facility
(CAF)
If your COBOL program calls programs that have been linked as dynamic link libraries (DLLs), you must
not use the DYNAM option. You must instead compile the program with the NODYNAM and DLL options.

related tasks
“Making both static and dynamic calls” on page 480
“Choosing the DYNAM or NODYNAM compiler option” on page 448

Related references
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295
CALLINTERFACE (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

EXIT
Use the EXIT option to provide user-supplied modules in place of various compiler functions.
For compiler input, use the INEXIT and LIBEXIT suboptions to provide modules in place of SYSIN and
SYSLIB (or copy library), respectively.
Note: If INEXIT or LIBEXIT is used, the 'Source' view for your debug session will not be available. If you
choose the 'Show Source' feature of 'Switch View' with Debug for z/OS, it will not work because there is no
source file.
For compiler output, use the PRTEXIT suboption to provide a module in place of SYSPRINT.
To provide a module that will be called for each SYSADATA record immediately after the record has been
written out to the file, use the ADEXIT suboption.

Chapter 17. Compiler options 317

 To customize compiler messages (change their severity or suppress them, including converting FIPS
(FLAGSTD) messages to diagnostic messages to which you assign a severity), use the MSGEXIT suboption.
The module that you provide to customize the messages will be called each time the compiler issues a
diagnostic message or a FIPS message.

EXIT option syntax

NOEXIT

EXIT( )
INEXIT( mod1)
str1,

NOINEXIT

LIBEXIT( mod2)
str2,

NOLIBEXIT

PRTEXIT( mod3)
str3,

NOPRTEXIT

ADEXIT( mod4)
str4,

NOADEXIT

MSGEXIT( mod5)
str5,

NOMSGEXIT

Default is: NOEXIT

Abbreviations are: NOEX|EX(INX|NOINX, LIBX|NOLIBX, PRTX|NOPRTX, ADX|NOADX, MSGX|NOMSGX)
You can specify the suboptions in any order, and can separate them by either commas or spaces. If you
specify both the positive and negative form of a suboption, the form specified last takes effect. If you
specify the same suboption more than once, the last one specified takes effect.
If you specify the EXIT option without specifying at least one suboption, NOEXIT will be in effect.
You can specify the EXIT option only at invocation in the JCL PARM field (under TSO/E, in a command
argument) or at installation time. Do not specify the EXIT option in a PROCESS (CBL) statement.
INEXIT(['str1',]mod1)
The compiler reads source code from a user-supplied program object (where mod1 is the module
name) instead of SYSIN.
LIBEXIT(['str2',]mod2)
The compiler obtains copybooks from a user-supplied program object (where mod2 is the module
name) instead of library-name or SYSLIB. For use with either COPY or BASIS statements.
PRTEXIT(['str3',]mod3)
The compiler passes printer-destined output to the user-supplied program object (where mod3 is the
module name) instead of SYSPRINT.
ADEXIT(['str4',]mod4)
The compiler passes the SYSADATA output to the user-supplied program object (where mod4 is the
module name).

318 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 MSGEXIT(['str5',]mod5)
The compiler passes the message number, and passes the default severity of a compiler diagnostic
message, or the category (as a numeric code) of a FIPS compiler message, to the user-supplied
program object (where mod5 is the module name).
The names mod1, mod2, mod3, mod4, and mod5 can refer to the same module.
The suboptions str1, str2, str3, str4, and str5 are character strings that are passed to the program object.
These strings are optional. They can be up to 64 characters in length, and you must enclose them in a
pair of apostrophes (' '). You can use any character in the strings, but any included apostrophes must be
doubled ("). Lowercase characters are folded to uppercase.
If one of str1, str2, str3, str4, or str5 is specified, that string is passed to the appropriate user-exit module
in the following format, where LL is a halfword (on a halfword boundary) that contains the length of the
string.
LL string
“Example: MSGEXIT user exit” on page 733
Compiler exit modules that are specified on the EXIT option can be implemented either in an assembler
language or in a high-level programming language such as COBOL. However, when exits are written
in a Language Environment conforming programming language or Language Environment conforming
assembler language, the exit must be reentrant.
The Enterprise COBOL compiler automatically manages a preinitialized Language Environment at compile
time, and calls compiler exits within this environment. Therefore, the following rules apply:
• Compiler exits are run as subprograms instead of main programs.
• Compiler exits must not include logic for explicitly initializing or terminating Language Environment.
In particular, exits must not use the RTEREUS runtime option, the IGZERRE callable service, or the
CEEPIPI callable service for environment management.
• Compiler exits must not use the STOP RUN statement.

related references
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295
“FLAGSTD” on page 321
Appendix E, “EXIT compiler option,” on page 721

EXPORTALL
Use EXPORTALL to instruct the compiler to automatically export the PROGRAM-ID name and each
alternate entry-point name from each program definition when the object deck is link-edited to form
a DLL.

EXPORTALL option syntax

NOEXPORTALL

EXPORTALL

Default is: NOEXPORTALL

Abbreviations are: EXP | NOEXP
With these symbols exported from the DLL, the exported program and entry-point names can be called
from programs in the root program object, in other DLL program objects in the application, and from
programs that are linked into that DLL.
Specification of the EXPORTALL option requires that the RENT linker option also be used.

Chapter 17. Compiler options 319

 NOEXPORTALL instructs the compiler to not export any symbols. In this case the programs are accessible
only from other routines that are link-edited into the same program object as the COBOL program
definition.

related references
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295

FASTSRT
Use FASTSRT to let IBM DFSORT, or an equivalent product, perform sort input and output instead of
Enterprise COBOL. It applies only to sorting files by using the format 1 SORT (that is, file SORT) statement.

FASTSRT option syntax

NOFASTSRT

FASTSRT

Default is: NOFASTSRT

Abbreviations are: FSRT | NOFSRT
related tasks
“Improving sort performance with FASTSRT” on page 222

FLAG
Use FLAG(x) to produce diagnostic messages at the end of the source listing for errors of a severity level
x or above.

FLAG option syntax

FLAG( x )
,y

NOFLAG

Default is: FLAG(I,I)

Abbreviations are: F | NOF
x and y can be either I, W, E, S, or U.
Use FLAG(x,y) to produce diagnostic messages for errors of severity level x or above at the end of the
source listing, with error messages of severity y and above to be embedded directly in the source listing.
The severity coded for y must not be lower than the severity coded for x. To use FLAG(x,y), you must
also specify the SOURCE compiler option.
Error messages in the source listing are set off by the embedding of the statement number in an arrow
that points to the message code. The message code is followed by the message text. For example:

000413 MOVE CORR WS-DATE TO HEADER-DATE

==000413==> IGYPS2121-S " WS-DATE " was not defined as a data-name. . . .

320 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 When FLAG(x,y) is in effect, most messages of severity y and above are embedded in the listing after
the line that caused the message. Messages with the IGYCB prefix will never be embedded in the source.
(See the related reference below for information about messages for exceptions.)
Use NOFLAG to suppress error flagging. NOFLAG does not suppress error messages for compiler options.
Embedded messages
• Embedding level-U messages is not recommended. The specification of embedded level-U messages is
accepted, but does not produce any messages in the source.
• The FLAG option does not affect diagnostic messages that are produced before the compiler options are
processed.
• Diagnostic messages that are produced during processing of compiler options, CBL or PROCESS
statements, or BASIS, COPY, or REPLACE statements are not embedded in the source listing. All such
messages appear at the beginning of the compiler output.
• Diagnostic messages with the IGYCB prefix are not embedded in the source listing. All such messages
appear at the end of the compiler output, regardless of the setting of the FLAG option.
• Messages that are produced during processing of the *CONTROL or *CBL statement are not embedded
in the source listing.

related references
“Messages and listings for compiler-detected errors” on page 271

FLAGSTD
Use FLAGSTD to specify the level or subset of the 85 COBOL Standard to be regarded as conforming, and
to get informational messages about the 85 COBOL Standard elements that are included in your program.
You can specify any of the following items for flagging:
• A selected Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) COBOL subset
• Any of the optional modules
• Obsolete language elements
• Any combination of subset and optional modules
• Any combination of subset and obsolete elements
• IBM extensions (these are flagged any time that FLAGSTD is specified, and identified as "nonconforming
nonstandard")

FLAGSTD option syntax

NOFLAGSTD

FLAGSTD( x )
yy ,O

Default is: NOFLAGSTD

Abbreviations are: None
x specifies the subset of the 85 COBOL Standard to be regarded as conforming:
M
Language elements that are not from the minimum subset are to be flagged as "nonconforming
standard."
I
Language elements that are not from the minimum or the intermediate subset are to be flagged as
"nonconforming standard."

Chapter 17. Compiler options 321

 H
The high subset is being used and elements will not be flagged by subset. Elements that are IBM
extensions will be flagged as "nonconforming Standard, IBM extension."
yy specifies, by a single character or combination of any two, the optional modules to be included in the
subset:
D
Elements from debug module level 1 are not flagged as "nonconforming standard."
N
Elements from segmentation module level 1 are not flagged as "nonconforming standard."
S
Elements from segmentation module level 2 are not flagged as "nonconforming standard."
If S is specified, N is included (N is a subset of S).
O (the letter) specifies that obsolete language elements are flagged as "obsolete."
The informational messages appear in the source program listing, and identify:
• The element as "obsolete," "nonconforming standard," or "nonconforming nonstandard" (a language
element that is both obsolete and nonconforming is flagged as obsolete only)
• The clause, statement, or header that contains the element
• The source program line and beginning location of the clause, statement, or header that contains the
element
• The subset or optional module to which the element belongs
FLAGSTD requires the standard set of reserved words.
In the following example, the line number and column where a flagged clause, statement, or header
occurred are shown with the associated message code and text. After that is a summary of the total
number of flagged items and their type.

LINE.COL CODE FIPS MESSAGE TEXT

IGYDS8211 Comment lines before "IDENTIFICATION DIVISION":

nonconforming nonstandard, IBM extension to
ANS/ISO 1985.

11.14 IGYDS8111 "GLOBAL clause": nonconforming standard, ANS/ISO

1985 high subset.

59.12 IGYPS8169 "USE FOR DEBUGGING statement": obsolete element

in ANS/ISO 1985.

FIPS MESSAGES TOTAL STANDARD NONSTANDARD OBSOLETE

3 1 1 1

You can convert FIPS informational messages into diagnostic messages, and can suppress FIPS
messages, by using the MSGEXIT suboption of the EXIT compiler option. For details, see the related
reference about the processing of MSGEXIT, and see the related task.

related tasks
“Customizing compiler-message severities” on page 731

related references
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295
“Processing of MSGEXIT” on page 729

322 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
HGPR
The HGPR option controls the compiler usage of the 64-bit registers provided by z/Architecture
processors.

HGPR option syntax

PRESERVE

HGPR( NOPRESERVE )

Default is: HGPR(PRESERVE)

Abbreviations are: None
The Enterprise COBOL compiler uses the 64-bit width of the z/Architecture General Purpose Registers
(GPRs). HGPR stands for "High-halves of 64-bit GPRs", which means the use of native 64-bit instructions.
HGPR(PRESERVE)
If you specify HGPR(PRESERVE), the compiler preserves the high halves of the 64-bit GPRs that a
program is using, by saving them in the prolog for the function and restoring them in the epilog. The
PRESERVE suboption is necessary only if the caller of the program is not Enterprise COBOL, Enterprise
PL/I, or z/OS XL C/C++ compiler-generated code.
HGPR(NOPRESERVE)
If you specify HGPR(NOPRESERVE), the compiler omits preserving the high-halves of the 64-bit GPRs
that a program is using, which improves performance.

Related tasks
“Using COBOL user exit routines with DFSORT” on page 228

INITCHECK
Use the INITCHECK option to have the compiler check for uninitialized data items and issue warning
messages when they are used without being initialized.

INITCHECK option syntax

NOINITCHECK

INITCHECK
LAX
( )
STRICT

Default is: NOINITCHECK

Suboption default is: INITCHECK(LAX) if INITCHECK is specified with no suboption
Abbreviations are: IC | NOIC
NOINITCHECK
If NOINITCHECK is in effect, the compiler will not issue any warning messages for uninitialized data
items.
INITCHECK(LAX | STRICT)
If INITCHECK or INITCHECK(LAX) is in effect, the compiler will check for uninitialized data items
and issue a warning message when a data item is used without being initialized. However, if a data
item is initialized on at least one logical path to a statement, no warning message will be issued.

Chapter 17. Compiler options 323

 If INITCHECK(STRICT) is in effect, the compiler will still check for uninitialized data items and
issue a warning message when a data item is used without being initialized. However, unlike
INITCHECK(LAX), INITCHECK(STRICT) will issue a warning message about uninitialized data for a
data item used in a statement unless the data item is initialized on all logical paths to the statement.
Here is a sample program to illustrate the behavior differences between specifying INITCHECK(LAX)
versus INITCHECK(STRICT). Y and Z represent some data items, with no value clauses:

PROCEDURE DIVISION.
IF Y > 5
MOVE 2 TO Z
END-IF
DISPLAY Z

Z is initialized on one path to the DISPLAY statement but not the other, so if INITCHECK(LAX) is
in effect, a warning message will be issued for Y only, while INITCHECK(STRICT) will also issue a
warning message for Z.
Restrictions:
• The INITCHECK option analyzes data items in the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION and LOCAL-STORAGE
SECTION only. In particular, it does not analyze data items in the LINKAGE SECTION or FILE
SECTION.
• The INITCHECK analysis does not track external or global data items.
• The INITCHECK analysis does not track individual elements in tables independently. Instead, if one
element of a table is initialized, all corresponding elements of the table are considered to be initialized.
This applies to both fixed-length and variable-length tables.
• The INITCHECK analysis does not track the initialization of items if it happens through a pointer. For
example, if a pointer to an uninitialized data item is created by using ADDRESS-OF, and that data item is
initialized through that pointer, the INITCHECK analysis might also issue a warning message.
• For uninitialized data items being passed BY REFERENCE, no warning messages will be issued.
However, the INITCHECK analysis will warn about uninitialized data items being passed BY CONTENT
and BY VALUE.
• The INITCHECK option does not track individual bytes of reference-modified data items accurately.
Instead, if a data item is accessed by using a reference modification, this data item is considered to be
initialized.
• If a data item is in a group with other items that have had their address taken, for example, as the result
of being an SQL host variable, then that data item will also be considered to have its address taken, and
the set of all address taken data items is always considered to be set by any call to an external function.
Notes:
• All of the INITCHECK analyses occur at compile time only.
• The INITCHECK option has no effect on the behavior or performance of the program after it has been
compiled.
• Use of the INITCHECK option might increase compile time and memory consumption.
• The INITCHECK option reports and prints only the first uninitialized data item in a group. Subsequent
data items that are also uninitialized will not be printed.
• INITCHECK is more accurate when used with OPT(1) or OPT(2), but it is also helpful when used with
OPT(0).

324 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
INITIAL
The INITIAL compiler option causes a program and all of its nested programs to behave as if the IS
INITIAL clause was specified on the PROGRAM-ID paragraph.

INITIAL option syntax

NOINITIAL

INITIAL

Default is: NOINITIAL

Abbreviations are: None
INITIAL
INITIAL causes a program and all of its nested programs to behave as if the IS INITIAL clause was
specified on the PROGRAM-ID paragraph.
Note: INITIAL and the IS INITIAL clause have no effect on data items that do not have VALUE
clauses.
NOINITIAL
NOINITIAL will have no effect on programs that already have IS INITIAL on the PROGRAM-ID
paragraph in the source.

related tasks
“Setting a program to an initial state” on page 4

related references
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295

INLINE
The INLINE compiler option controls whether the inlining of procedures (paragraphs or sections)
referenced by PERFORM statements in the source program is allowed.

INLINE option syntax

INLINE

NOINLINE

Default is: INLINE

Abbreviations are: INL | NOINL
INLINE
INLINE is a potential performance-boosting option.
Specifying INLINE causes the compiler to allow the inlining of procedures referenced by PERFORM
statements in the source program when OPTIMIZE(1) or OPTIMIZE(2) is in effect. Whether or not
to inline procedures in a specific PERFORM block is determined by the compiler.
Inlining1 can be prevented for specific paragraphs by using the >>INLINE ON and >>INLINE OFF
directives in the program source code when memory usage is a concern and there is a desire to
reduce the overall size of the executable, such as in a CICS region.
Note:

Chapter 17. Compiler options 325

 1. The word inlining here implies that the compiler might choose to replace the PERFORM of a
procedure (paragraph or section) with a copy of that procedure's code. By inserting the procedure
code at the location of the PERFORM, the compiler saves the overhead of branching logic to and from
the procedure.
NOINLINE
Specifying NOINLINE causes no inlining of procedures referenced by PERFORM statements,
regardless of the optimization level in effect. NOINLINE can be specified in cases where there is
a desire to reduce the overall size of the executable when memory usage is a concern, such as in a
CICS region. NOINLINE cannot be overridden by using the >>INLINE ON directive.

related references
INLINE directive (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

INTDATE
INTDATE(ANSI) instructs the compiler to use the 85 COBOL Standard starting date for integer dates
used with date intrinsic functions. Day 1 is Jan 1, 1601. INTDATE(LILIAN) instructs the compiler to use
the Language Environment Lilian starting date for integer dates used with date intrinsic functions. Day 1 is
Oct 15, 1582.

INTDATE option syntax

ANSI

INTDATE( LILIAN )

Default is: INTDATE(ANSI)

Abbreviations are: None
With INTDATE(LILIAN), the date intrinsic functions return results that are compatible with the
Language Environment date callable services.
Usage note: When INTDATE(LILIAN) is in effect, CEECBLDY is not usable because you have no way to
turn an ANSI integer into a meaningful date by using either intrinsic functions or callable services. If you
code a CALL literal statement with CEECBLDY as the target of the call when INTDATE(LILIAN) in effect,
the compiler diagnoses this and converts the call target to CEEDAYS.

related tasks
“Using date callable services” on page 59

INVDATA
The INVDATA option tells the compiler whether the data in USAGE DISPLAY and PACKED-DECIMAL data
items is valid, and if not, what the behavior of the compiler should be.
Because most users have valid data in their USAGE DISPLAY and USAGE PACKED-DECIMAL data items,
they should use NOINVDATA, even if they use NUMPROC(NOPFD). Even if you find that your programs are
processing invalid data at run time with the NUMCHECK compiler option, you should change your programs
to avoid processing invalid data and use NOINVDATA.
Note: The goal of the INVDATA option is to provide a behavior that is as compatible as possible with the
behavior of programs compiled with COBOL V4 or earlier versions in cases of invalid numeric data. When
discrepancies are found, this option will be updated in favor of making the behavior more closely match
the behavior of COBOL V4 or earlier versions.
When the INVDATA option is in effect, the compiler will avoid performing known optimizations that might
produce a different result than COBOL V4 or earlier versions when a zoned decimal or packed decimal
data item has invalid digits or an invalid sign code, or when a zoned decimal data item has invalid zone
bits.

326 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
The following table provides a quick reference on how to set the INVDATA and NUMPROC options when
migrating to COBOL V6.2 or later versions from earlier versions of COBOL, depending on the default value
of the NUMPROC option that was used in the earlier version of COBOL and whether or not you have invalid
data.

Table 47. Setting INVDATA and NUMPROC options when migrating from earlier COBOL versions
COBOL versions Invalid data NUMPROC/ZONEDATA used INVDATA and NUMPROC
present? in COBOL V6.1 or earlier settings in COBOL V6.2 or
versions later versions
Pre-COBOL V5 No NUMPROC(MIG) NOINVDATA,NUMPROC(NOP
FD)
Pre-COBOL V5 No NUMPROC(NOPFD) NOINVDATA,NUMPROC(NOP
FD)
Pre-COBOL V5 No NUMPROC(PFD) NOINVDATA,NUMPROC(PFD
)
Pre-COBOL V5 Yes NUMPROC(MIG) INVDATA(FORCENUMCMP,
NOCLEANSIGN),NUMPROC(
NOPFD)
Pre-COBOL V5 Yes NUMPROC(NOPFD) INVDATA(NOFORCENUMCM
P,CLEANSIGN),NUMPROC(
NOPFD) or
INVDATA,NUMPROC(NOPFD
)
Pre-COBOL V5 Yes NUMPROC(PFD) INVDATA(NOFORCENUMCM
P,CLEANSIGN),NUMPROC(
PFD) or
INVDATA,NUMPROC(PFD)
COBOL V5 or later No ZONEDATA(PFD) NOINVDATA
COBOL V5 or later Yes ZONEDATA(NOPFD) INVDATA(NOFORCENUMCM
P,CLEANSIGN) or simply
INVDATA
COBOL V5 or later Yes ZONEDATA(MIG) INVDATA(FORCENUMCMP,
CLEANSIGN)1

1. INVDATA(FORCENUMCMP,NOCLEANSIGN) is a closer representation of the pre-COBOL V5

NUMPROC(MIG) behavior than INVDATA(FORCENUMCMP,CLEANSIGN) when invalid data is present.
If you are not satisfied with the behavior of ZONEDATA(MIG) in COBOL V5 or later versions
when invalid data is present, then consider using INVDATA(FORCENUMCMP,NOCLEANSIGN) to more
closely mimic the pre-COBOL V5 NUMPROC(MIG) behavior when invalid data is present.

Chapter 17. Compiler options 327

 INVDATA option syntax
NOINVDATA

INVDATA
,

CLEANSIGN

( NOCLEANSIGN )

NOFORCENUMCMP

FORCENUMCMP

Default is: NOINVDATA

The default is INVDATA(NOFORCENUMCMP,CLEANSIGN) when INVDATA is specified without suboptions.
Abbreviations are:
• INVD | NOINVD
• CS | NOCS
• FNC | NOFNC
NOINVDATA
When the NOINVDATA option is in effect, the compiler assumes that all data in USAGE DISPLAY and
PACKED-DECIMAL data items is valid, and generates the most efficient code possible. For example,
the compiler might generate a string comparison to avoid numeric conversion.
INVDATA(NOFORCENUMCMP | FORCENUMCMP)
NOFORCENUMCMP is the default when INVDATA is specified and neither FORCENUMCMP nor
NOFORCENUMCMP is specified.
When the INVDATA(FORCENUMCMP) option is in effect, the compiler generates instructions to do
comparisons of zoned decimal data items that ignore the zone bits of each digit. For example, the
zoned decimal value is converted to packed-decimal with a PACK instruction before the comparison.
When the INVDATA(NOFORCENUMCMP) option is in effect, the compiler generates instructions for
numeric comparisons or an alphanumeric comparison of zoned decimal data in the same manner as
COBOL V4 or earlier versions does when you use NUMPROC(NOPFD | PFD) with COBOL V4 or earlier
versions:
• In the cases where COBOL V4 or earlier versions considered the zone bits, the compiler generates
an alphanumeric comparison which will also consider the zone bits of each digit in zoned decimal
data items. The zoned decimal value remains as zoned decimal.
• In the cases where COBOL V4 or earlier versions ignored the zone bits, the compiler generates
numeric comparisons that ignore the zone bits of each digit in zoned decimal data items. The zoned
decimal value is converted to packed-decimal with a PACK instruction before the comparison.
In order for the compiler to handle zone bits in the same way as COBOL V4 or earlier versions do
when generating comparisons of zoned decimal data, the NUMPROC suboption used in COBOL V6 must
match the NUMPROC suboption used in COBOL V4 or earlier versions:
• To get COBOL V4 or earlier versions NUMPROC(NOPFD) behavior in COBOL V6, use
INVDATA(NOFORCENUMCMP) (or simply INVDATA) and NUMPROC(NOPFD) in COBOL V6.
• To get the COBOL V4 or earlier versions NUMPROC(PFD) behavior in COBOL V6, use
INVDATA(NOFORCENUMCMP) (or simply INVDATA) and NUMPROC(PFD) in COBOL V6.
Note: The sign code must be a valid sign code according to the NUMPROC option setting. In addition,
the low-order byte must have a valid zone (x'F') with either SIGN IS LEADING or SIGN IS
SEPARATE.

328 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
INVDATA(CLEANSIGN | NOCLEANSIGN)
CLEANSIGN is the default when INVDATA is specified and neither CLEANSIGN nor NOCLEANSIGN is
specified.
When the INVDATA(CLEANSIGN) option is in effect, the compiler generates code to clean the sign
nibble of USAGE DISPLAY and USAGE PACKED-DECIMAL data items on input to compare, add,
subtract, multiply, and divide operations.
Note: CLEANSIGN does not apply to USAGE DISPLAY items defined with SIGN IS SEPARATE.
When the INVDATA(NOCLEANSIGN) option is in effect, the compiler avoids generating code to clean
the sign nibble of USAGE DISPLAY and USAGE PACKED-DECIMAL data items on input to compare,
add, subtract, multiply, and divide operations, increasing the probability of a S0C7 abend when one of
the operands of the operation contains an invalid sign nibble.
Note: The INVDATA option affects the behavior of MOVE statements, comparisons, and computations for
USAGE DISPLAY or PACKED-DECIMAL data items that could contain invalid digits, an invalid sign code,
or invalid zone bits.
In the following example, you can see a data item with an invalid zone bit 4 in the zone bits in the middle
of data item VALUE1, forced in by REDEFINES:

77 VALUE0 PIC X(4) VALUE '00 0'. *> x'F0F040F0'

77 VALUE1 REDEFINES VALUE0 PIC 9(4).
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
IF VALUE1 = ZERO
DISPLAY 'INVDATA(FORCENUMCMP) is in effect ' VALUE1
ELSE
DISPLAY 'INVDATA(NOFORCENUMCMP) is in effect ' VALUE1
END-IF

In this example,
• With COBOL V4 or earlier versions, the test is true if the NUMPROC(MIG) option is used, and false for
NUMPROC(NOPFD | PFD).
• With V6.2 or later versions:
– When you use NOINVDATA, the test is true at OPT(0) and false at OPT(1 | 2).
– When you use INVDATA(NOFORCENUMCMP), the test is false at any OPT setting.
In all, to ease your migration to COBOL V6:
• If your digits, sign codes, and zone bits are valid, use NOINVDATA, and if you used NUMPROC(PFD) or
NUMPROC(NOPFD) in COBOL V4 or earlier versions, then use the same NUMPROC setting when you use
COBOL V6; if you used NUMPROC(MIG) in COBOL V4 or earlier versions, then use NUMPROC(NOPFD)
when you use COBOL V6.
• If you have invalid digits, invalid sign codes, or invalid zone bits in your data, change your programs or
systems so that your programs do not have invalid data in numeric data items at run time. Once you
have corrected your programs or systems, you can use the preferred NOINVDATA option. Only if you
cannot contain this work and must continue to run with invalid data, consider the following choices for
INVDATA:
– If you are migrating from COBOL V4 or earlier versions and used NUMPROC(MIG) with COBOL V4,
then use INVDATA(FORCENUMCMP,NOCLEANSIGN) and NUMPROC(NOPFD) with COBOL V6.2 or later
versions to most closely mimic the previous NUMPROC(MIG) behavior when invalid data is present.
– If you are migrating from COBOL V4 or earlier versions and used NUMPROC(NOPFD) with COBOL
V4, then use INVDATA(NOFORCENUMCMP,CLEANSIGN) (or simply INVDATA) and NUMPROC(NOPFD)
with COBOL V6.
– If you are migrating from COBOL V4 or earlier versions and used NUMPROC(PFD) with COBOL V4,
then use INVDATA(NOFORCENUMCMP,CLEANSIGN) (or simply INVDATA) and NUMPROC(PFD) with
COBOL V6.
Notes:

Chapter 17. Compiler options 329

 • If you completed migration from COBOL V4 or earlier versions to COBOL V5 or V6 in the past and used
the deprecated ZONEDATA(MIG) option in COBOL V5 or V6 and are satisfied with the behavior, use
INVDATA(FORCENUMCMP,CLEANSIGN) instead of ZONEDATA(MIG).
• It is not always possible to entirely match the behavior of the old compiler even with these options
when faced with clearly invalid data. For example, even for comparisons, INVDATA(NOFORCENUMCMP)
does not give the same result in all cases as COBOL V4.
Performance considerations: NOINVDATA gives better runtime performance than INVDATA does.
INVDATA disables some of the optimizations that NUMPROC(PFD) can give.

related tasks
“Checking for incompatible data (numeric class test)” on page 53

related references
“NUMCHECK” on page 336
“NUMPROC” on page 340

LANGUAGE
Use the LANGUAGE option to select the language in which compiler output will be printed. The information
that will be printed in the selected language includes diagnostic messages, source listing page and scale
headers, FIPS message headers, message summary headers, compilation summary, and headers and
notations that result from the selection of certain compiler options (MAP, XREF, VBREF, and FLAGSTD).

LANGUAGE option syntax

LANGUAGE( name )

Default is: LANGUAGE(ENGLISH)

Abbreviations are: LANG(EN | UE | JA | JP)
name specifies the language for compiler output messages. Possible values for the LANGUAGE option are
shown in the table below.

Table 48. Values of the LANGUAGE compiler option

Name Abbreviation1 Output language
ENGLISH EN Mixed-case English (the default)
JAPANESE3 JA, JP Japanese, using the Japanese character set
UENGLISH2, 3 UE Uppercase English

1. If your installation's system programmer has provided a language other than those described, you
must specify at least the first two characters of this other language's name.
2. To specify a language other than UENGLISH, the appropriate language feature must be installed.
3. To change to uppercase English or Japanese compiler messages, in addition to using the LANGUAGE
compiler option, you must also set the Language Environment runtime option NATLANG at compile
time. We recommend using CEEOPTS DD in the compile JCL.
For example, to change messages to Japanese, use the LANGUAGE(JA) compiler option and also
specify the NATLANG LE runtime option at compile time:

//CEEOPTS DD *
NATLANG(JPN)
/*

If the LANGUAGE option is changed at compile time (using CBL or PROCESS statements), some initial text
will be printed using the language that was in effect at the time the compiler was started.

330 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 NATLANG: The NATLANG runtime option allows you to control the national language to be used for
the runtime environment, including error messages, month names, and day-of-the-week names. The
LANGUAGE compiler option and the NATLANG runtime option act independently of each other. You can use
them together with neither taking precedence over the other.

LINECOUNT
Use LINECOUNT(nnn) to specify the number of lines to be printed on each page of the compilation listing,
or use LINECOUNT(0) to suppress pagination.

LINECOUNT option syntax

LINECOUNT( nnn )

Default is: LINECOUNT(60)

Abbreviations are: LC
nnn must be an integer between 10 and 255, or 0.
If you specify LINECOUNT(0), no page ejects are generated in the compilation listing.
The compiler uses three lines of nnn for titles. For example, if you specify LINECOUNT(60), 57 lines of
source code are printed on each page of the output listing.

LIST
Use the LIST compiler option to produce a listing of the assembler-language expansion of your source
code.

LIST option syntax

NOLIST

LIST

Default is: NOLIST

Abbreviations are: None
These items will also be written to the output listing:
• Constant area
• Program prolog areas (PPA1, PPA2, PPA3, PPA4)
• Time stamp, compiler version, and build level information
• Compiler options and program information
• Base locator table
• External symbols dictionary
• Static maps
• Automatic maps
The output is generated if:
• You specify the COMPILE option, or the NOCOMPILE(x) option is in effect and an error of level x or higher
does not occur.
• You do not specify the OFFSET option.

Chapter 17. Compiler options 331

 If you want to limit the assembler listing output, use *CONTROL (or *CBL) LIST or NOLIST statements
in the PROCEDURE DIVISION. Source statements that follow a *CONTROL NOLIST statement are not
included in the listing until a subsequent *CONTROL LIST statement switches the output back to normal
LIST format.

related tasks
“Getting listings” on page 391

related references
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295
*CONTROL (*CBL) statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

MAP
Use the MAP option to create a listing of the DATA DIVISION items and all implicitly declared items. You
can also specify whether hexadecimal or decimal offsets are shown for MAP output in the listing.

MAP option syntax

NOMAP

MAP
HEX

( DEC )

Default is: NOMAP

Suboption default is: MAP(HEX) if MAP is specified with no suboption
Abbreviations are: None
HEX
If you specify MAP(HEX), data item offsets within groups will be in hexadecimal notation.
DEC
If you specify MAP(DEC), data item offsets within groups will be in decimal notation.
The output includes the following items:
• DATA DIVISION map
• Nested program structure map, and program attributes
• Size of the program's WORKING-STORAGE and LOCAL-STORAGE and its location in the object code if the
program is compiled with the NORENT option
If you want to limit the MAP output, use *CONTROL MAP or NOMAP statements in the DATA DIVISION.
Source statements that follow *CONTROL NOMAP are not included in the listing until a *CONTROL MAP
statement switches the output back to normal MAP format. For example:

*CONTROL NOMAP *CBL NOMAP

01 A 01 A
02 B 02 B
*CONTROL MAP *CBL MAP

When the MAP(HEX | DEC) option is in effect, you also get an embedded MAP report in the source code
listing. The condensed MAP information is shown to the right of data-name definitions in the WORKING-
STORAGE SECTION, FILE SECTION, LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION, and LINKAGE SECTION of the DATA
DIVISION. When both XREF data and an embedded MAP summary are on the same line, the embedded
MAP summary is listed first.
“Example: MAP output” on page 396

332 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 related concepts
Chapter 19, “Debugging,” on page 381

related tasks
“Getting listings” on page 391

related references
*CONTROL (*CBL) statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

MAXPCF
Use the MAXPCF option to specify a maximum program complexity factor value. The program complexity
factor (PCF) is computed by the compiler and the computed value is in the listing file. If the PCF of your
program exceeds the maximum value, the compiler will automatically reduce the optimization level to
speed up the compilation and use less storage. Therefore, when you compile a suite of programs, you do
not have to specify an OPTIMIZE option value for each program.

MAXPCF option syntax

MAXPCF( n)

Default is: MAXPCF(100000)

Abbreviations are: None
n must be an integer of 0 - 999999.
The aspects of the program taken into consideration when computing the complexity factor include:
• The number of COBOL statements in the PROCEDURE DIVISION, including generated statements from
the CICS, SQL or SQLIMS options, and the expansion of COPY and REPLACE statements
• Initialization operations for WORKING-STORAGE or LOCAL-STORAGE data items with value clauses
• Operations for variable-length groups or subgroups in the DATA DIVISION, which compute their size at
run time
Note: PCF is not a metric to measure how complex a program is. It is merely a count of COBOL items that
can cause problems for optimization when there are a lot of them. To measure program complexity, you
should use something like the Metrics feature provided by IBM Developer for z/OS.
For large and complex programs, you can use the MAXPCF option to set a threshold on the program
complexity that the compiler attempts optimize. Lower the MAXPCF value to reduce the optimization
level, hence the compiler needs less memory and compilation time. Raise the MAXPCF value to attempt to
optimize the programs at the cost of longer compilation time.
If you specify MAXPCF(0), no limit is enforced on the complexity of the program, and the MAXPCF option
has no effect.
If you specify MAXPCF(n) and n is not zero, when the program complexity factor exceeds n, any
specification of OPTIMIZE(1) or OPTIMIZE(2) is reset to OPTIMIZE(0), and a warning message is
generated.
If the COBOL source file contains a sequence of source programs (a batch compile), the MAXPCF limit is
applied on a per program basis.
Notes:
• If the OPTIMIZE(1) or OPTIMIZE(2) option is set at installation time as a fixed, nonoverridable
option, then MAXPCF(n) with a nonzero n is an option conflict. In this case, the OPTIMIZE option takes
precedence and the MAXPCF(0) option is forced on.
• If you attempt to optimize a program larger than the default threshold by raising the value of MAXPCF to
n where n is greater than the default, or by specifying MAXPCF(0), the compiler might take excessive
time to compile or fail to compile because of insufficient memory.

Chapter 17. Compiler options 333

 related references
“OPTIMIZE” on page 343

MDECK
The MDECK compiler option specifies that a copy of the updated input source after library processing (that
is, the result of COPY, BASIS, REPLACE, EXEC SQL INCLUDE, EXEC SQLIMS INCLUDE, and conditional
compilation directive statements) is written to a file.
If Enterprise COBOL is running under z/OS UNIX, the MDECK output is written in the current directory to a
file that has the same name as the COBOL source file and a suffix of .dek. For Enterprise COBOL running
under TSO or batch, the MDECK output is written to the data set defined by the SYSMDECK DD allocation,
which must specify an MVS data set that has RECFM F or FB and an LRECL of 80 bytes.
Note: When compiling under z/OS TSO or batch, the COBOL compiler requires the SYSMDECK data set
allocation for all compilations, no matter if you specify the MDECK or NOMDECK option. The SYSMDECK
DD allocation can be specified as either a temporary dataset or a permanent cataloged/uncatalogued data
set.

MDECK option syntax

NOMDECK

MDECK
COMPILE

( NOCOMPILE )

Default is: NOMDECK

Abbreviations are: NOMD | MD | MD(C | NOC)
Option specification:
You cannot specify the MDECK option in a PROCESS (or CBL) statement. You can specify it only in one of
the following ways:
• In an OPTFILE (as long as the OPTFILE is not specified in a PROCESS or CBL statement)
• In the PARM parameter of JCL
• As a cob2 command option
• As an installation default
• In the COBOPT environment variable
Suboptions:
• When MDECK(COMPILE) is in effect, compilation continues normally after library processing and
generation of the MDECK output file have completed, subject to the settings of the COMPILE |
NOCOMPILE, DECK | NODECK, and OBJECT | NOOBJECT compiler options.
• When MDECK(NOCOMPILE) is in effect, compilation is terminated after library processing has
completed and the expanded source program file has been written. The compiler does no further syntax
checking or code generation regardless of the settings of the COMPILE, DECK, and OBJECT compiler
options.
If you specify MDECK with no suboption, MDECK(COMPILE) is implied.
Contents of the MDECK output file:
If you use the MDECK option with programs that contain EXEC CICS, EXEC SQL, or EXEC SQLIMS
statements, these EXEC statements are included in the MDECK output as is. However, if you compile
using the SQL or SQLIMS option, the corresponding EXEC SQL INCLUDE or EXEC SQLIMS INCLUDE
statements are expanded in the MDECK output.

334 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 CBL, PROCESS, *CONTROL, and *CBL card images are passed to the MDECK output file in the proper
locations.
For a batch compilation (multiple COBOL source programs in a single input file), a single MDECK output file
that contains the complete expanded source is created.
Any SEQUENCE compiler-option processing is reflected in the MDECK file.
COPY statements are included in the MDECK file as comments.

related tasks
“Starting the compiler from an assembler program” on page 254
“Defining the library-processing output file (SYSMDECK)” on page 263

related references
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295
Chapter 18, “Compiler-directing statements,” on page 377

NAME
Use NAME to generate a link-edit NAME card for each object module. You can also use NAME to generate
names for each program object when you are doing batch compilations.
When NAME is specified, a NAME card is appended to each object module that is created. Program object
names are formed using the rules for forming module names from PROGRAM-ID statements.

NAME option syntax

NONAME

NAME
NOALIAS

( ALIAS )

Default is: NONAME, or NAME(NOALIAS) if only NAME is specified

Abbreviations are: None
If you specify NAME(ALIAS), and your program contains ENTRY statements, a link-edit ALIAS card is
generated for each ENTRY statement.

related references
PROGRAM-ID paragraph (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

NSYMBOL
The NSYMBOL option controls the interpretation of the N symbol used in literals and PICTURE clauses,
indicating whether national or DBCS processing is assumed.

NSYMBOL option syntax

NATIONAL

NSYMBOL( DBCS )

Default is: NSYMBOL(NATIONAL)

Abbreviations are: NS(NAT | DBCS)
With NSYMBOL(NATIONAL):

Chapter 17. Compiler options 335

 • Data items defined with a PICTURE clause that consists only of the symbol N without the USAGE clause
are treated as if the USAGE NATIONAL clause is specified.
• Literals of the form N". . ." or N'. . .' are treated as national literals.
With NSYMBOL(DBCS):
• Data items defined with a PICTURE clause that consists only of the symbol N without the USAGE clause
are treated as if the USAGE DISPLAY-1 clause is specified.
• Literals of the form N". . ." or N'. . .' are treated as DBCS literals.
The NSYMBOL(DBCS) option provides compatibility with previous releases of IBM COBOL, and the
NSYMBOL(NATIONAL) option makes the handling of the above language elements consistent with the
2002 COBOL Standard in this regard.
NSYMBOL(NATIONAL) is recommended for applications that use Unicode data or object-oriented syntax
for Java interoperability.

related references
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295

NUMBER
Use the NUMBER compiler option if you have line numbers in your source code and want those numbers to
be used in error messages and SOURCE, MAP, LIST, and XREF listings.

NUMBER option syntax

NONUMBER

NUMBER

Default is: NONUMBER

Abbreviations are: NUM | NONUM
If you request NUMBER, the compiler checks columns 1 through 6 to make sure that they contain only
numbers and that the numbers are in numeric collating sequence. (In contrast, SEQUENCE checks the
characters in these columns according to EBCDIC collating sequence.) When a line number is found to be
out of sequence, the compiler assigns to it a line number with a value one higher than the line number of
the preceding statement. The compiler flags the new value with two asterisks and includes in the listing
a message indicating an out-of-sequence error. Sequence-checking continues with the next statement,
based on the newly assigned value of the previous line.
If you use COPY statements and NUMBER is in effect, be sure that your source program line numbers and
the copybook line numbers are coordinated.
If you are doing a batch compilation and NUMBER is in effect, all programs in the batch compile will be
treated as a single input file. The sequence numbers of the entire input file must be in ascending order.
Use NONUMBER if you do not have line numbers in your source code, or if you want the compiler to ignore
the line numbers you do have in your source code. With NONUMBER in effect, the compiler generates line
numbers for your source statements and uses those numbers as references in listings.

NUMCHECK
The NUMCHECK compiler option tells the compiler whether to generate extra code to validate data items
when they are used as sending data items. For zoned decimal (numeric USAGE DISPLAY) and packed
decimal (COMP-3) data items, the compiler generates implicit numeric class tests for each sending field.
For alphanumeric senders whose contents are being moved to a numeric receiver, the compiler treats the
sender as a numeric integer so NUMCHECK generates an implicit numeric class test for each alphanumeric

336 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
sender. For binary data items, the compiler generates SIZE ERROR checking to see whether the data
item has more digits than its PICTURE clause allows.
The NUMCHECK option was changed to improve performance by removing redundant checks, with PTF for
APAR PH08642 installed. There may be fewer runtime messages after applying this APAR than before.
The analysis done to remove redundant checks is more involved at OPT(1|2) than at OPT(0). OPT(0)
does a simpler form of the analysis to keep compilation time as low as possible. There may be fewer
messages at higher OPT levels.
When the compiler is able to determine at compile time that a check will always find invalid data, a
compile time message is produced, and the check may be removed. (See MSG|ABD below.)

NUMCHECK option syntax

NONUMCHECK

NUMCHECK
,

( ZON )
,

( ALPHNUM )

NOALPHNUM

LAX

STRICT

NOZON

PAC

NOPAC

BIN
( TRUNCBIN )

NOTRUNCBIN

NOBIN

MSG

ABD

Default is: NONUMCHECK

Suboption defaults are:
• If no suboption is specified, defaults are ZON(ALPHNUM,STRICT), PAC,
BIN(TRUNCBIN), and MSG. For example, NUMCHECK has the same effect as
NUMCHECK(ZON(ALPHNUM,STRICT),PAC,BIN(TRUNCBIN),MSG).
• If no datatype suboption is specified, default datatype suboptions are ZON(ALPHNUM,STRICT),
PAC, and BIN(TRUNCBIN). For example, NUMCHECK(ABD) has the same effect as
NUMCHECK(ZON(ALPHNUM,STRICT),PAC,BIN(TRUNCBIN),MSG).
• If only one datatype suboption is specified, defaults are NOZON, NOPAC, NOBIN, and MSG. For example,
NUMCHECK(BIN) has the same effect as NUMCHECK(NOZON,NOPAC,BIN(TRUNCBIN),MSG).
• If all datatype suboptions are specified with NO, then the listing will show NONUMCHECK. For example,
NUMCHECK(NOZON,NOPAC,NOBIN) has the same effect as NONUMCHECK.
Abbreviations are: NONC | NC
ZON(ALPHNUM|NOALPHNUM,LAX|STRICT) | NOZON
The default is ZON(ALPHNUM,STRICT) when ZON is specified with no suboptions.

Chapter 17. Compiler options 337

 Specifying ZON(ALPHNUM) causes the compiler to generate code for an implicit numeric class test for
zoned decimal (numeric USAGE DISPLAY) data items that are used as sending data items in COBOL
statements.
Specifying ZON(NOALPHNUM) causes the compiler to generate code for an implicit numeric class
test for zoned decimal (numeric USAGE DISPLAY) data items that are used as sending data items
in COBOL statements, except when they are used in a comparison with an alphanumeric data item,
alphanumeric literal, or alphanumeric figurative constant.
Receivers are not checked, unless they are both a sender and a receiver, such as data item B in the
following sample statements:

ADD A TO B

DIVIDE A INTO B

COMPUTE B = A + B

INITIALIZE B REPLACING ALPHANUMERIC BY B

This checking is done before the data is used in each statement:

• If the data is NOT NUMERIC, either a warning message for NUMCHECK(ZON,MSG) or a terminating
message for NUMCHECK(ZON,ABD) is issued.
• If the data is NUMERIC, the external behavior of the statement is the same as NUMCHECK(NOZON),
other than being slower.
Specifying ZON(LAX) causes the compiler to be more tolerant of invalid data in a zoned decimal data
item. Three cases are considered by the compiler as follows:
• An unsigned zoned decimal data item redefines a signed trailing overpunch zoned decimal data
item such that the last byte of the unsigned item overlaps the last byte of the signed item. In this
case, the unsigned redefining item is treated as a signed zoned decimal item for the purposes of the
NUMCHECK checking.
Notes:
– The signed zoned decimal item that is redefined must be a level-01 or level-77 item. The
unsigned zoned decimal item can be a level-01 or level-77 item or can be a subordinate item
in a group.
– The unsigned zoned decimal item does not need to overlap the entire signed zoned decimal item.
It is only necessary for the last byte of each item to overlap. For example:

01 NUM1 PIC S9(8).

01 NUM2 REDEFINES NUM1.
03 NUM2-PART1 PIC 9(4).
03 NUM2-PART2 PIC 9(2).
03 NUM2-PART3 PIC 9(2).

In this case, data item NUM2-PART3 will be treated by NUMCHECK as a signed zoned decimal data
item because its last byte overlaps the last byte of NUM1, which is a signed trailing overpunch
zoned decimal item. Thus, the following values of NUM2-PART3 are all considered valid:
- x'F1F2F3F4F5F6F7F8'
- x'F1F2F3F4F5F6F7C8'
- x'F1F2F3F4F5F6F7D8'
.
• A zoned decimal data item redefines a numeric-edited data item that may contain leading spaces,
as indicated by the Z symbol in the numeric-edited item’s PICTURE string, and the leading bytes of
the zoned decimal data item overlap some or all of the leading bytes of the numeric-edited item. In

338 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 this case, NUMCHECK will tolerate spaces in the leading bytes of the zoned decimal data item that
overlap those bytes of the numeric-edited item that permit spaces.
Notes:
– The numeric-edited item that is redefined must be a level-01 or level-77 item. The zoned decimal
item can be a level-01 or level-77 item or can be a subordinate item in a group.
– If the zoned decimal item is signed, it must be signed trailing overpunch.
– The first byte of the zoned decimal item must overlap the first byte of the numeric-edited item to
be considered eligible for this treatment, but the zoned decimal item does not need to overlap the
entire numeric-edited item. For example:

01 NUMED PIC ZZ99.99.

01 NUM REDEFINES NUMED.
03 INTVAL PIC 9(4).
03 FILLER PIC X.
03 DECVAL PIC 9(2).

In this case, NUMCHECK tolerates spaces in the first two bytes of INTVAL because it overlaps the
first two bytes of NUMED which are defined with the Z symbol in its PICTURE string. Thus, the
following values of INTVAL are all considered valid:
- x'F1F2F3F4'
- x'40F1F2F3'
- x'4040F1F2'
Note that for performance reasons, mixes of spaces and non-spaces are tolerated in the leading
bytes, thus x’F140F1F2’ is also considered valid.
• A zoned decimal data item is moved to a zoned or alphanumeric data item. In this case, NUMCHECK
will not check the sender of the move. However, if the sender is subsequently used in a numeric
context, it will be checked.
If ZON(STRICT) is specified, NUMCHECK does not consider any data items that a zoned decimal data
item might redefine, and strict checking of the zoned decimal data is performed as usual.
Note: The ZON(LAXREDEF|STRICTREDEF) option is deprecated but is tolerated for compatibility,
and it is replaced by the ZON(LAX|STRICT) option.
PAC | NOPAC
Specifying PAC causes the compiler to generate code for an implicit numeric class test for packed
decimal (COMP-3) data items that are used as sending data items in COBOL statements. For packed
decimal data items that have an even number of digits, the unused bits are checked for ones.
Restriction: For CALL statements, NUMCHECK(ZON) and NUMCHECK(PAC) check BY CONTENT data
items that are zoned decimal or packed decimal, but they do not check BY REFERENCE parameters.
(Neither zoned decimal nor packed decimal data items can be specified in a BY VALUE phrase.)
BIN(TRUNCBIN|NOTRUNCBIN) | NOBIN
Specifying BIN causes the compiler to generate code similar to ON SIZE ERROR to test if binary data
items contents are bigger than the PICTURE clause. This extra code will be generated only for binary
data items that are used as sending data items, and COMP-5 data items will not get this ON SIZE
ERROR code generated.
When BIN(TRUNCBIN) is in effect, the checking code is generated for binary data items, even when
the TRUNC(BIN) compiler option is in effect. Note that BIN(TRUNCBIN) is the default when no
suboption for BIN is specified.
When BIN(NOTRUNCBIN) is in effect, the checking code is not generated for binary items when the
TRUNC(BIN) compiler option is in effect.
Note: BIN(NOTRUNCBIN) is useful for users who want to make NUMCHECK(..., BIN, ...) a fixed
option in their default options, but do not want the checking to be done for modules that are compiled
with the TRUNC(BIN) option in effect.

Chapter 17. Compiler options 339

 MSG | ABD
Determines whether the message issued for invalid data is a warning level message to continue
processing or a terminating level message to cause an abend:
• If MSG is in effect, a runtime warning message with the line number, data item name, data item
content, and program name is issued. Also, the affected statements will still be executed.
• If ABD is in effect, a terminating message is issued that causes an abend.
When the compiler is able to determine at compile time that a check will always find invalid data, a
compile time message is produced:
• If MSG is in effect, the message is a warning-level message and the check is still done at runtime.
• If ABD is in effect, the message is an error-level message and the check is removed.
Performance considerations: NUMCHECK is much slower than NONUMCHECK, depending on how many
zoned decimal (numeric USAGE DISPLAY) data items, packed decimal (COMP-3) data items, and binary
data items are used in a COBOL program.
With PTF for APAR PH08642 installed, performance of NUMCHECK has been improved. However,
performance is still best when specifying NONUMCHECK, and will be better at a higher OPT level.
Note: ZONECHECK is deprecated but is tolerated for compatibility, and it is replaced by
NUMCHECK(ZON(ALPHNUM)).
related tasks
“Checking for incompatible data (numeric class test)” on page 53

related references
“NUMPROC” on page 340
“TRUNC” on page 364
“ZONECHECK” on page 371
“INVDATA” on page 326

NUMPROC
Use NUMPROC(NOPFD) if your internal decimal and zoned decimal data might use nonpreferred signs.

NUMPROC option syntax

NOPFD

NUMPROC( PFD )

Default is: NUMPROC(NOPFD)

Abbreviations are: None
The compiler accepts any valid sign configuration: X'A', X'B', X'C', X'D', X'E', or X'F'. NUMPROC(NOPFD) is
the recommended option in most cases.
Performance considerations: NUMPROC(PFD) improves the performance of processing internal decimal
and zoned decimal data. Use this option however only if your numeric data agrees exactly with the
following IBM system standards:
• Zoned decimal, unsigned: High-order 4 bits of the sign byte contain X'F'.
• Zoned decimal, signed overpunch: High-order 4 bits of the sign byte contain X'C' if a number is
positive or 0, and X'D' if it is not.
• Zoned decimal, separate sign: Separate sign contains the character '+' if a number is positive or 0, and
'-' if it is not.
• Internal decimal, unsigned: Low-order 4 bits of the low-order byte contain X'F'.
• Internal decimal, signed: Low-order 4 bits of the low-order byte contain X'C' if a number is positive or
0, and X'D' if it is not.

340 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Data produced by COBOL arithmetic statements conforms to the IBM system standards described above.
However, using REDEFINES and group moves could change data so that it no longer conforms. If you use
NUMPROC(PFD), use the INITIALIZE statement to initialize data fields, rather than using group moves.
Using NUMPROC(PFD) can affect class tests for numeric data. Use NUMPROC(NOPFD) if a COBOL program
calls programs written in PL/I or FORTRAN.
Sign representation is affected not only by the NUMPROC option, but also by the NUMCLS installation
option.

related tasks
“Checking for incompatible data (numeric class test)” on page 53

related references
“Sign representation of zoned and packed-decimal data” on page 53

OBJECT
Use OBJECT to write the generated object code to a file to be used as input for the binder.

OBJECT option syntax

OBJECT

NOOBJECT

Default is: OBJECT

Abbreviations are: OBJ | NOOBJ
If you specify OBJECT, include a SYSLIN DD statement in your JCL for compilation.
The only difference between DECK and OBJECT is in the routing of output to the data sets:
• DECK output goes to the data set associated with ddname SYSPUNCH.
• OBJECT output goes to the data set associated with ddname SYSLIN.
Use the option that your installation guidelines recommend.

related references
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295

OFFSET
Use OFFSET to produce a condensed PROCEDURE DIVISION listing.

OFFSET option syntax

NOOFFSET

OFFSET

Default is: NOOFFSET

Abbreviations are: OFF | NOOFF
With OFFSET, the condensed PROCEDURE DIVISION listing will contain line numbers, statement
references, and the location of each block of instructions generated for a statement. The optimizer might
inline paragraphs, move code around, or indeed place it after the body of the program if little used, such
as the error message formatting code. As a result, there might be more than one entry in the OFFSET
table of a given statement.

Chapter 17. Compiler options 341

 These items will also be written to the output listing:
• Constant area
• Program prolog areas (PPA1, PPA2, PPA3, PPA4)
• Time stamp and compiler version information
• Compiler options and program information
• Base locator table
• External symbols dictionary
• Static maps
• Automatic maps
Note: Due to the out of line code used for error message formatting, Language Environment generated
offsets, as indicated in "From compile unit {name} at entry point {name} at compile
unit offset {offset}...", might be outside the offset range of the program. In these cases, refer to
the statement number in the COBOL message (IGZnnnns) to locate the problem.

related references
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295
“Example: OFFSET compiler output” on page 424

OPTFILE
Use OPTFILE to enable the specifying of COBOL compiler options in a data set. Using a compiler-option
data set circumvents the 100-character limit on options specified in a JCL PARM string.

OPTFILE option syntax

OPTFILE

Default is: None

Abbreviations are: None
You can specify OPTFILE as a compiler invocation option or in the PROCESS or CBL statement in your
COBOL source program. OPTFILE cannot be specified as an installation default.
OPTFILE is ignored if you compile using the cob2 command in the z/OS UNIX environment. (In that
environment, the COBOPT environment variable provides a capability that is comparable to OPTFILE.)
If OPTFILE is in effect, compiler options are read from the data set that you identify in a SYSOPTF DD
statement. A SYSOPTF data set must have RECFM F or FB and an LRECL of 80 bytes. For further details
about the format of a SYSOPTF data set, see the related task below about defining a compiler-option data
set.
The precedence of options in the SYSOPTF data set is determined by where you specify the OPTFILE
option. For example, if you specify OPTFILE in the invocation PARM string, an option specified later in the
PARM string supersedes any option specified in the SYSOPTF data set that conflicts with it.
(Conceptually, OPTFILE in an options specification is replaced with the options that are in the SYSOPTF
data set; then the usual rules about precedence of compiler options and conflicting compiler options
apply.)
If you start the COBOL compiler from within an assembler program, you can use the alternate ddname list
to specify a ddname to be used instead of SYSOPTF to identify the compiler-option data set.
related tasks
“Starting the compiler from an assembler program” on page 254
“Defining a compiler-option data set (SYSOPTF)” on page 260
“Specifying compiler options under z/OS” on page 263
Chapter 15, “Compiling under z/OS UNIX,” on page 273

342 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 related references
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295

OPTIMIZE
Use OPTIMIZE to reduce the run time of your object program. Optimization might also reduce the amount
of storage your object program uses.

OPTIMIZE option syntax

0

OPTIMIZE ( 1 )

Default is: OPTIMIZE(0)

Abbreviations are: OPT(0), OPT(1), or OPT(2)
Optimizations are performed under the assumption that the program and data are valid, given the
compiler options. For example, external decimal data that has USAGE DISPLAY must be valid unless
ZONEDATA(MIG | NOPFD) is used to allow invalid zone bits. Digits and sign codes must be valid no
matter what options are used. If the program or data is invalid, programs might behave differently at
different levels of optimization or between different versions of Enterprise COBOL.
• OPTIMIZE(0) specifies limited optimizations, which result in the shortest compilation time. When the
TEST option is specified, full debug capabilities are available.
• OPTIMIZE(1) specifies optimizations that improve application runtime performance. Optimizations
at this level include basic inlining, strength reduction, simplification of complex operations into
equivalent simpler operations, removal of some unreachable code and block rearrangement. Also,
OPTIMIZE(1) includes some intrablock optimizations such as common subexpression elimination and
value propagation. When the TEST option is specified, most debug capabilities are available.
• OPTIMIZE(2) specifies further optimizations, which include more aggressive simplifications and
instruction scheduling. Also, some interblock optimizations such as global value propagation and loop
invariant code motion are included. When the TEST option is specified, some debug capabilities are
available.
When OPTIMIZE(1) or OPTIMIZE(2) is used without the TEST compiler option, care must be taken with
user-written condition handlers registered via the Language Environment service CEEHDLR. In particular,
if a condition handler accesses data items that are not defined local to the condition handler program
themselves (for example, data items defined in the application as EXTERNAL), such data items must
be defined with the VOLATILE clause to ensure that the handler uses the latest value of the data
item, or the condition handler program can be compiled with the TEST compiler option. The use of the
VOLATILE clause is preferred over the use of the TEST option because the use of the TEST option can
reduce optimization for the entire program, while VOLATILE localizes the reduced optimization. For more
information about the VOLATILE clause, see VOLATILE clause in the Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language
Reference.
When OPTIMIZE(1) or OPTIMIZE(2) is in effect, specifying INLINE causes the compiler to consider
inlining procedures for PERFORM statements. For details, see “INLINE” on page 325.
Note: Since Enterprise COBOL V5, the NOOPTIMIZE, OPTIMIZE, OPTIMIZE(STD), and
OPTIMIZE(FULL) options are removed but are tolerated for compatibility. If one of those options is
specified, it is mapped to the new option or options as follows:

Table 49. Mapping of removed options to new options

Removed options New options
NOOPTIMIZE OPTIMIZE(0)

Chapter 17. Compiler options 343

 Table 49. Mapping of removed options to new options (continued)
Removed options New options
OPTIMIZE OPTIMIZE(1)
OPTIMIZE(STD) OPTIMIZE(1)
OPTIMIZE(FULL) OPTIMIZE(1) and STGOPT

related concepts
“Optimization” on page 674

related tasks
“Writing routines for handling errors” on page 242

related references
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295
“INLINE” on page 325
“MAXPCF” on page 333
“TEST” on page 359
“STGOPT” on page 357
VOLATILE clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

OUTDD
Use OUTDD to specify that you want DISPLAY output that is directed to the system logical output device
to go to a specific ddname.
You can specify a file in the z/OS UNIX file system with the ddname named in OUTDD. To understand
where output is directed when this ddname is not allocated, see the related task about displaying data.

OUTDD option syntax

OUTDD( ddname )

Default is: OUTDD(SYSOUT)

Abbreviations are: OUT
If the OUTDD compiler option and the Language Environment MSGFILE runtime option specify the same
ddname (both default to SYSOUT), DISPLAY output to the system logical output device is written using
Language Environment message facilities.
Restriction: The OUTDD option has no effect under CICS.

related tasks
“Displaying data on the
system logical output device” on page 36
“Coding COBOL programs to run under CICS” on page 429

related references
Language Environment Programming Reference (MSGFILE)

PARMCHECK
The PARMCHECK option tells the compiler to generate an extra data item following the last item in
WORKING-STORAGE. This buffer data item is then used at run time to check whether a called subprogram
corrupted data beyond the end of WORKING-STORAGE.
When a calling program is compiled with PARMCHECK, the compiler generates a buffer following the last
data item in the WORKING-STORAGE section. At run time, before each call, the buffer is set to ALL x'AA'.

344 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 After each call, the buffer is checked to see whether it was changed. The PARMCHECK option can help with
your migration from COBOL V4 and earlier compilers to COBOL V6 and later compilers, and can also be
used to clean up and check for good programming practices.

PARMCHECK option syntax

NOPARMCHECK

PARMCHECK
( MSG )

ABD ,n

Default is: NOPARMCHECK

Abbreviations are: NOPC | PC
Suboption defaults are:
• If no suboption is specified, default is PARMCHECK(MSG,100).
• If only MSG or ABD is specified, default is PARMCHECK(MSG | ABD,100). For example,
PC(ABD)=PC(ABD,100).
• If only n is specified, default is PARMCHECK(MSG,n). For example, PC(5000)=PC(MSG,5000).
MSG | ABD
Determines whether the message issued for subprogram corruption of data is a warning level
message to continue processing or a terminating level message to cause an abend:
• If MSG is in effect, a runtime warning message with the name of the parameter, the line number of
the CALL statement, and the program name is issued. Also, this check is done after the affected
CALL statement is executed.
• If ABD is in effect, a similar message is issued, but with a terminating level that causes an abend.
n
The size in bytes of the buffer to be added after the last item in WORKING-STORAGE. Must be an
integer in the range of 1 to 9999.
Performance considerations: PARMCHECK will cause the compiler to generate slower code for programs
with CALL statements. NOPARMCHECK should be in effect for good performance.

related references
CALL statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

PGMNAME
The PGMNAME option controls the handling of program-names and entry-point names.

PGMNAME option syntax

COMPAT

PGMNAME( LONGMIXED )

LONGUPPER

Default is: PGMNAME(COMPAT)

Abbreviations are: PGMN(LM | LU | CO)
LONGUPPER can be abbreviated as UPPER, LU, or U. LONGMIXED can be abbreviated as MIXED, LM, or M.

Chapter 17. Compiler options 345

 PGMNAME controls the handling of names used in the following contexts:
• Program-names defined in the PROGRAM-ID paragraph
• Program entry-point names in the ENTRY statement
• Program-name references in:
– CALL statements that reference nested programs, statically linked programs, or DLLs
– SET procedure-pointer or function-pointer statements that reference statically linked programs or
DLLs
– CANCEL statements that reference nested programs

PGMNAME(COMPAT)
With PGMNAME(COMPAT), program-names are handled in a manner compatible with older versions of
COBOL compilers:
• The program-name can be up to 30 characters in length.
• All the characters used in the name must be alphabetic, digits, the hyphen, or the underscore, except
that if the program-name is a literal and is in the outermost program, then the literal can also contain
the extension characters @, #, and $, and the first character can be an underscore.
• At least one character must be alphabetic.
• The hyphen cannot be used as the first or last character.
External program-names are processed by the compiler as follows:
• They are folded to uppercase.
• They are truncated to eight characters.
• Hyphens are translated to zero (0).
• If the first character is not alphabetic, and is not an underscore, it is converted as follows:
– 1-9 are translated to A-I.
– Anything else is translated to J.

PGMNAME(LONGUPPER)
With PGMNAME(LONGUPPER), program-names that are specified in the PROGRAM-ID paragraph as COBOL
user-defined words must follow the normal COBOL rules for forming a user-defined word:
• The program-name can be up to 30 characters in length.
• All the characters used in the name must be alphabetic, digits, the hyphen, or the underscore.
• At least one character must be alphabetic.
• The hyphen cannot be used as the first or last character.
• The underscore cannot be used as the first character.
When a program-name is specified as a literal, in either a definition or a reference, then:
• The program-name can be up to 160 characters in length.
• All the characters used in the name must be alphabetic, digits, the hyphen, or the underscore.
• At least one character must be alphabetic.
• The hyphen cannot be used as the first or last character.
• The underscore can be used in any position.
External program-names are processed by the compiler as follows:
• They are folded to uppercase.
• Hyphens are translated to zero (0).

346 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 • If the first character is not alphabetic, and is not an underscore, it is converted as follows:
– 1-9 are translated to A-I.
– Anything else is translated to J.
Names of nested programs are folded to uppercase by the compiler but otherwise are processed as is,
without truncation or translation.

PGMNAME(LONGMIXED)
With PGMNAME(LONGMIXED), program-names are processed as is, without truncation, translation, or
folding to uppercase.
If you want to use a PROGRAM-ID that is longer than eight characters, enclose it in single quotation marks
or apostrophes (') and use PGMNAME(LONGMIXED).
With PGMNAME(LONGMIXED), all program-name definitions must be specified using the literal format
of the program-name in the PROGRAM-ID paragraph or ENTRY statement. The literal user for a program-
name can contain any character in the range X'41'-X'FE'.

Usage notes
• The following elements are not affected by the PGMNAME option:
– Class-names and method-names.
– System-names (assignment-names in SELECT . . . ASSIGN, and text-names or library-names in
COPY statements).
– Dynamic calls.
Dynamic calls are resolved with truncation of the program-name to eight characters, folding to
uppercase, and translation of embedded hyphens or a leading digit.
– CANCEL of nonnested programs. Name resolution uses the same mechanism as for a dynamic call.
• Link-edit considerations: COBOL programs that are compiled with the PGMNAME(LONGUPPER) or
PGMNAME(LONGMIXED) option must be link-edited in AMODE 31.
• Dynamic calls are not permitted to COBOL programs compiled with the PGMNAME(LONGMIXED) or
PGMNAME(LONGUPPER) options unless the program-name is less than or equal to 8 bytes, and all
uppercase. In addition, the name of the program must be identical to the name of the module that
contains it.
• When using the extended character set supported by PGMNAME(LONGMIXED), be sure to use names
that conform to the binder (linkage-editor) or system conventions that apply, depending on the
mechanism used to resolve the names.
Using characters such as commas or parentheses is not recommended, because these characters are
used in the syntax of binder (linkage-editor) control statements.

related references
PROGRAM-ID paragraph (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

QUALIFY
QUALIFY affects qualification rules and controls whether to extend qualification rules so that some data
items that cannot be referenced under COBOL Standard rules can be referenced.

QUALIFY option syntax

COMPAT

QUALIFY( EXTEND )

Chapter 17. Compiler options 347

 Default is: QUALIFY(COMPAT)
Abbreviations are: QUA(C | E)
QUALIFY(COMPAT)
If QUALIFY(COMPAT) is in effect, references to data items must be unique.
QUALIFY(EXTEND)
If QUALIFY(EXTEND) is in effect, qualification rules are extended so that some references that are
not unique by COBOL standard rules can be unique. If every level in the containing hierarchy of names
is specified, the set of qualifiers is called a complete set of qualifiers. If there is only one data item with
a specific complete set of qualifiers, the reference resolves to that data item, even if the same set of
qualifiers can match with another reference as an incomplete set of qualifiers.
Example

01 A.
02 B.
03 C PIC X.
03 A PIC X.
02 C PIC X.
.
.
.
Move space to C of A *> Refers to 02 level C (unique only with
QUALIFY(EXTEND))
Move space to A *> Refers to 01 level A (unique only with
QUALIFY(EXTEND))
Move space to C of B of A *> Refers to 03 level C (unique by COBOL standard
rules)
Move space to C of B *> Refers to 03 level C (unique by COBOL standard
rules)

RENT
A program compiled as RENT is generated as a reentrant object program. A program compiled as NORENT
is generated as a nonreentrant object program.
Either a reentrant or a nonreentrant program can be invoked as a main program or as a subprogram.

RENT option syntax

RENT

NORENT

Default is: RENT

Abbreviations are: None
DATA and RMODE settings: The RENT option interacts with other compiler options that affect storage and
its addressability. Use the DATA(24 | 31) option for reentrant programs to control whether dynamic
data areas are allocated in unrestricted storage or in storage obtained from below 16 MB. Compile
programs with RENT if they will be run in virtual storage addresses above 16 MB.
Execution of nonreentrant programs above 16 MB is not supported. Programs compiled with NORENT
must be RMODE 24.
The setting of the DATA option does not affect programs compiled with NORENT.
For information about which Enterprise COBOL programs need to be reentrant, see the related task about
making programs reentrant.
Link-edit considerations: If all programs in a program object are compiled with RENT, it is recommended
that the program object be link-edited with the RENT binder (linkage-editor) option. Use the REUS binder

348 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 (linkage-editor) option instead if the program object will also contain any non-COBOL programs that are
only serially reusable.
If any program in a program object is not reentrant, the program object must not be link-edited with the
RENT or REUS link-edit attributes. The NOREUS binder (linkage-editor) option is needed to ensure that the
CANCEL statement will guarantee a fresh copy of the program on a subsequent CALL.

related concepts
“Storage and its addressability” on page 39

related tasks
“Making programs reentrant” on page 488
DB2 Application Programming and SQL Guide (Using reentrant code)

related references
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295
“DATA” on page 310
“RMODE” on page 349

RMODE
The RMODE setting influences the RMODE (residency mode) of your generated object program.

RMODE option syntax

AUTO

RMODE( 24 )

ANY

Default is: AUTO

Abbreviations are: None
A program compiled with the RMODE(AUTO) option will have RMODE 24 if NORENT is specified, or RMODE
ANY if RENT is specified. RMODE AUTO is compatible with older compilers such as VS COBOL II, which
produced RMODE 24 for programs compiled with NORENT, and RMODE ANY for programs compiled with
RENT.
A program compiled with the RMODE(24) option will have RMODE 24 whether NORENT or RENT is
specified.
A program compiled with the RMODE(ANY) option must also be compiled with the RENT option. The
program will have the RMODE ANY attribute.
If the NORENT option is specified, the RMODE(24) or RMODE(AUTO) compiler option must be specified.
Overriding the module RMODE with a binder option or control statement is not supported.
DATA and RENT: The RMODE option interacts with other compiler options and runtime options that
affect storage and its addressability. For information about passing data between programs with different
modes, see the related concept about storage and its addressability.
Link-edit considerations: If the object code that COBOL generates has an attribute of RMODE 24, you
must link-edit the code into an RMODE 24 module. If the object code that COBOL generates has an
attribute of RMODE ANY, you can link-edit the code into either an RMODE ANY or RMODE 24 module.

related concepts
“Storage and its addressability” on page 39

related references
“Allocation of buffers for QSAM files” on page 176
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295

Chapter 17. Compiler options 349

RULES
You can use the RULES option to request information about your program from the compiler to improve
the program by flagging certain types of source code at compile time.

RULES option syntax

NORULES
,

ENDPERIOD

RULES ( NOENDPERIOD )

EVENPACK

NOEVENPACK

LAXPERF

NOLAXPERF

SLACKBYTES

NOSLACKBYTES

OMITODOMIN

NOOMITODOMIN

UNREF

NOUNREFALL

NOUNREFSOURCE

LAXREDEF

NOLAXREDEF

Default is: NORULES

Abbreviations are:
• ENDP = ENDPERIOD
• EVENP = EVENPACK
• LXPRF = LAXPERF
• SLCKB = SLACKBYTES
• OOM = OMITODOMIN
• NOUNRA = NOUNREFALL
• NOUNRS = NOUNREFSOURCE
• LXRDF=LAXREDEF
You can specify the following suboptions for RULES:
ENDPERIOD | NOENDPERIOD
The default is ENDPERIOD. Specifying NOENDPERIOD causes the compiler to issue warning messages
when the scope of a conditional statement is terminated by a period instead of an explicit scope
terminator END-*.
EVENPACK | NOEVENPACK
The default is EVENPACK. Specifying NOEVENPACK causes the compiler to issue warning messages for
any USAGE PACKED-DECIMAL (COMP-3) data items that have an even number of digits because those
data items whose unused bits are not zero can lead to an unexpected program behavior.
Notes:

350 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 • RULES(NOEVENPACK) helps you identify USAGE PACKED-DECIMAL (COMP-3) data items that have
unused extra space reserved for them. However, it is not necessary to change those data items to
have an odd number of digits, it is only a slightly better way of programming.
• The compiler does not issue messages for even-digit PACKED-DECIMAL data items if the name
starts with DFH, DSN, EYU, or SQL, that is, data items generated for/by CICS and Db2.
LAXPERF | NOLAXPERF
The default is LAXPERF. Specifying NOLAXPERF suboption causes the compiler to issue warning
messages for usage of inefficient COBOL features. These features might include USAGE DISPLAY
numeric data items in arithmetic statements, large amounts of space padding in MOVE statements,
inefficient compiler options, and other cases.
SLACKBYTES | NOSLACKBYTES
The default is SLACKBYTES. Specifying NOSLACKBYTES causes the compiler to issue warning
messages for any SYNCHRONIZED data items that cause the compiler to add slack bytes, either slack
bytes within records or slack bytes between records. Each data item that causes slack bytes to be
added gets a compiler diagnostic.
OMITODOMIN | NOOMITODOMIN
The default is OMITODOMIN. Specifying NOOMITODOMIN causes the compiler to issue warning
messages for any OCCURS DEPENDING ON clauses that are specified without integer-1 (the minimum
number of occurrences).
For more information about the OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause, see Variable-length tables in the
Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference.
UNREF | NOUNREFALL | NOUNREFSOURCE
The default is UNREF, which means that no reporting of unreferenced data items occurs.
When NOUNREFALL is specified, all level-01 and level-77 data items in the FILE SECTION,
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION, LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION, and LINKAGE SECTION that are
unreferenced, including no subordinate items referenced when the item is a group, are reported,
regardless of whether the definition of the data item appears directly in the user source program or
was included in the program from a copy member.
When NOUNREFSOURCE is specified, all level-01 and level-77 data items in the FILE SECTION,
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION, LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION, and LINKAGE SECTION that are
unreferenced, including no subordinate items referenced when the item is a group, are reported only if
the definition of the data item appears directly in the user source program.
Notes:
• In COBOL, the definition of a single group item can spread across different files. When this occurs,
and if the definition of the level-01 data item of the group is in the main source file, then those data
items that are unreferenced will be reported when NOUNREFSOURCE is in effect.
• Data items with the name prefix DFH, DSN, EYU, or SQL (that is, data items generated for/by CICS
and Db2) will not be reported when NOUNREFALL or NOUNREFSOURCE is in effect.
LAXREDEF | NOLAXREDEF
The default is LAXREDEF. Specifying NOLAXREDEF will cause the compiler to issue warning messages
when a data item is redefined by a smaller item on any level. The default option, LAXREDEF, causes
the compiler to issue such warnings only for non-level-01 data items.
If the RULES option is specified with no suboptions, the default is
RULES(ENDPERIOD,EVENPACK,LAXPERF,SLACKBYTES,OMITODOMIN,UNREF,LAXREDEF).
Notes:
• It is not necessary to specify all of the suboptions for RULES. If a suboption is not specified, the
default value of that suboption takes effect. For example, if you specify RULES(NOENDP,NOSLCKB),
RULES(NOENDP,EVENP,LXPRF,NOSLCKB,OMITODOMIN,UNREF,LXRDF) takes effect.
• You can optionally use the RULES option with the MSGEXIT suboption of the EXIT compiler option to
enforce local coding standards. For example, if you want to ensure that no programmers use periods

Chapter 17. Compiler options 351

 instead of explicit scope delimiters to delimit conditional statements, you can change the severity of
the ENDPERIOD message from Warning level (RC=4) to Severe level (RC=12). For a sample of how to
modify the severity of this and other RULES messages, see the sample MSGEXIT in SIGYSAMP called
IGYMSGXT.

related references
SYNCHRONIZED clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

“STGOPT” on page 357

SEQUENCE
When you use SEQUENCE, the compiler examines columns 1 through 6 to check that the source
statements are arranged in ascending order according to their EBCDIC collating sequence. The compiler
issues a diagnostic message if any statements are not in ascending order.
Source statements with blanks in columns 1 through 6 do not participate in this sequence check and do
not result in messages.

SEQUENCE option syntax

SEQUENCE

NOSEQUENCE

Default is: SEQUENCE

Abbreviations are: SEQ | NOSEQ
If you use COPY statements with the SEQUENCE option in effect, be sure that your source program's
sequence fields and the copybook sequence fields are coordinated.
If you use NUMBER and SEQUENCE, the sequence is checked according to numeric, rather than EBCDIC,
collating sequence.
If you are doing a batch compilation and SEQUENCE is in effect, all programs in the batch compilation are
treated as a single input file. The sequence numbers of the entire input file must be in ascending order.
Use NOSEQUENCE to suppress this checking and the diagnostic messages.

related tasks
“Finding line sequence problems” on page 386

SERVICE
Use SERVICE to place a string in the object module if the object module is generated. If the object
module is linked into a program object, the string is loaded into memory with this program object. If the
Language Environment dump includes a traceback, this string is included in that traceback.

SERVICE option syntax

NOSERVICE

SERVICE(' service string ')

Default is: NOSERVICE

Abbreviations are: SERV | NOSERV
The service string is limited to 64 characters in length.

352 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
SOURCE
Use SOURCE to get a listing of your source program. This listing will include any statements embedded by
PROCESS or COPY statements.

SOURCE option syntax

SOURCE

NOSOURCE

Default is: SOURCE

Abbreviations are: S | NOS
You must specify SOURCE if you want embedded messages in the source listing.
Use NOSOURCE to suppress the source code from the compiler output listing.
If you want to limit the SOURCE output, use *CONTROL SOURCE or NOSOURCE statements in your
PROCEDURE DIVISION. Source statements that follow a *CONTROL NOSOURCE statement are not
included in the listing until a subsequent *CONTROL SOURCE statement switches the output back to
normal SOURCE format.
“Example: MAP output” on page 396

related references
*CONTROL (*CBL) statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

SPACE
Use SPACE to select single-, double-, or triple-spacing in your source code listing.

SPACE option syntax

1

SPACE( 2 )

Default is: SPACE(1)

Abbreviations are: None
SPACE has meaning only when the SOURCE compiler option is in effect.

related references
“SOURCE” on page 353

Chapter 17. Compiler options 353

SQL
Use the SQL compiler option to enable the Db2 coprocessor and to specify Db2 suboptions. You must
specify the SQL option if a COBOL source program contains SQL statements (EXEC SQL statements) and
the program has not been processed by the Db2 precompiler.

SQL option syntax

NOSQL

SQL
("DB2-suboption-string ")

Default is: NOSQL

Abbreviations are: None
When you use the SQL option, the Db2 coprocessor writes the database request module (DBRM) to
ddname DBRMLIB. Db2 must be available on the machine on which you compile.
If you specify the NOSQL option, any SQL statements found in the source program are diagnosed and
discarded.
Use either quotation marks or apostrophes to delimit the string of Db2 suboptions.
You can partition a long suboption string into multiple suboption strings in multiple CBL statements. For
example:

//STEP1 EXEC IGYWC, . . .

// PARM.COBOL='SQL("string1")'
//COBOL.SYSIN DD *
CBL SQL("string2")
CBL SQL('string3')
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. DRIVER1.
. . .

The Db2 suboptions are concatenated in the order of their appearance. Thus in the example above, the
compiler passes the following suboption string to the Db2 coprocessor:

"string1 string2 string3"

The concatenated strings are delimited with single spaces as shown. If multiple instances of the same
Db2 option are found, the last specification of each option prevails. The compiler limits the length of the
concatenated Db2 suboption string to 4 KB.

related concepts
“Db2 coprocessor” on page 439
“COBOL and Db2 CCSID determination” on page 444

related tasks
“Compiling with the SQL option” on page 443
“Separating Db2 suboptions” on page 444

related references
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295

354 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
SQLCCSID
Use the SQLCCSID compiler option to control whether the CODEPAGE compiler option will influence the
processing of SQL statements in your COBOL programs.

SQLCCSID option syntax

SQLCCSID

NOSQLCCSID

Default is: SQLCCSID

Abbreviations are: SQLC | NOSQLC
The SQLCCSID option has an effect only if you use the integrated Db2 coprocessor (SQL compiler option).
If SQLCCSID is in effect, the setting of the CODEPAGE compiler option will influence the processing of SQL
statements within your COBOL programs when you use the integrated Db2 coprocessor.
If NOSQLCCSID is in effect:
1. The CODEPAGE compiler option will only be used as the encoding for string literals and the COBOL
application source that includes converted SQL statements;
2. Db2 (character string) host variables will not be affected by the CODEPAGE compiler option. Instead,
the encoding for Db2 (character string) host variables will come from the CCSID value found in the
DSNHDECP file, which means Db2 (via DSNHDECP) determines the encoding of the Db2 data (host
variables).

related concepts
“Db2 coprocessor” on page 439
“COBOL and Db2 CCSID determination” on page 444

related tasks
“Programming with the SQLCCSID or NOSQLCCSID option” on page 446

related references
“Code-page determination for string host variables in SQL statements” on page 445
“CODEPAGE” on page 304
“SQL” on page 354

SQLIMS
Use the SQLIMS compiler option to enable the IMS SQL coprocessor and to specify Information
Management System (IMS) suboptions. You must specify the SQLIMS option if a COBOL source program
contains SQLIMS statements (EXEC SQLIMS statements).

SQLIMS option syntax

NOSQLIMS

SQLIMS
("IMS-suboption-string ")

Default: NOSQLIMS
Abbreviation: None

Chapter 17. Compiler options 355

 If you specify the NOSQLIMS option, any SQLIMS statements that are found in the source program are
diagnosed and discarded.
Use either quotation marks or apostrophes to delimit the string of IMS suboptions.
You can partition a long suboption string into multiple suboption strings in multiple CBL statements. For
example:

//STEP1 EXEC IGYWC, . . .

// PARM.COBOL=’SQLIMS("string1")’
//COBOL.SYSIN DD *
CBL SQLIMS("string2")
CBL SQLIMS(’string3’)
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. DRIVER1.
. . .

The IMS suboptions are concatenated in the order of their appearance. Thus in the proceeding example,
the compiler passes the following suboption strings to the IMS SQL coprocessor:

"string1 string2 string3"

The concatenated strings are delimited with single spaces as shown. If multiple instances of the same
IMS suboption are found, the last specification of each suboption takes effect. The compiler limits the
length of the concatenated IMS suboption string to 4 KB.
related concepts
“IMS SQL coprocessor” on page 451
related tasks
“Compiling with the SQLIMS option” on page 453
“Separating IMS suboptions” on page 454

related references
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295

SSRANGE
Use SSRANGE to generate code that checks for out-of-range storage references.

SSRANGE option syntax

NOSSRANGE

SSRANGE ( )
NOZLEN

ZLEN

ABD

MSG

Default is: NOSSRANGE

Suboption default is: NOZLEN,ABD if only SSRANGE is specified.
Abbreviations are: SSR | NOSSR
SSRANGE generates code that checks whether subscripts, including ALL subscripts, or indexes try to
reference areas outside the region of their associated tables. Each subscript or index is not individually
checked for validity. Instead, the effective address is checked to ensure that it does not reference outside
the table.

356 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 If you specify SSRANGE with no suboptions, it will be accepted as a specification of
SSRANGE(NOZLEN,ABD).
Note: If the SSRANGE option is in effect, range checks will be generated by the compiler and the checks
will always be conducted at run time. You cannot disable the compiled-in range checks at run time by
specifying the runtime option CHECK(OFF).
Variable-length items are also checked to ensure that references are within their maximum defined
length.
Reference modification expressions are checked to ensure that:
• The starting position is greater than or equal to 1.
• The starting position is not greater than the current length of the subject data item.
• The starting position and length value (if specified) do not reference an area beyond the end of the
subject data item.
• The length value (if specified) is greater than or equal to 1.
The ZLEN and NOZLEN suboptions control how the compiler checks reference modification lengths:
• If ZLEN is in effect, the compiler will generate code to ensure that reference modification lengths are
greater than or equal to zero. Zero-length reference modification specifications will not get an SSRANGE
error at run time.
• If NOZLEN is in effect, the compiler will generate code to ensure that reference modification lengths are
greater than or equal to 1. Zero-length reference modification specifications will get an SSRANGE error
at run time. This is compatible with how SSRANGE behaved in previous COBOL versions.
The MSG and ABD suboptions control the runtime behavior of the COBOL program when a range check
fails.
• If MSG is in effect and a range check fails, a runtime warning message will be issued. Also, the affected
statements will still be executed. The program will continue and might potentially identify other out-of-
range conditions.
• If ABD is in effect and a range check fails, the first out-of-range condition will result in a runtime error
message and the program will ABEND. You can find the next potential out-of-range condition by fixing
the first out-of-range condition and then recompiling and running the program again. To identify all
other potential out-of-range conditions, you might need to repeat this process several times.
For unbounded groups or their subordinate items, checking is done only for reference modification
expressions. Subscripted or indexed references to tables subordinate to an unbounded group are not
checked.

related concepts
“Reference modifiers” on page 110

related tasks
“Checking for valid ranges” on page 387

STGOPT
The STGOPT option controls storage optimization.

STGOPT option syntax

NOSTGOPT

STGOPT

Default is: NOSTGOPT

Abbreviations are: SO | NOSO

Chapter 17. Compiler options 357

 If you specify STGOPT, the compiler might discard any or all of the following data items, and does not
allocate storage for them.
• Unreferenced LOCAL-STORAGE and WORKING-STORAGE level-77 and level-01 elementary data items
• Level-01 group items if none of their subordinate items are referenced
• Unreferenced special registers
Note: The STGOPT option is ignored for data items that have the VOLATILE clause. For details, see
VOLATILE clause in the Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference.
The compiler will not generate code to initialize discarded data items to the values in their VALUE clauses.
In addition, with STGOPT, data items in the LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION can be reordered in memory to
optimize performance.
When NOSTGOPT is in effect, the storage for all data items, including unreferenced data items, is allocated
by the compiler, data items are never reordered to improve performance, and all data items defined with a
VALUE clause are guaranteed to be initialized, even if they are unreferenced.
You can also use the RULES(UNREF | NOUNREFALL | NOUNREFSOURCE) option to control whether to
issue warning messages for unreferenced data items. For details, see “RULES” on page 350.

SUPPRESS
Use the NOSUPPRESS option to ignore the SUPPRESS phrase of all COPY statements in a program so that
copybook information can appear in the listing. The copybook information can be used by debuggers,
tools, and so on, without users needing to modify their source code.

SUPPRESS option syntax

SUPPRESS

NOSUPPRESS

Default is: SUPPRESS

Abbreviations are: SUPP | NOSUPP
NOSUPPRESS
Ignores the SUPPRESS phrase of COPY statements.
SUPPRESS
Enables the SUPPRESS phrase of COPY statements.

TERMINAL
Use TERMINAL to send progress and diagnostic messages to the SYSTERM ddname.

TERMINAL option syntax

NOTERMINAL

TERMINAL

Default is: NOTERMINAL

Abbreviations are: TERM | NOTERM
Use NOTERMINAL if you do not want this additional output.

358 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
TEST
Use TEST to produce object code that enables debugging with problem determination tools such as IBM
z/OS Debugger and Fault Analyzer. With TEST, you can also enable the inclusion of symbolic variables in
the formatted dumps that are produced by Language Environment.

TEST option syntax

NOTEST

TEST
,

( )
DWARF

NODWARF

EJPD

NOEJPD

SEPARATE
( DSNAME )

NODSNAME

NOSEPARATE

SOURCE

NOSOURCE

Default is: NOTEST(NODWARF, NOSOURCE, NOSEPARATE)

Suboption defaults are:
• NODWARF, NOSOURCE, NOSEPARATE when NOTEST is specified with no suboptions
• NOEJPD, DWARF, SOURCE, NOSEPARATE when TEST is specified with no suboptions
Abbreviations are: None
Suboption abbreviation are:
• NOSO | SO for SOURCE | NOSOURCE
• NOSEP | SEP for SEPARATE | NOSEPARATE

DWARF | NODWARF
If TEST(DWARF) is in effect, complete DWARF diagnostic information is included in the object
program, or a separate debug file when the SEPARATE suboption is in effect. This option enables
the best usability for application failure analysis tools, such as CEEDUMP and IBM Fault Analyzer.
When NOTEST(DWARF) is in effect, the debugging information is a subset of the DWARF
information that is available with TEST(DWARF). The DWARF diagnostic information that is produced
when NOTEST(DWARF) is in effect cannot be used with IBM z/OS Debugger. Consider using
NOTEST(DWARF) when use of the debugger is not needed and you want to avoid the performance
implications of the TEST option while having improved usability for application failure analysis tools,
such as CEEDUMP and IBM Fault Analyzer.
Debugging information generated by the compiler is in the industry-standard DWARF format. For
more information about DWARF, see About Common Debug Architecture in the DWARF/ELF Extensions
Library Reference.
If NODWARF is in effect, DWARF diagnostic information is not included in the object program, or written
to a separate debug file.
Notes:

Chapter 17. Compiler options 359

 • SOURCE and SEPARATE are not allowed with NODWARF.
• If you specify the DWARF suboption of TEST or NOTEST, you must set the CODEPAGE option to the
CCSID that is used for the COBOL source program. Programs that use Japanese characters in DBCS
literals or DBCS user-defined words must be compiled with the CODEPAGE option set to a Japanese
codepage CCSID. For more information, see “CODEPAGE” on page 304.
EJPD | NOEJPD
EJPD and NOEJPD control enablement of the IBM z/OS Debugger commands JUMPTO and GOTO in
production debugging sessions. EJPD and NOEJPD only take effect if you specify the TEST option and
a non-zero OPTIMIZE level (OPTIMIZE(1) or OPTIMIZE(2)).
If you specify TEST(EJPD) and a non-zero OPTIMIZE level:
• The JUMPTO and GOTO commands are enabled.
• The amount of program optimization is reduced. Optimization is done within statements, but most
optimizations do not cross statement boundaries.
If you specify TEST(NOEJPD) and a non-zero OPTIMIZE level:
• The JUMPTO and GOTO commands are not enabled, but you can use JUMPTO and GOTO if you use
the SET WARNING OFF IBM z/OS Debugger command. In this scenario, JUMPTO and GOTO will have
unpredictable results.
• The normal amount of program optimization is done.
Note: EJPD is not allowed with NOTEST.
SOURCE | NOSOURCE
If you specify SOURCE, the DWARF debugging information generated by the compiler includes the
expanded source code.
Note: SOURCE is not allowed if NODWARF is specified.
If you specify NOSOURCE, the generated DWARF debugging information does not include the expanded
source code. You will not be able to debug using the IBM z/OS Debugger with TEST(NOSOURCE).
SEPARATE[(DSNAME|NODSNAME)] | NOSEPARATE
The default is SEPARATE(NODSNAME) when SEPARATE is specified with no suboptions.
Specify SEPARATE or SEPARATE(NODSNAME) to control program object size on disk (NOSEPARATE
does not affect the size of the loaded program object) while retaining debugging capability. Generated
DWARF debugging information is written to the SYSDEBUG data set instead of to the object program.
See the section below about controlling module size while retaining debugging capability.
If SEPARATE(DSNAME) is in effect, the SYSDEBUG dataset name used during compilation is stored
in the object program. This name will be used as the default at run time when DWARF information is
required. The dataset name can be overridden by using the SYSDEBUG COBOL debug file user exit,
IGZIUXB. Note that when NODSNAME is in effect, the IGZIUXB user exit provides the only mechanism
of locating the DWARF debugging information for the program.
Notes:
• SEPARATE is not allowed if NODWARF is specified.
• Support for debugging DWARF debugging information in the SYSDEBUG data set with the IBM
debugger requires any of the tools at the following levels:
– IBM Debug for z Systems V14.1 (5655-Q50) (formerly IBM Debug Tool for z/OS) or later
– IBM Developer for z Systems V14.1 (5724-T07) or later
– IBM Application Delivery Foundation for z Systems V3.1 (5655-AC6) or later
Specify NOSEPARATE to include generated DWARF debugging information in the object program.
Controlling module size while retaining debugging capability:
The DWARF suboption of TEST causes the compiler to generate debug information tables that IBM z/OS
Debugger uses to resolve data-names, paragraph-names, and the like. This information can take a lot of

360 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
storage. You can choose either to compile this information into the object program or to write it to the
separate SYSDEBUG data set:
• For smaller executables, use the SEPARATE suboption and keep the separate debugging files for use
during IBM z/OS Debugger sessions.
• To avoid having to manage separate debugging files, compile with the NOSEPARATE suboption; note
that this suboption results in larger object programs on DASD. The size when loaded into virtual storage
is not increased by use of the NOSEPARATE option.
If you invoke the COBOL compiler from JCL or TSO and you specify NOTEST|
TEST(...,SEPARATE,...), the DWARF debugging information is written to the data set that you
specify in the SYSDEBUG DD statement. For details about coding that statement and about the
SYSDEBUG data set, see the related information below about defining the debug data set and about
logical record length and block size.
When you invoke the COBOL compiler from the z/OS UNIX shell and you specify NOTEST|
TEST(...,SEPARATE,...), the DWARF debugging information is written to file.dbg in the current
directory, where file is the name of the COBOL source file.

Performance versus debugging capability:

You can control the amount of debugging capability that you get and the program performance, as
follows:
• For the best performance, but with some restrictions on debugging, compile using a non-zero
OPTIMIZE level, STGOPT and TEST(NOEJPD).
– The IBM z/OS Debugger commands JUMPTO and GOTO are not supported. However, you can still use
JUMPTO and GOTO if you use the SET WARNING OFF IBM z/OS Debugger command. In this scenario,
JUMPTO and GOTO will have unpredictable results.
– Except for the DESCRIBE ATTRIBUTES command, IBM z/OS Debugger commands cannot refer to
any data item that was discarded from a program by the STGOPT option.
– The IBM z/OS Debugger command AT CALL entry-name is not supported.
• For some reduction in program performance from the production-debugging scenario above, but to
enable predictable behavior for the IBM z/OS Debugger commands JUMPTO and GOTO, specify a non-
zero OPTIMIZE level and TEST(EJPD).
The restrictions above about referring to items discarded by the STGOPT option, and about the AT CALL
command also apply when you use a non-zero OPTIMIZE level and TEST(EJPD).
• For slowest performance but maximum debugging capability, specify OPTIMIZE(0), NOSTGOPT and
TEST.
The OPTIMIZE(0) option causes the compiler to generate slower code, but all IBM z/OS Debugger
commands are supported.
Language Environment:
The TEST option specified with any of its suboptions, and NOTEST with DWARF, can improve your
formatted dumps from Language Environment by adding these two features to the dumps:
• A line number that indicates the failing statement, rather than just an offset
• The values of the program variables (if DWARF is in effect)
With DWARF, the dump will have program variables and the line number of the failing statement. With
NODWARF, the dump will not have program variables nor the line number of the failing statement.
Enterprise COBOL uses the Language Environment-provided dump services to produce dumps that
are consistent in content and format with those that are produced by other Language Environment-
conforming member languages.
Whether Language Environment produces a dump for unhandled conditions depends on the setting of the
runtime option TERMTHDACT. If you specify TERMTHDACT(DUMP), a dump is generated when a condition
of severity 2 or greater goes unhandled.

Chapter 17. Compiler options 361

 Note: IBM z/OS Debugger is a component of the following products:
• IBM Developer for z/OS Enterprise Edition (included in IBM Application Delivery Foundation for z/OS)
• IBM Debug for z/OS (formerly IBM Debug for z Systems and IBM Debug Tool for z/OS)
• IBM Developer for z/OS
To find out which IBM debug product best suits your needs, see https://www.ibm.com/support/
knowledgecenter/SSQ2R2_14.0.0/com.ibm.debugtool.doc/common/dcompo.html.
LLA/VLF managed programs where DWARF diagnostic information is included:
When DWARF diagnostic information is included in the object program because of the
TEST(NOSEPARATE) or other equivalent options and the program is staged to VLF, the information
cannot be extracted from the program. The execution JCL requires the use of the IGZLOAD DD, the
STEPLIB DD, or both to specify the location of any LLA/VLF managed libraries from which the application
will load programs that have been staged to VLF. Otherwise, the COBOL variable information and the
statement numbers in the traceback will be missing in the CEEDUMP and a diagnostic message will
appear in the CEEDUMP. For more information, see Diagnostic messages in CEEDUMPs for IBM Enterprise
COBOL for z/OS at https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/diagnostic-messages-ceedumps-ibm-enterprise-
cobol-zos.
For each program staged to VLF, the following steps are taken to extract the DWARF diagnostic
information:
1. The COBOL Runtime checks for the allocation of the IGZLOAD DD. It then checks if the library is
associated with the IGZLOAD DD contains a member, for example, a COBOL program, whose name
matches the program staged to VLF.
2. If the previous step was unsuccessful because the IGZLOAD DD was not allocated or the member was
not found, the same process is attempted using the STEPLIB DD.
3. If the member is found, and the checksum that is stored with the DWARF diagnostic information
retrieved from the member matches the checksum of the compile unit in the executing program, the
information is extracted from the member.
Note that if duplicate members exist in the IGZLOAD DD concatenation or in the STEPLIB DD
concatenation respectively, the first occurrence in the DD concatenation is used to obtain the
checksum.
A mismatch can occur if a revised copy of the program is placed into a LLA/VLF managed library, but
the environment-appropriate refresh for the staged LLA/VLF program has not been completed.
For example, you can allocate the IGZLOAD DD with DSN=USER.COBOL.LOADLIB when all of the
following conditions are met:
• USER.COBOL.LOADLIB is in LNKLST.
• USER.COBOL.LOADLIB(PGM1) is staged to VLF.
• PGM1 is executed from USER.COBOL.LOADLIB in LNKLST.

//GO1 EXEC PGM=PGM1, * CALLED FROM LNKLST

//STEPLIB DD DSN=CEE1.SCEERUN,DISP=SHR
//IGZLOAD DD DSN=USER.COBOL.LOADLIB,DISP=SHR * CONTAINS PGM1

If a program is LLA/VLF managed and staged to VLF, and is executed from one of the data sets in LNKLST,
there is a need to allocate the IGZLOAD DD. However, if the program resides in one of the data sets in the
STEPLIB DD, there is no need to allocate the IGZLOAD DD.

related concepts
DWARF/ELF Extensions Library Reference (About Common Debug
Architecture)

related tasks
“Defining the debug data set (SYSDEBUG)” on page 262
“Using the debugger” on page 391

362 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 “Suppressing information in CEEDUMP processing (IGZ1OPT)” on page 426
Generating a Language Environment dump with TERMTHDACT
(Language Environment Debugging Guide)
Special considerations while using the TEST runtime option
(z/OS Debugger User's Guide)

related references
“Logical record length and block size” on page 259
“cob2 input and output files” on page 279
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295
“OPTIMIZE” on page 343
TEST | NOTEST
(Language Environment Programming Reference)

THREAD
THREAD indicates that a COBOL program is to be enabled for execution in a Language Environment
enclave that has multiple POSIX threads or PL/I tasks.

THREAD option syntax

NOTHREAD

THREAD

Default is: NOTHREAD

Abbreviations are: None
A program that has been compiled using the THREAD option can also be used in a nonthreaded
application. However, if a COBOL program is to be run in a threaded application, all the COBOL programs
in the Language Environment enclave must be compiled using the THREAD option.
NOTHREAD indicates that the COBOL program is not to be enabled for execution in an enclave that has
multiple POSIX threads or PL/I tasks.
Programs that are compiled using compilers earlier than Enterprise COBOL are treated as if compiled
using NOTHREAD.
If the THREAD option is in effect, the following elements are not supported. If encountered, they are
diagnosed as errors:
• ALTER statement
• DEBUG-ITEM special register
• GO TO statement without procedure-name
• INITIAL phrase in PROGRAM-ID clause or INITIAL compiler option
• Nested programs
• RERUN
• Segmentation module
• SORT or MERGE statements
• STOP literal statement
• USE FOR DEBUGGING statement
Additionally, some language constructs have different semantics than in the nonthreaded case.
Although threaded applications are subject to a number of programming and environment restrictions,
the use of a program in nonthreaded applications is not so restricted. For example, a program compiled
using the THREAD option can run in the CICS and IMS environments, can run AMODE 24, and can call and

Chapter 17. Compiler options 363

 be called by other programs that are not enabled for multithreading, provided that the application does
not contain multiple POSIX threads or PL/I tasks at run time.
Programs compiled using the THREAD option are supported in the reusable environment that is created by
calling the Language Environment preinitialization routine CEEPIPI. But a reusable environment created
by using the RTEREUS runtime option is not supported for programs compiled using the THREAD option.
Performance consideration: If you use the THREAD option, you can expect some runtime performance
degradation due to the overhead of serialization logic that is automatically generated.

related tasks
Chapter 28, “Preparing COBOL programs
for multithreading,” on page 517

related references
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295

TRUNC
TRUNC affects the way that binary data is truncated during moves and arithmetic operations.

TRUNC option syntax

STD

TRUNC( OPT )

BIN

Default is: TRUNC(STD)

Abbreviations are: None
TRUNC has no effect on COMP-5 data items; COMP-5 items are handled as if TRUNC(BIN) is in effect
regardless of the TRUNC suboption specified.
TRUNC(STD)
TRUNC(STD) applies only to USAGE BINARY receiving fields in MOVE statements and arithmetic
expressions. When TRUNC(STD) is in effect, the final result of an arithmetic expression, or the
sending field in the MOVE statement, is truncated to the number of digits in the PICTURE clause of the
BINARY receiving field.
TRUNC(OPT)
TRUNC(OPT) is a performance option. When TRUNC(OPT) is in effect, the compiler assumes that
data conforms to PICTURE specifications in USAGE BINARY receiving fields in MOVE statements and
arithmetic expressions. The results are manipulated in the most optimal way, either truncating to the
number of digits in the PICTURE clause, or to the size of the binary field in storage (halfword, fullword,
or doubleword).
Tips:
• Use the TRUNC(OPT) option only if you are sure that the data being moved into the binary areas will
not have a value with larger precision than that defined by the PICTURE clause for the binary item.
Otherwise, unpredictable results could occur. This truncation is performed in the most efficient
manner possible; therefore, the results are dependent on the particular code sequence generated.
It is not possible to predict the truncation without seeing the code sequence generated for a
particular statement.
TRUNC(BIN)
The TRUNC(BIN) option applies to all COBOL language that processes USAGE BINARY data. When
TRUNC(BIN) is in effect, all binary items (USAGE COMP, COMP-4, or BINARY) are handled as native
hardware binary items, that is, as if they were each individually declared USAGE COMP-5:
• BINARY receiving fields are truncated only at halfword, fullword, or doubleword boundaries.

364 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 • BINARY sending fields are handled as halfwords, fullwords, or doublewords when the receiver is
numeric; TRUNC(BIN) has no effect when the receiver is not numeric.
• The full binary content of fields is significant.
• DISPLAY will convert the entire content of binary fields with no truncation.
Recommendations: TRUNC(BIN) is the recommended option for programs that use binary values set
by other products. Other products, such as IMS, Db2, C/C++, FORTRAN, and PL/I, might place values
in COBOL binary data items that do not conform to the PICTURE clause of the data items. You can use
TRUNC(OPT) with CICS programs provided that your data conforms to the PICTURE clause for your
BINARY data items.
USAGE COMP-5 has the effect of applying TRUNC(BIN) behavior to individual data items. Therefore,
you can avoid the performance overhead of using TRUNC(BIN) for every binary data item by
specifying COMP-5 on only some of the binary data items, such as those data items that are passed
to non-COBOL programs or other products and subsystems. The use of COMP-5 is not affected by the
TRUNC suboption in effect.
Large literals in VALUE clauses: When you use the compiler option TRUNC(BIN), numeric literals
specified in VALUE clauses for binary data items (COMP, COMP-4, or BINARY) can generally contain a
value of magnitude up to the capacity of the native binary representation (2, 4, or 8 bytes) rather than
being limited to the value implied by the number of 9s in the PICTURE clause.
Note: With PH11667 installed, when TRUNC(BIN) and NUMCHECK(BIN) are both in effect and an
error message or an abend is generated, if you don’t intend to switch to TRUNC(STD|OPT), you can
turn off NUMCHECK(BIN) to reduce the execution time of the application and avoid an error message
or an abend; if you intend to switch to TRUNC(STD|OPT) later for better performance, you must
correct the data.

TRUNC example 1

01 BIN-VAR PIC S99 USAGE BINARY.

. . .
MOVE 123451 to BIN-VAR

The following table shows values of the data items after the MOVE statement.

Data item Decimal Hex Display

Sender 123451 00|01|E2|3B 123451
Receiver TRUNC(STD) 51 00|33 51
Receiver TRUNC(OPT) -7621 E2|3B 2J
Receiver TRUNC(BIN) -7621 E2|3B 762J

A halfword of storage is allocated for BIN-VAR. The result of this MOVE statement if the program is
compiled with the TRUNC(STD) option is 51; the field is truncated to conform to the PICTURE clause.
If you compile the program with TRUNC(BIN), the result of the MOVE statement is -7621. The reason
for the unusual result is that nonzero high-order digits are truncated. Here, the generated code sequence
would merely move the lower halfword quantity X'E23B' to the receiver. Because the new truncated value
overflows into the sign bit of the binary halfword, the value becomes a negative number.
It is better not to compile this MOVE statement with TRUNC(OPT), because 123451 has greater precision
than the PICTURE clause for BIN-VAR. With TRUNC(OPT), the results are again -7621. This is because
the best performance was obtained by not doing a decimal truncation.

TRUNC example 2

01 BIN-VAR PIC 9(6) USAGE BINARY

Chapter 17. Compiler options 365

 . . .
MOVE 1234567891 to BIN-VAR

The following table shows values of the data items after the MOVE statement.

Data item Decimal Hex Display

Sender 1234567891 49|96|02|D3 1234567891
Receiver TRUNC(STD) 567891 00|08|AA|53 567891
Receiver TRUNC(OPT) 567891 53|AA|08|00 567891
Receiver TRUNC(BIN) 1234567891 49|96|02|D3 1234567891

When you specify TRUNC(STD), the sending data is truncated to six integer digits to conform to the
PICTURE clause of the BINARY receiver.
When you specify TRUNC(OPT), the compiler assumes the sending data is not larger than the PICTURE
clause precision of the BINARY receiver. The most efficient code sequence in this case is truncation as if
TRUNC(STD) were in effect.
When you specify TRUNC(BIN), no truncation occurs because all of the sending data fits into the binary
fullword allocated for BIN-VAR.
related concepts
“Formats for numeric
data” on page 47

related tasks
“Compiling with the CICS option” on page 433

related references
“NUMCHECK” on page 336
VALUE clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

VBREF
Use VBREF to get a cross-reference between all statements used in the source program and the line
numbers in which they are used. VBREF also produces a summary of the number of times each statement
was used in the program.

VBREF option syntax

NOVBREF

VBREF

Default is: NOVBREF

Abbreviations are: None
Use NOVBREF for more efficient compilation.

VLR
The VLR option affects the file status returned from READ statements for variable-length records when
the length of record returned is inconsistent with the record descriptions. It eases your migration from

366 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
earlier versions to Enterprise COBOL V6, if your programs have READ statements that result in a record
length conflict.

VLR option syntax

STANDARD

VLR( COMPAT )

Default is: VLR(STANDARD)

Abbreviations are: VLR(C | S)
After the execution of a READ statement:
• If the number of character positions in the record that is read is less than the minimum size specified
by the record description entries for the file, the portion of the record area that is to the right of the last
valid character read is undefined.
• If the number of character positions in the record that is read is greater than the maximum size
specified by the record description entries for the file, the record is truncated on the right to the
maximum size.
In either of these cases, the READ statement is successful, and the file status is set to either 00
(hiding the record length conflict condition) or 04 (indicating that a record length conflict has occurred),
depending on the VLR compiler option setting.
VLR(COMPAT)
VLR(COMPAT) checks the size of the read record against the "VERYING IN SIZE FROM min TO max"
declaration of the FD clause. If you specify VLR(COMPAT), you get the status value of 00 when READ
statements encounter a record length conflict.
Note: This setting can hide I/O problems that can arise with the wrong length read situation. Use the
VLR(COMPAT) option with caution, and check for correct READ statements.
VLR(STANDARD)
VLR(STANDARD) checks the size of the read record against the declaration of the FD level 01 clause.
If you specify VLR(STANDARD), you get the status value of 04 when READ statements encounter a
record length conflict.
You can add code to test for FS=04 to avoid accessing undefined data in a record and also avoid
getting protection exceptions for attempting to reference a part of the record that was truncated.
The following example shows how VLR option checks the size of the read record against the declaration of
the FD clause and FD level 01 clause.

FD MYDD
block contains 0 records
record varying in size from 10 to 80
recording mode V.
01 REC-20
02 PIC X(20).
01 REC-50.
02 PIC X(50).

Chapter 17. Compiler options 367

 Table 50. Length of record read and file status
Length of record =5 = 15 = 40 = 70
read
< min varying >= min varying >= min varying <= >= min varying <=
< min level 01 < min level 01 max varying max varying
>= min level 01 > max level 01
<= max level 01

COBOL V4 FS=04 FS=00 FS=00 FS=00

COBOL V6 FS=04 FS=00 FS=00 FS=00
VLR(COMPAT)
COBOL V6 FS=04 FS=04 FS=00 FS=04
VLR(STANDARD)

Using VLR(STANDARD) can result in more reliable code and fewer I/O problems because the file status
will tell you when a "wrong length READ" might occur. A new compiler message, MSGIGYP3178, can also
help you avoid I/O problems by telling you if a program has a possibility of a "wrong length READ". This
message can be used to assist with migration from VLR(COMPAT) to VLR(STANDARD) by indicating the
possible "wrong length READ" that you can solve by correcting the File Definition (FD). You can also raise
the severity of the message so that the program must be corrected in order to run. To do this, use the
MSGEXIT suboption of the EXIT compiler option to change the severity of message MSGIGYP3178 from
I (RC=0) to S (RC=12), E (RC=8), or W (RC=4). If you are not interested in seeing this message, you can
suppress the message completely.

related references
“EXIT” on page 317
Variable length records - wrong length READ
(Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Migration Guide)

VSAMOPENFS
The VSAMOPENFS option affects the user file status reported from successful VSAM OPEN statements that
require verified file integrity check.

VSAMOPENFS option syntax

COMPAT

VSAMOPENFS( SUCC )

Default is: VSAMOPENFS(COMPAT)

Abbreviations are: VS(C | S)
COMPAT
If you specify VSAMOPENFS(COMPAT), the statement returns the file status 97 when a VSAM OPEN
statement is successfully verified. This is compatible with pre-V6 COBOL runtime behavior.
SUCC
If you specify VSAMOPENFS(SUCC), the statement returns the file status 00 when a VSAM OPEN
statement is successfully verified. This allows users to simply check for 0 in the first digit of the
returned file status, as they usually do with other successful operations.

368 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
WORD
Use WORD(xxxx) to specify that an alternate reserved-word table is to be used during compilation.

WORD option syntax

NOWORD

WORD( xxxx )

Default is: NOWORD

Abbreviations are: WD | NOWD
xxxx specifies the ending characters of the name of the reserved-word table (IGYCxxxx) to be used in
your compilation. IGYC are the first four standard characters of the name, and xxxx can be one to four
characters in length.
Alternate reserved-word tables provide changes to the IBM-supplied default reserved-word table. Your
systems programmer might have created one or more alternate reserved-word tables for your site. See
your systems programmer for the names of alternate reserved-word tables.
Enterprise COBOL provides an alternate reserved-word table (IGYCCICS) specifically for CICS
applications. It is set up to flag COBOL words not supported under CICS with an error message. If
you want to use this CICS reserved-word table during your compilation, specify the compiler option
WORD(CICS).

related tasks
“Compiling with the CICS option” on page 433

related references
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295
“CICS reserved-word table” on page 436

XMLPARSE
Use XMLPARSE to select the parser to be used for processing XML input, and, therefore, the XML
processing capabilities that are available to your program.

XMLPARSE option syntax

XMLSS

XMLPARSE( COMPAT )

Default is: XMLSS

Abbreviations are: XP(X | C)
If you specify the XMLPARSE(XMLSS) option, XML PARSE statements are processed using the z/OS
XML System Services parser. The following XML parsing capabilities are available only if you specify
XMLPARSE(XMLSS):
• Validation of XML input documents against an XML schema (by using the VALIDATING phrase of the
XML PARSE statement)
• Enhanced namespace processing (special registers XML-NAMESPACE, XML-NNAMESPACE, XML-
NAMESPACE-PREFIX, and XML-NNAMESPACE-PREFIX)
• Automatic conversion of document fragments to Unicode UTF-16 (by using the RETURNING NATIONAL
phrase of the XML PARSE statement)

Chapter 17. Compiler options 369

 • Specification of the encoding of the input document (by using the ENCODING phrase of the XML PARSE
statement)
• Direct parsing of XML documents encoded in UTF-8
• Parsing of XML documents, a buffer of XML at a time
• Offloading of XML parsing to System z Application Assist Processors (zAAPs)
If you specify the XMLPARSE(COMPAT) option, XML PARSE statements are processed using the XML
parser that is a built-in component of the COBOL library. The XML PARSE statement results and
operational behaviors are then compatible with those obtained with Enterprise COBOL Version 3, and
also with Version 4 when XMLPARSE(COMPAT) was used, and the advanced features described above for
XMLPARSE(XMLSS) are not available.

related tasks
Chapter 32, “Processing XML input,” on page 537

related references
XML PARSE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
z/OS XML System Services User's Guide and Reference

XREF
Use XREF to produce a sorted cross-reference listing.

XREF option syntax

XREF
FULL

( SHORT )

NOXREF

Default is: XREF(FULL)

Abbreviations are: X | NOX
You can choose XREF, XREF(FULL), or XREF(SHORT). If you specify XREF without any suboptions,
XREF(FULL) will be in effect.
A section of the listing shows all the program-names, data-names, and procedure-names that are
referenced in your program, and the line numbers where those names are defined. External program-
names are identified.

“Example: XREF output: data-name cross-references” on page 420

“Example: XREF output: program-name cross-references” on page 421

A section is also included that cross-references COPY or BASIS statements in the program with the data
sets or files from which associated copybooks were obtained.
“Example: XREF output: COPY/BASIS cross-references” on page 422
EBCDIC data-names and procedure-names are listed in alphanumeric order. DBCS data-names and
procedure-names are listed based on their physical order in the program; they are shown before the
EBCDIC data-names and procedure-names unless the DBCSXREF installation option is selected with a
DBCS ordering program. In that case, DBCS data-names and procedure-names are in the order specified
by the DBCS ordering program.
If you use XREF and SOURCE, data-name and procedure-name cross-reference information is printed
on the same line as the original source. Line-number references or other information appears on the
right-hand side of the listing page. On the right of source lines that reference an intrinsic function, the

370 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 letters IFN are printed with the line number of the locations where the function arguments are defined.
Information included in the embedded references lets you know if an identifier is undefined (UND) or
defined more than once (DUP), if items are implicitly defined (IMP) (such as special registers or figurative
constants), or if a program-name is external (EXT).
If you use XREF and NOSOURCE, you get only the sorted cross-reference listing.
XREF(SHORT) prints only the explicitly referenced data items in the cross-reference listing.
XREF(SHORT) applies to DBCS data-names and procedure-names as well as to single-byte names.
NOXREF suppresses this listing.
Usage notes
• Group names used in a MOVE CORRESPONDING statement are in the XREF listing. The elementary
names in those groups are also listed.
• In the data-name XREF listing, line numbers that are preceded by the letter M indicate that the data
item is explicitly modified by a statement on that line.
• XREF listings take additional storage.
• If there is more than one data set in your SYSLIB concatenation, in some cases the COPY/BASIS
cross-reference might be incomplete or missing. This loss can occur if XREF is set only in a CBL or
PROCESS statement, and XREFOPT=NO is set as an installation default or NOXREF is coded in your JCL
PARM parameter.
To ensure that the COPY/BASIS cross-reference is complete, either verify with your system
programmer that XREFOPT=FULL or XREFOPT=SHORT is your installation default, or code the XREF
option in your JCL PARM parameter.

related concepts
Chapter 19, “Debugging,” on page 381

related tasks
“Getting listings” on page 391

related references
Language Environment Debugging Guide (COBOL compiler options)

ZONECHECK
Use the ZONECHECK option to have the compiler generate IF NUMERIC class tests for zoned decimal
data items that are used as sending data items.
Note: ZONECHECK is deprecated but is tolerated for compatibility, and it is replaced by
NUMCHECK(ZON(ALPHNUM)).

ZONECHECK option syntax

NOZONECHECK

ZONECHECK ( MSG )

ABD

Default is: NOZONECHECK

Abbreviations are: NOZC | ZC(MSG) | ZC(ABD)
MSG
The MSG suboption requests that an IF NUMERIC test be done on every use of zoned decimal data
items as senders, and if the data is invalid (for example, NOT NUMERIC), a runtime warning message
with the line number, data item name, data item content, and program name is issued. Also, the

Chapter 17. Compiler options 371

 affected statements will still be executed. ZONECHECK(MSG) is treated as if NUMCHECK(ZON,MSG)
were in effect.
ABD
The ABD suboption requests that an IF NUMERIC test be done on every use of zoned decimal data
items as senders, and if the data is invalid (for example, NOT NUMERIC), a terminating message is
issued that causes an abend. ZONECHECK(ABD) is treated as if NUMCHECK(ZON,ABD) were in effect.
Both ZONECHECK(MSG) and ZONECHECK(ABD) result in the compiler generating an implicit numeric
class test for each zoned decimal data item that is referenced as a sender in a COBOL statement.
Receivers are not checked, unless they are both a sender and a receiver, such as data item B in the
following sample statements:

ADD A TO B

DIVIDE A INTO B

COMPUTE B = A + B

INITIALIZE B REPLACING ALPHANUMERIC BY B

This checking is done before the data is used in each statement:

• If the data is NOT NUMERIC, either a warning message for ZONECHECK(MSG) or a terminating message
for ZONECHECK(ABD) is issued.
• If the data is NUMERIC, the external behavior of the statement is the same as NOZONECHECK, other than
being slower.
Restriction: For CALL statements, ZONECHECK checks BY CONTENT and BY VALUE data items that are
numeric USAGE DISPLAY only, but it does not check BY REFERENCE parameters.
Performance considerations: ZONECHECK(MSG) and ZONECHECK(ABD) are much slower than
NOZONECHECK, depending on how many zoned decimal data items are used in COBOL statements in
a program.

related tasks
“Checking for incompatible data (numeric class test)” on page 53

related references
“NUMCHECK” on page 336
“NUMPROC” on page 340
“ZONEDATA” on page 372

ZONEDATA
The ZONEDATA option tells the compiler whether the data in USAGE DISPLAY and PACKED-DECIMAL
data items is valid, and if not, what the behavior of the compiler should be.
Note: The ZONEDATA option is deprecated but is tolerated for compatibility, and it is replaced by the
INVDATA option.
When the ZONEDATA option is specified, it is mapped to the equivalent INVDATA option as follows:

ZONEDATA(PFD) = NOINVDATA
ZONEDATA(NOPFD) = INVDATA(NOFORCENUMCMP,CLEANSIGN) (or simply INVDATA)
ZONEDATA(MIG) = INVDATA(FORCENUMCMP,CLEANSIGN)

372 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 ZONEDATA option syntax
PFD

ZONEDATA( MIG )

NOPFD

Default is: ZONEDATA(PFD)

Abbreviations are: ZD(PFD) | ZD(MIG) | ZD(NOPFD)
Each digit of a valid zoned decimal number is represented by a single byte from X'F0' through X'F9'.
The 4 high-order bits of each byte are zone bits, and the 4 low-order bits of each byte contain the value of
the digit. The 4 high-order bits of the low-order byte for SIGN TRAILING represent the sign of the item.
The sign is in the high-order byte with SIGN LEADING, or in a separate byte for SIGN IS SEPARATE.
ZONEDATA(PFD)
When the ZONEDATA(PFD) option is in effect, the compiler assumes that all data in USAGE DISPLAY
and PACKED-DECIMAL data items is valid, and generates the most efficient code possible to make
numeric comparisons. For example, the compiler might generate a string comparison to avoid numeric
conversion.
ZONEDATA(MIG)
When the ZONEDATA(MIG) option is in effect, the compiler generates instructions to do numeric
comparisons that ignore the zone bits of each digit in zoned decimal data items. For example, the
zoned decimal value is converted to packed-decimal with a PACK instruction before the comparison.
The compiler will also avoid performing known optimizations that might produce a different result
than COBOL V4 (or earlier versions) when a zoned decimal or packed decimal data item has invalid
digits or an invalid sign code, or when a zoned decimal data item has invalid zone bits.
ZONEDATA(NOPFD)
When the ZONEDATA(NOPFD) option is in effect, the compiler generates instructions for numeric
comparisons or an alphanumeric comparison of zoned decimal data in the same manner as COBOL V4
(or earlier versions) does when using NUMPROC(NOPFD | PFD) with COBOL V4 (or earlier versions) :
• In the cases where COBOL V4 (or earlier versions) considered the zone bits, the compiler generates
an alphanumeric comparison which will also consider the zone bits of each digit in zoned decimal
data items. The zoned decimal value remains as zoned decimal.
• In the cases where COBOL V4 (or earlier versions) ignored the zone bits, the compiler generates
numeric comparisons that ignore the zone bits of each digit in zoned decimal data items. The zoned
decimal value is converted to packed-decimal with a PACK instruction before the comparison.
In order for the compiler to generate comparisons of zoned decimal data in the same way that COBOL
V4 (or earlier versions) did, the NUMPROC suboption used in COBOL V6 must match the NUMPROC
suboption used in COBOL V4 (or earlier versions):
• To get the COBOL V4 (or earlier versions) NUMPROC(NOPFD) behavior in COBOL V6, use
ZONEDATA(NOPFD) and NUMPROC(NOPFD) in COBOL V6.
• To get the COBOL V4 (or earlier versions) NUMPROC(PFD) behavior in COBOL V6, use
ZONEDATA(NOPFD) and NUMPROC(PFD) in COBOL V6.
The compiler will also avoid performing known optimizations that might produce a different result
than COBOL V4 (or earlier versions) when a zoned decimal or packed decimal data item has invalid
digits or an invalid sign code, or when a zoned decimal data item has invalid zone bits.
Note: The sign code must be a valid sign code according to the NUMPROC compiler option setting. In
addition, the low-order byte must have a valid zone (x'F') for unsigned and signed with either SIGN
IS LEADING or SIGN IS SEPARATE.

Chapter 17. Compiler options 373

 Note: The ZONEDATA option affects the behaviour of MOVE statements, comparisons, and computations
for USAGE DISPLAY or PACKED-DECIMAL data items that could contain invalid digits, an invalid sign
code, or invalid zone bits.
In the following example, you can see a data item with an invalid zone bit 4 in the zone bits in the middle
of data item VALUE1, forced in by REDEFINES:

77 VALUE0 PIC X(4) VALUE '00 0'. *> x'F0F040F0'

77 VALUE1 REDEFINES VALUE0 PIC 9(4).
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
IF VALUE1 = ZERO
DISPLAY 'ZONEDATA(MIG) is in effect ' VALUE1
ELSE
DISPLAY 'ZONEDATA(NOPFD | PFD) is in effect ' VALUE1
END-IF

In this example:
• With COBOL V4 (or earlier versions) or earlier versions, the test is true if the NUMPROC(MIG) option is
used, and false for NUMPROC(NOPFD | PFD).
• With COBOL V5 or later versions:
– When using ZONEDATA(PFD), the test is true at OPT(0) and false at OPT(1 | 2).
– When using ZONEDATA(NOPFD), the test is false at any OPT setting.
In all, to ease your migration to COBOL V6:
• If your digits, sign code, and zone bits are valid, use ZONEDATA(PFD) and the same NUMPROC setting
that you used with COBOL V4 (or earlier versions) when using COBOL V6.
• If you have invalid digits, invalid sign code, or invalid zone bits:
– If you used NUMPROC(MIG) with COBOL V4 (or earlier versions) , use ZONEDATA(MIG) and
NUMPROC(NOPFD) with COBOL V6.
– If you used NUMPROC(NOPFD) with COBOL V4 (or earlier versions) , use ZONEDATA(NOPFD) and
NUMPROC(NOPFD) with COBOL V6.
– If you used NUMPROC(PFD) with COBOL V4 (or earlier versions) , use ZONEDATA(NOPFD) and
NUMPROC(PFD) with COBOL V6.
Note: It is not always possible to entirely match the behaviour of the old compiler even with these options
when faced with clearly invalid data. For example, even for compares, ZONEDATA(NOPFD) isn't going to
give the same result in all cases as COBOL V4.
Performance considerations: ZONEDATA(PFD) gives better runtime performance than
ZONEDATA(NOPFD | MIG) does. ZONEDATA(NOPFD | MIG) disables some of the optimizations that
NUMPROC(PFD) can give.

related tasks
“Checking for incompatible data (numeric class test)” on page 53
related references
“NUMCHECK” on page 336
“NUMPROC” on page 340
“ZONECHECK” on page 371

374 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
ZWB
If you compile using ZWB, the compiler removes the sign from a signed zoned decimal (DISPLAY) field
before comparing this field to an alphanumeric elementary field during execution.

ZWB option syntax

ZWB

NOZWB

Default is: ZWB

Abbreviations are: None
If the zoned decimal item is a scaled item (that is, it contains the symbol P in its PICTURE string),
comparisons that use the decimal item are not affected by ZWB. Such items always have their sign
removed before the comparison is made to an alphanumeric field.
ZWB affects how a program runs. The same COBOL program can produce different results depending on
the setting of this option.
Use NOZWB if you want to test input numeric fields for SPACES.

Chapter 17. Compiler options 375

376 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 18. Compiler-directing statements
Several statements help you to direct the compilation of your program.
These are the compiler-directing statements:
BASIS statement
This extended source program library statement provides a complete COBOL program as the source
for a compilation. For rules of formation and processing, see the description of text-name for the COPY
statement.
CALLINTERFACE directive
The CALLINTERFACE directive specifies the interface convention for CALL and SET statements. The
convention specified stays in effect until another CALLINTERFACE directive is encountered in the
source.
The CALLINTERFACE directive can be used only in the procedure division and its effect is limited to
the current compilation unit.
*CONTROL (*CBL) statement
This compiler-directing statement selectively suppresses or allows output to be produced. The names
*CONTROL and *CBL are synonymous.
COPY statement

COPY statement syntax

COPY text-name

literal-1 OF library-name SUPPRESS

IN literal-2

REPLACING operand-1 BY operand-2

LEADING == partial-word-1 == BY == partial-word-2 ==

TRAILING

This library statement places prewritten text into a COBOL program.

Neither text-name nor library-name need to be unique within a program. They can be identical to other
user-defined words in the program, except that they cannot contain the underscore.
The uniqueness of text-name and library-name is determined after the formation and conversion rules
for a system-dependent name have been applied. If library-name is omitted, SYSLIB is assumed.
Compiling with JCL:
text-name, library-name, and literal-1 and literal-2 are processed as follows:
• The name (which can be from one to 30 characters long) is truncated to eight characters. Only the
first eight characters of text-name and library-name are used as the identifying name. These eight
characters must be unique within any COBOL library.
• The name is folded to uppercase.
• Hyphens that are not the first or last character are translated to zero (0), and a warning message is
issued.
• If the first character is numeric, then the characters 1-9 are translated to A-I, zero (0) is converted
to J, and a warning message is issued.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 377

 For example:

COPY INVOICES1Q
COPY "Company-#Employees" IN Personellib

In the IN/OF phrase, library-name is the ddname that identifies the partitioned data set to be copied
from. Use a DD statement such as in the following example to define library-name:

//COPYLIB DD DSNAME=ABC.COB,VOLUME=SER=111111,
// DISP=SHR,UNIT=3380

To specify more than one copy library, use either JCL or a combination of JCL and the IN/OF phrase.
Using just JCL, concatenate data sets in your DD statement for SYSLIB. Alternatively, define multiple
DD statements and include the IN/OF phrase in your COPY statements.
The maximum block size for the copy library depends on the device on which your data set resides.
Compiling in the z/OS UNIX shell:
When you compile using the cob2 command, copybooks are included from the z/OS UNIX file system.
text-name, library-name, and literal-1 and literal-2 are processed as follows:
• User-defined words are folded to uppercase. Literals are not folded. Because UNIX is case sensitive,
if your file-name is lowercase or mixed case, you must specify it as a literal.
• If text-name is a literal and library-name is omitted, text-name is used directly: as a file-name, a
relative path name, or an absolute path name (if the first character is /). For example:

COPY "MyInc"
COPY "x/MyInc"
COPY "/u/user1/MyInc"

• If text-name is a user-defined word, and an environment variable of that name is defined, the value
of the environment variable is used as the name of the file that contains the copybook.
If an environment variable of that name is not defined, the copybook is searched for under the
following names, in this order:
1. text-name.cpy
2. text-name.CPY
3. text-name.cbl
4. text-name.CBL
5. text-name.cob
6. text-name.COB
7. text-name
• If library-name is a literal, it is treated as the actual path, relative or absolute, from which to copy
file text-name.
• If library-name is a user-defined word, it is treated as an environment variable. The value of the
environment variable is used as the path. If the environment variable is not set, an error occurs.
• If both library-name and text-name are specified, the compiler forms the path name for the
copybook by concatenating library-name and text-name with a path separator (/) inserted between
the two values. For example, suppose you have the following setting for COPY MYCOPY OF MYLIB:

export MYCOPY=mystuff/today.cpy
export MYLIB=/u/user1

378 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 These settings result in:

/u/user1/mystuff/today.cpy

If library-name is an environment variable that identifies the path from which copybooks are to be
copied, use an export command to define library-name, as in this example:

export COPYLIB=/u/mystuff/copybooks

The name of the environment variable must be uppercase. To specify more than one copy library, set
the environment variable to multiple path names delimited by colon (:).
If library-name is omitted and text-name is not an absolute path name, the copybook is searched for
in this order:
1. In the current directory
2. In the paths specified on the -I cob2 option
3. In the paths specified in the SYSLIB environment variable
For additional information about the COPY statement, for example, the rules for text replacement, see
the related reference.
DEFINE directive
The DEFINE directive defines or undefines a compilation variable. The compilation variables can
be used within any of the conditional compilation directives (DEFINE, EVALUATE, and IF). The
compilation variable is treated as a symbolic reference to the literal value it currently represents.
DELETE statement
This extended source library statement removes COBOL statements from the BASIS source program.
EJECT statement
This compiler-directing statement specifies that the next source statement is to be printed at the top
of the next page.
ENTER statement
The statement is treated as a comment.
EVALUATE directive
The EVALUATE directive provides a multi-branch method of choosing the source lines to include in a
compilation group.
IF directive
The IF directive provides for a one-way or two-way conditional compilation.
INLINE directive
The INLINE directive lets you selectively prevent the compiler from considering procedures eligible
for inlining.
INSERT statement
This library statement adds COBOL statements to the BASIS source program.
PROCESS (CBL) statement
This statement, which you place before the IDENTIFICATION DIVISION header of an outermost
program, indicates which compiler options are to be used during compilation of the program.
REPLACE statement
This statement is used to replace source program text.
SERVICE LABEL statement
This statement is generated by the CICS translator to indicate control flow, and should be used at the
resume point for a call to CEE3SRP. It is not intended for general use.
SKIP1/2/3 statement
These statements indicate lines to be skipped in the source listing.

Chapter 18. Compiler-directing statements 379

 TITLE statement
This statement specifies that a title (header) should be printed at the top of each page of the source
listing.
USE statement
The USE statement provides declaratives to specify these elements:
• Error-handling procedures: EXCEPTION/ERROR
• Debugging lines and sections: DEBUGGING

related tasks
“Changing the header of a source listing” on page 5
“Specifying compiler options under z/OS” on page 263
“Specifying compiler options under z/OS UNIX” on page 274
“Setting environment variables
under z/OS UNIX” on page 273
“Eliminating repetitive coding” on page 683

related references
“cob2 syntax and options” on page 277
CALLINTERFACE (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
DEFINE (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
EVALUATE (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
IF (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
INLINE (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
COPY statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

380 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 19. Debugging
You can choose between two different approaches to determine the cause of problems in the behavior of
your application: source-language debugging or interactive debugging.
For source-language debugging, COBOL provides several language elements, compiler options, and listing
outputs that make debugging easier.
If the problem with your program is not easily detected and you do not have a debugger available, you
might need to analyze a storage dump of your program.
For interactive debugging, you can use Debug Tool. Debug Tool offers these productivity enhancements:
• Interactive debugging (in full-screen or line mode), or debugging in batch mode
During an interactive full-screen mode session, you can use Debug Tool's full-screen services and
session panel windows on a 3270 device to debug your program while it is running.
• COBOL-like commands
For each high-level language supported, commands for coding actions to be taken at breakpoints are
provided in a syntax similar to that programming language.
• Mixed-language debugging
You can debug an application that contains programs written in a different language. Debug Tool
automatically determines the language of the program or subprogram being run.
• COBOL-CICS debugging
Debug Tool supports the debugging of CICS applications in both interactive and batch mode.
• Support for remote debugging
Workstation users can use the IBM Debug Tool Plug-in for Eclipse or the IBM Problem Determination
Tools with IBM Developer for z/OS for debugging programs that run on z/OS.
Note: IBM Debug for z/OS supersedes IBM Debug for z Systems and IBM Debug Tool for z/OS. Not all
references to IBM Debug for z Systems and IBM Debug Tool for z/OS have been changed in the COBOL
documentation library. It is recommended that you upgrade your debugger to the latest level in order
to have the full range of debugging features available. In some cases, you must upgrade your debugger
to a certain version depending on what level of Enterprise COBOL you are using to create the COBOL
application:
• IBM Debug Tool V13.1 supports Enterprise COBOL V5.1 and earlier versions
• IBM Debug for z Systems V14.0 supports Enterprise COBOL V6.1 and earlier versions
• IBM Debug for z Systems V14.1 supports Enterprise COBOL V6.2 and earlier versions
To find out which IBM debug product best suits your needs, see https://www.ibm.com/support/
knowledgecenter/SSQ2R2_14.2.0/com.ibm.debug.cg.doc/common/dcompo.html?sc=SSQ2R2_latest.

related tasks
“Debugging with source language” on page 382
“Debugging using compiler options” on page 385
“Using the debugger” on page 391
“Getting listings” on page 391
“Suppressing information in CEEDUMP processing (IGZ1OPT)” on page 426
z/OS Debugger User's Guide

related references
Debug Tool Reference and Messages
Language Environment Debugging Guide (Formatting and analyzing system
dumps, Debugging example COBOL programs)

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 381

Debugging with source language
You can use several COBOL language features to pinpoint the cause of a failure in a program.
If a failing program is part of a large application that is already in production (precluding source updates),
write a small test case to simulate the failing part of the program. Code debugging features in the test
case to help detect these problems:
• Errors in program logic
• Input-output errors
• Mismatches of data types
• Uninitialized data
• Problems with procedures

related tasks
“Tracing program logic” on page 382
“Finding and handling input-output
errors” on page 383
“Validating data” on page 383
“Moving, initializing or
setting uninitialized data” on page 383
“Generating information
about procedures” on page 384

related references
Source language debugging (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Tracing program logic

Trace the logic of your program by adding DISPLAY statements.
For example, if you determine that the problem is in an EVALUATE statement or in a set of nested
IF statements, use DISPLAY statements in each path to see the logic flow. If you determine that the
calculation of a numeric value is causing the problem, use DISPLAY statements to check the value of
some interim results.
If you use explicit scope terminators to end statements in your program, the logic is more apparent and
therefore easier to trace.
To determine whether a particular routine started and finished, you might insert code like this into your
program:

DISPLAY "ENTER CHECK PROCEDURE"

.
. (checking procedure routine)
.
DISPLAY "FINISHED CHECK PROCEDURE"

After you are sure that the routine works correctly, disable the DISPLAY statements in one of two ways:
• Put an asterisk in column 7 of each DISPLAY statement line to convert it to a comment line.
• Put a D in column 7 of each DISPLAY statement to convert it to a comment line. When you want
to reactivate these statements, include a WITH DEBUGGING MODE clause in the ENVIRONMENT
DIVISION; the D in column 7 is ignored and the DISPLAY statements are implemented.
Before you put the program into production, delete or disable the debugging aids you used and recompile
the program. The program will run more efficiently and use less storage.

related concepts
“Scope terminators” on page 20

382 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 related references
DISPLAY statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Finding and handling input-output errors

File status keys can help you determine whether your program errors are due to input-output errors
occurring on the storage media.
To use file status keys in debugging, check for a nonzero value in the status key after each input-output
statement. If the value is nonzero (as reported in an error message), look at the coding of the input-output
procedures in the program. You can also include procedures to correct the error based on the value of the
status key.
If you determine that a problem lies in an input-output procedure, include the USE EXCEPTION/ERROR
declarative to help debug the problem. Then, when a file fails to open, the appropriate EXCEPTION/
ERROR declarative is performed. The appropriate declarative might be a specific one for the file or one
provided for the open attributes INPUT, OUTPUT, I-O, or EXTEND.
Code each USE AFTER STANDARD ERROR statement in a section that follows the DECLARATIVES
keyword in the PROCEDURE DIVISION.

related tasks
“Coding ERROR declaratives” on page 236
“Using file status keys” on page 237

related references
File status key (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Validating data
If you suspect that your program is trying to perform arithmetic on nonnumeric data or is receiving the
wrong type of data on an input record, use the class test (the class condition) to validate the type of data.
You can use the class test to check whether the content of a data item is ALPHABETIC, ALPHABETIC-
LOWER, ALPHABETIC-UPPER, DBCS, KANJI, or NUMERIC. If the data item is described implicitly or
explicitly as USAGE NATIONAL, the class test checks the national character representation of the
characters associated with the specified character class.
You can use the UVALID intrinsic function to check whether a national data item contains valid UTF-16
encoded data, or whether an alphanumeric or alphabetic item contains valid UTF-8 encoded data.

related tasks
“Coding conditional expressions” on page 95
“Testing for valid DBCS
characters” on page 149

related references
Class condition (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
UVALID (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Moving, initializing or setting uninitialized data

Use an INITIALIZE or SET statement to initialize a table or data item when you suspect that a problem
might be caused by residual data in those fields.
If the problem happens intermittently and not always with the same data, it could be that a switch was
not initialized but is generally set to the right value (0 or 1) by chance. By using a SET statement to ensure
that the switch is initialized, you can determine that the uninitialized switch is the cause of the problem or
remove it as a possible cause.

related references
INITIALIZE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Chapter 19. Debugging 383

 SET statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
“INITCHECK” on page 323

Generating information about procedures

Generate information about your program or test case and how it is running by coding the USE FOR
DEBUGGING declarative. This declarative lets you include statements in the program and indicate when
they should be performed when you run your program.
For example, to determine how many times a procedure is run, you could include a debugging procedure
in the USE FOR DEBUGGING declarative and use a counter to keep track of the number of times that
control passes to that procedure. You can use the counter technique to check items such as these:
• How many times a PERFORM statement runs, and thus whether a particular routine is being used and
whether the control structure is correct
• How many times a loop runs, and thus whether the loop is executing and whether the number for the
loop is accurate
You can use debugging lines or debugging statements or both in your program.
Debugging lines are statements that are identified by a D in column 7. To make debugging lines in
your program active, code the WITH DEBUGGING MODE clause on the SOURCE-COMPUTER line in the
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION. Otherwise debugging lines are treated as comments.
Debugging statements are the statements that are coded in the DECLARATIVES section of the PROCEDURE
DIVISION. Code each USE FOR DEBUGGING declarative in a separate section. Code the debugging
statements as follows:
• Only in a DECLARATIVES section.
• Following the header USE FOR DEBUGGING.
• Only in the outermost program; they are not valid in nested programs. Debugging statements are also
never triggered by procedures that are contained in nested programs.
To use debugging statements in your program, you must include the WITH DEBUGGING MODE clause and
use the DEBUG runtime option.
Options restrictions:
• You cannot use the USE FOR DEBUGGING declarative in a program that you compile with the THREAD
option.
“Example: USE FOR DEBUGGING” on page 384

related references
SOURCE-COMPUTER paragraph (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
Debugging lines (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
Debugging sections (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
DEBUGGING declarative (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: USE FOR DEBUGGING

This example shows the kind of statements that are needed to use a DISPLAY statement and a USE FOR
DEBUGGING declarative to test a program.
The DISPLAY statement writes information to the terminal or to an output data set. The USE FOR
DEBUGGING declarative is used with a counter to show how many times a routine runs.

Environment Division.
. . .
Data Division.
. . .
Working-Storage Section.
. . . (other entries your program needs)
01 Trace-Msg PIC X(30) Value " Trace for Procedure-Name : ".

384 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 01 Total PIC 9(9) Value 1.
. . .
Procedure Division.
Declaratives.
Debug-Declaratives Section.
Use For Debugging On Some-Routine.
Debug-Declaratives-Paragraph.
Display Trace-Msg, Debug-Name, Total.
End Declaratives.

Main-Program Section.
. . . (source program statements)
Perform Some-Routine.
. . . (source program statements)
Stop Run.
Some-Routine.
. . . (whatever statements you need in this paragraph)
Add 1 To Total.
Some-Routine-End.

The DISPLAY statement in the DECLARATIVES SECTION issues this message every time the procedure
Some-Routine runs:

Trace For Procedure-Name : Some-Routine 22

The number at the end of the message, 22, is the value accumulated in the data item Total; it indicates
the number of times Some-Routine has run. The statements in the debugging declarative are performed
before the named procedure runs.
You can also use the DISPLAY statement to trace program execution and show the flow through the
program. You do this by dropping Total from the DISPLAY statement and changing the USE FOR
DEBUGGING declarative in the DECLARATIVES SECTION to:

USE FOR DEBUGGING ON ALL PROCEDURES.

As a result, a message is displayed before each nondebugging procedure in the outermost program runs.

Debugging using compiler options

You can use certain compiler options to help you find errors in your program, find various elements in your
program, obtain listings, and prepare your program for debugging.
You can find the following errors by using compiler options (the options are shown in parentheses):
• Uninitialized data items that are used without being initialized (INITCHECK)
• Syntax errors such as duplicate data-names (NOCOMPILE)
• Invalid data items that are used as sending data items (NUMCHECK)
• Invalid COBOL programs (PARMCHECK)
• Missing sections (SEQUENCE)
• Invalid subscript values (SSRANGE)
You can find the following elements in your program by using compiler options:
• Error messages and locations of the associated errors (FLAG)
• Program entity definitions and references; text-names and library-names from COPY or BASIS
statements, and the associated data sets or files from which copybooks are obtained (XREF)
• Data items in the DATA DIVISION (MAP)
• Statement references (VBREF)
You can get a copy of your source (SOURCE) or a listing of generated code (LIST).
You prepare your program for debugging by using the TEST compiler option.

Chapter 19. Debugging 385

 related tasks
“Finding coding errors” on page 386
“Finding line sequence problems” on page 386
“Checking for invalid COBOL data or invalid COBOL programs” on page 386
“Checking for valid ranges” on page 387
“Selecting the level of error to be diagnosed” on page 388
“Finding program entity definitions and references” on page 390
“Listing data items” on page 390
“Getting listings” on page 391

related references
Chapter 17, “Compiler options,” on page 291

Finding coding errors

Use the NOCOMPILE option to compile conditionally or to only check syntax. When used with the SOURCE
option, NOCOMPILE produces a listing that will help you find coding mistakes such as missing definitions,
improperly defined data items, and duplicate data-names.
If you are compiling in the TSO foreground, you can send the messages to your screen by using the TERM
compiler option and defining your data set as the SYSTERM data set.

Checking syntax only: To only check the syntax of your program, and not produce object code, use
NOCOMPILE without a suboption. If you also specify the SOURCE option, the compiler produces a listing.

When you specify NOCOMPILE, several compiler options are suppressed. See the related reference below
about the COMPILE option for details.

Compiling conditionally: To compile conditionally, use NOCOMPILE(x), where x is one of the severity
levels of errors. Your program is compiled if all the errors are of a lower severity than x. The severity levels
that you can use, from highest to lowest, are S (severe), E (error), and W (warning).
If an error of level x or higher occurs, the compilation stops and your program is only checked for syntax.

related references
“COMPILE” on page 307

Finding line sequence problems

Use the SEQUENCE compiler option to find statements that are out of sequence. Breaks in sequence
indicate that a section of a source program was moved or deleted.
When you use SEQUENCE, the compiler checks the source statement numbers to determine whether they
are in ascending sequence. Two asterisks are placed beside statement numbers that are out of sequence.
The total number of these statements is printed as the first line in the diagnostics after the source listing.

related references
“SEQUENCE” on page 352

Checking for invalid COBOL data or invalid COBOL programs

Use INITCHECK and NUMCHECK to determine if your programs process invalid COBOL data at run time.
Use PARMCHECK to determine if your programs have mismatched parameters at run time that causes the
corruption of data beyond the end of WORKING-STORAGE.
The INITCHECK option checks for uninitialized data items and issue warning messages when they are
used without being initialized.
The NUMCHECK option validates the following data items when they are used as sending data items:

386 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 • NUMCHECK(ZON) causes the compiler to generate code for an implicit numeric class test for zoned
decimal (numeric USAGE DISPLAY) data items that are used as sending data items in COBOL
statements.
• NUMCHECK(PAC) causes the compiler to generate code for an implicit numeric class test for packed
decimal (COMP-3) data items that are used as sending data items in COBOL statements.
• NUMCHECK(BIN) causes the compiler to generate code similar to ON SIZE ERROR to test if binary data
items contents are bigger than the PICTURE clause. Note that this extra code will be generated only for
binary data items that are used as sending data items, and COMP-5 data items will not get this ON SIZE
ERROR code generated.
The PARMCHECK option finds subprograms that write beyond the end of WORKING-STORAGE. This option
tells the compiler to generate an extra data item following the last item in WORKING-STORAGE that is
then used at run time to check whether a called subprogram corrupted data beyond the end of WORKING-
STORAGE.
Performance consideration: PARMCHECK and NUMCHECK can somewhat degrade performance because
of the extra overhead to check for invalid COBOL data. PARMCHECK will cause the compiler to generate
slower code for programs with CALL statements.
With PTF for APAR PH08642 installed, performance of NUMCHECK has been improved. However,
performance is still best when using NONUMCHECK, and will be better at OPT(1) and OPT(2) than at
OPT(0).
related references
“INITCHECK” on page 323
“NUMCHECK” on page 336
“PARMCHECK” on page 344
“Performance-related compiler options” on page 676

Checking for valid ranges

Use the SSRANGE compiler option to check whether addresses fall within proper ranges.
SSRANGE causes the following addresses to be checked:
• Subscripted or indexed data references: Is the effective address of the specified table element within
the maximum boundary of the containing group? (This checking is not done for UNBOUNDED tables and
groups.)
• Variable-length data references (a reference to a data item that contains an OCCURS DEPENDING ON
clause): Is the actual length greater than or equal to zero, and within the maximum defined length for
the group data item? (This checking is not done for UNBOUNDED groups.)
• Reference-modified data references: Are the offset and length positive? Is the sum of the offset and
length within the maximum length for the data item?
If the SSRANGE option is in effect, checking is performed at run time if the COBOL statement that contains
the indexed, subscripted, variable-length, or reference-modified data item is executed.
If an effective address is outside the range of the data item that contains the referenced data, an error
message is generated and the program stops. The message identifies the table or identifier that was
referenced and the line number where the error occurred. Additional information is provided depending
on the type of reference that caused the error.
If all subscripts, indices, and reference modifiers in a given data reference are literals and they result in
a reference outside the data item, the error is diagnosed at compile time regardless of the setting of the
SSRANGE option.
Performance consideration: SSRANGE can somewhat degrade performance because of the extra
overhead to check each subscripted or indexed item.

related references
“SSRANGE” on page 356
“Performance-related compiler options” on page 676

Chapter 19. Debugging 387

Selecting the level of error to be diagnosed
Use the FLAG compiler option to specify the level of error to be diagnosed during compilation and to
indicate whether error messages are to be embedded in the listing. Use FLAG(I) or FLAG(I,I) to be
notified of all errors.
Specify as the first parameter the lowest severity level of the syntax-error messages to be issued.
Optionally specify the second parameter as the lowest level of the syntax-error messages to be
embedded in the source listing. This severity level must be the same or higher than the level for the
first parameter. If you specify both parameters, you must also specify the SOURCE compiler option.

Table 51. Severity levels of compiler messages

Severity level Resulting messages
U (unrecoverable) U messages only
S (severe) All S and U messages
E (error) All E, S, and U messages
W (warning) All W, E, S, and U messages
I (informational) All messages

When you specify the second parameter, each syntax-error message (except a U-level message) is
embedded in the source listing at the point where the compiler had enough information to detect that
error. All embedded messages (except those issued by the library compiler phase) directly follow the
statement to which they refer. The number of the statement that had the error is also included with the
message. Embedded messages are repeated with the rest of the diagnostic messages at the end of the
source listing.
Note: You can suppress some error messages and change the severity of others with the MSGEXIT
suboption of the EXIT option.
When you specify the NOSOURCE compiler option, the syntax-error messages are included only at the end
of the listing. Messages for unrecoverable errors are not embedded in the source listing, because an error
of this severity terminates the compilation.
“Example: embedded messages” on page 388

related tasks
“Generating a list of compiler messages” on page 271

related references
“Severity codes for compiler diagnostic messages” on page 272
“Messages and listings for compiler-detected errors” on page 271
“FLAG” on page 320

Example: embedded messages

The following example shows the embedded messages generated by specifying a second parameter to
the FLAG option. Some messages in the summary apply to more than one COBOL statement.

LineID PL SL ----+-*A-1-B--+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----+----6----+----7-|--+----8 Map

and Cross Reference
...
090671** /
090672** *****************************************************************
090673** *** I N I T I A L I Z E P A R A G R A P H **
090674** *** Open files. Accept date, time and format header lines. **
090675** *** Load location-table. **
090676** *****************************************************************
090677** 100-initialize-paragraph.
090678** move spaces to ws-transaction-record IMP
331

388 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 090679** move spaces to ws-commuter-record IMP
307
090680** move zeroes to commuter-zipcode IMP
318
090681** move zeroes to commuter-home-phone IMP
319
090682** move zeroes to commuter-work-phone IMP
320
090683** move zeroes to commuter-update-date IMP
324
090684** open input update-transaction-file 204
==090684==> IGYPS2052-S An error was found in the definition of file "LOCATION-FILE". The
reference to this file was discarded.
090685** location-file 193
090686** i-o commuter-file 181
090687** output print-file 217
090688** if commuter-file-status not = "00" and not = "97" 241
090689** 1 display "100-OPEN"
090690** 1 move 100 to comp-code 231
090691** 1 perform 500-vsam-error 91069
090692** 1 perform 900-abnormal-termination 91114
090693** end-if
090694** accept ws-date from date UND
==090694==> IGYPS2121-S "WS-DATE" was not defined as a data-name. The statement was discarded.
090695** move corr ws-date to header-date UND
455
==090695==> IGYPS2121-S "WS-DATE" was not defined as a data-name. The statement was discarded.
090696** accept ws-time from time UND
==090696==> IGYPS2121-S "WS-TIME" was not defined as a data-name. The statement was discarded.
090697** move corr ws-time to header-time UND
449
==090697==> IGYPS2121-S "WS-TIME" was not defined as a data-name. The statement was discarded.
090698** read location-file 193
==090698==> IGYPS2053-S An error was found in the definition of file "LOCATION-FILE". This
input/output statement was discarded.
090699** at end
090700** 1 set location-eof to true 256
090701** end-read
...
LineID Message code Message text
IGYSC0090-W 1700 sequence errors were found in this program.
IGYSC3002-I A severe error was found in the program. The "OPTIMIZE" compiler option was
cancelled.
160 IGYDS1089-S "ASSIGNN" was invalid. Scanning was resumed at the next area "A" item, level-
number, or
the start of the next clause.
193 IGYGR1207-S The "ASSIGN" clause was missing or invalid in the "SELECT" entry for file
"LOCATION-FILE".
The file definition was discarded.
269 IGYDS1066-S "REDEFINES" object "WS-DATE" was not the immediately preceding level-1 data
item.
The "REDEFINES" clause was discarded.
90602 IGYPS2052-S An error was found in the definition of file "LOCATION-FILE". The reference to
this file
was discarded. Same message on line: 90684
90694 IGYPS2121-S "WS-DATE" was not defined as a data-name. The statement was discarded.
Same message on line: 90695
90696 IGYPS2121-S "WS-TIME" was not defined as a data-name. The statement was discarded.
Same message on line: 90697
90698 IGYPS2053-S An error was found in the definition of file "LOCATION-FILE". This input/
output statement
was discarded. Same message on line: 90709
Messages Total Informational Warning Error Severe Terminating
Printed: 13 1 1 11
* Statistics for COBOL program IGYTCARA:
* Source records = 1755
* Data Division statements = 295
* Procedure Division statements = 479
* Generated COBOL statements = 0
* Program complexity factor = 486
End of compilation 1, program IGYTCARA, highest severity 12.
Return code 12

Chapter 19. Debugging 389

Finding program entity definitions and references
Use the XREF(FULL) compiler option to find out where a data-name, procedure-name, or program-name
is defined and referenced. Use it also to produce a cross-reference of COPY or BASIS statements to the
data sets or files from which copybooks were obtained.
A sorted cross-reference includes the line number where the data-name, procedure-name, or program-
name was defined and the line numbers of all references to it.
To include only the explicitly referenced data items, use the XREF(SHORT) option.
Use both the XREF (either FULL or SHORT) and the SOURCE options to print a modified cross-reference
to the right of the source listing. This embedded cross-reference shows the line number where the
data-name or procedure-name was defined.
For further details, see the related reference about the XREF compiler option.

“Example: XREF output: data-name cross-references” on page 420

“Example: XREF output: program-name cross-references” on page 421
“Example: XREF output: COPY/BASIS cross-references” on page 422
“Example: XREF output: embedded cross-reference” on page 423

related tasks
“Getting listings” on page 391
related references
“XREF” on page 370

Listing data items

Use the MAP(HEX|DEC) compiler option to create a listing of the DATA DIVISION items and all implicitly
declared items. Use the MAP output to locate the contents of a data item in a system dump.
When you specify the MAP(HEX|DEC) option, an embedded MAP summary that contains condensed MAP
information is generated to the right of the COBOL source data definition.
• If you specify MAP(HEX) or MAP with no suboption, data item offsets within groups will be in
hexadecimal notation.
• If you specify MAP(DEC), data item offsets within groups will be in decimal notation.
When both XREF data and an embedded MAP summary are on the same line, the embedded summary is
printed first.
You can select or inhibit parts of the MAP listing and embedded MAP summary by using *CONTROL MAP|
NOMAP (or *CBL MAP|NOMAP) statements throughout the source. For example:

*CONTROL NOMAP
01 A
02 B
*CONTROL MAP

“Example: MAP output” on page 396

related tasks
“Getting listings” on page 391

related references
“MAP” on page 332

390 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Using the debugger
You can use Debug Tool to debug your Enterprise COBOL programs. Use the TEST compiler option to
prepare your COBOL program so that you can step through the executable program with the debugger.
For remote debugging, there is an Eclipse plugin that provides a client graphical user interface to the
debugging information provided by the Debug Tool engine running under z/OS or z/OS UNIX. The IBM
Debug Tool Plug-in for Eclipse is included with IBM Developer for z/OS and also with the IBM Problem
Determination Tools Studio.
You can specify the TEST suboption NOSOURCE to have smaller object programs stored on disk. The
loaded size does not change, the debug information is never loaded unless requested, for example, by a
debugger such as Debug Tool or by LE (for CEEDUMP). With the NOSOURCE suboption, you will not be able
to see the source in the Debug Tool source window.
Specify the OPTIMIZE(0), NOSTGOPT and TEST compiler options to get the most debugging function.
Specify a non-zero OPTIMIZE level, NOSTGOPT and TEST(EJPD) compiler options to get better
performance with a few restrictions on debugging function.
Specify a non-zero OPTIMIZE level, STGOPT and TEST(NOEJPD) compiler options to get the best
performance but still be able to use Debug Tool, with some restrictions on debugging function.
For details about which compiler options to use for maximum debugging capability versus best
performance, see the related reference about the TEST compiler option.

related tasks
z/OS Debugger User's Guide (Preparing your program for debugging)

related references
“TEST” on page 359

Getting listings
Get the information that you need for debugging by requesting the appropriate compiler listing with the
use of compiler options.
Attention: The listings produced by the compiler are not a programming interface and are subject to
change.

Table 52. Using compiler options to get listings

Use Listing Contents Compiler option
To check a list of the Short listing • List of options in effect NOSOURCE, NOXREF,
options in effect for for the program NOVBREF, NOMAP,
the program, statistics NOOFFSET, NOLIST
• Statistics about the
about the content of the
content of the program
program, and diagnostic
messages about the • Diagnostic messages
compilation about the compilation1

To aid in testing and Source listing Copy of your source “SOURCE” on page 353
debugging your program;
to have a record after
the program has been
debugged

Chapter 19. Debugging 391

Table 52. Using compiler options to get listings (continued)
Use Listing Contents Compiler option
To find certain data items Map of DATA DIVISION All DATA DIVISION “MAP” on page 3322
in a storage dump; to items items and all implicitly
see the final storage declared items
allocation after reentrancy
Embedded map summary
or optimization has been
(in the right margin of
accounted for; to see
the listing for lines in
where programs are
the DATA DIVISION that
defined and check their
contain data declarations)
attributes
Nested program map (if
the program contains
nested programs)

To find where a name Sorted cross-reference Data-names, procedure- “XREF” on page 3702,3
is defined, referenced, or listing of names; sorted names, and program-
modified; to determine cross-reference listing of names; references to
the context (such as COPY/BASIS statements these names
whether a statement was and copybook data sets or
COPY/BASIS text-names
used in a PERFORM block) files
and library names, and
in which a procedure is
the data sets or files
referenced; to determine
from which associated
the data set or file from
copybooks were obtained
which a copybook was
obtained Embedded modified
cross-reference provides
line numbers where data-
names and procedure-
names were defined

To find the failing PROCEDURE DIVISION Generated code “LIST” on page 3312,4
statement in a program code and assembler
or the address in storage code produced by the
of a data item that is compiler3
moved while the program
is running
To verify you still have a Condensed PROCEDURE Condensed statement “OFFSET” on page 341
valid logic path after you DIVISION listing listing, global tables,
move or add PROCEDURE WORKING-STORAGE
DIVISION sections information, and literals
To find an instance of a Alphabetic listing of Each statement used, “VBREF” on page 366
certain statement statements number of times each
statement was used, line
numbers where each
statement was used

392 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 52. Using compiler options to get listings (continued)
Use Listing Contents Compiler option

1. To eliminate messages, turn off the options (such as FLAG) that govern the level of compile diagnostic
information. You can also selectively suppress messages by using the MSGEXIT suboption of the EXIT
compiler option.
2. To use your line numbers in the compiled program, use the NUMBER compiler option. The compiler checks
the sequence of your source statement line numbers in columns 1 through 6 as the statements are read in.
When it finds a line number out of sequence, the compiler assigns to it a number with a value one higher
than the line number of the preceding statement. The new value is flagged with two asterisks. A diagnostic
message indicating an out-of-sequence error is included in the compilation listing.
3. The context of the procedure reference is indicated by the characters preceding the line number.
4. You can control the listing of generated object code by selectively placing *CONTROL LIST and *CONTROL
NOLIST (or equivalently, *CBL LIST and *CBL NOLIST) statements in your source. Note that the
*CONTROL statement is different than the PROCESS (or CBL) statement.
The output is generated if:
• You specify the COMPILE option (or the NOCOMPILE(x) option is in effect and an error level x or higher
does not occur).
• You do not specify the OFFSET option. OFFSET and LIST are mutually exclusive options with OFFSET
taking precedence.

“Example: short listing” on page 393

“Example: SOURCE and NUMBER output” on page 396
“Example: MAP output” on page 396
“Example: embedded map summary” on page 398
“Example: nested program map” on page 402
“Example: XREF output: data-name cross-references” on page 420
“Example: XREF output: program-name cross-references” on page 421
“Example: XREF output: COPY/BASIS cross-references” on page 422
“Example: XREF output: embedded cross-reference” on page 423
“Example: OFFSET compiler output” on page 424
“Example: VBREF compiler output” on page 424
“Example: conditional compilation output” on page 425

related tasks
“Generating a list of compiler messages” on page 271
“Reading LIST output” on page 402
Language Environment Debugging Guide (Debugging COBOL programs)

related references
“Messages and listings for compiler-detected errors” on page 271

Example: short listing

The parenthetical numbers shown in the listing below correspond to numbered explanations that follow
the listing. For illustrative purposes, some errors that cause diagnostic messages were deliberately
introduced.

Invocation parameters: (1)

OPTFILE
PROCESS(CBL) statements: (2)
CBL NODECK
CBL NOADV,NODYN,NONAME,NONUMBER,QUOTE,SEQ,DUMP
CBL NOSOURCE, NOXREF, NOVBREF, NOMAP, NOOFFSET, NOLIST
Options from SYSOPTF: (3)
C,NODU,FLAG(I),X,MAP,NOLIST,RENT,OPT(1),SSR
TEST TRUNC(OPT)
Options in effect: (4)

Chapter 19. Debugging 393

 NOADATA
NOADV
AFP(VOLATILE)
QUOTE
ARCH(7)
ARITH(COMPAT)
NOAWO
NOBLOCK0
BUFSIZE(4096)
NOCICS
CODEPAGE(1140)
COMPILE
NOCOPYRIGHT
NOCURRENCY
DATA(31)
DBCS
NODECK
NODIAGTRUNC
DISPSIGN(COMPAT)
NODLL
DUMP
NODYNAM
NOEXIT
NOEXPORTALL
NOFASTSRT
FLAG(I)
NOFLAGSTD
HGPR(PRESERVE)
INTDATE(ANSI)
LANGUAGE(EN)
LINECOUNT(60)
NOLIST
NOMAP
MAXPCF(100000)
NOMDECK
NONAME
NSYMBOL(NATIONAL)
NONUMBER
NUMPROC(NOPFD)
OBJECT
NOOFFSET
OPTIMIZE(1)
OUTDD(SYSOUT)
PGMNAME(COMPAT)
QUALIFY(COMPAT)
RENT
RMODE(AUTO)
NORULES
NOSERVICE
SEQUENCE
NOSOURCE
SPACE(1)
NOSQL
SQLCCSID
NOSQLIMS
SSRANGE(NOZLEN)
NOSTGOPT
SUPPRESS
NOTERM
TEST(NOEJPD,SOURCE)
NOTHREAD
TRUNC(OPT)
NOVBREF
VLR(COMPAT)
VSAMOPENFS(COMPAT)
NOWORD
XMLPARSE(XMLSS)
NOXREF
NOZONECHECK
ZONEDATA(PFD)
ZWB

LineID Message code Message text (5)

IGYSC3002-I A severe error was found in the program. The "OPTIMIZE" and the "STGOPT" compiler
options were cancelled.

160 IGYDS1089-S "ASSIGNN" was invalid. Scanning was resumed at the next area "A" item, level-number,
or the start of the next clause.

192 IGYDS1050-E File "LOCATION-FILE" contained no data record descriptions. The file definition was
discarded.

394 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 192 IGYGR1207-S The "ASSIGN" clause was missing or invalid in the "SELECT" entry for file "LOCATION-
FILE".
The file definition was discarded.

888 IGYPS2052-S An error was found in the definition of file "LOCATION-FILE". The reference to this
file
was discarded.

Same message on line: 979

1000 IGYPS2121-S "WS-DATE" was not defined as a data-name. The statement was discarded.

Same message on line: 1001

1004 IGYPS2053-S An error was found in the definition of file "LOCATION-FILE". This input/output
statement
was discarded.

Same message on line: 1016

1015 IGYPS2121-S "LOC-CODE" was not defined as a data-name. The statement was discarded.

1212 IGYPS2121-S "WS-NUMERIC-DATE" was not defined as a data-name. The statement was discarded.

1655 IGYPG3113-W Truncation of high-order digit positions may occur due to precision of intermediate
results
exceeding 30 digits.
Messages Total Informational Warning Error Severe Terminating (6)
Printed: 13 1 1 1 10
* Statistics for COBOL program IGYTCARA: (7)
* Source records = 1755
* Data Division statements = 295
* Procedure Division statements = 479
* Generated COBOL statements = 0
* Program complexity factor = 486
End of compilation 1, program IGYTCARA, highest severity 12. (8)
Return code 12

(1)
Message about options passed to the compiler at compiler invocation. This message does not appear
if no options were passed.
OPTFILE
Requests options from a SYSOPTF data set.
(2)
Options coded in the PROCESS (or CBL) statement.
NOOFFSET
Suppresses a condensed listing of the PROCEDURE DIVISION.
NOMAP
Suppresses a map report of the items defined in the DATA DIVISION.
(3)
Options obtained from the SYSOPTF data set (because the OPTFILE compiler option was specified).
NOLIST
Suppresses an assembler-language expansion of the source code.
TEST
The program was compiled for use with debugging and problem determination tools (such as
Debug Tool and Fault Analyzer) and to get local variables listed in CEEDUMP.
(4)
Status of options at the start of this compilation.
(5)
Program diagnostics. The first message refers you to any library phase diagnostics. Diagnostics for the
library phase are presented at the beginning of the listing.
(6)
Count of diagnostic messages in this program, grouped by severity level.
(7)
Program statistics for the program IGYTCARA.

Chapter 19. Debugging 395

 (8)
Program statistics for the compilation unit. When you perform a batch compilation, the return code is
the highest message severity level for the entire compilation.

Example: SOURCE and NUMBER output

In the portion of the listing shown below, the programmer numbered two of the statements out of
sequence. The note numbers in the listing correspond to numbered explanations that follow the listing.

(1)
LineID PL SL ----+-*A-1-B--+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----+----6----+----7-|--+----8 Map and Cross Reference
(2) (3) (4)
000870 /****************************************************************
000871 *** D O M A I N L O G I C **
000872 *** **
000873 *** Initialization. Read and process update transactions until **
000874 *** EOE. Close files and stop run. **
000875 *****************************************************************
000876 procedure division.
000877 000-do-main-logic.
000878 display "PROGRAM IGYTCARA - Beginning".
000879 perform 050-create-vsam-master-file. 930
000880 perform 100-initialize-paragraph. 982
000881 read update-transaction-file into ws-transaction-record 203 338
000882 at end
000883 1 IA4390 set transaction-eof to true 253
000884 end-read.
000885 IA4410 perform until transaction-eof 253
000886 1 perform 200-edit-update-transaction 1050
000887 1 IA4430 if no-errors 372
000888 2 perform 300-update-commuter-record 1159
000889 1 else
000890 2 perform 400-print-transaction-errors 1312
000891 1 end-if
000892 1 perform 410-re-initialize-fields 1373
000893 1 IA4480 read update-transaction-file into ws-transaction-record 203 338
000894 1 at end
000895 2 IA4500 set transaction-eof to true 253
000896 1 IA4510 end-read
000897 IA4520 end-perform.
000898 close commuter-file update-transaction-file location-file 180 203 192
000899 print-file. 216
000900
000901 *----------------------------------------------------*
000902 * File status checked after I/O operation. *
000903 *----------------------------------------------------*
000904
000905 IA4600 if not i-o-okay 241
000906 1 display "000-close"
000907 1 move 0000 to comp-code 230
000908 1 IA4620 perform 500-vsam-error 1386
000909 1 perform 900-abnormal-termination 1432
000910 IA4630 end-if.
000911 *********************************************************
000912 * Paragraphs 1100 and 1200 illustrates the intrinsic *
000913 * function computations. *
000914 *********************************************************
000915 perform 1100-print-i-f-headings. 1441
000916 perform 1200-print-i-f-data. 1481
000917 display " ".
000918 display " ".
000919 display "PROGRAM IGYTCARA - Normal end".
000920 stop run.

(1)
Scale line, which labels Area A, Area B, and source-code column numbers
(2)
Source-code line number assigned by the compiler
(3)
Program (PL) and statement (SL) nesting level
(4)
Columns 1 through 6 of program (the sequence number area)

Example: MAP output

The following example shows output from the MAP option. The numbers used in the explanation below
correspond to the numbers that annotate the output.

Data Division Map

396 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 (1)
Data Definition Attribute codes (rightmost column) have the following meanings:
D = Object of OCCURS DEPENDING G = GLOBAL S = Spanned file
E = EXTERNAL O = Has OCCURS clause U = Undefined format file
F = Fixed-length file OG= Group has own length definition V = Variable-length file
FB= Fixed-length blocked file R = REDEFINES VB= Variable-length blocked file
X = Unallocated
(2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9)
Source Hierarchy and Base Displacement Asmblr Data Data Def
LineID Data Name Locator Structure Definition Data Type Attributes
4 PROGRAM-ID IGYTCARA----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------*
58 FD COMMUTER-FILE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLF=00001 VSAM F
60 1 COMMUTER-RECORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLF=00001 DS 0CL80 Group
61 2 COMMUTER-KEY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLF=00001 000000000 DS 16C Display
62 2 FILLER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLF=00001 000000016 DS 64C Display
64 FD COMMUTER-FILE-MST . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLF=00002 VSAM F
66 1 COMMUTER-RECORD-MST . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLF=00002 DS 0CL80 Group
67 2 COMMUTER-KEY-MST. . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLF=00002 000000000 DS 16C Display
68 2 FILLER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLF=00002 000000016 DS 64C Display
140 1 STATUS-AREA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DS 0CL8 Group
141 2 COMMUTER-FILE-STATUS. . . . . . . . . . . . 000000000 DS 2C Display
142 88 I-O-OKAY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
143 2 COMMUTER-VSAM-STATUS. . . . . . . . . . . . 000000002 DS 0CL6 Group
144 3 VSAM-R15-RETURN-CODE. . . . . . . . . . . 000000002 DS 2C Binary
145 3 VSAM-FUNCTION-CODE. . . . . . . . . . . . 000000004 DS 2C Binary
146 3 VSAM-FEEDBACK-CODE. . . . . . . . . . . . 000000006 DS 2C Binary
148 77 UPDATE-FILE-STATUS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . DS 2C Display
149 77 LOCCODE-FILE-STATUS . . . . . . . . . . . . . DS 2C Display
150 77 UPDPRINT-FILE-STATUS. . . . . . . . . . . . . DS 2C Display
152 1 FLAGS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DS 0CL3 Group
153 2 TRANSACTION-EOF-FLAG. . . . . . . . . . . . 000000000 DS 1C Display
154 88 TRANSACTION-EOF . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
155 2 LOCATION-EOF-FLAG . . . . . . . . . . . . . 000000001 DS 1C Display
156 88 LOCATION-EOF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
157 2 TRANSACTION-MATCH-FLAG. . . . . . . . . . . 000000002 DS 1C Display
158 88 TRANSACTION-MATCH . . . . . . . . . . . . .
159 88 TRANSACTION-MATCH-OFF . . . . . . . . . . .
216 1 WS-COMMUTER-RECORD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLX=00001 DS 0CL81 Group E
217 2 WS-COMMUTER-KEY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLX=00001 000000000 DS 0CL16 Group E
218 3 WS-COMMUTER-GENERIC-KEY . . . . . . . . . BLX=00001 000000000 DS 0CL5 Group E
219 4 COMMUTER-SHIFT. . . . . . . . . . . . . BLX=00001 000000000 DS 1C Display E
220 4 COMMUTER-HOME-CODE. . . . . . . . . . . BLX=00001 000000001 DS 2C Display E
221 4 COMMUTER-WORK-CODE. . . . . . . . . . . BLX=00001 000000003 DS 2C Display E
222 3 COMMUTER-NAME . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLX=00001 000000005 DS 9C Display E
223 3 COMMUTER-INITIALS . . . . . . . . . . . . BLX=00001 000000014 DS 2C Display E
224 2 COMMUTER-ADDRESS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLX=00001 000000016 DS 18C Display E
225 2 COMMUTER-CITY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLX=00001 000000034 DS 13C Display E
226 2 COMMUTER-STATE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLX=00001 000000047 DS 2C Display E
227 2 COMMUTER-ZIPCODE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLX=00001 000000049 DS 3P Packed-Dec E
396 1 DETAIL1-LINE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=00001 DS 0CL121 Group
397 2 FILLER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=00001 000000000 DS 2C Display
398 2 PRINT-TRANSACTION-CODE. . . . . . . . . . . BLL=00001 000000002 DS 1C Display
399 2 FILLER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=00001 000000003 DS 4C Display
400 2 PRINT-RECORD-TYPE . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=00001 000000007 DS 3C Display
401 2 FILLER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=00001 000000010 DS 3C Display
402 2 PRINT-SHIFT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=00001 000000013 DS 1C Display
403 2 FILLER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=00001 000000014 DS 1C Display
404 2 PRINT-HOME-CODE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=00001 000000015 DS 2C Display
405 2 FILLER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=00001 000000017 DS 1C Display
406 2 PRINT-WORK-CODE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=00001 000000018 DS 2C Display
407 2 FILLER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=00001 000000020 DS 2C Display
408 2 PRINT-NAME. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=00001 000000022 DS 9C Display
454 1 DETAILX-LINE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=XXXXX DS 0CL121 Group X
455 2 FILLER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=XXXXX DS 36C Display X
456 2 PRINT-CITY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=XXXXX DS 13C Display X
457 2 FILLER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=XXXXX DS 3C Display X
458 2 PRINT-STATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=XXXXX DS 2C Display X
459 2 FILLER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=XXXXX DS 1C Display X
460 2 PRINT-ZIPCODE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=XXXXX DS 5C Display X
461 2 FILLER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=XXXXX DS 1C Display X
462 2 PRINT-WORK-PHONE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=XXXXX DS 14C Display X
463 2 FILLER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=XXXXX DS 1C Display X
464 2 PRINT-WORK-JUNCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=XXXXX DS 25C Display X
465 2 FILLER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=XXXXX DS 20C Display X (10)
467 1 DETAIL2-LINE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=00002 DS 0CL121 Group
468 2 FILLER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=00002 000000000 DS 36C Display
469 2 PRINT-CITY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=00002 000000036 DS 13C Display
470 2 FILLER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=00002 000000049 DS 3C Display
471 2 PRINT-STATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=00002 000000052 DS 2C Display
472 2 FILLER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=00002 000000054 DS 1C Display
473 2 PRINT-ZIPCODE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=00002 000000055 DS 5C Display
474 2 FILLER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=00002 000000060 DS 1C Display
475 2 PRINT-WORK-PHONE. . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=00002 000000061 DS 14C Display
476 2 FILLER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=00002 000000075 DS 1C Display
477 2 PRINT-WORK-JUNCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=00002 000000076 DS 25C Display
478 2 FILLER. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . BLL=00002 000000101 DS 20C Display

(1)
Explanations of the data definition attribute codes.
(2)
Source line number where the data item was defined.
(3)
Level definition or number. The compiler generates this number in the following way:
• First level of any hierarchy is always 01. Increase 1 for each level (any item you coded as level 02
through 49).

Chapter 19. Debugging 397

 • Level-numbers 66, 77, and 88, and the indicators FD and SD, are not changed.
(4)
Data-name that is used in the source module in source order.
(5)
Base locator used for this data item.
(6)
Hexadecimal displacement from the beginning of the containing structure if the MAP(HEX) option is in
effect. If the MAP(DEC) option is in effect, decimal displacement is shown.
(7)
Pseudoassembler code showing how the data is defined. When a structure contains variable-length
fields, the maximum length of the structure is shown.
(8)
Data type and usage.
(9)
Data definition attribute codes. The definitions are explained at the top of the DATA DIVISION map.
(10)
DETAILX-LINE was not referenced in the PROCEDURE DIVISION. Because STGOPT was specified,
DETAILX-LINE was deleted, resulting in the base locator being set to XXXXX.

“Example: embedded map summary” on page 398

“Example: nested program map” on page 402

related references
“Terms used in MAP output” on page 399
“Symbols used in LIST and MAP output” on page 400

Example: embedded map summary

The following example shows an embedded map summary from specifying the MAP option. The summary
appears in the right margin of the listing for lines in the DATA DIVISION that contain data declarations.

000002 Identification Division.

000003
000004 Program-id. IGYTCARA.
. . .
000054 Data division.
000055 File section.
000056
000058 FD COMMUTER-FILE
000059 record 80 characters.
. . . (1) (2) (3)
000060 01 commuter-record. BLF=00001 0CL80
000061 05 commuter-key PIC x(16). BLF=00001,000000000 16C
000062 05 filler PIC x(64). BLF=00001,000000016 64C
. . .
000105 Working-storage section.
000106 01 Working-storage-for-IGYCARA pic x. 1C
000107
000108 77 comp-code pic S9999 comp. 2C
000109 77 ws-type pic x(3) value spaces. 3C
000135 01 i-f-status-area. 0CL2
000136 05 i-f-file-status pic x(2). 000000000 2C
000137 88 i-o-successful value zeroes.
000138
000139
000140 01 status-area. 0CL8
000141 05 commuter-file-status pic x(2). 000000000 2C
000142 88 i-o-okay value zeroes.
000143 05 commuter-vsam-status. 000000002 0CL6
000144 10 vsam-r15-return-code pic 9(2) comp. 000000002 2C
000145 10 vsam-function-code pic 9(1) comp. 000000004 2C
000146 10 vsam-feedback-code pic 9(3) comp. 000000006 2C
000147
000148 77 update-file-status pic xx. 2C
000149 77 loccode-file-status pic xx. 2C
000150 77 updprint-file-status pic xx. 2C
000151
000216 01 ws-commuter-record EXTERNAL. BLX=00001 0CL81
000217 05 ws-commuter-key. BLX=00001,000000000 0CL16

398 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 000218 10 ws-commuter-generic-key. BLX=00001,000000000 0CL5
000219 15 commuter-shift pic x. BLX=00001,000000000 1C
000220 15 commuter-home-code pic xx. BLX=00001,000000001 2C
000221 15 commuter-work-code pic xx. BLX=00001,000000003 2C
000222 10 commuter-name pic x(9). BLX=00001,000000005 9C
000223 10 commuter-initials pic xx. BLX=00001,000000014 2C
000224 05 commuter-address pic x(18). BLX=00001,000000016 18C
000225 05 commuter-city pic x(13). BLX=00001,000000034 13C
000226 05 commuter-state pic xx. BLX=00001,000000047 2C
000227 05 commuter-zipcode pic 9(5) comp-3. BLX=00001,000000049 3P
. . .
000395 Linkage Section.
000396 01 detail1-line. BLL=00001 0CL121
000397 05 filler pic xx. BLL=00001,000000000 2C
000398 05 print-transaction-code pic x. BLL=00001,000000002 1C
000399 05 filler pic x(4). BLL=00001,000000003 4C
000400 05 print-record-type pic x(3). BLL=00001,000000007 3C
000401 05 filler pic xxx. BLL=00001,000000010 3C
000402 05 print-shift pic x. BLL=00001,000000013 1C
000403 05 filler pic x. BLL=00001,000000014 1C
000404 05 print-home-code pic xx. BLL=00001,000000015 2C
000405 05 filler pic x. BLL=00001,000000017 1C
000406 05 print-work-code pic xx. BLL=00001,000000018 2C
000407 05 filler pic xx. BLL=00001,000000020 2C
000408 05 print-name pic x(9). BLL=00001,000000022 9C
000409 05 filler pic xx. BLL=00001,000000031 2C
000410 05 print-initials pic xx. BLL=00001,000000033 2C
. . .
000487 procedure division.
000488 000-do-main-logic.
000489 display "PROGRAM IGYTCARA - Beginning".

(1)
Base locator used for this data item
(2)
Decimal displacement from the beginning of the containing structure. It indicates that the MAP(DEC)
option is in effect. If you specified the MAP(HEX) option or MAP with no suboption, hexadecimal
displacement is shown.
(3)
Pseudoassembler code showing how the data is defined

related references
“Symbols used in LIST and MAP output” on page 400

Terms used in MAP output

The following table describes the terms used in the listings produced by the MAP compiler option.

Table 53. Terms used in MAP output

Term Definition Description
ALPHABETIC DS nC Alphabetic data item (PICTURE A)
ALPHA-EDIT DS nC Alphabetic-edited data item
AN-EDIT DS nC Alphanumeric-edited data item
BINARY DS 1H2, 1F2, 2F2, Binary data item (USAGE BINARY, COMPUTATIONAL, or
2C, 4C, or 8C COMPUTATIONAL-5)
COMP-1 DS 4C Single-precision internal floating-point data item (USAGE
COMPUTATIONAL-1)
COMP-2 DS 8C Double-precision internal floating-point data item (USAGE
COMPUTATIONAL-2)
DBCS DS nC DBCS data item (USAGE DISPLAY-1)
DBCS-EDIT DS nC DBCS-edited data item (USAGE DISPLAY-1)
DISP-FLOAT DS nC Display floating-point data item (USAGE DISPLAY)

Chapter 19. Debugging 399

Table 53. Terms used in MAP output (continued)
Term Definition Description
DISPLAY DS nC Alphanumeric data item (PICTURE X)
DISP-NUM DS nC Zoned decimal data item (USAGE DISPLAY)
DISP-NUM-EDIT DS nC Numeric-edited data item (USAGE DISPLAY)
FD File definition
FUNCTION-PTR DS nC Function pointer (USAGE FUNCTION-POINTER)
GROUP DS 0CLn1 Fixed-length alphanumeric group data item
GRP-VARLEN DS 0CLn1 Variable-length alphanumeric group data item
INDEX DS nC Index data item (USAGE INDEX)
INDEX-NAME DS nC Index name
NATIONAL DS nC Category national data item (USAGE NATIONAL)
NAT-EDIT DS nC National-edited data item (USAGE NATIONAL)
NAT-FLOAT DS nC National floating-point data item (USAGE NATIONAL)
NAT-GROUP DS 0CLn1 National group (GROUP-USAGE NATIONAL)
NAT-GRP-VARLEN DS 0CLn1 National variable-length group (GROUP-USAGE NATIONAL)
NAT-NUM DS nC National decimal data item (USAGE NATIONAL)
NAT-NUM-EDIT DS nC National numeric-edited data item (USAGE NATIONAL)
OBJECT-REF DS nC Object-reference data item (USAGE OBJECT REFERENCE)
PACKED-DEC DS nP Internal decimal data item (USAGE PACKED-DECIMAL or
COMPUTATIONAL-3)
POINTER DS nC Pointer data item (USAGE POINTER)
PROCEDURE-PTR DS nC Procedure pointer (USAGE PROCEDURE-POINTER)
SD Sort file definition
VSAM, QSAM, File processing method
LINESEQ
1-49, 77 Level-numbers for data descriptions
66 Level-number for RENAMES
88 Level-number for condition-names

1. n is the size in bytes for fixed-length groups and the maximum size in bytes for variable-length groups.
2. If the SYNCHRONIZED clause appears, these fields are used.

Symbols used in LIST and MAP output

The following table describes the symbols used in the listings produced by the LIST or MAP option.

Table 54. Symbols used in LIST and MAP output

Symbol Definition
BLF_n1 Base locator for files

400 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 54. Symbols used in LIST and MAP output (continued)
Symbol Definition
BLL_n1 Base locator for LINKAGE SECTION
BLO_n1 Base locator for object instance data
BLT_n1 Base locator for XML-TEXT and XML-NTEXT
BLV_n1 Base locator for variably located data
BLX_n1 Base locator for external data
ODOsv_cell ODO save cell number
Pfm_cell PERFORM cell number
Pfmsv_cell Perform save cell number
TSN=N Temporary created by the compiler
VLC_cell Variable-length cell (ODO)
VN_cell Variable name cell for PERFORM statement
VNGO_cell Variable name cell for ALTER statement
VNI_cell Variable name initialization
#Calc00000000n Code to compute addresses of data that is present after an OCCURS
DEPENDING ON clause
#WSVal0000000n Code to initialize the WORKING-STORAGE area for a procedure
_ArgumentList Outgoing arguments to a procedure
_ACON Address of a symbol
_BEtempNNN Temporary created by the optimizer
_CAA Address of the start of the Language Environment Common Anchor
Area
_CACHED_$STATIC Copy of the start address of the static area (for this procedure)
_CONSTANT_AREA+n Offset in the Constant Area
_CRENT Address of the writeable static area (for this module), from the CAA
_incomingArgumentList Incoming parameters to the procedure
_parentDSA For a nested procedure, it is the address of its parent's stack
_QCON Offset to a symbol
_returnValue Return value of the procedure
_VTS_n Temporary created by the optimizer

1. n is the number of the entry. For base locators, it can also be XXXXX, indicating a data item that was deleted
by STGOPT processing.

Chapter 19. Debugging 401

 Example: nested program map
This example shows a map of nested procedures produced by specifying the MAP compiler option.
Numbers in parentheses refer to notes that follow the example.

Nested Program Map

Program Attribute codes (rightmost column) have the following meanings:
C = COMMON
I = INITIAL (1)
U = PROCEDURE DIVISION USING... (5)
Source Nesting Program
LineID Level Program Name from PROGRAM-ID paragraph Attributes
2 0 NESTMAIN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U
120 1 (4) SUBPRO1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I,C,U
(2)199 2 NESTED1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I,C,U
253 1 SUBPRO2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . U
335 2 NESTED2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C,U
(3)

(1)
Explanations of the program attribute codes
(2)
Source line number where the program was defined
(3)
Depth of program nesting
(4)
Program-name
(5)
Program attribute codes

Reading LIST output

Parts of the LIST compiler output might be useful to you for debugging a program.
The LIST compiler option produces several pieces of output:
• An assembler listing of the initialization code for the program (program signature information bytes)
from which you can verify program characteristics such as:
– Compiler options in effect
– Types of data items present
– Statements used in the PROCEDURE DIVISION
• An assembler listing of the source code for the program
From the address in storage of the instruction that was executing when an abend occurred, you can
find the COBOL statement that corresponds to that instruction. After you find the address of the failing
instruction, go to the assembler listing and find the statement for which that instruction was generated.
The line number is in the 3rd column of the assembler listing for your program. Using the line number,
you can locate the STATEMENT by looking at the corresponding line in the Source Output section of the
listing.
• Information about WORKING-STORAGE. This information is contained in the Data Division Map and
in the Static Map.
• A description of the writeable static area (WSA) is found in the Static Map or WSA24 Map sections of
the listing. The symbols in WORKING-STORAGE area of the source are mapped into the writable static
area that is shown in the Static Map.
You can use the Data Division Map along with the Static Map section to find the location of
data items defined in WORKING-STORAGE. These data items reside in the Writeable Static Area (WSA

402 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 or WSA24). The Static Map gives the offset of each level-1 data item relative to the beginning of the
writable static area. The Data Division Map section gives the offset of the level-n data items relative
to their respective level-1 member. By using both pieces of information, you can determine the offset of
any data member within the writable static area.
If you compile with the DATA24 option, data items mapped below the line will appear in the WSA24
Map. You can follow the same process to determine their locations.
• Information about the constants and the literals used in the program. The Constant Area contains
information about the constants and literals in the program, as well as those created by the compiler.
This section contains the offset of each constant or literal within the Constant Area.
• Program prolog areas (PPA1, PPA2, PPA3, PPA4) contain information about the characteristics of the
compiled program.
• Externals symbols dictionary contains the list of external symbols defined by or referred to, in your
program.
• Map of the dynamic save area (DSA)
The map of the DSA (also known as the stack frame) contains information about the contents of the
storage acquired each time a separately compiled procedure is entered.
You do not need to be able to program in assembler language to understand the LIST output. The
comments that accompany most of the assembler code provide you with a conceptual understanding of
the functions performed by the code.

“Example: Program initialization code” on page 412

“Example: MD5 signature” on page 413
“Example: Timestamp and version information” on page 413
“Example: Compiler options and program information” on page 414
“Example: Assembler code generated from source code” on page 414
“Example: Program prolog areas” on page 415
“Example: Static map ” on page 416
“Example: Constant area” on page 417
“Example: Base locator table” on page 418
“Example: External symbols” on page 419

“Example: DSA memory map (Automatic map)” on page 419

related references
“Signature information bytes” on page 403
“Example: MAP output” on page 396
Language Environment Programming Guide (Stack storage overview)

Signature information bytes

The tables in this topic show program signature information that is part of the listing of program
initialization code provided when you use the LIST compiler option.

Table 55. Compiler options in the INFO BYTE section

Offset in Option Value
decimal
00 CODEPAGE CCSID value specified for EBCDIC code page

Chapter 19. Debugging 403

 Table 55. Compiler options in the INFO BYTE section (continued)
Offset in Option Value
decimal
02 ARCH 7
8
9
10
11
12
03 OPTIMIZE 0
1
2

The INFO BYTE section of the listing also provides the following values:
• The number of DATA DIVISION statements
• The number of PROCEDURE DIVISION statements
In the following table, different signature bytes represent different information:
• Signature bytes 1-5, and 26-31 refer to compiler options
• Signature bytes 6-7 refer to DATA DIVISION items
• Signature byte 8 refers to ENVIRONMENT DIVISION items
• Signature bytes 9-25 refer to PROCEDURE DIVISION statements and items

Table 56. Signature information bytes

Offset Signatur Bit Item
in e byte
On Off
decim
al
04 28 0 SQL NOSQL
1 CICS NOCICS
2 MDECK NOMDECK
3 SQLCCSID NOSQLCCSID
4 OPTFILE NOOPTFILE
5 XMLPARSE(XMLSS) XMLPARSE(COMPAT)
6 BLOCK0 NOBLOCK0
7 DISPSIGN(SEP) DISPSIGN(COMPAT)

404 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 56. Signature information bytes (continued)
Offset Signatur Bit Item
in e byte
On Off
decim
al
05 29 0 Program uses Java-based OO syntax
1 Program uses RANDOM function
2 Program uses NATIONAL data (Unicode)
3 XML PARSE with schema validation
4 STGOPT NOSTGOPT
5 AFP(VOLATILE) AFP(NOVOLATILE)
6 HGPR(PRESERVE) HGPR(NOPRESERVE)
7 NOTEST(DWARF) Not NOTEST(DWARF)
06 30 0 QUALIFY(EXTEND) QUALIFY(COMPAT)
1 VLR(COMPAT) VLR(STANDARD)
2 COPYRIGHT string specified COPYRIGHT string not specified
3 SERVICE string specified SERVICE string not specified
4 INVDATA(FNC,x) Not INVDATA(FNC,x)
Note: When bits 4 and 5 are both off,
NOINVDATA is in effect.

5 INVDATA(NOFNC,x) Not INVDATA(NOFNC,x)

Note: When bits 4 and 5 are both off,
NOINVDATA is in effect

6 INVDATA(x,NOCS) INVDATA(x,CS), should be zero when

bits 4 and 5 are zero.
7 NUMCHECK(ZON(LAX)) NUMCHECK(ZON(STRICT))
07 31 0 NUMCHECK(ZON) Not NUMCHECK(ZON)
1 NUMCHECK(PAC) Not NUMCHECK(PAC)
2 NUMCHECK(BIN) Not NUMCHECK(BIN)
NONUMCHECK is in effect if bits 0, 1, and
2 are off
3 NUMCHECK(ABD) NUMCHECK(MSG) (if any bit of 0, 1, or 2
is on)
4 PARMCHECK NOPARMCHECK
5 PARMCHECK(ABD) (if bit 4 is on) PARMCHECK(MSG) (if bit 4 is on)
6 NUMCHECK(ZON(NOALPHNUM)) NUMCHECK(ZON(ALPHNUM))
7 TEST|NOTEST(SEPARATE(DSNAME)) TEST|
NOTEST(SEPARATE(NODSNAME))

Chapter 19. Debugging 405

Table 56. Signature information bytes (continued)
Offset Signatur Bit Item
in e byte
On Off
decim
al
08 1 0 ADV NOADV
1 APOST QUOTE
2 DATA(31) DATA(24)
3 DECK NODECK
4 DUMP NODUMP
5 DYNAM NODYNAM
6 FASTSRT NOFASTSRT
7 SQLIMS NOSQLIMS
09 2 0 LIB (always on)
1 LIST NOLIST
2 MAP(HEX), MAP(DEC) NOMAP
3 NUM NONUM
4 OBJECT NOOBJECT
5 OFFSET NOOFFSET
6 OPT(1), OPT(2) NOOPT, OPT(0)
7 OUTDD NOOUTDD
10 3 0 NUMPROC(PFD) NUMPROC(NOPFD)
1 RENT NORENT
2 RESIDENT (always on)
3 SEQUENCE NOSEQUENCE
4 Reserved
5 SOURCE NOSOURCE
6 Not NOSSRANGE NOSSRANGE
7 TERM NOTERM
11 4 0 TEST NOTEST
1 TRUNC(STD) Not TRUNC(STD)
2 WORD NOWORD
3 VBREF NOVBREF
4 XREF NOXREF
5 ZWB NOZWB
6 NAME NONAME
7 NOCMPR2 (always off)

406 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 56. Signature information bytes (continued)
Offset Signatur Bit Item
in e byte
On Off
decim
al
12 5 0 Reserved
1 NUMCLS=ALT NUMCLS=PRIM
2 DBCS NODBCS
3 AWO NOAWO
4 TRUNC(BIN) Not TRUNC(BIN)
5 ADATA NOADATA
6 CURRENCY NOCURRENCY
7 Compilation unit is a class Compilation unit is a program
13 6 0 QSAM file descriptor
1 VSAM sequential file descriptor
2 VSAM indexed file descriptor
3 VSAM relative file descriptor
4 CODE-SET clause (ASCII files) in file descriptor
5 Spanned records
6 PIC G or PIC N (DBCS data item)
7 OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause in data description entry
14 7 0 SYNCHRONIZED clause in data description entry
1 JUSTIFIED clause in data description entry
2 USAGE IS POINTER item
3 Complex OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause
4 External floating-point items in the DATA DIVISION
5 Internal floating-point items in the DATA DIVISION
6 Line-sequential file
7 USAGE IS PROCEDURE-POINTER or FUNCTION-POINTER item

Chapter 19. Debugging 407

Table 56. Signature information bytes (continued)
Offset Signatur Bit Item
in e byte
On Off
decim
al
15 8 0 FILE STATUS clause in FILE-CONTROL paragraph
1 RERUN clause in I-O-CONTROL paragraph of INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION
2 UPSI switch defined in SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph
3 WSOPT: Bit to indicate the method used by the compiler to manage WORKING-
STORAGE SECTION. For more information, see COBOL-specific vendor interfaces
in the z/OS Language Environment Vendor Interfaces.
4 VSAMOPENFS
5 1=NUMCHECK(BIN(NOTRUNCBIN))

0=NUMCHECK(BIN(TRUNCBIN))

16 9 0 ACCEPT
1 ADD
2 ALTER
3 CALL
4 CANCEL
6 CLOSE
17 10 0 COMPUTE
2 DELETE
4 DISPLAY
5 DIVIDE
18 11 1 END-PERFORM
2 ENTER
3 ENTRY
4 EXIT
5 EXEC
6 GO TO
7 IF

408 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 56. Signature information bytes (continued)
Offset Signatur Bit Item
in e byte
On Off
decim
al
19 12 0 INITIALIZE
1 INVOKE
2 INSPECT
3 MERGE
4 MOVE
5 MULTIPLY
6 OPEN
7 PERFORM
20 13 0 READ
2 RELEASE
3 RETURN
4 REWRITE
5 SEARCH
7 SET
21 14 0 SORT
1 START
2 STOP
3 STRING
4 SUBTRACT
7 UNSTRING
22 15 0 USE
1 WRITE
2 CONTINUE
3 END-ADD
4 END-CALL
5 END-COMPUTE
6 END-DELETE
7 END-DIVIDE

Chapter 19. Debugging 409

Table 56. Signature information bytes (continued)
Offset Signatur Bit Item
in e byte
On Off
decim
al
23 16 0 END-EVALUATE
1 END-IF
2 END-MULTIPLY
3 END-READ
4 END-RETURN
5 END-REWRITE
6 END-SEARCH
7 END-START
24 17 0 END-STRING
1 END-SUBTRACT
2 END-UNSTRING
3 END-WRITE
4 GOBACK
5 EVALUATE
7 SERVICE
25 18 0 END-INVOKE
1 END-EXEC
2 XML
3 END-XML
4 ALLOCATE
5 FREE
6 JSON
7 END-JSON
26 19 0-7 Reserved
27 20 0-7 Reserved
28 21 0 Hexadecimal literal
1 Altered GO TO
2 I-O ERROR declarative
4 DEBUGGING declarative
5 Program segmentation
6 OPEN . . . EXTEND
7 EXIT PROGRAM

410 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 56. Signature information bytes (continued)
Offset Signatur Bit Item
in e byte
On Off
decim
al
29 22 0 CALL literal
1 CALL identifier
2 CALL . . . ON OVERFLOW
3 CALL . . . LENGTH OF
4 CALL . . . ADDRESS OF
5 CLOSE . . . REEL/UNIT
6 Exponentiation used
7 Floating-point items used
30 23 0 COPY
1 BASIS
2 DBCS name in program
3 Shift-out and Shift-in in program
4 SUPPRESS|NOSUPPRESS
5 SSRANGE(ZLEN) (if bit 6 in byte 3 is on) SSRANGE(NOZLEN) (if bit 6 in byte 3 is
on)
6 SSRANGE(ABD) (if bit 6 in byte 3 is on) SSRANGE(MSG) (if bit 6 in byte 3 is on)
7 INLINE|NOINLINE
40 24 0 DBCS literal
1 REPLACE
2 Reference modification was used.
3 Nested program
4 INITIAL (either IS INITIAL or compiler option INITIAL)
5 COMMON
6 SELECT . . . OPTIONAL
7 EXTERNAL
41 25 0 GLOBAL
1 RECORD IS VARYING
2 VOLATILE
5 Intrinsic function was used
6 Z-literal found
7 RECURSIVE

Chapter 19. Debugging 411

Table 56. Signature information bytes (continued)
Offset Signatur Bit Item
in e byte
On Off
decim
al
42 26 0 RMODE(ANY) Not RMODE(ANY)
1-3 Reserved
4 Reserved
5 INTDATE(LILIAN) INTDATE(ANSI)
6 TEST|NOTEST(SEPARATE) TEST|NOTEST(NOSEPARATE)
7 Reserved
43 27 0 PGMNAME(LONGUPPER) Not PGMNAME(LONGUPPER)
1 PGMNAME(LONGMIXED) Not PGMNAME(LONGMIXED)
2 DLL NODLL
3 EXPORTALL NOEXPORTALL
4 TEST|NOTEST(SOURCE) TEST|NOTEST(NOSOURCE)
5 ARITH(EXTEND) ARITH(COMPAT)
6 THREAD NOTHREAD
7 TEST(EJPD) TEST(NOEJPD)
44 28 0-7 Build level info

Check return code: A return code greater than 4 from the compiler could mean that some of the
statements shown in the information bytes might have been discarded from the program.

related references
“LIST” on page 331
z/OS Language Environment Vendor Interfaces (COBOL-specific vendor interfaces)

Example: Program initialization code

A listing of the program initialization code gives you information about the characteristics of the COBOL
source program. Interpret the program signature information bytes to verify characteristics of your
program.
The information such as PROGRAM-ID, COMPILED TIME, and COMPILED DATE included in the
initialization code of Enterprise COBOL V4 or earlier is not included in the initialization code of Enterprise
COBOL V5 or later, so the program it depends on might behave differently with Enterprise COBOL V5
and V6. For more details, see Error behavior changes for incorrect programs (Enterprise COBOL Migration
Guide)

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

000000 000003 PROC IGYTCARA

000000 47F0 F014 000003 BC R15,20(,R15) # Skip over constant area
000004 01C3 C5C5 000003 DC X'01C3C5C5' # Eyecatcher: CEE
000008 0000 0978 000003 DC X'00000978' # Stack Size
00000C 0000 8910 000003 DC X'00008910' # Offset to PPA1
000010 47F0 F001 000003 BC R15,1(,R15) # Wrong Entry Point: cause exception
000014 000003 L3282: EQU *
000014 90EC D00C 000003 STM R14,R12,12(,R13) # Save GPRs Used
000018 4110 F024 000003 LA R1,36(,R15) # Args for boot strap routine
00001C 98EF F034 000003 LM R14,R15,52(,R15) #
000020 07FF 000003 BR R15 # Branch to boot strap routine
000022 0000 000003 DC X'0000' # Available half-word
000024 000003 L3284: EQU * # Boot Strap Info Block
000024 0000 0000 000003 DC X'00000000' # address of entry label

412 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 000028 0000 0000 000003 DC X'00000000' # WSA24 allocation size
00002C 0000 8A0C 000003 DC X'00008A0C' # address of Saved Option String
000030 0000 8948 000003 DC X'00008948' # address of entry point name
000034 0000 0054 000003 DC X'00000054' # A(Label L3283)
000038 0000 0000 000003 DC X'00000000' # address of boot strap routine(IGZXBST)
00003C 000003 L3285: EQU * # CEE Parameter Block
00003C 0000 0024 000003 DC X'00000024' # address of infoBlockLabel
000040 0000 8A1C 000003 DC X'00008A1C' # A(PARMCEE-CEEEPARMBlock)
000044 000003 L3280: EQU * # Handle growing stack
000044 58F0 C31C 000003 L R15,796(,R12) # Load CEECAAOGETS
000048 184E 000003 LR R4,R14 # Required NAB
00004A 05EF 000003 BALR R14,R15 # Extend Stack
00004C 0000 0000 000003 DC X'00000000' # Argument list size = 0
000050 A7F4 0009 000003 J L3281 # Branch back
000054 000003 @MAINENT DS 0H # PRIMARY ENTRY POINT ADDRESS
000054 000003 L3283: EQU * # User Code Entry Point
000054 18EF 000003 LR R14,R15 # Load NAB
000056 4100 E978 000003 LA R0,2424(,R14) # New NAB Address
00005A 5500 C314 000003 CL R0,788(,R12) # Exceed current storage segment?
00005E A724 FFF3 000003 JH L3280 # Yes: branch to recovery code
000062 000003 L3281: EQU * # Stack now has sufficient room
000062 5000 E04C 000003 ST R0,76(,R14) # Update NAB
000066 A708 0010 000003 LHI R0,16 # COBOL Language Word upper half
00006A 8900 0010 000003 SLL R0,16 # shift to upper half of register
00006E A70A 0301 000003 AHI R0,769 # add COBOL Language Word lower half
000072 5000 E000 000003 ST R0,0(,R14) # Save Language Word
000076 50D0 E004 000003 ST R13,4(,R14) # Save Back Chain
00007A 18DE 000003 LR R13,R14 # Set new DSA
00007C 4100 D6D0 000003 LA R0,1744(,R13) # Address of COBDSACB
000080 5000 D074 000003 ST R0,116(,R13) # Saved in member slot1
000084 4100 0000 000003 LA R0,0(,R0) #
000088 5000 D070 000003 ST R0,112(,R13) # zero member slot0

(1)
Offset from the start of the COBOL program
(2)
Hexadecimal representation of assembler instructions
(3)
Source line number
(4)
Pseudo-assembler representation of the code generated for the COBOL program
(5)
Comments that explain the pseudo-assembler code

related references
“Signature information bytes” on page 403

Example: MD5 signature

The following example shows LIST output about the MD5 signature. This information is also included in
the DWARF debugging data in the application module. MD5 signature is located at 16 bytes before the
Timestamp and Version Information section.

000608 AAEE 60C2 DAA3 =X'AAEE60C2DAA3' md5 signature

00060E 776D AEB5 E753 =X'776DAEB5E753' md5 signature
000614 E767 C4E1 =X'E767C4E1' md5 signature

Note: The MD5 signature is shown only if the TEST option is specified or if -g is specified with cob2 under
z/OS UNIX.
The presence or absence of the MD5 signature is indicated by a compilation flag bit of the PPA2. If the
bit is set to 1, the MD5 signature is present; if the bit is set to 0, the MD5 signature is absent. For details
about PPA2, see z/OS Language Environment Vendor Interfaces.

related references
“Example: Program prolog areas” on page 415

Example: Timestamp and version information

The following example shows LIST output about the version of the compiler and the date and time of
compilation.

Timestamp and Version Information

Chapter 19. Debugging 413

 0029C8 F2F0 F1F7 =C'2017' Compiled Year
0029CC F0F7 F1F7 =C'0717' Compiled Date MMDD
0029D0 F1F2 F3F1 F2F2 =C'123122' Compiled Time HHMMSS
0029D6 F0F6 F0F2 F0F0 =C'060200' VERSION
Timestamp and Version End

Example: Compiler options and program information

The following example shows LIST output for the compiler options and program information.

DATA VALIDATION AND UPDATE PROGRAM IGYTCARA Date 09/08/2017 Time 10:48:16

Compiler Options and Program Information Section

(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)

0029DC 0030 =X'0030' Size of Compiler Options and Prog Info Section
0029DE (+00) 0474 =X'0474' UNSIGNED BINARY CODE PAGE CCSID VALUE
0029E0 (+02) 06 =X'06' ARCHITECTURE LEVEL
0029E1 (+03) 00 =X'00' OPTIMIZATION LEVEL
0029E2 (+04) 1406 =X'1406' INFO. BYTES 28-29
0029E4 (+06) 0000 =X'0000' RESERVED
0029E6 (+08) A04875CC2001 =X'A04875CC2001' INFO. BYTES 1-6
0029EC (+14) 100010884909 =X'100010884909' INFO. BYTES 7-12
0029F2 (+20) 002008800C00 =X'002008800C00' INFO. BYTES 13-18
0029F8 (+26) 000001A000 =X'000001A000' INFO. BYTES 19-23
0029FD (+31) 00 =X'00' COBOL SIGNATURE LEVEL
0029FE (+32) 0000002F =X'0000002F' # DATA DIVISION STATEMENTS
002A02 (+36) 0000005B =X'0000005B' # PROCEDURE DIVISION STATEMENTS
002A06 (+40) 18808008 =X'18808008' INFO. BYTES 24-27
002A0A (+44) E2F1F6F0F1F1F540 =C'P170724' BUILD LEVEL INFO

Compiler Options and Program Information Section End

(1)
Offset in the program object
(2)
Offset in decimal
(3)
Contents of the bytes in hexadecimal format
(4)
Assembler representation of the bytes
(5)
Explanation of the bytes in the section

Example: Assembler code generated from source code

The following example shows a listing of the assembler code that is generated from source code when
you use the LIST compiler option. You can use this listing to find the COBOL statement that corresponds
to the instruction that failed.

000964: display "PROGRAM IGYTCARA - Beginning". (1)

(2) (3) (4) (5) (6)

0001EA E320 3394 0171 000964 LAY R2,5012(,R3) #
0001F0 D203 D5E8 2000 000964 MVC 1512(4,R13),0(R2) # _$CONSTANT_AREA+5012
0001F6 E320 3398 0171 000964 LAY R2,5016(,R3) #
0001FC D203 D5EC 2000 000964 MVC 1516(4,R13),0(R2) # _$CONSTANT_AREA+5016
000202 4120 39C8 000964 LA R2,2504(,R3) #
000206 5020 D5F0 000964 ST R2,1520(,R13) #
00020A E320 338C 0171 000964 LAY R2,5004(,R3) #
000210 D203 D5F4 2000 000964 MVC 1524(4,R13),0(R2) # _$CONSTANT_AREA+5004
000216 E320 339C 0171 000964 LAY R2,5020(,R3) #
00021C D203 D5F8 2000 000964 MVC 1528(4,R13),0(R2) # _$CONSTANT_AREA+5020
000222 D703 D5FC D5FC 000964 XC 1532(4,R13),1532(R13) #
000228 4110 D5E8 000964 LA R1,1512(,R13) # _ArgumentList
00022C E3F0 31D4 0158 000964 LY R15,4564(,R3) # _ACON
000232 58C0 D080 000964 L R12,128(,R13) # _@CAA
000236 0DEF 000964 BASR R14,R15 # Call "IGZXDSP"
000965: perform 050-create-vsam-master-file.
000238 5820 D670 000965 L R2,1648(,R13) # VN_cell
00023C 5020 D544 000965 ST R2,1348(,R13) # PfmSv_Cell
000240 C020 0000 0007 000965 LARL R2
000246 5020 D670 000965 ST R2,1648(,R13) # VN_cell
00024A A7F4 02F4 000965 J 050-CREATE-VSAM-MASTER-FILE
00024E 5820 D544 000965 L R2,1348(,R13) # PfmSv_Cell
000252 5020 D670 000965 ST R2,1648(,R13) # VN_cell

(1)
Source code interspersed with the pseudo-assembler instructions

414 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
(2)
Relative location of the object code instruction in the module, in hexadecimal notation
(3)
Object code instructions, in hexadecimal notation
The first two or four hexadecimal digits are the instruction, and the remaining digits are the instruction
operands. Some instructions have two operands.
(4)
Source line number associated with this assembler code
(5)
Object code instructions, in compiler-generated pseudo assembler
(6)
Explanation of the instruction and the operands used by the instructions

related references
“Symbols used in LIST and MAP output” on page 400

Example: Program prolog areas

The following example shows LIST output for the program prolog area. The Program Prologue Area (PPA)
is comprised of several sections that contain information about the compiled program.
There is a PPA1 for every procedure in your program, including procedures generated by the compiler. The
offset to its corresponding PPA1 is recorded at offset 12 (X'C') from the start of each procedure. The PPA1
contains information about the procedure as well as offsets to the PPA2 and PPA3 sections.
For details on how to use the program prolog areas to locate information in the listing file, see z/OS
Language Environment Vendor Interfaces.

DATA VALIDATION AND UPDATE PROGRAM IGYTCARA Date 09/08/2017 Time 10:48:16

1 2 3 4
PPA1: Entry Point Constants
0081E0 1CCEA506 =F'483304710' Flags
0081E4 00008310 =A(PPA2-IGYTCARA)
0081E8 00008378 =A(PPA3-IGYTCARA)
0081EC 00000000 =F'0' No EPD
0081F0 FFFE0000 =F'-131072' Register Save Mask
0081F4 40000000 =F'1073741824' Member Flags
0081F8 90 =AL1(144) Flags
0081F9 000978 =AL3(2424) Callee's DSA use/8
0081FC 0000 =AL1(0) Flags
0081FE 0012 =H'18' Offset/2 to CDL
008200 D00006D0 =F'-805304624' State variable location
008204 00000000 =F'0' CDL function length/2
008208 00000000 =F'0' CDL function EP offset
00820C 00000000 =F'0' CDL prolog
008210 00000000 =F'0' CDL epilog
008214 00000000 =F'0' CDL end
008218 0008 **** AL2(8),C'IGYTCARA'
PPA1 End

There is one PPA2 for each program. The offset to the PPA2 is recorded in each PPA1. The PPA2 contains
offsets to the Timestamp and Version Information section of the listing as well as to the PPA4
section.
If the TEST option is not in effect, the PPA2 section looks like this:
PPA2: Entry Point Constants
000800 04002203 =F'67117571' Flags
000804 FFFFF800 =A(CEESTART-PPA2)
000808 00000058 =F'88' A(PPA4-PPA2)
00080C FFFFFFB0 =A(TIMESTMP-PPA2)
000810 FFFFF800 =A(PrimaryEntryPoint-PPA2)
000814 02200000 =F'35651584' Flags
PPA2 End

If the TEST option is in effect, the PPA2 section looks like this:
PPA2: Entry Point Constants
000830 04002203 =F'67117571' Flags
000834 FFFFF7D0 =A(CEESTART-PPA2)
000838 00000058 =F'88' A(PPA4-PPA2)
00083C FFFFFFB0 =A(TIMESTMP-PPA2)
000840 FFFFF7D0 =A(PrimaryEntryPoint-PPA2)

Chapter 19. Debugging 415

 000844 02600000 =F'39845888' Flags
PPA2 End

There is one PPA3 for each program (including each nested program) in a COBOL source file. Each entry
contains offsets, relative to the PPA3 itself, to the base locator table and to the special register table. The
PPA3 also contains an offset from the start of the program to the first COBOL statement.

PPA3: Entry Point Constants

0014D8 00000000 =F'0' Flags
0014DC 000000C0 =F'192' A(Base_Locator_Table-PPA3)
0014E0 000000D8 =F'216' A(Special_Register_Table-PPA3)
0014E4 00000184 =X'184' A(User_Entry-CUEntry)
PPA3 End

There is one PPA4 for each program. It has offsets to various compiler generated tables, such as the
writable static area (the Static Map and WSA24 sections). The offset to the PPA4 is recorded in a field of
the PPA2.

PPA4: Entry Point Constants

000710 22000000 =F'570425344' Flags 1
000714 00020100 =F'131328' Flags 2
000718 00000000 =F'0' A(NORENTstatic)
00071C 00000000 =F'0' Q(RENTstatic)
000720 0000006C =F'108' A(DATA31_address_cell-RENTstatic)
000724 FFFFF8F0 =F'-1808' A(Code-PPA4)
000728 00000760 =F'1888' Code Length
00072C 00000000 =F'0' Length NORENTstatic
000730 00000070 =F'112' Length RENTstatic
000734 00000094 =F'148' Length DATA31
000738 003F =X'3F' A(CUName-PPA4)
00073A 0000 =X'0' PPA4 Minor Ver
000744 7FFFFFFF =X'7FFFFFFF' Offset UsrWrkStrg
000748 00000000 =X'0' Length UsrWrkStrg
00074C 00 =X'0' Has Externals
00074D 0000 =X'0' A(SYSDEBUGName-PPA4)
PPA4 End

1
Relative location, in hexadecimal format, of the PPA field in the object module
2
The contents of the field, in hexadecimal
3
An assembler-like syntax defining the field
4
A description of the contents of the field.
related references
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION changes
(Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Migration Guide)
z/OS Language Environment Vendor Interfaces

Example: Static map

The three map sections in the listing, STATIC MAP, WORKING-STORAGE MAP, and WSA 24 MAP are
collectively called the static maps of a program. The storage for these areas is allocated at the start of the
program and persists until the end of the run unit or until the program is canceled.
The layouts of these three map sections are similar:
• The first column shows the offset of the item from a block of storage allocated by the compiler.
• The second column is the size of the symbol, including all of its sublevel members.
• The third column is the name of the area being described.
See the following STATIC MAP as an example of the layout. If the NORENT compiler option is in effect, the
WORKING-STORAGE data items are mapped in the STATIC MAP section. For COBOL data items, the offset

416 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
is the offset to the start of the level-01 data item from the block of storage allocated by the compiler. The
starting address of this block resides in the Constant Area.

* * * * * S T A T I C M A P * * * * *

OFFSET (HEX) LENGTH (HEX) NAME

0 4 BLL_Ptrs
4 C BLT_Ptrs
10 60 GPCB
70 4 WS-BASE-ADDRESS
74 8 TS2=6

If the RENT and DATA(31) compiler options are in effect, the WORKING-STORAGE data items are shown
under the WORKING-STORAGE MAP. If the RENT and DATA(24) options are in effect, the WORKING-
STORAGE data items are shown under the WSA 24 MAP. A STATIC MAP section is also shown where
compiler generated internal data items and locators are mapped.

* * * * * W S A 2 4 M A P * * * * *

OFFSET (HEX) LENGTH (HEX) NAME

0 4 JNIENVPTR
8 2 RETURN-CODE
10 2 SORT-RETURN
18 8 SORT-CONTROL
20 4 SORT-CORE-SIZE
28 4 SORT-FILE-SIZE
30 4 SORT-MODE-SIZE
38 8 SORT-MESSAGE
40 4 TALLY
48 1 SHIFT-OUT
50 1 SHIFT-IN
58 4 XML-CODE
60 1E XML-EVENT
80 4 XML-INFORMATION
88 50 COMMUTER-FILE
D8 50 COMMUTER-FILE-MST
128 7A PRINT-FILE
1A8 1 WORKING-STORAGE-FOR-IGYCARA
1B0 2 COMP-CODE
1B8 3 WS-TYPE
1C0 2 I-F-STATUS-AREA
1C8 8 STATUS-AREA
1D0 2 UPDATE-FILE-STATUS

Example: Constant area

The following example shows LIST output about strings and other literals from the COBOL source as well
as those generated by the compiler.
The compiler generates loads from (and stores to) the Constant Area by loading the starting address of
Constant Area and adding the fixed offsets to the respective constants or literals.

CONSTANT AREA:
(1) (2) (3) (4)

006A98 (+0) 00CCDDFF 00000000 C9C7E8E3 C3C1D9C1 00000000 00000000 C9C7E9E2 D9E3C3C4
|........IGYTCARA........IGZSRTCD|
006AB8 (+32) 40000A00 40000000 00000008 00000000 E2E8E2D6 E4E34040 00100000 00000000
| ... ...........SYSOUT ........|
006AD8 (+64) 0E000000 00000001 0F000000 0000001E 00000000 40000000 00000003 0064003C
|.................... ...........|
006AF8 (+96) 000FE800 9F0F0000 00000011 00000000 E3D9C1D5 E2C1C3E3 4B40C3D6 C4C50000 |..Y.............TRANSACT.
CODE..|
006B18 (+128) 0000000E 00000000 E2C8C9C6 E340C3D6 C4C54040 40400000 C8D6D4C5 40D3D6C3 |........SHIFT CODE ..HOME
LOC|
006B38 (+160) 4B40C3D6 C4C50000 E6D6D9D2 40D3D6C3 4B40C3D6 C4C50000 D3C1E2E3 40D5C1D4 |. CODE..WORK LOC. CODE..LAST
NAM|
006B58 (+192) C5404040 40400000 C9D5C9E3 C9C1D3E2 40404040 40400000 C4E4D7D3 C9C3C1E3 |
E ..INITIALS ..DUPLICAT|
006B78 (+224) C540D9C5 C34B0000 D9C5C34B 40D5D6E3 40C6D6E4 D5C40000 C1C4C4D9 C5E2E240 |E REC...REC. NOT
FOUND..ADDRESS |
006B98 (+256) 40404040 40400000 C3C9E3E8 40404040 40404040 40400000 E2E3C1E3 C540C3D6 | ..CITY ..STATE
CO|
006BB8 (+288) C4C54040 40400000 E9C9D7C3 D6C4C540 40404040 40400000 C8D6D4C5 40D7C8D6 |DE ..ZIPCODE ..HOME
PHO|
006BD8 (+320) D5C54040 40400000 E6D6D9D2 40D7C8D6 D5C54040 40400000 C8D6D4C5 40D1E4D5 |NE ..WORK PHONE ..HOME

Chapter 19. Debugging 417

 JUN|
006BF8 (+352) C3E3C9D6 D5400000 E6D6D9D2 40D1E4D5 C3E3C9D6 D5400000 C4D9C9E5 C9D5C740 |CTION ..WORK
JUNCTION ..DRIVING |
006C18 (+384) E2E3C1E3 E4E20000 40D9C5D7 D6D9E340 407B7A40 C9C7E8E3 C3C1D9C1 40404040 |STATUS.. REPORT #:
IGYTCARA |
006C38 (+416) 40404040 40404040 40404040 40404040 40404040 40404040 40404000 00000033
| .....|
006C58 (+448) C3D6D4D4 E4E3C5D9 40C6C9D3 C540E4D7 C4C1E3C5 40D3C9E2 E3404040 40404040 |COMMUTER FILE UPDATE
LIST |
006C78 (+480) 40404040 40404040 40404040 40404040 40400000 00000032 40404040 40404040
| ...... |
006C98 (+512) D7C1C7C5 407B7A40 00000000 00000010 40D7D9D6 C7D9C1D4 407B7A40 C9C7E8E3 |PAGE #: ........ PROGRAM #:
IGYT|
006CB8 (+544) C3C1D9C1 40404040 404040D9 E4D540E3 C9D4C57A 40000000 00000025 7A000000 |CARA RUN
TIME: .......:...|
006CD8 (+576) 00000030 00000000 D9E4D540 C4C1E3C5 7A400000 0000000A 61000000 0000000B |........RUN
DATE: ....../.......|

(1)
Offset in csect.
(2)
Offset in base 10.
(3)
8 columns containing the bytes in the Constant Area
(4)
Character representation. A dot (.) is used for non-printable characters.

Example: Base locator table

The following example shows LIST output for the base locator table.

Base Locator Table

008AB0 01 =X'1' Table Version
008AB1 00 =X'0' Reserved
008AB2 0008 =H'8' Header length
008AB4 00000010 =F'16' Array byte length
008AB8 2A00 =X'2A00' Flags & info (element 1)
008ABA 00000014 =X'14' Offset to cells
008ABE 03 =X'3' Cell count
008ABF 0A00 =X'A00' Flags & info (element 2)
008AC1 00000000 =X'0' Offset to cells
008AC5 05 =X'5' Cell count
008AC6 0000 =X'0' Flags & info (end of
array)
Base Locator Table End

For more information about the base locator table, see z/OS Language Environment Vendor Interfaces.

related references
z/OS Language Environment Vendor Interfaces (Base locator table)

Example: Special register table

The following example shows LIST output for the special register table. The special register table has a
similar format to the base locator table.

Special Register Table

0015B0 01 =X'1' Table Version
0015B1 00 =X'0' Reserved
0015B2 0008 =H'8' Header length
0015B4 00000006 =F'6' Array byte length
0015B8 12 =X'12' Flags & info (element 1)
0015B9 00000018 =X'18' Offset to cells
0015BD 00 =X'0' Flags & info (end of
array)
Special Register Table End

Each entry in the special register table consists of the following items:
• A byte which represents the following information:
– Special register ID number (bits 0 - 4). ID = 1 represents the RETURN-CODE register
– Access mode (bits 5 - 8)

418 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 - MODE = 0; Base Address = Top of Stack
- MODE = 1; Base Addr = NORENT Static
- MODE = 2; Base Addr = 32-bit RENT static
- MODE = 3; 24-bit NORENT static
• An offset to the special register
The end of the special register table is indicated by a null byte.

Example: External symbols

The following example shows LIST output for external symbols defined by, or referred to in your program.
The external symbol dictionary contains one entry per external symbol defined by or referred to in the
program.
Each entry contains the address, length and symbol type. Symbol types are:
ED
External Definition
SD
Section Definition
LD
Label Definition
ER
External Reference
PR
Pseudo Register

E X T E R N A L S Y M B O L D I C T I O N A R Y

TYPE ID ADDR LENGTH NAME

SD 1 000000 000000 IGYTCARA

ED 2 000000 000000 C_CEESG003
ED 3 000000 008AC8 C_CODE
LD 4 000000 000000 IGYTCARA#C
ER 5 000000 000000 CEESTART
ER 6 000000 000000 CEEBETBL
ED 7 000000 000000 C_WSA
PR 8 000000 002204 IGYTCARA#S
ED 9 000000 000022 B_IDRL
ER 10 000000 000000 IGZXBST
ER 11 000000 000000 IGYTCARA
ER 12 000000 000000 IGZXPRS
ER 13 000000 000000 IGZXCMSG
ER 14 000000 000000 IGZXDSP
ER 15 000000 000000 IGZXVCLS

Example: DSA memory map (Automatic map)

The following example shows LIST output for the dynamic save area (DSA). The DSA contains information
about the contents of the storage acquired when a separately compiled procedure is entered.

* * * * * A U T O M A T I C M A P * * * * *
1 2 3
OFFSET (HEX) LENGTH (HEX) NAME

Block name: IGYTCARA

80 4 _@CAA
C8 3 _BEtemp200

Chapter 19. Debugging 419

 CC 3 _BEtemp204
D0 3 _BEtemp208
D4 3 _BEtemp212
D8 3 _BEtemp216
DC 3 _BEtemp220
E0 3 _BEtemp224
E4 3 _BEtemp228
E8 10 _BEtemp232
F8 20 _BEtemp248
118 20 _BEtemp280
138 4 _BEtemp312
13C 4 _BEtemp316
140 4 _BEtemp320
144 4 _BEtemp324
148 4 _BEtemp328
14C 4 _BEtemp332
150 4 _BEtemp336
154 4 _BEtemp340
158 4 _BEtemp344
15C 4 _BEtemp348
160 4 _BEtemp352
164 4 _BEtemp356
168 4 _BEtemp360
16C 4 _BEtemp364
170 4 _BEtemp368
174 4 _BEtemp372
178 4 _BEtemp376

(1)
Hexadecimal offset of the DSA field from the start of the DSA
(2)
Length (in hexidecimal) of the DSA field
(3)
Symbol name

Example: XREF output: data-name cross-references

The following example shows a sorted cross-reference of data-names that is produced by the XREF
compiler option. Numbers in parentheses refer to notes after the example.

An "M" preceding a data-name reference indicates that the

data-name is modified by this reference.

(1) (2) (3)

Defined Cross-reference of data-names References

265 ABEND-ITEM1
266 ABEND-ITEM2
347 ADD-CODE . . . . . . . . . . . 1102 1162
381 ADDRESS-ERROR. . . . . . . . . M1126
280 AREA-CODE. . . . . . . . . . . 1236 1261 1324 1345
382 CITY-ERROR . . . . . . . . . . M1129

(4)
Context usage is indicated by the letter preceding a procedure-name
reference. These letters and their meanings are:
A = ALTER (procedure-name)
D = GO TO (procedure-name) DEPENDING ON
E = End of range of (PERFORM) through (procedure-name)
G = GO TO (procedure-name)
P = PERFORM (procedure-name)
T = (ALTER) TO PROCEED TO (procedure-name)
U = USE FOR DEBUGGING (procedure-name)

(5) (6) (7)

Defined Cross-reference of procedures References

877 000-DO-MAIN-LOGIC
930 050-CREATE-STL-MASTER-FILE . . P879
982 100-INITIALIZE-PARAGRAPH . . . P880
1441 1100-PRINT-I-F-HEADINGS. . . . P915
1481 1200-PRINT-I-F-DATA. . . . . . P916
1543 1210-GET-MILES-TIME. . . . . . P1510
1636 1220-STORE-MILES-TIME. . . . . P1511
1652 1230-PRINT-SUB-I-F-DATA. . . . P1532

420 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 1676 1240-COMPUTE-SUMMARY . . . . . P1533
1050 200-EDIT-UPDATE-TRANSACTION. . P886
1124 210-EDIT-THE-REST. . . . . . . P1116
1159 300-UPDATE-COMMUTER-RECORD . . P888
1207 310-FORMAT-COMMUTER-RECORD . . P1164 P1179
1258 320-PRINT-COMMUTER-RECORD. . . P1165 P1176 P1182 P1192
1288 330-PRINT-REPORT . . . . . . . P1178 P1202 P1256 P1280 P1340 P1365 P1369
1312 400-PRINT-TRANSACTION-ERRORS . P890

Cross-reference of data-names:
(1)
Line number where the name was defined.
(2)
Data-name.
(3)
Line numbers where the name was used. If M precedes the line number, the data item was explicitly
modified at the location.
Cross-reference of procedure references:
(4)
Explanations of the context usage codes for procedure references.
(5)
Line number where the procedure-name is defined.
(6)
Procedure-name.
(7)
Line numbers where the procedure is referenced, and the context usage code for the procedure.

“Example: XREF output: program-name cross-references” on page 421

“Example: XREF output: COPY/BASIS cross-references” on page 422
“Example: XREF output: embedded cross-reference” on page 423

Example: XREF output: program-name cross-references

The following example shows a sorted cross-reference of program-names produced by the XREF compiler
option. Numbers in parentheses refer to notes that follow the example.

(1) (2) (3)

Defined Cross-reference of programs References

EXTERNAL EXTERNAL1. . . . . . . . . . . 25
2 X. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
12 X1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 7
20 X11. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 16
27 X12. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 17
35 X2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 8

(1)
Line number where the program-name was defined. If the program is external, the word EXTERNAL is
displayed instead of a definition line number.
(2)
Program-name.
(3)
Line numbers where the program is referenced.

Chapter 19. Debugging 421

 Example: XREF output: COPY/BASIS cross-references
The following example shows a sorted cross-reference of copybooks to the library-names and data-set
names of the associated copybooks, produced by the XREF compiler option under z/OS. Numbers in
parentheses refer to notes after the example.

COPY/BASIS cross-reference of text-names, library names

(1) (1) (2) (3) (4)

Text-name Library File name Concat ISPF
(Member) (DDNAME) (Data set name) Level Created

ACTIONS OTHERLIB USERID.COBOL.COPY 0 1992/07/11

ACTIONS SYSLIB USERID.COBOL.COPY 0 1992/07/11
CUSTOMER ALTDDXXY USERID.COBOL.LIB3 0 2007/06/01
CUSTOMER SYSLIB USERID.COBOL.LIB2PDSE 1 2007/06/07
HOUSE ALTDDXXY USERID.COBOL.LIB2 1 2007/06/07
HOUSE SYSLIB USERID.COBOL.LIB2PDSE 1
IMOTOR SYSLIB USERID.COBOL.LIB4X 3 2007/06/07
ISOVERFY SYSLIB USERID.COBOL.COPY 0
NSMAP SYSLIB USERID.COBOL.LIB3 2

(1)
Text-name and library (an abbreviation for library-name) are from the statement COPY text-name
OF library-name in the source, for example, Copy ACTIONS Of OTHERLIB.
(2)
The name of the data set from which the COPY member was copied.
(3)
Abbreviation for concatenation level. Indicates how many levels deep a given data set is from the first
data set in the concatenation for a given ddname.
For example, four data sets in the example above are concatenated to ddname SYSLIB:

DDNAME DSNAME (concatenation level)

SYSLIB DD DSN=USERID.COBOL.COPY, 0
DD DSN=USERID.COBOL.LIB2PDSE, 1
DD DSN=USERID.COBOL.LIB3, 2
DD DSN=USERID.COBOL.LIB4X 3

Thus for example member NSMAP shown in the listing above was found in data set
USERID.COBOL.LIB3, which is two levels down from the first data set in the SYSLIB concatenation.
(4)
Creation date is shown if the PDSE was edited with STATS ON in ISPF.
Tip: Under z/OS, if there is more than one data set in your SYSLIB concatenation, the COPY/BASIS
cross-reference might in some cases be incomplete or missing. For details, see the related reference
about the XREF compiler option.
If you compile in the z/OS UNIX shell, the cross-reference looks like the excerpt shown below.

COPY/BASIS cross-reference of text-names, library names, and file names

(5) (5) (6)

Text-name Library-name File name

'/copydir/copyM.cbl' SYSLIB /u/JSMITH/cobol//copydir/copyM.cbl

'/copyA.cpy' SYSLIB /u/JSMITH/cobol//copyA.cpy
'cobol/copyA.cpy' ALTDD2 /u/JSMITH/cobol/copyA.cpy
'copy/stuff.cpy' ALTDD2 /u/JSMITH/copy/stuff.cpy

422 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 'copydir/copyM.cbl' SYSLIB /u/JSMITH/cobol/copydir/copyM.cbl
'copydir/copyM.cbl' SYSLIB (default) /u/JSMITH/cobol/copydir/copyM.cbl
'stuff.cpy' ALTDD /u/JSMITH/copy/stuff.cpy
"copyA.cpy" (7) SYSLIB (default) /u/JSMITH/cobol/copyA.cpy
"reallyXXVeryLongLon> SYSLIB (default) (8)<JSMITH/cobol/
reallyXXVeryLongLongName.cpy
OTHERDD ALTDD2 /u/JSMITH//copy/other.cob
. . .

Note: Some names were truncated. > = truncated on right < = truncated on left

(5)
From the COPY statement in the source; for example the COPY statement corresponding to the third
item in the cross-reference above would be:

COPY 'cobol/copyA.cpy' Of ALTDD2

(6)
The fully qualified path of the file from which the COPY member was copied
(7)
Truncation of a long text-name or library-name on the right is marked by a greater-than sign (>).
(8)
Truncation of a long file name on the left is marked by a less-than sign (<).

related references
“XREF” on page 370

Example: XREF output: embedded cross-reference

The following example shows a modified cross-reference that is embedded in the source listing. The
cross-reference is produced by the XREF compiler option.

LineID PL SL ----+-*A-1-B--+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----+----6----+----7-|--+----8 Map and Cross Reference

. . .
000878 procedure division.
000879 000-do-main-logic.
000880 display "PROGRAM IGYTCARA - Beginning".
000881 perform 050-create-vsam-master-file. 932 (1)
000882 perform 100-initialize-paragraph. 984
000883 read update-transaction-file into ws-transaction-record 204 340
000884 at end
000885 1 set transaction-eof to true 254
000886 end-read.
. . .
000984 100-initialize-paragraph.
000985 move spaces to ws-transaction-record IMP 340 (2)
000986 move spaces to ws-commuter-record IMP 316
000987 move zeroes to commuter-zipcode IMP 327
000988 move zeroes to commuter-home-phone IMP 328
000989 move zeroes to commuter-work-phone IMP 329
000990 move zeroes to commuter-update-date IMP 333
000991 open input update-transaction-file 204
000992 location-file 193
000993 i-o commuter-file 181
000994 output print-file 217
. . .
001442 1100-print-i-f-headings.
001443
001444 open output print-file. 217
001445
001446 move function when-compiled to when-comp. IFN 698 (2)
001447 move when-comp (5:2) to compile-month. 698 640
001448 move when-comp (7:2) to compile-day. 698 642
001449 move when-comp (3:2) to compile-year. 698 644
001450
001451 move function current-date (5:2) to current-month. IFN 649
001452 move function current-date (7:2) to current-day. IFN 651
001453 move function current-date (3:2) to current-year. IFN 653
001454
001455 write print-record from i-f-header-line-1 222 635
001456 after new-page. 138
. . .

(1)
Line number of the definition of the data-name or procedure-name in the program

Chapter 19. Debugging 423

 (2)
Special definition symbols:
UND
The user name is undefined.
DUP
The user name is defined more than once.
IMP
Implicitly defined name, such as special registers and figurative constants.
IFN
Intrinsic function reference.
EXT
External reference.
*
The program-name is unresolved because the NOCOMPILE option is in effect.

Example: OFFSET compiler output

The following example shows a compiler listing that has a condensed statement listing, global tables,
WORKING-STORAGE information, and literals. The listing is output from the OFFSET compiler option.

DATA VALIDATION AND UPDATE PROGRAM IGYTCARA Date 04/19/2021 Time 10:48:16
. . .
(1) (2) (3)
LINEID HEXLOC VERBCODE LINEID HEXLOC VERBCODE LINEID HEXLOC VERBCODE
000011 0001B8 DISPLAY 000012 0001CC PERFORM 000021 0001D0 IF
000022 0001E2 MOVE 000024 0001EA MOVE 000012 000204 PERFORM
000013 000214 DISPLAY 000014 000228 PERFORM 000021 00022C IF
000022 00023E MOVE 000024 000246 MOVE 000014 00024A PERFORM
000015 00025A DISPLAY 000021 000272 IF 000022 000284 MOVE
000024 00028C MOVE 000016 000290 PERFORM 000017 0002A0 DISPLAY
000018 0002B8 STOP

(1)
Line number. Your line numbers or compiler-generated line numbers are listed.
(2)
Offset, from the start of the program, of the code generated for this verb (in hexadecimal notation).
The verbs are listed in the order in which they occur and are listed every time an instruction is
generated for a different line/statement pair than the previous instruction.
(3)
Statement used.
Note: Due to the out of line code used for error message formatting, Language Environment generated
offsets, as indicated in "From compile unit {name} at entry point {name} at compile
unit offset {offset}...", might be outside the offset range of the program. In these cases, refer to
the statement number in the COBOL message (IGZnnnns) to locate the problem.

related references
“OFFSET” on page 341

Example: VBREF compiler output

The following example shows an alphabetic listing of all the statements in a program, and shows where
each is referenced. The listing is produced by the VBREF compiler option.

(1) (2) (3)

2 ACCEPT . . . . . . . . . . . . 1010 1012
2 ADD. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1290 1306
1 CALL . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1406
5 CLOSE. . . . . . . . . . . . . 898 945 970 1526 1535

424 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 20 COMPUTE. . . . . . . . . . . . 1506 1640 1644 1657 1660 1663 1664 1665 1678 1682 1686 1691 1696 1701 1709 1713
1718 1723 1728 1733
2 CONTINUE . . . . . . . . . . . 1062 1069
2 DELETE . . . . . . . . . . . . 964 1193
48 DISPLAY. . . . . . . . . . . . 878 906 917 918 919 933 940 942 947 953 960 966 972 996 997 998 999 1003 1006 1037
1090 1168 1171 1185 1195 1387 1388 1389 1390 1391 1392 1393 1401 1402 1403 1404
1405 1433 1485 1486 1492 1497 1498 1520 1521 1528 1529 1624
2 EVALUATE . . . . . . . . . . . 1161 1557
47 IF . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 887 905 932 939 946 952 959 965 971 993 1002 1036 1051 1054 1071 1074 1077 1089
1102 1111 1115 1125 1128 1131 1134 1137 1141 1145 1148 1151 1167 1184 1194 1240
1247 1265 1272 1289 1321 1330 1339 1351 1361 1484 1496 1519 1527
183 MOVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 907 937 957 983 984 985 986 987 988 1004 1011 1013 1025 1038 1052 1055 1060 1067
1072 1075 1078 1079 1080 1081 1082 1083 1091 1103 1112 1126 1129 1132 1135 1139
1143 1146 1149 1152 1160 1163 1169 1175 1177 1180 1181 1186 1191 1196 1201 1208
1209 1210 1211 1212 1213 1214 1215 1216 1217 1218 1219 1220 1221 1222 1229 1230
1231 1232 1233 1234 1235 1239 1241 1244 1248 1250 1251 1253 1254 1255 1257 1258
1259 1260 1264 1266 1269 1273 1275 1276 1278 1279 1291 1294 1299 1301 1303 1307
1313 1314 1315 1316 1317 1318 1319 1320 1322 1323 1327 1328 1331 1333 1334 1336
1338 1341 1342 1343 1344 1348 1349 1352 1354 1355 1357 1362 1364 1368 1374 1375
1376 1377 1378 1379 1380 1381 1414 1417 1422 1425 1445 1446 1447 1448 1450 1451
1452 1457 1464 1489 1502 1507 1508 1509 1517 1551 1561 1566 1571 1576 1581 1586
1591 1596 1601 1606 1611 1616 1621 1626 1627 1679 1683 1688 1693 1698 1703 1710
1715 1720 1725 1730 1735
5 OPEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . 931 951 989 1443 1483
62 PERFORM. . . . . . . . . . . . 879 880 885 886 888 890 892 908 909 915 916 934 935 941 943 948 949 954 955 961
962 967 968 973 974 1000 1005 1008 1023 1039 1092 1093 1116 1164 1165 1170 1172
1176 1178 1179 1182 1187 1188 1192 1197 1198 1202 1246 1256 1271 1280 1329 1340
1350 1359 1365 1369 1504 1510 1511 1532 1533
8 READ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 881 893 958 1014 1026 1085 1490 1514
1 REWRITE. . . . . . . . . . . . 1183
4 SEARCH . . . . . . . . . . . . 1058 1065 1413 1421
46 SET. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 883 895 1016 1028 1041 1057 1064 1084 1087 1363 1412 1420 1493 1499 1516 1522 1548
1550 1559 1560 1564 1565 1569 1570 1574 1575 1579 1580 1584 1585 1589 1590 1594
1595 1599 1600 1604 1605 1609 1610 1614 1615 1619 1620 1639 1643
2 STOP . . . . . . . . . . . . . 920 1434
4 STRING . . . . . . . . . . . . 1236 1261 1324 1345
33 WRITE. . . . . . . . . . . . . 938 1166 1292 1293 1295 1296 1297 1298 1300 1302 1305 1454 1459 1462 1465 1467 1469
1471 1512 1654 1655 1667 1668 1669 1740 1742 1744 1745 1746 1747 1748 1749 1750

(1)
Number of times the statement is used in the program
(2)
statement
(3)
Line numbers where the statement is used

Example: conditional compilation output

The following example shows the listing of a program that contains conditional compilation statements.
The note numbers in the listing correspond to numbered explanations that follow the listing.

LineID PL SL ----+-*A-1-B--+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----+----6----+----7-|--+----8 Map and Cross Reference

000001 identification division.

000002 program-id. prog.
000003 data division.
000004 working-storage section.
000005 01 x pic 9(9) binary.
000006 procedure division.
000007 MainProgram.
000008 >>define var as 12
000009 >>evaluate var
000010 >>when 10
000011 * display 'var is 10' (1)
000012 >>when 11 thru 13
000013 display 'var is 11, 12 or 13' (2)
000014 >>when other
000015 * display 'invalid value' (1)
000016 >>end-evaluate
000017 goback.
000018 end program prog.

(1)
Those branches of the EVALUATE directive were false at compile time, so the code in those branches
was omitted from the resultant program.
(2)
That branch of the EVALUATE directive evaluated to true at compile time, so the code in that branch
was included in the resultant program.

related references
EVALUATE directive (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
Conditional compilation (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Chapter 19. Debugging 425

Suppressing information in CEEDUMP processing (IGZ1OPT)
If TEST(DWARF) is in effect, CEEDUMP processing might include a large amount of information in the
dump, depending on the size of the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION. You can suppress this information at
execution time by setting up the JCL of a JOB.
1. In the Language Environment sample data set, .SCEESAMP, use the sample JCL IGZ1OPT to create a
load module called IGZUOPT. Change the JOB card and load library name, and run this JCL to generate
IGZUOPT.
2. Put this module in a data set in the STEPLIB concatenation, DWARF information will be suppressed
during the CEEDUMP processing. This can reduce the volume of output for a COBOL program in the
CEEDUMP.
JOB STEP1 of the JCL assembles an assembler program that invokes a MACRO called IGZXOPT. This
macro is used to specify special COBOL runtime options. Currently, only the SKIPDWARF option is
supported with the following syntax:

IGZXOPT SKIPDWARF=ON | OFF

The setting of SKIPDWARF can be ON or OFF, and the default value is OFF:
• If ON is specified, DWARF processing in CEEDUMP is suppressed.
• If OFF is specified, DWARF processing proceeds normally. Specifying OFF is equivalent to omitting
IGZUOPT from the STEPLIB.

related references
“TEST” on page 359

426 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Part 3. Targeting COBOL programs for certain
environments

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 427

428 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 20. Developing COBOL programs for CICS

COBOL programs that are written for CICS can run under CICS Transaction Server. CICS COBOL
application programs that use CICS services must use the CICS command-level interface.
When you use the CICS compiler option, the Enterprise COBOL compiler handles both native COBOL
statements and embedded CICS statements in the source program. You can still use the separate CICS
translator to translate CICS statements to COBOL code, but use of the integrated CICS translator is
recommended instead.
After you compile and bind your program, you need to do some other steps such as updating CICS tables
before you can run the COBOL program under CICS. However, these CICS topics are beyond the scope of
COBOL information. For further information, see the related tasks.
You can determine how runtime errors are handled by setting the CBLPSHPOP runtime option. For
information about CICS HANDLE and CBLPSHPOP, see the related tasks.

related concepts
“Integrated CICS translator” on page 434
related tasks
“Coding COBOL programs to run under CICS” on page 429
“Compiling with the CICS option” on page 433
“Using the separate CICS translator” on page 435
“Handling errors by using CICS HANDLE” on page 437
Language Environment Programming Guide (Condition handling under CICS:
using the CBLPSHPOP runtime option)
Developing CICS Applications

related references
“CICS” on page 303

Coding COBOL programs to run under CICS

To code a program to run under CICS, code CICS commands in the PROCEDURE DIVISION by using the
EXEC CICS command format.

EXEC CICS command-name command-options

END-EXEC

CICS commands have the basic format shown above. Within EXEC commands, use the space as a word
separator; do not use a comma or a semicolon. Do not code COBOL statements within EXEC CICS
commands.
Restriction: You cannot run COBOL programs that have object-oriented syntax for Java interoperability in
CICS. In addition, if you write programs to run under CICS, do not use the following code:
• FILE-CONTROL entry in the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION, unless the FILE-CONTROL entry is used for a
SORT statement
• FILE SECTION of the DATA DIVISION, unless the FILE SECTION is used for a SORT statement
• User-specified parameters to the main program
• USE declaratives (except USE FOR DEBUGGING)
• These COBOL language statements:
– ACCEPT format 1: data transfer (you can use format-2 ACCEPT to retrieve the system date and time)
– CLOSE

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 429

 – DELETE
– DISPLAY UPON CONSOLE
– DISPLAY UPON SYSPUNCH
– MERGE
– OPEN
– READ
– RERUN
– REWRITE
– START
– STOP literal
– WRITE
If you plan to use the separate CICS translator, you must put any REPLACE statements that contain EXEC
commands after the PROCEDURE DIVISION header for the program, otherwise the commands will not
be translated.
Coding file input and output: You must use CICS commands for most input and output processing.
Therefore, do not describe files or code any OPEN, CLOSE, READ, START, REWRITE, WRITE, or DELETE
statements. Instead, use CICS commands to retrieve, update, insert, and delete data.
Coding a COBOL program to run above the 16 MB line: Under Enterprise COBOL, the following
restrictions apply when you code a COBOL program to run above the 16 MB line:
• If you use IMS/ESA® without DBCTL, DL/I CALL statements are supported only if all the data passed
in the call resides below the 16 MB line. Therefore, you must specify the DATA(24) compiler option.
However, if you use IMS/ESA with DBCTL, you can use the DATA(31) compiler option instead and pass
data that resides above the 16 MB line.
If you use EXEC DLI instead of DL/I CALL statements, you can specify DATA(31) regardless of the
level of the IMS product.
• If the receiving program is link-edited with AMODE 31, addresses that are passed must be 31 bits long,
or 24 bits long with the leftmost byte set to zeros.
• If the receiving program is link-edited with AMODE 24, addresses that are passed must be 24 bits long.
Displaying the contents of data items: DISPLAY to the system logical output device (SYSOUT, SYSLIST,
SYSLST) is supported under CICS. The DISPLAY output is written to the Language Environment
message file (transient data queue CESE). DISPLAY . . . UPON CONSOLE and DISPLAY . . .
UPON SYSPUNCH, however, are not allowed. You can specify the DISPSIGN option to control output
formatting for DISPLAY of signed numeric items.

related concepts
“Integrated CICS translator” on page 434

related tasks
“Sorting under CICS” on page 228
“Getting the system date
under CICS” on page 431
“Calling to or from COBOL programs” on page 431
“Determining the success of ECI calls” on page 432
“Using the separate CICS translator” on page 435

related references
“CICS SORT application
restrictions” on page 228
“DISPSIGN” on page 313

430 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Getting the system date under CICS
To retrieve the system date in a CICS program, use a format-2 ACCEPT statement or the CURRENT-DATE
intrinsic function.
You can use any of these format-2 ACCEPT statements in CICS to get the system date:
• ACCEPT identifier-2 FROM DATE (two-digit year)
• ACCEPT identifier-2 FROM DATE YYYYMMDD
• ACCEPT identifier-2 FROM DAY (two-digit year)
• ACCEPT identifier-2 FROM DAY YYYYDDD
• ACCEPT identifier-2 FROM DAY-OF-WEEK (one-digit integer, where 1 represents Monday)
You can use this format-2 ACCEPT statement in CICS to get the system time:
• ACCEPT identifier-2 FROM TIME
Alternatively, you can use the CURRENT-DATE intrinsic function, which can also provide the time.
These methods work in both CICS and non-CICS environments.
Do not use a format-1 ACCEPT statement in a CICS program.

related tasks
“Assigning input from a
screen or file (ACCEPT)” on page 35

related references
CURRENT-DATE (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Calling to or from COBOL programs

You can make calls to or from VS COBOL II, COBOL for MVS & VM, COBOL for OS/390 & VM, and
Enterprise COBOL programs by using the CALL statement.
If you are calling a separately compiled COBOL program that was processed with either the separate CICS
translator or the integrated CICS translator, you must pass DFHEIBLK and DFHCOMMAREA as the first two
parameters in the CALL statement.
Called programs that are processed by the separate CICS translator or the integrated CICS translator can
contain any function that is supported by CICS for the language.
Dynamic calls:
You can use COBOL dynamic calls when running under CICS. If a COBOL program contains EXEC CICS
statements or contains EXEC SQL statements, the NODYNAM compiler option is required. To dynamically
call a program in this case, you can use CALL identifier with the NODYNAM compiler option.
If a COBOL program contains no EXEC CICS statements and contains no EXEC SQL statements, there is
no requirement to compile with NODYNAM. To dynamically call a program in this case, you can use either
CALL literal with the DYNAM compiler option, or CALL identifier.
Note: END-EXEC cannot be followed by a period when it is associated with EXEC CICS statements even
though it is required for EXEC SQL statements.
You must define dynamically called programs in the CICS program processing table (PPT) if you are not
using CICS autoinstall. Under CICS, COBOL programs do not support dynamic calls to subprograms that
have the RELOAD=YES option coded in their CICS PROGRAM definition. Dynamic calls to programs that are
defined with RELOAD=YES can cause a storage shortage. Use the RELOAD=NO option for programs that
are to be dynamically called by COBOL.
Interlanguage communication (ILC):
Support for ILC with other high-level languages is available. Where ILC is not supported, you can use
CICS LINK, XCTL, and RETURN instead.

Chapter 20. Developing COBOL programs for CICS 431

 The following table shows the calling relationship between COBOL and assembler programs. In the
table, assembler programs that conform to the interface that is described in the Language Environment
Programming Guide are called Language Environment-conforming assembler programs. Those that do not
conform to the interface are non-Language Environment-conforming assembler programs.

Table 57. Calls between COBOL and assembler under CICS

Calls between COBOL and assembler Language Environment- Non-Language Environment-
programs conforming assembler conforming assembler
program program
From an Enterprise COBOL program to Yes Yes
the assembler program?
From the assembler program to an Yes No
Enterprise COBOL program?

Nested programs:
When you compile with the integrated CICS translator, the translator generates the DFHEIBLK and
DFHCOMMAREA control blocks with the GLOBAL clause in the outermost program. Therefore if you code
nested programs, you do not have to pass these control blocks as arguments on calls to the nested
programs.
If you code nested programs and you plan to use the separate CICS translator, pass DFHEIBLK and
DFHCOMMAREA as parameters to the nested programs that contain EXEC commands or references to the
EXEC interface block (EIB). You must pass the same parameters also to any program that forms part of
the control hierarchy between such a program and its top-level program.

related concepts
“Integrated CICS translator” on page 434

related tasks
“Using the separate CICS translator” on page 435
“Choosing the DYNAM or NODYNAM compiler option” on page 448
“Handling errors when calling programs” on page 241
Language Environment Writing ILC Communication Applications (ILC under CICS)
Using EXCI with CICS
Language Environment Programming Guide

related references
“DYNAM” on page 317

Determining the success of ECI calls

After calls to the external CICS interface (ECI), the content of the RETURN-CODE special register is set
to an unpredictable value. Therefore, even if your COBOL program terminates normally after successfully
using the external CICS interface, the job step could end with an undefined return code.
To ensure that a meaningful return code occurs at termination, set the RETURN-CODE special register
before you terminate your program. To make the job return code reflect the status of the last call to CICS,
set the RETURN-CODE special register based on the response codes from the last call to the external CICS
interface.

related tasks
Using EXCI with CICS

432 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Compiling with the CICS option
Use the CICS compiler option to enable the integrated CICS translator and to specify CICS suboptions.
If you specify the NOCICS option, the compiler diagnoses and discards any CICS statements that it finds
in your source program. If you have already used the separate CICS translator, you must use NOCICS.
You can specify the CICS option in any of the compiler option sources: compiler invocation, PROCESS or
CBL statements, or installation default. If the CICS option is the COBOL installation default, you cannot
specify CICS suboptions. However, making the CICS option the installation default is not recommended,
because the changes that are made by the integrated CICS translator are not appropriate for non-CICS
applications.
All CBL or PROCESS statements must precede any comment lines, in accordance with the rules for
Enterprise COBOL.
The COBOL compiler passes to the integrated CICS translator the CICS suboption string that you provide
in the CICS compiler option. The compiler does not analyze the suboption string.
When you use the integrated CICS translator, you must compile with the following options:

Table 58. Compiler options required for the integrated CICS translator
Compiler option Comment
CICS If you specify DYNAM or NORENT, the compiler forces NODYNAM and RENT
on.
NODYNAM Must be in effect with CICS
RENT Must be in effect with CICS

In addition, IBM recommends that you use the compiler option WORD(CICS) to cause the compiler to flag
language elements that are not supported under CICS.
To compile your program with the integrated CICS translator, you can use the standard JCL procedural
statements that are supplied with COBOL. In addition to specifying the above compiler options, you must
change your JCL in two ways:
• Specify the STEPLIB override for the COBOL step.
• Add the data set that contains the integrated CICS translator services, unless these services are in the
linklist.
The default name of the data set for CICS Transaction Server V6R1 is CICSTS61.CICS.SDFHLOAD, but
your installation might have changed the name. For example, you might have the following line in your
JCL:

//STEPLIB DD DSN=CICSTS61.CICS.SDFHLOAD,DISP=SHR

The COBOL compiler listing includes the error diagnostics (such as syntax errors in the CICS statements)
that the integrated CICS translator generates. The listing reflects the input source; it does not include the
COBOL statements that the integrated CICS translator generates.
Compiling a sequence of programs: When you use the CICS option to compile a source file that contains
a sequence of COBOL programs, the order of precedence of the options from highest to lowest is:
• Options that are specified in the CBL or PROCESS card that initiates the unit of compilation
• Options that are specified when the compiler is started
• CICS default options

related concepts
“Integrated CICS translator” on page 434

Chapter 20. Developing COBOL programs for CICS 433

 related tasks
“Coding COBOL programs to run under CICS” on page 429
“Separating CICS suboptions” on page 434
Developing CICS Applications

related references
“CICS” on page 303
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295

Separating CICS suboptions

You can partition the specification of CICS suboptions into multiple CBL statements. CICS suboptions are
cumulative. The compiler concatenates them from multiple sources in the order that they are specified.
For example, suppose that a JCL file has the following code:

//STEP1 EXEC IGYWC, . . .

//PARM.COBOL="CICS("FLAG(I)")"
//COBOL.SYSIN DD *
CBL CICS("DEBUG")
CBL CICS("LINKAGE")
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. COBOL1.

During compilation, the compiler passes the following CICS suboption string to the integrated CICS
translator:

"FLAG(I) DEBUG LINKAGE"

The concatenated strings are delimited with single spaces and with a pair of quotation marks (" ") or a
pair of apostrophes (' ') around the group. When the compiler finds multiple instances of the same CICS
suboption, the last specification of the suboption in the concatenated string takes effect. The compiler
limits the length of the concatenated CICS suboption string to 4 KB.

related references
“CICS” on page 303

Integrated CICS translator

When you compile a COBOL program using the CICS compiler option, the COBOL compiler works with the
integrated CICS translator to handle both native COBOL and embedded CICS statements in the source
program.
When the compiler encounters CICS statements, and at other significant points in the source program,
the compiler interfaces with the integrated CICS translator. All text between EXEC CICS and END-EXEC
statements is passed to the translator. The translator takes appropriate actions and then returns to the
compiler, typically indicating which native language statements to generate.
Although you can still translate embedded CICS statements separately, it is recommended that you
use the integrated CICS translator instead. Certain restrictions that apply when you use the separate
translator do not apply when you use the integrated translator, and using the integrated translator
provides several advantages:
• You can use Debug Tool to debug the original source instead of the expanded source that the separate
CICS translator generates.
• You do not need to separately translate the EXEC CICS or EXEC DLI statements that are in copybooks.
• There is no intermediate data set for a translated but not compiled version of the source program.
• Only one output listing instead of two is produced.
• Using nested programs that contain EXEC CICS statements is simpler. DFHCOMMAREA and DFHEIBLK
are generated with the GLOBAL attribute in the outermost program. You do not need to pass them

434 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 as arguments on calls to nested programs or specify them in the USING phrase of the PROCEDURE
DIVISION header of nested programs.
• You can keep nested programs that contain EXEC CICS statements in separate files, and include those
nested programs by using COPY statements.
• REPLACE statements can affect EXEC CICS statements.
• You can compile programs that contain CICS statements in a batch compilation (compilation of a
sequence of programs).
• Because the compiler generates binary fields in CICS control blocks with format COMP-5 instead of
BINARY, there is no dependency on the setting of the TRUNC compiler option. You can use any setting of
the TRUNC option in CICS programs, subject only to the requirements of the application logic and use of
user-defined binary fields.
Note: The CICS documentation states that the EXCI translator option is not supported for programs
compiled with the integrated CICS translator, but CICS has reversed this position. You can now compile
with the EXCI translator option and ignore the warning message DFH7006I.

related concepts
Developing CICS Applications (The integrated CICS translator)

related tasks
“Coding COBOL programs to run under CICS” on page 429
“Compiling with the CICS option” on page 433

related references
“CICS” on page 303
“TRUNC” on page 364

Using the separate CICS translator

To run a COBOL program under CICS, you can use the separate CICS translator to convert the CICS
commands to COBOL statements, and then compile and link the program to create the executable
module. However, using the CICS translator that is integrated with Enterprise COBOL is recommended.
The separate CICS translator has not been updated for newer COBOL language such as floating comment
delimiters, JSON GENERATE and JSON PARSE, and compiler directives. To use the latest features of the
COBOL compiler, use the integrated CICS translator.
To translate CICS statements separately, use the COBOL3 translator option. This option causes the
following line to be inserted:

CBL RENT,NODYNAM,

You can suppress the insertion of a CBL statement by using the CICS translator option NOCBLCARD.
After you use the separate CICS translator, use the following compiler options when you compile the
program:

Table 59. Compiler options required for the separate CICS translator
Required compiler option Condition
RENT
NODYNAM The program is translated by the CICS translator.

In addition, IBM recommends that you use the compiler option WORD(CICS) to cause the compiler to flag
language elements that are not supported under CICS.
The following TRUNC compiler option recommendations are based on expected values for binary data
items:

Chapter 20. Developing COBOL programs for CICS 435

 Table 60. TRUNC compiler options recommended for the separate CICS translator
Recommended compiler Condition
option
TRUNC(OPT) All binary data items conform to the PICTURE and USAGE clause for
those data items.
TRUNC(BIN) Not all binary data items conform to the PICTURE and USAGE clause for
those data items.

For example, if you use the separate CICS translator and have a data item defined as PIC S9(8)
BINARY that might receive a value greater than eight digits, use the TRUNC(BIN) compiler option, change
the item to USAGE COMP-5, or change the PICTURE clause.
You might also want to avoid using these options, which have no effect:
• ADV
• FASTSRT
• OUTDD
The input data set for the compiler is the data set that you received as a result of translation, which is
SYSPUNCH by default.
related concepts
“Integrated CICS translator” on page 434

related tasks
“Compiling with the CICS option” on page 433

CICS reserved-word table

COBOL provides an alternate reserved-word table (IGYCCICS) for CICS application programs. If you use
the compiler option WORD(CICS), COBOL words that are not supported under CICS are flagged with an
error message.
In addition to the COBOL words restricted by the IBM-supplied default reserved-word table, the IBM-
supplied CICS reserved-word table restricts the following COBOL words:
• CLOSE
• DELETE3
• FACTORY
• FD
• FILE1
• FILE-CONTROL1
• INPUT-OUTPUT1
• INVOKE
• I-O-CONTROL
• MERGE
• METHOD
• OBJECT
• OPEN
• READ
• RERUN
• REWRITE

436 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 • SD1, 2
• SELF
• START
• SUPER
• WRITE
Notes:
1. If you intend to use the SORT statement under CICS (COBOL supports an interface for the SORT
statement under CICS), you must change the CICS reserved-word table to remove the words from the
list of words marked as restricted.
2. The SORT keyword is not restricted, but the SD keyword is. This allows you to use the format 2 (table)
sort statement but not the format 1 (file) sort statement.
3. If you restrict the DELETE keyword, you may still use the DELETE function of BASIS processing.

related tasks
“Compiling with the CICS option” on page 433
“Sorting under CICS” on page 228

related references
“WORD” on page 369

Handling errors by using CICS HANDLE

The setting of the CBLPSHPOP runtime option affects the state of the HANDLE specifications when a
program calls COBOL subprograms using a CALL statement.
When CBLPSHPOP is ON and a COBOL subprogram (not a nested program) is called with a CALL
statement, the following actions occur:
1. As part of program initialization, the run time suspends the HANDLE specifications of the calling
program (using EXEC CICS PUSH HANDLE).
2. The default actions for HANDLE apply until the called program issues its own HANDLE commands.
3. As part of program termination, the run time reinstates the HANDLE specifications of the calling
program (using EXEC CICS POP HANDLE).
If you use the CICS HANDLE CONDITION or CICS HANDLE AID commands, the LABEL specified for
the CICS HANDLE command must be in the same PROCEDURE DIVISION as the CICS command that
causes branching to the CICS HANDLE label. You cannot use the CICS HANDLE commands with the
LABEL option to handle conditions, aids, or abends that were caused by another program invoked with
the COBOL CALL statement. Attempts to perform cross-program branching by using the CICS HANDLE
command with the LABEL option result in a transaction abend.
If a condition, aid, or abend occurs in a nested program, the LABEL for the condition, aid, or abend must
be in the same nested program; otherwise unpredictable results occur.
Performance considerations: When CBLPSHPOP is OFF, the run time does not perform CICS PUSH
or POP on a CALL to any COBOL subprogram. If the subprograms do not use any of the EXEC CICS
condition-handling commands, you can run with CBLPSHPOP(OFF), thus eliminating the overhead of the
PUSH HANDLE and POP HANDLE commands. As a result, performance can be improved compared to
running with CBLPSHPOP(ON).
If you are migrating an application from the VS COBOL II run time to the Language Environment run time,
see the related reference for information about the CBLPSHPOP option for additional considerations.
“Example: handling errors by using CICS HANDLE” on page 438

related tasks
“Running efficiently with CICS, IMS, or VSAM” on page 680

Chapter 20. Developing COBOL programs for CICS 437

 related references
Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Migration Guide
Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Performance Tuning Guide

Example: handling errors by using CICS HANDLE

The following example shows the use of CICS HANDLE in COBOL programs.
Program A has a CICS HANDLE CONDITION command and program B has no CICS HANDLE commands.
Program A calls program B; program A also calls nested program A1. A condition is handled in one of
three scenarios.
(1)
CBLPSHPOP(ON): If the CICS READ command in program B causes a condition, the condition is not
handled by program A (the HANDLE specifications are suspended because the run time performs a
CICS PUSH HANDLE). The condition turns into a transaction abend.
(2)
CBLPSHPOP(OFF): If the CICS READ command in program B causes a condition, the condition is
not handled by program A (the run time diagnoses the attempt to perform cross-program branching
by using a CICS HANDLE command with the LABEL option). The condition turns into a transaction
abend.
(3)
If the CICS READ command in nested program A1 causes a condition, the flow of control goes to
label ERR-1, and unpredictable results occur.

***********************************************************
* Program A *
***********************************************************
ID DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. A.
. . .
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
EXEC CICS HANDLE CONDITION
ERROR(ERR-1)
END-EXEC.
CALL 'B' USING DFHEIBLK DFHCOMMAREA.
CALL 'A1'.
. . .
THE-END.
EXEC CICS RETURN END-EXEC.
ERR-1.
. . .
* Nested program A1.
ID DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. A1.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
EXEC CICS READ (3)
FILE('LEDGER')
INTO(RECORD)
RIDFLD(ACCTNO)
END-EXEC.
END PROGRAM A1.
END PROGRAM A.
*
***********************************************************
* Program B *
***********************************************************
ID DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. B.
. . .
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
EXEC CICS READ (1) (2)
FILE('MASTER')
INTO(RECORD)
RIDFLD(ACCTNO)
END-EXEC.
. . .
END PROGRAM B.

438 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 21. Programming for a Db2 environment
In general, the coding for a COBOL program will be the same if you want the program to access a Db2
database. However, to retrieve, update, insert, and delete Db2 data and use other Db2 services, you must
use SQL statements.
To communicate with Db2, do these steps:
• Code any SQL statements that you need, delimiting them with EXEC SQL and END-EXEC statements.
• Either use the Db2 stand-alone precompiler, or compile with the SQL compiler option and use the Db2
coprocessor.

related concepts
“Db2 coprocessor” on page 439
“COBOL and Db2 CCSID determination” on page 444

related tasks
“Using the separate Db2 precompiler” on page 440
“Coding SQL statements” on page 440
“Compiling with the SQL option” on page 443
“Choosing the DYNAM or NODYNAM compiler option” on page 448

related references
“Differences in how the Db2 precompiler
and coprocessor behave” on page 446

Db2 coprocessor
When you use the Db2 coprocessor (called SQL statement coprocessor by Db2), the compiler handles
your source programs that contain embedded SQL statements without your having to use a separate
precompile step.
To use the Db2 coprocessor, specify the SQL compiler option.
When the compiler encounters SQL statements in the source program, it interfaces with the Db2
coprocessor. All text between EXEC SQL and END-EXEC statements is passed to the coprocessor. The
coprocessor takes appropriate actions for the SQL statements and indicates to the compiler which native
COBOL statements to generate for them.
Although the use of a separate precompile step continues to be supported, it is recommended that you
use the coprocessor instead:
• Interactive debugging with Debug Tool is enhanced when you use the coprocessor because you see the
SQL statements (not the generated COBOL source) in the listing.
• The COBOL compiler listing includes the error diagnostics (such as syntax errors in the SQL statements)
that the Db2 coprocessor generates.
• Certain restrictions on the use of COBOL language that apply when you use the precompile step do not
apply when you use the Db2 coprocessor. With the coprocessor:
– You can use SQL statements in any nested program. (With the precompiler, SQL statements are
restricted to the outermost program.)
– You can use SQL statements in copybooks.
– REPLACE statements work in SQL statements.
Compiling with the Db2 coprocessor generates a Db2 database request module (DBRM) along with the
usual COBOL compiler outputs such as object module and listing. The DBRM writes to the data set that
you specified in the DBRMLIB DD statement in the JCL for the COBOL compile step. As input to the Db2

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 439

 bind process, the DBRM data set contains information about the SQL statements and host variables in the
program.

related concepts
“COBOL and Db2 CCSID determination” on page 444

related tasks
“Using the separate Db2 precompiler” on page 440
“Compiling with the SQL option” on page 443

related references
“Differences in how the Db2 precompiler
and coprocessor behave” on page 446
“SQL” on page 354

Using the separate Db2 precompiler

To run a COBOL program that has SQL statements, you can use the separate Db2 precompiler to
convert the SQL statements to COBOL statements, and then compile and link the program to create
the executable module.
However, using the Db2 precompiler that is integrated with Enterprise COBOL is recommended, since
the separate Db2 precompiler is no longer being enhanced by IBM. In particular, the separate Db2
precompiler has not been updated for newer COBOL language such as floating comment delimiters, JSON
GENERATE and JSON PARSE, and compiler directives. To use the latest features of the COBOL compiler,
use the integrated Db2 coprocessor.

related concepts
“Db2 coprocessor” on page 439

related references
“Differences in how the Db2 precompiler
and coprocessor behave” on page 446

Coding SQL statements

Delimit SQL statements with EXEC SQL and END-EXEC. The EXEC SQL and END-EXEC delimiters must
each be complete on one line. You cannot continue them across multiple lines. Do not code COBOL
statements within EXEC SQL statements.
You also need to do these special steps:
• Code an EXEC SQL INCLUDE statement to include an SQL communication area (SQLCA) in the
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION or LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION of the outermost program. LOCAL-
STORAGE is recommended for recursive programs and programs that use the THREAD compiler option.
• Define all host variables that you use in SQL statements in the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION, LOCAL-
STORAGE SECTION, or LINKAGE SECTION. However, you do not need to identify them with EXEC SQL
BEGIN DECLARE SECTION and EXEC SQL END DECLARE SECTION.
Restriction: You cannot use SQL statements in object-oriented classes or methods.

related tasks
“Using SQL INCLUDE with
the Db2 coprocessor” on page 441
“Using character data in SQL statements” on page 441
“Using national decimal data in SQL statements” on page 442
“Using national group items in SQL statements” on page 442
“Using binary items in SQL statements” on page 443
“Determining the success of SQL statements” on page 443
DB2 Application Programming and SQL Guide (Coding SQL statements in a
COBOL application)

440 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 related references
“Code-page determination for string host variables in SQL statements” on page 445
DB2 SQL Reference

Using SQL INCLUDE with the Db2 coprocessor

An SQL INCLUDE statement is treated identically to a native COBOL COPY statement when you use the
SQL compiler option.
The following two lines are therefore treated the same way. (The period that ends the EXEC SQL
INCLUDE statement is required.)

EXEC SQL INCLUDE name END-EXEC.

COPY "name".

The processing of the name in an SQL INCLUDE statement follows the same rules as those of the literal in
a COPY literal-1 statement that does not have a REPLACING phrase.
The library search order for SQL INCLUDE statements is the same SYSLIB concatenation as the compiler
uses to resolve COBOL COPY statements that do not specify a library-name.

related references
Chapter 18, “Compiler-directing statements,” on page 377
“Differences in how the Db2 precompiler
and coprocessor behave” on page 446
COPY statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Using character data in SQL statements

You can code any of the following USAGE clauses to describe host variables for character data that you
use in EXEC SQL statements: USAGE DISPLAY for single-byte or UTF-8 data, USAGE DISPLAY-1 for
DBCS data, or USAGE NATIONAL for UTF-16 data.
When you use the stand-alone Db2 precompiler, you must specify the code page (CCSID) in EXEC SQL
DECLARE statements for host variables that are declared with USAGE NATIONAL. You must specify the
code page for host variables that are declared with USAGE DISPLAY or DISPLAY-1 only if the CCSID that
is in effect for the COBOL CODEPAGE compiler option does not match the CCSIDs that are used by Db2 for
character and graphic data.
Consider the following code. The two highlighted statements are unnecessary when you use the
integrated Db2 coprocessor (with the SQLCCSID compiler option, as detailed in the related concept
below), because the code-page information is handled implicitly.

CBL CODEPAGE(1140) NSYMBOL(NATIONAL)

. . .
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
EXEC SQL INCLUDE SQLCA END-EXEC.
01 INT1 PIC S9(4) USAGE COMP.
01 C1140.
49 C1140-LEN PIC S9(4) USAGE COMP.
49 C1140-TEXT PIC X(50).
EXEC SQL DECLARE :C1140 VARIABLE CCSID 1140 END-EXEC.
01 G1200.
49 G1200-LEN PIC S9(4) USAGE COMP.
49 G1200-TEXT PIC N(50) USAGE NATIONAL.
EXEC SQL DECLARE :G1200 VARIABLE CCSID 1200 END-EXEC.
. . .
EXEC SQL FETCH C1 INTO :INT1, :C1140, :G1200 END-EXEC.

If you specify EXEC SQL DECLARE variable-name VARIABLE CCSID nnnn END-EXEC, that specification
overrides the implied CCSID. For example, the following code would cause Db2 to treat C1208-TEXT as

Chapter 21. Programming for a Db2 environment 441

 encoded in UTF-8 (CCSID 1208) rather than as encoded in the CCSID in effect for the COBOL CODEPAGE
compiler option:

01 C1208.
49 C1208-LEN PIC S9(4) USAGE COMP.
49 C1208-TEXT PIC X(50).
EXEC SQL DECLARE :C1208 VARIABLE CCSID 1208 END-EXEC.

The NSYMBOL compiler option has no effect on a character literal inside an EXEC SQL statement.
Character literals in an EXEC SQL statement follow the SQL rules for character constants.

related concepts
“COBOL and Db2 CCSID determination” on page 444
related tasks
“Using the separate Db2 precompiler” on page 440
DB2 Application Programming and SQL Guide (Coding SQL statements in a
COBOL application)

related references
“Differences in how the Db2 precompiler
and coprocessor behave” on page 446
“CODEPAGE” on page 304
DB2 SQL Reference

Using national decimal data in SQL statements

You can use national decimal host variables in EXEC SQL statements when you use either the integrated
Db2 coprocessor or the Db2 precompiler. You do not need to specify the CCSID in EXEC SQL DECLARE
statements in either case. CCSID 1200 is used automatically.

Any national decimal host variable that you specify in an EXEC SQL statement must have the following
characteristics:
• It must be signed.
• It must be specified with the SIGN LEADING SEPARATE clause.
• USAGE NATIONAL must be in effect implicitly or explicitly.

related concepts
“Formats for numeric
data” on page 47

related tasks
“Defining national numeric
data items” on page 132

related references
“Differences in how the Db2 precompiler
and coprocessor behave” on page 446

Using national group items in SQL statements

You can use a national group item as a host variable in an EXEC SQL statement. The national group item
is treated with group semantics (that is, as shorthand for the set of host variables that are subordinate to
the group item) rather than as an elementary item.

Because all subordinate items in a national group must have USAGE NATIONAL, a national group item
cannot describe a variable-length string.

442 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 related tasks
“Using national groups” on page 133

Using binary items in SQL statements

For binary data items that you specify in an EXEC SQL statement, you can define the data items as either
USAGE COMP-5 or as USAGE BINARY, COMP, or COMP-4.
If you define the binary data items as USAGE BINARY, COMP, or COMP-4, use the TRUNC(BIN) option.
(This technique might have a larger effect on performance than using USAGE COMP-5 on individual data
items.) If instead TRUNC(OPT) or TRUNC(STD) is in effect, the compiler accepts the items but the data
might not be valid because of the decimal truncation rules. You need to ensure that truncation does not
affect the validity of the data.

related concepts
“Formats for numeric
data” on page 47

related references
“TRUNC” on page 364

Determining the success of SQL statements

When Db2 finishes executing an SQL statement, Db2 sends a return code in the SQLCA structure, with one
exception, to indicate whether the operation succeeded or failed. In your program, test the return code
and take any necessary action.
The exception occurs when a program runs under DSN from one of the alternate entry points of the TSO
batch mode module IKJEFT01 (IKJEFT1A or IKJEFT1B). In this case, the return code is passed in register
15.
After execution of SQL statements, the content of the RETURN-CODE special register might not be valid.
Therefore, even if your COBOL program terminates normally after successfully using SQL statements, the
job step could end with an undefined return code. To ensure that a meaningful return code is given at
termination, set the RETURN-CODE special register before terminating your program.

related tasks
DB2 Application Programming and SQL Guide (Coding SQL statements in a
COBOL application)

Compiling with the SQL option

You use the SQL compiler option to enable the Db2 coprocessor and to specify Db2 suboptions.
You can specify the SQL option in any of the compiler option sources: compiler invocation, PROCESS
or CBL statements, OPTFILE, or installation default. You cannot specify Db2 suboptions when the SQL
option is the COBOL installation default, but you can specify default Db2 suboptions by customizing the
Db2 product installation defaults.
The Db2 suboption string that you provide in the SQL compiler option is made available to the Db2
coprocessor. Only the Db2 coprocessor views the contents of the string.
You can use standard JCL procedural statements to compile your program with the Db2 coprocessor. In
addition to specifying the above compiler options, specify the following items in your JCL:
• DBRMLIB DD statement with the location for the generated database request module (DBRM).
• STEPLIB override for the COBOL step, adding the data set that contains the Db2 coprocessor services,
unless these services are in the LNKLST. Typically, this data set is called xxxxxx.SDSNLOAD. For
example, for Db2 11 it might be DSNB10.SDSNLOAD, but your installation might have changed the
name.

Chapter 21. Programming for a Db2 environment 443

 For example, you might have the following lines in your JCL:

//DBRMLIB DD DSN=PAYROLL.MONTHLY.DBRMLIB.DATA(MASTER),DISP=SHR
//STEPLIB DD DSN=DSN910.SDSNLOAD,DISP=SHR

Compiling a batch of programs: If you use the SQL option when compiling a source file that contains
a sequence of COBOL programs (a batch compile sequence), SQL must be in effect for only the first
program of the sequence. Although you can specify SQL upon compiler invocation, the option will be in
effect for only the first program. If you specify SQL in a CBL or PROCESS statement for a program other
than the first program in the batch, you will receive a compiler diagnostic message.

related concepts
“Db2 coprocessor” on page 439
“COBOL and Db2 CCSID determination” on page 444

related tasks
“Separating Db2 suboptions” on page 444
“Choosing the DYNAM or NODYNAM compiler option” on page 448

related references
“DYNAM” on page 317
“SQL” on page 354
DB2 Command Reference

Separating Db2 suboptions

Because of the concatenation of multiple SQL option specifications, you can separate Db2 suboptions
(which might not fit in one CBL statement) into multiple CBL statements.
The options that you include in the suboption string are cumulative. The compiler concatenates these
suboptions from multiple sources in the order that they are specified. For example, suppose that your
source file has the following code:

//STEP1 EXEC IGYWC, . . .

// PARM.COBOL='SQL("string1")'
//COBOL.SYSIN DD *
CBL SQL("string2")
CBL SQL("string3")
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. DRIVER1.

During compilation, the compiler passes the following suboption string to the Db2 coprocessor:

"string1 string2 string3"

The concatenated strings are delimited with single spaces. If the compiler finds multiple instances of the
same SQL suboption, the last specification of that suboption in the concatenated string takes effect. The
compiler limits the length of the concatenated Db2 suboption string to 4 KB.

COBOL and Db2 CCSID determination

All Db2 string data other than BLOB, BINARY, and VARBINARY data has an associated encoding scheme
and a coded character set ID (CCSID). This is true for fixed-length and variable-length character
strings, fixed-length and variable-length graphic character strings, CLOB host variables, and DBCLOB host
variables.

When you use the integrated Db2 coprocessor, the determination of the code page CCSID that will be
associated with the string host variables used in SQL statement processing depends on the setting of
the COBOL SQLCCSID option, on the programming techniques used, and on various Db2 configuration
options.

444 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 When you use the SQL and SQLCCSID COBOL compiler options, the CCSID value nnnnn that is specified
in the CODEPAGE compiler option, or that is determined from the COBOL data type of a host variable, is
communicated automatically from COBOL to Db2. Db2 associates the COBOL CCSID with host variables,
overriding the CCSID that would otherwise be implied by Db2 external mechanisms and defaults. This
associated CCSID is used for the processing of the SQL statements that reference host variables.
When you use the SQL and NOSQLCCSID compiler options, the CCSID value nnnnn that is specified in
the CODEPAGE compiler option is used only for processing COBOL statements within the COBOL program;
that CCSID is not used for the processing of SQL statements. Instead, Db2 assumes in processing
SQL statements that host variable data values are encoded according to the CCSID or CCSIDs that are
specified through Db2 external mechanisms and defaults.

related concepts
“Db2 coprocessor” on page 439

related tasks
“Programming with the SQLCCSID or NOSQLCCSID option” on page 446

related references
“Code-page determination for string host variables in SQL statements” on page 445
“CODEPAGE” on page 304
“SQL” on page 354
“SQLCCSID” on page 355

Code-page determination for string host variables in SQL statements

When you use the integrated Db2 coprocessor (SQL compiler option), the code page for processing string
host variables in SQL statements is determined as shown below, in descending order of precedence.

• A host variable that has USAGE NATIONAL is always processed by Db2 using CCSID 1200 (Unicode
UTF-16). For example:

01 hostvariable pic n(10) usage national.

• An alphanumeric host variable that has an explicit FOR BIT DATA declaration is set by Db2 to CCSID
66535, which indicates that the variable does not represent encoded characters. For example:

EXEC SQL DECLARE hostvariable VARIABLE FOR BIT DATA END-EXEC

• A BLOB, BINARY, or VARBINARY host variable has no CCSID association. These string types do not
represent encoded characters.
• A host variable for which you specify an explicit CCSID override in the SQLDA is processed with that
CCSID.
• A host variable that you specify in a declaration with an explicit CCSID is processed with that CCSID. For
example:

EXEC SQL DECLARE hostvariable VARIABLE CCSID nnnnn END-EXEC

• An alphanumeric host variable, if the SQLCCSID compiler option is in effect, is processed with the
CCSID nnnnn from the CODEPAGE compiler option.
• A DBCS host variable, if the SQLCCSID option is in effect, is processed with the mapped value
mmmmm, which is the pure DBCS CCSID component of the mixed (MBCS) CCSID nnnnn from the
CODEPAGE(nnnnn) compiler option.
• An alphanumeric or DBCS host variable, if the NOSQLCCSID option is in effect, is processed with the
CCSID from the Db2 ENCODING bind option, if specified, or from the APPLICATION ENCODING set in
DSNHDECP through the Db2 installation panel DSNTIPF.

Chapter 21. Programming for a Db2 environment 445

 related references
“CODEPAGE” on page 304
“SQLCCSID” on page 355

Programming with the SQLCCSID or NOSQLCCSID option

In general, the SQLCCSID option is recommended for new applications that use the integrated
Db2 coprocessor, and as a long-term direction for existing applications. The NOSQLCCSID option
is recommended as a mechanism for migrating existing precompiler-based applications to use the
integrated Db2 coprocessor.

The SQLCCSID option is recommended for COBOL-Db2 applications that have any of these
characteristics:
• Use COBOL Unicode support
• Use other COBOL syntax that is indirectly sensitive to CCSID encoding, such as XML support or object-
oriented syntax for Java interoperability
• Process character data that is encoded in a CCSID that is different from the default CCSID assumed by
Db2
The NOSQLCCSID option is recommended for applications that require the highest compatibility with the
behavior of the Db2 precompiler.
For applications that use COBOL alphanumeric data items as host variables interacting with Db2 string
data that is defined with the FOR BIT DATA subtype, you must either:
• Use the NOSQLCCSID compiler option
• Specify explicit FOR BIT DATA declarations for those host variables, for example:

EXEC SQL DECLARE hostvariable VARIABLE FOR BIT DATA END-EXEC

Usage notes
• If you use the Db2 DCLGEN command to generate COBOL declarations for a table, you can optionally
create FOR BIT DATA declarations automatically. To do so, specify the DCLBIT(YES) option of the
DCLGEN command.
• Performance consideration: Using the SQLCCSID compiler option could result in some performance
overhead in SQL processing, because with SQLCCSID in effect the default Db2 CCSID association
mechanism is overridden with a mechanism that works on a per-host-variable basis.

related concepts
“Db2 coprocessor” on page 439
related tasks
“Using the separate Db2 precompiler” on page 440

related references
“SQLCCSID” on page 355

Differences in how the Db2 precompiler and coprocessor behave

The sections that follow enumerate the differences in behavior between the stand-alone COBOL Db2
precompiler and the integrated COBOL Db2 coprocessor.
For details about the CCSID determination under the Db2 precompiler and coprocessor, see “COBOL and
Db2 CCSID determination” on page 444.

Period at the end of EXEC SQL INCLUDE statements

446 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Precompiler: The Db2 precompiler does not require that a period end each EXEC SQL INCLUDE
statement. If a period is specified, the precompiler processes it as part of the statement. If a period
is not specified, the precompiler accepts the statement as if a period had been specified.
Coprocessor: The Db2 coprocessor treats each EXEC SQL INCLUDE statement like a COPY statement,
and requires that a period end the statement. For example:

IF A = B THEN
EXEC SQL INCLUDE some_code_here END-EXEC.
ELSE
. . .
END-IF

Note that the period does not terminate the IF statement.

EXEC SQL and REPLACE or COPY REPLACING

Precompiler: With the Db2 precompiler, COBOL REPLACE statements and the REPLACING phrase of the
COPY statement act on the expanded source created from the EXEC SQL statement. COBOL rules for
REPLACE and REPLACING are used.
Coprocessor: With the Db2 coprocessor, REPLACE and COPY . . . REPLACING statements act on the
original source program, including EXEC SQL statements.
Different behavior can result, as in the following example:

REPLACE == ABC == By == XYZ ==.

01 G.
02 ABC PIC X(10).
. . .
EXEC SQL SELECT * INTO :G.ABC FROM TABLE1 END-EXEC

With the precompiler, the reference to G.ABC will appear as ABC of G in the expanded source and
will be replaced with XYZ of G. With the coprocessor, replacement will not occur, because ABC is not
delimited by separators in the original source string G.ABC.

Source code after an END-EXEC statement

Precompiler: The Db2 precompiler ignores any code that follows END-EXEC statements on the same line.
Coprocessor: The Db2 coprocessor processes code that follows END-EXEC statements on the same line.

Multiple definitions of host variables

Precompiler: The Db2 precompiler does not require that host variable references be unique. The first
definition that maps to a valid Db2 data type is used.
Coprocessor: The Db2 coprocessor requires that each host variable reference be unique. The
coprocessor diagnoses nonunique references to host variables. You must fully qualify host variable
references to make them unique or use the “QUALIFY” on page 347 compiler option.

EXEC SQL statement continuation lines

Precompiler: The Db2 precompiler requires that EXEC SQL statements start in columns 12 through 72.
Continuation lines of the statements can start anywhere in columns 8 through 72.
Coprocessor: The Db2 coprocessor requires that all lines of an EXEC SQL statement, including
continuation lines, be coded in columns 12 through 72.

Chapter 21. Programming for a Db2 environment 447

 Bit-data host variables
Precompiler: With the Db2 precompiler, a COBOL alphanumeric data item can be used as a host
variable to hold Db2 character data that has subtype FOR BIT DATA. An explicit EXEC SQL DECLARE
VARIABLE statement that declares that host variable as FOR BIT DATA is not required.
Coprocessor: With the Db2 coprocessor, a COBOL alphanumeric data item can be used as a host
variable to hold Db2 character data that has subtype FOR BIT DATA if an explicit EXEC SQL DECLARE
VARIABLE statement for that host variable is specified in the COBOL program. For example:

EXEC SQL DECLARE :HV1 VARIABLE FOR BIT DATA END-EXEC.

As an alternative to adding EXEC SQL DECLARE . . . FOR BIT DATA statements, you can use
the NOSQLCCSID compiler option. For details, see the related reference about code-page determination
below.

SQL-INIT-FLAG
Precompiler: With the Db2 precompiler, if you pass host variables that might be located at different
addresses when the program is called more than once, the called program must reset SQL-INIT-FLAG.
Resetting this flag indicates to Db2 that storage must be initialized when the next SQL statement runs. To
reset the flag, insert the statement MOVE ZERO TO SQL-INIT-FLAG in the PROCEDURE DIVISION of
the called program ahead of any executable SQL statements that use those host variables.
Coprocessor: With the Db2 coprocessor, the called program does not need to reset SQL-INIT-FLAG. An
SQL-INIT-FLAG is automatically defined in the program to aid program portability. However, statements
that modify SQL-INIT-FLAG, such as MOVE ZERO TO SQL-INIT-FLAG, have no effect on the SQL
processing in the program.

related concepts
“Db2 coprocessor” on page 439
“COBOL and Db2 CCSID determination” on page 444

related tasks
“Using the separate Db2 precompiler” on page 440

related references
“Code-page determination for string host variables in SQL statements” on page 445
“SQLCCSID” on page 355

Choosing the DYNAM or NODYNAM compiler option

For COBOL programs that have EXEC SQL statements, your choice of the compiler option DYNAM or
NODYNAM depends on the operating environment.

When you run under:

• TSO or IMS: You can use either the DYNAM or NODYNAM compiler option.
Note that IMS and Db2 share a common alias name, DSNHLI, for the language interface module. You
must concatenate your libraries as follows:
– If you use IMS with the DYNAM option, concatenate the IMS library first.
– If you run your application only under Db2, concatenate the Db2 library first.
• CICS or the Db2 call attach facility (CAF): You must use the NODYNAM compiler option.
Because stored procedures use CAF, you must also compile COBOL stored procedures with the
NODYNAM option.

related tasks
“Compiling with the SQL option” on page 443

448 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
DB2 Application Programming and SQL Guide (Programming for the call
attachment facility)

related references
“DYNAM” on page 317

Chapter 21. Programming for a Db2 environment 449

450 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 22. Developing COBOL programs for IMS
Although much of the coding of a COBOL program will be the same when running under IMS, be aware of
the following recommendations and restrictions.
In COBOL, IMS message processing programs (MPPs) do not use non-IMS input or output statements
such as READ, WRITE, REWRITE, OPEN, and CLOSE.
With Enterprise COBOL, you can invoke IMS facilities using the following interfaces:
• CBLTDLI call
• Language Environment callable service CEETDLI
• EXEC SQLIMS statements
CEETDLI behaves essentially the same way as CBLTDLI, except that CEETDLI enables LE condition
handling to be used. There are some instances when you cannot use Language Environment condition
handling when using CBLTDLI under IMS.
You can also run object-oriented COBOL programs in a Java dependent region. You can mix the object-
oriented COBOL and Java languages in a single application.
related concepts
“IMS SQL coprocessor” on page 451

related tasks
“Coding SQLIMS statements” on page 452
“Compiling with the SQLIMS option” on page 453
“Compiling and linking COBOL programs for running under IMS” on page 454
“Using object-oriented COBOL and Java under IMS” on page 455
“Calling a COBOL method from a Java application
under IMS” on page 455
“Building a mixed COBOL-Java application that starts with COBOL” on page 456
“Writing mixed-language IMS applications” on page 456

IMS SQL coprocessor

When you use the IMS SQL coprocessor (called SQL statement coprocessor by IMS), the compiler handles
your source programs that contain embedded SQL statements.
When the compiler encounters SQLIMS statements in the source program, it interfaces with the IMS SQL
coprocessor. All text between EXEC SQLIMS and END-EXEC statements is passed to the coprocessor.
The coprocessor takes appropriate actions for the SQLIMS statements and indicates to the compiler what
native COBOL statements to generate for them.
Notes:
• The IMS SQL coprocessor processes embedded SQLIMS statements, not embedded SQL statements.
• IMS program might contain EXEC SQL statements for accessing a Db2 SQL database, EXEC SQLIMS
statements for accessing an IMS DLI databases, or both. The SQL option enables EXEC SQL statements
while the SQLIMS option enables EXEC SQLIMS statements.
With the IMS SQL coprocessor, you can use statements in the following ways:
• Use EXEC SQLIMS statements in any nested program.
• Use EXEC SQLIMS statements in COPYBOOKS.
• REPLACE statements work in SQLIMS statements.

related tasks
“Coding SQLIMS statements” on page 452

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 451

 “Compiling with the SQLIMS option” on page 453
“Compiling and linking COBOL programs for running under IMS” on page 454

related references
“SQLIMS” on page 355

Coding SQLIMS statements

Delimit SQLIMS statements with EXEC SQLIMS and END-EXEC. The EXEC SQLIMS and END-EXEC
delimiters must each be complete on one line. Do not code COBOL statements within EXEC SQLIMS
statements.
Code an EXEC SQLIMS INCLUDE statement to include an SQLIMS communication area (SQLCA) in
the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION or LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION of the outermost program. The LOCAL-
STORAGE SECTION is recommended for recursive programs and programs that use the THREAD compiler
option.
Restriction: You cannot use SQLIMS statements in object-oriented classes or methods.

related tasks
“Using SQLIMS
INCLUDE with the IMS SQL
coprocessor” on page 452
“Using character data in SQLIMS statements” on page 452
“Using binary items in SQLIMS statements” on page 453
“Determining the success of SQLIMS statements” on page 453

Using SQLIMS INCLUDE with the IMS SQL coprocessor

An SQLIMS INCLUDE statement is treated identically to a native COBOL COPY statement when you use
the SQLIMS compiler option.
The following two lines are therefore treated the same way. The period that ends the EXEC SQLIMS
INCLUDE statement is required.

EXEC SQLIMS INCLUDE name END-EXEC.

COPY "name".

The processing of the name in an SQLIMS INCLUDE statement follows the same rules as the literal in a
COPY literal-1 statement that does not have a REPLACING phrase.
The library search order for SQLIMS INCLUDE statements is the same SYSLIB concatenation as the
compiler uses to resolve COBOL COPY statements that do not specify a library-name.

related references
Chapter 18, “Compiler-directing statements,” on page 377
COPY statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Using character data in SQLIMS statements

Alphanumeric host data items for use in EXEC SQLIMS statements (host variables) must be defined as
USAGE DISPLAY.
Note: Do not use character data items that are defined with USAGE DISPLAY-1 or USAGE NATIONAL as
SQLIMS host variables.

related concepts
“IMS SQL coprocessor” on page 451

related references
“CODEPAGE” on page 304

452 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Using binary items in SQLIMS statements
For binary data items that you specify in an EXEC SQLIMS statement, you can define the data items as
either USAGE COMP-5 or as USAGE BINARY, COMP, or COMP-4.
If you define the binary data items as USAGE BINARY, COMP, or COMP-4, use the TRUNC(BIN) compiler
option. Using this option might have a larger effect on performance than using USAGE COMP-5 on
individual data items. If instead you use the TRUNC(OPT) or TRUNC(STD) compiler options, the compiler
accepts the items but the data might not be valid because of the decimal truncation rules. You must
ensure that truncation does not affect the validity of the data.

related concepts
“Formats for numeric
data” on page 47

related references
“TRUNC” on page 364

Determining the success of SQLIMS statements

When IMS finishes running an SQLIMS statement, IMS sends a return code in the SQLIMSCA structure to
indicate whether the operation succeeded or failed. In your program, test the return code and take any
necessary action.
After execution of SQLIMS statements, the content of the RETURN-CODE special register might not be
valid. Therefore, even if a program terminates normally after successfully using SQLIMS statements, the
job step might end with an undefined return code. To ensure that a meaningful return code is given at
termination, set the RETURN-CODE special register before you end the program.

related tasks
IMS Application Programming Guide

Compiling with the SQLIMS option

Use the SQLIMS compiler option to enable the IMS SQL coprocessor and to specify IMS suboptions.
You can specify the SQLIMS option in any of the compiler option sources: compiler invocation, PROCESS
or CBL statements, or installation default. However, you cannot specify IMS suboptions when the SQLIMS
option is the COBOL installation default. The IMS suboption string in the SQLIMS compiler option is only
available to the IMS SQL coprocessor.
To use the IMS SQL coprocessor, you must compile with the SQLIMS option and IMS must be available on
the system on which you compile.
You can use standard JCL procedural statements to compile your program with the IMS SQL coprocessor.
In addition to specifying the above compiler options, specify the following item in your JCL:
STEPLIB override for the COBOL step, adding the data set that contains the Db2 coprocessor services,
unless these services are in the LNKLST. Typically, this data set is called xxxxxx.SDSNLOAD. For example,
for Db2 11 it might be DSNB10.SDSNLOAD, but your installation might have changed the name.
For example, you might have the following lines in your JCL:

//STEPLIB DD DSN=IMS.SDFSRESL,DISP=SHR

Compiling a batch of programs:

If you use the SQLIMS option when you compile a source file that contains a sequence of COBOL
programs (a batch compile sequence), SQLIMS is in effect for only the first program of the sequence.
Although you can specify SQLIMS upon compiler invocation, the option is in effect for only the first
program. If you specify SQLIMS in a CBL or PROCESS statement for a program other than the first program
in the batch, a compiler diagnostic message is issued.

Chapter 22. Developing COBOL programs for IMS 453

 related concepts
“IMS SQL coprocessor” on page 451

related tasks
“Separating IMS suboptions” on page 454

related references
“SQL” on page 354

Separating IMS suboptions

Because of the concatenation of multiple SQLIMS option specifications, you can separate IMS suboptions
(which might not fit in one CBL statement) into multiple CBL statements.
The options that you include in the suboption string are cumulative. The compiler concatenates these
suboptions from multiple sources in the order that they are specified. For example, suppose that your
source file contains the following code:

//STEP1 EXEC IGYWC, . . .

// PARM.COBOL='SQLIMS("string1")'
//COBOL.SYSIN DD *
CBL SQLIMS("string2")
CBL SQLIMS("string3")
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. DRIVER1.

During compilation, the compiler passes the following suboption string to the IMS SQL coprocessor:

"string1 string2 string3"

The concatenated strings are delimited with single spaces. If the compiler finds multiple instances of the
same SQLIMS suboption, the last specification of that suboption in the concatenated string takes effect.
The compiler limits the length of the concatenated IMS suboption string to 4 KB.

related concepts
“IMS SQL coprocessor” on page 451
related tasks
“Compiling with the SQLIMS option” on page 453

Compiling and linking COBOL programs for running under IMS

For best performance in the IMS environment, use the RENT compiler option. RENT causes COBOL to
generate reentrant code. You can then run your application programs in either preloaded mode (the
programs are always resident in storage) or nonpreload mode without having to recompile using different
options.
Preloading can boost performance because subsequent requests for a program can be handled faster
when the program is already in storage (rather than being fetched from a library each time it is needed).
For IMS programs, using the RENT compiler option is recommended. You must use the RENT compiler
option for a program that is to be run preloaded or both preloaded and nonpreloaded. When you preload a
program object that contains COBOL programs, all of the COBOL programs in that program object must be
compiled using the RENT option.
You can place programs compiled with the RENT option in the z/OS link pack area. There they can be
shared among the IMS dependent regions.
To run above the 16 MB line, an application program must be compiled with RENT. The data for IMS
application programs can reside above the 16 MB line, and you can use DATA(31) RENT for programs
that use IMS services.

454 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 For proper execution of COBOL programs under IMS, observe the following guidelines for the link-edit
attributes:
• To link program objects that contain only COBOL programs compiled with the RENT compiler option, link
as RENT.
• To link program objects that contain a mixture of COBOL RENT programs and other programs, use the
link-edit attributes recommended for the other programs.

related concepts
“Storage and its addressability” on page 39

related tasks
“Choosing the DYNAM or NODYNAM compiler option” on page 448
Language Environment Programming Guide (Condition handling under IMS)

related references
“DATA” on page 310
“RENT” on page 348
Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Migration Guide (IMS considerations)

Using object-oriented COBOL and Java under IMS

You can mix object-oriented COBOL and Java in an application that runs in a Java dependent region.
For example, you can:
• Call a COBOL method from a Java application. You can build the messaging portion of your application
in Java and call COBOL methods to access IMS databases.
• Build a mixed COBOL and Java application that starts with the main method of a COBOL class and that
invokes Java routines.
You must run these applications in either a Java message processing (JMP) dependent region or a Java
batch processing (JBP) dependent region. A program that reads from the message queue (regardless of
the language) must run in a JMP dependent region.

related tasks
“Defining a factory section” on page 622
Chapter 34, “Writing object-oriented programs,” on page 593
Chapter 35, “Communicating with Java methods,” on page 633
Chapter 16, “Compiling, linking, and running OO applications,” on page 281
IMS Application Programming Guide

Calling a COBOL method from a Java application under IMS

You can use the object-oriented language support in Enterprise COBOL to write COBOL methods that a
Java program can call under IMS.
When you define a COBOL class and compile it using Enterprise COBOL, the compiler generates a Java
class definition with native methods and the object code that implements those native methods. You can
then create an instance and invoke the methods of this class from a Java program that runs in a Java
dependent region, just as you would use any other class.
For example, you can define a COBOL class that uses the appropriate DL/I calls to access an IMS
database. To make the implementation of this class available to a Java program, do the following steps:
1. Compile the COBOL class using Enterprise COBOL.
The compiler generates a Java source file (.java) that contains the class definition, and an object
module (.o) that contains the implementation of the native methods.
2. Compile the generated Java source file using the Java compiler.
The Java compiler creates a class file (.class).

Chapter 22. Developing COBOL programs for IMS 455

 3. Link the object code into a dynamic link library (DLL) in the z/OS UNIX file system (.so). The directory
that contains the COBOL DLLs must be listed in the LIBPATH, as specified in the IMS.PROCLIB member
that is indicated by the ENVIRON= parameter of the IMS region procedure.
4. Update the sharable application class path in the master JVM options member
(ibm.jvm.sharable.application.class.path in the IMS.PROCLIB member that is specified by the
JVMOPMAS= parameter of the IMS region procedure) to enable the JVM to access the Java class
file.
A Java program cannot call procedural COBOL programs directly. To reuse existing COBOL IMS code, use
one of the following techniques:
• Restructure the COBOL code as a method in a COBOL class.
• Write a COBOL class definition and method that serves as a wrapper for the existing procedural code.
The wrapper code can use COBOL CALL statements to access procedural COBOL programs.

related tasks
Chapter 16, “Compiling, linking, and running OO applications,” on page 281
“Structuring OO applications” on page 630
“Wrapping procedure-oriented COBOL programs” on page 630
IMS Application Programming Guide

Building a mixed COBOL-Java application that starts with COBOL

An application that runs in a Java dependent region must start with the main method of a class.
A COBOL class definition that has a main factory method meets this requirement; therefore, you can use
a main factory method as the first routine of a mixed COBOL and Java application under IMS.
Enterprise COBOL generates a Java class with a main method, which the Java dependent region can find,
instantiate, and invoke. Although you can code the entire application in COBOL, you would probably build
this type of application to call a Java routine. When the COBOL run time runs within the JVM of a Java
dependent region, it automatically finds and uses this JVM to invoke methods on Java classes.
The COBOL application should use DL/I calls for processing messages (GU and GN) and synchronizing
transactions (CHKP).

related tasks
“Structuring OO applications” on page 630
IMS Application Programming Guide
IBM SDK for Java - Tools Documentation

Writing mixed-language IMS applications

When you write mixed-language IMS applications, you need to be aware of the effects of the STOP RUN
statement. You also need to understand how to process messages and synchronize transactions, access
databases, and use the application interface block (AIB).

related tasks
“Using the STOP RUN statement” on page 456
“Processing messages and synchronizing transactions” on page 457
“Accessing databases” on page 457
“Using the application interface block” on page 457

Using the STOP RUN statement

If you use the STOP RUN statement in the COBOL portion of your application, the statement terminates
all COBOL and Java routines (including the JVM).
Control is returned immediately to IMS. The program and the transaction are left in a stopped state.

456 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Processing messages and synchronizing transactions
IMS message-processing applications must do all message processing and transaction synchronization
either in COBOL or Java, rather than distributing this logic between application components written in
both languages.
COBOL components use CALL statements to DL/I services to process messages (GU and GN) and
synchronize transactions (CHKP). Java components use Java classes for IMS to do these functions.
You can use object instances of classes derived from IMSFieldMessage to communicate entire IMS
messages between the COBOL and Java components of the application.

related tasks
IMS Application Programming Guide

related references
IMS Application Programming API Reference

Accessing databases
You can use either Java, COBOL, or a mixture of the two languages to access IMS databases.
Limitation: EXEC SQL statements for Db2 database access are not supported in COBOL routines that run
in a Java dependent region.
Recommendation: Do not access the same database program communication block (PCB) from both
Java and COBOL. The Java and COBOL parts of the application share the same database position.
Changes in database position from calls in one part of the application affect the database position in
another part of the application. (This problem occurs whether the affected parts of an application are
written in the same language or in different languages.)
Suppose that a Java component of a mixed application builds an SQL SELECT clause and uses Java
Database Connectivity (JDBC) to query and retrieve results from an IMS database. The Java class libraries
for IMS construct the appropriate request to IMS to establish the correct position in the database. If you
then invoke a COBOL method that builds a segment search argument (SSA) and issues a GU (Get Unique)
request to IMS against the same database PCB, the request probably altered the position in the database
for that PCB. If so, subsequent JDBC requests to retrieve more records by using the initial SQL SELECT
clause are incorrect because the database position changed. If you must access the same PCB from
multiple languages, reestablish the database position after an interlanguage call before you access more
records in the database.

related tasks
IMS Application Programming Guide

Using the application interface block

COBOL applications that run in a Java dependent region normally must use the AIB interface because the
Java dependent region does not provide PCB addresses to its application.
To use the AIB interface, specify the PCB requested for the call by placing the PCB name (which must be
defined as part of the PSBGEN) in the resource name field of the AIB. (The AIB requires that all PCBs in
a program specification block (PSB) definition have a name.) You do not specify the PCB address directly,
and your application does not need to know the relative PCB position in the PCB list. Upon the completion
of the call, the AIB returns the PCB address that corresponds to the PCB name that the application
passed.
Alternatively, you can obtain PCB addresses by making an IMS INQY call using subfunction FIND, and the
PCB name as the resource name. The call returns the address of the PCB, which you can then pass to a
COBOL program. (This approach still requires that the PCB name be defined as part of the PSBGEN, but
the application does not have to use the AIB interface.)
“Example: using the application interface block” on page 458

Chapter 22. Developing COBOL programs for IMS 457

 related tasks
IMS Application Programming Guide

Example: using the application interface block

The following example shows how you can use the AIB interface in a COBOL application.

Local-storage section.
copy AIB.
. . .
Linkage section.
01 IOPCB.
05 logtterm pic x(08).
05 pic x(02).
05 tpstat pic x(02).
05 iodate pic s9(7) comp-3.
05 iotime pic s9(7) comp-3.
05 pic x(02).
05 seqnum pic x(02).
05 mod pic x(08).
Procedure division.
Move spaces to input-area
Move spaces to AIB
Move "DFSAIB" to AIBRID
Move length of AIB to AIBRLEN
Move "IOPCB" to AIBRSNM1
Move length of input-area to AIBOALEN
Call "CEETDLI" using GU, AIB, input-area
Set address of IOPCB to AIBRESA1
If tpstat = spaces
* . . process input message

458 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 23. Running COBOL programs under z/OS
UNIX
To run COBOL programs in the z/OS UNIX environment, compile them using Enterprise COBOL or COBOL
for OS/390 & VM. The programs must be reentrant, so use the compiler and linker option RENT.
If you are going to run the programs from the z/OS UNIX file system, use the linker option AMODE 31. Any
AMODE 24 program that you call from within a z/OS UNIX application must reside in an MVS PDSE.
Restrictions: The following restrictions apply to running under z/OS UNIX:
• SORT and MERGE statements are not supported.
• You cannot use the old COBOL interfaces for preinitialization (runtime option RTEREUS) to establish a
reusable environment.
• You cannot run a COBOL program compiled with the NOTHREAD option in more than one thread. If you
start a COBOL application in a second thread, you get a software condition from the COBOL run time.
You can run NOTHREAD COBOL programs in the initial process thread (IPT) or in one non-IPT that you
create from a C or PL/I routine.
You can run a COBOL program in more than one thread if you compile all the COBOL programs in the
application with the THREAD option.
You can use Debug Tool to debug z/OS UNIX programs in remote debug mode, for example, by using the
Debug Perspective of IBM Developer for z/OS, or in full-screen mode (MFI) using a VTAM® terminal.

related tasks
Chapter 15, “Compiling under z/OS UNIX,” on page 273
“Running OO applications under z/OS UNIX” on page 283
“Running in z/OS UNIX environments” on page 459
“Setting and accessing environment variables” on page 460
“Calling UNIX/POSIX APIs” on page 462
“Accessing main program parameters under z/OS UNIX” on page 464
Language Environment Programming Guide

related references
“RENT” on page 348

Running in z/OS UNIX environments

You can run COBOL programs in any of the z/OS UNIX execution environments, either from within a z/OS
UNIX shell or from outside a shell.
• You can run programs in either the OMVS shell (OMVS) or the ISPF shell (ISHELL).
Enter the program-name at the shell prompt. The program must be in the current directory or in your
search path.
You can specify runtime options only by setting the environment variable _CEE_RUNOPTS before
starting the program.
You can run programs that reside in a cataloged MVS data set from a shell by using the tso utility. For
example:

tso "call 'my.loadlib(myprog)'"

The ISPF shell can direct stdout and stderr only to a z/OS UNIX file, not to your terminal.
• From outside a shell, you can run programs either under TSO/E or in batch.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 459

 To call a COBOL program that resides in a z/OS UNIX file from the TSO/E prompt, use the BPXBATCH
utility or a spawn() syscall in a REXX exec.
To call a COBOL program that resides in a z/OS UNIX file with the EXEC JCL statement, use the
BPXBATCH utility.

related tasks
“Running OO applications under z/OS UNIX” on page 283
“Setting and accessing environment variables” on page 460
“Calling UNIX/POSIX APIs” on page 462
“Accessing main program parameters under z/OS UNIX” on page 464
“Defining and allocating QSAM files” on page 170
“Allocating line-sequential files” on page 206
“Allocating VSAM files” on page 198
“Displaying values on a
screen or in a file (DISPLAY)” on page 35
Language Environment Programming Guide (Running POSIX-enabled programs)

related references
“TEST” on page 359
UNIX System Services User's Guide (The BPXBATCH utility)
Language Environment Programming Reference

Setting and accessing environment variables

You can set environment variables for z/OS UNIX COBOL programs either from the shell with commands
export and set, or from the program.
Although setting and resetting environment variables from the shell before you begin to run a program
is a typical procedure, you can set, reset, and access environment variables from the program while it is
running.
If you are running a program with BPXBATCH, you can set environment variables by using an STDENV DD
statement.
To reset an environment variable as if it had not been set, use the z/OS UNIX shell command unset. To
reset an environment variable from a COBOL program, call the setenv() function.
To see the values of all environment variables, use the export command with no parameters. To access
the value of an environment variable from a COBOL program, call the getenv() function.
“Example: setting and accessing environment variables” on page 462

related tasks
“Running in z/OS UNIX environments” on page 459
“Setting environment variables that affect execution” on page 461
“Accessing main program parameters under z/OS UNIX” on page 464
“Running OO applications under z/OS UNIX” on page 283
“Setting environment variables
under z/OS UNIX” on page 273

related references
“Runtime environment variables” on page 461
Language Environment Programming Reference
MVS Program Management: User's Guide and Reference

460 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Setting environment variables that affect execution
To set environment variables for z/OS UNIX COBOL programs from a shell, use the export or set
command. To set environment variables from within the program, call POSIX functions setenv() or
putenv().
For example, to set the environment variable MYFILE:

export MYFILE=/usr/mystuff/notes.txt

“Example: setting and accessing environment variables” on page 462

related tasks
“Calling UNIX/POSIX APIs” on page 462
“Setting environment variables
under z/OS UNIX” on page 273

related references
“Runtime environment variables” on page 461

Runtime environment variables

Several runtime variables are of interest for COBOL programs.
These are the runtime environment variables:
_CEE_ENVFILE
Specifies a file from which to read environment variables.
_CEE_RUNOPTS
Specifies runtime options.
CLASSPATH
Specifies directory paths of Java .class files required for an OO application.
COBJVMINITOPTIONS
Specifies Java virtual machine (JVM) options to be used when COBOL initializes a JVM.
_IGZ_SYSOUT
Specifies where to direct DISPLAY output. stdout and stderr are the only allowable values.
LIBPATH
Specifies directory paths of dynamic link libraries.
PATH
Specifies directory paths of executable programs.
STEPLIB
Specifies location of programs that are not in the LNKLST.

related tasks
“Displaying data on the
system logical output device” on page 36

related references
XL C/C++ Programming Guide (_CEE_ENVFILE)
Language Environment Programming Reference

Chapter 23. Running COBOL programs under z/OS UNIX 461

Example: setting and accessing environment variables
The following example shows how you can access and set environment variables from a COBOL program
by calling the standard POSIX functions getenv() and putenv().
Because getenv() and putenv() are C functions, you must pass arguments BY VALUE. Pass character
strings as BY VALUE pointers that point to null-terminated strings. Compile programs that call these
functions with the NODYNAM and PGMNAME(LONGMIXED) options.

CBL pgmname(longmixed),nodynam
Identification division.
Program-id. "envdemo".
Data division.
Working-storage section.
01 P pointer.
01 PATH pic x(5) value Z"PATH".
01 var-ptr pointer.
01 var-len pic 9(4) binary.
01 putenv-arg pic x(14) value Z"MYVAR=ABCDEFG".
01 rc pic 9(9) binary.
Linkage section.
01 var pic x(5000).
Procedure division.
* Retrieve and display the PATH environment variable
Set P to address of PATH
Call "getenv" using by value P returning var-ptr
If var-ptr = null then
Display "PATH not set"
Else
Set address of var to var-ptr
Move 0 to var-len
Inspect var tallying var-len
for characters before initial X"00"
Display "PATH = " var(1:var-len)
End-if
* Set environment variable MYVAR to ABCDEFG
Set P to address of putenv-arg
Call "putenv" using by value P returning rc
If rc not = 0 then
Display "putenv failed"
Stop run
End-if
Goback.

Calling UNIX/POSIX APIs

You can call standard UNIX/POSIX functions from z/OS UNIX COBOL programs and from traditional z/OS
COBOL programs by using the CALL literal statement. These functions are part of Language Environment.
Because these are C functions, you must pass arguments BY VALUE. Pass character strings as BY
VALUE pointers that point to null-terminated strings. You must use the compiler options NODYNAM and
PGMNAME(LONGMIXED) when you compile programs that call these functions.
Restriction: You cannot use the >>CALLINTERFACE DYNAM directive with these APIs.
You can call the fork(), exec(), and spawn() functions from a COBOL program or from a non-COBOL
program in the same process as COBOL programs. However, be aware of these restrictions:
• From a forked process you cannot access any COBOL sequential, indexed, or relative files that were
open when you issued the fork. File status code 92 is returned if you attempt such access (CLOSE,
READ, WRITE, REWRITE, DELETE, or START). You can access line-sequential files that were open at the
time of a fork.
• You cannot use the fork() function in a process in which any of the following conditions are true:
– A COBOL SORT or MERGE is running.
– A declarative is running.
– The process has more than one Language Environment enclave (COBOL run unit).
– The process has used any of the COBOL reusable environment interfaces.

462 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 – The process has ever run a VS COBOL II program.
• With one exception, DD allocations are not inherited from a parent process to a child process. The
exception is the local spawn, which creates a child process in the same address space as the parent
process. You request a local spawn by setting the environment variable _BPX_ SHAREAS=YES before
you invoke the spawn() function.
The exec() and spawn() functions start a new Language Environment enclave in the new UNIX process.
Therefore the target program of the exec() or spawn() function is a main program, and all COBOL
programs in the process start in initial state with all files closed.
Sample code for calling some of the POSIX routines is provided in the SIGYSAMP data set.

Table 61. Samples with POSIX function calls

Purpose Sample Functions used
Shows how to use some of IGYTFL1 • getcwd()
the file and directory routines
• mkdir()
• rmdir()
• access()

Shows how to use the iconv IGYTCNV • iconv_open()

routines to convert data
• iconv()
• iconv_close()

Shows the use of the exec() IGYTEXC, IGYTEXC1 • fork()

routine to run a new program
• getpid()
along with other process-
related routines • getppid()
• execl()
• perror()
• wait()

Shows how to get the errno IGYTERNO, IGYTGETE • perror()

value
• fopen()

Shows the use of the IGYTMSQ, IGYTMSQ2 • ftok()

interprocess communication
• msgget()
message routines
• msgsnd()
• perror()
• fopen()
• fclose()
• msgrcv()
• msgctl()
• perror()

related tasks
“Running in z/OS UNIX environments” on page 459
“Setting and accessing environment variables” on page 460
“Accessing main program parameters under z/OS UNIX” on page 464
Language Environment Programming Guide

Chapter 23. Running COBOL programs under z/OS UNIX 463

 related references
XL C/C++ Run-Time Library Reference
UNIX System Services Programming: Assembler Callable Services Reference

Accessing main program parameters under z/OS UNIX

When you run a COBOL program from the z/OS UNIX shell command line or with an exec() or spawn()
function, the parameter list consists of three parameters passed by reference. You can access these
parameters with standard COBOL coding.
argument count
A binary fullword integer that contains the number of elements in each of the arrays that are passed in
the second and third parameters.
argument length list
An array of pointers. The nth entry in the array is the address of a fullword binary integer that contains
the length of the nth entry in the argument list.
argument list
An array of pointers. The nth entry in the array is the address of the nth character string passed as
an argument in the spawn() or exec() function or in the command invocation. Each character string is
null-terminated.
This array is never empty. The first argument is the character string that represents the name of the
file associated with the process being started.
“Example: accessing main program parameters under z/OS UNIX” on page 464

related tasks
“Running in z/OS UNIX environments” on page 459
“Setting and accessing environment variables” on page 460
“Calling UNIX/POSIX APIs” on page 462
“Accessing main program parameters under z/OS” on page 504

Example: accessing main program parameters under z/OS UNIX

The following example shows the three parameters that are passed by reference, and shows the coding
that you can use to access them.

Identification division.
Program-id. "EXECED".
****************************************************************
* This sample program displays arguments received via exec() *
* function of z/OS UNIX *
****************************************************************
Data division.
Working-storage section.
01 curr-arg-count pic 9(9) binary value zero.
Linkage section.
01 arg-count pic 9(9) binary. (1)
01 arg-length-list. (2)
05 arg-length-addr pointer occurs 1 to 99999
depending on curr-arg-count.
01 arg-list. (3)
05 arg-addr pointer occurs 1 to 99999
depending on curr-arg-count.
01 arg-length pic 9(9) binary.
01 arg pic X(65536).
Procedure division using arg-count arg-length-list arg-list.
*****************************************************************
* Display number of arguments received *
*****************************************************************
Display "Number of arguments received: " arg-count
*****************************************************************
* Display each argument passed to this program *
*****************************************************************
Perform arg-count times
Add 1 to curr-arg-count
* *******************************************************

464 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 * * Set address of arg-length to address of current *
* * argument length and display *
* *******************************************************
Set Address of arg-length
to arg-length-addr(curr-arg-count)
Display
"Length of Arg " curr-arg-count " = " arg-length
* *******************************************************
* * Set address of arg to address of current argument *
* * and display *
* *******************************************************
Set Address of arg to arg-addr(curr-arg-count)
Display "Arg " curr-arg-count " = " arg (1:arg-length - 1)
End-Perform
Display "Display of arguments complete."
Goback.

(1)
This count contains the number of elements in the arrays that are passed in the second and third
parameters.
(2)
This array contains a pointer to the length of the nth entry in the argument list.
(3)
This array contains a pointer to the nth character string passed as an argument in the spawn() or
exec() function or in the command invocation.

Chapter 23. Running COBOL programs under z/OS UNIX 465

466 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 24. Developing COBOL programs in the
mixed AMODE Language Environment

This chapter describes developing programs in the mixed AMODE Language Environment.

COBOL programs in AMODE 31 interacting with Java programs in

AMODE 64
This topic describes writing COBOL programs running in AMODE 31 to interact with Java programs in
AMODE 64.
Note: This topic does not apply to COBOL programs that contain OO features. Examples are programs
that contain INVOKE statements, OBJECT-REFERENCE data items, and class definitions. An exception is
JNIEnvPtr, a COBOL special register that is used in OO programs but can be used by non-OO COBOL
programs to make Java Native Interface (JNI) calls.
Note: IBM SDK, Java Technology Edition V8.0.6.35 (JVM) is needed for this enhancement.

Application calls between COBOL programs in AMODE 31 and Java programs

in AMODE 64
This section describes how to configure and enable COBOL/Java program calls in a mixed 31/64-bit
environment.
Applications initiated from COBOL in AMODE 31 calling Java methods in AMODE 64
For applications that start from COBOL and need to make JNI calls, it is necessary to get the JNI
environment pointer through the COBOL special register JNIEnvPtr. This special register can be used to
establish addressability to the JNIEnv and JNINativeInterface structures defined in copybook JNI.cpy.
JNIEnvPtr can also be passed to JNI calls as the JNI environment pointer parameter.
Since the COBOL program will start the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), you can set the environment variable
COBJVMINITOPTIONS to the desired JVM initialization options. To leverage the mixed AMODE JVM
support, you must specify the JVM option -XX:+Enable3164Interoperability.
For example:

export COBJVMINITOPTIONS=”-XX:+Enable3164Interoperability -Djava.library.path=.”

Also set the CLASSPATH environment variable appropriately.

Applications initiated from Java in AMODE 64 calling COBOL native methods in AMODE 31
For applications that start from Java, the JNI environment pointer is passed as a parameter to COBOL
native programs, so there is no need to use the JNIEnvPtr special register. For coding convenience, the
JNIEnvPtr special register is still available. The JVM option XX:+Enable3164Interoperability is
required to invoke native functions (COBOL programs) in AMODE 31.
Programming considerations:
In the mixed 31/64-bit environment, references to Java types must be declared as PIC 9(18) COMP-5
in COBOL, that is, as an 8-byte data item. The OBJECT-REFERENCE type cannot be used as this data item
maps to an incorrect 4-byte size in AMODE 31 COBOL programs. This applies to COBOL data items that
are used to interact with JNI types such as jobject, jclass, jfieldID, jmethodID, jarray, jarray<type>, etc.,
when using them as parameters in JNI calls.
Note: Accesses to EXTERNAL data items and EXTERNAL files are not serialized.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 467

Building the mixed AMODE COBOL/Java interoperability application
This section describes how to build the mixed AMODE COBOL/Java interoperability application.
It is recommended that you build and run COBOL JNI applications in z/OS UNIX.
Compiling
To compile the COBOL program, use the cob2 command in a z/OS UNIX shell. Specify the RENT, DLL
and PGMNAME(LONGMIXED) compiler options. The THREAD option is not mandatory, provided that
there is only one COBOL program active in the run-unit at any time.
If the COBOL program includes the file JNI.cpy by using a COPY statement, specify the include
subdirectory of the COBOL install directory, typically /usr/lpp/cobol/include, in the search order
for copybooks. You can specify the include subdirectory by using the -I option of the cob2 command
or by setting the SYSLIB environment variable.
Linking
To prepare the COBOL program for execution, link the object file with the following two DLL side files
to create an executable module:
• libjvm31.x, which is provided with your 64-bit IBM Java Software Development Kit:
$JAVA_HOME/lib/s390x/j9vm.
• igzxjni2.x, which is provided in the lib subdirectory of the COBOL install directory in the z/OS UNIX
file system, typically /usr/lpp/cobol/lib. This DLL side file is also available as the member
IGZXJNI2 in the SCEELIB PDS.
Do not link with the sidedeck igzcjava.x. This is used only by OO features, which is not supported in
the mixed AMODE environment. Linking both igzxjni2.x and igzcjava.x in the same program can lead to
ABENDs.
Note: $JAVA_HOME is the home directory of the 64-bit IBM Java Software Development Kit.

Running the mixed AMODE COBOL/Java interoperability program

This section list the steps to run the program under z/OS UNIX.
To run the program under z/OS UNIX, set up your environment variables as follows:
• STEPLIB: Include the Language Environment datasets SCEERUN and SCERUN2 in the STEPLIB
concatenation.

For example:

export STEPLIB=CEE.SCEERUN2:CEE.SCEERUN

or use the default Language Environment installed on your system.

• Java environment variables: set the LIBPATH and CLASSPATH environment variables. $JAVAHOME is
the home directory of the installed Java JDK.

For example:

export LIBPATH={$JAVAHOME}/lib/s390x/j9vm:./
export CLASSPATH=./

• COBJVMINITOPTIONS: Set this environment variable to Java JDK initialization options. The JVM option
-XX:+Enable3164Interoperability is needed to initialize the mixed AMODE environment.

For example:

export COBJVMINITOPTIONS=”-Djava.library.path=. -XX:+Enable3164Interoperability”

468 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Examples for mixed AMODE COBOL/Java interoperability application
This section provides examples for mixed AMODE COBOL/Java interoperability application.
Below is an example of a COBOL program starting in AMODE 31 and calling the main method in Java in
AMODE 64.
COBOL program example:
Compile and link the program below with cob2, where the program text is in source file prog.cbl.

cob2 -o prog.cbl -I/usr/lpp/cobol/include -q"dll" -q"pgmname(longmixed)" prog.cbl

/usr/lpp/cobol/lib/igzxjni2.x $JAVA_HOME/lib/s390x/j9vm/libjvm31.x

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. "PROG" recursive.
*
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
*
DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.

01 WS-CLASS-NAME PIC X(50) VALUE LOW-VALUES.

01 WS-METHOD-NAME PIC X(50).
01 WS-METHOD-SX PIC X(50).

01 WS-MAIN-METHOD-ID PIC S9(18) COMP-5.

01 WS-CLASS-ID PIC S9(18) COMP-5.
01 WS-NULL PIC S9(18) COMP-5 VALUE ZERO.

01 WS-JNI-ENV USAGE POINTER.

*
LINKAGE SECTION.

COPY JNI.

PROCEDURE DIVISION.
0010-MAIN.

SET ADDRESS OF JNIEnv TO JNIEnvPtr.

SET ADDRESS OF JNINativeInterface TO JNIEnv.

DISPLAY "set class name".

MOVE z"Greetings" TO WS-CLASS-NAME.
CALL "__etoa" USING WS-CLASS-NAME.

* ***********************************************
* FIND CLASS
* ***********************************************
CALL FindClass USING BY VALUE
JNIEnvPtr
ADDRESS OF WS-CLASS-NAME
RETURNING WS-CLASS-ID .

IF WS-CLASS-ID = ZERO
DISPLAY "CANT LOAD CLASS " WS-CLASS-NAME
GOBACK
END-IF.

* ***********************************************
* FIND METHOD (main)
* ***********************************************

MOVE z"main" TO WS-METHOD-NAME.

CALL "__etoa" USING WS-METHOD-NAME.

MOVE z"([Ljava/lang/String;)V" TO WS-METHOD-SX.

CALL "__etoa" USING WS-METHOD-SX.

CALL GetStaticMethodId USING BY VALUE

JNIEnvPtr
WS-CLASS-ID
ADDRESS OF WS-METHOD-NAME
ADDRESS OF WS-METHOD-SX
RETURNING
WS-MAIN-METHOD-ID.

* ***********************************************

Chapter 24. Developing COBOL programs in the mixed AMODE Language Environment 469
 * CALL METHOD (main)
* ***********************************************

CALL CallStaticVoidMethod USING BY VALUE

JNIEnvPTR
WS-CLASS-ID
WS-MAIN-METHOD-ID.

GOBACK.
0100-INIT.
EXIT.

Java program example:

Create a Java Class Hello World instance, with static main method.

public class Greetings {

public static void main(String[] args){
System.out.println("Greetings from AMODE 64");
}
}

470 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Part 4. Structuring complex applications

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 471

472 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 25. Using subprograms
Many applications consist of several separately compiled programs linked together. A run unit (the COBOL
term that is synonymous with the Language Environment term enclave) includes one or more object
programs and can include object programs written in other Language Environment member languages.
Language Environment provides interlanguage support that lets your Enterprise COBOL programs call and
be called by programs that meet the requirements of Language Environment.
Name prefix alert: Do not use program-names that start with prefixes used by IBM products. If you
use programs whose names start with such prefixes, CALL statements might resolve to IBM library or
compiler routines rather than to the intended program. For a list of prefixes to avoid, see the related task
about identifying a program.

related concepts
“Main programs, subprograms, and calls” on page 473

related tasks
“Identifying a program” on page 3
“Ending and reentering main programs or subprograms” on page 474
“Transferring control to another program” on page 475
“Making recursive calls” on page 485
“Calling to and from object-oriented programs” on page 485
“Using procedure and function
pointers” on page 485
“Making programs reentrant” on page 488
“Handling COBOL limitations with multithreading” on page 522
Language Environment Writing ILC Communication Applications

related references
Language Environment Programming Guide (Register conventions)

Main programs, subprograms, and calls

If a COBOL program is the first program in a run unit, that COBOL program is the main program.
Otherwise, it and all other COBOL programs in the run unit are subprograms. No specific source-code
statements or options identify a COBOL program as a main program or subprogram.
Whether a COBOL program is a main program or subprogram can be significant for either of two reasons:
• Effect of program termination statements
• State of the program when it is reentered after returning
In the PROCEDURE DIVISION, a program can call another program (generally called a subprogram), and
this called program can itself call other programs. The program that calls another program is referred to
as the calling program, and the program it calls is referred to as the called program. When the processing
of the called program is completed, the called program can either transfer control back to the calling
program or end the run unit.
The called COBOL program starts running at the top of the PROCEDURE DIVISION.

related tasks
“Ending and reentering main programs or subprograms” on page 474
“Transferring control to another program” on page 475
“Making recursive calls” on page 485

related references
Language Environment Programming Guide

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 473

Ending and reentering main programs or subprograms
Whether a program is left in its last-used state or its initial state, and to which caller it returns, can depend
on the termination statements that you use.
You can use any of three termination statements in a program, but they have different effects as shown in
the following table.

Table 62. Effects of termination statements

Termination Main program Subprogram
statement
EXIT No action taken Return to calling program without ending
PROGRAM the run unit. An implicit EXIT PROGRAM
statement is generated if the called program
has no next executable statement.
In a threaded environment, the thread is not
terminated unless the program is the first
(oldest) one in the thread.

STOP RUN Return to calling program.1 (Might be the Return directly to the program that called
operating system, and application will the main program.1 (Might be the operating
end.) system, and application will end.)
STOP RUN terminates the run unit STOP RUN terminates the run unit, and
(also called an enclave in Language deletes all dynamically called programs in
Environment terms), and deletes all the run unit and all programs link-edited with
dynamically called programs in the run them. (It does not delete the main program.)
unit and all programs link-edited with
In a threaded environment, the entire
them. (It does not delete the main
Language Environment enclave is terminated,
program.)
including all threads running within the
In a threaded environment, the entire enclave.
Language Environment enclave is
In a CICS environment, the entire transaction
terminated, including all threads running
is terminated, including all programs running
within the enclave.
within the transaction.
In a CICS environment, the entire
transaction is terminated, including all
programs running within the transaction.

GOBACK Return to calling program.1 (Might be the Return to calling program.

operating system, and application will
In a threaded environment, if the program is
end.)
the first program in a thread, the thread is
GOBACK terminates the run unit, and terminated.2
deletes all dynamically called programs
in the run unit and all programs link-
edited with them. (It does not delete the
main program.)
In a threaded environment, the thread is
terminated.2

1. If the main program is called by a program written in another language that does not follow Language
Environment linkage conventions, return is to this calling program.
2. If the thread is the initial thread of execution in an enclave, the enclave is terminated.

474 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 A subprogram is usually left in its last-used state when it terminates with EXIT PROGRAM or GOBACK. The
next time the subprogram is called in the run unit, its internal values are as they were left, except that
return points for PERFORMed paragraphs and sections are reset to their initial values. (In contrast, a main
program is initialized each time it is called.)
There are some cases in which programs will be in their initial state:
• A subprogram that is dynamically called and then canceled will be in the initial state the next time it is
called.
• A program that has the INITIAL clause in the PROGRAM-ID paragraph, or is compiled with the
INITIAL compiler option, will be in the initial state each time it is called.
• Data items defined in the LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION will be reset to the initial state specified by their
VALUE clauses each time the program is called.

related concepts
“Comparison of WORKING-STORAGE
and LOCAL-STORAGE” on page 14
Language Environment Programming Guide (What happens during termination:
thread termination)

related tasks
“Calling nested COBOL programs” on page 482
“Making recursive calls” on page 485

Transferring control to another program

You can use several different methods to transfer control to another program: static calls, dynamic calls,
calls to nested programs, and calls to dynamic link libraries (DLLs).
In addition to making calls between Enterprise COBOL programs, you can also make static and dynamic
calls between Enterprise COBOL and programs compiled with older compilers in all environments
including CICS.
For restrictions about making calls with older levels of programs, see Interoperability with older levels of
IBM COBOL programs in the Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Migration Guide.
Calling nested programs lets you create applications using structured programming techniques. You can
use nested programs in place of PERFORM procedures to prevent unintentional modification of data items.
Call nested programs using either the CALL literal or CALL identifier statement.
Calls to dynamic link libraries (DLLs) are an alternative to COBOL dynamic CALL, and are well suited to
object-oriented COBOL applications, z/OS UNIX programs, and applications that interoperate with C/C++.
Under z/OS, linking two program objects together results logically in a single program with a primary
entry point and an alternate entry point, each with its own name. Each name by which a subprogram
is to be dynamically called must be known to the system. You must specify each such name in binder
(linkage-editor) control statements as either a NAME or an ALIAS of the program object that contains the
subprogram.

related concepts
“AMODE switching” on page 478
“Performance considerations of static and dynamic calls” on page 480
“Nested programs” on page 483

related tasks
“Making static calls” on page 476
“Making dynamic calls” on page 476
“Making both static and dynamic calls” on page 480
“Calling nested COBOL programs” on page 482

Chapter 25. Using subprograms 475

 related references
Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Migration Guide
(Interoperability with older levels of IBM COBOL programs)

Making static calls

When you use the CALL literal statement in a program that is compiled using the NODYNAM and NODLL
compiler options, a static call occurs. With these options, all CALL literal calls are handled as static calls.
With static calls statement, the COBOL program and all called programs are part of the same program
object. When control is transferred, the called program already resides in storage, and a branch to it takes
place. Subsequent executions of the CALL statement make the called program available in its last-used
state unless the called program has the INITIAL attribute. In that case, the called program and each
program directly or indirectly contained within it are placed into their initial state each time the called
program is called within a run unit.
If you specify alternate entry points, a static CALL statement can use any alternate entry point to enter
the called subprogram.
“Examples: static and dynamic CALL statements” on page 481

related concepts
“Performance considerations of static and dynamic calls” on page 480
related tasks
“Making dynamic calls” on page 476
“Making both static and dynamic calls” on page 480
“Calling to and from object-oriented programs” on page 485

related references
“DLL” on page 314
“DYNAM” on page 317
CALL statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Making dynamic calls

When you use a CALL literal statement in a program that is compiled using the DYNAM and the NODLL
compiler options, or when you use the CALL identifier statement in a program that is compiled using the
NODLL compiler option, a dynamic call occurs.
In these forms of the CALL statement, the called COBOL subprogram is not link-edited with the main
program. Instead, it is link-edited into a separate program object, and is loaded at run time only when it
is required (that is, when called). The program-name in the PROGRAM-ID paragraph or ENTRY statement
must be identical to the corresponding program object name or program object alias of the program
object that contains the program.
Each subprogram that you call with a dynamic CALL statement can be part of a different program object
that is a member of either the system link library or a private library that you supply. In either case it must
be in an MVS load library; it cannot reside in the z/OS UNIX file system. When a dynamic CALL statement
calls a subprogram that is not resident in storage, the subprogram is loaded from secondary storage into
the region or partition that contains the main program, and a branch to the subprogram is performed.
The first dynamic call to a subprogram within a run unit obtains a fresh copy of the subprogram.
Subsequent calls to the same subprogram (by either the original caller or any other subprogram within
the same run unit) result in a branch to the same copy of the subprogram in its last-used state, provided
the subprogram does not possess the INITIAL attribute. Therefore, the reinitialization of either of the
following items is your responsibility:
• GO TO statements that have been altered
• Data items
If you call the same COBOL program in different run units, a separate copy of WORKING-STORAGE is
allocated for each run unit.

476 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Restrictions: You cannot make dynamic calls to:
• COBOL DLL programs
• COBOL programs compiled with the PGMNAME(LONGMIXED) option, unless the program-name is less
than or equal to eight characters in length and is all uppercase
• COBOL programs compiled with the PGMNAME(LONGUPPER) option, unless the program-name is less
than or equal to eight characters in length
• More than one entry point in the same COBOL program (unless an intervening CANCEL statement was
executed)
“Examples: static and dynamic CALL statements” on page 481

related concepts
“When to use a dynamic
call with subprograms” on page 477
“Performance considerations of static and dynamic calls” on page 480

related tasks
“Canceling a subprogram” on page 477
“Making static calls” on page 476
“Making both static and dynamic calls” on page 480
related references
“DLL” on page 314
“DYNAM” on page 317
ENTRY statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
CALL statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
Language Environment Programming Reference

Canceling a subprogram
When you issue a CANCEL statement for a subprogram, the storage that is occupied by the subprogram
is freed. A subsequent call to the subprogram functions as though it were the first call. You can cancel a
subprogram from a program other than the original caller.
If the called subprogram has more than one entry point, ensure that an intervening CANCEL statement is
executed before you specify different entry points in a dynamic CALL statement to that subprogram.
After a CANCEL statement is processed for a dynamically called contained program, the program will be in
its first-used state. However, the program is not loaded with the initial call, and storage is not freed after
the program is canceled.
“Examples: static and dynamic CALL statements” on page 481

related concepts
“Performance considerations of static and dynamic calls” on page 480

When to use a dynamic call with subprograms

Your decision to use dynamic calls with subprograms depends on factors such as location of the program
object, frequency of calls to the subprograms, size of the subprograms, ease of maintenance, the need to
call subprograms in their unused state, the need for AMODE switching, and when the program-names are
known.
The program object that you want to dynamically call must be in an MVS load library rather than in the
z/OS UNIX file system.
If subprograms are called in only a few conditions, you can use dynamic calls to bring in the subprograms
only when needed.

Chapter 25. Using subprograms 477

 If the subprograms are very large or there are many of them, using static calls might require too much
main storage. Less total storage might be required to call and cancel one, then call and cancel another,
than to statically call both.
If you are concerned about ease of maintenance, dynamic calls can help. Applications do not have to be
link-edited again when dynamically called subprograms are changed.
When you cannot use the INITIAL attribute to ensure that a subprogram is placed in its unused state
each time that it is called, you can set the unused state by using a combination of dynamic CALL and
CANCEL statements. When you cancel a subprogram that was first called by a COBOL program, the next
call causes the subprogram to be reinitialized to its unused state.
Using the CANCEL statement to explicitly cancel a subprogram that was dynamically loaded and branched
to by a non-COBOL program does not result in any action being taken to release the subprogram's storage
or to delete the subprogram.
Suppose you have an AMODE 24 program in the same run unit with Enterprise COBOL programs that
you want to run in 31-bit addressing mode. COBOL dynamic call processing includes AMODE switching for
AMODE 24 programs that call AMODE 31 programs, and vice versa. To have this implicit AMODE switching
done, the Language Environment runtime options ALL31(OFF) and STACK(,,BELOW) must be in effect.
When dynamic call is performed, control is passed from the caller to a Language Environment library
routine. After the switching is performed, control passes to the called program; the save area for the
library routine will be positioned between the save area for the caller program and the save area for the
called program.
If you do not know the program-name to be called until run time, use the format CALL identifier, where
identifier is a data item that will contain the name of the called program at run time. For example, you
could use CALL identifier when the program to be called varies depending on conditional processing in
your program. CALL identifier is always dynamic, even if you use the NODYNAM compiler option.
“Examples: static and dynamic CALL statements” on page 481

related concepts
“AMODE switching” on page 478
“Performance considerations of static and dynamic calls” on page 480

related tasks
“Making dynamic calls” on page 476

related references
“DYNAM” on page 317
CALL statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
Language Environment Programming Reference

AMODE switching
When you have an application that has COBOL subprograms, some of the COBOL subprograms can be
AMODE 31 and some can be AMODE 24. To have this mixed AMODE support, the calls must be dynamic
and the Language Environment runtime options ALL31(OFF) and STACK(,,BELOW) must be in effect.
If your application consists of only COBOL programs, and you are using dynamic calls, each COBOL
subprogram will always be entered in the proper AMODE. For example, if you are using a dynamic call from
an AMODE 31 COBOL program to an AMODE 24 COBOL program, the AMODE is automatically switched.
However, if you are using procedure pointers, function pointers, or other languages that call COBOL
subprograms, you must ensure that when a COBOL program is called more than once in an enclave, it is
entered in the same AMODE each time that it is called. The AMODE is not automatically switched in this
case.
The following scenario shows that AMODE problems can arise when procedure pointers are used to call
COBOL subprograms. This scenario is not supported because the COBOL program COBOLY is not entered
in the same AMODE each time that it is called.

478 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
1. COBOLX is AMODE 31. It uses the SET statement to set a procedure pointer to COBOLZ. COBOLZ is a
reentrant program object and is AMODE 31 and RMODE 24. COBOLX calls COBOLZ using the procedure
pointer. COBOLZ is entered in AMODE 31.
2. COBOLZ returns to COBOLX.
3. COBOLX dynamically calls COBOLY, passing the procedure pointer for COBOLZ. COBOLY is a reentrant
program object, and is AMODE 24 and RMODE 24. COBOLY is entered in AMODE 24.
4. COBOLY calls COBOLZ using the procedure pointer. This call causes COBOLZ to be entered in AMODE
24, which is not the same AMODE in which COBOLZ was entered when it was called the first time.
The following scenario uses a mix of COBOL and assembler language. This scenario is not supported
because the COBOL program COBOLB is not entered in the same AMODE each time that it is called.

1. COBOLA is AMODE 31. COBOLA dynamically calls COBOLB. COBOLB is a reentrant program object and
is AMODE 31 and RMODE 24. COBOLB is entered in AMODE 31.
2. COBOLB returns to COBOLA.
3. COBOLA dynamically calls ASSEM10, which is in assembler language. ASSEM10 is a reentrant program
object, and is AMODE 24 and RMODE 24. ASSEM10 is entered in AMODE 24.
4. ASSEM10 loads COBOLB. ASSEM10 does a BALR instruction to COBOLB. COBOLB is entered in AMODE
24, which is not the same AMODE in which COBOLB was entered when it was called the first time.

related concepts
“Storage and its addressability” on page 39

Chapter 25. Using subprograms 479

 “When to use a dynamic
call with subprograms” on page 477

related tasks
“Making dynamic calls” on page 476

related references
Language Environment Programming Reference (ALL31)

Performance considerations of static and dynamic calls

Because a statically called program is link-edited into the same program object as the calling program, a
static call is faster than a dynamic call. A static call is the preferred method if your application does not
require the services of the dynamic call.
Note: Static calls between programs compiled with the same or similar COBOL versions perform better
than those compiled with mixed COBOL versions. For example, static calls between COBOL V6 programs
are faster than static calls between COBOL V6 and V4 programs. In mixed cases such as COBOL V6 and
V4 programs, dynamic calls perform better than static calls because of the extra processing needed to
maintain backward compatibility.
For the purpose of this discussion, the following COBOL versions are considered similar:
• COBOL V4.2 and prior releases
• COBOL V5.1 and later releases
Statically called programs cannot be deleted using CANCEL, so static calls might take more main storage.
If storage is a concern, think about using dynamic calls. Storage usage of calls depends on whether:
• The subprogram is called only a few times. Regardless of whether it is called, a statically called program
is loaded into storage; a dynamically called program is loaded only when it is called.
• You subsequently delete the dynamically called subprogram with a CANCEL statement.
You cannot delete a statically called program, but you can delete a dynamically called program. Using a
dynamic call and then a CANCEL statement to delete the dynamically called program after it is no longer
needed in the application (and not after each call to it) might require less storage than using a static call.

related concepts
“When to use a dynamic
call with subprograms” on page 477

related tasks
“Making static calls” on page 476
“Making dynamic calls” on page 476

Making both static and dynamic calls

You can use both static and dynamic CALL statements in the same program if you compile the program
with the NODYNAM compiler option.
In this case, with the CALL literal statement, the called subprogram will be link-edited with the main
program into one program object. The CALL identifier statement results in the dynamic invocation of a
separate program object.
When a dynamic CALL statement and a static CALL statement to the same subprogram are issued within
one program, a second copy of the subprogram is loaded into storage. Because this arrangement does not
guarantee that the subprogram will be left in its last-used state, results can be unpredictable.

related references
“DYNAM” on page 317

480 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Examples: static and dynamic CALL statements
This example shows how you can code static and dynamic calls.
The example has three parts:
• Code that uses a static call to call a subprogram
• Code that uses a dynamic call to call the same subprogram
• The subprogram that is called by the two types of calls
The following example shows how you would code static calls:

PROCESS NODYNAM NODLL

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 RECORD-2 PIC X. (6)
01 RECORD-1. (2)
05 PAY PICTURE S9(5)V99.
05 HOURLY-RATE PICTURE S9V99.
05 HOURS PICTURE S99V9.
. . .
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
CALL "SUBPROG" USING RECORD-1. (1)
CALL "PAYMASTR" USING RECORD-1 RECORD-2. (5)
STOP RUN.

The following example shows how you would code dynamic calls:

DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
77 PGM-NAME PICTURE X(8).
01 RECORD-2 PIC x. (6)
01 RECORD-1. (2)
05 PAY PICTURE S9(5)V99.
05 HOURLY-RATE PICTURE S9V99.
05 HOURS PICTURE S99V9.
. . .
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
. . .
MOVE "SUBPROG" TO PGM-NAME.
CALL PGM-NAME USING RECORD-1. (1)
CANCEL PGM-NAME.
MOVE "PAYMASTR" TO PGM-NAME. (4)
CALL PGM-NAME USING RECORD-1 RECORD-2. (5)
STOP RUN.

The following example shows a called subprogram that is called by each of the two preceding calling
programs:

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. SUBPROG.
DATA DIVISION.
LINKAGE SECTION.
01 PAYREC. (2)
10 PAY PICTURE S9(5)V99.
10 HOURLY-RATE PICTURE S9V99.
10 HOURS PICTURE S99V9.
77 PAY-CODE PICTURE 9. (6)
PROCEDURE DIVISION USING PAYREC. (1)
. . .
EXIT PROGRAM. (3)
ENTRY "PAYMASTR" USING PAYREC PAY-CODE. (5)
. . .
GOBACK. (7)

(1)
Processing begins in the calling program. When the first CALL statement is executed, control is
transferred to the first statement of the PROCEDURE DIVISION in SUBPROG, which is the called
program.

Chapter 25. Using subprograms 481

 In each of the CALL statements, the operand of the first USING option is identified as RECORD-1.
(2)
When SUBPROG receives control, the values within RECORD-1 are made available to SUBPROG;
however, in SUBPROG they are referred to as PAYREC.
The PICTURE character-strings within PAYREC and PAY-CODE contain the same number of characters
as RECORD-1 and RECORD-2, although the descriptions are not identical.
(3)
When processing within SUBPROG reaches the EXIT PROGRAM statement, control is returned to the
calling program. Processing continues in that program until the second CALL statement is executed.
(4)
In the example of a dynamically called program, because the second CALL statement refers to
another entry point within SUBPROG, a CANCEL statement is executed before the second CALL
statement.
(5)
With the second CALL statement in the calling program, control is again transferred to SUBPROG, but
this time processing begins at the statement following the ENTRY statement in SUBPROG.
(6)
The values within RECORD-1 are again made available to PAYREC. In addition, the value in RECORD-2
is now made available to SUBPROG through the corresponding USING operand, PAY-CODE.
When control is transferred the second time from the statically linked program, SUBPROG is made
available in its last-used state (that is, if any values in SUBPROG storage were changed during the first
execution, those changed values are still in effect). When control is transferred from the dynamically
linked program, however, SUBPROG is made available in its initial state, because of the CANCEL
statement that has been executed.
(7)
When processing reaches the GOBACK statement, control is returned to the calling program at the
statement immediately after the second CALL statement.
In any given execution of the called program and either of the two calling programs, if the values within
RECORD-1 are changed between the time of the first CALL and the second, the values passed at the time
of the second CALL statement will be the changed, not the original, values. If you want to use the original
values, you must save them.

Calling nested COBOL programs

By calling nested programs, you can create applications that use structured programming techniques. You
can also call nested programs instead of PERFORM procedures to prevent unintentional modification of
data items.
Use either CALL literal or CALL identifier statements to make calls to nested programs.
You can call a contained program only from its directly containing program unless you identify the
contained program as COMMON in its PROGRAM-ID paragraph. In that case, you can call the common
program from any program that is contained (directly or indirectly) in the same program as the common
program. Only contained programs can be identified as COMMON. Recursive calls are not allowed.
Follow these guidelines when using nested program structures:
• Code an IDENTIFICATION DIVISION in each program. All other divisions are optional.
• Optionally make the name of each contained program unique. Although the names of contained
programs are not required to be unique (as described in the related reference about scope of names),
making the names unique could help make your application more maintainable. You can use any valid
user-defined word or an alphanumeric literal as the name of a contained program.
• In the outermost program, code any CONFIGURATION SECTION entries that might be required.
Contained programs cannot have a CONFIGURATION SECTION.

482 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
• Include each contained program in the containing program immediately before the END PROGRAM
marker of the containing program.
• Use an END PROGRAM marker to terminate contained and containing programs.
You cannot use the THREAD option when compiling programs that contain nested programs.

related concepts
“Nested programs” on page 483

related references
“Scope of names” on page 484

Nested programs
A COBOL program can nest, or contain, other COBOL programs. The nested programs can themselves
contain other programs. A nested program can be directly or indirectly contained in a program.
There are four main advantages to nesting called programs:
• Nested programs provide a method for creating modular functions and maintaining structured
programming techniques. They can be used analogously to perform procedures (using the PERFORM
statement), but with more structured control flow and with the ability to protect local data items.
• Nested programs let you debug a program before including it in an application.
• Nested programs enable you to compile an application with a single invocation of the compiler.
• Calls to nested programs have the best performance of all the forms of COBOL CALL statements.
The following example describes a nested structure that has directly and indirectly contained programs:

“Example: structure of nested programs” on page 484

Chapter 25. Using subprograms 483

 related tasks
“Calling nested COBOL programs” on page 482

related references
“Scope of names” on page 484

Example: structure of nested programs

The following example shows a nested structure with some contained programs that are identified as
COMMON.

The following table describes the calling hierarchy for the structure that is shown in the example above.
Programs A12, A2, and A3 are identified as COMMON, and the calls associated with them differ.

This program Can call these programs And can be called by these
programs
A A1, A2, A3 None
A1 A11, A12, A2, A3 A
A11 A111, A12, A2, A3 A1
A111 A12, A2, A3 A11
A12 A2, A3 A1, A11, A111
A2 A3 A, A1, A11, A111, A12, A3
A3 A2 A, A1, A11, A111, A12, A2

In this example, note that:

• A2 cannot call A1 because A1 is not common and is not contained in A2.
• A1 can call A2 because A2 is common.

Scope of names
Names in nested structures are divided into two classes: local and global. The class determines whether a
name is known beyond the scope of the program that declares it. A specific search sequence locates the
declaration of a name after it is referenced in a program.

Local names
Names (except the program-name) are local unless declared to be otherwise. Local names are visible
or accessible only within the program in which they are declared. They are not visible or accessible to
contained and containing programs.

484 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Global names
A name that is global (indicated by using the GLOBAL clause) is visible and accessible to the program in
which it is declared and to all the programs that are directly and indirectly contained in that program.
Therefore, the contained programs can share common data and files from the containing program simply
by referencing the names of the items.
Any item that is subordinate to a global item (including condition-names and indexes) is automatically
global.
You can declare the same name with the GLOBAL clause more than one time, provided that each
declaration occurs in a different program. Be aware that you can mask, or hide, a name in a nested
structure by having the same name occur in different programs in the same containing structure.
However, such masking could cause problems during a search for a name declaration.

Searches for name declarations

When a name is referenced in a program, a search is made to locate the declaration for that name.
The search begins in the program that contains the reference and continues outward to the containing
programs until a match is found. The search follows this process:
1. Declarations in the program are searched.
2. If no match is found, only global declarations are searched in successive outer containing programs.
3. The search ends when the first matching name is found. If no match is found, an error exists.
The search is for a global name, not for a particular type of object associated with the name such as a data
item or file connector. The search stops when any match is found, regardless of the type of object. If the
object declared is of a different type than that expected, an error condition exists.

Making recursive calls

A called program can directly or indirectly execute its caller. For example, program X calls program Y,
program Y calls program Z, and program Z then calls program X. This type of call is recursive.
To make a recursive call, you must code the RECURSIVE clause in the PROGRAM-ID paragraph of the
recursively called program. If you try to recursively call a COBOL program that does not have the
RECURSIVE clause in the PROGRAM-ID paragraph, a condition is signaled. If the condition remains
unhandled, the run unit will end.

related tasks
“Identifying a program as recursive” on page 4

related references
PROGRAM-ID paragraph (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Calling to and from object-oriented programs

When you create applications that contain object-oriented (OO) programs, the OO COBOL programs are
DLL programs and can be in one or more dynamic link libraries (DLLs). Each class definition must be in a
separate DLL, however.
Calls to or from COBOL DLL programs must either use DLL linkage or be static calls. COBOL dynamic calls
to or from COBOL DLL programs are not supported.
If you must call a COBOL DLL program from a COBOL non-DLL program, other means to ensure that the
DLL linkage mechanism is followed are available.

Using procedure and function pointers

You can set procedure-pointer and function-pointer data items only by using format 6 of the SET
statement.

Chapter 25. Using subprograms 485

 Procedure pointers are data items defined with the USAGE IS PROCEDURE-POINTER clause. Function
pointers are data items defined with the USAGE IS FUNCTION-POINTER clause. In this information,
"pointer" refers to either a procedure-pointer data item or a function-pointer data item. You can set either
of these data items to contain entry addresses of, or pointers to, these entry points:
• Another COBOL program that is not nested. For example, to have a user-written error-handling routine
take control when an exception condition occurs, you must first pass the entry address of the routine
to CEEHDLR, a condition-management Language Environment callable service, so that the routine is
registered.
• A program written in another language. For example, to receive the entry address of a C function, call
the function with the CALL RETURNING statement. It will return a pointer that you can either use as a
function pointer or convert to a procedure pointer by using a form of the SET statement.
• An alternate entry point in another COBOL program (as defined in an ENTRY statement).
The SET statement sets the pointer to refer either to an entry point in the same program object as your
program, to a separate program object, or to an entry point that is exported from a DLL, depending on the
DYNAM|NODYNAM and DLL|NODLL compiler options. Therefore, consider these factors when using these
pointer data items:
• If you compile a program with the NODYNAM and NODLL options and set a pointer item to a literal value
(to an actual name of an entry point), the value must refer to an entry point in the same program object.
Otherwise the reference cannot be resolved.
• If you compile a program with the NODLL option and either set a pointer item to an identifier that will
contain the name of the entry point at run time or set the pointer item to a literal and compile with
the DYNAM option, then the pointer item, whether a literal or variable, must point to an entry point in a
separate program objectlink. The entry point can be either the primary entry point or an alternate entry
point named in an ALIAS binder (linkage-editor) statement.
• If you compile with the NODYNAM and DLL options and set a pointer item to a literal value (the actual
name of an entry point), the value must refer to an entry point in the same program object or to an
entry-point name that is exported from a DLL module. In the latter case you must include the DLL side
file for the target DLL module in the link-edit of your program object.
• If you compile with the NODYNAM and DLL options and set a pointer item to an identifier (a data item
that contains the entry point name at run time), the identifier value must refer to the entry-point name
that is exported from a DLL module. In this case the DLL module name must match the name of the
exported entry point.
If you set a pointer item to an entry address in a dynamically called program object, and your program
subsequently cancels that dynamically called module, then that pointer item becomes undefined.
Reference to it thereafter is not reliable.
Procedure pointer and function pointer calls are supported for AMODE 24 applications. However, the
addressing mode cannot be switched for these calls, so the called and calling programs must have the
same addressing mode at execution time.
COBOL entry points with the AMODE ANY attribute can be entered in either AMODE 31 or AMODE 24.
However, the AMODE value that is in effect when the program is entered for the first time must also be in
effect for all subsequent reentries of the program during the current Language Environment enclave.
For COBOL V5 and later, procedure and function pointers point to a function descriptor rather than directly
to the entry point. If you have a data-only module, a table for example, you can no longer use the
technique:

77 DATA-FUNCTION-PTR USAGE FUNCTION-POINTER.

77 DATA-PTR REDEFINES DATA-FUNCTION-PTR USAGE POINTER.

SET DATA-FUNCTION-PTR TO ENTRY "DATAONLY"

SET ADDRESS OF DATA TO DATA_PTR

However, you need to do the following change:

486 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 77 DATA-PTR USAGE POINTER.

CALL "DATAONLY" RETURNING DATA-PTR

SET ADDRESS OF DATA TO DATA-PTR

with the data-only module revised to return the address of the data, and below is the LP(32) example:

DATAONLY CSECT
USING *,15
LA 15,DATA
BR 14
*
DATA DC ...
...
END

The revised method also works with earlier COBOLs.

Calls to procedure and function pointers must be from a module with a Language Environment stack
frame, as will be the case for any high-level programming language. If such a call is to be made from an
assembler module, an LE stack frame must be provided by using the CEEENTRY and CEETERM macros,
along with the associated register content requirements.

related tasks
“Deciding which type of pointer to use” on page 487
“Calling alternate entry
points” on page 488
“Using procedure or function pointers with DLLs” on page 512

related references
“DLL” on page 314
“DYNAM” on page 317
CANCEL statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
Format 6: SET for procedure-pointer and function-pointer data items
(Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
ENTRY statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
MVS Program Management: User's Guide and Reference

Deciding which type of pointer to use

Use procedure pointers to call other COBOL programs and to call Language Environment callable services.
Use function pointers to communicate with C/C++ programs or with services provided by the Java Native
Interface.
Procedure pointers are more efficient than function pointers for COBOL-to-COBOL calls, and are required
for calls to Language Environment condition-handling services.

Many callable services written in C return function pointers. You can call such a C function pointer from
your COBOL program by using COBOL function pointers as shown below.

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. DEMO.
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
DATA DIVISION.
*
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 FP USAGE FUNCTION-POINTER.
*
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
CALL "c-function" RETURNING FP.
CALL FP.

Chapter 25. Using subprograms 487

 related tasks
“Using procedure or function pointers with DLLs” on page 512
“Accessing JNI services” on page 633

Calling alternate entry points

You can specify another entry point at which a program will begin running by using the ENTRY label in the
called program.
Static calls to alternate entry points work without restriction.
Dynamic calls to alternate entry points require either explicitly specified NAME and/or ALIAS binder
(linkage-editor) control statements, or use of the NAME compiler option, which generates them
automatically.
Dynamically calling a compile unit at more than one entry point, including the primary entry point will
produce a unique instance of WORKING-STRAGE for each such entry, as if separate compile units were
being called.
If you share one WORKING-STRAGE instance among several entry points without statically linking the
compile unit with its caller, you must make it a DLL and use EXPORTALL to expose the secondary entry
points, and call the compile unit using a DLL call rather than a dynamic call.
“Examples: static and dynamic CALL statements” on page 481

related references
“NAME” on page 335
CANCEL statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
ENTRY statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
MVS Program Management: User's Guide and Reference

Making programs reentrant

If more than one user will run an application program at the same time (for example, users in different
address spaces accessing a program that resides in the link pack area), you must make the program
reentrant by compiling with the RENT option.
You do not need to worry about multiple copies of variables. The compiler creates the necessary
reentrancy controls in the object module.
The following Enterprise COBOL programs must be reentrant:
• Programs to be used with CICS
• Programs to be preloaded with IMS
• Programs to be used as Db2 stored procedures
• Programs to be run in the z/OS UNIX environment
• Programs that are enabled for DLL support
• Programs that use object-oriented syntax
For reentrant programs, use the DATA compiler option and the HEAP and ALL31 runtime options to
control whether dynamic data areas, such as WORKING-STORAGE, are obtained from storage below or
above the 16 MB line.

related concepts
“Storage and its addressability” on page 39
related tasks
“Compiling programs to create DLLs” on page 508
Chapter 16, “Compiling, linking, and running OO applications,” on page 281

488 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
related references
“RENT” on page 348
“DATA” on page 310
Language Environment Programming Reference (ALL31, HEAP)

Chapter 25. Using subprograms 489

490 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 26. Sharing data
If a run unit consists of several separately compiled programs that call each other, the programs must be
able to communicate with each other. They also usually need access to common data.
This information describes how you can write programs that share data with other programs. In this
information, a subprogram is any program that is called by another program.

related tasks
“Using data from another program” on page 16
“Sharing data with Java” on page 637
“Passing data” on page 491
“Coding the LINKAGE SECTION” on page 495
“Coding the PROCEDURE DIVISION
for passing arguments” on page 496
“Passing return-code information” on page 500
“Sharing data by using the EXTERNAL clause” on page 501
“Sharing files between programs
(external files)” on page 501
“Accessing main program parameters under z/OS” on page 504

Passing data
You can choose among three ways of passing data between programs: BY REFERENCE, BY CONTENT, or
BY VALUE.
BY REFERENCE
The subprogram refers to and processes the data items in the storage of the calling program rather
than working on a copy of the data. BY REFERENCE is the assumed passing mechanism for a
parameter if none of the three ways is specified or implied for the parameter.
BY CONTENT
The calling program passes only the contents of the literal or identifier. The called program cannot
change the value of the literal or identifier in the calling program, even if it modifies the data item in
which it received the literal or identifier.
BY VALUE
The calling program or method passes the value of the literal or identifier, not a reference to the
sending data item. The called program or invoked method can change the parameter. However,
because the subprogram or method has access only to a temporary copy of the sending data item, any
change does not affect the argument in the calling program.
The following figure shows the differences in values passed BY REFERENCE, BY CONTENT, and BY
VALUE:

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 491

 Determine which of these data-passing methods to use based on what you want your program to do with
the data.

Table 63. Methods for passing data in the CALL statement

Code Purpose Comments
CALL . . . BY REFERENCE To have the definition of the Any changes made by the
identifier argument of the CALL statement in subprogram to the parameter affect
the calling program and the definition the argument in the calling program.
of the parameter in the called
program share the same memory
CALL . . . BY REFERENCE To pass the address of identifier to a Any changes made by the
ADDRESS OF identifier called program, where identifier is an subprogram to the address affect the
item in the LINKAGE SECTION address in the calling program.
CALL . . . BY REFERENCE To pass a data control block (DCB) to The file-name must reference a
file-name assembler programs QSAM sequential file.1
CALL . . . BY CONTENT To pass a copy of the address of Any changes to the copy of the
ADDRESS OF identifier identifier to a called program address will not affect the address
of identifier, but changes to identifier
using the copy of the address will
cause changes to identifier.
CALL . . . BY CONTENT To pass a copy of the identifier to the Changes to the parameter by the
identifier subprogram subprogram will not affect the
caller's identifier.
CALL . . . BY CONTENT To pass a copy of a literal value to a
literal called program
CALL . . . BY CONTENT To pass a copy of the length of a data The calling program passes the
LENGTH OF identifier item length of the identifier from its
LENGTH special register.

492 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 63. Methods for passing data in the CALL statement (continued)
Code Purpose Comments
A combination of BY To pass both a data item and a copy
REFERENCE and BY CONTENT of its length to a subprogram
such as:

CALL 'ERRPROC'
USING BY REFERENCE A
BY CONTENT LENGTH OF A.

CALL . . . BY VALUE To pass data to a program, such as a A copy of the identifier is passed
identifier C/C++ program, that uses BY VALUE directly in the parameter list.
parameter linkage conventions
CALL . . . BY VALUE literal To pass data to a program, such as a A copy of the literal is passed directly
C/C++ program, that uses BY VALUE in the parameter list.
parameter linkage conventions
CALL . . . BY VALUE To pass the address of identifier Any changes to the copy of the
ADDRESS OF identifier to a called program. This is the address will not affect the address
recommended way to pass data to a of identifier, but changes to identifier
C/C++ program that expects a pointer using the copy of the address will
to the data. cause changes to identifier.
CALL . . . RETURNING To call a C/C++ function with a
function return value

1. File-names as CALL operands are allowed as an IBM extension to COBOL. Any use of the extension
generally depends on the specific internal implementation of the compiler. Control block field settings might
change in future releases. Any changes made to the control block are the user's responsibility and are not
supported by IBM.

related concepts
“Storage and its addressability” on page 39

related tasks
“Describing arguments in
the calling program” on page 494
“Describing parameters
in the called program” on page 494
“Testing for OMITTED arguments” on page 495
“Specifying CALL . . . RETURNING” on page 501
“Sharing data by using the EXTERNAL clause” on page 501
“Sharing files between programs
(external files)” on page 501
“Sharing data with Java” on page 637

related references
CALL statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
The USING phrase (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
INVOKE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Chapter 26. Sharing data 493

Describing arguments in the calling program
In the calling program, describe arguments in the DATA DIVISION in the same manner as other data
items in the DATA DIVISION.
Storage for arguments is allocated only in the outermost program. For example, program A calls program
B, which calls program C. Data items are allocated in program A. They are described in the LINKAGE
SECTION of programs B and C, making the one set of data available to all three programs.
If you reference data in a file, the file must be open when the data is referenced.
Code the USING phrase of the CALL statement to pass the arguments. If you pass a data item BY VALUE,
it must be an elementary item.
To pass CALL arguments from AMODE 31 programs to AMODE 24 programs, you must ensure that the
arguments are in storage below the 16 MB line to be addressed by the AMODE 24 subprogram.
• For reentrant AMODE 31 programs, compile the program with the DATA(24) option, or specify the
Language Environment runtime option HEAP(,,BELOW) if WORKING-STORAGE is allocated from HEAP
storage. For more information about when WORKING-STORAGE is allocated from HEAP storage, see
“Storage and its addressability” on page 39.
• For nonreentrant programs that are compiled with the NORENT option, compile with the RMODE(24) or
RMODE(AUTO) option. Consequently, the following items are allocated below the 16 MB line, and can be
passed as arguments to AMODE 24 programs:
– WORKING-STORAGE data items without the EXTERNAL clause
– FD record areas
– QSAM buffers
• For mixed AMODE applications, the Language Environment runtime options ALL31(OFF) and
STACK(,,BELOW) are required. Consequently, the LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION data items and data
items with the EXTERNAL attributes will be allocated below the 16 MB line, and can be passed as
arguments to AMODE 24 programs.

related concepts
“Storage and its addressability” on page 39

related tasks
“Coding the LINKAGE SECTION” on page 495
“Coding the PROCEDURE DIVISION
for passing arguments” on page 496

related references
The USING phrase (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Describing parameters in the called program

You must know what data is being passed from the calling program and describe it in the LINKAGE
SECTION of each program that is called directly or indirectly by the calling program.
Code the USING phrase after the PROCEDURE DIVISION header to name the parameters that receive the
data that is passed from the calling program.
When arguments are passed to the subprogram BY REFERENCE, it is invalid for the subprogram to specify
any relationship between its parameters and any fields other than those that are passed and defined in
the main program. The subprogram must not:
• Define a parameter to be larger in total number of bytes than the corresponding argument.
• Use subscript references to refer to elements beyond the limits of tables that are passed as arguments
by the calling program.
• Use reference modification to access data beyond the length of defined parameters.

494 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 • Manipulate the address of a parameter in order to access other data items that are defined in the calling
program.
If any of the rules above are violated, unexpected results might occur.

related tasks
“Coding the LINKAGE SECTION” on page 495

related references
The USING phrase (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Testing for OMITTED arguments

You can specify that one or more BY REFERENCE arguments are not to be passed to a called program by
coding the OMITTED keyword in place of those arguments in the CALL statement.

For example, to omit the second argument when calling program sub1, code this statement:

Call 'sub1' Using PARM1, OMITTED, PARM3

The arguments in the USING phrase of the CALL statement must match the parameters of the called
program in number and position.
In a called program, you can test whether an argument was passed as OMITTED by comparing the
address of the corresponding parameter to NULL. For example:

Program-ID. sub1.
. . .
Procedure Division Using RPARM1, RPARM2, RPARM3.
If Address Of RPARM2 = Null Then
Display 'No 2nd argument was passed this time'
Else
Perform Process-Parm-2
End-If

related references
CALL statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
The USING phrase (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Coding the LINKAGE SECTION

Code the same number of data-names in the identifier list of the called program as the number
of arguments in the calling program. Synchronize by position, because the compiler passes the first
argument from the calling program to the first identifier of the called program, and so on.
You will introduce errors if the number of data-names in the identifier list of a called program is greater
than the number of arguments passed from the calling program. The compiler does not try to match
arguments and parameters.
The following figure shows a data item being passed from one program to another (implicitly BY
REFERENCE):

Chapter 26. Sharing data 495

 In the calling program, the code for parts (PARTCODE) and the part number (PARTNO) are distinct data
items. In the called program, by contrast, the code for parts and the part number are combined into one
data item (PART-ID). In the called program, a reference to PART-ID is the only valid reference to these
items.
related tasks
“Accessing main program parameters under z/OS” on page 504

Coding the PROCEDURE DIVISION for passing arguments

If you pass an argument BY VALUE, code the USING BY VALUE clause in the PROCEDURE DIVISION
header of the subprogram. If you pass an argument BY REFERENCE or BY CONTENT, you do not need to
indicate in the header how the argument was passed.

PROCEDURE DIVISION USING BY VALUE. . .

PROCEDURE DIVISION USING. . .
PROCEDURE DIVISION USING BY REFERENCE. . .

The first header above indicates that the data items are passed BY VALUE; the second or third headers
indicate that the items are passed BY REFERENCE or BY CONTENT.

related references
The procedure division header (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
The USING phrase (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
CALL statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Grouping data to be passed

Consider grouping all the data items that you need to pass between programs and putting them under one
level-01 item. If you do so, you can pass a single level-01 record.
Note that if you pass a data item BY VALUE, it must be an elementary item.
To lessen the possibility of mismatched records, put the level-01 record into a copy library and copy it
into both programs. That is, copy it in the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION of the calling program and in the
LINKAGE SECTION of the called program.

related tasks
“Coding the LINKAGE SECTION” on page 495
related references
CALL statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

496 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Handling null-terminated strings
COBOL supports null-terminated strings when you use string-handling statements together with null-
terminated literals and the hexadecimal literal X'00'.
You can manipulate null-terminated strings (passed from a C program, for example) by using string-
handling mechanisms such as those in the following code:

01 L pic X(20) value z'ab'.

01 M pic X(20) value z'cd'.
01 N pic X(20).
01 N-Length pic 99 value zero.
01 Y pic X(13) value 'Hello, World!'.

To determine the length of a null-terminated string, and display the value of the string and its length,
code:

Inspect N tallying N-length for characters before initial X'00'

Display 'N: ' N(1:N-length) ' Length: ' N-length

To move a null-terminated string to an alphanumeric string, but delete the null, code:

Unstring N delimited by X'00' into X

To create a null-terminated string, code:

String Y delimited by size

X'00' delimited by size
into N.

To concatenate two null-terminated strings, code:

String L delimited by x'00'

M delimited by x'00'
X'00' delimited by size
into N.

related tasks
“Manipulating null-terminated
strings” on page 108

related references
Null-terminated alphanumeric literals
(Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Using pointers to process a chained list

When you need to pass and receive addresses of record areas, you can use pointer data items, which
are either data items that are defined with the USAGE IS POINTER clause or are ADDRESS OF special
registers.
A typical application for using pointer data items is in processing a chained list, a series of records in
which each record points to the next.
When you pass addresses between programs in a chained list, you can use NULL to assign the value of an
address that is not valid (nonnumeric 0) to a pointer item in either of two ways:
• Use a VALUE IS NULL clause in its data definition.
• Use NULL as the sending field in a SET statement.

Chapter 26. Sharing data 497

 In the case of a chained list in which the pointer data item in the last record contains a null value, you can
use this code to check for the end of the list:

IF PTR-NEXT-REC = NULL
. . .
(logic for end of chain)

If the program has not reached the end of the list, the program can process the record and move on to the
next record.
The data passed from a calling program might contain header information that you want to ignore.
Because pointer data items are not numeric, you cannot directly perform arithmetic on them. However, to
bypass header information, you can use the SET statement to increment the passed address.
“Example: using pointers to process a chained list” on page 498
related tasks
“Coding the LINKAGE SECTION” on page 495
“Coding the PROCEDURE DIVISION
for passing arguments” on page 496

related references
SET statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: using pointers to process a chained list

The following example shows how you might process a linked list, that is, a chained list of data items.
For this example, picture a chained list of data that consists of individual salary records. The following
figure shows one way to visualize how the records are linked in storage. The first item in each record
except the last points to the next record. The first item in the last record contains a null value (instead of a
valid address) to indicate that it is the last record.

The high-level pseudocode for an application that processes these records might be:

Obtain address of first record in chained list from routine

Check for end of the list
Do until end of the list
Process record
Traverse to the next record
End

The following code contains an outline of the calling program, LISTS, used in this example of processing
a chained list.

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. LISTS.
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
DATA DIVISION.
******
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
77 PTR-FIRST POINTER VALUE IS NULL. (1)
77 DEPT-TOTAL PIC 9(4) VALUE IS 0.
******
LINKAGE SECTION.
01 SALARY-REC.

498 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 02 PTR-NEXT-REC POINTER. (2)
02 NAME PIC X(20).
02 DEPT PIC 9(4).
02 SALARY PIC 9(6).
01 DEPT-X PIC 9(4).
******
PROCEDURE DIVISION USING DEPT-X.
******
* FOR EVERYONE IN THE DEPARTMENT RECEIVED AS DEPT-X,
* GO THROUGH ALL THE RECORDS IN THE CHAINED LIST BASED ON THE
* ADDRESS OBTAINED FROM THE PROGRAM CHAIN-ANCH
* AND ACCUMULATE THE SALARIES.
* IN EACH RECORD, PTR-NEXT-REC IS A POINTER TO THE NEXT RECORD
* IN THE LIST; IN THE LAST RECORD, PTR-NEXT-REC IS NULL.
* DISPLAY THE TOTAL.
******
CALL "CHAIN-ANCH" USING PTR-FIRST (3)
SET ADDRESS OF SALARY-REC TO PTR-FIRST (4)
******
PERFORM WITH TEST BEFORE UNTIL ADDRESS OF SALARY-REC = NULL (5)

IF DEPT = DEPT-X
THEN ADD SALARY TO DEPT-TOTAL
ELSE CONTINUE
END-IF
SET ADDRESS OF SALARY-REC TO PTR-NEXT-REC (6)

END-PERFORM
******
DISPLAY DEPT-TOTAL
GOBACK.

(1)
PTR-FIRST is defined as a pointer data item with an initial value of NULL. On a successful return from
the call to CHAIN-ANCH, PTR-FIRST contains the address of the first record in the chained list. If
something goes wrong with the call, and PTR-FIRST never receives the value of the address of the
first record in the chain, a null value remains in PTR-FIRST and, according to the logic of the program,
the records will not be processed.
(2)
The LINKAGE SECTION of the calling program contains the description of the records in the chained
list. It also contains the description of the department code that is passed in the USING clause of the
CALL statement.
(3)
To obtain the address of the first SALARY-REC record area, the LISTS program calls the program
CHAIN-ANCH.
(4)
The SET statement bases the record description SALARY-REC on the address contained in PTR-
FIRST.
(5)
The chained list in this example is set up so that the last record contains an address that is not valid.
This check for the end of the chained list is accomplished with a do-while structure where the value
NULL is assigned to the pointer data item in the last record.
(6)
The address of the record in the LINKAGE-SECTION is set equal to the address of the next record by
means of the pointer data item sent as the first field in SALARY-REC. The record-processing routine
repeats, processing the next record in the chained list.
To increment addresses received from another program, you could set up the LINKAGE SECTION and
PROCEDURE DIVISION like this:

LINKAGE SECTION.
01 RECORD-A.
02 HEADER PIC X(12).
02 REAL-SALARY-REC PIC X(30).
. . .
01 SALARY-REC.
02 PTR-NEXT-REC POINTER.

Chapter 26. Sharing data 499

 02 NAME PIC X(20).
02 DEPT PIC 9(4).
02 SALARY PIC 9(6).
. . .
PROCEDURE DIVISION USING DEPT-X.
. . .
SET ADDRESS OF SALARY-REC TO ADDRESS OF REAL-SALARY-REC

The address of SALARY-REC is now based on the address of REAL-SALARY-REC, or RECORD-A + 12.

related tasks
“Using pointers to process
a chained list” on page 497

Passing return-code information

Use the RETURN-CODE special register to pass return codes between programs. (Methods do not return
information in the RETURN-CODE special register, but they can check the register after a call to a
program.)
You can also use the RETURNING phrase in the PROCEDURE DIVISION header of a method to return
information to an invoking program or method. If you use PROCEDURE DIVISION . . . RETURNING
with CALL . . . RETURNING, the RETURN-CODE register will not be set.

Using the RETURN-CODE special register

When a COBOL program returns to its caller, the contents of the RETURN-CODE special register are stored
into register 15.
When control is returned to a COBOL program or method from a call, the contents of register 15 are
stored into the RETURN-CODE special register of the calling program or method. When control is returned
from a COBOL program to the operating system, the special register contents are returned as a user
return code.
You might need to think about this handling of the RETURN-CODE special register when control is returned
to a COBOL program from a non-COBOL program. If the non-COBOL program does not use register 15 to
pass back the return code, the RETURN-CODE special register of the COBOL program might be updated
with an invalid value. Unless you set this special register to a meaningful value before your Enterprise
COBOL program returns to the operating system, a return code that is invalid will be passed to the system.
For equivalent function between COBOL and C programs, have your COBOL program call the C program
with the RETURNING phrase. If the C program (function) correctly declares a function value, the
RETURNING value of the calling COBOL program will be set.
You cannot set the RETURN-CODE special register by using the INVOKE statement.

Using PROCEDURE DIVISION RETURNING . . .

Use the RETURNING phrase in the PROCEDURE DIVISION header of a program to return information to
the calling program.

PROCEDURE DIVISION RETURNING dataname2

When the called program in the example above successfully returns to its caller, the value in dataname2
is stored into the identifier that was specified in the RETURNING phrase of the CALL statement:

CALL . . . RETURNING dataname2

CEEPIPI: The results of specifying PROCEDURE DIVISION RETURNING in programs that are called with
the Language Environment preinitialization service (CEEPIPI) are undefined.

500 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Specifying CALL . . . RETURNING
You can specify the RETURNING phrase of the CALL statement for calls to C/C++ functions or to COBOL
subroutines.

The RETURNING phrase has the following format.

CALL . . . RETURNING dataname2

The return value of the called program is stored into dataname2. You must define dataname2 in the DATA
DIVISION of the calling program. The data type of the return value that is declared in the target function
must be identical to the data type of dataname2.

Sharing data by using the EXTERNAL clause

Use the EXTERNAL clause to enable separately compiled programs and methods (including programs in
a batch sequence) to share data items. Code EXTERNAL in the level-01 data description in the WORKING-
STORAGE SECTION.
The following rules apply:
• Items that are subordinate to an EXTERNAL group item are themselves EXTERNAL.
• You cannot use the name of an EXTERNAL data item as the name for another EXTERNAL item in the
same program.
• You cannot code the VALUE clause for any group item or subordinate item that is EXTERNAL.
In the run unit, any COBOL program or method that has the same data description for the item as the
program that contains the item can access and process that item. For example, suppose program A has
the following data description:

01 EXT-ITEM1 EXTERNAL PIC 99.

Program B can access that data item if B has the identical data description in its WORKING-STORAGE
SECTION.
Any program that has access to an EXTERNAL data item can change the value of that item. Therefore do
not use this clause for data items that you need to protect.

Sharing files between programs (external files)

To enable separately compiled programs or methods in a run unit to access a file as a common file, use
the EXTERNAL clause for the file.
It is recommended that you follow these guidelines:
• Use the same data-name in the FILE STATUS clause of all the programs that check the file status
code.
• For each program that checks the same file status field, code the EXTERNAL clause in the level-01 data
definition for the file status field.
Using an external file has these benefits:
• Even if the main program does not contain any input or output statements, it can reference the record
area of the file.
• Each subprogram can control a single input or output function, such as OPEN or READ.
• Each program has access to the file.
“Example: using external files” on page 502

Chapter 26. Sharing data 501

 related tasks
“Using data in input and output operations” on page 11

related references
EXTERNAL clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: using external files

The following example shows the use of an external file in several programs. COPY statements ensure that
each subprogram contains an identical description of the file.
The following table describes the main program and subprograms.

Name Function
ef1 The main program, which calls all the subprograms and then verifies the contents of a
record area
ef1openo Opens the external file for output and checks the file status code
ef1write Writes a record to the external file and checks the file status code
ef1openi Opens the external file for input and checks the file status code
ef1read Reads a record from the external file and checks the file status code
ef1close Closes the external file and checks the file status code

Each program uses three copybooks:

• efselect is placed in the FILE-CONTROL paragraph:

Select ef1
Assign To ef1
File Status Is efs1
Organization Is Sequential.

• effile is placed in the FILE SECTION:

Fd ef1 Is External
Record Contains 80 Characters
Recording Mode F.
01 ef-record-1.
02 ef-item-1 Pic X(80).

• efwrkstg is placed in the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION:

01 efs1 Pic 99 External.

Input/output using external files

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
Program-Id.
ef1.
*
* This main program controls external file processing.
*
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
Input-Output Section.
File-Control.
Copy efselect.
DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION.
Copy effile.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
Copy efwrkstg.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.

502 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Call "ef1openo"
Call "ef1write"
Call "ef1close"
Call "ef1openi"
Call "ef1read"
If ef-record-1 = "First record" Then
Display "First record correct"
Else
Display "First record incorrect"
Display "Expected: " "First record"
Display "Found : " ef-record-1
End-If
Call "ef1close"
Goback.
End Program ef1.
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
Program-Id.
ef1openo.
*
* This program opens the external file for output.
*
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
Input-Output Section.
File-Control.
Copy efselect.
DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION.
Copy effile.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
Copy efwrkstg.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
Open Output ef1
If efs1 Not = 0
Display "file status " efs1 " on open output"
Stop Run
End-If
Goback.
End Program ef1openo.
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
Program-Id.
ef1write.
*
* This program writes a record to the external file.
*
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
Input-Output Section.
File-Control.
Copy efselect.
DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION.
Copy effile.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
Copy efwrkstg.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
Move "First record" to ef-record-1
Write ef-record-1
If efs1 Not = 0
Display "file status " efs1 " on write"
Stop Run
End-If
Goback.
End Program ef1write.
Identification Division.
Program-Id.
ef1openi.
*
* This program opens the external file for input.
*
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
Input-Output Section.
File-Control.
Copy efselect.
DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION.
Copy effile.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
Copy efwrkstg.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
Open Input ef1
If efs1 Not = 0
Display "file status " efs1 " on open input"
Stop Run

Chapter 26. Sharing data 503

 End-If
Goback.
End Program ef1openi.
Identification Division.
Program-Id.
ef1read.
*
* This program reads a record from the external file.
*
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
Input-Output Section.
File-Control.
Copy efselect.
DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION.
Copy effile.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
Copy efwrkstg.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
Read ef1
If efs1 Not = 0
Display "file status " efs1 " on read"
Stop Run
End-If
Goback.
End Program ef1read.
Identification Division.
Program-Id.
ef1close.
*
* This program closes the external file.
*
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
Input-Output Section.
File-Control.
Copy efselect.
DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION.
Copy effile.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
Copy efwrkstg.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
Close ef1
If efs1 Not = 0
Display "file status " efs1 " on close"
Stop Run
End-If
Goback.
End Program ef1close.

Accessing main program parameters under z/OS

When you run an Enterprise COBOL program under z/OS and pass the program a parameter string, for
example, by using JCL or a TSO command, the parameter list consists of a character string that has a
halfword prefix that contains the string length.
You can access the parameter string by using a LINKAGE SECTION and standard COBOL coding as shown
in the example referenced below:
“Example: accessing main program parameters under z/OS” on page 505
Alternatively, you can obtain the parameter string by calling either of the following Language Environment
callable services, which are described in the related references below:
• CEE3PRM (query parameter string): obtain the parameter string (if not longer than 80 characters)
• CEE3PR2 (query parameter string long): obtain the parameter string and its length
In either case, the parameter string might contain program arguments, runtime options, or both. The
setting of the CBLOPTS runtime option determines the relative order in which program arguments and
runtime options are expected. If CBLOPTS(ON) (the default) is in effect, and program arguments and

504 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 runtime options are both passed in the parameter string, they must appear in the following order,
separated by a forward slash:

program_arguments/runtime_options

For further details, see the related information referenced below.

related tasks
“Coding the LINKAGE SECTION” on page 495
Appendix I, “Accessing JCL parameters,” on page 863
“Accessing main program parameters under z/OS UNIX” on page 464
Language Environment Programming Guide (Specifying runtime options and
program arguments, Preparing your main routine to receive parameters)

related references
Language Environment Customization (CBLOPTS (COBOL only))
Language Environment Programming Reference (CEE3PRM, CEE3PR2)

Example: accessing main program parameters under z/OS

The following example shows how to receive a parameter string that is passed to a COBOL program that
runs under z/OS, and shows the coding that you can use to access the parameter string.

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. "testarg".
*
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
CONFIGURATION SECTION.
*
DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
*
linkage section.
01 os-parm.
05 parm-len pic s999 comp.
05 parm-string.
10 parm-char pic x occurs 0 to 100 times
depending on parm-len.
*
PROCEDURE DIVISION using os-parm.
display "parm-len=" parm-len
display "parm-string='" parm-string "'"
evaluate parm-string
when "01" display "case one"
when "02" display "case two"
when "95" display "case ninety-five"
when other display "case unknown"
end-evaluate
GOBACK.

Suppose that the CBLOPTS(ON) runtime option is in effect, and that you pass the following argument in
the JCL or TSO command that you use to run the program:

'95/'

Then the resulting output is:

parm-len=002
parm-string='95'
case ninety-five

Chapter 26. Sharing data 505

506 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 27. Creating a DLL or a DLL application
Creating a dynamic link library (DLL) or a DLL application is similar to creating a regular COBOL
application. It involves writing, compiling, and linking your source code.
Special considerations when writing a DLL or a DLL application include:
• Determining how the parts of the program object or the application relate to each other or to other DLLs
• Deciding what linking or calling mechanisms to use
Depending on whether you want to create a DLL program object or a program object that references a
separate DLL, you need to use slightly different compiler and binder (linkage-editor) options.

related concepts
“Dynamic link libraries (DLLs)” on page 507

related tasks
“Creating a DLL under z/OS UNIX” on page 276
“Compiling programs to create DLLs” on page 508
“Linking DLLs” on page 508
“Using CALL identifier with
DLLs” on page 510
“Using DLL linkage and dynamic calls together” on page 511
“Using COBOL DLLs with C/C++ programs” on page 514
“Using DLLs in OO COBOL applications” on page 514
“Using procedure or function pointers with DLLs” on page 512

Dynamic link libraries (DLLs)

A DLL is a program object that can be accessed from other separate program objects.
A DLL differs from a traditional program object in that it exports definitions of programs, functions, or
variables to DLLs, DLL applications, or non-DLLs. Therefore, you do not need to link the target routines
into the same program object as the referencing routine. When an application references a separate DLL
for the first time, the system automatically loads the DLL into memory. In other words, calling a program
in a DLL is similar to calling a program object with a dynamic CALL.

A DLL application is an application that references imported definitions of programs, functions, or

variables.
Although some functions of z/OS DLLs overlap the functions provided by COBOL dynamic CALL
statements, DLLs have several advantages over regular z/OS program objects and dynamic calls:

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 507

 • DLLs are common across COBOL and C/C++, thus providing better interoperation for applications
that use multiple programming languages. Reentrant COBOL and C/C++ DLLs can also interoperate
smoothly.
• You can make calls to programs in separate DLL modules that have long program-names.
(Dynamic call resolution truncates program-names to eight characters.) Using the COBOL option
PGMNAME(LONGUPPER) or PGMNAME(LONGMIXED) and the COBOL DLL support, you can make calls
between program objects with names of up to 160 characters.
DLLs are supported by IBM z/OS Language Environment, based on function provided by the z/OS program
management binder. DLL support is available for applications running under z/OS in batch or in TSO, CICS,
z/OS UNIX, or IMS environments.

related references
“PGMNAME” on page 345
MVS Program Management: User's Guide and Reference (Binder support for DLLs)

Compiling programs to create DLLs

When you compile a COBOL program with the DLL option, it becomes enabled for DLL support.
Applications that use DLL support must be reentrant. Therefore, you must compile them with the RENT
compiler option and link them with the RENT binder option.
In an application with DLL support, use the following compiler options depending on where the programs
or classes are:

Table 64. Compiler options for DLL applications

Programs or classes in: Compile with:
Root program object DLL, RENT, NOEXPORTALL
DLL program objects used by other program DLL, RENT, EXPORTALL
objects

If a DLL program object includes some programs that are used only from within the DLL module, you can
hide these routines by compiling them with NOEXPORTALL.
“Example: sample JCL for a procedural DLL application” on page 509

related tasks
“Creating a DLL under z/OS UNIX” on page 276
“Linking DLLs” on page 508
Chapter 27, “Creating a DLL or a DLL application,” on page 507

related references
“DLL” on page 314
“EXPORTALL” on page 319
“RENT” on page 348

Linking DLLs
You can link DLL-enabled object modules into separate DLL program objects, or you can link them
together statically. You can decide whether to package the application as one module or as several DLL
modules at link time.
The DLL support in the z/OS binder is recommended for linking DLL applications. The binder can directly
receive the output of COBOL compilers.
A binder-based DLL must reside in a PDSE or in a z/OS UNIX file.
When using the binder to link a DLL application, use the following options:

508 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Table 65. Binder options for DLL applications
Type of code Link using binder parameters:
DLL applications DYNAM(DLL), RENT
Applications that use mixed-case exported CASE(MIXED)
program-names
Class definitions or INVOKE statements

You must specify a SYSDEFSD DD statement to indicate the data set in which the binder should create
a DLL definition side file. This side file contains IMPORT control statements for each symbol exported by
a DLL. The binder SYSLIN input (the binding code that references the DLL code) must include the DLL
definition side files for DLLs that are to be referenced from the module being linked.
If there are programs in the module that you do not want to make available with DLL linkage, you can edit
the definition side file to remove these programs.
“Example: sample JCL for a procedural DLL application” on page 509

related tasks
“Creating a DLL under z/OS UNIX” on page 276
Chapter 27, “Creating a DLL or a DLL application,” on page 507
“Compiling programs to create DLLs” on page 508

related references
MVS Program Management: User's Guide and Reference (Binder support for DLLs)

Example: sample JCL for a procedural DLL application

The following example shows how to create an application that consists of a main program that calls a
DLL subprogram.
The first step creates the DLL program object that contains the subprogram DemoDLLSubprogram. The
second step creates the main program object that contains the program MainProgram. The third step
runs the application.

//DLLSAMP JOB ,
// TIME=(1),MSGLEVEL=(1,1),MSGCLASS=H,CLASS=A,
// NOTIFY=&SYSUID,USER=&SYSUID
// SET LEPFX='SYS1'
//*---------------------------------------------------------------------
//* Compile COBOL subprogram, bind to form a DLL.
//*---------------------------------------------------------------------
//STEP1 EXEC IGYWCL,REGION=80M,GOPGM=DEMODLL,
// PARM.COBOL='RENT,PGMN(LM),DLL,EXPORTALL',
// PARM.LKED='RENT,LIST,XREF,LET,MAP,DYNAM(DLL),CASE(MIXED)'
//COBOL.SYSIN DD *
Identification division.
Program-id. "DemoDLLSubprogram".
Procedure division.
Display "Hello from DemoDLLSubprogram!".
End program "DemoDLLSubprogram".
/*
//LKED.SYSDEFSD DD DSN=&&SIDEDECK,UNIT=SYSDA,DISP=(NEW,PASS),
// SPACE=(TRK,(1,1))
//LKED.SYSLMOD DD DSN=&&GOSET(&GOPGM),DSNTYPE=LIBRARY,DISP=(MOD,PASS)
//LKED.SYSIN DD DUMMY
//*---------------------------------------------------------------------
//* Compile and bind COBOL main program
//*---------------------------------------------------------------------
//STEP2 EXEC IGYWCL,REGION=80M,GOPGM=MAINPGM,
// PARM.COBOL='RENT,PGMNAME(LM),DLL',
// PARM.LKED='RENT,LIST,XREF,LET,MAP,DYNAM(DLL),CASE(MIXED)'
//COBOL.SYSIN DD *
Identification division.
Program-id. "MainProgram".
Procedure division.

Chapter 27. Creating a DLL or a DLL application 509

 Call "DemoDLLSubprogram"
Stop Run.
End program "MainProgram".
/*
//LKED.SYSIN DD DSN=&&SIDEDECK,DISP=(OLD,DELETE)
//*---------------------------------------------------------------------
//* Execute the main program, calling the subprogram DLL.
//*---------------------------------------------------------------------
//STEP3 EXEC PGM=MAINPGM,REGION=80M
//STEPLIB DD DSN=&&GOSET,DISP=(OLD,DELETE)
// DD DSN=&LEPFX..SCEERUN,DISP=SHR
// DD DSN=&LEPFX..SCEERUN2,DISP=SHR
//SYSOUT DD SYSOUT=*
//CEEDUMP DD SYSOUT=*

Using CALL identifier with DLLs

In a COBOL program that has been compiled with the DLL option, you can use CALL identifier and CALL
literal statements to make calls to DLLs. However, there are a few additional considerations for the CALL
identifier case.
For the content of the identifier or for the literal, use the name of either of the following programs:
• A nested program in the same compilation unit that is eligible to be called from the program that
contains the CALL identifier statement.
• A program in a separately bound DLL module. The target program-name must be exported from the DLL,
and the DLL module name must match the exported name of the target program.
In the nonnested case, the runtime environment interprets the program-name in the identifier according
to the setting of the PGMNAME compiler option of the program that contains the CALL statement, and
interprets the program-name that is exported from the target DLL according to the setting of the PGMNAME
option used when the target program was compiled.
The search for the target DLL in the z/OS UNIX file system is case sensitive. If the target DLL is a PDSE
member, the DLL member name must be eight characters or less. For the purpose of the search for the
DLL as a PDSE member, the run time automatically converts the name to uppercase.
If the runtime environment cannot resolve the CALL statement in either of these cases, control is
transferred to the ON EXCEPTION or ON OVERFLOW phrase of the CALL statement. If the CALL statement
does not specify one of these phrases in this situation, Language Environment raises a severity-3
condition.

related tasks
“Using DLL linkage and dynamic calls together” on page 511
“Compiling programs to create DLLs” on page 508
“Linking DLLs” on page 508

related references
“DLL” on page 314
“PGMNAME” on page 345
CALL statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
“Search order for DLLs in the z/OS UNIX file system” on page 510

Search order for DLLs in the z/OS UNIX file system

When you use the z/OS UNIX file system, the search order for resolving a DLL reference in a CALL
statement depends on the setting of the Language Environment POSIX runtime option.
If the POSIX runtime option is ON, the search order is as follows:
1. The runtime environment looks for the DLL in the z/OS UNIX file system. If the LIBPATH environment
variable is set, the run time searches each directory listed. Otherwise, it searches just the current
directory. The search for the DLL in the z/OS UNIX file system is case sensitive.

510 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 2. If the runtime environment does not find the DLL in the z/OS UNIX file system, it tries to load the
DLL from the MVS load library search order of the caller. In this case, the DLL name must be eight
characters or less. The run time automatically converts the DLL name to uppercase for this search.
If the POSIX runtime option is set to OFF, the search order is reversed:
1. The runtime environment tries to load the DLL from the search order for the load library of the caller.
2. If the runtime environment cannot load the DLL from this load library, it tries to load the DLL from the
z/OS UNIX file system.

related tasks
“Using CALL identifier with
DLLs” on page 510

related references
Language Environment Programming Reference (POSIX)

Using DLL linkage and dynamic calls together

For applications (that is, Language Environment enclaves) that are structured as multiple separately
bound modules, each module can be invoked by using dynamic call linkage or DLL linkage. For a certain
module, use exclusively one form of linkage to enter it. However, the caller can contain CALL statements
with both linkage types, calling out to different modules.
DLL linkage refers to a call in a program that is compiled with the DLL and NODYNAM options, or a call
with the CALLINTERFACE compiler directive that specifies DLL. In such calls, the called subprogram is
resolved to an exported name in a separate module. DLL linkage can also refer to an invocation of a
method that is defined in a separate module.
Within a compilation unit you can call a specific program with only one of the calling conventions:
Dynamic, DLL or Static. If a program is called by using different calling conventions, the compiler
diagnoses this case and force all the calls to have the same convention as the first call statement that is
encountered for that program.
A program can contain CALL statements with both dynamic call linkage and DLL linkage. It can do
so by using the CALLINTERFACE compiler directive to specify the linkage type of a particular call. All
components of a DLL application must have the same AMODE. The automatic AMODE switching normally
provided by COBOL dynamic calls is not available for DLL linkages. You cannot cancel programs that are
called by using DLL linkage.
All components of a DLL application must have the same AMODE. The automatic AMODE switching
normally provided by COBOL dynamic calls is not available for DLL linkages.

related concepts
“Dynamic link libraries (DLLs)” on page 507

related tasks
“Compiling programs to create DLLs” on page 508
“Linking DLLs” on page 508
“Using procedure or function pointers with DLLs” on page 512
“Calling DLLs from non-DLLs” on page 512

related references
“DLL” on page 314
“EXPORTALL” on page 319
CALLINTERFACE (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Chapter 27. Creating a DLL or a DLL application 511

Using procedure or function pointers with DLLs
In run units that contain both DLLs and non-DLLs, use procedure- and function-pointer data items with
care.
The SET procedure-pointer-1 TO ENTRY entry-name statement, SET function-pointer-1 TO ENTRY entry-
name statement, and the CALL statement have a call linkage type that associates with them. The call
linkage type is determined by the compiler options and the CALLINTERFACE directive that are in effect
on that statement. In a program that is compiled with the DLL option, the default call linkage type is DLL.
Otherwise, the linkage type is non-DLL. This default can be overridden by the CALLINTERFACE directive.
For a procedure-pointer or function-pointer data item that is set by a SET statement with linkage type
non-DLL, it must not be used by a CALL statement with linkage type DLL. For a SET statement with
linkage type DLL and the entry-name is an identifier, and if the NODYNAM option is in effect, the entry-name
identifier value must refer to the entry-point name that is exported from a DLL module. The DLL module
name must match the name of the exported entry point. In this case, note also that:
• The program-name that is contained in the identifier is interpreted according to the setting of the
PGMNAME(COMPAT|LONGUPPER|LONGMIXED) compiler option of the program that contains the CALL
statement.
• The program-name that is exported from the target DLL is interpreted according to the setting of the
PGMNAME option used when compiling the target program.
• The search for the target DLL in the z/OS UNIX file system is case sensitive.
• If the target DLL is a PDSE member, the DLL member name must have eight characters or less. For
the purpose of the search for the DLL as a PDSE member, the name is automatically converted to
uppercase.

related tasks
“Using CALL identifier with
DLLs” on page 510
“Using procedure and function
pointers” on page 485
“Compiling programs to create DLLs” on page 508
“Linking DLLs” on page 508

related references
“DLL” on page 314
“EXPORTALL” on page 319
CALLINTERFACE (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Calling DLLs from non-DLLs

It is possible to call a DLL from a COBOL program that is compiled with the NODLL option, but there are
restrictions.
You can use the following methods to ensure that the DLL linkage is followed:
• Put the COBOL DLL programs that you want to call from the COBOL non-DLL programs in the program
object that contains the main program. Use static calls from the COBOL non-DLL programs to call the
COBOL DLL programs.
The COBOL DLL programs in the program object that contains the main program can call COBOL DLL
programs in other DLLs.
• Put the COBOL DLL programs in DLLs and call them from COBOL non-DLL programs with CALL function-
pointer, where function-pointer is set to a function descriptor of the target program. You can obtain the
address of the function descriptor for the program in the DLL by calling a C routine that uses dllload
and dllqueryfn.
“Example: calling DLLs from non-DLLs” on page 513

512 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 related tasks
“Using procedure and function
pointers” on page 485

Example: calling DLLs from non-DLLs

The following example shows how a COBOL program that is not in a DLL (COBOL1) can call a COBOL
program that is in a DLL (program ooc05R in DLL OOC05R).

CBL NODYNAM
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. 'COBOL1'.
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
CONFIGURATION SECTION.
INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
FILE-CONTROL.
DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 DLL-INFO.
03 DLL-LOADMOD-NAME PIC X(12).
03 DLL-PROGRAM-NAME PIC X(160).
03 DLL-PROGRAM-HANDLE FUNCTION-POINTER.
77 DLL-RC PIC S9(9) BINARY.
77 DLL-STATUS PIC X(1) VALUE 'N'.
88 DLL-LOADED VALUE 'Y'.
88 DLL-NOT-LOADED VALUE 'N'.

PROCEDURE DIVISION.

IF DLL-NOT-LOADED
THEN
* Move the names in. They must be null terminated.
MOVE Z'OOC05R' TO DLL-LOADMOD-NAME
MOVE Z'ooc05r' TO DLL-PROGRAM-NAME

* Call the C routine to load the DLL and to get the

* function descriptor address.
CALL 'A1CCDLGT' USING BY REFERENCE DLL-INFO
BY REFERENCE DLL-RC
IF DLL-RC = 0
THEN
SET DLL-LOADED TO TRUE
ELSE
DISPLAY 'A1CCLDGT failed with rc = '
DLL-RC
MOVE 16 TO RETURN-CODE
STOP RUN
END-IF
END-IF

* Use the function pointer on the call statement to call the

* program in the DLL.
* Call the program in the DLL.
CALL DLL-PROGRAM-HANDLE

GOBACK.

#include <stdio.h>
#include <dll.h>
#pragma linkage (A1CCDLGT,COBOL)

typedef struct dll_lm {

char dll_loadmod_name[(12]);
char dll_func_name[(160]);
void (*fptr) (void); /* function pointer */
} dll_lm;

void A1CCDLGT (dll_lm *dll, int *rc)

{
dllhandle *handle;
void (*fptr1)(void);
*rc = 0;
/* Load the DLL */
handle = dllload(dll->dll_loadmod_name);
if (handle == NULL) {

Chapter 27. Creating a DLL or a DLL application 513

 perror("A1CCDLGT failed on call to load DLL./n");
*rc = 1;
return;
}

/* Get the address of the function */

fptr1 = (void (*)(void))
dllqueryfn(handle,dll->dll_func_name);
if (fptr1 == NULL) {
perror("A1CCDLGT failed on retrieving function./n");
*rc = 2;
return;
}
/* Return the function pointer */
dll->fptr = fptr1;
return;
}

Using COBOL DLLs with C/C++ programs

COBOL support for DLLs interoperates with the DLL support in the z/OS C/C++ products, except for
COBOL EXTERNAL data. In particular, COBOL applications can call functions that are exported from C/C++
DLLs, and C/C++ applications can call COBOL programs that are exported from COBOL DLLs.
COBOL data items that are declared with the EXTERNAL attribute are independent of DLL support.
These data items are accessible by name from any COBOL program in the run unit that declares them,
regardless of whether the programs are in DLLs.
The COBOL options DLL, RENT, and EXPORTALL work much the same way as the C/C++ DLL, RENT,
and EXPORTALL options. (The DLL option applies only to C.) However, the C/C++ compiler produces
DLL-enabled code by default.
You can pass a C/C++ DLL function pointer to COBOL and use it within COBOL, receiving the C/C++
function pointer as a function-pointer data item. The following example shows a COBOL call to a C
function that returns a function pointer to a service, followed by a COBOL call to the service.

Identification Division.
Program-id. Demo.
Data Division.
Working-Storage section.
01 fp usage function-pointer.
Procedure Division.
Call "c-function" returning fp.
Call fp.

related tasks
“Compiling programs to create DLLs” on page 508
“Linking DLLs” on page 508

related references
“DLL” on page 314
“EXPORTALL” on page 319
“RENT” on page 348
EXTERNAL clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
CALLINTERFACE (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Using DLLs in OO COBOL applications

You must compile each COBOL class definition using the DLL, THREAD, RENT, and DBCS compiler options,
and link-edit it into a separate DLL module using the RENT binder option.

related tasks
Chapter 16, “Compiling, linking, and running OO applications,” on page 281
“Compiling programs to create DLLs” on page 508
“Linking DLLs” on page 508

514 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
related references
“DLL” on page 314
“THREAD” on page 363
“RENT” on page 348
“DBCS” on page 311

Chapter 27. Creating a DLL or a DLL application 515

516 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 28. Preparing COBOL programs for
multithreading
You can run COBOL programs in multiple threads within a process under batch, TSO, IMS, or z/OS UNIX.
There is no explicit COBOL language to use for multithreaded execution; rather, you compile with the
THREAD compiler option.
COBOL does not directly support managing program threads. However, you can run COBOL programs
that you compile with the THREAD compiler option in multithreaded application servers, in applications
that use a C/C++ driver program to create the threads, in programs that interoperate with Java and
use Java threads, and in applications that use PL/I tasking. In other words, other programs can call
COBOL programs in such a way that the COBOL programs run in multiple threads within a process or as
multiple program invocation instances within a thread. Your threaded application must run within a single
Language Environment enclave.
Choosing LOCAL-STORAGE or WORKING-STORAGE: Because you must code your multithreaded programs
as recursive, the persistence of data is that of any recursive program:
• Data items in the LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION are automatically allocated for each instance of a
program invocation. When a program runs in multiple threads simultaneously, each invocation has a
separate copy of LOCAL-STORAGE data.
• Data items in the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION are allocated once for each program and are thus
available in their last-used state to all invocations of the program.
For the data that you want to isolate to an individual program invocation instance, define the data in the
LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION. In general, this choice is appropriate for working data in threaded programs.
If you define data in WORKING-STORAGE and your program changes the contents of the data, you must
take one of the following actions:
• Structure your application so that you do not access data in WORKING-STORAGE simultaneously from
multiple threads.
• If you do access data simultaneously from separate threads, write appropriate serialization code.

related concepts
“Multithreading” on page 517

related tasks
“Choosing THREAD to support multithreading” on page 518
“Transferring control to multithreaded programs” on page 519
“Ending multithreaded programs” on page 519
“Processing files with multithreading” on page 520
“Handling COBOL limitations with multithreading” on page 522

related references
“THREAD” on page 363
PROGRAM-ID paragraph (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Multithreading
To use COBOL support for multithreading, you need to understand how processes, threads, run units, and
program invocation instances relate to each other.
The operating system and multithreaded applications can handle execution flow within a process, which
is the course of events when all or part of a program runs. Programs that run within a process can share
resources. Processes can be manipulated. For example, they can have a high or low priority in terms of
the amount of time that the system devotes to running the process.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 517

 Within a process, an application can initiate one or more threads, each of which is a stream of computer
instructions that controls that thread. A multithreaded process begins with one stream of instructions
(one thread) and can later create other instruction streams to perform tasks. These multiple threads can
run concurrently. Within a thread, control is transferred between executing programs.
In a multithreaded environment, a COBOL run unit is the portion of the process that includes threads that
have actively executing COBOL programs. The COBOL run unit continues until no COBOL program is active
in the execution stack for any of the threads. For example, a called COBOL program contains a GOBACK
statement and returns control to a C program. Within the run unit, COBOL programs can call non-COBOL
programs, and vice versa.
Within a thread, control is transferred between separate COBOL and non-COBOL programs. For example,
a COBOL program can call another COBOL program or a C program. Each separately called program is a
program invocation instance. Program invocation instances of a particular program can exist in multiple
threads within a given process.
The following illustration shows these relationships between processes, threads, run units, and program
invocation instances.

related concepts
Language Environment Programming Guide (Program management model,
Understanding the basics: threads)

related tasks
“Choosing THREAD to support multithreading” on page 518
“Transferring control to multithreaded programs” on page 519
“Ending multithreaded programs” on page 519
“Processing files with multithreading” on page 520
“Handling COBOL limitations with multithreading” on page 522

related references
“THREAD” on page 363

Choosing THREAD to support multithreading

Use the THREAD compiler option for multithreading support. Use THREAD if your program will be called
in more than one thread in a single process by an application. However, THREAD might adversely affect
performance because of the serialization logic that is automatically generated.
In order to run COBOL programs in more than one thread, you must compile all of the COBOL programs
in the application using the THREAD compiler option. You must also compile them with the RENT compiler
option and link them with the RENT option of the binder (linkage-editor).

518 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Use the THREAD option when you compile object-oriented (OO) clients and classes.
Language restrictions: When you use the THREAD option, you cannot use certain language elements. For
details, see the related reference below.
Recursion: Before you compile a program using the THREAD compiler option, you must specify the
RECURSIVE phrase in the PROGRAM-ID paragraph. If you do not do so, an error will occur.

related tasks
“Sharing data in recursive
or multithreaded programs” on page 16
“Compiling OO applications under z/OS UNIX” on page 281

related references
“THREAD” on page 363

Transferring control to multithreaded programs

When you write COBOL programs for a multithreaded environment, choose appropriate program linkage
statements.
As in single-threaded environments, a called program is in its initial state when it is first called within a
run unit and when it is first called after a CANCEL to the called program. Ensure that the program that
you name on a CANCEL statement is not active on any thread. If you try to cancel an active program, a
severity-3 Language Environment condition occurs.
If your threaded application requires preinitialization, use the Language Environment services (CEEPIPI
interface). You cannot use the COBOL-specific interfaces for preinitialization (runtime option RTEREUS) to
establish a reusable environment from any program that has been compiled with the THREAD option.

related concepts
Language Environment Programming Guide (What happens during termination:
enclave termination)

related tasks
“Ending multithreaded programs” on page 519
“Ending and reentering main programs or subprograms” on page 474

Ending multithreaded programs

You can end a multithreaded program by using GOBACK, EXIT PROGRAM, or STOP RUN.
Use GOBACK to return to the caller of the program. When you use GOBACK from the first program in a
thread, the thread is terminated. If that thread is the initial thread in an enclave, the entire enclave is
terminated.
Use EXIT PROGRAM as you would GOBACK, except from a main program where it has no effect.
Use STOP RUN to terminate the entire Language Environment enclave and to return control to the caller
of the main program (which might be the operating system). All threads that are executing within the
enclave are terminated.

related concepts
Language Environment Programming Guide (What happens during termination:
enclave termination)

related tasks
“Ending and reentering main programs or subprograms” on page 474

Chapter 28. Preparing COBOL programs for multithreading 519

Processing files with multithreading
In threaded applications, you can code COBOL statements for input and output in QSAM, VSAM, and
line-sequential files.
Each file definition (FD) has an implicit serialization lock. This lock is used with automatic serialization
logic during the input or output operation that is associated with the execution of the following
statements:
• OPEN
• CLOSE
• READ
• WRITE
• REWRITE
• START
• DELETE
Automatic serialization also occurs for the implicit MOVE that is associated with the following statements:

WRITE record-name FROM identifier

READ file-name INTO identifier

Automatic serialization is not applied to any statements specified within the following conditional
phrases:
• AT END
• NOT AT END
• INVALID KEY
• NOT INVALID KEY
• AT END-OF-PAGE
• NOT AT END-OF-PAGE

related concepts
“File-definition (FD) storage” on page 520

related tasks
“Closing QSAM files” on page 168
“Closing VSAM files” on page 193
“Coding ERROR declaratives” on page 236
“Serializing file access with multithreading” on page 521

File-definition (FD) storage

On all program invocations, the storage that is associated with a file definition (such as FD records and
the record area that is associated with the SAME RECORD AREA clause) is allocated and available in its
last-used state.

All threads of execution share this storage. You can depend on automatic serialization for this storage
during the execution of the OPEN, CLOSE, READ, WRITE, REWRITE, START, and DELETE statements, but
not between uses of these statements.

related tasks
“Serializing file access with multithreading” on page 521

520 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Serializing file access with multithreading
To take full advantage of automatic serialization and to avoid explicitly writing your own serialization logic,
use one of the recommended file organizations and usage patterns when you access files in threaded
programs.

Use one of the following file organizations:

• Sequential organization
• Line-sequential organization
• Relative organization with sequential access
• Indexed organization with sequential access
Use the following pattern for input:

OPEN INPUT fn
. . .
READ fn INTO local-storage-item
. . .
* Process the record from the local-storage item
. . .
CLOSE fn

Use the following pattern for output:

OPEN OUTPUT fn
. . .
* Construct output record in local-storage item
. . .
WRITE rec FROM local-storage-item
. . .
CLOSE fn

With other usage patterns, you must take one of the following actions:
• Verify the safety of your application logic. Ensure that two instances of the program are never
simultaneously active on different threads.
• Code explicit serialization logic by using calls to POSIX services.
To avoid serialization problems when you access a file from multiple threads, define the data items that
are associated with the file (such as file-status data items and key arguments) in the LOCAL-STORAGE
SECTION.
“Example: usage patterns of file input and output with multithreading” on page 521

related tasks
“Calling UNIX/POSIX APIs” on page 462

Example: usage patterns of file input and output with multithreading

The following examples show the need for explicit serialization logic when you deviate from the
recommended usage pattern for file input and output in your multithreaded applications. These examples
also explain the unexpected behavior that might result if you fail to handle serialization properly.
In each example, two instances of a program that contains the sample operations are running within one
run unit on two different threads.

READ F1
. . .
REWRITE R1

In the example above, the second thread might execute the READ statement after the READ statement
is executed on the first thread but before the REWRITE statement is executed on the first thread. The

Chapter 28. Preparing COBOL programs for multithreading 521

 REWRITE statement might not update the record that you intended. To ensure the results that you want,
write explicit serialization logic.

READ F1
. . .
* Process the data in the FD record description entry for F1
. . .

In the example above, the second thread might execute the READ statement while the first thread is still
processing a record in the FD record description entry. The second READ statement would overlay the
record that the first thread is processing. To avoid this problem, use the recommended technique:

READ F1 INTO LOCAL-STORAGE-item

Other cases: You must give similar consideration to other usage patterns that involve a sequence of
related input and output operations, such as START followed by READ NEXT, or READ followed by
DELETE. Take appropriate steps to ensure the correct processing of file input and output.

Handling COBOL limitations with multithreading

Some COBOL applications depend on subsystems or other applications. In a multithreaded environment,
these dependencies and others result in some limitations on COBOL programs.
In general, you must synchronize access to resources that are visible to the application within a run unit.
Exceptions to this requirement are DISPLAY and ACCEPT, which you can use from multiple threads, and
supported COBOL file I/O statements that have the recommended usage pattern; all synchronization is
provided for these by the runtime environment.
CICS: You cannot run multithreaded applications in CICS. In CICS, you can run a COBOL program that has
been compiled with the THREAD option and that is part of an application that has no multiple threads or
PL/I tasks.
Recursive: Because you must code the programs in a multithreaded application as recursive, you must
adhere to all the restrictions and programming considerations that apply to recursive programs, such as
not coding nested programs.
Reentrancy: You must compile your multithreading programs with the RENT compiler option and link
them with the RENT option of the binder (linkage-editor).
POSIX and PL/I: If you use POSIX threads in your multithreaded application, you must specify the
Language Environment runtime option POSIX(ON). If the application uses PL/I tasking, you must specify
POSIX(OFF). You cannot mix POSIX threads and PL/I tasks in the same application.
PL/I tasking: To include COBOL programs in applications that contain multiple PL/I tasks, follow these
guidelines:
• Compile all COBOL programs that you run in multiple PL/I tasks with the THREAD option. If you compile
any COBOL program with the NOTHREAD option, all of the COBOL programs must run in one PL/I task.
• You can call COBOL programs compiled with the THREAD option from one or more PL/I tasks. However,
calls from PL/I programs to COBOL programs cannot include the TASK or EVENT option. The PL/I
tasking call must first call a PL/I program or function that in turn calls the COBOL program. This
indirection is required because you cannot specify the COBOL program directly as the target of a PL/I
CALL statement that includes the TASK or EVENT option.
• Be aware that issuing a STOP RUN statement from a COBOL program or a STOP statement from a PL/I
program terminates the entire Language Environment enclave, including all the tasks of execution.
• Do not code explicit POSIX threading (calls to pthread_create()) in any run unit that includes PL/I
tasking.
C and Language Environment conforming assembler: You can combine your multithreaded COBOL
programs with C programs and Language Environment conforming assembler programs in the same run
unit when those programs are also appropriately coded for multithreaded execution.

522 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
AMODE: You must run your multithreaded applications with AMODE 31. You can run a COBOL program
that has been compiled with the THREAD option with AMODE 24 as part of an application that does not
have multiple threads or PL/I tasks.
Asynchronous signals: In a threaded application your COBOL program might be interrupted by an
asynchronous signal or interrupt. If your program contains logic that cannot tolerate such an interrupt,
you must disable the interrupts for the duration of that logic. Call a C/C++ function to set the signal mask
appropriately.
Older COBOL programs: To run your COBOL programs on multiple threads of a multithreaded application,
you must compile them with Enterprise COBOL and use the THREAD option. Run applications that contain
programs compiled by older compilers only on one thread.
IGZETUN and IGZEOPT: Do not use the modules IGZETUN (for storage tuning) or IGZEOPT (for runtime
options) for applications in which the main program has been compiled with the THREAD option; these
CSECTs are ignored.
UPSI switches: All programs and all threads in an application share a single copy of UPSI switches. If you
modify switches in a threaded application, you must code appropriate serialization logic.

related tasks
“Making recursive calls” on page 485
“Serializing file access with multithreading” on page 521
XL C/C++ Programming Guide (Using threads in z/OS UNIX System Services
applications)
Language Environment Writing ILC Communication Applications

Chapter 28. Preparing COBOL programs for multithreading 523

524 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Part 5. Using COBOL for Web Services

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 525

526 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 29. Web Services interface
COBOL can provide or request Web Services, using architectures based on SOAP (Simple Object Access
Protocol) or REST (REpresentational State Transfer). Data in the interface to such services is typically
represented in JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) or XML (eXtensible Markup Language). The following
information describes COBOL and other facilities that can be used to generate and consume JSON and
XML.
Processing JSON input
You can process JSON text input in a COBOL program by using the JSON PARSE statement. The statement
identifies the source data item containing the JSON text, and the receiving data item that is populated by
the parser.
In addition, the z/OS Client Web Enablement Toolkit enables applications to participate in the client/
server space by providing a built-in z/OS JSON parser (provided with z/OS V2.2, or z/OS V2.1 with the
PTF for APAR OA46575 installed) to consume JSON text from any source. Be aware that this parser
supports JSON texts in EBCDIC codepage 1047 only, thus JSON text received by the application in
another encoding format must first be converted to EBCDIC 1047 before it can be input into the parser.
For details, see the description of the z/OS JSON parser in z/OS MVS Programming: Callable Services for
High-Level Languages.

related tasks
Chapter 30, “Processing JSON input ,” on page 529
Chapter 31, “Producing JSON output ,” on page 535
Chapter 32, “Processing XML input,” on page 537
Chapter 33, “Producing XML output,” on page 577

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 527

528 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 30. Processing JSON input
You can process JSON text input in a COBOL program by using the JSON PARSE statement. The statement
identifies the source data item containing the JSON text, and the receiving data item that is populated by
the parser.
You can optionally also specify the following phrases:
• WITH DETAIL to indicate that messages should be generated for any nonexception and exception
conditions
• NAME OF to provide alternative names for the populated data items
• SUPPRESS for data items to be excluded from assignment by the JSON parser
• CONVERTING for data items to be converted from JSON BOOLEAN name/value pairs
• ON EXCEPTION to receive control if an exception occurs
• NOT ON EXCEPTION to receive control if an exception does not occur
The JSON text input is assumed to be encoded in UTF-8 (CCSID 1208) and must be contained within an
alphanumeric group item, or elementary data item of category alphanumeric.
Specifying the JSON PARSE statement will pass control to the JSON parser and will read the input JSON
text and populate the receiving data item using the same semantics as the equivalent COBOL MOVE
statements.
Following the execution of a JSON PARSE statement, you can use these special registers to receive
information from the parser:
• A non-zero JSON-CODE will indicate the kind of exception conditions that have occurred
• A non-zero JSON-STATUS will indicate the kind of nonexception conditions that have occurred

Parsing JSON documents

Consider a COBOL source program containing the following statements.

Identification division.
Program-id. jparse1.
Data division.
Working-storage section.
1 msg.
4 ver usage comp-1.
4 uid pic 9999 usage display.
4 txt pic x(32).
Linkage section.
1 json-text pic x(128).
Procedure division using json-text.
Json parse json-text into msg
end-json.
If ver equal to 5 then
display "Message ID is " uid
display "Message text is '" txt "'".
Goback.
End program jparse1.

The JSON PARSE statement above identifies data item json-text as the UTF-8 encoded source of JSON
text, and data item msg-data as the receiver of the JSON values.
Assuming that data item json-text contains:

{"msg":{"ver":5,"uid":1000,"txt":"Hello World!"}}

then the output of executing the program is:

Message ID is 1000
Message text is 'Hello World!

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 529

How to match JSON names that are not valid COBOL data names to
data items
JSON allows many more characters and types of characters to appear in JSON names than COBOL allows
in data names. To facilitate the match of JSON names with COBOL data names, you can use the NAME
phrase on the JSON PARSE statement. Consider the following JSON text.

{"abc+":100}

The JSON name abc+ is not a valid COBOL data name but you can use the NAME phrase to match it to
a valid COBOL data name. The following COBOL program illustrates how to parse that JSON text into a
COBOL data item.

Identification division.
Program-id. name1.
Data division.
Working-storage section.
1 mydata pic 999.
Linkage section.
1 json-text pic x(128).
Procedure division using json-text.
Json parse json-text into mydata
name of mydata is "abc+"
end-json.
Display "mydata is " mydata.
Goback.
End program name1.

Notice the use of the NAME phrase. Executing the program produces the following output:

mydata is 100

There are several important details to consider from the above example:
• Characters appearing in literal-1 on the NAME phrase are assumed to be encoded using the CCSID of
the CODEPAGE compiler option in effect.
• Characters appearing in literal-1 will be matched to the JSON names in a case-sensitive manner, unlike
COBOL data names which are matched in a case-insensitive manner.
• The NAME phrase, in aggregate, must not result in an ambiguous name specification1.
1. For more details about ambiguous name specifications, see the "NAME phrase" of the JSON PARSE
statement in the Enterprise COBOL Language Reference.

Preventing data items from being populated by the JSON PARSE

statement
It is possible you may not want specific data items subordinate to the receiver to be populated by the
JSON PARSE statement. To prevent specific data items from being populated you can use the SUPPRESS
phrase of the JSON PARSE statement to tell the JSON parser to ignore data items. Consider the following
COBOL program:

Identification division.
Program-id. supp1.
Data division.
Working-storage section.
1 msg.
4 ver usage comp-1.
4 uid pic 9999 usage display.
4 txt pic x(32).
Linkage section.
1 json-text pic x(128).
Procedure division using json-text.
Move 2 to uid.
Json parse json-text INTO msg
SUPPRESS uid
end-json.

530 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 If ver equal to 5 then
display "Message ID is " uid
display "Message text is '" txt "'".
Goback.
End program supp1.

Notice that the data item uid has been set in the program to the value 2 and we wish to suppress its
assignment in the JSON PARSE statement using the SUPPRESS phrase. Assuming the incoming JSON text
in data item json-text contains:

{"msg":{"ver":5,"uid":10,"txt":"Hello"}}

then the execution of the program results in this output:

Message ID is 0002
Message text is 'Hello

The data item uid retained the value 2 instead of being populated with the value 10.

Handling JSON arrays

JSON arrays can be parsed into COBOL data items whose data description entries contain the OCCURS
clause or the OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause. Consider the following example where JSON array named
msg is parsed into the similarly named COBOL data item.
Assume the JSON text contained in data item json-text is:

{"some-data":{"msg":[{"ver":5,"uid":10,"txt":"Hello"},
{"ver":5,"uid":11,"txt":"World"},{"ver":5,"uid":12,"txt":"!"}]}}

Following is a COBOL program that parses this JSON text using a fixed occurrence table with the OCCURS
clause.

Identification division.
Program-id. occ1.
Data division.
Working-storage section.
1 some-data.
2 msg occurs 3.
4 ver usage comp-1.
4 uid pic 9999 usage display.
4 txt pic x(32).
Linkage section.
1 json-text pic x(128).
Procedure division using json-text.
Json parse json-text into some-data
end-json.
If ver(1) equal to 5 then
Display "Message ID is " uid(1)
Display "Message text is '" txt(1) "'".
If ver(2) equal to 5 then
Display "Message ID is " uid(2)
Display "Message text is '" txt(2) "'".
If ver(3) equal to 5 then
Display "Message ID is " uid(3)
Display "Message text is '" txt(3) "'".
Goback.
End program occ1.

Executing the program results in this output:

Message ID is 0010
Message text is 'Hello '
Message ID is 0011
Message text is 'World '
Message ID is 0012
Message text is '! '

Parsing into a variable occurrence table with the OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause can be done similarly:

Identification division.
Program-id. odo1.

Chapter 30. Processing JSON input 531

 Data division.
Working-storage section.
1 i pic 9.
1 n pic 9.
1 t pic x(128).
1 msg_count pic 9.
1 some-data.
2 msg occurs 0 to 5 depending on n.
4 ver usage comp-1.
4 uid pic 9999 usage display.
4 txt pic x(32).
Linkage section.
1 json-text pic x(128).
Procedure division using json-text.
Main section.
Move 4 to n.
Move 0 to ver(1).
Move 0 to ver(2).
Move 0 to ver(3).
Move 0 to ver(4).
Json parse json-text into some-data
end-json.
Perform disp_msg varying i from 1 by 1 until i > n.
Display "Message count: " msg_count.
Goback.
Disp_msg section.
If ver(i) equal to 5 then
display "Message ID is " uid(I)
display "Message text is '" txt(I) "'"
add 1 to msg_count
else
display "Invalid Message Version, ID is " uid(I).
End program odo1.

Executing the program results in this output:

Message ID is 0010
Message text is 'Hello '
Message ID is 0011
Message text is 'World '
Message ID is 0012
Message text is '! '
Invalid Message Version, ID is 0001
Message count: 3

Note that subordinate data items of table element msg(4) are not assigned by the JSON PARSE statement
because the JSON text does not contain a fourth table entry for the msg table. Also the OCCURS
DEPENDING ON object, defined in this example as n must not be subordinate to data item some-data
and needs to be given a value before the JSON PARSE statement receives program control. The value
of the OCCURS DEPENDING ON object is the maximum number of table elements that the JSON PARSE
statement may populate. If, in the JSON text, there are more table elements than the value of the
OCCURS DEPENDING ON object, then those table elements are ignored and the condition is indicated in
the JSON-STATUS special register. The OCCURS DEPENDING ON object is not set or updated by the JSON
PARSE statement.

JSON PARSE example

This example shows the processing of JSON text by the JSON PARSE statement into various types of
COBOL data items. The JSON text is included directly in the program source for the purpose of this
example. The output of the program is shown after.

Identification division.
Program-id. jp_ex.
Data division.
Working-storage section.
1 jtxt-1047-client-data.
3 pic x(16) value '{"client-data":{'.
3 pic x(28) value ' "account-num":123456789012,'.
3 pic x(19) value ' "balance":-125.53,'.
3 pic x(17) value ' "billing-info":{'.
3 pic x(22) value ' "name-first":"John",'.
3 pic x(22) value ' "name-last":"Smith",'.
3 pic x(37) value ' "addr-street":"12345 First Avenue",'.

532 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 3 pic x(25) value ' "addr-city":"New York",'.
3 pic x(27) value ' "addr-region":"New York",'.
3 pic x(21) value ' "addr-code":"10203"'.
3 pic x(3) value ' }'.
3 pic x(2) value ' }'.
3 pic x(1) value '}'.
1 jtxt-1047-transactions.
3 pic x(16) value '{"transactions":'.
3 pic x(14) value ' {"tx-record":'.
3 pic x(3) value ' ['.
3 pic x(4) value ' {'.
3 pic x(19) value ' "tx-uid":107,'.
3 pic x(34) value ' "tx-item-desc":"prod a ver 1",'.
3 pic x(30) value ' "tx-item-uid":"ab142424",'.
3 pic x(26) value ' "tx-priceinUS$":12.34,'.
3 pic x(35) value ' "tx-comment":"express shipping"'.
3 pic x(5) value ' },'.
3 pic x(4) value ' {'.
3 pic x(19) value ' "tx-uid":1904,'.
3 pic x(35) value ' "tx-item-desc":"prod g ver 2",'.
3 pic x(30) value ' "tx-item-uid":"gb051533",'.
3 pic x(27) value ' "tx-priceinUS$":833.22,'.
3 pic x(35) value ' "tx-comment":"digital download"'.
3 pic x(5) value ' } '.
3 pic x(3) value ' ]'.
3 pic x(2) value ' }'.
3 pic x(1) value '}'.
1 jtxt-1208 pic x(1000) value is all x'20'.
77 txnum pic 999999 usage display value zero.
1 client-data.
3 account-num pic 999,999,999,999.
3 balance pic $$$9.99CR.
3 billing-info.
5 name-first pic n(20).
5 name-last pic n(20).
5 addr-street pic n(20).
5 addr-city pic n(20).
5 addr-region pic n(20).
5 addr-code pic n(10).
3 transactions.
5 tx-record occurs 0 to 100 depending txnum.
7 tx-uid pic 99999 usage display.
7 tx-item-desc pic x(50).
7 tx-item-uid pic AA/9999B99.
7 tx-price pic $$$9.99.
7 tx-comment pic n(20).
Procedure division.
Initialize jtxt-1208 all value.
Move function display-of(
function national-of(
jtxt-1047-client-data) 1208)
to jtxt-1208(1:function length(jtxt-1047-client-data)).

Json parse jtxt-1208 into client-data

with detail
suppress transactions
not on exception
display "Successful JSON Parse"
end-json.

Display "Account Number:"

Display " " account-num
Display "Balance:"
Display " " balance
Display "Client Information: "
Display " Name:"
Display " " function display-of(name-last)
Display " " function display-of(name-first)
Display " Address:"
Display " " function display-of(addr-street)
Display " " function display-of(addr-city)
Display " " function display-of(addr-region)
Display " " function display-of(addr-code).

Move 2 to txnum.
Initialize jtxt-1208 all value.
Move function display-of(
function national-of(
jtxt-1047-transactions) 1208)
to jtxt-1208(1:function length(jtxt-1047-transactions)).

Json parse jtxt-1208 into transactions

Chapter 30. Processing JSON input 533

 with detail
name tx-price is 'tx-priceinUS$'
not on exception
display "Successful JSON Parse"
end-json.

Display "Transactions:"
Display " Record 1:"
Display " TXID: " tx-uid(1)
Display " Description: " tx-item-desc(1)
Display " Item ID: " tx-item-uid(1)
Display " Price: " tx-price(1)
Display " Comment: "
function display-of(tx-comment(1))
Display " Record 2:"
Display " TXID: " tx-uid(2)
Display " Description: " tx-item-desc(2)
Display " Item ID: " tx-item-uid(2)
Display " Price: " tx-price(2)
Display " Comment: "
function display-of(tx-comment(2))

Goback.
End program jp_ex.

The output of the program is:

Successful JSON Parse

Account Number:
123,456,789,012
Balance:
$125.53CR
Client Information:
Name:
Smith
John
Address:
12345 First Avenue
New York
New York
10203
Successful JSON Parse
Transactions:
Record 1:
TXID: 00107
Description: prod a ver 1
Item ID: ab/1424 24
Price: $12.34
Comment: express shipping
Record 2:
TXID: 01904
Description: prod g ver 2
Item ID: gb/0515 33
Price: $833.22
Comment: digital download

534 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 31. Producing JSON output
You can express COBOL data items as JSON text by using the JSON GENERATE statement, which
identifies the source and output data items.
You can optionally also specify:
• A data item to receive the count of characters generated.
• Alternative names for the input data items
• Data items to be excluded from the output JSON text
• Data items to be converted into JSON BOOLEAN name/value pairs
• A statement to receive control if an exception occurs
The JSON text can be used to represent a resource for the interface to a Web service, and is encoded in
UTF-8 if the output data item is alphanumeric, or UTF-16 if the output data item is national.
Using the JSON GENERATE statement
Consider the following example:

01 Greeting.
02 Msg pic x(80) value 'Hello, World!'.
01 Jtext national pic n(80).
01 i binary pic 99.
...
JSON generate Jtext from Greeting count in i
on exception
display 'JSON generation error: ' json-code
not on exception
display function display-of(Jtext(1:i))
End-JSON

The above code sequence produces the following output:

{"Greeting":{"msg":"Hello, World!"}}

The following example is more complex which illustrates optional phrases that:
• Provide alternative JSON names for the included data items (NAME)
• Allow you to exclude sensitive or unwanted information from the output (SUPPRESS)

01 GRP.
05 Ac-No PIC AA9999 value 'SX1234'.
05 More.
10 Stuff PIC S99V9 OCCURS 2.
05 SSN PIC 999/99/9999 value '987-65-4321'.
01 d pic x(80).
01 i binary pic 99.
...
move 7.8 to stuff(1), move -9 to stuff(2)
JSON generate d from grp count i
NAME of stuff is 'Value' SUPPRESS ssn
display function display-of(function national-of(
d(1:i) 1208))

The example produces the following output:

{"GRP":{"Ac-No":"SX1234","More":{"Value":[7.8,-9.0]}}}

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 535

536 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 32. Processing XML input
You can process XML input in a COBOL program by using the XML PARSE statement.
The XML PARSE statement is the COBOL language interface to either of two high-speed XML parsers. You
use the XMLPARSE compiler option to select the appropriate parser for your application:
• XMLPARSE(XMLSS) selects the z/OS XML System Services parser.
This option provides enhanced features such as namespace processing, validation of XML documents
with respect to an XML schema, and conversion of text fragments to national character representation
(Unicode UTF-16).
• XMLPARSE(COMPAT) selects the XML parser that is built into the COBOL library.
This option provides compatibility with XML parsing in Enterprise COBOL Version 3 and Version 4.
Processing XML input involves passing control between the XML parser and a processing procedure in
which you handle parser events.
Use the following COBOL facilities to process XML input:
• The XML PARSE statement to begin XML parsing and to identify the source XML document and the
processing procedure.
You can also use the following optional phrases of the XML PARSE statement:
– ENCODING to specify the encoding of the XML document
– VALIDATING to identify an XML schema against which the XML document is to be validated
• The processing procedure to control the parsing, that is, receive and process XML events and associated
document fragments, and return to the parser for continued processing
• Special registers to exchange information between the parser and the processing procedure:
– XML-CODE to receive the status of XML parsing and, in some cases, to return information to the
parser
– XML-EVENT to receive the name of each XML event from the parser
– XML-INFORMATION provides a mechanism to easily determine whether an XML event is complete
– XML-NTEXT to receive XML document fragments that are returned as national character data
– XML-TEXT to receive document fragments that are returned as alphanumeric data
– XML-NAMESPACE or XML-NNAMESPACE to receive a namespace identifier for a NAMESPACE-
DECLARATION XML event, or for an element name or attribute name that is in a namespace
– XML-NAMESPACE-PREFIX or XML-NNAMESPACE-PREFIX to receive a namespace prefix for a
NAMESPACE-DECLARATION XML event, or for an element name or attribute name that is prefixed
• The optional RETURNING NATIONAL phrase of the XML PARSE statement to indicate that the
fragments of an XML document in an alphanumeric data item are to be converted to UTF-16 and
returned to the processing procedure in the national special registers XML-NTEXT, XML-NNAMESPACE,
and XML-NNAMESPACE-PREFIX
You can use the ENCODING, VALIDATING, and RETURNING NATIONAL phrases of the XML PARSE
statement only if XMLPARSE(XMLSS) is in effect.
Link-edit consideration: COBOL programs that contain the XML PARSE statement must be link-edited
with AMODE 31.

related concepts
“XML parser in COBOL” on page 538

related tasks
“Accessing XML documents” on page 539

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 537

 “Parsing XML documents” on page 540
“Handling XML PARSE exceptions” on page 559
“Terminating XML parsing” on page 563

related references
“XMLPARSE” on page 369 (compiler option)

“The encoding of XML documents” on page 554

Appendix C, “XML reference material,” on page 707
Extensible Markup Language (XML)

XML parser in COBOL

Enterprise COBOL provides an event-based interface that lets you parse XML documents and transform
them to COBOL data structures.
The XML parser finds fragments within the source XML document, and your processing procedure acts on
those fragments. The fragments are associated with XML events; you code the processing procedure to
handle each XML event.
Execution of the XML PARSE statement begins the parsing and establishes the processing procedure with
the parser. The parser transfers control to the processing procedure for each XML event that it detects
while processing the document. After processing the event, the processing procedure automatically
returns control to the parser. Each normal return from the processing procedure causes the parser to
continue analyzing the XML document to report the next event. Throughout this operation, control passes
back and forth between the parser and the processing procedure.
In the XML PARSE statement, you can also specify two imperative statements to which you want control
to be passed at the end of the parsing: one if a normal end occurs, and the other if an exception condition
exists.
The following figure shows a high-level overview of the basic exchange of control between the parser and
your COBOL program:

Normally, parsing continues until the entire XML document has been parsed.

538 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 The XML parser checks XML documents for most aspects of well formedness. A document is well formed if
it adheres to the XML syntax in the XML specification and follows some additional rules such as proper use
of end tags and uniqueness of attribute names.
When you parse an XML document with validation against an XML schema, the z/OS XML System Services
parser additionally verifies that the XML document adheres to the content and structure prescribed in
the schema. For example, the parser checks that there are no unexpected elements or attributes, that no
required elements or attributes are missing, and that any values of elements or attributes are legal.

related concepts
“XML schemas” on page 550
“XML input document encoding” on page 555

related tasks
“Parsing XML documents” on page 540
“Parsing
XML documents with validation” on page 548
“Handling XML PARSE exceptions” on page 559
“Terminating XML parsing” on page 563

related references
“The encoding of XML documents” on page 554
XML specification

Accessing XML documents

Before you can parse an XML document using an XML PARSE statement, you must make the document
available to your program. Common methods of acquiring an XML document are by retrieval from a
WebSphere MQ message, a CICS transient queue or communication area, or an IMS message processing
queue; or by reading the document from a file.
If the XML document that you want to parse is held in a file, use ordinary COBOL facilities to place the
document into a data item in your program:
• A FILE-CONTROL entry to define the file to your program.
• An OPEN statement to open the file.
• READ statements to read all the records from the file into a data item (either an elementary item of
category alphanumeric or national, or an alphanumeric or national group). You can define the data item
in the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION or the LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION.
• Optionally, the STRING statement to string all of the separate records together into one continuous
stream, to remove extraneous blanks, and to handle variable-length records.
If the XMLPARSE(XMLSS) option is in effect, you can parse an XML document that is in a file by passing
the parser one record (or segment) of text from the file at a time. This capability is useful for parsing very
large XML documents.

related tasks
“Coding COBOL programs to run under CICS” on page 429
Chapter 22, “Developing COBOL programs for IMS,” on page 451
“Parsing XML documents one segment at a time” on page 551

related references
“XMLPARSE” on page 369 (compiler option)

Chapter 32. Processing XML input 539

Parsing XML documents
To parse XML documents, use the XML PARSE statement, specifying the XML document that is to be
parsed and the processing procedure for handling XML events that occur during parsing, as shown in the
following code fragment.

XML PARSE xml-document

PROCESSING PROCEDURE xml-event-handler
ON EXCEPTION
DISPLAY 'XML document error ' XML-CODE
STOP RUN
NOT ON EXCEPTION
DISPLAY 'XML document was successfully parsed.'
END-XML

In the XML PARSE statement, you first identify the parse data item (xml-document in the example
above) that contains the XML document character stream. In the DATA DIVISION, define the parse data
item as an elementary data item of category national or as a national group item if the encoding of the
document is Unicode UTF-16; otherwise, define the parse data item as an elementary alphanumeric data
item or an alphanumeric group item:
• If the parse data item is national, the XML document must be encoded in UTF-16, CCSID 1200.
• If the parse data item is alphanumeric, its content must be encoded in one of the supported code pages
described in the related reference about the encoding of XML documents.
Next, specify the name of the processing procedure (xml-event-handler in the example above) that is
to handle the XML events that occur during parsing of the document.
If the XMLPARSE(XMLSS) compiler option is in effect, you can also use any of these optional phrases of
the XML PARSE statement:
• ENCODING, to specify the CCSID of the document
• RETURNING NATIONAL, to cause the parser to automatically convert UTF-8 or single-byte characters
to national characters for return to the processing procedure
• VALIDATING, to cause the parser to validate the document against an XML schema
In addition, you can specify either or both of the following optional phrases (as shown in the fragment
above) to indicate the action to be taken after parsing finishes:
• ON EXCEPTION, to receive control if an unhandled exception occurs during parsing
• NOT ON EXCEPTION, to receive control otherwise
You can end the XML PARSE statement with the explicit scope terminator END-XML. Use END-XML to nest
an XML PARSE statement that uses the ON EXCEPTION or NOT ON EXCEPTION phrase in a conditional
statement.
The parser passes control to the processing procedure for each XML event. Control returns to the parser
at the end of the processing procedure. This exchange of control between the XML parser and the
processing procedure continues until one of the following events occurs:
• The entire XML document was parsed, as indicated by the END-OF-DOCUMENT event.
• If XMLPARSE(XMLSS) is in effect, either:
– The parser detects an error in the document and signals an EXCEPTION event (regardless of the kind
of exception).
– The parser signals an END-OF-INPUT event, and the processing procedure returns to the parser with
special register XML-CODE still set to zero, which indicates that no further XML data will be provided
to the parser.
• If XMLPARSE(COMPAT) is in effect, either:
– The parser signals an encoding conflict EXCEPTION event, and the processing procedure does not
reset special register XML-CODE to zero or to the correct CCSID before returning to the parser.

540 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 – The parser detects an error in the document and signals an EXCEPTION event (other than an
encoding conflict), and the processing procedure does not reset special register XML-CODE to zero
before returning to the parser.
• The parsing process is terminated deliberately by the user's code in the processing procedure that sets
the XML-CODE special register to -1 before it returns to the parser.

related concepts
“XML events” on page 543
“XML-CODE” on page 544
“XML schemas” on page 550
“XML-INFORMATION” on page 546

related tasks
“Writing procedures to process
XML” on page 541
“Parsing
XML documents with validation” on page 548
“Parsing XML documents one segment at a time” on page 551
“Parsing XML documents
encoded in UTF-8” on page 558

related references
“XMLPARSE” on page 369 (compiler option)
“The encoding of XML documents” on page 554
“XML PARSE exceptions with XMLPARSE(XMLSS) in
effect” on page 707
“XML PARSE exceptions with
XMLPARSE(COMPAT) in effect” on page 709
XML PARSE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Writing procedures to process XML

In your processing procedure, code statements to handle XML events.
For each event that the parser encounters, the parser passes information to the processing procedure in
several special registers. Use the content of those special registers to populate COBOL data structures
and to control the processing.
Examine the XML-EVENT special register to determine which event the parser passed to the processing
procedure. XML-EVENT contains an event name, such as 'START-OF-ELEMENT'. Obtain the text
associated with the event from the XML-TEXT or XML-NTEXT special register.
If the XMLPARSE(XMLSS) option is in effect, you can use special register XML-NAMESPACE or XML-
NNAMESPACE to determine the namespace identifier, if any, that is associated with the XML event, and
examine the XML-NAMESPACE-PREFIX or XML-NNAMESPACE-PREFIX special register to determine the
associated prefix, if any.
When used in nested programs, the XML special registers are implicitly defined as GLOBAL in the
outermost program.
For additional details about the XML special registers, see the following table.
Table 66. Special registers used by the XML parser

Special register Implicit definition and usage Content

XML-EVENT1 The name of the XML event

PICTURE X(30) USAGE DISPLAY VALUE
SPACE

Chapter 32. Processing XML input 541

Table 66. Special registers used by the XML parser (continued)

Special register Implicit definition and usage Content

XML-CODE2 An exception code or zero for each XML event

PICTURE S9(9) USAGE BINARY VALUE
ZERO

XML-INFORMATION1 A mechanism to easily determine whether an XML EVENT

PICTURE S9(9) USAGE BINARY VALUE 0 is complete

XML-TEXT1 Variable-length elementary category Text (corresponding to the event that the parser
alphanumeric item encountered) from the XML document if you specify an
alphanumeric item for the XML PARSE identifier3

XML-NTEXT1 Variable-length elementary category national Text (corresponding to the event that the parser
item encountered) from the XML document if you specify a
national item for the XML PARSE identifier3

XML-NAMESPACE1, 4 Variable-length elementary category The namespace identifier for a NAMESPACE-

alphanumeric item DECLARATION XML event or for an element or attribute
name that is in a namespace, if the XML document is in an
alphanumeric data item3

XML-NNAMESPACE1, 4 Variable-length elementary category national The namespace identifier for a NAMESPACE-
item DECLARATION XML event or for an element or attribute
name that is in a namespace, if the XML document is in a
national data item or the RETURNING NATIONAL phrase
is specified in the XML PARSE statement

XML-NAMESPACE-PREFIX1, Variable-length elementary category national The prefix, if any, for a NAMESPACE-DECLARATION XML
4 item event or for an element or attribute name that is in a
nondefault namespace, if the XML document is in an
alphanumeric data item3

XML-NNAMESPACE- Variable-length elementary category national The prefix, if any, for a NAMESPACE-DECLARATION XML
PREFIX1, 4 item event or for an element or attribute name that is in
a nondefault namespace, if the XML document is in a
national data item or the RETURNING NATIONAL phrase
is specified in the XML PARSE statement

1. You cannot use this special register as a receiving data item.

2. The XML GENERATE statement also uses XML-CODE. Therefore, if you have an XML GENERATE statement in the processing procedure,
save the value of XML-CODE before the XML GENERATE statement, and restore the saved value after the XML GENERATE statement.
3. If you specify the RETURNING NATIONAL phrase in the XML PARSE statement for an alphanumeric data item, text is returned in the
corresponding national special register. You can specify the RETURNING NATIONAL phrase only if the XMLPARSE(XMLSS) option is in
effect.
4. The parser sets the namespace special registers only if the XMLPARSE(XMLSS) option is in effect.

Restrictions:
• A processing procedure must not directly execute an XML PARSE statement. However, if a processing
procedure passes control to a method or outermost program by using an INVOKE or CALL statement,
the target method or program can execute the same or a different XML PARSE statement. You can also
execute the same XML statement or different XML statements simultaneously from a program that is
running on multiple threads.
• The range of the processing procedure must not cause the execution of any GOBACK or EXIT PROGRAM
statement, except to return control from a method or program to which control was passed by an
INVOKE or CALL statement, respectively, that is executed in the range of the processing procedure.
You can code a STOP RUN statement in a processing procedure to end the run unit.
The compiler inserts a return mechanism after the last statement in each processing procedure.
“Example: program for processing XML” on page 564

542 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 related concepts
“XML events” on page 543
“XML-CODE” on page 544
“XML-TEXT and XML-NTEXT” on page 546
“XML-NAMESPACE and XML-NNAMESPACE” on page 547
“XML-NAMESPACE-PREFIX and XML-NNAMESPACE-PREFIX” on page 547

related tasks
“Parsing XML documents one segment at a time” on page 551
“Parsing
XML documents with validation” on page 548
“Terminating XML parsing” on page 563

related references
“XMLPARSE” on page 369 (compiler option)
XML-EVENT (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

XML events
An XML event results when the XML parser detects various conditions (such as END-OF-INPUT or
EXCEPTION) or encounters document fragments (such as CONTENT-CHARACTERS or START-OF-CDATA-
SECTION) while processing an XML document.
For each event that occurs during XML parsing, the parser sets the associated event name in the
XML-EVENT special register, and passes the XML-EVENT special register to the processing procedure.
Depending on the event, the parser sets other special registers to contain additional information about
the event.
In most cases, the parser sets the XML-TEXT or XML-NTEXT special register to the XML fragment that
caused the event:
• If the XMLPARSE(COMPAT) compiler option is in effect, the parser sets XML-NTEXT if the XML
document is in a national data item, or if the parser finds a character reference; otherwise, the parser
sets XML-TEXT.
• If XMLPARSE(XMLSS) is in effect, the parser sets XML-NTEXT if the RETURNING NATIONAL phrase is
specified in the XML PARSE statement, or if the XML document is in a national data item; otherwise, the
parser sets XML-TEXT.
If XMLPARSE(XMLSS) is in effect, the parser sets the namespace special registers for a NAMESPACE-
DECLARATION event, or if it encounters a name that is in a namespace.
When the parser detects an encoding conflict or a well-formedness or validation error in the document,
it sets XML-EVENT to 'EXCEPTION' and provides additional information about the exception in the
XML-CODE special register. You can parse with validation only if XMLPARSE(XMLSS) is in effect. For
further details, see the related task about parsing with validation.
For a detailed description of the set of XML events, see the related reference about XML-EVENT.
“Example: parsing a simple document” on page 564

related concepts
“XML parser in COBOL” on page 538
“XML-CODE” on page 544
“XML-INFORMATION” on page 546
“XML-TEXT and XML-NTEXT” on page 546
“XML-NAMESPACE and XML-NNAMESPACE” on page 547
“XML-NAMESPACE-PREFIX and XML-NNAMESPACE-PREFIX” on page 547

related tasks
“Writing procedures to process
XML” on page 541

Chapter 32. Processing XML input 543

 “Parsing
XML documents with validation” on page 548

related references
“XMLPARSE” on page 369 (compiler option)

“XML PARSE exceptions with XMLPARSE(XMLSS) in

effect” on page 707
“XML PARSE exceptions with
XMLPARSE(COMPAT) in effect” on page 709
XML-EVENT (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

XML-CODE
For each XML event except an EXCEPTION event, the parser sets the value of the XML-CODE special
register to zero. For an EXCEPTION event, the parser sets XML-CODE to a value that identifies the specific
exception.
For information about the possible exception codes, see the related references.
When the parser returns control to the XML PARSE statement from your processing procedure, XML-
CODE generally contains the most recent value that was set by the parser. However, for any event other
than EXCEPTION, if you set XML-CODE to -1 in your processing procedure, parsing terminates with a
user-initiated exception condition when control returns to the parser, and XML-CODE retains the value -1.
For an EXCEPTION XML event when XMLPARSE(COMPAT) is in effect, your processing procedure can,
in some cases, set XML-CODE to a meaningful value before control returns to the parser. (For details,
see the related tasks about handling XML PARSE exceptions and handling encoding conflicts.) If you set
XML-CODE to any other nonzero value or set it for any other exception, the parser resets XML-CODE to the
original exception code.
For a START-OF-DOCUMENT XML event when compiler option XMLPARSE(COMPAT) is in effect, your
processing procedure can set XML-CODE to 1 before control returns to the parser. This action instructs the
parser to release (at the end of parsing) any Language Environment resources acquired during parsing.
The following table shows the results of setting XML-CODE to various values. The leftmost column shows
the type of XML event passed to the processing procedure; the other column headings show the XML-
CODE value set by the processing procedure. The cell at the intersection of each row and column shows
the action that the parser takes upon return from the processing procedure for a given combination of
XML event and XML-CODE value.

Table 67. Results of processing-procedure changes to XML-CODE with XMLPARSE(XMLSS) in effect

XML event type XML-CODE set to -1 XML-CODE set to 0 XML-CODE set to 1 XML-CODE set
to other nonzero
values
Fatal EXCEPTION Ignores setting; Ignores setting; Ignores setting; Ignores setting;
keeps original XML- keeps original XML- keeps original XML- keeps original XML-
CODE value CODE value CODE value CODE value
Warning Ignores setting; Next event Ignores setting; Ignores setting;
EXCEPTION keeps original XML- is ATTRIBUTE- keeps original XML- keeps original XML-
(Reason code 800 CODE value NAME or START-OF- CODE value CODE value
or 801) ELEMENT
END-OF-INPUT Ends immediately; Next event is END- Next event depends Fatal runtime error
XML-CODE = -11 OF-DOCUMENT2 on input2 (message 230S)
Normal event Ends immediately; XML-CODE already Fatal runtime error Fatal runtime error
XML-CODE = -11 0, no change (message 230S) (message 230S)

544 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 67. Results of processing-procedure changes to XML-CODE with XMLPARSE(XMLSS) in effect
(continued)
XML event type XML-CODE set to -1 XML-CODE set to 0 XML-CODE set to 1 XML-CODE set
to other nonzero
values

1. See the related task about terminating XML parsing.

2. See the related task about parsing documents one segment at a time.

Table 68. Results of processing-procedure changes to XML-CODE with XMLPARSE(COMPAT) in effect

XML event type -1 0 Other nonzero
value
XML-CODE-100,000

Encoding-conflict Ignores setting; Chooses encoding Ignores setting; Ignores setting;

exception keeps original XML- depending on the keeps original XML- keeps original XML-
(exception codes 50 CODE value specific exception CODE value CODE value
- 99) code1
Encoding-choice Ignores setting; Parses using the Parses using the Ignores setting;
exception keeps original XML- CODEPAGE value2 difference (shown keeps original XML-
(exception codes > CODE value above) as the CODE value
100,000) encoding value2
Other exception Ignores setting; Limited continuation Ignores setting; Ignores setting;
keeps original XML- only for exception keeps original XML- keeps original XML-
CODE value codes 1 - 493 CODE value CODE value
Normal event Ends immediately; [No apparent change Ends immediately; Ends immediately;
(except START-OF- XML-CODE = -14 to XML-CODE] XML-CODE = -1 XML-CODE = -1
DOCUMENT)
START-OF- Ends immediately; [No apparent change Ends immediately; • XML-CODE = 1
DOCUMENT XML-CODE = -14 to XML-CODE] XML-CODE = -1
• Else ends
immediately; XML-
CODE = -1

1. See the exception codes in the related reference about XML PARSE exceptions with XMLPARSE(COMPAT) in
effect.
2. See the related task about handling encoding conflicts.
3. See the related task about handling XML PARSE exceptions.
4. See the related task about terminating XML parsing.

XML generation also uses the XML-CODE special register. For details, see the related task about handling
XML GENERATE exceptions.

related concepts
“How the XML parser handles errors” on page 561

related tasks
“Writing procedures to process
XML” on page 541
“Parsing XML documents one segment at a time” on page 551
“Handling XML PARSE exceptions” on page 559

Chapter 32. Processing XML input 545

 “Terminating XML parsing” on page 563
“Handling XML GENERATE exceptions” on page 582

related references
“XML PARSE exceptions with XMLPARSE(XMLSS) in
effect” on page 707
“XML PARSE exceptions with
XMLPARSE(COMPAT) in effect” on page 709
“XML GENERATE exceptions” on page 715
XML-CODE (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
XML-EVENT (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

XML-INFORMATION
For most XML events, the parser sets XML-INFORMATION to indicate whether an XML EVENT is complete
or whether the XML content spans multiple events.
The application program logic can use the XML-INFORMATION special register to concatenate pieces of
parsed XML content together.

related concepts
“XML events” on page 543
“XML-CODE” on page 544
related tasks
“Writing procedures to process
XML” on page 541

related references
XML-TEXT (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
XML-NTEXT (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

XML-TEXT and XML-NTEXT

For most XML events, the parser sets XML-TEXT or XML-NTEXT to an associated document fragment.
Typically, the parser sets XML-TEXT if the XML document is in an alphanumeric data item. The parser sets
XML-NTEXT if:
• The XML document is in a national data item.
• The XMLPARSE(XMLSS) option is in effect and the RETURNING NATIONAL phrase is specified in the
XML PARSE statement.
• The ATTRIBUTE-NATIONAL-CHARACTER or CONTENT-NATIONAL-CHARACTER event occurs.
The special registers XML-TEXT and XML-NTEXT are mutually exclusive. When the parser sets XML-TEXT,
XML-NTEXT is empty with length zero. When the parser sets XML-NTEXT, XML-TEXT is empty with length
zero.
To determine the number of character encoding units in XML-NTEXT, use the LENGTH intrinsic function;
for example FUNCTION LENGTH(XML-NTEXT). To determine the number of bytes in XML-NTEXT, use
special register LENGTH OF XML-NTEXT. The number of character encoding units differs from the
number of bytes.
To determine the number of bytes in XML-TEXT, use either special register LENGTH OF XML-TEXT or the
LENGTH intrinsic function; each returns the number of bytes.
The XML-TEXT and XML-NTEXT special registers are undefined outside the processing procedure.

related concepts
“XML events” on page 543
“XML-CODE” on page 544

546 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
related tasks
“Writing procedures to process
XML” on page 541

related references
“XMLPARSE” on page 369 (compiler option)
XML-TEXT (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
XML-NTEXT (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

XML-NAMESPACE and XML-NNAMESPACE

If the XMLPARSE(XMLSS) option is in effect, the XML parser sets the XML-NAMESPACE or XML-
NNAMESPACE special register to the namespace identifier for a NAMESPACE-DECLARATION XML event,
or if it encounters an element name or attribute name that is in a namespace.
The parser sets XML-NNAMESPACE if the XML document is in a national data item, or if the RETURNING
NATIONAL phrase is specified in the XML PARSE statement. Otherwise, the parser sets XML-NAMESPACE.
The special registers XML-NAMESPACE and XML-NNAMESPACE are mutually exclusive: If the parser sets
XML-NAMESPACE, XML-NNAMESPACE is empty with length zero. If the parser sets XML-NNAMESPACE,
XML-NAMESPACE is empty with length zero.
To determine the number of character encoding units in XML-NNAMESPACE, use the LENGTH intrinsic
function; for example: FUNCTION LENGTH(XML-NNAMESPACE). To determine the number of bytes
in XML-NNAMESPACE, use special register LENGTH OF XML-NNAMESPACE. The number of character
encoding units differs from the number of bytes.
To determine the number of bytes in XML-NAMESPACE, use either special register LENGTH OF XML-
NAMESPACE or the LENGTH intrinsic function; each returns the number of bytes.
The XML namespace special registers are undefined outside the processing procedure.

related concepts
“XML events” on page 543
“XML-CODE” on page 544
“XML-NAMESPACE-PREFIX and XML-NNAMESPACE-PREFIX” on page 547
“XML-TEXT and XML-NTEXT” on page 546

related tasks
“Writing procedures to process
XML” on page 541

related references
“XMLPARSE” on page 369 (compiler option)

XML-NAMESPACE-PREFIX and XML-NNAMESPACE-PREFIX

If the XMLPARSE(XMLSS) option is in effect, the XML parser sets the XML-NAMESPACE-PREFIX special
register or the XML-NNAMESPACE-PREFIX special register for a NAMESPACE-DECLARATION XML event
that also defines a namespace prefix, or if an element name or attribute name in a namespace is prefixed.
The parser sets XML-NNAMESPACE-PREFIX if the XML document is in a national data item, or the
RETURNING NATIONAL phrase is specified in the XML PARSE statement. Otherwise, the parser sets
XML-NAMESPACE-PREFIX.
The special registers XML-NAMESPACE-PREFIX and XML-NNAMESPACE-PREFIX are mutually exclusive:
If the parser sets XML-NAMESPACE-PREFIX, XML-NNAMESPACE-PREFIX is empty with length zero. If the
parser sets XML-NNAMESPACE-PREFIX, XML-NAMESPACE-PREFIX is empty with length zero.
To determine the number of character encoding units in XML-NNAMESPACE-PREFIX, use the LENGTH
intrinsic function; for example: FUNCTION LENGTH(XML-NNAMESPACE-PREFIX). To determine the
number of bytes in XML-NNAMESPACE-PREFIX, use special register LENGTH OF XML-NNAMESPACE-
PREFIX. The number of character encoding units differs from the number of bytes.

Chapter 32. Processing XML input 547

 To determine the number of bytes in XML-NAMESPACE-PREFIX, use either special register LENGTH OF
XML-NAMESPACE-PREFIX or the LENGTH intrinsic function; each returns the number of bytes.
The XML namespace-prefix special registers are undefined outside the processing procedure.

related concepts
“XML events” on page 543
“XML-NAMESPACE and XML-NNAMESPACE” on page 547

related tasks
“Writing procedures to process
XML” on page 541

related references
“XMLPARSE” on page 369 (compiler option)

Transforming XML text to COBOL data items

Because XML data is neither fixed length nor fixed format, you need to use special techniques when you
move XML data to a COBOL data item.
For alphanumeric items, decide whether the XML data should go at the left (default) end, or at the right
end, of the COBOL data item. If the data should go at the right end, specify the JUSTIFIED RIGHT clause
in the definition of the item.
Give special consideration to numeric XML values, particularly "decorated" monetary values such as
'$1,234.00' or '$1234'. These two strings might mean the same thing in XML, but need quite different
definitions if used as COBOL sending fields.
Use one of the following techniques when you move XML data to COBOL data items:
• If the format is reasonably regular, code a MOVE to an alphanumeric item that you redefine appropriately
as a numeric-edited item. Then do the final move to a numeric (operational) item by moving from, and
thus de-editing, the numeric-edited item. (A regular format would have the same number of digits after
the decimal point, a comma separator for values greater than 999, and so on.)
• For simplicity and vastly increased flexibility, use the following intrinsic functions for alphanumeric XML
data:
– NUMVAL to extract and decode simple numeric values from XML data that represents plain numbers
– NUMVAL-C to extract and decode numeric values from XML data that represents monetary quantities
However, using these functions is at the expense of performance.
related tasks
“Converting to numbers (NUMVAL, NUMVAL-C, NUMVAL-F)” on page 115
“Using national data (Unicode)
in COBOL” on page 129
“Writing procedures to process
XML” on page 541

Parsing XML documents with validation

Validating an XML document determines whether the structure and content of the document conform to
a set of rules. In Enterprise COBOL, the rules are expressed in an XML schema, which is essentially a
blueprint for a class of documents.
To validate XML documents while parsing, use the VALIDATING phrase of the XML PARSE statement. To
do so, you must compile your program using the XMLPARSE(XMLSS) compiler option.
You can validate XML documents only against an XML schema.
In Enterprise COBOL, a schema used for XML validation must be in a preprocessed format known as
Optimized Schema Representation, or OSR. To generate a schema in OSR format from a text-form schema,

548 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
use the z/OS UNIX command xsdosrg, which invokes the OSR generator provided by z/OS System
Services. (Alternatively, you can call the OSR generator programmatically. For details, see the related
reference about z/OS XML System Services.)
For example, to convert the text-form schema in file item.xsd to a schema in preprocessed format in file
item.osr, you can use the following z/OS UNIX command:

xsdosrg -v -o /u/HLQ/xml/item.osr /u/HLQ/xml/item.xsd

Use one of two forms of the VALIDATING phrase, depending on the location of the preprocessed schema:
• In one form, you use the FILE keyword and specify an XML schema name. In this case, the schema
must be in an MVS data set or a z/OS UNIX file.
• In the other form, you specify the identifier of a data item that contains the schema.
If you use the FILE keyword and specify an XML schema name, the COBOL runtime library automatically
retrieves the schema during execution of the XML PARSE statement. The following code fragment shows
this method of specifying validation:

XML PARSE document-item

VALIDATING WITH FILE schema-name
PROCESSING PROCEDURE xml-event-handler
ON EXCEPTION
DISPLAY 'Document has an error.'
GOBACK
NOT ON EXCEPTION
DISPLAY 'Document is valid.'
END-XML

To associate an XML schema name with the external file that contains the schema, code the XML-SCHEMA
clause in the SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph, specifying either a literal or a user-defined word to identify the
file.
For example, you can associate the XML schema name schema-name shown in the fragment above with
the ddname DDSCHEMA by coding the ddname as a literal in the XML-SCHEMA clause as follows:

ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
CONFIGURATION SECTION.
SPECIAL-NAMES.
XML-SCHEMA schema-name IS 'DDSCHEMA'.

For running the program, you can associate ddname DDSCHEMA with the z/OS UNIX file item.osr by
coding a DD statement as follows:

//GO.DDSCHEMA DD PATH='/u/HLQ/xml/item.osr'

Or you can use an analogous TSO ALLOCATE command.

Alternatively, DDSCHEMA in the example above could be the name of an environment variable that
identifies the external file by means of a DSN option that specifies an MVS data set or a PATH option
that specifies a z/OS UNIX file.
If your schema is in an MVS data set, the data set can be any sequential data set (for example, QSAM fixed
blocked or variable blocked, or VSAM ESDS).
For further details about how to associate an XML schema name with the external file that contains the
schema, see the related reference about the XML-SCHEMA clause.
Restriction: XML validation using the FILE keyword is not supported under CICS.
The automatic retrieval that occurs when you use the FILE keyword is convenient. But if you have several
XML documents of the same type to validate, reading the schema into memory once and then reusing
the schema for each of the documents provides better performance than automatic retrieval. In this case,

Chapter 32. Processing XML input 549

 you use the other form of the VALIDATING phrase, in which you specify an identifier that references an
alphanumeric data item that contains the XML schema. For example:

XML PARSE document-item

VALIDATING WITH xmlschema
PROCESSING PROCEDURE xml-event-handler
ON EXCEPTION
DISPLAY 'Document has an error.'
GOBACK
NOT ON EXCEPTION
DISPLAY 'Document is valid.'
END-XML

Read the preprocessed schema into the data item, for example by using normal COBOL statements.
For more information about this form of the VALIDATING phrase, see the related reference about the XML
PARSE statement.
During parsing with validation, normal XML events are returned until an exception occurs due to a
validation error or well-formedness error. If an XML document is not valid, the parser signals an XML
exception and passes control to the processing procedure with special register XML-EVENT containing
'EXCEPTION' and special register XML-CODE containing return code 24 in the high-order halfword and a
specific validation reason code in the low-order halfword.
For information about the return code and reason code for exceptions that might occur when parsing XML
documents with validation, see the related reference about exceptions with XMLPARSE(XMLSS) in effect.
“Example: parsing XML documents with validation” on page 574
related concepts
“XML-CODE” on page 544
“XML schemas” on page 550

related tasks
“Handling XML PARSE exceptions” on page 559

related references
“XMLPARSE” on page 369 (compiler option)

“XML PARSE exceptions with XMLPARSE(XMLSS) in

effect” on page 707
XML PARSE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
XML-SCHEMA clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
z/OS XML System Services User's Guide and Reference

XML schemas
An XML schema is a mechanism, defined by the W3C, for describing and constraining the structure and
content of XML documents. An XML schema, which is itself expressed in XML, effectively defines a class
of XML documents of a given type, for example, purchase orders.
For Enterprise COBOL, XML schemas used for validating XML documents must be in a preprocessed
format known as Optimized Schema Representation (OSR). For information about this format, see the
related reference about z/OS XML System Services.
Consider an XML document that describes an item for stock-keeping purposes:

<stockItem itemNumber="453-SR">
<itemName>Stainless steel rope thimbles</itemName>
<quantityOnHand>23</quantityOnHand>
</stockItem>

550 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 The example document above is both well formed and valid according to the following schema. (The
numbers that precede each line are not part of the schema, but are used in the explanations after the
schema.)

1. <xsd:schema xmlns:xsd="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema">
2.
3. <xsd:element name="stockItem" type="stockItemType"/>
4.
5. <xsd:complexType name="stockItemType">
6. <xsd:sequence>
7. <xsd:element name="itemName" type="xsd:string" minOccurs="0"/>
8. <xsd:element name="quantityOnHand">
9. <xsd:simpleType>
10. <xsd:restriction base="xsd:nonNegativeInteger">
11. <xsd:maxExclusive value="100"/>
12. </xsd:restriction>
13. </xsd:simpleType>
14. </xsd:element>
15. </xsd:sequence>
16. <xsd:attribute name="itemNumber" type="SKU" use="required"/>
17. </xsd:complexType>
18.
19. <xsd:simpleType name="SKU">
20. <xsd:restriction base="xsd:string">
21. <xsd:pattern value="\d{3}-[A-Z]{2}"/>
22. </xsd:restriction>
23. </xsd:simpleType>
24.
25. </xsd:schema>

The schema declares (line 3) that the root element is stockItem, which has a mandatory itemNumber
attribute (line 16) of type SKU, and includes a sequence (lines 6 - 15) of other elements:
• An optional itemName element of type string (line 7)
• A required quantityOnHand element that has a constrained range of 1 - 99 based on the type
nonNegativeInteger (lines 8 - 14)
Type declarations can be inline and unnamed, as in lines 9 - 13, which include the maxExclusive facet
to specify the legal values for the quantityOnHand element.
For the itemNumber attribute, by contrast, the named type SKU is declared separately in lines 19 - 23,
which include a pattern facet that uses regular expression syntax to specify that the legal values for that
type consist of (in order): 3 digits, a hyphen-minus, then two uppercase letters.
The example referenced below shows a program that parses documents against this schema.
“Example: parsing XML documents with validation” on page 574
related tasks
“Parsing
XML documents with validation” on page 548

related references
z/OS XML System Services User's Guide and Reference

Parsing XML documents one segment at a time

You can parse XML documents by passing the parser one segment (or record) of XML text at a time.
Processing very large documents, or processing XML documents that reside in a data set, are two possible
major applications of this technique.
To use this feature, compile your program with the XMLPARSE(XMLSS) compiler option in effect.
You parse an XML document a segment at a time by initializing the parse data item to the first segment
of the XML document, and then executing the XML PARSE statement. The parser processes the XML text
and returns XML events to your processing procedure as usual.
At the end of the text segment, the parser signals an END-OF-INPUT XML event, with XML-CODE set to
zero. If there is another segment of the document to process, in your processing procedure move the next

Chapter 32. Processing XML input 551

 segment of XML data to the parse data item, set XML-CODE to one, and return to the parser. To signal the
end of XML segments to the parser, return to the parser with XML-CODE still set to zero.
The length of the parse data item is evaluated for each segment, and determines the segment length.
Variable-length segments: If the XML document segments are variable length, specify a variable-length
item for the parse data item. For example, for variable-length XML segments, you can define the parse
data item as one of the following items:
• A variable-length group item that contains an OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause
• A reference-modified item
• An FD record that specifies the RECORD IS VARYING DEPENDING ON clause, where the depending-
on data item is used as the length in a reference modifier or ODO object for the FD record
When you send an XML document to the parser in multiple segments, document content is in some cases
returned to the processing procedure in multiple fragments by means of multiple events, rather than as
one large fragment in a single event.
For example, if the document is split into two segments with the split point in the middle of a string of
content characters, the parser returns the content in two separate CONTENT-CHARACTERS events. In the
processing procedure, you must reassemble the string of content as needed by the application.
Starting element tags, attribute names, namespace declarations, and ending element tags are always
delivered to the processing procedure in a single event, even if those items are split between two
segments of a document.
If a segment split occurs between the bytes of a multibyte character, the parser detects the split and
reassembles the character for delivery in a single event.
If you are parsing an XML document with an unknown number of repetitive elements to be processed, use
unbounded tables. For more information on unbounded tables, see “Working with unbounded tables and
groups” on page 88.
For each such element in a given document, manage the table size using one of the following methods:
• Calculating number of elements:
1. Count the number of elements in the document during an initial parse.
2. Set the OCCURS DEPENDING ON object for the table to that size
3. Allocate storage for the table
4. Parse the document a second time to process the XML
• Incremental expansion:
1. Set an initial size in the OCCURS DEPENDING ON object for the unbounded table
2. Parse the document normally. For each element
a. Check the limit and expand the unbounded table if necessary.
3. Allocate a new, larger storage area:
4. Copy the data from the smaller area
5. Free the smaller area
6. Set the table pointer to the address of the larger storage area.
QSAM and VSAM files: You can process XML documents stored in a QSAM or VSAM file as follows:
1. Open the file and read the first record of the XML document.
2. Execute the XML PARSE statement with the FD record as the parse data item.
3. In the processing-procedure logic for handling the END-OF-INPUT event, read the next record of the
XML document into the parse data item. If not end-of-file (file status code 10), set XML-CODE to one
and return to the parser. If end-of-file, return to the parser with XML-CODE still set to zero.
4. In your processing procedure logic for the END-OF-DOCUMENT event, close the file.

552 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Miscellaneous information after the root element:
The root element of an XML document might be followed by zero or more occurrences of a comment or
processing instruction, in any order. If you parse the document one segment at a time, the parser signals
an END-OF-INPUT XML event after processing the end tag of the root element only if the last item in the
segment is incomplete. If the segment ends with a complete XML item (such as the root element end tag,
or after that tag, a complete comment or processing instruction), the next XML event after the event for
the item itself is the END-OF-DOCUMENT XML event.
Tip: To provide successive segments of XML data after the end of the root element, include at least the
first nonspace character of an XML item at the end of each segment. Include a complete item only on the
last segment that you want the parser to process.
For instance, in the following example, in which each line represents a segment of an XML document, the
segment that includes the text This comment ends this segment is the last segment to be parsed:

<Tagline>
COBOL is the language of the future!
</Tagline> <
!--First comment--
> <?pi data?> <!-
-This comment ends this segment-->
<!-- This segment is not included in the parse-->

“Example: parsing an XML document one segment at a time” on page 572

related concepts
“XML events” on page 543
“XML-CODE” on page 544

related tasks
“Parsing XML documents one segment at a time” on page 551
“XML-CODE” on page 544

related references
“XMLPARSE” on page 369 (compiler option)

Handling splits using the XML-INFORMATION special register

You can parse large XML documents by using the XML-INFORMATION special register.
To use this feature, compile your program with the XMLPARSE(XMLSS) compiler option in effect.
Splits in character content might occur at arbitrary points in the XML data stream, even with unsegmented
input. The XML-INFORMATION special register simplifies the reassembly of content. This register may be
required for any and all attribute values and element character content.
The length of the parse data item is evaluated for each segment, and determines the segment length.
The example, “Example: program for processing XML” on page 564, demonstrates various ways of
assigning values obtained from the XML document to program data items for later processing.
The XML data is provided to the parser in 40-byte records, imitating the way an XML document might be
acquired from an external source such as a data file. The record boundaries are designed so that all data
splits but one are accommodated by the parser. For example, the sample treats as an error a split in any
content except the content of the "filling" element.
In the example, the XML-INFORMATION special register is only used to simplify the reassembly of
content for the "filling" element. This register could be used for any attribute values and element
character content. An XML-INFORMATION value of 2 indicates that the character data for an ATTRIBUTE-
CHARACTERS or CONTENT-CHARACTERS XML event is continued in a subsequent XML event, and should
thus be buffered in order to accumulate the complete character string. A subsequent XML event of the
same type with an XML-INFORMATION value of 1 indicates that XML-TEXT or XML-NTEXT contains the
final piece of the character content, and that the complete string can be moved to the appropriate data
item.

Chapter 32. Processing XML input 553

 In the example, the STRING ... WITH POINTER statement accumulates and describes properly the
complete character value for assignment to the "filling" identifier.

String xml-text delimited by size into

content-buffer with pointer tally
On overflow
Display 'content buffer ('
length of content-buffer
' bytes) is too small'
Move -1 to xml-code
End-string

related concepts
“XML events” on page 543
“XML-CODE” on page 544

related references
“XMLPARSE” on page 369 (compiler option)
“Example: program for processing XML” on page 564

The encoding of XML documents

XML documents must be encoded in a supported code page.
XML documents generated in or parsed from national data items must be encoded in Unicode UTF-16 in
big-endian format, CCSID 1200.
For XML GENERATE statements, documents generated in alphanumeric data items must be encoded in
Unicode UTF-8 (CCSID 1208) or one of the single-byte EBCDIC encodings listed in the table below. You
can use any CCSID from that table in the ENCODING phrase of the XML GENERATE statement.
For XML PARSE statements, documents in alphanumeric data items must be encoded as follows:
• If XMLPARSE(XMLSS) is in effect:
– If the RETURNING NATIONAL phrase is specified in the XML PARSE statement, in any EBCDIC or
ASCII encoding that is supported by z/OS Unicode Services for conversion to UTF-16
– If the RETURNING NATIONAL phrase is not specified in the XML PARSE statement, in UTF-8 (CCSID
1208) or one of the single-byte EBCDIC encodings listed in the table below
• If XMLPARSE(COMPAT) is in effect: in one of the single-byte EBCDIC encodings listed in the table below
If XMLPARSE(XMLSS) is in effect, you can use any supported CCSID (as described above for XML PARSE)
in the ENCODING phrase of the XML PARSE statement.

Table 69. Coded character sets for XML documents

CCSID Description
1208 UTF-81
1047 Latin 1 / Open Systems
1140, 37 USA, Canada, . . . Euro Country Extended Code Page (ECECP), Country Extended
Code Page (CECP)
1141, 273 Austria, Germany ECECP, CECP
1142, 277 Denmark, Norway ECECP, CECP
1143, 278 Finland, Sweden ECECP, CECP
1144, 280 Italy ECECP, CECP
1145, 284 Spain, Latin America (Spanish) ECECP, CECP
1146, 285 UK ECECP, CECP

554 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Table 69. Coded character sets for XML documents (continued)
CCSID Description
1147, 297 France ECECP, CECP
1148, 500 International ECECP, CECP
1149, 871 Iceland ECECP, CECP

1. Supported for the XML PARSE statement in the ENCODING phrase if XMLPARSE(XMLSS) is in effect

related concepts
“XML input document encoding” on page 555

related tasks
“Specifying the encoding” on page 557
“Parsing XML documents
encoded in UTF-8” on page 558
Chapter 33, “Producing XML output,” on page 577

related references
“CODEPAGE” on page 304

“XMLPARSE” on page 369 (compiler option)

XML input document encoding

To parse an XML document using the XML PARSE statement, the document must be encoded in a
supported encoding.
The supported encodings for a given parse operation depend on:
• The category of the data item that contains the XML document
• The setting of the XMLPARSE compiler option
• The optional phrases that are specified in the XML PARSE statement
For XML documents that are contained in a national data item, the supported encoding is Unicode UTF-16
in big-endian format, CCSID 1200.
For XML documents that are contained in an alphanumeric data item, the supported encodings if the
XMLPARSE(XMLSS) compiler option is in effect are as follows:
• If the RETURNING NATIONAL phrase is specified in the XML PARSE statement: UTF-8 or any EBCDIC
or ASCII encoding that is supported by the z/OS Unicode Services for conversion to UTF-16
• If the RETURNING NATIONAL phrase is not specified: UTF-8 or any of the single-byte EBCDIC CCSIDs
listed in the related reference about the encoding of XML documents
For XML documents that are contained in an alphanumeric data item, the supported CCSIDs if
XMLPARSE(COMPAT) is in effect are those specified in the related reference about the encoding of XML
documents.
To parse an XML document that is encoded in an unsupported code page, first convert the document
to national character data (UTF-16) by using the NATIONAL-OF intrinsic function. You can convert the
individual pieces of document text that are passed to the processing procedure in special register XML-
NTEXT back to the original code page by using the DISPLAY-OF intrinsic function.
XML declaration and white space:
XML documents can begin with white space only if they do not have an XML declaration:
• If an XML document begins with an XML declaration, the first angle bracket (<) in the document must be
the first character in the document.

Chapter 32. Processing XML input 555

 • If an XML document does not begin with an XML declaration, the first angle bracket in the document can
be preceded only by white space.
White-space characters have the hexadecimal values shown in the following table.

Table 70. Hexadecimal values of white-space characters

White-space character EBCDIC Unicode
Space X'40' X'0020'
Horizontal tabulation X'05' X'0009'
Carriage return X'0D' X'000D'
Line feed X'25' X'000A'
New line / next line X'15' X'0085'

Determining the encoding of an input XML document

The parser must know the encoding of an XML document in order to process the document correctly.
If the specified encoding is not one of the supported coded character sets, the parser signals an
XML exception event before beginning the parse operation. If the actual document encoding does not
match the specified encoding, the parser signals an appropriate XML exception after beginning the parse
operation.
Several sources are used in determining the encoding of an XML document:
• If the XMLPARSE(XMLSS) option is in effect:
– The data type of the data item that contains the XML document
– The ENCODING phrase (if used) of the XML PARSE statement
– The CCSID specified in the CODEPAGE compiler option
• If the XMLPARSE(COMPAT) option is in effect:
– The data type of the data item that contains the XML document
– The actual encoding determined when the parser examines the first few bytes of the document
– The encoding declaration specified within the XML document
– The CCSID specified in the CODEPAGE compiler option
If XMLPARSE(XMLSS) is in effect:
• Any encoding declaration specified within the XML document is ignored.
• For XML documents that are contained in a national data item, the ENCODING phrase of the XML
PARSE statement must be omitted or must specify CCSID 1200. The CCSID specified in the CODEPAGE
compiler option is ignored. The parser signals an XML exception event if the actual document encoding
is not UTF-16 in big-endian format.
• For XML documents that are contained in an alphanumeric data item, the CCSID specified in the
ENCODING phrase overrides the CODEPAGE compiler option. The parser raises an XML exception event
at the beginning of the parse operation if the actual document encoding is not consistent with the
specified CCSID.

related tasks
“Converting to or from national (Unicode) representation” on page 136
“Specifying the encoding” on page 557
“Parsing XML documents
encoded in UTF-8” on page 558
“Handling XML PARSE exceptions” on page 559

556 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
related references
“XMLPARSE” on page 369 (compiler option)

“The encoding of XML documents” on page 554

“EBCDIC code-page-sensitive characters in XML markup” on page 558

Specifying the encoding

You can choose how to specify the encoding for parsing an XML document that is in an alphanumeric data
item.
The preferred way is to omit the encoding declaration from the document and to specify the encoding
using one of the following means:
• If XMLPARSE(XMLSS) is in effect: the ENCODING phrase of the XML PARSE statement, or the
CODEPAGE compiler option
• If XMLPARSE(COMPAT) is in effect: the CODEPAGE compiler option
Omitting the encoding declaration makes it possible to more easily transmit an XML document between
heterogeneous systems. (If you included an encoding declaration, you would need to update it to reflect
any code-page translation imposed by the transmission process.)
For XMLPARSE(COMPAT):
You can instead specify an encoding declaration in the XML declaration with which most XML documents
begin. For example:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ibm-1140"?>

Note that the XML parser generates an exception if it encounters an XML declaration that does not begin
in the first byte of an XML document.
If you specify an encoding declaration, do so in one of the following ways:
• Specify the CCSID number (with or without any number of leading zeros) prefixed by one of the
following strings in any mixture of uppercase and lowercase letters:
– IBM-
– IBM_
– CCSID-
– CCSID_
• Use one of the aliases listed in the following table. You can code the aliases in any mixture of uppercase
and lowercase letters.

Table 71. Aliases for XML encoding declarations

CCSID Supported aliases
037 EBCDIC-CP-US, EBCDIC-CP-CA, EBCDIC-CP-WT, EBCDIC-CP-NL
500 EBCDIC-CP-BE, EBCDIC-CP-CH
1200 UTF-16
1208 UTF-8

For more information about the CCSIDs that are supported for XML parsing, see the related reference
about the encoding of XML documents.

related concepts
“XML input document encoding” on page 555

Chapter 32. Processing XML input 557

 related tasks
“Parsing XML documents
encoded in UTF-8” on page 558
“Handling encoding conflicts” on page 562

related references
“The encoding of XML documents” on page 554

EBCDIC code-page-sensitive characters in XML markup

Several special characters that are used in XML markup have different hexadecimal representations in
different EBCDIC code pages.
The following table shows those special characters and their hexadecimal values for various EBCDIC
CCSIDs.

Table 72. Hexadecimal values of special characters for various EBCDIC CCSIDs
Character 1047 1140 1141 1142 1143 1144 1145 1146 1147 1148 1149
[ X'AD' X'BA' X'63' X'9E' X'B5' X'90' X'4A' X'B1' X'90' X'4A' X'AE'
] X'BD' X'BB' X'FC' X'9F' X'9F' X'51' X'5A' X'BB' X'B5' X'5A' X'9E'
! X'5A' X'5A' X'4F' X'4F' X'4F' X'4F' X'BB' X'5A' X'4F' X'4F' X'4F'
| X'4F' X'4F' X'BB' X'BB' X'BB' X'BB' X'4F' X'4F' X'BB' X'BB' X'BB'
# X'7B' X'7B' X'7B' X'4A' X'63' X'B1' X'69' X'7B' X'B1' X'7B' X'7B'

Parsing XML documents encoded in UTF-8

If the XMLPARSE(XMLSS) compiler option is in effect, you can parse XML documents that are encoded
in Unicode UTF-8 in a manner similar to parsing other XML documents. However, some additional
requirements apply.
To parse a UTF-8 XML document, you must specify CCSID 1208 in the ENCODING phrase of the XML
PARSE statement, as shown in the following code fragment:

XML PARSE xml-document

WITH ENCODING 1208
PROCESSING PROCEDURE xml-event-handler
. . .
END-XML

You define xml-document as an alphanumeric data item or alphanumeric group item in WORKING-
STORAGE or LOCAL-STORAGE.
If you do not code the RETURNING NATIONAL phrase in the XML PARSE statement, the parser returns
the XML document fragments in the alphanumeric special registers XML-TEXT, XML-NAMESPACE, and
XML-NAMESPACE-PREFIX.
UTF-8 characters are encoded using a variable number of bytes per character. Most COBOL operations on
alphanumeric data assume a single-byte encoding, in which each character is encoded in 1 byte. When
you operate on UTF-8 characters as alphanumeric data, you must ensure that the data is processed
correctly. Avoid operations (such as reference modification and moves that involve truncation) that can
split a multibyte character between bytes. You cannot reliably use statements such as INSPECT to
process multibyte characters in alphanumeric data.
You can more reliably process UTF-8 document fragments by specifying the RETURNING NATIONAL
phrase in the XML PARSE statement. If you use the RETURNING NATIONAL phrase, XML document
fragments are efficiently converted to UTF-16 encoding and are returned to the application in the national
special registers XML-NTEXT, XML-NNAMESPACE, and XMLNNAMESPACE-PREFIX. Then you can process

558 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 the XML text fragments in national data items. (The UTF-16 encoding in national data items greatly
facilitates Unicode processing in COBOL.)
The following code fragment illustrates the use of both the ENCODING phrase and the RETURNING
NATIONAL phrase for parsing a UTF-8 XML document:

XML PARSE xml-document

WITH ENCODING 1208 RETURNING NATIONAL
PROCESSING PROCEDURE xml-event-handler
ON EXCEPTION
DISPLAY 'XML document error ' XML-CODE
STOP RUN
NOT ON EXCEPTION
DISPLAY 'XML document was successfully parsed.'
END-XML

related concepts
“XML-TEXT and XML-NTEXT” on page 546
“XML-NAMESPACE and XML-NNAMESPACE” on page 547
“XML-NAMESPACE-PREFIX and XML-NNAMESPACE-PREFIX” on page 547

related tasks
“Processing UTF-8 data” on page 140
“Parsing XML documents” on page 540
“Specifying the encoding” on page 557

related references
“XMLPARSE” on page 369 (compiler option)
“The encoding of XML documents” on page 554
XML PARSE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Handling XML PARSE exceptions

If the XML parser encounters an anomaly or error during parsing, it sets an exception code in the
XML-CODE special register and signals an XML exception event. The specific exception codes that can
occur and the subsequent actions that you can take differ depending on the setting of the XMLPARSE
compiler option.
For XMLPARSE(XMLSS):
Return code and reason code: The exception code is formed from the return code and the reason code
that the parser generates. The return code and the reason code are each a halfword binary value. The
value in XML-CODE is a concatenation of these two values.
As an example, the following XML document is not well formed because the element end tag mmsg does
not match the element start tag msg:

<msg>Hello</mmsg>

The return code is hexadecimal 000C (XRC_NOT_WELL_FORMED), and the reason code is hexadecimal
3035 (XRSN_ENDTAG_NAME_MISMATCH), if you parse the document without validation. The
concatenation of these two values, hexadecimal 000C3035, is returned to the processing procedure in
the XML-CODE special register.
If you parse a document with validation, the values returned in XML-CODE for any well-formedness errors
differ from the values returned for the same errors when you parse without validation. The return code
generated by the z/OS XML System Services parser for any validation error is 24 (hexadecimal 0018).
For more information about the return codes and reason codes that can be generated, see the related
reference about exceptions with XMLPARSE(XMLSS) in effect.
If XMLPARSE(XMLSS) is in effect, processing procedures cannot handle exception events and cannot
cause parsing to resume. When a processing procedure returns to the parser from an exception event, the

Chapter 32. Processing XML input 559

 parser does not signal any further events. The parser transfers control to the statement that is specified in
the ON EXCEPTION phrase of the XML PARSE statement. If you did not code an ON EXCEPTION phrase,
control is passed to the end of the XML PARSE statement. XML-CODE contains the original exception code
set by the parser.
If no exception occurs during parsing, control is passed to the statement specified in the NOT ON
EXCEPTION phrase. If you did not code a NOT ON EXCEPTION phrase, control is passed to the end of the
XML PARSE statement. XML-CODE contains zero.
For XMLPARSE(COMPAT):
If the exception code is within a certain range, you might be able to handle the exception event within
your processing procedure, and resume parsing.
To handle an exception in the processing procedure, follow these steps:
1. Check the contents of XML-CODE.
2. Handle the exception appropriately.
3. Set XML-CODE to zero to indicate that you handled the exception.
4. Return control to the parser.
The exception condition no longer exists.
You can handle exceptions in this way only if the exception code that is passed in XML-CODE is within one
of the following ranges, which indicates that an encoding conflict was detected:
• 50 - 99
• 100,001 - 165,535
Exception codes 1 - 49: In the processing procedure, you can do limited handling of exceptions for which
the exception code is within the range 1 - 49. After an exception in this range occurs, the parser does not
signal any further normal events, except the END-OF-DOCUMENT event, even if you set XML-CODE to zero
before returning. If you set XML-CODE to zero, the parser continues parsing the document and signals any
exceptions that it finds. (Doing so can provide a useful way to discover multiple errors in the document.)
Restriction: The compatibility-mode COBOL XML parser might not signal all additional exception events.
The number of exceptions is limited to the remaining space in the XML PARSE event token array, probably
8192 events.
At the end of parsing after an exception that has an exception code in the range 1 - 49, control is passed
to the statement specified in the ON EXCEPTION phrase. If you did not code an ON EXCEPTION phrase,
control is passed to the end of the XML PARSE statement. XML-CODE contains the code set by the parser
for the most recent exception.
For all exceptions other than those having an exception code within one of the ranges described above,
the parser does not signal any further events, but passes control to the statement specified in the ON
EXCEPTION phrase. XML-CODE contains the original exception code even if you set XML-CODE in the
processing procedure before returning control to the parser.
If you do not want to handle an exception, return control to the parser without changing the value of
XML-CODE. The parser transfers control to the statement specified in the ON EXCEPTION phrase. If you
did not code an ON EXCEPTION phrase, control is transferred to the end of the XML PARSE statement.
If no unhandled exceptions occur before the end of parsing, control is passed to the statement specified
in the NOT ON EXCEPTION phrase. If you did not code a NOT ON EXCEPTION phrase, control is
transferred to the end of the XML PARSE statement. XML-CODE contains zero.

related concepts
“XML-CODE” on page 544
“XML input document encoding” on page 555
“How the XML parser handles errors” on page 561

related tasks
“Writing procedures to process

560 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 XML” on page 541
“Parsing
XML documents with validation” on page 548
“Handling encoding conflicts” on page 562

related references
“XMLPARSE” on page 369 (compiler option)
“The encoding of XML documents” on page 554
“XML PARSE exceptions with XMLPARSE(XMLSS) in
effect” on page 707
“XML PARSE exceptions with
XMLPARSE(COMPAT) in effect” on page 709
z/OS XML System Services User's Guide and Reference

How the XML parser handles errors

When the XML parser detects an error in an XML document, it generates an XML exception event and
passes control to your processing procedure.
The parser passes the following information in special registers to the processing procedure:
• XML-EVENT contains 'EXCEPTION'.
• XML-CODE contains a numeric exception code.
The exception codes are described in the related references about XML PARSE exceptions.
• For fatal exceptions, XML-TEXT or XML-NTEXT contains the document text up to and including the point
where the exception was detected.
• For the warning exceptions issued for using an undeclared prefix, XML-TEXT or XML-NTEXT contains
the fully qualified attribute name or element name. That is, the name includes the undeclared prefix and
the separator colon (:).
• If XMLPARSE(COMPAT) is in effect, XML-TEXT or XML-NTEXT contains the document text up to and
including the point where the exception was detected.
• If XMLPARSE(XMLSS) is in effect, XML-TEXT or XML-NTEXT contains the document text up to the point
where the error or anomaly was detected. If you process the XML document one segment at a time, the
applicable special register contains only the current segment.
All other XML special registers are empty with length zero.
For XMLPARSE(XMLSS):
Parsing cannot continue after a fatal exception even if you set XML-CODE to zero in the processing
procedure. Upon return to the parser from the processing procedure, the parser transfers control to the
ON EXCEPTION phrase, if specified; otherwise the parser transfers control to the end of the XML PARSE
statement. XML-CODE contains the original exception code set by the parser.
For XMLPARSE(COMPAT):
The processing procedure might be able to handle an exception so that parsing continues if the exception
code is within one of the following ranges:
• 1 - 99
• 100,001 - 165,535
If the exception code has any other nonzero value, parsing cannot continue.
Encoding conflicts: The exceptions for encoding conflicts (50 - 99 and 300 - 399) are signaled before the
parsing of the document begins. For these exceptions, XML-TEXT or XML-NTEXT is either length zero or
contains only the encoding declaration value from the document.
Exception codes 1 - 49: An exception for which the exception code is in the range 1 - 49 is a fatal
error according to the XML specification. Therefore, the parser does not continue normal parsing even if
the processing procedure handles the exception. However, the parser does continue scanning for further

Chapter 32. Processing XML input 561

 errors until it reaches the end of the document, or until the existing XML EVENT token array is exhausted.
For these exceptions, the parser does not signal any further normal events except the END-OF-DOCUMENT
event.

related concepts
“XML events” on page 543
“XML-CODE” on page 544
“XML input document encoding” on page 555

related tasks
“Parsing XML documents one segment at a time” on page 551
“Handling XML PARSE exceptions” on page 559
“Handling encoding conflicts” on page 562

“Terminating XML parsing” on page 563

related references
“XMLPARSE” on page 369 (compiler option)
“The encoding of XML documents” on page 554
“XML PARSE exceptions with XMLPARSE(XMLSS) in
effect” on page 707
“XML PARSE exceptions with
XMLPARSE(COMPAT) in effect” on page 709
z/OS XML System Services User's Guide and Reference
XML specification

Handling encoding conflicts

The way that you handle encoding-conflict exceptions depends on the setting of the XMLPARSE compiler
option.
For XMLPARSE(XMLSS):
The parser does not continue after an encoding-conflict exception or after any other type of exception.
Any changes that you make in the processing procedure to the value of XML-CODE are ignored. The value
in XML-CODE when the parser returns to the XML PARSE statement is the original exception code that the
parser set.
For XMLPARSE(COMPAT):
Your processing procedure might be able to handle exceptions for document encoding conflicts.
Exception events in which the parse data item is alphanumeric and the exception code in XML-CODE
is within the range 100,001 - 165,535 indicate that the code page of the document (as specified by its
encoding declaration) conflicts with the external code-page information.
In this special case, you can choose to parse using the code page of the document by subtracting
100,000 from the value in XML-CODE. For instance, if XML-CODE contains 101,140, the code page of
the document is 1140. Alternatively, you can choose to parse using the external code page by setting
XML-CODE to zero before returning to the parser.
The parser takes one of three actions after returning from a processing procedure for an encoding-conflict
exception event:
• If you set XML-CODE to zero, the parser uses the external code page: the value of the CODEPAGE
compiler option.
• If you set XML-CODE to the code page of the document (that is, the original XML-CODE value minus
100,000), the parser uses the code page of the document.
This is the only case in which the parser continues when XML-CODE has a nonzero value upon returning
from a processing procedure.

562 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 • Otherwise, the parser stops processing the document and returns control to the XML PARSE statement
with an exception condition. XML-CODE contains the exception code that was originally passed with the
exception event.

related concepts
“XML-CODE” on page 544
“XML input document encoding” on page 555
“How the XML parser handles errors” on page 561

related tasks
“Handling XML PARSE exceptions” on page 559

related references
“XMLPARSE” on page 369 (compiler option)
“The encoding of XML documents” on page 554
“XML PARSE exceptions with XMLPARSE(XMLSS) in
effect” on page 707
“XML PARSE exceptions with
XMLPARSE(COMPAT) in effect” on page 709
z/OS XML System Services User's Guide and Reference

Terminating XML parsing

You can terminate parsing immediately, without processing any remaining XML text, by setting XML-CODE
to -1 in your processing procedure before the procedure returns to the parser from any normal XML event
(that is, any event other than EXCEPTION).
You can use this technique when the processing procedure has examined enough of the document or has
detected some irregularity in the document that precludes further meaningful processing.
If you terminate parsing in this way, the parser does not signal any further XML events, including the
exception event. Control transfers to the ON EXCEPTION phrase of the XML PARSE statement, if that
phrase was specified.
In the imperative statement of the ON EXCEPTION phrase, you can determine whether parsing was
deliberately terminated by testing whether XML-CODE contains -1. If you do not specify the ON
EXCEPTION phrase, control transfers to the end of the XML PARSE statement.
If the XMLPARSE(COMPAT) compiler option is in effect, you can also terminate parsing after any XML
EXCEPTION event by returning to the parser from the processing procedure without changing the value in
XML-CODE. The result is similar to the result of deliberate termination, except that the parser returns to
the XML PARSE statement with XML-CODE containing the original exception code.
If the XMLPARSE(XMLSS) option is in effect, parsing always terminates after any exception event.

related concepts
“XML-CODE” on page 544
“How the XML parser handles errors” on page 561

related tasks
“Writing procedures to process
XML” on page 541
“Handling XML PARSE exceptions” on page 559

XML PARSE examples

The examples that are referenced below illustrate various uses of the XML PARSE statement.
Use these examples to understand the basic use of XML PARSE and for XMLPARSE(XMLSS), specialized
uses such as parsing documents that include namespaces, parsing documents one segment at a time,
and parsing documents with validation against a schema.

Chapter 32. Processing XML input 563

 “Example: parsing a simple document” on page 564
“Example: program for processing XML” on page 564
“Example: parsing an XML document that uses namespaces” on page 569
“Example: parsing an XML document one segment at a time” on page 572
“Example: parsing XML documents with validation” on page 574

Example: parsing a simple document

This example shows the flow of events and the contents of special register XML-TEXT that result from the
parsing of a simple XML document.
Assume that the COBOL program contains the following XML document in data item Doc:

<?xml version="1.0"?><msg type="short">Hello, World!</msg>

The following code fragment shows an XML PARSE statement for parsing Doc, and a processing
procedure, P, for handling the XML events:

XML Parse Doc

Processing procedure P
. . .
P. Display XML-Event XML-Text.

The processing procedure displays the content of XML-EVENT and XML-TEXT for each event that the
parser signals during parsing. The following table shows the events and the text.

Table 73. XML events and special registers

XML-EVENT XML-TEXT
START-OF-DOCUMENT
VERSION-INFORMATION 1.0
START-OF-ELEMENT msg
ATTRIBUTE-NAME type
ATTRIBUTE-CHARACTERS short
CONTENT-CHARACTERS Hello, World!
END-OF-ELEMENT msg
END-OF-DOCUMENT

related concepts
“XML events” on page 543
“XML-TEXT and XML-NTEXT” on page 546

Example: program for processing XML

This example shows the parsing of an XML document, and a processing procedure that reports the various
XML events and their associated text fragments.
The XML document is shown in the program source to make it easier to follow the flow of the parsing. The
output of the program with XMLPARSE(XMLSS) and with XMLPARSE(COMPAT) in effect is shown after the
example.
To understand the interaction of the parser and the processing procedure, and to match events to
document fragments, compare the XML document to the output of the program.

Process codepage(1047)
Identification division.

564 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Program-id. XMLSAMPL.
Data division.
Working-storage section.
******************************************************************
* XML document data, encoded as initial values of data items. *
******************************************************************
1 xml-document-data.
2 pic x(39) value '<?xml version="1.0" encoding="IBM-1047"'.
2 pic x(19) value ' standalone="yes"?>'.
2 pic x(39) value '<!--This document is just an example-->'.
2 pic x(10) value '<sandwich>'.
2 pic x(33) value '<bread type="baker&apos;s best"/>'.
2 pic x(36) value '<?spread We'll use real mayonnaise?>'.
2 pic x(29) value '<meat>Ham &amp; turkey</meat>'.
2 pic x(34) value '<filling>Cheese, lettuce, tomato, '.
2 pic x(32) value 'and that's all, Folks!</filling>'.
2 pic x(25) value '<![CDATA[We should add a '.
2 pic x(20) value '<relish> element!]]>'.
2 pic x(28) value '<listprice>$4.99</listprice>'.
2 pic x(25) value '<discount>0.10</discount>'.
2 pic x(31) value '</sandwich>'.
******************************************************************
* XML document, represented as fixed-length records. *
******************************************************************
1 xml-document redefines xml-document-data.
2 xml-segment pic x(40) occurs 10 times.
1 xml-segment-no comp pic s9(4).
1 content-buffer pic x(100).
1 current-element-stack.
2 current-element pic x(30) occurs 10 times.
******************************************************************
* Sample data definitions for processing numeric XML content. *
******************************************************************
1 element-depth comp pic s9(4).
1 discount computational pic 9v99 value 0.
1 display-price pic $$9.99.
1 filling pic x(4095).
1 list-price computational pic 9v99 value 0.
1 ofr-ed pic x(9) justified.
1 ofr-ed-1 redefines ofr-ed pic 999999.99.
Procedure division.
Mainline section.
Move 1 to xml-segment-no
Display 'Initial segment {' xml-segment(xml-segment-no) '}'
Display ' '
XML parse xml-segment(xml-segment-no)
processing procedure XML-handler
On exception
Display 'XML processing error, XML-Code=' XML-Code '.'
Move 16 to return-code
Goback
Not on exception
Display 'XML document successfully parsed.'
End-XML
******************************************************************
* Process the transformed content and calculate promo price. *
******************************************************************
Display ' '
Display '-----+++++***** Using information from XML '
'*****+++++-----'
Display ' '
Move list-price to Display-price
Display ' Sandwich list price: ' Display-price
Compute Display-price = list-price * (1 - discount)
Display ' Promotional price: ' Display-price
Display ' Get one today!'
Goback.
XML-handler section.
Evaluate XML-Event
* ==> Order XML events most frequent first
When 'START-OF-ELEMENT'
Display 'Start element tag: {' XML-Text '}'
Add 1 to element-depth
Move XML-Text to current-element(element-depth)
When 'CONTENT-CHARACTERS'
Display 'Content characters: {' XML-Text '}'
* ==> In general, a split can occur for any element or attribute
* ==> data, but in this sample, it only occurs for "filling"...
If xml-information = 2 and
current-element(element-depth) not = 'filling'
Display 'Unexpected split in content for element '
current-element(element-depth)

Chapter 32. Processing XML input 565

 Move -1 to xml-code
End-if
* ==> Transform XML content to operational COBOL data item...
Evaluate current-element(element-depth)
When 'filling'
* ==> After reassembling separate pieces of character content...
String xml-text delimited by size into
content-buffer with pointer tally
On overflow
Display 'content buffer ('
length of content-buffer
' bytes) is too small'
Move -1 to xml-code
End-string
Evaluate xml-information
When 2
Display ' Character data for element "filling" '
'is incomplete.'
Display ' The partial data was buffered for '
'content assembly.'
When 1
subtract 1 from tally
move content-buffer(1:tally) to filling
Display ' Element "filling" data (' tally
' bytes) is now complete:'
Display ' {' filling(1:tally) '}'
End-evaluate
When 'listprice'
* ==> Using function NUMVAL-C...
Move XML-Text to content-buffer
Compute list-price =
function numval-c(content-buffer)
When 'discount'
* ==> Using de-editing of a numeric edited item...
Move XML-Text to ofr-ed
Move ofr-ed-1 to discount
End-evaluate
When 'END-OF-ELEMENT'
Display 'End element tag: {' XML-Text '}'
Subtract 1 from element-depth
When 'END-OF-INPUT'
Display 'End of input'
Add 1 to xml-segment-no
Display ' Next segment: {' xml-segment(xml-segment-no)
'}'
Display ' '
Move 1 to xml-code
When 'START-OF-DOCUMENT'
Display 'Start of document'
Move 0 to element-depth
Move 1 to tally
When 'END-OF-DOCUMENT'
Display 'End of document.'
When 'VERSION-INFORMATION'
Display 'Version: {' XML-Text '}'
When 'ENCODING-DECLARATION'
Display 'Encoding: {' XML-Text '}'
When 'STANDALONE-DECLARATION'
Display 'Standalone: {' XML-Text '}'
When 'ATTRIBUTE-NAME'
Display 'Attribute name: {' XML-Text '}'
When 'ATTRIBUTE-CHARACTERS'
Display 'Attribute value characters: {' XML-Text '}'
When 'ATTRIBUTE-CHARACTER'
Display 'Attribute value character: {' XML-Text '}'
When 'START-OF-CDATA-SECTION'
Display 'Start of CData section'
When 'END-OF-CDATA-SECTION'
Display 'End of CData section'
When 'CONTENT-CHARACTER'
Display 'Content character: {' XML-Text '}'
When 'PROCESSING-INSTRUCTION-TARGET'
Display 'PI target: {' XML-Text '}'
When 'PROCESSING-INSTRUCTION-DATA'
Display 'PI data: {' XML-Text '}'
When 'COMMENT'
Display 'Comment: {' XML-Text '}'
When 'EXCEPTION'
Compute tally = function length (XML-Text)
Display 'Exception ' XML-Code ' at offset ' tally '.'
When other
Display 'Unexpected XML event: ' XML-Event '.'

566 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 End-evaluate
.
End program XMLSAMPL.

Output from parsing with XMLPARSE(XMLSS)

From the following output you can see which fragments of the document were associated with the events
that occurred during parsing:

Initial segment {<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ibm-1047" }

Start of document
End of input
Next segment: {standalone="yes"?><!--This document is j}

Version: {1.0}
Encoding: {ibm-1047}
Standalone: {yes}
Comment: {This document is j}
End of input
Next segment: {ust an example--><sandwich><bread type="}

Comment: {ust an example}

Start element tag: {sandwich}
End of input
Next segment: {baker&apos;s best"/><?spread We'll use r}

Start element tag: {bread}

Attribute name: {type}
Attribute value characters: {baker's best}
End element tag: {bread}
PI target: {spread}
PI data: {We'll use r}
End of input
Next segment: {eal mayonnaise?><meat>Ham &amp; turkey</}

PI target: {spread}
PI data: {eal mayonnaise}
Start element tag: {meat}
Content characters: {Ham & turkey}
End of input
Next segment: {meat><filling>Cheese, lettuce, tomato, a}

End element tag: {meat}

Start element tag: {filling}
Content characters: {Cheese, lettuce, tomato, a}
Character data for element "filling" is incomplete.
The partial data was buffered for content assembly.
End of input
Next segment: {nd that's all, Folks!</filling><![CDATA[}

Content characters: {nd that's all, Folks!}

Element "filling" data (00047 bytes) is now complete:
{Cheese, lettuce, tomato, and that's all, Folks!}
End element tag: {filling}
End of input
Next segment: {We should add a <relish> element!]]><lis}

Start of CData section

Content characters: {We should add a <relish> element!}
End of CData section
End of input
Next segment: {tprice>$4.99</listprice><discount>0.10</}

Start element tag: {listprice}

Content characters: {$4.99}
End element tag: {listprice}
Start element tag: {discount}
Content characters: {0.10}
End of input
Next segment: {discount></sandwich> }

End element tag: {discount}

End element tag: {sandwich}
End of document.
XML document successfully parsed.

-----+++++***** Using information from XML *****+++++-----

Chapter 32. Processing XML input 567

 Sandwich list price: $4.99
Promotional price: $4.49
Get one today!

Output from parsing with XMLPARSE(COMPAT)

From the following output you can see which fragments of the document were associated with the events
that occurred during parsing:

Start of document
Version: {1.0}
Encoding: {IBM-1047}
Standalone: {yes}
Comment: {This document is just an example}
Start element tag: {sandwich}
Content characters: { }
Start element tag: {bread}
Attribute name: {type}
Attribute value characters: {baker}
Attribute value character: {'}
Attribute value characters: {s best}
End element tag: {bread}
Content characters: { }
PI target: {spread}
PI data: {please use real mayonnaise }
Content characters: { }
Start element tag: {meat}
Content characters: {Ham }
Content character: {&}
Content characters: { turkey}
End element tag: {meat}
Content characters: { }
Start element tag: {filling}
Content characters: {Cheese, lettuce, tomato, etc.}
End element tag: {filling}
Content characters: { }
Start of CData: {<![CDATA[}
Content characters: {We should add a <relish> element in future!}
End of CData: {]]>}
Content characters: { }
Start element tag: {listprice}
Content characters: {$4.99 }
End element tag: {listprice}
Content characters: { }
Start element tag: {discount}
Content characters: {0.10}
End element tag: {discount}
End element tag: {sandwich}
End of document.
XML document successfully parsed

-----+++++***** Using information from XML *****+++++-----

Sandwich list price: $4.99

Promotional price: $4.49
Get one today!

related concepts
“XML events” on page 543

related tasks
“Handling splits using the XML-INFORMATION special register” on page 553

related references
“XMLPARSE” on page 369 (compiler option)
XML-EVENT (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

568 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Example: parsing an XML document that uses namespaces
This example shows the parsing of a document that uses namespaces and namespace prefixes. The
program must be compiled using the XMLPARSE(XMLSS) compiler option.
Namespace identifiers and namespace prefixes are used in the program to qualify element names and
attribute names. This qualification makes it possible to use the same name in more than one context:
title is used both as an author's title (Mr) and as a book title (Writing COBOL for Fun and
Profit).

Sample XML document

The following XML document contains several namespace declarations: a default namespace; then three
namespace identifiers with prefixes (bk, pi, and isbn). Notice that the default namespace is set to the
empty string for the element comment (xmlns=''). This setting "undeclares" the default namespace,
with the result that there is no default namespace.

<section
xmlns="http://www.ibm.com/events"
xmlns:bk="urn:loc.gov:books"
xmlns:pi="urn:personalInformation"
xmlns:isbn='urn:ISBN:0-395-36341-6'>
<title>Book-Signing Event</title>
<signing>
<bk:author pi:title="Mr" pi:name="Jim Ross"/>
<book bk:title="Writing COBOL for Fun and Profit" isbn:number="0426070806"/>
<comment xmlns=''>What a great issue!</comment>
</signing>
</section>

Results from parsing

The following table shows the sequence of events that the processing procedure receives from the parser,
and shows the content of the associated XML special registers.

Table 74. XML events and special registers

XML-EVENT XML-TEXT XML-NAMESPACE-PREFIX XML-NAMESPACE
START-OF-DOCUMENT
START-OF-ELEMENT section http://www.ibm.com/
events
NAMESPACE- http://www.ibm.com/
DECLARATION events
NAMESPACE- bk urn:loc.gov:books
DECLARATION
NAMESPACE- pi urn:personalInformatio
DECLARATION n
NAMESPACE- isbn urn:ISBN:0-395-36341-6
DECLARATION
START-OF-ELEMENT title http://www.ibm.com/
events
CONTENT-CHARACTERS Book-Signing
Event
END-OF-ELEMENT title http://www.ibm.com/
events

Chapter 32. Processing XML input 569

Table 74. XML events and special registers (continued)
XML-EVENT XML-TEXT XML-NAMESPACE-PREFIX XML-NAMESPACE
START-OF-ELEMENT signing http://www.ibm.com/
events
START-OF-ELEMENT author bk urn:loc.gov:books
ATTRIBUTE-NAME title pi urn:personalInformatio
n
ATTRIBUTE- Mr
CHARACTERS
ATTRIBUTE-NAME name pi urn:personalInformatio
n
ATTRIBUTE- Jim Ross
CHARACTERS
END-OF-ELEMENT author bk urn:loc.gov:books
START-OF-ELEMENT book http://www.ibm.com/
events
ATTRIBUTE-NAME title bk urn:loc.gov:books
ATTRIBUTE- Writing COBOL
CHARACTERS for
Fun and Profit

ATTRIBUTE-NAME number isbn urn:ISBN:0-395-36341-6

ATTRIBUTE- 0426070806
CHARACTERS
END-OF-ELEMENT book http://www.ibm.com/
events
START-OF-ELEMENT comment
NAMESPACE-
DECLARATION
CONTENT-CHARACTERS What a great
issue!
END-OF-ELEMENT comment
END-OF-ELEMENT signing http://www.ibm.com/
events
END-OF-ELEMENT section http://www.ibm.com/
events
END-OF-DOCUMENT

XML PARSE example with an undeclared namespace prefix

The following XML document contains undeclared namespace prefixes:

Identification division.
Program-id. XMLup.
Data division.
Working-storage section.
1 d.

570 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 2 pic x(40) value '<pfx0:root xmlns:pfx1="http://whatever">'.
2 pic x(19) value '<pfx1:localElName1>'.
2 pic x(20) value '<pfx2:localElName2/>'.
2 pic x(40) value '<pfx3:localElName3 pfx4:localAtName4="">'.
2 pic x(02) value 'c1'.
2 pic x(41) value '<pfx5:localElName5 pfx6:localAtName6=""/>'.
2 pic x(24) value 'c2</pfx3:localElName3>c3'.
2 pic x(32) value '</pfx1:localElName1></pfx0:root>'.
Procedure division.
main.
display 'XML document: ' d
display ' '
xml parse d processing procedure h
goback.
h.
if xml-event = 'EXCEPTION'
display ' '
end-if
display xml-event xml-code '|' xml-text '|'
xml-namespace-prefix '|'
xml-namespace '|'
if xml-event = 'EXCEPTION' and xml-code = 264192 or 264193
move 0 to xml-code
end-if
.
End program XMLup.

Results from parsing XML document with an undeclared namespace prefix

The following table lists the sequence of events that the processing procedure receives from the parser,
and shows the content of the associated XML special registers.

Table 75. XML events and special registers from parsing XML document with an undeclared namespace prefix
XML-EVENT XML-CODE XML-TEXT XML-NAMESPACE- XML-NAMESPACE
PREFIX
START-OF- 000000000
DOCUMENT
EXCEPTION 000264193 pfx0:root
START-OF- 000000000 root pfx0
ELEMENT
NAMESPACE- 000000000 pfx1 http://
DECLARATION whatever
START-OF- 000000000 localElName1 pfx1 http://
ELEMENT whatever
EXCEPTION 000264193 pfx2:localElName2
START-OF- 000000000 localElName2 pfx2
ELEMENT
END-OF-ELEMENT 000000000 localElName2 pfx2
EXCEPTION 000264193 pfx3:localElName3
START-OF- 000000000 localElName3 pfx3
ELEMENT
EXCEPTION 000264192 pfx4:localAtName4
ATTRIBUTE-NAME 000000000 localAtName4 pfx4
ATTRIBUTE- 000000000
CHARACTERS

Chapter 32. Processing XML input 571

Table 75. XML events and special registers from parsing XML document with an undeclared namespace prefix
(continued)
XML-EVENT XML-CODE XML-TEXT XML-NAMESPACE- XML-NAMESPACE
PREFIX
CONTENT- 000000000 c1
CHARACTERS
EXCEPTION 000264193 pfx5:localElName5
START-OF- 000000000 localElName5 pfx5
ELEMENT
EXCEPTION 000264192 pfx6:localAtName6
ATTRIBUTE-NAME 000000000 localAtName6 pfx6
ATTRIBUTE- 000000000
CHARACTERS
END-OF-ELEMENT 000000000 localElName5 pfx5
CONTENT- 000000000 c2
CHARACTERS
END-OF-ELEMENT 000000000 localElName3 pfx3
CONTENT- 000000000 c3
CHARACTERS
END-OF-ELEMENT 000000000 localElName1 pfx1 http://
whatever
END-OF-ELEMENT 000000000 root pfx0
END-OF-DOCUMENT 000000000

For a detailed description of the set of XML events, see the related reference about XML-EVENT.

related concepts
“XML events” on page 543
“XML-TEXT and XML-NTEXT” on page 546
“XML-NAMESPACE and XML-NNAMESPACE” on page 547
“XML-NAMESPACE-PREFIX and XML-NNAMESPACE-PREFIX” on page 547

related references
“XMLPARSE” on page 369 (compiler option)
XML-EVENT (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: parsing an XML document one segment at a time

This example shows the parsing of a document one segment at a time. The program must be compiled
using the XMLPARSE(XMLSS) compiler option.
The example shows the XML content of a file, the program that reads and submits XML text to the parser,
and the sequence of events that results from parsing the input records.

Content of infile
The XML document that will be parsed a segment at a time is contained in file infile, shown below.

<?xml version='1.0'?>
<Tagline>

572 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 COBOL is the language of the future!
</Tagline>

Program PARSESEG
Program PARSESEG reads a segment (a record) of the XML document from file infile, then passes the
record to the parser using the XML PARSE statement. The parser processes the XML text and transfers
control to the processing procedure for each XML event. The processing procedure handles each event
and returns to the parser.
At the end of the segment, the parser sets XML-EVENT to END-OF-INPUT, sets XML-CODE to zero, and
transfers control to the processing procedure. The processing procedure reads the next XML record into
the parse data item, sets XML-CODE to one, and returns to the parser.
The exchange between the processing procedure and the parser continues until the READ statement
returns the end-of-file status code. The processing procedure returns to the parser with XML-CODE still
set to zero to indicate the end of segment processing.

Identification division.
Program-id. PARSESEG.
Environment division.
Input-output section.
File-control.
Select Input-XML
Assign to infile
File status is Input-XML-status.
Data division.
File section.
FD Input-XML
Record is varying from 1 to 255 depending on Rec-length
Recording mode V.
1 fdrec.
2 pic X occurs 1 to 255 depending on Rec-length .
Working-storage section.
1 Event-number comp pic 99.
1 Rec-length comp-5 pic 9(4).
1 Input-XML-status pic 99.
Procedure division.
Open input Input-XML
If Input-XML-status not = 0
Display 'Open failed, file status: ' Input-XML-status
Goback
End-if
Read Input-XML
If Input-XML-status not = 0
Display 'Read failed, file status: ' Input-XML-status
Goback
End-if
Move 0 to Event-number
Display 'Starting with: ' fdrec
Display 'Event number and name Content of XML-text'
XML parse fdrec processing procedure Handle-parse-events
Close Input-XML
Goback
.
Handle-parse-events.
Add 1 to Event-number
Display ' ' Event-number ': ' XML-event '{' XML-text '}'
Evaluate XML-event
When 'END-OF-INPUT'
Read Input-XML
Evaluate Input-XML-status
When 0
Move 1 to XML-code
Display 'Continuing with: ' fdrec
When 10
Display 'At EOF; no more input.'
When other
Display 'Read failed, file status:' Input-XML-status
Goback
End-evaluate
When other
Continue
End-evaluate
.

Chapter 32. Processing XML input 573

 End program PARSESEG.

Results from parsing

To show parsing results, the processing procedure displayed each record of input, followed by the
sequence of XML events and any associated text fragments in XML-TEXT. The content of XML-TEXT
is displayed in braces ({}); empty braces signify that XML-TEXT is empty.
Notice the extra zero-length CONTENT-CHARACTERS XML event at event number 08. (Such anomalies are
typical when supplying XML text piecemeal.)

Starting with: <?xml version='1.0'?>

Event number and name Content of XML-TEXT
01: START-OF-DOCUMENT {}
02: VERSION-INFORMATION {1.0}
03: END-OF-INPUT {}
Continuing with: <Tagline>
04: START-OF-ELEMENT {Tagline}
05: END-OF-INPUT {}
Continuing with: COBOL is the language of the future!
06: CONTENT-CHARACTERS {COBOL is the language of the future!}
07: END-OF-INPUT {}
Continuing with: </Tagline>
08: CONTENT-CHARACTERS {}
09: END-OF-ELEMENT {Tagline}
10: END-OF-DOCUMENT {}

For a detailed description of the XML events that were detected, see the related reference about XML-
EVENT.

related references
“XMLPARSE” on page 369 (compiler option)
XML-EVENT (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: parsing XML documents with validation

This example shows the parsing of several XML documents with validation against a schema, and a
processing procedure that captures the return code and reason code that the parser generates after
parsing each document. All of the XML documents are well formed but not necessarily valid.
The program must be compiled using the XMLPARSE(XMLSS) compiler option.
The example uses the schema that was described in the related concept about XML schemas.
Assume that file item.xsd contains the schema in text format, and that the preprocessed schema was
generated in file item.osr by means of the following z/OS UNIX command:

xsdosrg -v -o /u/HLQ/xml/item.osr /u/HLQ/xml/item.xsd

The example uses the XML-SCHEMA clause to associate the XML schema name schema with the ddname
ddschema. The following DD statement associates the ddname with the external z/OS UNIX file that
contains the schema:

//GO.DDSCHEMA DD PATH='/u/HLQ/xml/item.osr'

Program ValidCk

Identification division.
Program-id. ValidCk.
Environment division.
Configuration section.
Special-names.
xml-schema schema is 'ddschema'.

574 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Data division.
Working-storage section.
1 xml-decode.
2 rtn comp Pic 9(2).
2 rsn comp-5 Pic 9(4).
1 hv pic x(16) value '0123456789ABCDEF'.
1 T Pic 999 COMP.
1 xml-document-1.
2 pic x(52) value
'<!--Valid: the "itemName" element can be omitted-->'.
2 pic x(31) value '<stockItem itemNumber="123-AB">'.
2 pic x(36) value ' <quantityOnHand>1</quantityOnHand>'.
2 pic x(12) value '</stockItem>'.
1 xml-document-2.
2 pic x(44)
value '<!--Invalid: missing attribute itemNumber-->'.
2 pic x(11) value '<stockItem>'.
2 pic x(30) value ' <itemName>No name</itemName>'.
2 pic x(36) value ' <quantityOnHand>1</quantityOnHand>'.
2 pic x(12) value '</stockItem>'.
1 xml-document-3.
2 pic x(47)
value '<!--Invalid: unexpected attribute warehouse-->'.
2 pic x(46) value
'<stockItem itemNumber="074-UN" warehouse="NJ">'.
2 pic x(37) value ' <quantityOnHand>10</quantityOnHand>'.
2 pic x(32) value ' <itemName>Not here!</itemName>'.
2 pic x(12) value '</stockItem>'.
1 xml-document-4.
2 pic x(46)
value '<!--Invalid: illegal attribute value 123-Ab-->'.
2 pic x(31) value '<stockItem itemNumber="123-Ab">'.
2 pic x(33) value ' <itemName>Paintbrush</itemName>'.
2 pic x(37) value ' <quantityOnHand>10</quantityOnHand>'.
2 pic x(12) value '</stockItem>'.
1 xml-document-5.
2 pic x(46)
value '<!--Invalid: missing element quantityOnHand-->'.
2 pic x(31) value '<stockItem itemNumber="074-UN">'.
2 pic x(32) value ' <itemName>Not here!</itemName>'.
2 pic x(12) value '</stockItem>'.
1 xml-document-6.
2 pic x(42)
value '<!--Invalid: unexpected element comment-->'.
2 pic x(31) value '<stockItem itemNumber="123-AB">'.
2 pic x(33) value ' <itemName>Paintbrush</itemName>'.
2 pic x(36) value ' <quantityOnHand>1</quantityOnHand>'.
2 pic x(35) value ' <comment>Nylon bristles</comment>'.
2 pic x(12) value '</stockItem>'.
1 xml-document-7.
2 pic x(46) value
'<!--Invalid: out-of-range element value 100-->'.
2 pic x(31) value '<stockItem itemNumber="123-AB">'.
2 pic x(33) value ' <itemName>Paintbrush</itemName>'.
2 pic x(38) value ' <quantityOnHand>100</quantityOnHand>'.
2 pic x(12) value '</stockItem>'.
Procedure division.
m.
xml parse xml-document-1 validating with file schema
processing procedure p
xml parse xml-document-2 validating with file schema
processing procedure p
xml parse xml-document-3 validating with file schema
processing procedure p
xml parse xml-document-4 validating with file schema
processing procedure p
xml parse xml-document-5 validating with file schema
processing procedure p
xml parse xml-document-6 validating with file schema
processing procedure p
xml parse xml-document-7 validating with file schema
processing procedure p
goback
.
p.
evaluate xml-event
when 'COMMENT'
display ' '
display xml-text
when 'END-OF-DOCUMENT'
display ' Document successfully parsed.'
when 'EXCEPTION'

Chapter 32. Processing XML input 575

 move xml-code to xml-decode
Divide rsn by 16 giving tally remainder T
display ' RC=' rtn ', reason=x'''
hv(function mod(rsn / 4096 16) + 1:1)
hv(function mod(rsn / 256 16) + 1:1)
hv(function mod(rsn / 16 16) + 1:1)
hv(T + 1:1) ''''
end-evaluate
.
End program ValidCk.

Output from program ValidCk

In the following output, you can see which XML documents in the source program failed validation against
the schema.
For those documents that were not valid, the parser signaled an XML exception and passed control to
the processing procedure with special register XML-EVENT containing 'EXCEPTION' and special-register
XML-CODE containing the return code and a specific reason code.

Valid: the "itemName" element can be omitted

Document successfully parsed.

Invalid: missing attribute itemNumber

RC=24, reason=x'8613'

Invalid: unexpected attribute warehouse

RC=24, reason=x'8612'

Invalid: illegal attribute value 123-Ab

RC=24, reason=x'8809'

Invalid: missing element quantityOnHand

RC=24, reason=x'8611'

Invalid: unexpected element comment

RC=24, reason=x'8607'

Invalid: out-of-range element value 100

RC=24, reason=x'8803'

related concepts
“XML-CODE” on page 544
“XML schemas” on page 550

related tasks
“Parsing
XML documents with validation” on page 548
“Handling XML PARSE exceptions” on page 559

related references
“XML PARSE exceptions with XMLPARSE(XMLSS) in
effect” on page 707

576 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 33. Producing XML output
You can produce XML output from a COBOL program by using the XML GENERATE statement.
In the XML GENERATE statement, you identify the source and the output data items. You can optionally
also identify:
• A field to receive a count of the XML characters generated
• A code page in which the generated XML document is to be encoded
• A namespace for the generated document
• A namespace prefix to qualify the start and end tag of each element, if you specify a namespace
• A user-defined element or attribute name in the generated XML document
• Attributes or elements to be suppressed according to some specified conditions
• Particular items to be specified as attributes, elements or content in the generated XML output.
• A statement to receive control if an exception occurs
Optionally, you can generate an XML declaration for the document, and can cause eligible source data
items to be expressed as attributes in the output rather than as elements.
You can use the XML-CODE special register to determine the status of XML generation.
After you transform COBOL data items to XML, you can use the resulting XML output in various ways,
such as deploying it in a web service, passing it as a message to WebSphere MQ, or transmitting it for
subsequent conversion to a CICS communication area.
Link-edit considerations: COBOL programs that contain the XML GENERATE statement must be link-
edited with AMODE 31.

related tasks
“Generating XML output” on page 577
“Controlling the encoding
of generated XML output” on page 582
“Handling XML GENERATE exceptions” on page 582
“Enhancing XML output” on page 587

related references
Extensible Markup Language (XML)
XML GENERATE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Generating XML output

To transform COBOL data to XML, use the XML GENERATE statement as in the example below.

XML GENERATE XML-OUTPUT FROM SOURCE-REC

COUNT IN XML-CHAR-COUNT
ON EXCEPTION
DISPLAY 'XML generation error ' XML-CODE
STOP RUN
NOT ON EXCEPTION
DISPLAY 'XML document was successfully generated.'
END-XML

In the XML GENERATE statement, you first identify the data item (XML-OUTPUT in the example above)
that is to receive the XML output. Define the data item to be large enough to contain the generated
XML output, typically five to 10 times the size of the COBOL source data depending on the length of its
data-name or data-names.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 577

 In the DATA DIVISION, you can define the receiving identifier as alphanumeric (either an alphanumeric
group item or an elementary item of category alphanumeric) or as national (either a national group item or
an elementary item of category national).
Next you identify the source data item that is to be transformed to XML format (SOURCE-REC in the
example). The source data item can be an alphanumeric group item, national group item, or elementary
data item of class alphanumeric or national.
Some COBOL data items are not transformed to XML, but are ignored. Subordinate data items of an
alphanumeric group item or national group item that you transform to XML are ignored if they:
• Specify the REDEFINES clause, or are subordinate to such a redefining item
• Specify the RENAMES clause
These items in the source data item are also ignored when you generate XML:
• Elementary FILLER (or unnamed) data items
• Slack bytes inserted for SYNCHRONIZED data items
No extra white space (for example, new lines or indentation) is inserted to make the generated XML more
readable.
Optionally, you can code the COUNT IN phrase to obtain the number of XML character encoding units that
are filled during generation of the XML output. If the receiving identifier has category national, the count is
in UTF-16 character encoding units. For all other encodings (including UTF-8), the count is in bytes.
You can use the count field as a reference modification length to obtain only that portion of the receiving
data item that contains the generated XML output. For example, XML-OUTPUT(1:XML-CHAR-COUNT)
references the first XML-CHAR-COUNT character positions of XML-OUTPUT.
Consider the following program excerpt:

01 doc pic x(512).

01 docSize pic 9(9) binary.
01 G.
05 A pic x(3) value "aaa".
05 B.
10 C pic x(3) value "ccc".
10 D pic x(3) value "ddd".
05 E pic x(3) value "eee".
. . .
XML Generate Doc from G

The code above generates the following XML document, in which A, B, and E are expressed as child
elements of element G, and C and D become child elements of element B:

<G><A>aaa</A><B><C>ccc</C><D>ddd</D></B><E>eee</E></G>

Alternatively, you can specify the ATTRIBUTES phrase of the XML GENERATE statement. The
ATTRIBUTES phrase causes every eligible data item included in the generated XML document to
be expressed as an attribute of the containing XML element, rather than as a child element of the
containing XML element. To be eligible, the data item must be elementary, must have a name other than
FILLER, and must not have an OCCURS clause in its data description entry. The containing XML element
corresponds to the group data item that is immediately superordinate to the elementary data item.
Optionally, you can specify more precise control of which data items should be expressed as attributes or
elements by using the TYPE OF phrase.
For example, suppose that the XML GENERATE statement in the program excerpt above had instead been
coded as follows:

XML Generate Doc from G with attributes

578 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
The code would then generate the following XML document, in which A and E are expressed as attributes
of element G, and C and D become attributes of element B:

<G A="aaa" E="eee"><B C="ccc" D="ddd"></B></G>

Optionally, you can code the ENCODING phrase of the XML GENERATE statement to specify the CCSID
of the generated XML document. If you do not use the ENCODING phrase, the document encoding is
determined by the category of the receiving data item and by the CODEPAGE compiler option. For further
details, see the related task below about controlling the encoding of generated XML output.
Optionally, you can code the XML-DECLARATION phrase to cause the generated XML document to have
an XML declaration that includes version information and an encoding declaration. If the receiving data
item is of category:
• National: The encoding declaration has the value UTF-16 (encoding="UTF-16").
• Alphanumeric: The encoding declaration is derived from the ENCODING phrase, if specified, or from the
CODEPAGE compiler option in effect for the program if the ENCODING phrase is not specified.
For example, the program excerpt below specifies the XML-DECLARATION phrase of XML GENERATE, and
specifies encoding with CCSID 1208 (UTF-8):

01 Greeting.
05 msg pic x(80) value 'Hello, world!'.
. . .
XML Generate Doc from Greeting
with Encoding 1208
with XML-declaration
End-XML

The code above generates the following XML document:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><Greeting><msg>Hello, world!</msg></Greeting>

If you do not code the XML-DECLARATION phrase, an XML declaration is not generated.
Optionally, you can code the NAMESPACE phrase to specify a namespace for the generated XML
document. The namespace value must be a valid Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), for example, a URL
(Uniform Resource Locator); for further details, see the related concept about URI syntax below.
Specify the namespace in an identifier or literal of either category national or alphanumeric.
If you specify a namespace, but do not specify a namespace prefix (described below), the namespace
becomes the default namespace for the document. That is, the namespace define on the root element
applies by default to each element name in the document, including the root element.
For example, consider the following data definitions and XML GENERATE statement:

01 Greeting.
05 msg pic x(80) value 'Hello, world!'.
01 NS pic x(20) value 'http://example'.
. . .
XML Generate Doc from Greeting
namespace is NS

The resulting XML document has a default namespace (http://example), as follows:

<Greeting xmlns="http://example"><msg>Hello, world!</msg></Greeting>

If you do not specify a namespace, the element names in the generated XML document are not in any
namespace.
Optionally, you can code the NAMESPACE-PREFIX phrase to specify a prefix to be applied to the start and
end tag of each element in the generated document. You can specify a prefix only if you have specified a
namespace as described above.

Chapter 33. Producing XML output 579

 When the XML GENERATE statement is executed, the prefix value must be a valid XML name, but without
the colon (:); see the related reference below about namespaces for details. The value can have trailing
spaces, which are removed before the prefix is used.
Specify the namespace prefix in an identifier or literal of either category national or alphanumeric.
It is recommended that the prefix be short, because it qualifies the start and end tag of each element.
For example, consider the following data definitions and XML GENERATE statement:

01 Greeting.
05 msg pic x(80) value 'Hello, world!'.
01 NS pic x(20) value 'http://example'.
01 NP pic x(5) value 'pre'.
. . .
XML Generate Doc from Greeting
namespace is NS
namespace-prefix is NP

The resulting XML document has an explicit namespace (http://example), and the prefix pre is
applied to the start and end tag of the elements Greeting and msg, as follows:

<pre:Greeting xmlns:pre="http://example"><pre:msg>Hello, world!</pre:msg></

pre:Greeting>

Optionally, you can code the NAME phrase to specify attribute and element names in the generated XML
document. The attribute and element names must be alphanumeric or national literals and must be legal
names according to the XML 1.0 standard.
For example, consider the following data structure and XML GENERATE statement:

01 Msg.
02 Msg-Severity pic 9 value 1.
02 Msg-Date pic 9999/99/99 value "2012/04/12".
02 Msg-Text pic X(50) value "Sell everything!".
01 Doc pic X(500).

XML Generate Doc from Msg

With attributes
Name of Msg is "Message"
Msg-Severity is "Severity"
Msg-Date is "Date"
Msg-Text is "Text"
End-XML

The resulting XML document is as follows:

<Message Severity="1" Date="2012/04/12" Text="Sell everything!"></Message>

Optionally, you can code the SUPPRESS phrase to specify whether individual data items are generated
based on whether or not they meet certain criteria.
For example, consider the following data structure and XML GENERATE statement to suppress spaces
and zeros:

01 G.
02 SensitiveInfo.
03 SSN pic x(11) value '123-45-6789'.
03 HomeAddress pic x(50) value '123 Main St, Anytown, USA'.
02 Aarray value spaces.
03 A pic AAA occurs 5.
02 Barray value spaces.
03 B pic XXX occurs 5.
02 Carray value zeros.
03 C pic 999 occurs 5.
Move 'abc' to A(1)
Move 123 to C(3)
XML Generate Doc from G
Suppress SensitiveInfo
every nonnumeric element when space

580 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 every numeric element when zero
End-XML

The resulting XML document is as follows:

<G>
<Aarray><A>abc</A></Aarray>
<Carray><C>123</C></Carray>
</G>

Optionally, you can use the TYPE OF phrase to specify whether individual data items are expressed as
attributes, elements or content.
For example, consider the following data structure and XML GENERATE statement:

01 Msg.
02 Msg-Severity pic 9 value 1.
02 Msg-Date pic 9999/99/99 value "2012/04/12".
02 Msg-Text pic X(50) value "Sell everything!".
01 Doc pic X(500).
XML Generate Doc from Msg
With attributes
Type of Msg-Severity is attribute
Msg-Date is attribute
Msg-Text is element
End-XML

The resulting XML document is as follows:

<Msg Msg-Severity="1" Msg-Date="2012/04/12">

<Msg-Text>Sell everything!</Msg-Text></Msg>

In addition, you can specify either or both of the following phrases to receive control after generation of
the XML document:
• ON EXCEPTION, to receive control if an error occurs during XML generation
• NOT ON EXCEPTION, to receive control if no error occurs
You can end the XML GENERATE statement with the explicit scope terminator END-XML. Code END-XML
to nest an XML GENERATE statement that has the ON EXCEPTION or NOT ON EXCEPTION phrase in a
conditional statement.
XML generation continues until either the COBOL source record has been transformed to XML or an error
occurs. If an error occurs, the results are as follows:
• The XML-CODE special register contains a nonzero exception code.
• Control is passed to the ON EXCEPTION phrase, if specified, otherwise to the end of the XML
GENERATE statement.
If no error occurs during XML generation, the XML-CODE special register contains zero, and control is
passed to the NOT ON EXCEPTION phrase if specified or to the end of the XML GENERATE statement
otherwise.
“Example: generating XML” on page 583

related concepts
Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax

related tasks
“Controlling the encoding
of generated XML output” on page 582
“Handling XML GENERATE exceptions” on page 582
“Processing UTF-8 data” on page 140

related references
XML GENERATE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Chapter 33. Producing XML output 581

 Extensible Markup Language (XML)
Namespaces in XML 1.0

Controlling the encoding of generated XML output

When you generate XML output by using the XML GENERATE statement, you can control the encoding of
the output by the category of the data item that receives the output, and by identifying the code page
using the WITH ENCODING phrase of the XML GENERATE statement.
If you specify the WITH ENCODING codepage phrase to designate the coded character set identifier
(CCSID) of the output document, codepage must specify an unsigned integer data item or unsigned
integer literal that identifies one of the code pages supported for COBOL XML processing as described in
the related reference below about the encoding of XML documents:
• If the data item that receives the generated XML is of category national, the WITH ENCODING phrase
must specify 1200, the CCSID for Unicode UTF-16.
• If the receiving identifier is of category alphanumeric, the WITH ENCODING phrase must specify CCSID
1208 or the CCSID of a supported EBCDIC code page.
If you do not code the WITH ENCODING phrase, the generated XML output is encoded as shown in the
table below.

Table 76. Encoding of generated XML if the ENCODING phrase is omitted

If you define the receiving XML identifier The generated XML output is encoded in:
as:
Alphanumeric The code page specified by the CODEPAGE compiler
option in effect when the source was compiled
National UTF-16 big-endian (UTF-16BE, CCSID 1200)

A byte order mark is not generated.

For details about how data items are converted to XML and how the XML element names and attributes
names are formed from the COBOL data-names, see the related reference below about the operation of
the XML GENERATE statement.

related references
“CODEPAGE” on page 304
“The encoding of XML documents” on page 554
XML GENERATE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
Operation of XML GENERATE (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Handling XML GENERATE exceptions

When an error is detected during generation of XML output, an exception condition exists. You can write
code to check the XML-CODE special register, which contains a numeric exception code that indicates the
error type.
To handle errors, use either or both of the following phrases of the XML GENERATE statement:
• ON EXCEPTION
• COUNT IN
If you code the ON EXCEPTION phrase in the XML GENERATE statement, control is transferred to the
imperative statement that you specify. You might code an imperative statement, for example, to display
the XML-CODE value. If you do not code an ON EXCEPTION phrase, control is transferred to the end of the
XML GENERATE statement.

582 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 When an error occurs, one problem might be that the data item that receives the XML output is not large
enough. In that case, the XML output is not complete, and the XML-CODE special register contains error
code 400®.
You can examine the generated XML output by doing these steps:
1. Code the COUNT IN phrase in the XML GENERATE statement.
The count field that you specify holds a count of the XML character encoding units that are filled during
XML generation. If you define the XML output as national, the count is in UTF-16 character encoding
units; for all other encodings (including for UTF-8), the count is in bytes.
2. Use the count field as a reference modification length to refer to the substring of the receiving data
item that contains the XML characters that were generated until the point when the error occurred.
For example, if XML-OUTPUT is the data item that receives the XML output, and XML-CHAR-COUNT is
the count field, then XML-OUTPUT(1:XML-CHAR-COUNT) references the XML output.
Use the contents of XML-CODE to determine what corrective action to take. For a list of the exceptions
that can occur during XML generation, see the related reference below.

related tasks
“Referring to substrings
of data items” on page 109
related references
“XML GENERATE exceptions” on page 715
XML-CODE (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: generating XML

The following example simulates the building of a purchase order in a group data item, and generates an
XML version of that purchase order.
Program XGFX uses XML GENERATE to produce XML output in elementary data item xmlPO from
the source record, group data item purchaseOrder. Elementary data items in the source record are
converted to character format as necessary, and the characters are inserted as the values of XML
attributes whose names are derived from the data-names in the source record.
XGFX calls program Pretty, which uses the XML PARSE statement with processing procedure p to
format the XML output with new lines and indentation so that the XML content can more easily be verified.

Program XGFX

Identification division.
Program-id. XGFX.
Data division.
Working-storage section.
01 numItems pic 99 global.
01 purchaseOrder global.
05 orderDate pic x(10).
05 shipTo.
10 country pic xx value 'US'.
10 name pic x(30).
10 street pic x(30).
10 city pic x(30).
10 state pic xx.
10 zip pic x(10).
05 billTo.
10 country pic xx value 'US'.
10 name pic x(30).
10 street pic x(30).
10 city pic x(30).
10 state pic xx.
10 zip pic x(10).
05 orderComment pic x(80).
05 items occurs 0 to 20 times depending on numItems.
10 item.
15 partNum pic x(6).

Chapter 33. Producing XML output 583

 15 productName pic x(50).
15 quantity pic 99.
15 USPrice pic 999v99.
15 shipDate pic x(10).
15 itemComment pic x(40).
01 numChars comp pic 999.
01 xmlPO pic x(999).
Procedure division.
m.
Move 20 to numItems
Move spaces to purchaseOrder

Move '1999-10-20' to orderDate

Move 'US' to country of shipTo

Move 'Alice Smith' to name of shipTo
Move '123 Maple Street' to street of shipTo
Move 'Mill Valley' to city of shipTo
Move 'CA' to state of shipTo
Move '90952' to zip of shipTo

Move 'US' to country of billTo

Move 'Robert Smith' to name of billTo
Move '8 Oak Avenue' to street of billTo
Move 'Old Town' to city of billTo
Move 'PA' to state of billTo
Move '95819' to zip of billTo
Move 'Hurry, my lawn is going wild!' to orderComment

Move 0 to numItems
Call 'addFirstItem'
Call 'addSecondItem'
Move space to xmlPO
Xml generate xmlPO from purchaseOrder count in numChars
with xml-declaration with attributes
namespace 'http://www.example.com' namespace-prefix 'po'
Call 'pretty' using xmlPO value numChars
Goback
.

Identification division.
Program-id. 'addFirstItem'.
Procedure division.
Add 1 to numItems
Move '872-AA' to partNum(numItems)
Move 'Lawnmower' to productName(numItems)
Move 1 to quantity(numItems)
Move 148.95 to USPrice(numItems)
Move 'Confirm this is electric' to itemComment(numItems)
Goback.
End program 'addFirstItem'.

Identification division.
Program-id. 'addSecondItem'.
Procedure division.
Add 1 to numItems
Move '926-AA' to partNum(numItems)
Move 'Baby Monitor' to productName(numItems)
Move 1 to quantity(numItems)
Move 39.98 to USPrice(numItems)
Move '1999-05-21' to shipDate(numItems)
Goback.
End program 'addSecondItem'.

End program XGFX.

Program Pretty

Process xmlparse(xmlss), codepage(37)

Identification division.
Program-id. Pretty.
Data division.
Working-storage section.
01 prettyPrint.
05 pose pic 999.
05 posd pic 999.
05 depth pic 99.
05 inx pic 999.

584 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 05 elementName pic x(30).
05 indent pic x(40).
05 buffer pic x(998).
05 lastitem pic 9.
88 unknown value 0.
88 xml-declaration value 1.
88 element value 2.
88 attribute value 3.
88 charcontent value 4.
Linkage section.
1 doc.
2 pic x occurs 16384 times depending on len.
1 len comp-5 pic 9(9).
Procedure division using doc value len.
m.
Move space to prettyPrint
Move 0 to depth
Move 1 to posd pose
Xml parse doc processing procedure p
Goback
.
p.
Evaluate xml-event
When 'VERSION-INFORMATION'
String '<?xml version="' xml-text '"' delimited by size
into buffer with pointer posd
Set xml-declaration to true
When 'ENCODING-DECLARATION'
String ' encoding="' xml-text '"' delimited by size
into buffer with pointer posd
When 'STANDALONE-DECLARATION'
String ' standalone="' xml-text '"' delimited by size
into buffer with pointer posd
When 'START-OF-ELEMENT'
Evaluate true
When xml-declaration
String '?>' delimited by size into buffer
with pointer posd
Set unknown to true
Perform printline
Move 1 to posd
When element
String '>' delimited by size into buffer
with pointer posd
When attribute
String '">' delimited by size into buffer
with pointer posd
End-evaluate
If elementName not = space
Perform printline
End-if
Move xml-text to elementName
Add 1 to depth
Move 1 to pose
Set element to true
If xml-namespace-prefix = space
String '<' xml-text delimited by size
into buffer with pointer pose
Else
String '<' xml-namespace-prefix ':' xml-text
delimited by size into buffer with pointer pose
End-if
Move pose to posd
When 'ATTRIBUTE-NAME'
If element
String ' ' delimited by size into buffer
with pointer posd
Else
String '" ' delimited by size into buffer
with pointer posd
End-if
If xml-namespace-prefix = space
String xml-text '="' delimited by size into buffer
with pointer posd
Else
String xml-namespace-prefix ':' xml-text '="'
delimited by size into buffer with pointer posd
End-if
Set attribute to true
When 'NAMESPACE-DECLARATION'
If element
String ' ' delimited by size into buffer

Chapter 33. Producing XML output 585

 with pointer posd
Else
String '" ' delimited by size into buffer
with pointer posd
End-if
If xml-namespace-prefix = space
String 'xmlns="' xml-namespace delimited by size
into buffer with pointer posd
Else
String 'xmlns:' xml-namespace-prefix '="' xml-namespace
delimited by size into buffer with pointer posd
End-if
Set attribute to true
When 'ATTRIBUTE-CHARACTERS'
String xml-text delimited by size into buffer
with pointer posd
When 'ATTRIBUTE-CHARACTER'
String xml-text delimited by size into buffer
with pointer posd
When 'CONTENT-CHARACTERS'
Evaluate true
When element
String '>' delimited by size into buffer
with pointer posd
When attribute
String '">' delimited by size into buffer
with pointer posd
End-evaluate
String xml-text delimited by size into buffer
with pointer posd
Set charcontent to true
When 'CONTENT-CHARACTER'
Evaluate true
When element
String '>' delimited by size into buffer
with pointer posd
When attribute
String '">' delimited by size into buffer
with pointer posd
End-evaluate
String xml-text delimited by size into buffer
with pointer posd
Set charcontent to true
When 'END-OF-ELEMENT'
Move space to elementName
Evaluate true
When element
String '/>' delimited by size into buffer
with pointer posd
When attribute
String '"/>' delimited by size into buffer
with pointer posd
When other
If xml-namespace-prefix = space
String '</' xml-text '>' delimited by size
into buffer with pointer posd
Else
String '</' xml-namespace-prefix ':' xml-text '>'
delimited by size into buffer with pointer posd
End-if
End-evaluate
Set unknown to true
Perform printline
Subtract 1 from depth
Move 1 to posd
When other
Continue
End-evaluate
.
printline.
Compute inx = function max(0 2 * depth - 2) + posd - 1
If inx > 120
compute inx = 117 - function max(0 2 * depth - 2)
If depth > 1
Display indent(1:2 * depth - 2) buffer(1:inx) '...'
Else
Display buffer(1:inx) '...'
End-if
Else
If depth > 1
Display indent(1:2 * depth - 2) buffer(1:posd - 1)
Else

586 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Display buffer(1:posd - 1)
End-if
End-if
.
End program Pretty.

Output from program XGFX

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="IBM-037"?>

<po:purchaseOrder xmlns:po="http://www.example.com" orderDate="1999-10-20" orderComment="Hurry, my lawn
is going wild!">
<po:shipTo country="US" name="Alice Smith" street="123 Maple Street" city="Mill Valley" state="CA"
zip="90952"/>
<po:billTo country="US" name="Robert Smith" street="8 Oak Avenue" city="Old Town" state="PA"
zip="95819"/>
<po:items>
<po:item partNum="872-AA" productName="Lawnmower" quantity="1" USPrice="148.95" shipDate=" "
itemComment="Confirm...
</po:items>
<po:items>
<po:item partNum="926-AA" productName="Baby Monitor" quantity="1" USPrice="39.98"
shipDate="1999-05-21" itemComme...
</po:items>
</po:purchaseOrder>

related tasks
Chapter 32, “Processing XML input,” on page 537
related references
“XMLPARSE” on page 369 (compiler option)
Operation of XML GENERATE (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Enhancing XML output

It might happen that the information that you want to express in XML format already exists in a group
item in the DATA DIVISION, but you are unable to use that item directly to generate an XML document
because of one or more factors.
For example:
• In addition to the required data, the item has subordinate data items that contain values that are
irrelevant to the XML output document.
• The names of the required data items are unsuitable for external presentation, and are possibly
meaningful only to programmers.
• The required data items are broken up into too many components, and should be output as the content
of the containing group.
There are various ways that you can deal with such situations. One possible technique is to define a new
data item that has the appropriate characteristics, and move the required data to the appropriate fields
of this new data item. However, this approach is somewhat laborious and requires careful maintenance to
keep the original and new data items synchronized.
A superior approach that addresses most such problems is to use the new optional phrases of the XML
GENERATE statement in order to:
• Provide more meaningful and appropriate names for the selected elementary items and for the group
items that contain them.
• Exclude irrelevant data items from the generated XML by suppressing them based on their values.
The example that is referenced below shows a way to do so.
“Example: enhancing XML output” on page 588
related references
Operation of XML GENERATE (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Chapter 33. Producing XML output 587

Example: enhancing XML output
The following example shows how you can modify XML output.
Consider the following data structure. The XML that is generated from the structure suffers from several
problems that can be corrected.

01 CDR-LIFE-BASE-VALUES-BOX.
15 CDR-LIFE-BASE-VAL-DATE PIC X(08).
15 CDR-LIFE-BASE-VALUE-LINE OCCURS 2 TIMES.
20 CDR-LIFE-BASE-DESC.
25 CDR-LIFE-BASE-DESC1 PIC X(15).
25 FILLER PIC X(01).
25 CDR-LIFE-BASE-LIT PIC X(08).
25 CDR-LIFE-BASE-DTE PIC X(08).
20 CDR-LIFE-BASE-PRICE.
25 CDR-LIFE-BP-SPACE PIC 9(08).
25 CDR-LIFE-BP-DASH PIC X.
25 CDR-LIFE-BP-SPACE1 PIC X(02).
20 CDR-LIFE-BASE-PRICE-ED REDEFINES
CDR-LIFE-BASE-PRICE PIC $$$.$$.
20 CDR-LIFE-BASE-QTY.
25 CDR-LIFE-QTY-SPACE PIC X(08).
25 CDR-LIFE-QTY-DASH PIC X.
25 CDR-LIFE-QTY-SPACE1 PIC X(03).
25 FILLER PIC X(02).
20 CDR-LIFE-BASE-VALUE PIC $$$9.99
BLANK WHEN ZERO.
15 CDR-LIFE-BASE-TOT-VALUE PIC X(15)

When this data structure is populated with some sample values, and XML is generated directly from it and
then formatted using program Pretty (shown in “Example: generating XML” on page 583), the result is
as follows:

<CDR-LIFE-BASE-VALUES-BOX>
<CDR-LIFE-BASE-VAL-DATE>01/02/03</CDR-LIFE-BASE-VAL-DATE>
<CDR-LIFE-BASE-VALUE-LINE>
<CDR-LIFE-BASE-DESC>
<CDR-LIFE-BASE-DESC1>First</CDR-LIFE-BASE-DESC1>
<CDR-LIFE-BASE-LIT> </CDR-LIFE-BASE-LIT>
<CDR-LIFE-BASE-DTE>01/01/01</CDR-LIFE-BASE-DTE>
</CDR-LIFE-BASE-DESC>
<CDR-LIFE-BASE-PRICE>
<CDR-LIFE-BP-SPACE>23</CDR-LIFE-BP-SPACE>
<CDR-LIFE-BP-DASH>.</CDR-LIFE-BP-DASH>
<CDR-LIFE-BP-SPACE1>00</CDR-LIFE-BP-SPACE1>
</CDR-LIFE-BASE-PRICE>
<CDR-LIFE-BASE-QTY>
<CDR-LIFE-QTY-SPACE>123</CDR-LIFE-QTY-SPACE>
<CDR-LIFE-QTY-DASH>.</CDR-LIFE-QTY-DASH>
<CDR-LIFE-QTY-SPACE1>000</CDR-LIFE-QTY-SPACE1>
</CDR-LIFE-BASE-QTY>
<CDR-LIFE-BASE-VALUE>$765.00</CDR-LIFE-BASE-VALUE>
</CDR-LIFE-BASE-VALUE-LINE>
<CDR-LIFE-BASE-VALUE-LINE>
<CDR-LIFE-BASE-DESC>
<CDR-LIFE-BASE-DESC1>Second</CDR-LIFE-BASE-DESC1>
<CDR-LIFE-BASE-LIT> </CDR-LIFE-BASE-LIT>
<CDR-LIFE-BASE-DTE>02/02/02</CDR-LIFE-BASE-DTE>
</CDR-LIFE-BASE-DESC>
<CDR-LIFE-BASE-PRICE>
<CDR-LIFE-BP-SPACE>34</CDR-LIFE-BP-SPACE>
<CDR-LIFE-BP-DASH>.</CDR-LIFE-BP-DASH>
<CDR-LIFE-BP-SPACE1>00</CDR-LIFE-BP-SPACE1>
</CDR-LIFE-BASE-PRICE>
<CDR-LIFE-BASE-QTY>
<CDR-LIFE-QTY-SPACE>234</CDR-LIFE-QTY-SPACE>
<CDR-LIFE-QTY-DASH>.</CDR-LIFE-QTY-DASH>
<CDR-LIFE-QTY-SPACE1>000</CDR-LIFE-QTY-SPACE1>
</CDR-LIFE-BASE-QTY>
<CDR-LIFE-BASE-VALUE>$654.00</CDR-LIFE-BASE-VALUE>
</CDR-LIFE-BASE-VALUE-LINE>
<CDR-LIFE-BASE-TOT-VALUE>Very high!</CDR-LIFE-BASE-TOT-VALUE>
</CDR-LIFE-BASE-VALUES-BOX>

588 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
This generated XML suffers from several problems:
• The element names are long and not very meaningful. There may also be an XML schema that specifies
required tag names.
• The XML schema may require some tag names that are COBOL reserved words such as DATE/TIME
• Some fields that are elements should be attributes such as, CDR-LIFE-BASE-VAL-DATE and CDR-
LIFE-BASE-DESC1.
• There is unwanted data, for example, CDR-LIFE-BASE-LIT and CDR-LIFE-BASE-DTE.
• Other required fields are split into too many subcomponents. For example, CDR-LIFE-BASE-PRICE
has three subcomponents for one amount.
These and other characteristics of the XML output can be remedied by using additional phrases of the XML
GENERATE statement as follows:
• Use the NAME OF phrase to provide appropriate tag or attribute names.
• Use the TYPE OF … IS ATTRIBUTE phrase to select the fields which should be XML attributes rather
than elements.
• Use the TYPE OF … IS CONTENT phrase to suppress tags for excessive subcomponents.
• Use the SUPPRESS … WHEN phrase to exclude fields that contain uninteresting values.
Here is an example of the XML GENERATE statement to address those problems:

XML generate Doc from CDR-LIFE-BASE-VALUES-BOX

Count in tally
Name of
CDR-LIFE-BASE-VALUES-BOX
is 'Base_Values'
CDR-LIFE-BASE-VAL-DATE
is 'Date'
CDR-LIFE-BASE-DTE
is 'Date'
CDR-LIFE-BASE-VALUE-LINE
is 'BaseValueLine'
CDR-LIFE-BASE-DESC1
is 'Description'
CDR-LIFE-BASE-PRICE
is 'BasePrice'
CDR-LIFE-BASE-QTY
is 'BaseQuantity'
CDR-LIFE-BASE-VALUE
is 'BaseValue'
CDR-LIFE-BASE-TOT-VALUE
is 'TotalValue'
Type of
CDR-LIFE-BASE-VAL-DATE is attribute
CDR-LIFE-BASE-DESC1 is attribute
CDR-LIFE-BP-SPACE is content
CDR-LIFE-BP-DASH is content
CDR-LIFE-BP-SPACE1 is content
CDR-LIFE-QTY-SPACE is content
CDR-LIFE-QTY-DASH is content
CDR-LIFE-QTY-SPACE1 is content
Suppress every nonnumeric when space
every numeric when zero

The result of generating and formatting XML from the statement shown above is more usable:

<Base_Values Date="01/02/03">
<BaseValueLine Description="First">
<Date>01/01/01</Date>
<BasePrice>23.00</BasePrice>
<BaseQuantity>123.000</BaseQuantity>
<BaseValue>$765.00</BaseValue>
</BaseValueLine>
<BaseValueLine Description="Second">
<Date>02/02/02</Date>
<BasePrice>34.00</BasePrice>
<BaseQuantity>234.000</BaseQuantity>
<BaseValue>$654.00</BaseValue>

Chapter 33. Producing XML output 589

 </BaseValueLine>
<TotalValue>Very high!</TotalValue>
</Base_Values>

Note that the COBOL reserved word DATE can now be used as an XML tag name in the output. Characters
such as accented letters and period . that are illegal in single-byte data names can also be used.

related references
Operation of XML GENERATE (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
REPLACE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

590 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Part 6. Developing object-oriented programs

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 591

592 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 34. Writing object-oriented programs
When you write an object-oriented (OO) program, you have to determine what classes you need and the
methods and data that the classes need to do their work.
OO programs are based on objects (entities that encapsulate state and behavior) and their classes,
methods, and data. A class is a template that defines the state and the capabilities of an object. Usually a
program creates and works with multiple object instances (or simply, instances) of a class, that is, multiple
objects that are members of that class. The state of each instance is stored in data known as instance
data, and the capabilities of each instance are called instance methods. A class can define data that is
shared by all instances of the class, known as factory or static data, and methods that are supported
independently of any object instance, known as factory or static methods.
Using Enterprise COBOL, you can:
• Define classes, with methods and data implemented in COBOL.
• Create instances of Java and COBOL classes.
• Invoke methods on Java and COBOL objects.
• Write classes that inherit from Java classes or other COBOL classes.
• Define and invoke overloaded methods.
In Enterprise COBOL programs, you can call the services provided by the Java Native Interface (JNI) to
obtain Java-oriented capabilities in addition to the basic OO capabilities available directly in the COBOL
language.
In Enterprise COBOL classes, you can code CALL statements to interface with procedural COBOL
programs. Thus COBOL class definition syntax can be especially useful for writing wrapper classes for
procedural COBOL logic, enabling existing COBOL code to be accessed from Java.
Java code can create instances of COBOL classes, invoke methods of these classes, and can extend
COBOL classes.
It is recommended that you develop and run OO COBOL programs and Java programs in the z/OS UNIX
environment.
Restrictions:
• COBOL class definitions and methods cannot contain EXEC SQL statements and cannot be compiled
using the SQL compiler option.
• COBOL class definitions and methods cannot contain EXEC SQLIMS statements and cannot be
compiled using the SQLIMS compiler option.
• COBOL programs that use object-oriented syntax for Java interoperability cannot contain EXEC CICS
statements, and cannot be run in CICS. They cannot be compiled using the CICS compiler option.
“Example: accounts” on page 594

related tasks
“Defining a class” on page 596
“Defining a class instance method” on page 600
“Defining a client” on page 608
“Defining a subclass” on page 618
“Defining a factory section” on page 622
Chapter 16, “Compiling, linking, and running OO applications,” on page 281
Upgrading IBM COBOL source programs
(Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Migration Guide)

related references
The Java Language Specification

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 593

Example: accounts
Consider the example of a bank in which customers can open accounts and make deposits to and
withdrawals from their accounts. You could represent an account by a general-purpose class, called
Account. Because there are many customers, multiple instances of the Account class could exist
simultaneously.
After you determine the classes that you need, the next step is to determine the methods that the classes
need to do their work. An Account class must provide the following services:
• Open the account.
• Get the current balance.
• Deposit to the account.
• Withdraw from the account.
• Report account status.
The following methods for an Account class meet those needs:
init
Open an account and assign it an account number.
getBalance
Return the current balance of the account.
credit
Deposit a given sum to the account.
debit
Withdraw a given sum from the account.
print
Display account number and account balance.
As you design an Account class and its methods, you discover the need for the class to keep some
instance data. Typically, an Account object needs the following instance data:
• Account number
• Account balance
• Customer information: name, address, home phone, work phone, social security number, and so forth
To keep the example simple, however, it is assumed that the account number and account balance are the
only instance data that the Account class needs.
Diagrams are helpful when you design classes and methods. The following diagram depicts a first attempt
at a design of the Account class:

The words in parentheses in the diagrams are the names of the instance data, and the words that follow a
number and colon are the names of the instance methods.
The structure below shows how the classes relate to each other, and is known as the inheritance
hierarchy. The Account class inherits directly from the class java.lang.Object.

594 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Subclasses
In the account example, Account is a general-purpose class. However, a bank could have many different
types of accounts: checking accounts, savings accounts, mortgage loans, and so forth, all of which have
all the general characteristics of accounts but could have additional characteristics not shared by all types
of accounts.
For example, a CheckingAccount class could have, in addition to the account number and account balance
that all accounts have, a check fee that applies to each check written on the account. A CheckingAccount
class also needs a method to process checks (that is, to read the amount, debit the payer, credit the
payee, and so forth). So it makes sense to define CheckingAccount as a subclass of Account, and to define
in the subclass the additional instance data and instance methods that the subclass needs.
As you design the CheckingAccount class, you discover the need for a class that models checks. An
instance of class Check needs, at a minimum, instance data for payer, payee, and the check amount.
Many additional classes (and database and transaction-processing logic) would need to be designed
in a real-world OO account system, but have been omitted to keep the example simple. The updated
inheritance diagram is shown below.

A number and colon with no method-name following them indicate that the method with that number is
inherited from the superclass.

Chapter 34. Writing object-oriented programs 595

 Multiple inheritance: You cannot use multiple inheritance in OO COBOL applications. All classes that
you define must have exactly one parent, and java.lang.Object must be at the root of every inheritance
hierarchy. The class structure of any object-oriented system defined in an OO COBOL application is thus a
tree.
“Example: defining a method” on page 606

related tasks
“Defining a class” on page 596
“Defining a class instance method” on page 600
“Defining a subclass” on page 618

Defining a class
A COBOL class definition consists of an IDENTIFICATION DIVISION and ENVIRONMENT DIVISION,
followed by an optional factory definition and optional object definition, followed by an END CLASS
marker.

Table 77. Structure of class definitions

Section Purpose Syntax
IDENTIFICATION Name the class. Provide “CLASS-ID paragraph for defining a class” on page
DIVISION inheritance information for it. 597 (required)
(required)
AUTHOR paragraph (optional)
INSTALLATION paragraph (optional)
DATE-WRITTEN paragraph (optional)
DATE-COMPILED paragraph (optional)

ENVIRONMENT Describe the computing CONFIGURATION SECTION (required)

DIVISION environment. Relate class-
(required) names used within the “REPOSITORY paragraph for defining a class” on
class definition to the page 598 (required)
corresponding external class-
names known outside the SOURCE-COMPUTER paragraph (optional)
compilation unit. OBJECT-COMPUTER paragraph (optional)
SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph (optional)

Factory definition Define data to be shared by

(optional) all instances of the class, IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
and methods supported FACTORY.
DATA DIVISION.
independently of any object WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
instance. * (Factory data here)
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
* (Factory methods here)
END FACTORY.

Object definition Define instance data and

(optional) instance methods. IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
OBJECT.
DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
* (Instance data here)
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
* (Instance methods here)
END OBJECT.

If you specify the SOURCE-COMPUTER, OBJECT-COMPUTER, or SPECIAL-NAMES paragraphs in a class

CONFIGURATION SECTION, they apply to the entire class definition including all methods that the class
introduces.

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 A class CONFIGURATION SECTION can consist of the same entries as a program CONFIGURATION
SECTION, except that a class CONFIGURATION SECTION cannot contain an INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
You define an INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION only in the individual methods that require it rather than defining
it at the class level.
As shown above, you define instance data and methods in the DATA DIVISION and PROCEDURE
DIVISION, respectively, within the OBJECT paragraph of the class definition. In classes that require data
and methods that are to be associated with the class itself rather than with individual object instances,
define a separate DATA DIVISION and PROCEDURE DIVISION within the FACTORY paragraph of the
class definition.
Each COBOL class definition must be in a separate source file.
“Example: defining a class” on page 600

related tasks
“WORKING-STORAGE SECTION for defining class instance data” on page 599
“Defining a class instance method” on page 600
“Defining a subclass” on page 618
“Defining a factory section” on page 622
“Describing the computing environment” on page 5
Chapter 16, “Compiling, linking, and running OO applications,” on page 281
related references
COBOL class definition structure (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

CLASS-ID paragraph for defining a class

Use the CLASS-ID paragraph in the IDENTIFICATION DIVISION to name a class and provide
inheritance information for it.

Identification Division. Required

Class-id. Account inherits Base. Required

Use the CLASS-ID paragraph to identify these classes:

• The class that you are defining (Account in the example above).
• The immediate superclass from which the class that you are defining inherits its characteristics. The
superclass can be implemented in Java or COBOL.
In the example above, inherits Base indicates that the Account class inherits methods and data
from the class known within the class definition as Base. It is recommended that you use the name
Base in your OO COBOL programs to refer to java.lang.Object.
A class-name must use single-byte characters and must conform to the normal rules of formation for a
COBOL user-defined word.
Use the REPOSITORY paragraph in the CONFIGURATION SECTION of the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION to
associate the superclass name (Base in the example) with the name of the superclass as it is known
externally (java.lang.Object for Base). You can optionally also specify the name of the class that you are
defining (Account in the example) in the REPOSITORY paragraph and associate it with its corresponding
external class-name.
You must derive all classes directly or indirectly from the java.lang.Object class.

related tasks
“REPOSITORY paragraph for
defining a class” on page 598

related references
CLASS-ID paragraph (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
User-defined words (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Chapter 34. Writing object-oriented programs 597

REPOSITORY paragraph for defining a class
Use the REPOSITORY paragraph to declare to the compiler that the specified words are class-names
when you use them within a class definition, and to optionally relate the class-names to the
corresponding external class-names (the class-names as they are known outside the compilation unit).
External class-names are case sensitive and must conform to Java rules of formation. For example, in the
Account class definition you might code this:

Environment Division. Required

Configuration Section. Required
Repository. Required
Class Base is "java.lang.Object" Required
Class Account is "Account". Optional

The REPOSITORY paragraph entries indicate that the external class-names of the classes referred to as
Base and Account within the class definition are java.lang.Object and Account, respectively.
In the REPOSITORY paragraph, you must code an entry for each class-name that you explicitly reference
in the class definition. For example:
• Base
• A superclass from which the class that you are defining inherits
• The classes that you reference in methods within the class definition
In a REPOSITORY paragraph entry, you must specify the external class-name if the name contains
non-COBOL characters. You must also specify the external class-name for any referenced class that is
part of a Java package. For such a class, specify the external class-name as the fully qualified name of the
package, followed by period (.), followed by the simple name of the Java class. For example, the Object
class is part of the java.lang package, so specify its external name as java.lang.Object as shown above.
An external class-name that you specify in the REPOSITORY paragraph must be an alphanumeric literal
that conforms to the rules of formation for a fully qualified Java class-name.
If you do not include the external class-name in a REPOSITORY paragraph entry, the external class-name
is formed from the class-name in the following manner:
• The class-name is converted to uppercase.
• Each hyphen is changed to zero.
• The first character, if a digit, is changed:
– 1-9 are changed to A-I.
– 0 is changed to J.
• Underscores are not changed.
In the example above, class Account is known externally as Account (in mixed case) because the external
name is spelled using mixed case.
You can optionally include in the REPOSITORY paragraph an entry for the class that you are defining
(Account in this example). You must include an entry for the class that you are defining if the external
class-name contains non-COBOL characters, or to specify a fully package-qualified class-name if the
class is to be part of a Java package.
“Example: external class-names and Java packages” on page 599
related tasks
“Declaring arrays and strings for Java” on page 638

related references
REPOSITORY paragraph (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
The Java Language Specification (Identifiers)
The Java Language Specification (Packages)

598 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Example: external class-names and Java packages
The following example shows how external class-names are determined from entries in a REPOSITORY
paragraph.

Environment division.
Configuration section.
Repository.
Class Employee is "com.acme.Employee"
Class JavaException is "java.lang.Exception"
Class Orders.

The local class-names (the class-names as used within the class definition), the Java packages that
contain the classes, and the associated external class-names are as shown in the table below.

Local class-name Java package External class-name

Employee com.acme com.acme.Employee
JavaException java.lang java.lang.Exception
Orders (unnamed) ORDERS

The external class-name (the name after the class-name and optional IS in the REPOSITORY paragraph
entry) is composed of the fully qualified name of the package (if any) followed by a period, followed by the
simple name of the class.

related tasks
“REPOSITORY paragraph for
defining a class” on page 598

related references
REPOSITORY paragraph (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

WORKING-STORAGE SECTION for defining class instance data

Use the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION in the DATA DIVISION of the OBJECT paragraph to describe the
instance data that a COBOL class needs, that is, the data to be allocated for each instance of the class.
The OBJECT keyword, which you must immediately precede with an IDENTIFICATION DIVISION
declaration, indicates the beginning of the definitions of the instance data and instance methods for
the class. For example, the definition of the instance data for the Account class might look like this:

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
Object.
DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 AccountNumber pic 9(6).
01 AccountBalance pic S9(9) value zero.
. . .
End Object.

The instance data is allocated when an object instance is created, and exists until garbage collection of
the instance by the Java run time.
You can initialize simple instance data by using VALUE clauses as shown above. You can initialize more
complex instance data by coding customized methods to create and initialize instances of classes.
COBOL instance data is equivalent to Java private nonstatic member data. No other class or subclass
(nor factory method in the same class, if any) can reference COBOL instance data directly. Instance data
is global to all instance methods that the OBJECT paragraph defines. If you want to make instance data
accessible from outside the OBJECT paragraph, define attribute (get or set) instance methods for doing
so.

Chapter 34. Writing object-oriented programs 599

 The syntax of the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION for instance data definition is generally the same as in a
program, with these exceptions:
• You cannot use the EXTERNAL attribute.
• You can use the GLOBAL attribute, but it has no effect.

related tasks
“Creating and initializing
instances of classes” on page 616
“Freeing instances of classes” on page 617
“Defining a factory method” on page 623
“Coding attribute (get and set) methods” on page 605

Example: defining a class

The following example shows a first attempt at the definition of the Account class, excluding method
definitions.

cbl dll,thread,pgmname(longmixed)
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
Class-id. Account inherits Base.
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
Configuration section.
Repository.
Class Base is "java.lang.Object"
Class Account is "Account".
*
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
Object.
DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 AccountNumber pic 9(6).
01 AccountBalance pic S9(9) value zero.
*
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
*
* (Instance method definitions here)
*
End Object.
*
End class Account.

related tasks
Chapter 16, “Compiling, linking, and running OO applications,” on page 281
“Defining a client” on page 608

Defining a class instance method

Define COBOL instance methods in the PROCEDURE DIVISION of the OBJECT paragraph of a class
definition. An instance method defines an operation that is supported for each object instance of a class.
A COBOL instance method definition consists of four divisions (like a COBOL program), followed by an END
METHOD marker.

600 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Table 78. Structure of instance method definitions
Division Purpose Syntax
IDENTIFICATION Name a method. “METHOD-ID paragraph for defining a class
(required) instance method” on page 601 (required)

AUTHOR paragraph (optional)

INSTALLATION paragraph (optional)
DATE-WRITTEN paragraph (optional)
DATE-COMPILED paragraph (optional)

ENVIRONMENT Relate the file-names used “INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION for defining a class
(optional) in a method to the instance method” on page 602 (optional)
corresponding file-names
known to the operating
system.
DATA (optional) Define external files. Allocate “DATA DIVISION for defining a class instance
a copy of the data. method” on page 602 (optional)
PROCEDURE Code the executable “PROCEDURE DIVISION for defining a class
(optional) statements to complete the instance method” on page 603 (optional)
service provided by the
method.

Definition: The signature of a method consists of the name of the method and the number and type of
its formal parameters. (You define the formal parameters of a COBOL method in the USING phrase of the
method's PROCEDURE DIVISION header.)
Within a class definition, you do not need to make each method-name unique, but you do need to give
each method a unique signature. (You overload methods by giving them the same name but a different
signature.)
COBOL instance methods are equivalent to Java public nonstatic methods.
“Example: defining a method” on page 606

related tasks
“PROCEDURE DIVISION for
defining a class instance method” on page 603
“Overloading an instance method” on page 605
“Overriding an instance method” on page 604
“Invoking methods (INVOKE)” on page 612
“Defining a subclass instance method” on page 620
“Defining a factory method” on page 623

METHOD-ID paragraph for defining a class instance method

Use the METHOD-ID paragraph to name an instance method. Immediately precede the METHOD-ID
paragraph with an IDENTIFICATION DIVISION declaration to indicate the beginning of the method
definition.
For example, the definition of the credit method in the Account class begins like this:

Identification Division.
Method-id. "credit".

Code the method-name as an alphanumeric or national literal. The method-name is processed in a

case-sensitive manner and must conform to the rules of formation for a Java method-name.

Chapter 34. Writing object-oriented programs 601

 Other Java or COBOL methods or programs (that is, clients) use the method-name to invoke a method.

related tasks
“Invoking methods (INVOKE)” on page 612
“Using national data (Unicode)
in COBOL” on page 129

related references
The Java Language Specification (Meaning of method names)
The Java Language Specification (Identifiers)
METHOD-ID paragraph (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION for defining a class instance method

The ENVIRONMENT DIVISION of an instance method can have only one section, the INPUT-OUTPUT
SECTION. This section relates the file-names used in a method definition to the corresponding file-names
as they are known to the operating system.
For example, if the Account class defined a method that read information from a file, the Account class
might have an INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION that is coded like this:

Environment Division.
Input-Output Section.
File-Control.
Select account-file Assign AcctFile.

The syntax for the INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION of a method is the same as the syntax for the INPUT-
OUTPUT SECTION of a program.
related tasks
“Describing the computing environment” on page 5

related references
INPUT-OUTPUT section (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

DATA DIVISION for defining a class instance method

The DATA DIVISION of an instance method consists of any of the following four sections: FILE
SECTION, LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION, WORKING-STORAGE SECTION, and LINKAGE SECTION.
FILE SECTION
The same as a program FILE SECTION, except that a method FILE SECTION can define EXTERNAL
files only.
LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION
A separate copy of the LOCAL-STORAGE data is allocated for each invocation of the method, and is
freed on return from the method. The method LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION is similar to a program
LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION.
If you specify the VALUE clause on a data item, the item is initialized to that value on each invocation
of the method.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION
A single copy of the WORKING-STORAGE data is allocated. The data persists in its last-used state until
the run unit ends. The same copy of the data is used whenever the method is invoked, regardless
of the invoking object or thread. The method WORKING-STORAGE SECTION is similar to a program
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
If you specify the VALUE clause on a data item, the item is initialized to that value on the first
invocation of the method. You can specify the EXTERNAL clause for the data items.
LINKAGE SECTION
The same as a program LINKAGE SECTION.

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 If you define a data item with the same name in both the DATA DIVISION of an instance method and the
DATA DIVISION of the OBJECT paragraph, a reference in the method to that data-name refers only to
the method data item. The method DATA DIVISION takes precedence.

related tasks
“Describing the data” on page 11
“Sharing data by using the EXTERNAL clause” on page 501

related references
DATA DIVISION overview (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

PROCEDURE DIVISION for defining a class instance method

Code the executable statements to implement the service that an instance method provides in the
PROCEDURE DIVISION of the instance method.
You can code most COBOL statements in the PROCEDURE DIVISION of a method that you can code
in the PROCEDURE DIVISION of a program. You cannot, however, code the following statements in a
method:
• ENTRY
• EXIT PROGRAM
• The following obsolete elements of the 85 COBOL Standard:
– ALTER
– GOTO without a specified procedure-name
– SEGMENT-LIMIT
– USE FOR DEBUGGING
Additionally, because you must compile all COBOL class definitions with the THREAD compiler option, you
cannot use SORT or MERGE statements in a COBOL method.

You can code the EXIT METHOD or GOBACK statement in an instance method to return control to the
invoking client. Both statements have the same effect. If you specify the RETURNING phrase upon
invocation of the method, the EXIT METHOD or GOBACK statement returns the value of the data item to
the invoking client.
An implicit EXIT METHOD is generated as the last statement in the PROCEDURE DIVISION of each
method.
You can specify STOP RUN in a method; doing so terminates the entire run unit including all threads
executing within it.
You must terminate a method definition with an END METHOD marker. For example, the following
statement marks the end of the credit method:

End method "credit".

USING phrase for obtaining passed arguments: Specify the formal parameters to a method, if any, in
the USING phrase of the method's PROCEDURE DIVISION header. You must specify that the arguments
are passed BY VALUE. Define each parameter as a level-01 or level-77 item in the method's LINKAGE
SECTION. The data type of each parameter must be one of the types that are interoperable with Java.

RETURNING phrase for returning a value: Specify the data item to be returned as the method result, if
any, in the RETURNING phrase of the method's PROCEDURE DIVISION header. Define the data item as a
level-01 or level-77 item in the method's LINKAGE SECTION. The data type of the return value must be
one of the types that are interoperable with Java.

related tasks
“Coding interoperable data types in COBOL and Java” on page 638

Chapter 34. Writing object-oriented programs 603

 “Overriding an instance method” on page 604
“Overloading an instance method” on page 605
“Comparing and setting object references” on page 611
“Invoking methods (INVOKE)” on page 612
Chapter 16, “Compiling, linking, and running OO applications,” on page 281

related references
“THREAD” on page 363
The procedure division header (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Overriding an instance method

An instance method that is defined in a subclass is said to override an inherited instance method that
would otherwise be accessible in the subclass if the two methods have the same signature.

To override a superclass instance method m1 in a COBOL subclass, define an instance method m1 in

the subclass that has the same name and whose PROCEDURE DIVISION USING phrase (if any) has the
same number and type of formal parameters as the superclass method has. (If the superclass method is
implemented in Java, you must code formal parameters that are interoperable with the data types of the
corresponding Java parameters.) When a client invokes m1 on an instance of the subclass, the subclass
method rather than the superclass method is invoked.
For example, the Account class defines a method debit whose LINKAGE SECTION and PROCEDURE
DIVISION header look like this:

Linkage section.
01 inDebit pic S9(9) binary.
Procedure Division using by value inDebit.

If you define a CheckingAccount subclass and want it to have a debit method that overrides the
debit method defined in the Account superclass, define the subclass method with exactly one input
parameter also specified as pic S9(9) binary. If a client invokes debit using an object reference to
a CheckingAccount instance, the CheckingAccount debit method (rather than the debit method in the
Account superclass) is invoked.
The presence or absence of a method return value and the data type of the return value used in the
PROCEDURE DIVISION RETURNING phrase (if any) must be identical in the subclass instance method
and the overridden superclass instance method.
An instance method must not override a factory method in a COBOL superclass nor a static method in a
Java superclass.
“Example: defining a method” on page 606
related tasks
“PROCEDURE DIVISION for
defining a class instance method” on page 603
“Coding interoperable data types in COBOL and Java” on page 638
“Invoking methods (INVOKE)” on page 612
“Invoking overridden superclass
methods” on page 615
“Defining a subclass” on page 618
“Hiding a factory or static
method” on page 624

related references
The Java Language Specification (Inheritance, overriding, and hiding)

604 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Overloading an instance method
Two methods that are supported in a class (whether defined in the class or inherited from a superclass)
are said to be overloaded if they have the same name but different signatures.
You overload methods when you want to enable clients to invoke different versions of a method, for
example, to initialize data using different sets of parameters.
To overload a method, define a method whose PROCEDURE DIVISION USING phrase (if any) has a
different number or type of formal parameters than an identically named method that is supported in the
same class. For example, the Account class defines an instance method init that has exactly one formal
parameter. The LINKAGE SECTION and PROCEDURE DIVISION header of the init method look like
this:

Linkage section.
01 inAccountNumber pic S9(9) binary.
Procedure Division using by value inAccountNumber.

Clients invoke this method to initialize an Account instance with a given account number (and a
default account balance of zero) by passing exactly one argument that matches the data type of
inAccountNumber.
But the Account class could define, for example, a second instance method init that has an additional
formal parameter that allows the opening account balance to also be specified. The LINKAGE SECTION
and PROCEDURE DIVISION header of this init method could look like this:

Linkage section.
01 inAccountNumber pic S9(9) binary.
01 inBalance pic S9(9) binary.
Procedure Division using by value inAccountNumber
inBalance.

Clients could invoke either init method by passing arguments that match the signature of the required
method.
The presence or absence of a method return value does not have to be consistent in overloaded methods,
and the data type of the return value given in the PROCEDURE DIVISION RETURNING phrase (if any)
does not have to be identical in overloaded methods.
You can overload factory methods in exactly the same way that you overload instance methods.
The rules for overloaded method definition and resolution of overloaded method invocations are based on
the corresponding rules for Java.

related tasks
“Invoking methods (INVOKE)” on page 612
“Defining a factory method” on page 623

related references
The Java Language Specification (Overloading)

Coding attribute (get and set) methods

You can provide access to an instance variable X from outside the class in which X is defined by coding
accessor (get) and mutator (set) methods for X.
Instance variables in COBOL are private: the class that defines instance variables fully encapsulates them,
and only the instance methods defined in the same OBJECT paragraph can access them directly. Normally
a well-designed object-oriented application does not need to access instance variables from outside the
class.
COBOL does not directly support the concept of a public instance variable as defined in Java and other
object-oriented languages, nor the concept of a class attribute as defined by CORBA. (A CORBA attribute

Chapter 34. Writing object-oriented programs 605

 is an instance variable that has an automatically generated get method for accessing the value of the
variable, and an automatically generated set method for modifying the value of the variable if the variable
is not read-only.)
“Example: coding a get method” on page 606

related tasks
“WORKING-STORAGE SECTION for defining class instance data” on page 599
“Processing the data” on page 17

Example: coding a get method

The following example shows the definition in the Account class of an instance method, getBalance, to
return the value of the instance variable AccountBalance to a client. getBalance and AccountBalance are
defined in the OBJECT paragraph of the Account class definition.

Identification Division.
Class-id. Account inherits Base.
* (ENVIRONMENT DIVISION not shown)
* (FACTORY paragraph not shown)
*
Identification division.
Object.
Data division.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 AccountBalance pic S9(9) value zero.
* (Other instance data not shown)
*
Procedure Division.
*
Identification Division.
Method-id. "getBalance".
Data division.
Linkage section.
01 outBalance pic S9(9) binary.
*
Procedure Division returning outBalance.
Move AccountBalance to outBalance.
End method "getBalance".
*
* (Other instance methods not shown)
End Object.
*
End class Account.

Example: defining a method

The following example adds to the previous example the instance method definitions of the Account
class, and shows the definition of the Java Check class.
(The previous example was “Example: defining a class” on page 600.)

Account class

cbl dll,thread,pgmname(longmixed)
Identification Division.
Class-id. Account inherits Base.
Environment Division.
Configuration section.
Repository.
Class Base is "java.lang.Object"
Class Account is "Account".
*
* (FACTORY paragraph not shown)
*
Identification division.
Object.
Data division.
Working-storage section.

606 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 01 AccountNumber pic 9(6).
01 AccountBalance pic S9(9) value zero.
*
Procedure Division.
*
* init method to initialize the account:
Identification Division.
Method-id. "init".
Data division.
Linkage section.
01 inAccountNumber pic S9(9) binary.
Procedure Division using by value inAccountNumber.
Move inAccountNumber to AccountNumber.
End method "init".
*
* getBalance method to return the account balance:
Identification Division.
Method-id. "getBalance".
Data division.
Linkage section.
01 outBalance pic S9(9) binary.
Procedure Division returning outBalance.
Move AccountBalance to outBalance.
End method "getBalance".
*
* credit method to deposit to the account:
Identification Division.
Method-id. "credit".
Data division.
Linkage section.
01 inCredit pic S9(9) binary.
Procedure Division using by value inCredit.
Add inCredit to AccountBalance.
End method "credit".
*
* debit method to withdraw from the account:
Identification Division.
Method-id. "debit".
Data division.
Linkage section.
01 inDebit pic S9(9) binary.
Procedure Division using by value inDebit.
Subtract inDebit from AccountBalance.
End method "debit".
*
* print method to display formatted account number and balance:
Identification Division.
Method-id. "print".
Data division.
Local-storage section.
01 PrintableAccountNumber pic ZZZZZZ999999.
01 PrintableAccountBalance pic $$$$,$$$,$$9CR.
Procedure Division.
Move AccountNumber to PrintableAccountNumber
Move AccountBalance to PrintableAccountBalance
Display " Account: " PrintableAccountNumber
Display " Balance: " PrintableAccountBalance.
End method "print".
*
End Object.
*
End class Account.

Check class

/**
* A Java class for check information
*/
public class Check {
private CheckingAccount payer;
private Account payee;
private int amount;

public Check(CheckingAccount inPayer, Account inPayee, int inAmount) {

payer=inPayer;
payee=inPayee;
amount=inAmount;
}

Chapter 34. Writing object-oriented programs 607

 public int getAmount() {
return amount;
}

public Account getPayee() {

return payee;
}
}

related tasks
Chapter 16, “Compiling, linking, and running OO applications,” on page 281

Defining a client
A program or method that requests services from one or more methods in a class is called a client of that
class.
In a COBOL or Java client, you can:
• Create object instances of Java and COBOL classes.
• Invoke instance methods on Java and COBOL objects.
• Invoke COBOL factory methods and Java static methods.
In a COBOL client, you can also call services provided by the Java Native Interface (JNI).
A COBOL client program consists of the usual four divisions:

Table 79. Structure of COBOL clients

Division Purpose Syntax
IDENTIFICATION Name a client. Code as usual, except that a client program must
(required) be:
• Recursive (declared RECURSIVE in the
PROGRAM-ID paragraph)
• Thread-enabled (compiled with the THREAD
option, and conforming to the coding guidelines
for threaded applications)

ENVIRONMENT Describe the computing CONFIGURATION SECTION (required)

(required) environment. Relate class-
names used in the client to “REPOSITORY paragraph for defining a client” on
the corresponding external page 609 (required)
class-names known outside
the compilation unit.
DATA (optional) Describe the data that the “DATA DIVISION for defining a client” on page
client needs. 610 (optional)
PROCEDURE Create instances of classes, Code using INVOKE, IF, and SET statements.
(optional) manipulate object reference
data items, and invoke
methods.

Because you must compile all COBOL programs that contain object-oriented syntax or that interoperate
with Java with the THREAD compiler option, you cannot use the following language elements in a COBOL
client:
• SORT or MERGE statements
• Nested programs

608 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Any programs that you compile with the THREAD compiler option must be recursive. You must specify the
RECURSIVE clause in the PROGRAM-ID paragraph of each OO COBOL client program.

“Example: defining a client” on page 618

related tasks
Chapter 16, “Compiling, linking, and running OO applications,” on page 281
Chapter 28, “Preparing COBOL programs
for multithreading,” on page 517
Chapter 35, “Communicating with Java methods,” on page 633
“Coding interoperable data types in COBOL and Java” on page 638
“Creating and initializing
instances of classes” on page 616
“Comparing and setting object references” on page 611
“Invoking methods (INVOKE)” on page 612
“Invoking factory or static
methods” on page 625

related references
“THREAD” on page 363

REPOSITORY paragraph for defining a client

Use the REPOSITORY paragraph to declare to the compiler that the specified words are class-names
when you use them in a COBOL client, and to optionally relate the class-names to the corresponding
external class-names (the class-names as they are known outside the compilation unit).
External class-names are case sensitive, and must conform to Java rules of formation. For example, in a
client program that uses the Account and Check classes you might code this:

Environment division. Required

Configuration section. Required
Source-Computer. IBM-390.
Object-Computer. IBM-390.
Repository. Required
Class Account is "Account"
Class Check is "Check".

The REPOSITORY paragraph entries indicate that the external class-names of the classes referred to as
Account and Check within the client are Account and Check, respectively.
In the REPOSITORY paragraph, you must code an entry for each class-name that you explicitly reference
in the client. In a REPOSITORY paragraph entry, you must specify the external class-name if the name
contains non-COBOL characters.
You must specify the external class-name for any referenced class that is part of a Java package. For such
a class, specify the external class-name as the fully qualified name of the package, followed by period (.),
followed by the simple name of the Java class.
An external class-name that you specify in the REPOSITORY paragraph must be an alphanumeric literal
that conforms to the rules of formation for a fully qualified Java class-name.
If you do not include the external class-name in a REPOSITORY paragraph entry, the external class-name
is formed from the class-name in the same manner as it is when an external class-name is not included in
a REPOSITORY paragraph entry in a class definition. In the example above, class Account and class Check
are known externally as Account and Check (in mixed case), respectively, because the external names are
spelled using mixed case.
The SOURCE-COMPUTER, OBJECT-COMPUTER, and SPECIAL-NAMES paragraphs of the CONFIGURATION
SECTION are optional.

Chapter 34. Writing object-oriented programs 609

 related tasks
“REPOSITORY paragraph for
defining a class” on page 598

related references
REPOSITORY paragraph (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
The Java Language Specification (Identifiers)
The Java Language Specification (Packages)

DATA DIVISION for defining a client

You can use any of the sections of the DATA DIVISION to describe the data that the client needs.

Data Division.
Local-storage section.
01 anAccount usage object reference Account.
01 aCheckingAccount usage object reference CheckingAccount.
01 aCheck usage object reference Check.
01 payee usage object reference Account.
. . .

Because a client references classes, it needs one or more special data items called object references,
that is, references to instances of those classes. All requests to instance methods require an object
reference to an instance of a class in which the method is supported (that is, either defined or available
by inheritance). You code object references to refer to instances of Java classes using the same syntax
as you use to refer to instances of COBOL classes. In the example above, the phrase usage object
reference indicates an object reference data item.
All four object references in the code above are called typed object references because a class-name
appears after the OBJECT REFERENCE phrase. A typed object reference can refer only to an instance of
the class named in the OBJECT REFERENCE phrase or to one of its subclasses. Thus anAccount can refer
to instances of the Account class or one of its subclasses, but cannot refer to instances of any other class.
Similarly, aCheck can refer only to instances of the Check class or any subclasses that it might have.
Another type of object reference, not shown above, does not have a class-name after the OBJECT
REFERENCE phrase. Such a reference is called a universal object reference, which means that it can
refer to instances of any class. Avoid coding universal object references, because they are interoperable
with Java in only very limited circumstances (when used in the RETURNING phrase of the INVOKE
class-name NEW . . . statement).
You must define, in the REPOSITORY paragraph of the CONFIGURATION SECTION, class-names that you
use in the OBJECT REFERENCE phrase.

related tasks
“Choosing LOCAL-STORAGE or WORKING-STORAGE” on page 610
“Coding interoperable data types in COBOL and Java” on page 638
“Invoking methods (INVOKE)” on page 612
“REPOSITORY paragraph for
defining a client” on page 609

related references
RETURNING phrase (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Choosing LOCAL-STORAGE or WORKING-STORAGE

You can in general use the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION to define working data that a client program
needs. However, if the program could simultaneously run on multiple threads, you might instead want to
define the data in the LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION.
Each thread has access to a separate copy of LOCAL-STORAGE data but shares access to a single copy
of WORKING-STORAGE data. If you define the data in the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION, you need to
synchronize access to the data or ensure that no two threads can access it simultaneously.

610 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 related tasks
Chapter 28, “Preparing COBOL programs
for multithreading,” on page 517

Comparing and setting object references

You can compare object references by coding conditional statements or a call to the JNI service
IsSameObject, and you can set object references by using the SET statement.
For example, code either IF statement below to check whether the object reference anAccount refers to
no object instance:

If anAccount = Null . . .
If anAccount = Nulls . . .

You can code a call to IsSameObject to check whether two object references, object1 and object2, refer
to the same object instance or whether each refers to no object instance. To ensure that the arguments
and return value are interoperable with Java and to establish addressability to the callable service, code
the following data definitions and statements before the call to IsSameObject:

Local-storage Section.
. . .
01 is-same Pic X.
88 is-same-false Value X'00'.
88 is-same-true Value X'01' Through X'FF'.
Linkage Section.
Copy JNI.
Procedure Division.
Set Address Of JNIEnv To JNIEnvPtr
Set Address Of JNINativeInterface To JNIEnv
Call IsSameObject Using By Value JNIEnvPtr object1 object2
Returning is-same
If is-same-true . . .

Within a method you can check whether an object reference refers to the object instance on which the
method was invoked by coding a call to IsSameObject that compares the object reference and SELF.
You can instead invoke the Java equals method (inherited from java.lang.Object) to determine whether
two object references refer to the same object instance.
You can make an object reference refer to no object instance by using the SET statement. For example:

Set anAccount To Null.

You can also make one object reference refer to the same instance as another object reference does by
using the SET statement. For example:

Set anotherAccount To anAccount.

This SET statement causes anotherAccount to refer to the same object instance as anAccount does. If
the receiver (anotherAccount) is a universal object reference, the sender (anAccount) can be either a
universal or a typed object reference. If the receiver is a typed object reference, the sender must be a
typed object reference bound to the same class as the receiver or to one of its subclasses.
Within a method you can make an object reference refer to the object instance on which the method was
invoked by setting it to SELF. For example:

Set anAccount To Self.

Chapter 34. Writing object-oriented programs 611

 related tasks
“Coding interoperable data types in COBOL and Java” on page 638
“Accessing JNI services” on page 633

related references
The Java Native Interface (IsSameObject)

Invoking methods (INVOKE)

In a Java client, you can create object instances of classes that were implemented in COBOL and invoke
methods on those objects using standard Java syntax. In a COBOL client, you can invoke methods that are
defined in Java or COBOL classes by coding the INVOKE statement.

Invoke Account "createAccount"

using by value 123456
returning anAccount
Invoke anAccount "credit" using by value 500.

The first example INVOKE statement above uses the class-name Account to invoke a method called
createAccount. This method must be either defined or inherited in the Account class, and must be one of
the following types:
• A Java static method
• A COBOL factory method
The phrase using by value 123456 indicates that 123456 is an input argument to the method, and
is passed by value. The input argument 123456 and the returned data item anAccount must conform
to the definition of the formal parameters and return type, respectively, of the (possibly overloaded)
createAccount method.
The second INVOKE statement uses the returned object reference anAccount to invoke the instance
method credit, which is defined in the Account class. The input argument 500 must conform to the
definition of the formal parameters of the (possibly overloaded) credit method.
Code the name of the method to be invoked either as a literal or as an identifier whose value at run
time matches the method-name in the signature of the target method. The method-name must be an
alphanumeric or national literal or a category alphabetic, alphanumeric, or national data item, and is
interpreted in a case-sensitive manner.
When you code an INVOKE statement using an object reference (as in the second example statement
above), the statement begins with one of the following two forms:

Invoke objRef "literal-name" . . .

Invoke objRef identifier-name . . .

When the method-name is an identifier, you must define the object reference (objRef) as USAGE OBJECT
REFERENCE with no specified type, that is, as a universal object reference.
If an invoked method is not supported in the class to which the object reference refers, a severity-3
Language Environment condition is raised at run time unless you code the ON EXCEPTION phrase in the
INVOKE statement.
You can use the optional scope terminator END-INVOKE with the INVOKE statement.
The INVOKE statement does not set the RETURN-CODE special register.

related tasks
“USING phrase for passing
arguments” on page 613
“RETURNING phrase for obtaining
a returned value” on page 615
“PROCEDURE DIVISION for

612 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
defining a class instance method” on page 603
“Coding interoperable data types in COBOL and Java” on page 638
“Invoking overridden superclass
methods” on page 615
“Invoking factory or static
methods” on page 625

related references
INVOKE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

USING phrase for passing arguments

If you pass arguments to a method, specify the arguments in the USING phrase of the INVOKE statement.
Code the data type of each argument so that it conforms to the type of the corresponding formal
parameter in the intended target method.

Table 80. Conformance of arguments in a COBOL client

Programming Is the argument Then code the DATA Restriction
language of the an object DIVISION definition of the
target method reference? argument as:
COBOL No The same as the definition
of the corresponding formal
parameter
Java No Interoperable with the
corresponding Java
parameter
COBOL or Java Yes An object reference that is In a COBOL client (unlike
typed to the same class as in a Java client), the class
the corresponding parameter of an argument cannot be a
in the target method subclass of the class of the
corresponding parameter.

See the example referenced below for a way to make an object-reference argument conform to the type
of a corresponding formal parameter by using the SET statement or the REDEFINES clause.
“Example: passing conforming object-reference arguments from a COBOL client” on page 614
If the target method is overloaded, the data types of the arguments are used to select from among the
methods that have the same name.
You must specify that the arguments are passed BY VALUE. In other words, the arguments are not
affected by any change to the corresponding formal parameters in the invoked method.
The data type of each argument must be one of the types that are interoperable with Java.

related tasks
“PROCEDURE DIVISION for
defining a class instance method” on page 603
“Overloading an instance method” on page 605
“Coding interoperable data types in COBOL and Java” on page 638
“Passing data” on page 491

related references
INVOKE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
SET statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
REDEFINES clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Chapter 34. Writing object-oriented programs 613

 Example: passing conforming object-reference arguments from a COBOL
client
The following example shows a way to make an object-reference argument in a COBOL client conform to
the expected class of the corresponding formal parameter in an invoked method.
Class C defines a method M that has one parameter, a reference to an object of class java.lang.Object:

. . .
Class-id. C inherits Base.
. . .
Repository.
Class Base is "java.lang.Object"
Class JavaObject is "java.lang.Object".
Identification division.
Factory.
. . .
Procedure Division.
Identification Division.
Method-id. "M".
Data division.
Linkage section.
01 obj object reference JavaObject.
Procedure Division using by value obj.
. . .

To invoke method M, a COBOL client must pass an argument that is a reference to an object of class
java.lang.Object. The client below defines a data item aString, which cannot be passed as an argument
to M because aString is a reference to an object of class java.lang.String. The client first uses a SET
statement to assign aString to a data item, anObj, that is a reference to an object of class java.lang.Object.
(This SET statement is legal because java.lang.String is a subclass of java.lang.Object.) The client then
passes anObj as the argument to M.

. . .
Repository.
Class jstring is "java.lang.String"
Class JavaObject is "java.lang.Object".
Data division.
Local-storage section.
01 aString object reference jstring.
01 anObj object reference JavaObject.
*
Procedure division.
. . . (statements here assign a value to aString)
Set anObj to aString
Invoke C "M"
using by value anObj

Instead of using a SET statement to obtain anObj as a reference to an object of class java.lang.Object, the
client could define aString and anObj with the REDEFINES clause as follows:

. . .
01 aString object reference jstring.
01 anObj redefines aString object reference JavaObject.

After the client assigns a value to data item aString (that is, a valid reference to an object of class
java.lang.String), anObj can be passed as the argument to M. For an example of the use of the REDEFINES
clause to obtain argument conformance, see the example referenced below.
“Example: J2EE client written in COBOL” on page 645

related tasks
“Coding interoperable data types in COBOL and Java” on page 638
“PROCEDURE DIVISION for
defining a class instance method” on page 603

614 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
related references
INVOKE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
SET statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
REDEFINES clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

RETURNING phrase for obtaining a returned value

If a data item is to be returned as the method result, specify the item in the RETURNING phrase of the
INVOKE statement. Define the returned item in the DATA DIVISION of the client.
The item that you specify in the RETURNING phrase of the INVOKE statement must conform to the type
returned by the target method, as shown in the table below.

Table 81. Conformance of the returned data item in a COBOL client

Programming language Is the returned item an Then code the DATA DIVISION definition of the
of the target method object reference? returned item as:
COBOL No The same as the definition of the RETURNING item
in the target method
Java No Interoperable with the returned Java data item
COBOL or Java Yes An object reference that is typed to the same class
as the object reference that is returned by the
target method

In all cases, the data type of the returned value must be one of the types that are interoperable with Java.

related tasks
“Coding interoperable data types in COBOL and Java” on page 638

related references
INVOKE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Invoking overridden superclass methods

Sometimes within a class you need to invoke an overridden superclass method instead of invoking a
method that has the same signature and is defined in the current class.
For example, suppose that the CheckingAccount class overrides the debit instance method defined in
its immediate superclass, Account. You could invoke the Account debit method within a method in the
CheckingAccount class by coding this statement:

Invoke Super "debit" Using By Value amount.

You would define amount as PIC S9(9) BINARY to match the signature of the debit methods.
The CheckingAccount class overrides the print method that is defined in the Account class. Because
the print method has no formal parameters, a method in the CheckingAccount class could invoke the
superclass print method with this statement:

Invoke Super "print".

The keyword SUPER indicates that you want to invoke a superclass method rather than a method in
the current class. (SUPER is an implicit reference to the object used in the invocation of the currently
executing method.)
“Example: accounts” on page 594

Chapter 34. Writing object-oriented programs 615

 related tasks
“Overriding an instance method” on page 604

related references
INVOKE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Creating and initializing instances of classes

Before you can use the instance methods that are defined in a Java or COBOL class, you must first create
an instance of the class.
To create a new instance of class class-name and to obtain a reference object-reference to the created
object, code a statement of the following form, where object-reference is defined in the DATA DIVISION
of the client:

INVOKE class-name NEW . . . RETURNING object-reference

When you code the INVOKE . . . NEW statement within a method, and the use of the returned object
reference is not limited to the duration of the method invocation, you must convert the returned object
reference to a global reference by calling the JNI service NewGlobalRef:

Call NewGlobalRef using by value JNIEnvPtr object-reference

returning object-reference

If you do not call NewGlobalRef, the returned object reference is only a local reference, which means that
it is automatically freed after the method returns.

related tasks
“Instantiating Java classes” on page 616
“Instantiating COBOL classes” on page 617
“Accessing JNI services” on page 633
“Managing local and global references” on page 635
“DATA DIVISION for defining
a client” on page 610
“Invoking methods (INVOKE)” on page 612
“Coding interoperable data types in COBOL and Java” on page 638

related references
INVOKE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Instantiating Java classes

To instantiate a Java class, invoke any parameterized constructor that the class supports by coding the
USING phrase in the INVOKE . . . NEW statement immediately before the RETURNING phrase, passing
BY VALUE the number and types of arguments that match the signature of the constructor.
The data type of each argument must be one of the types that are interoperable with Java. To invoke the
default (parameterless) constructor, omit the USING phrase.
For example, to create an instance of the Check class, initialize its instance data, and obtain reference
aCheck to the Check instance created, you could code this statement in a COBOL client:

Invoke Check New

using by value aCheckingAccount, payee, 125
returning aCheck

related tasks
“Invoking methods (INVOKE)” on page 612
“Coding interoperable data types in COBOL and Java” on page 638

616 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 related references
VALUE clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
INVOKE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Instantiating COBOL classes

To instantiate a COBOL class, you can specify either a typed or universal object reference in the
RETURNING phrase of the INVOKE . . . NEW statement. However, you cannot code the USING phrase:
the instance data is initialized as specified in the VALUE clauses in the class definition.
Thus the INVOKE . . . NEW statement is useful for instantiating COBOL classes that have only simple
instance data. For example, the following statement creates an instance of the Account class, initializes
the instance data as specified in VALUE clauses in the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION of the OBJECT
paragraph of the Account class definition, and provides reference outAccount to the new instance:

Invoke Account New returning outAccount

To make it possible to initialize COBOL instance data that cannot be initialized using VALUE clauses
alone, when designing a COBOL class you must define a parameterized creation method in the FACTORY
paragraph and a parameterized initialization method in the OBJECT paragraph:
1. In the parameterized factory creation method, do these steps:
a) Code INVOKE class-name NEW RETURNING objectRef to create an instance of class-name and to
give initial values to the instance data items that have VALUE clauses.
b) Invoke the parameterized initialization method on the instance (objectRef), passing BY VALUE the
arguments that were supplied to the factory method.
2. In the initialization method, code logic to complete the instance data initialization using the values
supplied through the formal parameters.
To create an instance of the COBOL class and properly initialize it, the client invokes the parameterized
factory method, passing BY VALUE the required arguments. The object reference returned to the client
is a local reference. If the client code is within a method, and the use of the returned object reference is
not limited to the duration of that method, the client code must convert the returned object reference to a
global reference by calling the JNI service NewGlobalRef.
“Example: defining a factory (with methods)” on page 625

related tasks
“Accessing JNI services” on page 633
“Managing local and global references” on page 635
“Invoking methods (INVOKE)” on page 612
“Defining a factory section” on page 622

related references
VALUE clause (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
INVOKE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Freeing instances of classes

You do not need to take any action to free individual object instances of any class. No syntax is available
for doing so. The Java runtime system automatically performs garbage collection, that is, it reclaims the
memory for objects that are no longer in use.
There could be times, however, when you need to explicitly free local or global references to objects
within a native COBOL client in order to permit garbage collection of the referenced objects to occur.

related tasks
“Managing local and global references” on page 635

Chapter 34. Writing object-oriented programs 617

Example: defining a client
The following example shows a small client program of the Account class.
The program does this:
• Invokes a factory method createAccount to create an Account instance with a default balance of zero
• Invokes the instance method credit to deposit $500 to the new account
• Invokes the instance method print to display the account status
(The Account class was shown in “Example: defining a method” on page 606.)

cbl dll,thread,pgmname(longmixed)
Identification division.
Program-id. "TestAccounts" recursive.
Environment division.
Configuration section.
Repository.
Class Account is "Account".
Data Division.
* Working data is declared in LOCAL-STORAGE instead of
* WORKING-STORAGE so that each thread has its own copy:
Local-storage section.
01 anAccount usage object reference Account.
*
Procedure division.
Test-Account-section.
Display "Test Account class"
* Create account 123456 with 0 balance:
Invoke Account "createAccount"
using by value 123456
returning anAccount
* Deposit 500 to the account:
Invoke anAccount "credit" using by value 500
Invoke anAccount "print"
Display space
*
Stop Run.
End program "TestAccounts".

“Example: defining a factory (with methods)” on page 625

related tasks
“Defining a factory method” on page 623
“Invoking factory or static
methods” on page 625
Chapter 16, “Compiling, linking, and running OO applications,” on page 281

Defining a subclass
You can make a class (called a subclass, derived class, or child class) a specialization of another class
(called a superclass, base class, or parent class).

A subclass inherits the methods and instance data of its superclasses, and is related to its superclasses
by an is-a relationship. For example, if subclass P inherits from superclass Q, and subclass Q inherits
from superclass S, then an instance of P is an instance of Q and also (by transitivity) an instance of S. An
instance of P inherits the methods and data of Q and S.
Using subclasses has several advantages:
• Reuse of code: Through inheritance, a subclass can reuse methods that already exist in a superclass.
• Specialization: In a subclass you can add new methods to handle cases that the superclass does not
handle. You can also add new data items that the superclass does not need.
• Change in action: A subclass can override a method that it inherits from a superclass by defining a
method of the same signature as that in the superclass. When you override a method, you might make
only a few minor changes or completely change what the method does.

618 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Restriction: You cannot use multiple inheritance in your COBOL programs. Each COBOL class that you
define must have exactly one immediate superclass that is implemented in Java or COBOL, and each
class must be derived directly or indirectly from java.lang.Object. The semantics of inheritance are as
defined by Java.
The structure and syntax of a subclass definition are identical to those of a class definition: Define
instance data and methods in the DATA DIVISION and PROCEDURE DIVISION, respectively, within the
OBJECT paragraph of the subclass definition. In subclasses that require data and methods that are to be
associated with the subclass itself rather than with individual object instances, define a separate DATA
DIVISION and PROCEDURE DIVISION within the FACTORY paragraph of the subclass definition.
COBOL instance data is private. A subclass can access the instance data of a COBOL superclass only if the
superclass defines attribute (get or set) instance methods for doing so.

“Example: accounts” on page 594

“Example: defining a subclass (with methods)” on page 621

related tasks
“Defining a class” on page 596
“Overriding an instance method” on page 604
“Coding attribute (get and set) methods” on page 605
“Defining a subclass instance method” on page 620
“Defining a factory section” on page 622

related references
The Java Language Specification (Inheritance, overriding, and hiding)
COBOL class definition structure (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

CLASS-ID paragraph for defining a subclass

Use the CLASS-ID paragraph to name the subclass and indicate from which immediate Java or COBOL
superclass it inherits its characteristics.

Identification Division. Required

Class-id. CheckingAccount inherits Account. Required

In the example above, CheckingAccount is the subclass being defined. CheckingAccount inherits all the
methods of the class known within the subclass definition as Account. CheckingAccount methods can
access Account instance data only if the Account class provides attribute (get or set) methods for doing
so.
You must specify the name of the immediate superclass in the REPOSITORY paragraph in the
CONFIGURATION SECTION of the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION. You can optionally associate the
superclass name with the name of the class as it is known externally. You can also specify the name of
the subclass that you are defining (here, CheckingAccount) in the REPOSITORY paragraph and associate it
with its corresponding external class-name.

related tasks
“CLASS-ID paragraph for
defining a class” on page 597
“Coding attribute (get and set) methods” on page 605
“REPOSITORY paragraph for
defining a subclass” on page 620

Chapter 34. Writing object-oriented programs 619

REPOSITORY paragraph for defining a subclass
Use the REPOSITORY paragraph to declare to the compiler that the specified words are class-names
when you use them within a subclass definition, and to optionally relate the class-names to the
corresponding external class-names (the class-names as they are known outside the compilation unit).
For example, in the CheckingAccount subclass definition, these REPOSITORY paragraph entries indicate
that the external class-names of the classes referred to as CheckingAccount, Check, and Account within
the subclass definition are CheckingAccount, Check, and Account, respectively.

Environment Division. Required

Configuration Section. Required
Repository. Required
Class CheckingAccount is "CheckingAccount" Optional
Class Check is "Check" Required
Class Account is "Account". Required

In the REPOSITORY paragraph, you must code an entry for each class-name that you explicitly reference
in the subclass definition. For example:
• A user-defined superclass from which the subclass that you are defining inherits
• The classes that you reference in methods within the subclass definition
The rules for coding REPOSITORY paragraph entries in a subclass are identical to those for coding
REPOSITORY paragraph entries in a class.

related tasks
“REPOSITORY paragraph for
defining a class” on page 598

related references
REPOSITORY paragraph (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

WORKING-STORAGE SECTION for defining subclass instance data

Use the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION in the DATA DIVISION of the subclass OBJECT paragraph to
describe any instance data that the subclass needs in addition to the instance data defined in its
superclasses. Use the same syntax that you use to define instance data in a class.
For example, the definition of the instance data for the CheckingAccount subclass of the Account class
might look like this:

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
Object.
DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 CheckFee pic S9(9) value 1.
. . .
End Object.

related tasks
“WORKING-STORAGE SECTION for defining class instance data” on page 599

Defining a subclass instance method

A subclass inherits the methods of its superclasses. In a subclass definition, you can override any
instance method that the subclass inherits by defining an instance method with the same signature as the
inherited method. You can also define new methods that the subclass needs.
The structure and syntax of a subclass instance method are identical to those of a class instance
method. Define subclass instance methods in the PROCEDURE DIVISION of the OBJECT paragraph of the
subclass definition.
“Example: defining a subclass (with methods)” on page 621

620 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 related tasks
“Defining a class instance method” on page 600
“Overriding an instance method” on page 604
“Overloading an instance method” on page 605

Example: defining a subclass (with methods)

The following example shows the instance method definitions for the CheckingAccount subclass of the
Account class.
The processCheck method invokes the Java instance methods getAmount and getPayee of the Check
class to get the check data. It invokes the credit and debit instance methods inherited from the
Account class to credit the payee and debit the payer of the check.
The print method overrides the print instance method defined in the Account class. It invokes the
overridden print method to display account status, and also displays the check fee. CheckFee is an
instance data item defined in the subclass.
(The Account class was shown in “Example: defining a method” on page 606.)

CheckingAccount class (subclass of Account)

cbl dll,thread,pgmname(longmixed)
Identification Division.
Class-id. CheckingAccount inherits Account.
Environment Division.
Configuration section.
Repository.
Class CheckingAccount is "CheckingAccount"
Class Check is "Check"
Class Account is "Account".
*
* (FACTORY paragraph not shown)
*
Identification division.
Object.
Data division.
Working-storage section.
01 CheckFee pic S9(9) value 1.
Procedure Division.
*
* processCheck method to get the check amount and payee,
* add the check fee, and invoke inherited methods debit
* to debit the payer and credit to credit the payee:
Identification Division.
Method-id. "processCheck".
Data division.
Local-storage section.
01 amount pic S9(9) binary.
01 payee usage object reference Account.
Linkage section.
01 aCheck usage object reference Check.
*
Procedure Division using by value aCheck.
Invoke aCheck "getAmount" returning amount
Invoke aCheck "getPayee" returning payee
Invoke payee "credit" using by value amount
Add checkFee to amount
Invoke self "debit" using by value amount.
End method "processCheck".
*
* print method override to display account status:
Identification Division.
Method-id. "print".
Data division.
Local-storage section.
01 printableFee pic $$,$$$,$$9.
Procedure Division.
Invoke super "print"
Move CheckFee to printableFee
Display " Check fee: " printableFee.
End method "print".
*
End Object.

Chapter 34. Writing object-oriented programs 621

 *
End class CheckingAccount.

related tasks
Chapter 16, “Compiling, linking, and running OO applications,” on page 281
“Invoking methods (INVOKE)” on page 612
“Overriding an instance method” on page 604
“Invoking overridden superclass
methods” on page 615

Defining a factory section

Use the FACTORY paragraph in a class definition to define data and methods that are to be associated
with the class itself rather than with individual object instances.

COBOL factory data is equivalent to Java private static data. A single copy of the data is instantiated for
the class and is shared by all object instances of the class. You most commonly use factory data when you
want to gather data from all the instances of a class. For example, you could define a factory data item to
keep a running total of the number of instances of the class that are created.
COBOL factory methods are equivalent to Java public static methods. The methods are supported by the
class independently of any object instance. You most commonly use factory methods to customize object
creation when you cannot use VALUE clauses alone to initialize instance data.
By contrast, you use the OBJECT paragraph in a class definition to define data that is created for each
object instance of the class, and methods that are supported for each object instance of the class.
A factory definition consists of three divisions, followed by an END FACTORY statement:

Table 82. Structure of factory definitions

Division Purpose Syntax
IDENTIFICATION Identify the start of the
(required) factory definition. IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
FACTORY.

DATA (optional) Describe data that is “WORKING-STORAGE SECTION for defining

allocated once for the class factory data” on page 623 (optional)
(as opposed to data allocated
for each instance of a class).
PROCEDURE Define factory methods. Factory method definitions: “Defining a factory
(optional) method” on page 623

“Example: defining a factory (with methods)” on page 625

related tasks
“Defining a class” on page 596
“Instantiating COBOL classes” on page 617
“Wrapping procedure-oriented COBOL programs” on page 630
“Structuring OO applications” on page 630

622 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION for defining factory data
Use the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION in the DATA DIVISION of the FACTORY paragraph to describe
the factory data that a COBOL class needs, that is, statically allocated data to be shared by all object
instances of the class.
The FACTORY keyword, which you must immediately precede with an IDENTIFICATION DIVISION
declaration, indicates the beginning of the definitions of the factory data and factory methods for the
class. For example, the definition of the factory data for the Account class might look like this:

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
Factory.
DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 NumberOfAccounts pic 9(6) value zero.
. . .
End Factory.

You can initialize simple factory data by using VALUE clauses as shown above.
COBOL factory data is equivalent to Java private static data. No other class or subclass (nor instance
method in the same class, if any) can reference COBOL factory data directly. Factory data is global to all
factory methods that the FACTORY paragraph defines. If you want to make factory data accessible from
outside the FACTORY paragraph, define factory attribute (get or set) methods for doing so.
related tasks
“Coding attribute (get and set) methods” on page 605
“Instantiating COBOL classes” on page 617

Defining a factory method

Define COBOL factory methods in the PROCEDURE DIVISION of the FACTORY paragraph of a class
definition. A factory method defines an operation that is supported by a class independently of any object
instance of the class. COBOL factory methods are equivalent to Java public static methods.
You typically define factory methods for classes whose instances require complex initialization, that is,
to values that you cannot assign by using VALUE clauses alone. Within a factory method you can invoke
instance methods to initialize the instance data. A factory method cannot directly access instance data.
You can code factory attribute (get and set) methods to make factory data accessible from outside
the FACTORY paragraph, for example, to make the data accessible from instance methods in the
same class or from a client program. For example, the Account class could define a factory method
getNumberOfAccounts to return the current tally of the number of accounts.
You can use factory methods to wrap procedure-oriented COBOL programs so that they are accessible
from Java programs. You can code a factory method called main to enable you to run an OO application
by using the java command, and to structure your applications in keeping with standard Java practice.
See the related tasks for details.
In defining factory methods, you use the same syntax that you use to define instance methods. A COBOL
factory method definition consists of four divisions (like a COBOL program), followed by an END METHOD
marker:

Table 83. Structure of factory method definitions

Division Purpose Syntax
IDENTIFICATION Same as for a class instance Same as for a class instance method (required)
(required) method
ENVIRONMENT Same as for a class instance Same as for a class instance method
(optional) method

Chapter 34. Writing object-oriented programs 623

 Table 83. Structure of factory method definitions (continued)
Division Purpose Syntax
DATA (optional) Same as for a class instance Same as for a class instance method
method
PROCEDURE Same as for a class instance Same as for a class instance method
(optional) method

Within a class definition, you do not need to make each factory method-name unique, but you do need
to give each factory method a unique signature. You can overload factory methods in exactly the same
way that you overload instance methods. For example, the CheckingAccount subclass provides two
versions of the factory method createCheckingAccount: one that initializes the account to have a default
balance of zero, and one that allows the opening balance to be passed in. Clients can invoke either
createCheckingAccount method by passing arguments that match the signature of the intended method.
If you define a data item with the same name in both the DATA DIVISION of a factory method and the
DATA DIVISION of the FACTORY paragraph, a reference in the method to that data-name refers only to
the method data item. The method DATA DIVISION takes precedence.
“Example: defining a factory (with methods)” on page 625
related tasks
“Structuring OO applications” on page 630
“Wrapping procedure-oriented COBOL programs” on page 630
“Instantiating COBOL classes” on page 617
“Defining a class instance method” on page 600
“Coding attribute (get and set) methods” on page 605
“Overloading an instance method” on page 605
“Hiding a factory or static
method” on page 624
“Invoking factory or static
methods” on page 625
“Using object-oriented COBOL and Java under IMS” on page 455

Hiding a factory or static method

A factory method defined in a subclass is said to hide an inherited COBOL or Java method that would
otherwise be accessible in the subclass if the two methods have the same signature.
To hide a superclass factory method f1 in a COBOL subclass, define a factory method f1 in the subclass
that has the same name and whose PROCEDURE DIVISION USING phrase (if any) has the same number
and type of formal parameters as the superclass method has. (If the superclass method is implemented
in Java, you must code formal parameters that are interoperable with the data types of the corresponding
Java parameters.) When a client invokes f1 using the subclass name, the subclass method rather than
the superclass method is invoked.

The presence or absence of a method return value and the data type of the return value used in the
PROCEDURE DIVISION RETURNING phrase (if any) must be identical in the subclass factory method and
the hidden superclass method.
A factory method must not hide an instance method in a Java or COBOL superclass.
“Example: defining a factory (with methods)” on page 625

related tasks
“Coding interoperable data types in COBOL and Java” on page 638
“Overriding an instance method” on page 604
“Invoking methods (INVOKE)” on page 612

624 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 related references
The Java Language Specification (Inheritance, overriding, and hiding)
The procedure division header (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Invoking factory or static methods

To invoke a COBOL factory method or Java static method in a COBOL method or client program, code the
class-name as the first operand of the INVOKE statement.

For example, a client program could invoke one of the overloaded CheckingAccount factory methods
called createCheckingAccount to create a checking account with account number 777777 and an opening
balance of $300 by coding this statement:

Invoke CheckingAccount "createCheckingAccount"

using by value 777777 300
returning aCheckingAccount

To invoke a factory method from within the same class in which you define the factory method, you also
use the class-name as the first operand in the INVOKE statement.
Code the name of the method to be invoked either as a literal or as an identifier whose value at run
time is the method-name. The method-name must be an alphanumeric or national literal or a category
alphabetic, alphanumeric, or national data item, and is interpreted in a case-sensitive manner.
If an invoked method is not supported in the class that you name in the INVOKE statement, a severity-3
Language Environment condition is raised at run time unless you code the ON EXCEPTION phrase in the
INVOKE statement.
The conformance requirements for passing arguments to a COBOL factory method or Java static method
in the USING phrase, and receiving a return value in the RETURNING phrase, are the same as those for
invoking instance methods.
“Example: defining a factory (with methods)” on page 625

related tasks
“Invoking methods (INVOKE)” on page 612
“Using national data (Unicode)
in COBOL” on page 129
“Coding interoperable data types in COBOL and Java” on page 638

related references
INVOKE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: defining a factory (with methods)

The following example updates the previous examples to show the definition of factory data and methods.
These updates are shown:
• The Account class adds factory data and a parameterized factory method, createAccount, which allows
an Account instance to be created using an account number that is passed in.
• The CheckingAccount subclass adds factory data and an overloaded parameterized factory method,
createCheckingAccount. One implementation of createCheckingAccount initializes the account with a
default balance of zero, and the other allows the opening balance to be passed in. Clients can invoke
either method by passing arguments that match the signature of the required method.
• The TestAccounts client invokes the services provided by the factory methods of the Account and
CheckingAccount classes, and instantiates the Java Check class.
• The output from the TestAccounts client program is shown.
(The previous examples were “Example: defining a method” on page 606, “Example: defining a client” on
page 618, and “Example: defining a subclass (with methods)” on page 621.)

Chapter 34. Writing object-oriented programs 625

 You can also find the complete source code for this example in the cobol/demo/oosample subdirectory
in the z/OS UNIX file system. Typically the complete path for the source is /usr/lpp/cobol/demo/
oosample. You can use the makefile there to compile and link the code.

Account class

cbl dll,thread,pgmname(longmixed)
Identification Division.
Class-id. Account inherits Base.
Environment Division.
Configuration section.
Repository.
Class Base is "java.lang.Object"
Class Account is "Account".
*
Identification division.
Factory.
Data division.
Working-storage section.
01 NumberOfAccounts pic 9(6) value zero.
*
Procedure Division.
*
* createAccount method to create a new Account
* instance, then invoke the OBJECT paragraph's init
* method on the instance to initialize its instance data:
Identification Division.
Method-id. "createAccount".
Data division.
Linkage section.
01 inAccountNumber pic S9(6) binary.
01 outAccount object reference Account.
* Facilitate access to JNI services:
Copy JNI.
Procedure Division using by value inAccountNumber
returning outAccount.
* Establish addressability to JNI environment structure:
Set address of JNIEnv to JNIEnvPtr
Set address of JNINativeInterface to JNIEnv
Invoke Account New returning outAccount
Invoke outAccount "init" using by value inAccountNumber
Add 1 to NumberOfAccounts.
End method "createAccount".
*
End Factory.
*
Identification division.
Object.
Data division.
Working-storage section.
01 AccountNumber pic 9(6).
01 AccountBalance pic S9(9) value zero.
*
Procedure Division.
*
* init method to initialize the account:
Identification Division.
Method-id. "init".
Data division.
Linkage section.
01 inAccountNumber pic S9(9) binary.
Procedure Division using by value inAccountNumber.
Move inAccountNumber to AccountNumber.
End method "init".
*
* getBalance method to return the account balance:
Identification Division.
Method-id. "getBalance".
Data division.
Linkage section.
01 outBalance pic S9(9) binary.
Procedure Division returning outBalance.
Move AccountBalance to outBalance.
End method "getBalance".
*
* credit method to deposit to the account:
Identification Division.
Method-id. "credit".

626 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Data division.
Linkage section.
01 inCredit pic S9(9) binary.
Procedure Division using by value inCredit.
Add inCredit to AccountBalance.
End method "credit".
*
* debit method to withdraw from the account:
Identification Division.
Method-id. "debit".
Data division.
Linkage section.
01 inDebit pic S9(9) binary.
Procedure Division using by value inDebit.
Subtract inDebit from AccountBalance.
End method "debit".
*
* print method to display formatted account number and balance:
Identification Division.
Method-id. "print".
Data division.
Local-storage section.
01 PrintableAccountNumber pic ZZZZZZ999999.
01 PrintableAccountBalance pic $$$$,$$$,$$9CR.
Procedure Division.
Move AccountNumber to PrintableAccountNumber
Move AccountBalance to PrintableAccountBalance
Display " Account: " PrintableAccountNumber
Display " Balance: " PrintableAccountBalance.
End method "print".
*
End Object.
*
End class Account.

CheckingAccount class (subclass of Account)

cbl dll,thread,pgmname(longmixed)
Identification Division.
Class-id. CheckingAccount inherits Account.
Environment Division.
Configuration section.
Repository.
Class CheckingAccount is "CheckingAccount"
Class Check is "Check"
Class Account is "Account".
*
Identification division.
Factory.
Data division.
Working-storage section.
01 NumberOfCheckingAccounts pic 9(6) value zero.
*
Procedure Division.
*
* createCheckingAccount overloaded method to create a new
* CheckingAccount instance with a default balance, invoke
* inherited instance method init to initialize the account
* number, and increment factory data tally of checking accounts:
Identification Division.
Method-id. "createCheckingAccount".
Data division.
Linkage section.
01 inAccountNumber pic S9(6) binary.
01 outCheckingAccount object reference CheckingAccount.
* Facilitate access to JNI services:
Copy JNI.
Procedure Division using by value inAccountNumber
returning outCheckingAccount.
* Establish addressability to JNI environment structure:
Set address of JNIEnv to JNIEnvPtr
Set address of JNINativeInterface to JNIEnv
Invoke CheckingAccount New returning outCheckingAccount
Invoke outCheckingAccount "init"
using by value inAccountNumber
Add 1 to NumberOfCheckingAccounts.
End method "createCheckingAccount".
*
* createCheckingAccount overloaded method to create a new

Chapter 34. Writing object-oriented programs 627

 * CheckingAccount instance, invoke inherited instance methods
* init to initialize the account number and credit to set the
* balance, and increment factory data tally of checking accounts:
Identification Division.
Method-id. "createCheckingAccount".
Data division.
Linkage section.
01 inAccountNumber pic S9(6) binary.
01 inInitialBalance pic S9(9) binary.
01 outCheckingAccount object reference CheckingAccount.
Copy JNI.
Procedure Division using by value inAccountNumber
inInitialBalance
returning outCheckingAccount.
Set address of JNIEnv to JNIEnvPtr
Set address of JNINativeInterface to JNIEnv
Invoke CheckingAccount New returning outCheckingAccount
Invoke outCheckingAccount "init"
using by value inAccountNumber
Invoke outCheckingAccount "credit"
using by value inInitialBalance
Add 1 to NumberOfCheckingAccounts.
End method "createCheckingAccount".
*
End Factory.
*
Identification division.
Object.
Data division.
Working-storage section.
01 CheckFee pic S9(9) value 1.
Procedure Division.
*
* processCheck method to get the check amount and payee,
* add the check fee, and invoke inherited methods debit
* to debit the payer and credit to credit the payee:
Identification Division.
Method-id. "processCheck".
Data division.
Local-storage section.
01 amount pic S9(9) binary.
01 payee usage object reference Account.
Linkage section.
01 aCheck usage object reference Check.
Procedure Division using by value aCheck.
Invoke aCheck "getAmount" returning amount
Invoke aCheck "getPayee" returning payee
Invoke payee "credit" using by value amount
Add checkFee to amount
Invoke self "debit" using by value amount.
End method "processCheck".
*
* print method override to display account status:
Identification Division.
Method-id. "print".
Data division.
Local-storage section.
01 printableFee pic $$,$$$,$$9.
Procedure Division.
Invoke super "print"
Move CheckFee to printableFee
Display " Check fee: " printableFee.
End method "print".
*
End Object.
*
End class CheckingAccount.

Check class

/**
* A Java class for check information
*/
public class Check {
private CheckingAccount payer;
private Account payee;
private int amount;

public Check(CheckingAccount inPayer, Account inPayee, int inAmount) {

628 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 payer=inPayer;
payee=inPayee;
amount=inAmount;
}

public int getAmount() {

return amount;
}

public Account getPayee() {

return payee;
}
}

TestAccounts client program

cbl dll,thread,pgmname(longmixed)
Identification division.
Program-id. "TestAccounts" recursive.
Environment division.
Configuration section.
Repository.
Class Account is "Account"
Class CheckingAccount is "CheckingAccount"
Class Check is "Check".
Data Division.
* Working data is declared in Local-storage
* so that each thread has its own copy:
Local-storage section.
01 anAccount usage object reference Account.
01 aCheckingAccount usage object reference CheckingAccount.
01 aCheck usage object reference Check.
01 payee usage object reference Account.
*
Procedure division.
Test-Account-section.
Display "Test Account class"
* Create account 123456 with 0 balance:
Invoke Account "createAccount"
using by value 123456
returning anAccount
* Deposit 500 to the account:
Invoke anAccount "credit" using by value 500
Invoke anAccount "print"
Display space
*
Display "Test CheckingAccount class"
* Create checking account 777777 with balance of 300:
Invoke CheckingAccount "createCheckingAccount"
using by value 777777 300
returning aCheckingAccount
* Set account 123456 as the payee:
Set payee to anAccount
* Initialize check for 125 to be paid by account 777777 to payee:
Invoke Check New
using by value aCheckingAccount, payee, 125
returning aCheck
* Debit the payer, and credit the payee:
Invoke aCheckingAccount "processCheck"
using by value aCheck
Invoke aCheckingAccount "print"
Invoke anAccount "print"
*
Stop Run.
End program "TestAccounts".

Output produced by the TestAccounts client program

Test Account class

Account: 123456
Balance: $500

Test CheckingAccount class

Account: 777777
Balance: $174
Check fee: $1

Chapter 34. Writing object-oriented programs 629

 Account: 123456
Balance: $625

related tasks
“Creating and initializing
instances of classes” on page 616
“Defining a factory method” on page 623
“Invoking factory or static
methods” on page 625
Chapter 16, “Compiling, linking, and running OO applications,” on page 281

Wrapping procedure-oriented COBOL programs

A wrapper is a class that provides an interface between object-oriented code and procedure-oriented
code. Factory methods provide a convenient means for writing wrappers for existing procedural COBOL
code to make it accessible from Java programs.
To wrap COBOL code, do these steps:
1. Create a simple COBOL class that contains a FACTORY paragraph.
2. In the FACTORY paragraph, code a factory method that uses a CALL statement to call the procedural
program.
A Java program can invoke the factory method by using a static method invocation expression, thus
invoking the COBOL procedural program.

related tasks
“Defining a class” on page 596
“Defining a factory section” on page 622
“Defining a factory method” on page 623

Structuring OO applications
You can structure applications that use object-oriented COBOL syntax in one of three ways.
An OO application can begin with:
• A COBOL program, which can have any name.
Under z/OS UNIX, you can run the application by specifying the name of the linked module (which
should match the program name) at the command prompt. You can also bind the program as a module
in a PDSE and run it in JCL using the EXEC PGM statement.
• A Java class definition that contains a method called main. Declare main as public, static, and
void, with a single parameter of type String[].
You can run the application with the java command, specifying the name of the class that contains
main, and zero or more strings as command-line arguments.
• A COBOL class definition that contains a factory method called main. Declare main with no RETURNING
phrase and a single USING parameter, an object reference to a class that is an array with elements of
type java.lang.String. (Thus main is in effect public, static, and void, with a single parameter of type
String[].)
You can run the application with the java command, specifying the name of the class that contains
main, and zero or more strings as command-line arguments.
Structure an OO application this way if you want to:
– Run the application by using the java command.
– Run the application in an environment where applications must start with the main method of a Java
class (such as a Java dependent region).
– Follow standard Java programming practice.

630 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 “Examples: COBOL applications that run using the java command” on page 631

related tasks
Chapter 16, “Compiling, linking, and running OO applications,” on page 281
“Defining a factory method” on page 623
“Declaring arrays and strings for Java” on page 638
Chapter 22, “Developing COBOL programs for IMS,” on page 451

Examples: COBOL applications that run using the java command

The following examples show COBOL class definitions that contain a factory method called main.

In each case, main has no RETURNING phrase and has a single USING parameter, an object reference to
a class that is an array with elements of type java.lang.String. You can run these applications by using the
java command.

Displaying a message

cbl dll,thread
Identification Division.
Class-id. CBLmain inherits Base.
Environment Division.
Configuration section.
Repository.
Class Base is "java.lang.Object"
Class stringArray is "jobjectArray:java.lang.String"
Class CBLmain is "CBLmain".
*
Identification Division.
Factory.
Procedure division.
*
Identification Division.
Method-id. "main".
Data division.
Linkage section.
01 SA usage object reference stringArray.
Procedure division using by value SA.
Display " >> COBOL main method entered"
.
End method "main".
End factory.
End class CBLmain.

Echoing the input strings

cbl dll,thread,pgmname(longmixed),ssrange
Identification Division.
Class-id. Echo inherits Base.
Environment Division.
Configuration section.
Repository.
Class Base is "java.lang.Object"
Class stringArray is "jobjectArray:java.lang.String"
Class jstring is "java.lang.String"
Class Echo is "Echo".
*
Identification Division.
Factory.
Procedure division.
*
Identification Division.
Method-id. "main".
Data division.
Local-storage section.
01 SAlen pic s9(9) binary.
01 I pic s9(9) binary.
01 SAelement object reference jstring.
01 SAelementlen pic s9(9) binary.

Chapter 34. Writing object-oriented programs 631

 01 Sbuffer pic X(65535).
01 P pointer.
Linkage section.
01 SA object reference stringArray.
Copy "JNI.cpy" suppress.
Procedure division using by value SA.
Set address of JNIEnv to JNIEnvPtr
Set address of JNINativeInterface to JNIEnv
Call GetArrayLength using by value JNIEnvPtr SA
returning SAlen
Display "Input string array length: " SAlen
Display "Input strings:"
Perform varying I from 0 by 1 until I = SAlen
Call GetObjectArrayElement
using by value JNIEnvPtr SA I
returning SAelement
Call "GetStringPlatformLength"
using by value JNIEnvPtr
SAelement
address of SAelementlen
0
Call "GetStringPlatform"
using by value JNIEnvPtr
SAelement
address of Sbuffer
length of Sbuffer
0
Display Sbuffer(1:SAelementlen)
End-perform
.
End method "main".
End factory.
End class Echo.

related tasks
Chapter 16, “Compiling, linking, and running OO applications,” on page 281
“Defining a factory method” on page 623
Chapter 35, “Communicating with Java methods,” on page 633

632 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 35. Communicating with Java methods
To achieve interlanguage interoperability with Java, you need to follow certain rules and guidelines for
using services in the Java Native Interface (JNI), coding data types, and compiling COBOL programs.
You can invoke methods that are written in Java from COBOL programs, and you can invoke methods that
are written in COBOL from Java programs. You need to code COBOL object-oriented language for basic
Java object capabilities. For additional Java capabilities, you can call JNI services.
Because Java programs might be multithreaded and use asynchronous signals, compile COBOL programs
with the THREAD option.
“Example: J2EE client written in COBOL” on page 645
“Example: invoking Java from a batch COBOL program” on page 648

related tasks
Chapter 16, “Compiling, linking, and running OO applications,” on page 281
“Accessing JNI services” on page 633
“Sharing data with Java” on page 637
Chapter 34, “Writing object-oriented programs,” on page 593
Chapter 28, “Preparing COBOL programs
for multithreading,” on page 517

related references
JDK 5.0 Documentation

Accessing JNI services

The Java Native Interface (JNI) provides many callable services that you can use when you develop
applications that mix COBOL and Java. To facilitate access to these services, copy JNI.cpy into the
LINKAGE SECTION of your COBOL program.
The JNI.cpy copybook contains these definitions:
• COBOL data definitions that correspond to the Java JNI types
• JNINativeInterface, the JNI environment structure that contains function pointers for accessing the
callable service functions
You obtain the JNI environment structure by two levels of indirection from the JNI environment pointer,
as the following illustration shows:

Use the special register JNIEnvPtr to reference the JNI environment pointer to obtain the address for
the JNI environment structure. JNIEnvPtr is implicitly defined as USAGE POINTER; do not use it as a
receiving data item. Before you reference the contents of the JNI environment structure, you must code
the following statements to establish its addressability:

Linkage section.
COPY JNI

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 633

 . . .
Procedure division.
Set address of JNIEnv to JNIEnvPtr
Set address of JNINativeInterface to JNIEnv
. . .

The code above sets the addresses of the following items:

• JNIEnv, a pointer data item that JNI.cpy provides. JNIEnvPtr is the COBOL special register that
contains the environment pointer.
• JNINativeInterface, the COBOL group structure that JNI.cpy contains. This structure maps the JNI
environment structure, which contains an array of function pointers for the JNI callable services.
After you code the statements above, you can access the JNI callable services with CALL statements that
reference the function pointers. You can pass the JNIEnvPtr special register as the first argument to the
services that require the environment pointer, as shown in the following example:

01 InputArrayObj usage object reference jlongArray.

01 ArrayLen pic S9(9) comp-5.
. . .
Call GetArrayLength using by value JNIEnvPtr InputArrayObj
returning ArrayLen

Important: Pass all arguments to the JNI callable services by value.

Some JNI callable services require a Java class-object reference as an argument. To obtain a reference to
the class object that is associated with a class, use one of the following JNI callable services:
• GetObjectClass
• FindClass
Restriction: The JNI environment pointer is thread specific. Do not pass it from one thread to another.

related tasks
“Managing local and global references” on page 635
“Handling Java exceptions” on page 634
“Coding interoperable data types in COBOL and Java” on page 638
“Defining a client” on page 608

related references
Appendix F, “JNI.cpy copybook,” on page 743
The Java Native Interface

Handling Java exceptions

Use JNI services to throw and catch Java exceptions.

Throwing an exception: Use one of the following services to throw a Java exception from a COBOL
method:
• Throw
• ThrowNew
You must make the thrown object an instance of a subclass of java.lang.Throwable.
The Java virtual machine (JVM) does not recognize and process the thrown exception until the method
that contains the call has completed and returned to the JVM.

Catching an exception: After you invoke a method that might have thrown a Java exception, you can do
these steps:
1. Test whether an exception occurred.
2. If an exception occurred, process the exception.
3. Clear the exception, if clearing is appropriate.

634 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Use the following JNI services:
• ExceptionOccurred
• ExceptionCheck
• ExceptionDescribe
• ExceptionClear
To do error analysis, use the methods supported by the exception object that is returned. This object is an
instance of the java.lang.Throwable class.
“Example: handling Java exceptions” on page 635

Example: handling Java exceptions

The following example shows the use of JNI services for catching an exception from Java and the use of
the printStackTrace method of java.lang.Throwable for error analysis.

Repository.
Class JavaException is "java.lang.Exception".
. . .
Local-storage section.
01 ex usage object reference JavaException.
Linkage section.
COPY "JNI.cpy".
. . .
Procedure division.
Set address of JNIEnv to JNIEnvPtr
Set address of JNINativeInterface to JNIEnv
. . .
Invoke anObj "someMethod"
Perform ErrorCheck
. . .
ErrorCheck.
Call ExceptionOccurred
using by value JNIEnvPtr
returning ex
If ex not = null then
Call ExceptionClear using by value JNIEnvPtr
Display "Caught an unexpected exception"
Invoke ex "printStackTrace"
Stop run
End-if

Managing local and global references

The Java virtual machine tracks the object references that you use in native methods, such as COBOL
methods. This tracking ensures that the objects are not prematurely released during garbage collection.
There are two classes of such references:

Local references
Local references are valid only while the method that you invoke runs. Automatic freeing of the local
references occurs after the native method returns.
Global references
Global references remain valid until you explicitly delete them. You can create global references from
local references by using the JNI service NewGlobalRef.
The following object references are always local:
• Object references that are received as method parameters
• Object references that are returned as the method RETURNING value from a method invocation
• Object references that are returned by a call to a JNI function
• Object references that you create by using the INVOKE . . . NEW statement

Chapter 35. Communicating with Java methods 635

 You can pass either a local reference or a global reference as an object reference argument to a JNI
service.
You can code methods to return either local or global references as RETURNING values. However, in either
case, the reference that is received by the invoking program is a local reference.
You can pass either local or global references as USING arguments in a method invocation. However, in
either case, the reference that is received by the invoked method is a local reference.
Local references are valid only in the thread in which you create them. Do not pass them from one thread
to another.

related tasks
“Accessing JNI services” on page 633
“Deleting, saving, and freeing local references” on page 636

Deleting, saving, and freeing local references

You can manually delete local references at any point within a method. Save local references only in
object references that you define in the LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION of a method.

Use a SET statement to convert a local reference to a global reference if you want to save a reference in
any of these data items:
• An object instance variable
• A factory variable
• A data item in the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION of a method
Otherwise, an error occurs. These storage areas persist when a method returns; therefore a local
reference is no longer valid.
In most cases you can rely on the automatic freeing of local references that occurs when a method
returns. However, in some cases you should explicitly free a local reference within a method by using the
JNI service DeleteLocalRef. Here are two situations where explicit freeing is appropriate:
• In a method you access a large object, thereby creating a local reference to the object. After extensive
computations, the method returns. Free the large object if you do not need it for the additional
computations, because the local reference prevents the object from being released during garbage
collection.
• You create a large number of local references in a method, but do not use all of them at the same time.
Because the Java virtual machine requires space to keep track of each local reference, you should free
those that you no longer need. Freeing the local references helps prevent the system from running out
of memory.
For example, in a COBOL method you loop through a large array of objects, retrieve the elements as
local references, and operate on one element at each iteration. You can free the local reference to the
array element after each iteration.

Use the following callable services to manage local references and global references.

Table 84. JNI services for local and global references

Service Input arguments Return value Purpose
NewGlobalRef • The JNI environment The global reference, or To create a new global
pointer NULL if the system is out reference to the object
of memory that the input object
• A local or global object reference refers to
reference

636 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 84. JNI services for local and global references (continued)
Service Input arguments Return value Purpose
DeleteGlobalRef • The JNI environment None To delete a global
pointer reference to the object
that the input object
• A global object reference refers to
reference

DeleteLocalRef • The JNI environment None To delete a local reference

pointer to the object that the
input object reference
• A local object reference refers to

related tasks
“Accessing JNI services” on page 633

Java access controls

The Java access modifiers protected and private are not enforced when you use the Java Native
Interface. Therefore a COBOL program could invoke a protected or private Java method that is not
invocable from a Java client. This usage is not recommended.

Sharing data with Java

You can share the COBOL data types that have Java equivalents. (Some COBOL data types have Java
equivalents, but others do not.)
Share data items with Java in these ways:
• Pass them as arguments in the USING phrase of an INVOKE statement.
• Receive them as parameters in the USING phrase from a Java method.
• Receive them as the RETURNING value in an INVOKE statement.
• Return them as the value in the RETURNING phrase of the PROCEDURE DIVISION header in a COBOL
method.
To pass or receive arrays and strings, declare them as object references:
• Declare an array as an object reference that contains an instance of one of the special array classes.
• Declare a string as an object reference that contains an instance of the jstring class.

related tasks
“Coding interoperable data types in COBOL and Java” on page 638
“Declaring arrays and strings for Java” on page 638
“Manipulating Java arrays” on page 640
“Manipulating Java strings” on page 642
“Invoking methods (INVOKE)” on page 612
Chapter 26, “Sharing data,” on page 491

Chapter 35. Communicating with Java methods 637

Coding interoperable data types in COBOL and Java
Your COBOL program can use only certain data types when communicating with Java.

Table 85. Interoperable data types in COBOL and Java

Primitive Java data Corresponding COBOL data type
type
boolean1 PIC X followed by exactly two condition-names of this form:

level-number data-name PIC X.

88 data-name-false value X'00'.
88 data-name-true value X'01' through X'FF'.

byte1 Single-byte alphanumeric: PIC X or PIC A

short USAGE BINARY, COMP, COMP-4, or COMP-5, with PICTURE clause of the form
S9(n), where 1<=n<=4
int USAGE BINARY, COMP, COMP-4, or COMP-5, with PICTURE clause of the form
S9(n), where 5<=n<=9
long USAGE BINARY, COMP, COMP-4, or COMP-5, with PICTURE clause of the form
S9(n), where 10<=n<=18
float2 USAGE COMP-1
double2 USAGE COMP-2
char Single-character elementary national: PIC N USAGE NATIONAL. (Cannot be
a national group.)
class types (object USAGE OBJECT REFERENCE class-name
references)

1. You must distinguish boolean from byte, because they each correspond to PIC X. PIC X is
interpreted as boolean only if you define an argument or a parameter with the two condition-names
as shown. Otherwise, a PIC X data item is interpreted as the Java byte type.
2. Java floating-point data is formatted according to the IEEE Standard for Binary Floating Point
Arithmetic. Enterprise COBOL, however, uses hexadecimal floating-point representation. When you
pass floating-point arguments by using an INVOKE statement, or you receive floating-point data from
a Java method, the arguments and data are automatically converted as needed.

related tasks
“Using national data (Unicode)
in COBOL” on page 129

Declaring arrays and strings for Java

When you communicate with Java, declare arrays by using the special array classes, and declare strings
by using jstring. Code the COBOL data types shown in the table below.

Table 86. Interoperable arrays and strings in COBOL and Java

Java data type Corresponding COBOL data type
boolean[ ] object reference jbooleanArray
byte[ ] object reference jbyteArray
short[ ] object reference jshortArray
int[ ] object reference jintArray

638 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 86. Interoperable arrays and strings in COBOL and Java (continued)
Java data type Corresponding COBOL data type
long[ ] object reference jlongArray
char[ ] object reference jcharArray
Object[ ] object reference jobjectArray
String object reference jstring

To use one of these classes for interoperability with Java, you must code an entry in the REPOSITORY
paragraph. For example:

Configuration section.
Repository.
Class jbooleanArray is "jbooleanArray".

The REPOSITORY paragraph entry for an object array type must specify an external class-name in one of
these forms:

"jobjectArray"
"jobjectArray:external-classname-2"

In the first case, the REPOSITORY entry specifies an array class in which the elements of the array are
objects of type java.lang.Object. In the second case, the REPOSITORY entry specifies an array class in
which the elements of the array are objects of type external-classname-2. Code a colon as the separator
between the specification of the jobjectArray type and the external class-name of the array elements.
The following example shows both cases. In the example, oa defines an array of elements that are
objects of type java.lang.Object. aDepartment defines an array of elements that are objects of type
com.acme.Employee.

Environment Division.
Configuration Section.
Repository.
Class jobjectArray is "jobjectArray"
Class Employee is "com.acme.Employee"
Class Department is "jobjectArray:com.acme.Employee".
. . .
Linkage section.
01 oa usage object reference jobjectArray.
01 aDepartment usage object reference Department.
. . .
Procedure division using by value aDepartment.
. . .

“Examples: COBOL applications that run using the java command” on page 631
The following Java array types are currently not supported for interoperation with COBOL programs.

Table 87. Noninteroperable array types in COBOL and Java

Java data type Corresponding COBOL data type
float[ ] object reference jfloatArray
double[ ] object reference jdoubleArray

related tasks
“REPOSITORY paragraph for
defining a class” on page 598

Chapter 35. Communicating with Java methods 639

Manipulating Java arrays
To represent an array in a COBOL program, code a group item that contains a single elementary item
that is of the data type that corresponds to the Java type of the array. Specify an OCCURS or OCCURS
DEPENDING ON clause that is appropriate for the array.
For example, the following code specifies a structure to receive 500 or fewer integer values from a
jlongArray object:

01 longArray.
02 X pic S9(10) comp-5 occurs 1 to 500 times depending on N.

To operate on objects of the special Java-array classes, call the services that the JNI provides. You can
use services to access and set individual elements of an array and for the following purposes, using the
services cited:

Table 88. JNI array services

Service Input arguments Return value Purpose
GetArrayLength • The JNI environment pointer The array length To get the number of
as a binary elements in a Java
• The array object reference fullword integer array object
NewBooleanArray, • The JNI environment pointer The array object To create a new Java
NewByteArray, NewCharArray, reference, or NULL array object
NewShortArray, NewIntArray, • The number of elements in if the array cannot
the array, as a binary fullword
NewLongArray be constructed
integer

GetBooleanArrayElements, • The JNI environment pointer A pointer to the To extract the array
GetByteArrayElements, storage buffer elements from a Java
• The array object reference
GetCharArrayElements, array into a storage
GetShortArrayElements, • A pointer to a boolean item. buffer. The services
GetIntArrayElements, If the pointer is not null, return a pointer to
GetLongArrayElements the boolean item is set to the storage buffer,
true if a copy of the array which you can use
elements was made. If a copy as the address of a
was made, the corresponding COBOL group data
ReleasexxxArrayElements item defined in the
service must be called if LINKAGE SECTION.
changes are to be written back
to the array object.

ReleaseBooleanArrayElements • The JNI environment pointer None; the storage To release the
, ReleaseByteArrayElements, for the array is storage buffer that
• The array object reference
ReleaseCharArrayElements, released. contains elements
ReleaseShortArrayElements, • A pointer to the storage buffer that have been
ReleaseIntArrayElements, • The release mode, as a binary extracted from a
ReleaseLongArrayElements fullword integer. See Java Java array, and
JNI documentation for details. conditionally map the
(Recommendation: Specify 0 to updated array values
copy back the array content and back into the array
free the storage buffer.) object

640 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 88. JNI array services (continued)
Service Input arguments Return value Purpose
NewObjectArray • The JNI environment pointer The array object To create a new Java
reference, or NULL object array
• The number of elements in if the array cannot
the array, as a binary fullword be constructed1
integer
• An object reference for the array
element class
• An object reference for the
initial element value. All array
elements are set to this value.

GetObjectArrayElement • The JNI environment pointer An object To return the element

reference2 at a given index
• The array object reference within an object array
• An array element index, as a
binary fullword integer using
origin zero

SetObjectArrayElement • The JNI environment pointer None3 To set an element

within an object array
• The array object reference
• The array element index, as
a binary fullword integer using
origin zero
• The object reference for the new
value

1. NewObjectArray throws an exception if the system runs out of memory.

2. GetObjectArrayElement throws an exception if the index is not valid.
3. SetObjectArrayElement throws an exception if the index is not valid or if the new value is not a subclass of
the element class of the array.

“Examples: COBOL applications that run using the java command” on page 631
“Example: processing a Java integer
array” on page 641

related tasks
“Coding interoperable data types in COBOL and Java” on page 638
“Declaring arrays and strings for Java” on page 638
“Accessing JNI services” on page 633

Example: processing a Java integer array

The following example shows the use of the Java-array classes and JNI services to process a Java integer
array in COBOL.

cbl thread,dll
Identification division.
Class-id. OOARRAY inherits Base.
Environment division.
Configuration section.
Repository.
Class Base is "java.lang.Object"
Class jintArray is "jintArray".

Chapter 35. Communicating with Java methods 641

 Identification division.
Object.
Procedure division.
Identification division.
Method-id. "ProcessArray".
Data Division.
Local-storage section.
01 intArrayPtr pointer.
01 intArrayLen pic S9(9) comp-5.
Linkage section.
COPY JNI.
01 inIntArrayObj usage object reference jintArray.
01 intArrayGroup.
02 X pic S9(9) comp-5
occurs 1 to 1000 times depending on intArrayLen.
Procedure division using by value inIntArrayObj.
Set address of JNIEnv to JNIEnvPtr
Set address of JNINativeInterface to JNIEnv

Call GetArrayLength
using by value JNIEnvPtr inIntArrayObj
returning intArrayLen
Call GetIntArrayElements
using by value JNIEnvPtr inIntArrayObj 0
returning IntArrayPtr
Set address of intArrayGroup to intArrayPtr

* . . . process the array elements X(I) . . .

Call ReleaseIntArrayElements
using by value JNIEnvPtr inIntArrayObj intArrayPtr 0.
End method "ProcessArray".
End Object.
End class OOARRAY.

Manipulating Java strings

COBOL represents Java String data in Unicode. To represent a Java String in a COBOL program, declare
the string as an object reference of the jstring class. Then use JNI services to set or extract COBOL
alphanumeric or national (Unicode) data from the object.
Services for Unicode: Use the following standard services to convert between jstring object references
and COBOL USAGE NATIONAL data items. Use these services for applications that you intend to be
portable between the workstation and the mainframe. Access these services by using function pointers in
the JNINativeInterface environment structure.

Table 89. Services that convert between jstring references and national data
Service Input arguments Return value
NewString1 • The JNI environment pointer jstring object reference
• A pointer to a Unicode string, such
as a COBOL national data item
• The number of characters in the
string; binary fullword

GetStringLength • The JNI environment pointer The number of Unicode characters in the jstring
object reference; binary fullword
• A jstring object reference

642 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 89. Services that convert between jstring references and national data (continued)
Service Input arguments Return value
GetStringChars1 • The JNI environment pointer • A pointer to the array of Unicode characters
• A jstring object reference extracted from the jstring object, or NULL if the
operation fails. The pointer is valid until it is
• A pointer to a boolean data item, or released with ReleaseStringChars.
NULL
• If the pointer to the boolean data item is not
null, the boolean value is set to true if a copy
is made of the string and to false if no copy is
made.

ReleaseStringChars • The JNI environment pointer None; the storage for the array is released.
• A jstring object reference
• A pointer to the array of Unicode
characters that was returned from
GetStringChars

1. This service throws an exception if the system runs out of memory.

Services for EBCDIC: Use the following z/OS services, an extension of the JNI, to convert between jstring
object references and COBOL alphanumeric data (PIC X(n)).

Table 90. Services that convert between jstring references and alphanumeric data
Service Input arguments Return value
NewStringPlatform • The JNI environment pointer Return code as a binary fullword
integer:
• Pointer to the null-terminated EBCDIC
character string that you want to convert 0
to a jstring object Success.
• Pointer to the jstring object reference in -1
which you want the result Malformed input or illegal input
character.
• Pointer to the Java encoding name
for the string, represented as a null- -2
terminated EBCDIC character string1 Unsupported encoding; the jstring
object reference pointer is set to
NULL.

Chapter 35. Communicating with Java methods 643

Table 90. Services that convert between jstring references and alphanumeric data (continued)
Service Input arguments Return value
GetStringPlatformLength • The JNI environment pointer Return code as a binary fullword
integer:
• jstring object reference for which you
want the length 0
Success.
• Pointer to a binary fullword integer for
the result -1
Malformed input or illegal input
• Pointer to the Java encoding name
character.
for the string, represented as a null-
terminated EBCDIC character string1 -2
Unsupported encoding; the jstring
object reference pointer is set to
NULL.
Returns, in the third argument,
the needed length in bytes of the
output buffer to hold the converted
Java string, including the terminating
null byte referenced by the second
argument.

GetStringPlatform • The JNI environment pointer Return code as a binary fullword

integer:
• jstring object reference that you want to
convert to a null-terminated string 0
Success.
• Pointer to the output buffer in which you
want the converted string -1
Malformed input or illegal input
• Length of the output buffer as a binary
character.
fullword integer
-2
• Pointer to the Java encoding name
Unsupported encoding; the
for the string, represented as a null-
output string is set to a null
terminated EBCDIC character string1
string.
-3
Conversion buffer is full.

1. If the pointer is NULL, the encoding from the Java file.encoding property is used.

These EBCDIC services are packaged as a DLL that is part of your IBM Java Software Development Kit. For
details about the services, see jni_convert.h in the IBM Java Software Development Kit.
Use CALL literal statements to call the services. The calls are resolved through the libjvm.x DLL side
file, which you must include in the link step of any COBOL program that uses object-oriented language.
For example, the following code creates a Java String object from the EBCDIC string 'MyConverter'. (This
code fragment is from the J2EE client program, which is shown in full in “Example: J2EE client written in
COBOL” on page 645.)

Move z"MyConverter" to stringBuf

Call "NewStringPlatform"
using by value JNIEnvPtr
address of stringBuf
address of jstring1
0
returning rc

644 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 If the EBCDIC services are the only JNI services that you call from a COBOL program, you do not need to
copy the JNI.cpy copybook. You also do not need to establish addressability with the JNI environment
pointer.
Services for UTF-8: The Java Native Interface also provides services for conversion between jstring
object references and UTF-8 strings. These services are not recommended for use in COBOL programs
due to the difficulty in handling UTF-8 character strings on the z/OS platform.

related tasks
“Accessing JNI services” on page 633
“Coding interoperable data types in COBOL and Java” on page 638
“Declaring arrays and strings for Java” on page 638
“Using national data (Unicode)
in COBOL” on page 129
Chapter 16, “Compiling, linking, and running OO applications,” on page 281

Example: J2EE client written in COBOL

The following example shows a COBOL client program that can access enterprise beans that run on a
J2EE-compliant EJB server.
The COBOL client is equivalent to the J2EE client program in the Getting Started section of the
Java 2 Enterprise Edition Developer's Guide. For your convenience in comparing implementations, the
second example shows the equivalent Java client from the guide. (The enterprise bean is the Java
implementation of the simple currency-converter enterprise bean, and is in the same guide.)
You can find an alternate version of the Java enterprise bean and client code in The Java EE 5 Tutorial,
referenced below.

COBOL client (ConverterClient.cbl)

Process pgmname(longmixed),dll,thread
*****************************************************************
* Demo J2EE client written in COBOL. *
* *
* Based on the sample J2EE client written in Java, which is *
* given in the "Getting Started" chapter of "The Java(TM) 2 *
* Enterprise Edition Developer's Guide." *
* *
* The client: *
* - Locates the home interface of a session enterprise bean *
* (a simple currency converter bean) *
* - Creates an enterprise bean instance *
* - Invokes a business method (currency conversion) *
*****************************************************************
Identification division.
Program-id. "ConverterClient" is recursive.
Environment Division.
Configuration section.
Repository.
Class InitialContext is "javax.naming.InitialContext"
Class PortableRemoteObject
is "javax.rmi.PortableRemoteObject"
Class JavaObject is "java.lang.Object"
Class JavaClass is "java.lang.Class"
Class JavaException is "java.lang.Exception"
Class jstring is "jstring"
Class Converter is "Converter"
Class ConverterHome is "ConverterHome".
Data division.
Working-storage section.
01 initialCtx object reference InitialContext.
01 obj object reference JavaObject.
01 classObj object reference JavaClass.
01 ex object reference JavaException.
01 currencyConverter object reference Converter.
01 home object reference ConverterHome.
01 homeObject redefines home object reference JavaObject.
01 jstring1 object reference jstring.
01 stringBuf pic X(500) usage display.

Chapter 35. Communicating with Java methods 645

 01 len pic s9(9) comp-5.
01 rc pic s9(9) comp-5.
01 amount comp-2.
Linkage section.
Copy JNI.
Procedure division.
Set address of JNIenv to JNIEnvPtr
Set address of JNINativeInterface to JNIenv

*****************************************************************
* Create JNDI naming context. *
*****************************************************************
Invoke InitialContext New returning initialCtx
Perform JavaExceptionCheck

*****************************************************************
* Create a jstring object for the string "MyConverter" for use *
* as argument to the lookup method. *
*****************************************************************
Move z"MyConverter" to stringBuf
Call "NewStringPlatform"
using by value JNIEnvPtr
address of stringBuf
address of jstring1
0
returning rc
If rc not = zero then
Display "Error occurred creating jstring object"
Stop run
End-if

*****************************************************************
* Use the lookup method to obtain a reference to the home *
* object bound to the name "MyConverter". (This is the JNDI *
* name specified when deploying the J2EE application.) *
*****************************************************************
Invoke initialCtx "lookup" using by value jstring1
returning obj
Perform JavaExceptionCheck

*****************************************************************
* Narrow the home object to be of type ConverterHome. *
* First obtain class object for the ConverterHome class, by *
* passing the null-terminated ASCII string "ConverterHome" to *
* the FindClass API. Then use this class object as the *
* argument to the static method "narrow". *
*****************************************************************
Move z"ConverterHome" to stringBuf
Call "__etoa"
using by value address of stringBuf
returning len
If len = -1 then
Display "Error occurred on ASCII conversion"
Stop run
End-if
Call FindClass
using by value JNIEnvPtr
address of stringBuf
returning classObj
If classObj = null
Display "Error occurred locating ConverterHome class"
Stop run
End-if
Invoke PortableRemoteObject "narrow"
using by value obj
classObj
returning homeObject
Perform JavaExceptionCheck

*****************************************************************
* Create the ConverterEJB instance and obtain local object *
* reference for its remote interface *
*****************************************************************
Invoke home "create" returning currencyConverter
Perform JavaExceptionCheck

*****************************************************************
* Invoke business methods *
*****************************************************************
Invoke currencyConverter "dollarToYen"
using by value +100.00E+0
returning amount

646 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Perform JavaExceptionCheck

Display amount

Invoke currencyConverter "yenToEuro"

using by value +100.00E+0
returning amount
Perform JavaExceptionCheck

Display amount

*****************************************************************
* Remove the object and return. *
*****************************************************************
Invoke currencyConverter "remove"
Perform JavaExceptionCheck

Goback
.

*****************************************************************
* Check for thrown Java exceptions *
*****************************************************************
JavaExceptionCheck.
Call ExceptionOccurred using by value JNIEnvPtr
returning ex
If ex not = null then
Call ExceptionClear using by value JNIEnvPtr
Display "Caught an unexpected exception"
Invoke ex "printStackTrace"
Stop run
End-if
.
End program "ConverterClient".

Java client (ConverterClient.java)

/*
*
* Copyright 2000 Sun Microsystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
*
* This software is the proprietary information of Sun Microsystems, Inc.
* Use is subject to license terms.
*
*/

import javax.naming.Context;
import javax.naming.InitialContext;
import javax.rmi.PortableRemoteObject;

import Converter;
import ConverterHome;

public class ConverterClient {

public static void main(String[] args) {

try {
Context initial = new InitialContext();
Object objref = initial.lookup("MyConverter");

ConverterHome home =
(ConverterHome)PortableRemoteObject.narrow(objref,
ConverterHome.class);

Converter currencyConverter = home.create();

double amount = currencyConverter.dollarToYen(100.00);

System.out.println(String.valueOf(amount));
amount = currencyConverter.yenToEuro(100.00);
System.out.println(String.valueOf(amount));

currencyConverter.remove();

} catch (Exception ex) {

System.err.println("Caught an unexpected exception!");
ex.printStackTrace();
}

Chapter 35. Communicating with Java methods 647

 }
}

related tasks
Chapter 16, “Compiling, linking, and running OO applications,” on page 281
WebSphere for z/OS: Applications
Java 2 Enterprise Edition Developer's Guide (Getting Started)
The Java EE 5 Tutorial (Getting Started with Enterprise Beans)

Example: invoking Java from a batch COBOL program

You can invoke Java from a batch COBOL program by using the Java Batch Launcher and Toolkit for z/OS
(JZOS). The following example contains JCL and source for a COBOL program that invokes a Java program
in a batch job step. Numbers in parentheses refer to notes that follow the example.
In this environment, it is often desirable to direct the standard Java System.out and System.err files
to z/OS data sets or spool files. You can do this by calling the redirectStandardStreams method
in the com.ibm.jzos.ZUtil class after starting the Java virtual machine (JVM). For details about the
ZUtil class, see ZUtil in the z/OS security and legacy services API Reference.
In this example COBOL program, the main() method from the com.ibm.jzos.sample.HelloWorld
class is invoked, but you can change this to invoke other Java class methods.

//COB2JAV JOB (),'Dovetail',

// MSGCLASS=H,REGION=128M,
// NOTIFY=&SYSUID
//*
//* Tested on z/OS V2R2 with Ent Cobol V5R1 and Java V7.0
// SET COBPRFX='SYSPROG.MNT.COBOL51' (1)
// SET LIBPRFX='CEE'
// SET SYSLIB1='G1JAVA1.PRIVATE.JZOS.DEVEL.JCL' Has JNI cpybook (2)
//* See also CLASSPATH below
//*
//COMPILE EXEC PGM=IGYCRCTL,
// PARM='SIZE(5000K)'
//SYSLIB DD DISP=SHR,DSN=&SYSLIB1 (JNI) CPY
//SYSLIN DD DSNAME=&&OBJECT(TSTHELLO),UNIT=3390,DISP=(NEW,PASS),
// SPACE=(CYL,(1,1,1)),DCB=(LRECL=80,RECFM=FB)
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=*
//STEPLIB DD DSN=&COBPRFX..SIGYCOMP,DISP=SHR
// DD DSN=&LIBPRFX..SCEERUN,DISP=SHR
// DD DSN=&LIBPRFX..SCEERUN2,DISP=SHR
//SYSUT1 DD UNIT=VIO,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT2 DD UNIT=VIO,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT3 DD UNIT=VIO,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT4 DD UNIT=VIO,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT5 DD UNIT=VIO,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT6 DD UNIT=VIO,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT7 DD UNIT=VIO,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT8 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT9 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT10 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT11 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT12 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT13 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT14 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSUT15 DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSMDECK DD UNIT=SYSALLDA,SPACE=(CYL,(1,1))
//SYSIN DD *
cbl dll,thread
Identification division.
Program-id. "TSTHELLO" recursive.
Environment division.
Configuration section.
Repository.
Class ZUtil is "com.ibm.jzos.ZUtil" (3)
Class HelloWorld is "com.ibm.jzos.sample.HelloWorld" (4)
Class HelloException is
"com.ibm.jzos.test.helper.HelloException"
Class JavaException is "java.lang.Exception"
Class JavaObject is "java.lang.Object"
Class JavaString is "java.lang.String"
Class JavaClass is "java.lang.Class"
Class stringArray is "jobjectArray:java.lang.String".

648 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Data Division.
Working-storage section.
01 args object reference stringArray.
01 argsLen pic s9(9) binary value 0.
01 jstring1 object reference JavaString.
01 stringClass object reference JavaClass.
01 ex object reference JavaException.
01 stringBuf pic X(256) usage display.
Linkage section.
COPY "JNI" SUPPRESS.

Procedure division.
Display "COBOL program TSTHELLO entered"
Set address of JNIEnv to JNIEnvPtr
Set address of JNINativeInterface to JNIENV
*
* This static JZOS method will redirect Java stdout/stderr
* to DD:STDOUT and DD:STDERR, which may be spool files or data sets
*
Invoke ZUtil "redirectStandardStreams" (3)
Perform ErrorCheck
Display "Returned from ZUtil.redirectStandardStreams"

*
* We invoke com.ibm.jzos.sample.HelloWorld,
* but this could be any arbitrary Java code
*
Perform BuildEmptyArgsArray.
Invoke HelloWorld "main" (4)
using by value args
Perform ErrorCheck
Display "Returned from HelloWorld.main"

* We invoke com.ibm.jzos.test.HelloException
* which we expect to throw an Exception and exit RC=32
Invoke HelloException "main"
using by value args
Perform ErrorCheck
Display "Returned from HelloException.main"
Goback.

ErrorCheck.
Call ExceptionOccurred
using by value JNIEnvPtr
returning ex
If ex not = null then
Call ExceptionClear using by value JNIEnvPtr
Display "Caught a Java exception"
Invoke ex "printStackTrace"
Stop run
End-if.

BuildEmptyArgsArray.
* Create a new empty string
Call NewString
using by value JNIEnvPtr
address of stringBuf
0
returning jstring1
If jstring1 not = null then
Display "NewString returned OK"
Else
Display "NewString returned null!"
Stop run
End-if

* Get a reference to the String class object

Call GetObjectClass
using by value JNIEnvPtr jstring1
returning stringClass
If stringClass not = null then
Display "GetObjectClass returned OK"
Else
Display "GetObjectClass returned null!"
Stop run
End-if

* Create a zero-length String[] array

move 0 to argsLen
Call NewObjectArray
using by value JNIEnvPtr

Chapter 35. Communicating with Java methods 649

 argsLen stringClass jstring1
returning args
If args not = null then
Display "NewObjectArray returned OK"
Else
Display "NewObjectArray returned null!"
Stop run
End-if.

End program "TSTHELLO".

/*
//LKED EXEC PGM=IEWL,COND=(4,LT,COMPILE),
// PARM='RENT,LIST,LET,DYNAM(DLL),CASE(MIXED)'
//SYSLIB DD DSN=&LIBPRFX..SCEELKED,DISP=SHR
// DD DSN=&LIBPRFX..SCEELKEX,DISP=SHR
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=*
//SYSTERM DD SYSOUT=*
//SYSLMOD DD DSN=&&GOSET(TSTHELLO),DISP=(MOD,PASS),UNIT=3390,
// SPACE=(CYL,(1,1,1)),DSNTYPE=LIBRARY
//SYSDEFSD DD DUMMY
//OBJMOD DD DSN=&&OBJECT,DISP=(OLD,DELETE)
//SYSLIN DD *
INCLUDE OBJMOD(TSTHELLO)
INCLUDE '/usr/lpp/java/J7.0/bin/j9vm/libjvm.x' (5)
INCLUDE '/usr/lpp/cobol/V5R1/lib/igzcjava.x' (5)
//*
//* Note: we expect RC=32 since we should Stop run for exception
//*
//GO EXEC PGM=TSTHELLO,COND=(4,LT,LKED)
//CEEOPTS DD *
* Be careful when editing: quoted ENVARS wrap at col 72
ENVAR( (6)
"PATH=bin:/usr/lpp/java/J7.0/bin",
"LIBPATH=lib:/usr/lib:/usr/lpp/java/J7.0/bin:/usr/lpp/java/J7.0/lib/s390
:/usr/lpp/java/J7.0/lib/s390/j9vm",
"CLASSPATH=/home/g1java1/jzostest/jzos_test.jar")
POSIX(ON) XPLINK(ON)
*
* Add this ENVAR to send stdout/stderr to DD:SYSOUT
* "COBJVMINITOPTIONS=-Djzos.merge.sysout=true", (7)
* Debugging options:
* "COBJVMINITOPTIONS=-Xdump:ceedump -Xcheck:jni:trace -Xjit:verbose")
//STEPLIB DD DSN=*.LKED.SYSLMOD,DISP=(OLD,PASS)
// DD DSN=&LIBPRFX..SCEERUN2,DISP=SHR
// DD DSN=&LIBPRFX..SCEERUN,DISP=SHR
//SYSOUT DD SYSOUT=*
//CEEDUMP DD SYSOUT=*
//SYSUDUMP DD DUMMY
//*
//* ZUtil.redirectStandardStreams will point to these for sdtout/stderr
//* Unless you add the -Djzos.merge.sysout=true option above.
//* Using that option, both Java stdout/stderr with go to DD:SYSOUT
//STDOUT DD SYSOUT=*
//STDERR DD SYSOUT=*
//*
//* JAVAOUT/JAVAERR should not be used unless redirectStandardStreams fails
//* so you may choose to point these to DUMMY
//JAVAOUT DD PATH='/tmp/cob2jav.javaout', (8)
// PATHOPTS=(OWRONLY,OCREAT,OTRUNC),
// PATHMODE=(SIRUSR,SIWUSR,SIRGRP)
//JAVAERR DD PATH='/tmp/cob2jav.javaerr', (8)
// PATHOPTS=(OWRONLY,OCREAT,OTRUNC),
// PATHMODE=(SIRUSR,SIWUSR,SIRGRP)

(1)
Set the JCL symbols to match your environment.
(2)
You must first copy the JNI.cpy file from your COBOL installation directory (typically /usr/lpp/
cobol/include) as member JNI in this source PDS.
(3)
The ZUtil redirectStandardStreams method will redirect Java System.out and System.err
to DD:STDOUT and DD:STDERR respectively.

650 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
(4)
The com.ibm.jzos.sample.HelloWorld class prints “Hello World! (stdout)” to
System.out and “Hello World! (stderr)” to System.err. You can download the
com.ibm.jzos.sample.HelloWorld class with the JZOS samples.
(5)
Set the INCLUDEs to point to the locations where your Java and COBOL are installed.
(6)
Set the Language Environment ENVARs to point to your Java home directories. Note that individual
environment variable settings wrap at column 72.
(7)
You can add the COBJVMINITOPTIONS environment variable as shown to set Java system properties
for the JVM. The jzos.merge.sysout=true property can be used to merge both System.out and
System.err to go to DD:SYSOUT.
(8)
The JAVAOUT DD and JAVAERR DD statements are not used if
ZUtil.redirectStandardStreams() works properly, so you can point these to DD DUMMY.

About JZOS

Java Batch Launcher and Toolkit for z/OS (JZOS) is a set of tools that helps you develop z/OS Java
applications that run in a traditional batch environment, and that access z/OS system services. For details,
see the JZOS Installation and User's Guide.

Chapter 35. Communicating with Java methods 651

652 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Part 7. Specialized processing

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 653

654 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 36. Interrupts and checkpoint/restart
When programs run for an extended period of time, interruptions might halt processing before the end of
a job. The checkpoint/restart functions of z/OS let an interrupted program be restarted at the beginning of
a job step or at a checkpoint that you have set.
Because the checkpoint/restart functions cause a lot of extra processing, use them only when you
anticipate interruptions caused by machine malfunctions, input or output errors, or intentional operator
intervention.
The checkpoint routine starts from the COBOL program object that contains your program. While your
program is running, the checkpoint routine creates records at points that you have designated using the
COBOL RERUN clause. A checkpoint record contains a snapshot of the information in the registers and
main storage when the program reached the checkpoint.
The restart routine restarts an interrupted program. You can perform a restart at any time after the
program was interrupted: either immediately (automatic restart), or later (deferred restart).

related tasks
“Setting checkpoints” on page 655
“Restarting programs” on page 658
“Resubmitting jobs for restart” on page 660
z/OS DFSMS: Checkpoint/Restart

related references
“DD statements for defining checkpoint data sets” on page 656
“Messages generated during checkpoint” on page 658
“Formats for requesting deferred restart” on page 659

Setting checkpoints
To set checkpoints, use job control statements and use the RERUN clause in the ENVIRONMENT
DIVISION. Associate each RERUN clause with a particular COBOL file.
The RERUN clause indicates that a checkpoint record is to be written to a checkpoint data set whenever a
specified number of records in the COBOL file have been processed or when END OF VOLUME is reached.
You cannot use the RERUN clause with files that are defined with the EXTERNAL attribute.
You can write checkpoint records from several COBOL files to one checkpoint data set, but you must use a
separate data set exclusively for checkpoint records. You cannot embed checkpoint records in one of your
program data sets.
Restrictions: A checkpoint data set must have sequential organization. You cannot write checkpoints in
VSAM data sets or in data sets that are allocated to extended-format QSAM data sets. Also, a checkpoint
cannot be taken if any program in the run unit has an extended-format QSAM data set that is open.
Checkpoint records are written in the checkpoint data set defined by a DD statement. In the DD statement,
you also choose the checkpoint method:
Single (store single checkpoints)
Only one checkpoint record exists at any given time. After the first checkpoint record is written, any
succeeding checkpoint record overlays the previous one.
This method is acceptable for most programs. You save space in the checkpoint data set, and you can
restart your program at the latest checkpoint.
Multiple (store multiple contiguous checkpoints)
Checkpoints are recorded and numbered sequentially. Each checkpoint is saved.
Use this method if you want to restart a program at a checkpoint other than the latest one taken.
You must use the multiple checkpoint method for complete compliance with the 85 COBOL Standard.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 655

 Checkpoints during sort operations have the following requirements:
• If checkpoints are to be taken during a sort operation, add a DD statement for SORTCKPT in the job
control procedure for execution.
• You can take checkpoint records on ASCII-collated sorts, but the system-name that indicates the
checkpoint data set must not specify an ASCII file.

related tasks
“Using checkpoint/restart with DFSORT” on page 227
“Designing checkpoints” on page 656
“Testing for a successful checkpoint” on page 656

related references
“DD statements for defining checkpoint data sets” on page 656

Designing checkpoints
Design your checkpoints at critical points in your program so that data can be easily reconstructed. Do not
change the contents of files between the time of a checkpoint and the time of the restart.
In a program that uses disk files, design the program so that you can identify previously processed
records. For example, consider a disk file that contains loan records that are periodically updated for
interest due. If a checkpoint is taken, records are updated, and then the program is interrupted, you
would want to test that the records that are updated after the last checkpoint are not updated again when
the program is restarted. To do this, set up a date field in each record, and update the field each time the
record is processed. Then, after the restart, test the field to determine whether the record was already
processed.
For efficient repositioning of a print file, take checkpoints on the file only after printing the last line of a
page.

Testing for a successful checkpoint

After each input or output statement that issues a checkpoint, the RETURN-CODE special register is
updated with the return code from the checkpoint routine. Therefore, you can test whether the checkpoint
was successful and decide whether conditions are right to allow a restart.
If the return code is greater than 4, an error has occurred in the checkpoint. Check the return code to
prevent a restart that could cause incorrect output.

related references
z/OS DFSMS: Checkpoint/Restart (Return codes)

DD statements for defining checkpoint data sets

To define checkpoint data sets, use DD statements.
For tape:

//ddname DD DSNAME=data-set-name,
// [VOLUME=SER=volser,]UNIT=device-type,
// DISP=({NEW|MOD},PASS)

For direct-access devices:

//ddname DD DSNAME=data-set-name,
// [VOLUME=(PRIVATE,RETAIN,SER=volser),]
// UNIT=device-type,SPACE=(subparms),
// DISP=({NEW|MOD},PASS,KEEP)

656 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
ddname
Provides a link to the DD statement. The same as the ddname portion of the assignment-name used in
the COBOL RERUN clause.
data-set-name
Identifies the checkpoint data set to the restart procedure. The name given to the data set used to
record checkpoint records.
volser
Identifies the volume by serial number.
device-type
Identifies the device.
subparms
Specifies the amount of track space needed for the data set.
MOD
Specifies the multiple contiguous checkpoint method.
NEW
Specifies the single checkpoint method.
PASS
Prevents deletion of the data set at successful completion of the job step, unless the job step is the
last in the job. If it is the last step, the data set is deleted.
KEEP
Keeps the data set if the job step abnormally ends.
“Examples: defining checkpoint data sets” on page 657

Examples: defining checkpoint data sets

The following examples show the JCL and COBOL coding you can use to define checkpoint data sets.
Writing single checkpoint records, using tape:

//CHECKPT DD DSNAME=CHECK1,VOLUME=SER=ND0003,
// UNIT=TAPE,DISP=(NEW,KEEP),LABEL=(,NL)
. . .
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
. . .
RERUN ON CHECKPT EVERY
5000 RECORDS OF ACCT-FILE.

Writing single checkpoint records, using disk:

//CHEK DD DSNAME=CHECK2,
// VOLUME=(PRIVATE,RETAIN,SER=DB0030),
// UNIT=3380,DISP=(NEW,KEEP),SPACE=(CYL,5)
. . .
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
. . .
RERUN ON CHEK EVERY
20000 RECORDS OF PAYCODE.
RERUN ON CHEK EVERY
30000 RECORDS OF IN-FILE.

Writing multiple contiguous checkpoint records, using tape:

//CHEKPT DD DSNAME=CHECK3,VOLUME=SER=111111,
// UNIT=TAPE,DISP=(MOD,PASS),LABEL=(,NL)
. . .
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
. . .
RERUN ON CHEKPT EVERY
10000 RECORDS OF PAY-FILE.

Chapter 36. Interrupts and checkpoint/restart 657

Messages generated during checkpoint
The system checkpoint routine advises the operator of the status of the checkpoints taken by displaying
informative messages on the console.
Each time a checkpoint is successfully completed, a message is displayed that associates the jobname
(ddname, unit, volser) with the checkpoint taken (checkid).
The control program assigns checkid as an eight-character string. The first character is the letter C,
followed by a decimal number that indicates the checkpoint. For example, the following message
indicates the fourth checkpoint taken in the job step:

checkid C0000004

Restarting programs
The system restart routine retrieves the information recorded in a checkpoint record, restores the
contents of main storage and all registers, and restarts the program.
You can begin the restart routine in one of two ways:
• Automatically at the time an interruption stopped the program
• At a later time as a deferred restart
The RD parameter of the job control language determines the type of restart. You can use the RD
parameter on either the JOB or the EXEC statement. If coded on the JOB statement, the parameter
overrides any RD parameters on the EXEC statement.
To suppress both restart and writing checkpoints, code RD=NC.
Restriction: If you try to restart at a checkpoint taken by a COBOL program during a SORT or MERGE
operation, an error message is issued and the restart is canceled. Only checkpoints taken by DFSORT are
valid.
Data sets that have the SYSOUT parameter coded in their DD statements are handled in various ways
depending on the type of restart.
If the checkpoint data set is multivolume, include in the VOLUME parameter the sequence number of the
volume on which the checkpoint entry was written. If the checkpoint data set is on a 7-track tape with
nonstandard labels or no labels, the SYSCHK DD statement must contain DCB=(TRTCH=C,. . .).

related tasks
“Using checkpoint/restart with DFSORT” on page 227
“Requesting automatic restart” on page 658
“Requesting deferred restart” on page 659

Requesting automatic restart

Automatic restart occurs only at the latest checkpoint taken. If no checkpoint was taken before
interruption, automatic restart occurs at the beginning of the job step.
Whenever automatic restart is to occur, the system repositions all devices except unit-record devices.

If you want automatic restart, code RD=R or RD=RNC:

• RD=R indicates that restart is to occur at the latest checkpoint. Code the RERUN clause for at least one
data set in the program in order to record checkpoints. If no checkpoint is taken before interruption,
restart occurs at the beginning of the job step.
• RD=RNC indicates that no checkpoint is to be written, and that any restart is to occur at the beginning of
the job step. In this case, RERUN clauses are unnecessary; if any are present, they are ignored.
If you omit the RD parameter, the CHKPT macro instruction remains active, and checkpoints can be taken
during processing. If an interrupt occurs after the first checkpoint, automatic restart will occur.

658 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 To restart automatically, a program must satisfy the following conditions:
• In the program you must request restart by using the RD parameter or by taking a checkpoint.
• An abend that terminated the job must return a code that allows restart.
• The operator must authorize the restart.
“Example: requesting a step restart” on page 660

Requesting deferred restart

Deferred restart can occur at any checkpoint, not necessarily the latest one taken. You can restart your
program at a checkpoint other than at the beginning of the job step.
When a deferred restart has been successfully completed, the system displays a message on the console
stating that the job has been restarted. Control is then given to your program.
If you want deferred restart, code the RD parameter as RD=NR. This form of the parameter suppresses
automatic restart but allows a checkpoint record to be written provided that a RERUN clause was coded.

Request a deferred restart by using the RESTART parameter on the JOB card and a SYSCHK DD statement
to identify the checkpoint data set. If a SYSCHK DD statement is present in a job and the JOB statement
does not contain the RESTART parameter, the SYSCHK DD statement is ignored. If a RESTART parameter
without the CHECKID subparameter is included in a job, a SYSCHK DD statement must not appear before
the first EXEC statement for the job.
“Example: restarting a job at a specific checkpoint step” on page 660

related references
“Formats for requesting deferred restart” on page 659

Formats for requesting deferred restart

The formats for the RESTART parameter of the JOB statement and the SYSCHK DD statements are as
shown below.

//jobname JOB MSGLEVEL=1,RESTART=(request[,checkid])

//SYSCHK DD DSNAME=data-set-name,
// DISP=OLD[,UNIT=device-type,
// VOLUME=SER=volser]

MSGLEVEL=1 (or MSGLEVEL=(1,y))

MSGLEVEL is required.
RESTART=(request,[checkid])
Identifies the particular checkpoint at which restart is to occur.
request
Takes one of the following forms:
*
Indicates restart at the beginning of the job.
stepname
Indicates restart at the beginning of a job step.
stepname.procstep
Indicates restart at a procedure step within the job step.
checkid
Identifies the checkpoint where restart is to occur.
SYSCHK
The ddname used to identify a checkpoint data set to the control program. The SYSCHK DD statement
must immediately precede the first EXEC statement of the resubmitted job, and must follow any
JOBLIB statement.

Chapter 36. Interrupts and checkpoint/restart 659

 data-set-name
Identifies the checkpoint data set. It must be the same name that was used when the checkpoint
was taken.
device-type and volser
Identify the device type and the serial number of the volume that contains the checkpoint data
set.
“Example: requesting a deferred restart” on page 660

Example: requesting a deferred restart

This example shows JCL to restart the GO step of an IGYWCLG procedure at checkpoint identifier
(CHECKID) C0000003.

//jobname JOB MSGLEVEL=1,RESTART=(stepname.GO,C0000003)

//SYSCHK DD DSNAME=CHEKPT,
// DISP=OLD[,UNIT=3380,VOLUME=SER=111111]
. . .

Resubmitting jobs for restart

When you resubmit a job for restart, be careful with any DD statements that might affect the execution of
the restarted job step. The restart routine uses information from DD statements in the resubmitted job to
reset files for use after restart.
If you want a data set to be deleted at the end of a job step, give it a conditional disposition of PASS or
KEEP (rather than DELETE). This disposition allows the data set to be available if an interruption forces a
restart. If you want to restart a job at the beginning of a step, you must first discard any data set created
(defined as NEW in a DD statement) in the previous run, or change the DD statement to mark the data set
as OLD.
The system automatically repositions input data sets that are on tape or disk.

“Example: resubmitting a job for a step restart” on page 661

“Example: resubmitting a job for a checkpoint restart” on page 661

Example: restarting a job at a specific checkpoint step

This example shows a sequence of job control statements for restarting a job at a specific step.

//PAYROLL JOB MSGLEVEL=1,REGION=80K,

// RESTART=(STEP1,CHECKPT4)
//JOBLIB DD DSNAME=PRIV.LIB3,DISP=OLD
//SYSCHK DD DSNAME=CHKPTLIB,
// [UNIT=TAPE,VOL=SER=456789,]
// DISP=(OLD,KEEP)
//STEP1 EXEC PGM=PROG4,TIME=5

Example: requesting a step restart

This example shows the use of the RD parameter, which requests step restart for any abnormally
terminated job step.

//J1234 JOB 386,SMITH,MSGLEVEL=1,RD=R

//S1 EXEC PGM=MYPROG
//INDATA DD DSNAME=INVENT[,UNIT=TAPE],DISP=OLD,
// [VOLUME=SER=91468,]
// LABEL=RETPD=14
//REPORT DD SYSOUT=A
//WORK DD DSNAME=T91468,DISP=(,,KEEP),
// UNIT=SYSDA,SPACE=(3000,(5000,500)),

660 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 // VOLUME=(PRIVATE,RETAIN,,6)
//DDCKPNT DD UNIT=TAPE,DISP=(MOD,PASS,CATLG),
// DSNAME=C91468,LABEL=(,NL)

The DDCKPNT DD statement defines a checkpoint data set. For this step, after a RERUN clause is
performed, only automatic checkpoint restart can occur unless a CHKPT cancel is issued.

Example: resubmitting a job for a step restart

This example shows the changes that you might make to the JCL before you resubmit a job for step
restart.

//J3412 JOB 386,SMITH,MSGLEVEL=1,RD=R,RESTART=*

//S1 EXEC PGM=MYPROG
//INDATA DD DSNAME=INVENT[,UNIT=TAPE],DISP=OLD,
// [VOLUME=SER=91468,]LABEL=RETPD=14
//REPORT DD SYSOUT=A
//WORK DD DSNAME=S91468,
// DISP=(,,KEEP),UNIT=SYSDA,
// SPACE=(3000,(5000,500)),
// VOLUME=(PRIVATE,RETAIN,,6)
//DDCHKPNT DD UNIT=TAPE,DISP=(MOD,PASS,CATLG),
// DSNAME=R91468,LABEL=(,NL)

The following changes were made in the example above:

• The job name has been changed (from J1234 to J3412) to distinguish the original job from the
restarted job.
• The RESTART parameter has been added to the JOB statement, and indicates that restart is to begin
with the first job step.
• The WORK DD statement was originally assigned a conditional disposition of KEEP for this data set:
– If the step terminated normally in the previous run of the job, the data set was deleted, and no
changes need to be made to this statement.
– If the step abnormally terminated, the data set was kept. In that case, define a new data set (S91468
instead of T91468, as shown), or change the status of the data set to OLD before resubmitting the
job.
• A new data set (R91468 instead of C91468) has also been defined as the checkpoint data set.
“Example: requesting a step restart” on page 660

Example: resubmitting a job for a checkpoint restart

This example shows the changes that you might make to JCL before you resubmit a job for checkpoint
restart.

//J3412 JOB 386,SMITH,MSGLEVEL=1,RD=R,

// RESTART=(*,C0000002)
//SYSCHK DD DSNAME=C91468,DISP=OLD
//S1 EXEC PGM=MYPROG
//INDATA DD DSNAME=INVENT,UNIT=TAPE,DISP=OLD,
// VOLUME=SER=91468,LABEL=RETPD=14
//REPORT DD SYSOUT=A
//WORK DD DSNAME=T91468,DISP=(,,KEEP),
// UNIT=SYSDA,SPACE=(3000,(5000,500)),
// VOLUME=(PRIVATE,RETAIN,,6)
//DDCKPNT DD UNIT=TAPE,DISP=(MOD,KEEP,CATLG),
// DSNAME=C91468,LABEL=(,NL)

The following changes were made in the example above:

• The job name has been changed (from J1234 to J3412) to distinguish the original job from the
restarted job.

Chapter 36. Interrupts and checkpoint/restart 661

 • The RESTART parameter has been added to the JOB statement, and indicates that restart is to begin
with the first step at the checkpoint entry named C0000002.
• The DD statement DDCKPNT was originally assigned a conditional disposition of CATLG for the
checkpoint data set:
– If the step terminated normally in the previous run of the job, the data set was kept. In that case,
the SYSCHK DD statement must contain all of the information necessary for retrieving the checkpoint
data set.
– If the job abnormally terminated, the data set was cataloged. In that case, the only parameters
required on the SYSCHK DD statement are DSNAME and DISP as shown.
If a checkpoint is taken in a job that is running when V=R is specified, the job cannot be restarted until
adequate nonpageable dynamic storage becomes available.

662 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 37. Using zlib compression from a COBOL
program
Refer to the following example including instructions and tricks about using zlib compression from a
COBOL program.

//PROCLIB JCLLIB ORDER=IGYV6R20.SIGYPROC

//EXAMPLE1 EXEC IGYWCLG
//COBOL.STEPLIB DD DISP=SHR,DSNAME=IGYV6R20.SIGYCOMP
//SYSADATA DD SYSOUT=*
//COBOL.SYSIN DD *
CBL PGMNAME(LONGMIXED)
******************************************************************
* *
* This is a sample testcase to show how you can call zlib. *
* It initializes compression (deflate) and then deflates some *
* data, then initializes decompression (inflate) and inflates *
* the same data. *
* *
* Some of the key differences from 'typical' COBOL are: *
* - Compiler option PGMNAME(LONGMIXED) is required. *
* This means that the Program-Id name has to be a literal *
* - This program uses COMP-5 data items so that the program *
* can work with any setting of the TRUNC compiler option *
* - Rather than passing the zstream structure by REFERENCE like *
* most COBOL programs, we pass the ADDRESS OF using the *
* BY VALUE phrase to avoid high-order bit getting set *
* - This sample has DISPLAY statements to tell you if it was *
* successful or not, and they should be removed for production*
* - The binder (linkage editor) needs to have LIBRARY *
* statements in order to access the functions in the *
* /usr/lpp/hzc/lib/libzz.a archive file. See the sample *
* LKED.SYSIN statements below *
* *
******************************************************************
Id Division.
Program-id. 'ZLIB'.
*
Data Division.

Working-Storage Section.
**> Memory for tests. 'data' to be compressed
01 zinput pic X(65536) value x'00'.
01 zoutput pic X(65536) value x'00'.
01 z.
* next_in is a Pointer to zstring
02 next_in Pointer.
02 avail_in Pic S9(9) Comp-5.
02 total_in Pic S9(9) Comp-5.
* next_out is a Pointer to zstring
02 next_out Pointer.
02 avail_out Pic S9(9) Comp-5.
02 total_out Pic S9(9) Comp-5.
* msg is a Pointer to zstring
02 msg Pointer.
02 state Pointer.
02 zalloc Function-pointer.
02 zfree Function-pointer.
02 opaque Function-pointer.
02 data_type Pic S9(9) Comp-5.
02 adler Pic S9(9) Comp-5.
02 reserved Pic S9(9) Comp-5.
01 y.
* next_in is a Pointer to zstring
02 next_in Pointer.
02 avail_in Pic S9(9) Comp-5.
02 total_in Pic S9(9) Comp-5.
* next_out is a Pointer to zstring
02 next_out Pointer.
02 avail_out Pic S9(9) Comp-5.
02 total_out Pic S9(9) Comp-5.
* msg is a Pointer to zstring
02 msg Pointer.
02 state Pointer.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 663

 02 zalloc Function-pointer.
02 zfree Function-pointer.
02 opaque Function-pointer.
02 data_type Pic S9(9) Comp-5.
02 adler Pic S9(9) Comp-5.
02 reserved Pic S9(9) Comp-5.

77 rc-disp Pic S9(9) Display Sign leading separate.

Linkage Section.
77 zstring Pic x(1000).
77 rc Pic S9(9) Comp-5.

Procedure Division returning rc.

**>*************************************************************/
**> */
**> Setup the z_stream structure with defaults */
**> */
**>*************************************************************/
Set zalloc of z to Null
Set zfree of z to Null
Set opaque of z to Null

* *>********************************************************/
* *> */
* *> Call deflateInit to initialize the deflate stream */
* *> service using a GZIP wrapper */
* *> */
* *>********************************************************/
Call 'DEIN2' Using By Value Address of z,
By Value -1, 8, 31, 8, 0,
By Content '1.2.7',
By Value Length Of z
returning rc

If rc NOT = 0 Then
Move rc to rc-disp
Display 'Error: deflateInit failed with Return Code '
rc-disp
If msg of z NOT = Null Then
Set Address of zstring to msg of z
Display 'Message = ' zstring
Else
Display 'Message pointer is NULL '
End-if
Move -1 To Return-code rc

Goback
Else
Display 'deflatinit Successful ! '
End-if

******************************************************************
* Initialize available input, output, total in for deflate
******************************************************************
Compute avail_in of z = 65536
Compute avail_out of z = 65536
Compute total_in of z = 0
******************************************************************
* Set input and output pointers
******************************************************************
Set next_out of z to Address of zoutput
Set next_in of z to Address of zinput

* *>***********************************************************/
* *> */
* *> Call deflate to compress the data. We only call it */
* *> once with a flush mode of Z_FINISH (4) which indicates */
* *> to end the stream */
* *> */
* *>***********************************************************/
Call 'deflate' Using By Value Address of z
BY Value 4 Returning rc
If rc NOT = 1 Then
Move rc to rc-disp
Display ' Error: deflate returned ' rc-disp

If msg of z NOT = Null Then

Set Address of zstring to msg of z
Display zstring
End-if

664 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Display "avail_in of z= " avail_in of z
Display "total_in of z= " total_in of z
Display "avail_out of z= " avail_out of z
Display "total_out of z= " total_out of z

Call 'DEEND' Using By Value address of z returning rc

Move -1 To Return-code rc
Goback
Else
Display 'deflate Successful ! '
End-if

Display 'After deflate '

Display 'avail_in of z= ' avail_in of z
Display 'total_in of z= ' total_in of z
Display 'avail_out of z= ' avail_out of z
Display 'total_out of z= ' total_out of z

* /************************************************************/
* /* */
* /* Now that we are done , call deflateEnd to cleanup the */
* /* deflate internal state. */
* /* */
* /************************************************************/
Call 'DEEND' Using By Value Address of z returning rc
If rc Not = 0 Then
Move rc to rc-disp
Display 'Error: deflateEnd returned ' rc-disp

If msg of z NOT = Null Then

Move -1 To Return-code rc
Goback
End-if
Else
Display 'deflateEnd Successful ! '
End-if

* /************************************************************/
* /* */
* /* Inflate the data we just deflated. Call inflateInit to */
* /* initialize the inflate stream */
* /* */
* /************************************************************/
Set zalloc of y to Null
Set zfree of y to Null

Set opaque of y to Null

Call 'ININ2' Using By Value Address of y,

By Value 31,
By Content '1.2.7',
By VALUE Length Of y
returning rc

If rc NOT = 0 Then
Move rc to rc-disp
Display 'Error: inflateInit failed with Return Code '
rc-disp

If msg of y NOT = Null Then

Set Address of zstring to msg of y
Display zstring
End-if
Move -1 To Return-code rc
Goback
Else
Display 'inflateInit Successful ! '
End-if

* /************************************************************/
* /* */
* /* Set the amount of input based on what deflate returned */
* /* and what we expect the output size to be. */
* /* */
* /************************************************************/
Compute avail_in of y = total_out of z
Compute avail_out of y = 65536
Compute total_in of y = 0

Set next_out of y to Address of zinput

Chapter 37. Using zlib compression from a COBOL program 665

 Set next_in of y to Address of zoutput

* /************************************************************/
* /* */
* /* Call inflate to decompress the data. Note that we expect */
* /* this to end with a Z_STREAM_END (1)since we provided the */
* /* full stream above. */
* /* */
* /************************************************************/
Call 'inflate' Using By Value Address of y
By Value 0 Returning rc
If rc Not = 1 Then
Move rc to rc-disp
Display ' Error: inflate returned ' rc-disp

If msg of z NOT = Null Then

Set Address of zstring to msg of z
Display zstring
End-if

Display "avail_in of y= " avail_in of z

Disp5ay "total_in of y= " total_in of z
Display "avail_out of y= " avail_out of z
Display "total_out of y= " total_out of z

Call 'INEND' Using By Value Address of y Returning rc

Move -1 To Return-code rc
Goback
Else
Display 'inflate Successful ! '
End-if

Display 'After inflate '

Display 'avail_in of y= ' avail_in of y
Display 'total_in of y= ' total_in of y
Display 'avail_out of y= ' avail_out of y
Display 'total_out of y= ' total_out of y

* /************************************************************/
* /* */
* /* Now that we are done call inflateEnd to cleanup the */
* /* internal inflate state of the stream. */
* /* */
* /************************************************************/
Call 'INEND' Using By Value Address of y Returning rc
If rc Not = 0 Then

If rc Not = 0 Then
Move rc to rc-disp
Display 'Error: inflateEnd returned ' rc-disp

If msg of z NOT = Null Then

Move -1 To Return-code rc
Goback
End-if
Else
Display 'inflateEnd Successful ! '
End-if

Move zero to return-code rc

Goback.
/*
//LKED.SYSIN DD *
LIBRARY '/usr/lpp/hzc/lib/libzz.a'
/*
//LKED.SYSLIB DD DSN=CEEZ240.SCEELKED,DISP=SHR
//LKED.SYSLMOD DD DSN=MYLOAD.COBOL.LOAD(ZLIB),DISP=SHR
//GO.STEPLIB DD DSNAME=CEEV240.SCEERUN,DISP=SHR
//GO.SYSUDUMP DD DUMMY
//GO.SYSSORT DD DUMMY
//GO.SYSOUT DD SYSOUT=*
//

666 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Part 8. Improving performance and productivity

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 667

668 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 38. Tuning your program
When a program is comprehensible, you can assess its performance. A tangled control flow makes a
program difficult to understand and maintain, and inhibits the optimization of its code.
To improve the performance of your program, examine at least these aspects:
• Underlying algorithms: For best performance, using sound algorithms is essential. For example:
– A sophisticated algorithm for sorting a million items might be hundreds of thousands of times faster
than a simple algorithm.
– If the program frequently accesses data, reduce the number of steps to access the data.
• Data structures: Using data structures that are appropriate for the algorithms is essential.
You can write programs that result in better generated code sequences and use system services more
efficiently. These additional aspects can affect performance:
• Coding techniques: Use a programming style that enables the optimizer to choose efficient data types
and handle tables efficiently.
• Optimization: You can optimize code by using the OPTIMIZE compiler option.
• Compiler options and USE FOR DEBUGGING ON ALL PROCEDURES: Some compiler options and
language affect program efficiency.
• Runtime environment: Consider your choice of runtime options.
• Running under CICS, IMS, or VSAM: Heeding various tips can help make these programs run more
efficiently.

related concepts
“Optimization” on page 674

related tasks
“Using an optimal programming style” on page 669
“Choosing efficient data types” on page 670
“Handling tables efficiently” on page 672
“Optimizing your code” on page 674
“Choosing compiler features to enhance performance” on page 675
“Running efficiently with CICS, IMS, or VSAM” on page 680
Language Environment Programming Guide (Specifying runtime options)

related references
“Performance-related compiler options” on page 676
Language Environment Programming Guide (Storage performance considerations)

Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Performance Tuning Guide

Using an optimal programming style

The coding style you use can affect how the optimizer handles your code. You can improve optimization by
using structured programming techniques, factoring expressions, using symbolic constants, and grouping
constant and duplicate computations.

related tasks
“Using structured programming” on page 670
“Factoring expressions” on page 670
“Using symbolic constants” on page 670

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 669

Using structured programming
Using structured programming statements, such as EVALUATE and inline PERFORM, makes your program
more comprehensible and generates a more linear control flow. As a result, the optimizer can operate
over larger regions of the program, which gives you more efficient code.
Use top-down programming constructs. Out-of-line PERFORM statements are a natural means of doing
top-down programming. Out-of-line PERFORM statements can often be as efficient as inline PERFORM
statements, because the optimizer can simplify or remove the linkage code.
Avoid using the following constructs:
• ALTER statements
• Explicit GO TO statements
• PERFORM procedures that involve irregular control flow (such as preventing control from passing to the
end of the procedure and returning to the PERFORM statement)

Factoring expressions
By factoring expressions in your programs, you can potentially eliminate a lot of unnecessary
computation.
For example, the first block of code below is more efficient than the second block of code:

MOVE ZERO TO TOTAL

PERFORM VARYING I FROM 1 BY 1 UNTIL I = 10
COMPUTE TOTAL = TOTAL + ITEM(I)
END-PERFORM
COMPUTE TOTAL = TOTAL * DISCOUNT

MOVE ZERO TO TOTAL

PERFORM VARYING I FROM 1 BY 1 UNTIL I = 10
COMPUTE TOTAL = TOTAL + ITEM(I) * DISCOUNT
END-PERFORM

The optimizer does not factor expressions across multiple statements. For details, see Factoring
expressions in the Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Performance Tuning Guide.

Using symbolic constants

To have the optimizer recognize a data item as a constant throughout the program, initialize it with a
VALUE clause and do not change it anywhere in the program.
If you pass a data item to a subprogram BY REFERENCE, the optimizer treats it as an external data item
and assumes that it is changed at every subprogram call.

Choosing efficient data types

Using the SYNCHRONIZED clause can produce more efficient code.
Consistent data types can reduce the need for conversions during operations on data items. You can also
improve program performance by carefully determining when to use fixed-point and floating-point data
types.

related concepts
“Formats for numeric
data” on page 47

related tasks
“Choosing efficient computational data items” on page 671
“Using consistent data types” on page 671

670 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 “Making arithmetic expressions efficient” on page 671
“Making exponentiations efficient” on page 672

Choosing efficient computational data items

When you use a data item mainly for arithmetic or as a subscript, code USAGE BINARY on the data
description entry for the item. The operations for manipulating binary data are faster than those for
manipulating decimal data.
However, if a fixed-point arithmetic statement has intermediate results with a large precision (number
of significant digits), the compiler uses decimal arithmetic anyway, after converting the operands to
packed-decimal form. For fixed-point arithmetic statements, the compiler normally uses binary arithmetic
for simple computations with binary operands if the precision is eight or fewer digits. Above 18 digits, the
compiler always uses decimal arithmetic. With a precision of nine to 18 digits, the compiler uses either
form.
To produce the most efficient code for a BINARY data item, ensure that it has:
• A sign (an S in its PICTURE clause)
• Eight or fewer digits
For a data item that is larger than eight digits or is used with DISPLAY or NATIONAL data items, use
PACKED-DECIMAL. The code generated for PACKED-DECIMAL data items can be as fast as that for
BINARY data items in some cases, especially if the statement is complicated or specifies rounding.
To produce the most efficient code for a PACKED-DECIMAL data item, ensure that it has:
• A sign (an S in its PICTURE clause)
• An odd number of digits (9s in the PICTURE clause), so that it occupies an exact number of bytes
without a half byte left over
• 15 or fewer digits in the PICTURE specification on ARCH(7) machines. If a PACKED-DECIMAL data
item has more than 31 digits, library routines are used. For a PACKED-DECIMAL data item with 16-31
digits on ARCH (8) or higher level machines, the compiler uses instructions that are more efficient than
library calls, but not as fast as if the data item has 15 or fewer digits.

Using consistent data types

In operations on operands of different types, one of the operands must be converted to the same type as
the other. Each conversion requires several instructions. For example, one of the operands might need to
be scaled to give it the appropriate number of decimal places.
You can largely avoid conversions by using consistent data types and by giving both operands the same
usage and also appropriate PICTURE specifications. That is, you should ensure that two numbers to be
compared, added, or subtracted not only have the same usage but also the same number of decimal
places (9s after the V in the PICTURE clause).

Making arithmetic expressions efficient

Computation of arithmetic expressions that are evaluated in floating point is most efficient when the
operands need little or no conversion. Use operands that are COMP-1 or COMP-2 to produce the most
efficient code.
Define integer items as BINARY or PACKED-DECIMAL with nine or fewer digits to afford quick conversion
to floating-point data. Also, conversion from a COMP-1 or COMP-2 item to a fixed-point integer with nine
or fewer digits, without SIZE ERROR in effect, is efficient when the value of the COMP-1 or COMP-2 item
is less than 1,000,000,000.

Chapter 38. Tuning your program 671

Making exponentiations efficient
Use floating point for exponentiations for large exponents to achieve faster evaluation and more accurate
results.
For example, the first statement below is computed more quickly and accurately than the second
statement:

COMPUTE fixed-point1 = fixed-point2 ** 100000.E+00

COMPUTE fixed-point1 = fixed-point2 ** 100000

A floating-point exponent causes floating-point arithmetic to be used to compute the exponentiation.

Using VOLATILE clauses efficiently

Optimization of data items that are defined with the VOLATILE clause is significantly restricted.
Therefore, use the VOLATILE clause only when appropriate.
In particular, it is important to understand that when the VOLATILE clause is used on a group item, the
compiler treats all data items subordinate to the group item as volatile, and all higher-level group items
that contain the volatile group item are treated as volatile, too. If a particular member of a group needs to
be treated as volatile, specify the VOLATILE clause on the data description entry for that item only, where
possible.
At present, the primary reason to use the VOLATILE clause is for data items that are set or referenced
inside an LE condition handler but are defined outside the LE condition handler program. The VOLATILE
clause guarantees that such items are handled correctly by the optimizer. For more information on when
to use VOLATILE, see VOLATILE clause in the Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference.

Handling tables efficiently

You can use several techniques to improve the efficiency of table-handling operations, and to influence
the optimizer. The return for your efforts can be significant, particularly when table-handling operations
are a major part of an application.
The following two guidelines affect your choice of how to refer to table elements:
• Use indexing rather than subscripting.
Although the compiler can eliminate duplicate indexes and subscripts, the original reference to a table
element is more efficient with indexes (even if the subscripts were BINARY). The value of an index has
the element size factored into it, whereas the value of a subscript must be multiplied by the element
size when the subscript is used. The index already contains the displacement from the start of the table,
and this value does not have to be calculated at run time. However, subscripting might be easier to
understand and maintain.
• Use relative indexing.
Relative index references (that is, references in which an unsigned numeric literal is added to or
subtracted from the index-name) are executed at least as fast as direct index references, and
sometimes faster. There is no merit in keeping alternative indexes with the offset factored in.
Whether you use indexes or subscripts, the following coding guidelines can help you get better
performance:
• Specify the element length so that it matches that of related tables.
When you index or subscript tables, it is most efficient if all the tables have the same element length.
That way, the stride for the last dimension of the tables is the same, and the optimizer can reuse the
rightmost index or subscript computed for one table. If both the element lengths and the number of
occurrences in each dimension are equal, then the strides for dimensions other than the last are also
equal, resulting in greater commonality between their subscript computations. The optimizer can then
reuse indexes or subscripts other than the rightmost.

672 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 • Avoid errors in references by coding index and subscript checks into your program.
If you need to validate indexes and subscripts, it might be faster to code your own checks than to use
the SSRANGE compiler option.
You can also improve the efficiency of tables by using these guidelines:
• Use binary data items for all subscripts.
When you use subscripts to address a table, use a BINARY signed data item with eight or fewer digits. In
some cases, using four or fewer digits for the data item might also improve processing time.
• Use binary data items for variable-length table items.
For tables with variable-length items, you can improve the code for OCCURS DEPENDING ON (ODO). To
avoid unnecessary conversions each time the variable-length items are referenced, specify BINARY for
OCCURS . . . DEPENDING ON objects.
• Use fixed-length data items whenever possible.
Copying variable-length data items into a fixed-length data item before a period of high-frequency use
can reduce some of the overhead associated with using variable-length data items.
• Organize tables according to the type of search method used.
If the table is searched sequentially, put the data values most likely to satisfy the search criteria at the
beginning of the table. If the table is searched using a binary search algorithm, put the data values in
the table sorted alphabetically on the search key field.

related concepts
“Optimization of table references” on page 673

related tasks
“Referring to an item in a table” on page 70
“Choosing efficient data types” on page 670

related references
“SSRANGE” on page 356

Optimization of table references

The COBOL compiler optimizes table references in several ways.
For the table element reference ELEMENT(S1 S2 S3), where S1, S2, and S3 are subscripts, the
compiler evaluates the following expression:

comp_s1 * d1 + comp_s2 * d2 + comp_s3 * d3 + base_address

Here comp_s1 is the value of S1 after conversion to binary, comp-s2 is the value of S2 after conversion
to binary, and so on. The strides for each dimension are d1, d2, and d3. The stride of a given dimension
is the distance in bytes between table elements whose occurrence numbers in that dimension differ by 1
and whose other occurrence numbers are equal. For example, the stride d2 of the second dimension in
the above example is the distance in bytes between ELEMENT(S1 1 S3) and ELEMENT(S1 2 S3).
Index computations are similar to subscript computations, except that no multiplication needs to be
done. Index values have the stride factored into them. They involve loading the indexes into registers, and
these data transfers can be optimized, much as the individual subscript computation terms are optimized.

Optimization of variable-length items

A group item that contains a subordinate OCCURS DEPENDING ON data item has a variable length. The
program must perform special code every time a variable-length data item is referenced.
Because this code is out-of-line, it might interrupt optimization. Furthermore, the code to manipulate
variable-length data items is much less efficient than that for fixed-size data items and can significantly

Chapter 38. Tuning your program 673

 increase processing time. For instance, the code to compare or move a variable-length data item might
involve calling a library routine and is much slower than the same code for fixed-length data items.

Comparison of direct and relative indexing

Relative index references are as fast as or faster than direct index references.
The direct indexing in ELEMENT (I5, J3, K2) requires this preprocessing:

SET I5 TO I
SET I5 UP BY 5
SET J3 TO J
SET J3 DOWN BY 3
SET K2 TO K
SET K2 UP BY 2

This processing makes the direct indexing less efficient than the relative indexing in ELEMENT (I + 5,
J - 3, K + 2).

related concepts
“Optimization” on page 674

related tasks
“Handling tables efficiently” on page 672

Optimizing your code

When your program is ready for final testing, specify the OPTIMIZE(1|2) compiler option so that the
tested code and the production code are identical.
If you frequently run a program without recompiling it during development, you might also want to
use OPTIMIZE(1|2). However, if you recompile frequently, the overhead for OPTIMIZE(1|2) might
outweigh its benefits unless you are using the assembler language expansion (LIST compiler option) to
fine-tune the program.
For unit-testing a program, you will probably find it easier to debug code that has not been optimized.
To see how the optimizer works on a program, compile it with different levels of optimization and compare
the generated code. (Use the LIST compiler option to request the assembler listing of the generated
code.)

related concepts
“Optimization” on page 674

related references
“LIST” on page 331
“OPTIMIZE” on page 343

Optimization
To improve the efficiency of the generated code, you can use the OPTIMIZE(1) or OPTIMIZE(2)
compiler option.
OPTIMIZE(1) causes the COBOL optimizer to do the following optimizations:
• Eliminate unnecessary transfers of control and inefficient branches, including those generated by the
compiler that are not evident from looking at the source program.
• Simplify the compiled code for a PERFORM statement. The compiler replicates the PERFORM a number of
times to avoid linkage code.
• Eliminate duplicate computations (such as subscript computations and repeated statements) that have
no effect on the results of the program.
• Eliminate constant computations by performing them when the program is compiled.

674 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 • Eliminate constant conditional expressions.
• Aggregate moves of contiguous items (such as those that often occur with the use of MOVE
CORRESPONDING) into a single move. Both the source and target must be contiguous for the moves
to be aggregated.
• Delete from the program, and identify with a warning message, code that can never be performed
(unreachable code elimination).
• Discard unreferenced data items from the DATA DIVISION, and suppress generation of code to
initialize these data items to their VALUE clauses. (The optimizer takes this action only when you use
the STGOPT option.)
OPTIMIZE(2) causes the COBOL optimizer to do further optimizations:
• Simplify operations more aggressively and schedule instructions.
• Do interblock optimizations such as global value propagation and loop invariant code motion.

Contained program procedure integration

In contained program procedure integration, the contained program code replaces a CALL to a contained
program. The resulting program runs faster without the overhead of CALL linkage and with more linear
control flow.
Program size: If several CALL statements call contained programs and these programs replace each
such statement, the containing program can become large. The optimizer then chooses the next best
optimization for the CALL statement.

related concepts
“PERFORM procedure integration” on page 675

related references
“OPTIMIZE” on page 343

PERFORM procedure integration

PERFORM procedure integration is the process whereby a PERFORM statement is replaced by its
performed procedures. The advantage is that the resulting program runs faster without the overhead
of PERFORM linkage and with more orderly control flow.

Program size: If the performed procedures are invoked by several PERFORM statements and replace each
such statement, the program could become large. The optimizer limits this increase, after which it no
longer integrates these procedures.

related references
“INLINE” on page 325
INLINE directive (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Choosing compiler features to enhance performance

Your choice of performance-related compiler options and your use of the USE FOR DEBUGGING ON ALL
PROCEDURES statement can affect how well your program is optimized.
You might have a customized system that requires certain options for optimum performance. Do these
steps:
1. To see what your system defaults are, get a short listing for any program and review the listed option
settings.
2. Determine which options are fixed as nonoverridable at your installation by checking with your system
programmer.
3. For the options not fixed at installation, select performance-related options for compiling your
programs.

Chapter 38. Tuning your program 675

 Important: Confer with your system programmer about how to tune COBOL programs. Doing so will
ensure that the options you choose are appropriate for programs at your site.
Another compiler feature to consider is the USE FOR DEBUGGING ON ALL PROCEDURES statement. It
can greatly affect the compiler optimizer. The ON ALL PROCEDURES option generates extra code at each
transfer to a procedure name. Although very useful for debugging, it can make the program significantly
larger and inhibit optimization substantially.
Although COBOL allows segmentation language, you will not improve storage allocation by using it,
because COBOL does not perform overlay.

related concepts
“Optimization” on page 674

related tasks
“Optimizing your code” on page 674
“Getting listings” on page 391

related references
“Performance-related compiler options” on page 676

Performance-related compiler options

In the table below you can see a description of the purpose of each option, its performance advantages
and disadvantages, and usage notes where applicable.
Table 91. Performance-related compiler options

Compiler option Purpose Performance Performance Usage notes

advantages disadvantages

AFP(NOVOLATIL To control the AFP(NOVOLATILE) lets None Poorly behaved assembler code might
E) compiler usage of the compiler generate not adhere to the standard calling
the Additional Floating more efficient code convention and might fail to correctly
(see “AFP” on
Point (AFP) registers sequences for programs preserve values in Floating Point
page 298)
that are provided with floating point registers. With AFP(NOVOLATILE),
by z/Architecture operations. COBOL programs can safely call such
processors routines.

ARCH To specify the If you specify a higher None Your application might abend if it runs
machine architecture ARCH level, the machine on a processor with an architecture
(see “ARCH” on
for which the generates code that level lower than that specified for the
page 299)
executable program uses newer and faster ARCH option.
instructions are to be instructions instead of
generated the sequences of
common instructions.

ARITH(EXTEND) To increase the None ARITH(EXTEND) The amount of degradation that you
maximum number of causes some experience depends directly on the
(see “ARITH” on
digits allowed for degradation in amount of decimal data that you use.
page 300)
decimal numbers performance for all
decimal data types
because of larger
intermediate results.

AWO To get optimum use Can result in None If you use AWO, the APPLY WRITE-
of buffer and device performance savings, ONLY clause is in effect for all QSAM
(see “AWO” on
space for QSAM files because this option files in the program that have V-mode
page 302)
results in fewer calls records.
to data management
services to handle input
and output

BLOCK0 To take advantage Can result in enhanced None If you use BLOCK0, a BLOCK CONTAINS
of system-determined processing speed and 0 clause is activated for all QSAM files in
(see “BLOCK0”
block size for QSAM minimized storage the program that specify neither BLOCK
on page 302)
output files requirements for QSAM CONTAINS nor RECORDING MODE U in
output files the file description entry.

676 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 91. Performance-related compiler options (continued)

Compiler option Purpose Performance Performance Usage notes

advantages disadvantages

DATA(31) To have DFSMS Because extended- None On a z/OS system with DFSMS, if your
allocate QSAM buffers format QSAM data application processes striped extended-
(see “DATA” on
above the 16 MB line sets can require many format QSAM data sets, use the RENT
page 310)
(by using the RENT and buffers, allocating the and DATA(31) compiler options to have
DATA(31) compiler buffers in unrestricted the input-output buffers for your QSAM
options) storage avoids virtual files allocated from storage above the
storage constraint 16 MB line.
problems.

DYNAM To have subprograms Subprograms are easier There is a slight To free virtual storage that is no longer
(called through the to maintain, because performance penalty, needed, issue the CANCEL statement.
(see “DYNAM” on
CALL statement) the application does not because the call must
page 317)
dynamically loaded at have to be link-edited go through a Language
run time again if a subprogram is Environment routine.
changed.

FASTSRT To specify that the IBM Eliminates the overhead None FASTSRT is recommended if direct work
DFSORT product (or of returning to Enterprise files are used for the sort work files. Not
(see “FASTSRT”
equivalent) will handle COBOL after each record all sorts are eligible for this option.
on page 320)
all of the input and is processed.
output

HGPR To control the compiler If you specify None If your program modifies and does not
usage of the 64- HGPR(NOPRESERVE), save the high-halves of the registers,
(see “HGPR” on
bit registers provided the compiler omits but calling programs depend on the
page 323)
by z/Architecture preserving the high- unchanged values, the application might
processors. halves of the 64-bit give incorrect results.
GPRs that a program is
Exception: It does not apply if the
using, which improves
caller of this program is Enterprise
performance.
COBOL, Enterprise PL/I or z/OS XL C/C+
+ programs.

INLINE To control the Specifying INLINE Specifying INLINE You can use the INLINE compiler
compiler usage of allows the compiler usually increases the option to indicate that a procedure
(see “INLINE” on
inlining procedures to decide whether size of the module. For should be considered eligible for
page 325)
(paragraphs or to inline procedures commonly occurring inlining, but the decision whether
sections) referenced by referenced by PERFORM but rarely executed to inline a procedure in a specific
PERFORM statements statements. This procedures, you can PERFORM statement or not is made by
in the source program. typically improves use the >>INLINE OFF the compiler.
performance when the directive to prevent the
application contains compiler from inlining
commonly occurring that procedure and
and often-executed increasing the module
procedures. size.

INITCHECK To have the compiler None Use of the INITCHECK All of the INITCHECK analyses occur
check for uninitialized option might increase at compile time only. The INITCHECK
(see
data items and issue compile time and option has no effect on the behavior or
“INITCHECK” on
warning messages memory consumption. performance of the program after it has
page 323)
when they are been compiled.
used without being
initialized.

MAXPCF To reduce optimization None If you specify None

in programs that MAXPCF(n) and n is
(see “MAXPCF”
require excessive not zero, when the
on page 333)
compilation time or program complexity
excessive storage factor exceeds n,
requirements because any specification of
of large sizes or OPTIMIZE(1) or
complexity. OPTIMIZE(2) is reset
to OPTIMIZE(0), and
a warning message is
generated.

Chapter 38. Tuning your program 677

Table 91. Performance-related compiler options (continued)

Compiler option Purpose Performance Performance Usage notes

advantages disadvantages

NUMCHECK To have the compiler None NUMCHECK is None

generate extra code much slower
(see
to validate data items than NONUMCHECK,
“NUMCHECK” on
when they are used as depending on how
page 336)
sending data items. many zoned decimal
(numeric USAGE
DISPLAY) data items,
packed decimal
(COMP-3) data items,
and binary data items
are used in a COBOL
program.

NUMPROC(PFD) To have invalid sign Generates significantly For most references If you use NUMPROC(PFD), the compiler
processing bypassed more efficient code for to COMP-3 and assumes and requires that all decimal
(see “NUMPROC”
for numeric operations numeric comparisons DISPLAY numeric data items contain the preferred sign values
on page 340)
items, NUMPROC(PFD) and bypasses the sign "fix-up" process.
inhibits extra code from However, because not all external
being generated to data files contain the proper signs
"fix up" signs. This for COMP-3 or DISPLAY numeric data,
extra code might also and programs might use REDEFINES,
inhibit some other group moves, or parameter passing
types of optimizations. in ways that do not ensure preferred
The extra code signs, the NUMPROC(PFD) might not be
is generated with appropriate for many programs.
NUMPROC(NOPFD).

OPTIMIZE(0|1| To optimize generated Generally results in more Longer compile OPTIMIZE(0) is generally used
2) code for better efficient runtime code time: OPTIMIZE(1| during program development when
performance 2) requires more frequent compiles are needed; it also
(see “OPTIMIZE”
processing time allows for symbolic debugging. For
on page 343)
for compiles than production runs, OPTIMIZE(1|2) is
OPTIMIZE(0). recommended.

STGOPT To optimize storage Generally results in less None STGOPT deletes unused data items,
allocation in DATA storage usage which might be undesirable in the case
(see “STGOPT”
DIVISION of time stamps or data items that are
on page 357)
used only as markers for dump reading.

PARMCHECK To have the compiler None PARMCHECK will cause None

generate an extra data the compiler to
(see
item following the generate slower code
“PARMCHECK”
last item in WORKING- for programs with
on page 344)
STORAGE. This buffer CALL statements.
data item is then NOPARMCHECK should
used at run time to be in effect for good
check whether a called performance.
subprogram corrupted
data beyond the end of
WORKING-STORAGE.

RENT To generate a reentrant Enables the program to Generates additional None

program be placed in shared code to ensure that the
(see “RENT” on
storage (LPA/ELPA) for program is reentrant
page 348)
faster execution

RMODE(ANY) To let the program be None None None

loaded anywhere
(see “RMODE” on
page 349)

SSRANGE To verify that all SSRANGE generates With SSRANGE In general, if you need to verify the
table references and additional code specified, checks for table references only a few times
(see “SSRANGE”
reference modification for verifying table valid ranges do affect instead of at every reference, coding
on page 356)
expressions are in references. Using compiler performance. your own checks might be faster
proper bounds NOSSRANGE causes that than using SSRANGE. For performance-
code not to be sensitive applications, NOSSRANGE is
generated. recommended.

678 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 91. Performance-related compiler options (continued)

Compiler option Purpose Performance Performance Usage notes

advantages disadvantages

TEST To get full debugging None Some reduction in For production runs, using NOTEST or
capability when using optimization occurs TEST(NOEJPD) is recommended.
(see “TEST” on
Debug Tool and to get when the TEST option
page 359) If during a production run, you want
a symbolic dump of the is used. More reduction
a symbolic dump of the data items
data items in CEEDUMP. in optimization occurs
in a formatted dump if the program
You can also get a when the EJPD
abends, compile using TEST or with
symbolic dump of the suboption of TEST is
NOTEST(DWARF).
data items in CEEDUMP used.
with NOTEST(DWARF).

THREAD To enable programs None There is a A slight performance penalty occurs

for execution in a slight performance in either a threaded or nonthreaded
(see “THREAD”
Language Environment penalty because of environment.
on page 363)
enclave that has the overhead of
multiple POSIX threads serialization logic.
or PL/I tasks

TRUNC(OPT) To avoid having code Does not generate extra Both TRUNC(BIN) and TRUNC(STD) conforms to the 85
generated to truncate code and generally TRUNC(STD) generate COBOL Standard, but TRUNC(BIN)
(see “TRUNC” on
the receiving fields of improves performance extra code whenever a and TRUNC(OPT) do not. With
page 364)
arithmetic operations BINARY data item is TRUNC(OPT), the compiler assumes
changed. TRUNC(BIN) that the data conforms to the PICTURE
is usually the slowest and USAGE specifications. TRUNC(OPT)
of these options. is recommended where possible.

related concepts
“Optimization” on page 674
“Storage and its addressability” on page 39

related tasks
“Generating a list of compiler messages” on page 271
“Evaluating performance” on page 679
“Optimizing buffer and device space” on page 10
“Choosing compiler features to enhance performance” on page 675
“Improving sort performance with FASTSRT” on page 222
“Using striped extended-format QSAM data sets” on page 175
“Handling tables efficiently” on page 672

related references
“Sign representation of zoned and packed-decimal data” on page 53
“Allocation of buffers for QSAM files” on page 176
Chapter 17, “Compiler options,” on page 291
“Conflicting compiler options” on page 295

Evaluating performance
Fill in the following worksheet to help you evaluate the performance of your program. If you answer yes to
each question, you are probably improving the performance.
In thinking about the performance tradeoff, be sure you understand the function of each option as well as
the performance advantages and disadvantages. You might prefer function over increased performance in
many instances.

Chapter 38. Tuning your program 679

 Table 92. Performance-tuning worksheet
Compiler option Consideration Yes?
ARCH Do you use the highest architecture level possible for all
environments in which your programs will run? For example, if the
lowest level architecture you have including your disaster recovery
machines is z10, are you using ARCH(8)?
AWO Do you use the AWO option when possible?
BLOCK0 Do you use BLOCK0 for QSAM files?
DATA When you use QSAM striped data sets, do you use the RENT and
DATA(31) options? Is the program object AMODE 31? Are you
running with ALL31(ON)?
DYNAM Can you use NODYNAM? Consider the performance tradeoffs.
FASTSRT When you use direct work files for the sort work files, did you use
the FASTSRT option?
INLINE Do you use INLINE when possible?
INVDATA Do you use INVDATA when possible?
NUMCHECK Do you use NONUMCHECK for production runs?
NUMPROC Do you use NUMPROC(PFD) when possible?
OPTIMIZE Do you use a non-zero OPTIMIZE level for production runs?
PARMCHECK Do you use NOPARMCHECK for production runs?
SSRANGE Do you use NOSSRANGE for production runs?
TEST Do you use NOTEST or TEST(NOEJPD) for production runs?
TRUNC Do you use TRUNC(OPT) when possible?

related concepts
“Storage and its addressability” on page 39

related tasks
“Choosing compiler features to enhance performance” on page 675

related references
“Performance-related compiler options” on page 676

Running efficiently with CICS, IMS, or VSAM

You can improve performance for online programs running under CICS or IMS, or programs that use
VSAM, by following these tips.

CICS: If your application runs under CICS, convert EXEC CICS LINK commands to COBOL CALL
statements to improve transaction response time.

IMS: If your application runs under IMS, preloading the application program and the library routines can
help reduce the overhead of loading and searching. It can also reduce the input-output activity.
For better system performance, use the RENT compiler option and preload the applications and library
routines when possible. You can also use the Language Environment library routine retention (LRR)
function to improve performance in IMS/TM regions.

680 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 VSAM: When you use VSAM files, increase the number of data buffers for sequential access or index
buffers for random access. Also, select a control interval size (CISZ) that is appropriate for the
application. A smaller CISZ results in faster retrieval for random processing at the expense of inserts.
A larger CISZ is more efficient for sequential processing.
For better performance, access the records sequentially and avoid using multiple alternate indexes when
possible. If you use alternate indexes, access method services builds them more efficiently than the
AIXBLD runtime option.

related tasks
“Coding COBOL programs to run under CICS” on page 429
Chapter 22, “Developing COBOL programs for IMS,” on page 451
“Improving VSAM performance” on page 201
Language Environment Customization

related references
Language Environment Programming Guide (Specifying runtime options)

Choosing static or dynamic calls

If you can arrange your modules, and the programs that frequently call each other are in one module,
static calls are faster than dynamic calls.
For more information, see “Performance considerations of static and dynamic calls” on page 480.

related concepts
“Performance considerations of static and dynamic calls” on page 480

Chapter 38. Tuning your program 681

682 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Chapter 39. Simplifying coding

You can use coding techniques to improve your productivity. By using the COPY statement, the format 2
SORT statement, COBOL intrinsic functions, and Language Environment callable services, you can avoid
repetitive coding and having to code many arithmetic calculations or other complex tasks.
If your program contains frequently used code sequences (such as blocks of common data items, input-
output routines, error routines, or even entire COBOL programs), write the code sequences once and put
them in a COBOL copy library. You can use the COPY statement to retrieve these code sequences and have
them included in your program at compile time. Using copybooks in this manner eliminates repetitive
coding.
To sort a table, you can use the format 2 SORT statement to simplify coding. It provides a much simpler
way compared to the format 1 SORT statement.
COBOL provides various capabilities for manipulating strings and numbers. These capabilities can help
you simplify your coding.
The Language Environment date and time callable services store dates as fullword binary integers and
store time stamps as long (64-bit) floating-point values. These formats let you do arithmetic calculations
on date and time values simply and efficiently. You do not need to write special subroutines that use
services outside the language library to perform such calculations.

related tasks
“Using numeric intrinsic functions” on page 56
“Using math-oriented callable services” on page 58
“Using date callable services” on page 59
“Eliminating repetitive coding” on page 683
“Converting data items (intrinsic functions)” on page 113
“Evaluating data items (intrinsic functions)” on page 117
“Using Language Environment callable
services” on page 685

related references
“Using the format 2 SORT statement to sort a table” on page 688

Eliminating repetitive coding

To include stored source statements in a program, use the COPY statement in any program division and at
any code sequence level. You can nest COPY statements to any depth.
To specify more than one copy library, use either multiple system definitions or a combination of multiple
definitions and the IN/OF phrase (IN/OF library-name):
MVS batch
Use JCL to concatenate data sets in your SYSLIB DD statement. Alternatively, define multiple DD
statements and use the IN/OF phrase of the COPY statement.
TSO
Use the ALLOCATE command to concatenate data sets for SYSLIB. Alternatively, issue multiple
ALLOCATE statements and use the IN/OF phrase of the COPY statement.
z/OS UNIX
Use the SYSLIB environment variable to define multiple paths to your copybooks. Alternatively, use
multiple environment variables and use the IN/OF phrase of the COPY statement.
For example:

COPY MEMBER1 OF COPYLIB

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 683

 If you omit this qualifying phrase, the default is SYSLIB.
COPY and debugging line: In order for the text copied to be treated as debug lines, for example, as if
there were a D inserted in column 7, put the D on the first line of the COPY statement. A COPY statement
cannot itself be a debugging line; if it contains a D, and WITH DEBUGGING mode is not specified, the COPY
statement is nevertheless processed.
“Example: using the COPY statement” on page 684

related references
Chapter 18, “Compiler-directing statements,” on page 377

Example: using the COPY statement

These examples show how you can use the COPY statement to include library text in a program.
Suppose the library entry CFILEA consists of the following FD entries:

BLOCK CONTAINS 20 RECORDS

RECORD CONTAINS 120 CHARACTERS
LABEL RECORDS ARE STANDARD
DATA RECORD IS FILE-OUT.
01 FILE-OUT PIC X(120).

You can retrieve the text-name CFILEA by using the COPY statement in a source program as follows:

FD FILEA
COPY CFILEA.

The library entry is copied into your program, and the resulting program listing looks like this:

FD FILEA
COPY CFILEA.
C BLOCK CONTAINS 20 RECORDS
C RECORD CONTAINS 120 CHARACTERS
C LABEL RECORDS ARE STANDARD
C DATA RECORD IS FILE-OUT.
C 01 FILE-OUT PIC X(120).

In the compiler source listing, the COPY statement prints on a separate line. C precedes copied lines.
Assume that a copybook with the text-name DOWORK is stored by using the following statements:

COMPUTE QTY-ON-HAND = TOTAL-USED-NUMBER-ON-HAND

MOVE QTY-ON-HAND to PRINT-AREA

To retrieve the copybook identified as DOWORK, code:

paragraph-name.
COPY DOWORK.

The statements that are in the DOWORK procedure will follow paragraph-name.
If you use the EXIT compiler option to provide a LIBEXIT module, your results might differ from those
shown here.
Note: To save compile time, you might group related items in a copybook, but not necessarily have a
single large copybook with unrelated items in it.

related tasks
“Eliminating repetitive coding” on page 683

related references
Chapter 18, “Compiler-directing statements,” on page 377

684 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Using Language Environment callable services
Language Environment callable services make many types of programming tasks easier. You call them by
using the CALL statement.
Language Environment services help you with the following tasks:
• Handling conditions
The Language Environment condition-handling facilities enable COBOL applications to react to
unexpected errors. You can use language constructs or runtime options to select the level at which
to handle each condition. For example, you can handle a particular error in your COBOL program, let
Language Environment take care of it, or have the operating system handle it.
In support of Language Environment condition handling, COBOL provides procedure-pointer data items.
• Managing dynamic storage
These services enable you to get, free, and reallocate storage. You can also create your own storage
pools.
• Calculating dates and times
If you use the date and time services, you can get the current local time and date in several formats,
and perform date and time conversions. Two callable services, CEEQCEN and CEESCEN, provide a
predictable way to handle two-digit years, such as 91 for 1991 or 09 for 2009.
• Making math calculations
Calculations that are easy to perform with mathematical callable services include logarithmic,
exponential, trigonometric, square root, and integer functions.
COBOL also supports a set of intrinsic functions that include some of the same mathematical and date
functions as those provided by the callable services. The Language Environment callable services and
intrinsic functions provide equivalent results, with a few exceptions. You should be familiar with these
differences before deciding which to use.
• Handling messages
Message-handling services include services for getting, dispatching, and formatting messages.
Messages for non-CICS applications can be directed to files or printers. CICS messages are directed
to a CICS transient data queue. Language Environment splits messages to accommodate the record
length of the destination, and presents messages in the correct national language such as Japanese or
English.
• Supporting national languages
These services make it easy for your applications to support the language that application users want.
You can set the language and country, and obtain default date, time, number, and currency formats. For
example, you might want dates to appear as 23 June 09 or as 6,23,09.
• General services such as starting Debug Tool and obtaining a Language Environment formatted dump
Debug Tool provides advanced debugging functions for COBOL applications, including both batch and
interactive debugging of CICS programs. Debug Tool enables you to debug a COBOL application from
the host or, in conjunction with the Debug Perspective of IBM Developer for z/OS, from a Windows-
based workstation.
Depending on the options that you select, the Language Environment formatted dump might contain the
names and values of data items, and information about conditions, program tracebacks, control blocks,
storage, and files. All Language Environment dumps have a common, well-labeled, easy-to-read format.
“Example: Language Environment callable services” on page 687

related concepts
“Sample list of Language Environment callable
services” on page 686

Chapter 39. Simplifying coding 685

 related tasks
“Using numeric intrinsic functions” on page 56
“Using math-oriented callable services” on page 58
“Using date callable services” on page 59
“Calling Language Environment services” on page 687
“Using procedure and function
pointers” on page 485

Sample list of Language Environment callable services

The following table shows some examples of the callable services that are available with Language
Environment. Many more services are available than those listed.

Table 93. Language Environment callable services

Function type Service Purpose
Condition handling CEEHDLR To register a user condition handler
CEESGL To raise or signal a condition
CEEMRCR To indicate where the program will resume running after the
condition handler has finished
Dynamic storage CEEGTST To get storage
CEECZST To change the size of a previously allocated storage block
CEEFRST To free storage
Date and time CEECBLDY To convert a string that represents a date into COBOL integer date
format, which represents a date as the number of days since 31
December 1600
CEEQCEN, To query and set the Language Environment century window, which
CEESCEN is valuable when a program uses two digits to express a year
CEEGMTO To calculate the difference between the local system time and
Greenwich Mean Time
CEELOCT To get the current local time in your choice of three formats
Math CEESIABS To calculate the absolute value of an integer
CEESSNWN To calculate the nearest whole number for a single-precision
floating-point number
CEESSCOS To calculate the cosine of an angle
Message handling CEEMOUT To dispatch a message
CEEMGET To retrieve a message
National language CEE3LNG To change or query the current national language
support
CEE3CTY To change or query the current national country
CEE3MCS To obtain the default currency symbol for a given country
General CEE3DMP To obtain a Language Environment formatted dump
CEETEST To start a debugging tool, such as Debug Tool

related references
Language Environment Programming Reference

686 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Calling Language Environment services
To invoke a Language Environment service, use a CALL statement with the correct parameters for that
service. Define the variables for the CALL statement in the DATA DIVISION with the definitions that are
required by that service.

77 argument comp-1.
77 feedback-code pic x(12) display.
77 result comp-1.
. . .
CALL "CEESSSQT" using argument, feedback-code, result

In the example above, Language Environment service CEESSSQT calculates the value of the square root of
the variable argument and returns this value in the variable result.
You can choose whether to specify the feedback code parameter. If you specify it, the value returned
in feedback-code indicates whether the service completed successfully. If you specify OMITTED
instead of the feedback code, and the service is not successful, a Language Environment condition
is automatically signaled to the Language Environment condition manager. You can handle such a
condition by recovery logic implemented in a user-written condition handler, or let the default Language
Environment processing for unhandled conditions occur. In either case, you avoid having to write logic to
check the feedback code explicitly after each call.
If you call a Language Environment callable service and specify OMITTED for the feedback code, the
RETURN-CODE special register is set to 0 if the service is successful. It is not altered if the service is
unsuccessful. If you do not specify OMITTED for the feedback code, the RETURN-CODE special register is
always set to 0 regardless of whether the service completed successfully.
“Example: Language Environment callable services” on page 687
related concepts
Language Environment Programming Guide (General callable services)

related references
Language Environment Programming Reference (General callable services)
CALL statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: Language Environment callable services

This example shows a COBOL program that uses the Language Environment services CEEDAYS and
CEEDATE to format and display a date from the results of a COBOL ACCEPT statement.
Using CEEDAYS and CEEDATE reduces the coding that would be required without Language Environment.

ID DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. HOHOHO.
************************************************************
* FUNCTION: DISPLAY TODAY'S DATE IN THE FOLLOWING FORMAT: *
* WWWWWWWWW, MMMMMMMM DD, YYYY *
* *
* For example: TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2009 *
* *
************************************************************
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 CHRDATE.
05 CHRDATE-LENGTH PIC S9(4) COMP VALUE 10.
05 CHRDATE-STRING PIC X(10).
01 PICSTR.
05 PICSTR-LENGTH PIC S9(4) COMP.
05 PICSTR-STRING PIC X(80).
*
77 LILIAN PIC S9(9) COMP.
77 FORMATTED-DATE PIC X(80).
*
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
***************************************************************

Chapter 39. Simplifying coding 687

 * USE LANGUAGE ENVIRONMENT CALLABLE SERVICES TO PRINT OUT *
* TODAY'S DATE FROM COBOL ACCEPT STATEMENT. *
***************************************************************
ACCEPT CHRDATE-STRING FROM DATE.
*
MOVE "YYMMDD" TO PICSTR-STRING.
MOVE 6 TO PICSTR-LENGTH.
CALL "CEEDAYS" USING CHRDATE , PICSTR , LILIAN , OMITTED.
*
MOVE " WWWWWWWWWZ, MMMMMMMMMZ DD, YYYY " TO PICSTR-STRING.
MOVE 50 TO PICSTR-LENGTH.
CALL "CEEDATE" USING LILIAN , PICSTR , FORMATTED-DATE ,
OMITTED.
*
DISPLAY "******************************".
DISPLAY FORMATTED-DATE.
DISPLAY "******************************".
*
STOP RUN.

Using the format 2 SORT statement to sort a table

It is recommended to use the format 2 SORT statement to sort a table. It provides the following benefits
when compared to the format 1 SORT statement.

Table 94. Comparison of format 1 and format 2 SORT statements

Characteristics Format 1 SORT statements Format 2 SORT statements
Can be used to sort a file or a Yes No, it is for tables only
table
Requires DFSORT or equivalent Yes No
sorting program
Supported in CICS Limited Yes
Supported in UNIX System No Yes
Services
Supported in programs that are No Yes
compiled with the THREAD option
Table can be sorted by using No, it requires the SELECT Yes
a single SORT statement, which clauses, SD entries with record
simplifies coding descriptions, and input and
output procedures
Keys for sorting can be specified No, keys must be specified in the Yes, and it also supports
as part of the table definition, SORT statement. If the table is specifying keys in the SORT
which can also be used in the to be searched by using SEARCH statement if needed
SEARCH ALL statement ALL as well, the keys must also
be redundantly specified as part
of the table definition.
Can filter or preprocess table Yes, using input and output No, all of the table elements are
elements during the sorting procedures passed to SORT as-is
process
Uses special registers that Yes No
include SORT-CONTROL, SORT-
CORE-SIZE, SORT-FILE-SIZE,
SORT-MESSAGE, SORT-MODE-
SIZE, and SORT-RETURN
Can be executed within the range No Yes
of an input or output procedure

688 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Note: Do not use the format 2 SORT with large tables in an environment where storage is constrained,
because the format 2 SORT uses heap storage to do the sort.

related references
SORT statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Chapter 39. Simplifying coding 689

690 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Appendix A. Intermediate results and arithmetic
precision
The compiler handles arithmetic statements as a succession of operations performed according to
operator precedence, and sets up intermediate fields to contain the results of those operations. The
compiler uses algorithms to determine the number of integer and decimal places to reserve.
Intermediate results are possible in the following cases:
• In an ADD or SUBTRACT statement that contains more than one operand immediately after the verb
• In a COMPUTE statement that specifies a series of arithmetic operations or multiple result fields
• In an arithmetic expression contained in a conditional statement or in a reference-modification
specification
• In an ADD, SUBTRACT, MULTIPLY, or DIVIDE statement that uses the GIVING option and multiple
result fields
• In a statement that uses an intrinsic function as an operand
• In a statement that contains the ROUNDED phrase
“Example: calculation of intermediate results” on page 692
The precision of intermediate results depends on whether you compile using the default option
ARITH(COMPAT) (referred to as compatibility mode) or using ARITH(EXTEND) (referred to as extended
mode).
In compatibility mode, evaluation of arithmetic operations is unchanged from that in releases of IBM
COBOL before COBOL for OS/390 & VM Version 2 Release 2:
• A maximum of 30 digits is used for fixed-point intermediate results.
• Floating-point intrinsic functions return long-precision (64-bit) floating-point results.
• Expressions that contain floating-point operands, fractional exponents, or floating-point intrinsic
functions are evaluated as if all operands that are not in floating point are converted to long-precision
floating point and floating-point operations are used to evaluate the expression.
• Floating-point literals and external floating-point data items are converted to long-precision floating
point for processing.
In extended mode, evaluation of arithmetic operations has the following characteristics:
• A maximum of 31 digits is used for fixed-point intermediate results.
• Floating-point intrinsic functions return extended-precision (128-bit) floating-point results.
• Expressions that contain floating-point operands, fractional exponents, or floating-point intrinsic
functions are evaluated as if all operands that are not in floating point are converted to extended-
precision floating point and floating-point operations are used to evaluate the expression.
• Floating-point literals and external floating-point data items are converted to extended-precision
floating point for processing.

related concepts
“Formats for numeric
data” on page 47
“Fixed-point contrasted with floating-point arithmetic” on page 62

related references
“Fixed-point data and intermediate results” on page 693
“Floating-point data and intermediate results” on page 698
“Arithmetic expressions in nonarithmetic statements” on page 699
“ARITH” on page 300

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 691

Terminology used for intermediate results
To understand this information about intermediate results, you need to understand the following
terminology.
i
The number of integer places carried for an intermediate result. (If you use the ROUNDED phrase, one
more integer place might be carried for accuracy if necessary.)
d
The number of decimal places carried for an intermediate result. (If you use the ROUNDED phrase, one
more decimal place might be carried for accuracy if necessary.)
dmax
In a particular statement, the largest of the following items:
• The number of decimal places needed for the final result field or fields
• The maximum number of decimal places defined for any operand, except divisors or exponents
• The outer-dmax for any function operand
inner-dmax
In reference to a function, the largest of the following items:
• The number of decimal places defined for any of its elementary arguments
• The dmax for any of its arithmetic expression arguments
• The outer-dmax for any of its embedded functions
outer-dmax
The number of decimal places that a function result contributes to operations outside of its own
evaluation (for example, if the function is an operand in an arithmetic expression, or an argument to
another function).
op1
The first operand in a generated arithmetic statement (in division, the divisor).
op2
The second operand in a generated arithmetic statement (in division, the dividend).
i1 , i2
The number of integer places in op1 and op2, respectively.
d1 , d2
The number of decimal places in op1 and op2, respectively.
ir
The intermediate result when a generated arithmetic statement or operation is performed.
(Intermediate results are generated either in registers or storage locations.)
ir1 , ir2
Successive intermediate results. (Successive intermediate results might have the same storage
location.)

related references
ROUNDED phrase (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: calculation of intermediate results

The following example shows how the compiler performs an arithmetic statement as a succession of
operations, storing intermediate results as needed.

COMPUTE Y = A + B * C - D / E + F ** G

The result is calculated in the following order:

692 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 1. Exponentiate F by G yielding ir1.
2. Multiply B by C yielding ir2.
3. Divide E into D yielding ir3.
4. Add A to ir2 yielding ir4.
5. Subtract ir3 from ir4 yielding ir5.
6. Add ir5 to ir1 yielding Y.

related tasks
“Using arithmetic expressions” on page 56

related references
“Terminology used for intermediate results” on page 692

Fixed-point data and intermediate results

The compiler determines the number of integer and decimal places in an intermediate result.

Addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division

The following table shows the precision theoretically possible as the result of addition, subtraction,
multiplication, or division.

Operation Integer places Decimal places

+ or - (i1 or i2) + 1, whichever is greater d1 or d2, whichever is greater
* i1 + i2 d1 + d2
/ i2 + d1 (d2 - d1) or dmax, whichever is greater

You must define the operands of any arithmetic statements with enough decimal places to obtain the
accuracy you want in the final result.

The following table shows the number of places the compiler carries for fixed-point intermediate results
of arithmetic operations that involve addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division in compatibility mode
(that is, when the default compiler option ARITH(COMPAT) is in effect):

Value of i + d Value of d Value of i + dmax Number of places carried for ir

<30 or =30 Any value Any value i integer and d decimal places
>30 <dmax or =dmax Any value 30-d integer and d decimal places
>dmax <30 or =30 i integer and 30-i decimal places
>30 30-dmax integer and dmax decimal
places

The following table shows the number of places the compiler carries for fixed-point intermediate results
of arithmetic operations that involve addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division in extended mode
(that is, when the compiler option ARITH(EXTEND) is in effect):

Value of i + d Value of d Value of i + dmax Number of places carried for ir

<31 or =31 Any value Any value i integer and d decimal places

Appendix A. Intermediate results and arithmetic precision 693

 Value of i + d Value of d Value of i + dmax Number of places carried for ir
>31 <dmax or =dmax Any value 31-d integer and d decimal places
>dmax <31 or =31 i integer and 31-i decimal places
>31 31-dmax integer and dmax decimal
places

Exponentiation
Exponentiation is represented by the expression op1 ** op2. Based on the characteristics of op2, the
compiler handles exponentiation of fixed-point numbers in one of three ways:
• When op2 is expressed with decimals, floating-point instructions are used.
• When op2 is an integral literal or constant, the value d is computed as

d = d1 * |op2|

and the value i is computed based on the characteristics of op1:

– When op1 is a data-name or variable,

i = i1 * |op2|

– When op1 is a literal or constant, i is set equal to the number of integers in the value of op1 ** |op2|.
In compatibility mode (compilation using ARITH(COMPAT)), the compiler having calculated i and d
takes the action indicated in the table below to handle the intermediate results ir of the exponentiation.

Value of i + d Other conditions Action taken

<30 Any i integer and d decimal places are carried for ir.
=30 op1 has an odd i integer and d decimal places are carried for ir.
number of digits.
op1 has an even Same action as when op2 is an integral data-name or
number of digits. variable (shown below). Exception: for a 30-digit integer
raised to the power of literal 1, i integer and d decimal
places are carried for ir.
>30 Any Same action as when op2 is an integral data-name or
variable (shown below)

In extended mode (compilation using ARITH(EXTEND)), the compiler having calculated i and d takes
the action indicated in the table below to handle the intermediate results ir of the exponentiation.

Value of i + d Other conditions Action taken

<31 Any i integer and d decimal places are carried for ir.
=31 or >31 Any Same action as when op2 is an integral data-name or
variable (shown below). Exception: for a 31-digit integer
raised to the power of literal 1, i integer and d decimal
places are carried for ir.

If op2 is negative, the value of 1 is then divided by the result produced by the preliminary computation.
The values of i and d that are used are calculated following the division rules for fixed-point data already
shown above.

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 • When op2 is an integral data-name or variable, dmax decimal places and 30-dmax (compatibility mode)
or 31-dmax (extended mode) integer places are used. op1 is multiplied by itself (|op2| - 1) times for
nonzero op2.

If op2 is equal to 0, the result is 1. Division-by-0 and exponentiation SIZE ERROR conditions apply.
Fixed-point exponents with more than nine significant digits are always truncated to nine digits. If
the exponent is a literal or constant, an E-level compiler diagnostic message is issued; otherwise, an
informational message is issued at run time.
“Example: exponentiation in fixed-point arithmetic” on page 695

related references
“Terminology used for intermediate results” on page 692
“Truncated intermediate results” on page 695
“Binary data and intermediate results” on page 696
“Floating-point data and intermediate results” on page 698
“Intrinsic functions evaluated in fixed-point arithmetic” on page 696
“ARITH” on page 300
SIZE ERROR phrases (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Example: exponentiation in fixed-point arithmetic

The following example shows how the compiler performs an exponentiation to a nonzero integer power as
a succession of multiplications, storing intermediate results as needed.

COMPUTE Y = A ** B

If B is equal to 4, the result is computed as shown below. The values of i and d that are used are
calculated according to the multiplication rules for fixed-point data and intermediate results (referred to
below).
1. Multiply A by A yielding an internal intermediate result iir1.
2. Multiply iir1 by A yielding an internal intermediate result iir2.
3. Multiply iir2 by A yielding an internal intermediate result iir3.
4. Move iir3 to ir4.
ir4 has dmax decimal places. Because B is positive, ir4 is moved to Y. If B were equal to -4, however,
an additional fifth step would be performed:
5. Divide ir4 into 1 yielding ir5.
ir5 has dmax decimal places, and would then be moved to Y.
Note: The internal intermediate results (iir1, iir2, and iir3) obtained by the internal library routine
performing the exponential calculation in steps 1, 2, and 3 above do not use the same decimal precision
as ir4 and ir5 above. Instead, those intermediate results are much more precise, ensuring the most
accurate result possible in ir4 or ir5.

related references
“Terminology used for intermediate results” on page 692
“Fixed-point data and intermediate results” on page 693

Truncated intermediate results

Whenever the number of digits in an intermediate result exceeds 30 in compatibility mode or 31 in
extended mode, the compiler truncates to 30 (compatibility mode) or 31 (extended mode) digits and
issues a warning. If truncation occurs at run time, a message is issued and the program continues
running.

Appendix A. Intermediate results and arithmetic precision 695

 If you want to avoid the truncation of intermediate results that can occur in fixed-point calculations, use
floating-point operands (COMP-1 or COMP-2) instead.

related concepts
“Formats for numeric
data” on page 47

related references
“Fixed-point data and intermediate results” on page 693
“ARITH” on page 300

Binary data and intermediate results

If an operation that involves binary operands requires intermediate results longer than 18 digits, the
compiler converts the operands to internal decimal before performing the operation. If the result field is
binary, the compiler converts the result from internal decimal to binary.
Binary operands are most efficient when intermediate results will not exceed nine digits.

related references
“Fixed-point data and intermediate results” on page 693
“ARITH” on page 300

Intrinsic functions evaluated in fixed-point arithmetic

The compiler determines the inner-dmax and outer-dmax values for an intrinsic function from the
characteristics of the function.

Integer functions
Integer intrinsic functions return an integer; thus their outer-dmax is always zero. For those integer
functions whose arguments must all be integers, the inner-dmax is thus also always zero.
The following table summarizes the inner-dmax and the precision of the function result.

Function Inner-dmax Digit precision of function result

DATE-OF-INTEGER 0 8
DATE-TO-YYYYMMDD 0 8
DAY-OF-INTEGER 0 7
DAY-TO-YYYYDDD 0 7
FACTORIAL 0 30 in compatibility mode, 31 in extended mode
INTEGER-OF-DATE 0 7
INTEGER-OF-DAY 0 7
LENGTH n/a 9
MOD 0 min(i1 i2)
ORD n/a 3
ORD-MAX 9
ORD-MIN 9
YEAR-TO-YYYY 0 4

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 Function Inner-dmax Digit precision of function result
INTEGER For a fixed-point argument: one more digit than in the
argument. For a floating-point argument: 30 in compatibility
mode, 31 in extended mode.
INTEGER-PART For a fixed-point argument: same number of digits as in the
argument. For a floating-point argument: 30 in compatibility
mode, 31 in extended mode.

Mixed functions
A mixed intrinsic function is a function whose result type depends on the type of its arguments. A mixed
function is fixed point if all of its arguments are numeric and none of its arguments is floating point. (If any
argument of a mixed function is floating point, the function is evaluated with floating-point instructions
and returns a floating-point result.) When a mixed function is evaluated with fixed-point arithmetic, the
result is integer if all of the arguments are integer; otherwise, the result is fixed point.
For the mixed functions MAX, MIN, RANGE, REM, and SUM, the outer-dmax is always equal to the inner-
dmax (and both are thus zero if all the arguments are integer). To determine the precision of the result
returned for these functions, apply the rules for fixed-point arithmetic and intermediate results (as
referred to below) to each step in the algorithm.
MAX
1. Assign the first argument to the function result.
2. For each remaining argument, do the following steps:
a. Compare the algebraic value of the function result with the argument.
b. Assign the greater of the two to the function result.
MIN
1. Assign the first argument to the function result.
2. For each remaining argument, do the following steps:
a. Compare the algebraic value of the function result with the argument.
b. Assign the lesser of the two to the function result.
RANGE
1. Use the steps for MAX to select the maximum argument.
2. Use the steps for MIN to select the minimum argument.
3. Subtract the minimum argument from the maximum.
4. Assign the difference to the function result.
REM
1. Divide argument one by argument two.
2. Remove all noninteger digits from the result of step 1.
3. Multiply the result of step 2 by argument two.
4. Subtract the result of step 3 from argument one.
5. Assign the difference to the function result.
SUM
1. Assign the value 0 to the function result.
2. For each argument, do the following steps:
a. Add the argument to the function result.
b. Assign the sum to the function result.

Appendix A. Intermediate results and arithmetic precision 697

 related references
“Terminology used for intermediate results” on page 692
“Fixed-point data and intermediate results” on page 693
“Floating-point data and intermediate results” on page 698
“ARITH” on page 300

Floating-point data and intermediate results

If any operation in an arithmetic expression is computed in floating-point arithmetic, the entire expression
is computed as if all operands were converted to floating point and the operations were performed using
floating-point instructions.

Floating-point instructions are used to compute an arithmetic expression if any of the following conditions
is true of the expression:
• A receiver or operand is COMP-1, COMP-2, external floating point, or a floating-point literal.
• An exponent contains decimal places.
• An exponent is an expression that contains an exponentiation or division operator, and dmax is greater
than zero.
• An intrinsic function is a floating-point function.
In compatibility mode, if an expression is computed in floating-point arithmetic, the precision used to
evaluate the arithmetic operations is determined as follows:
• Single precision is used if all receivers and operands are COMP-1 data items and the expression
contains no multiplication or exponentiation operations.
• In all other cases, long precision is used.
Whenever long-precision floating point is used for one operation in an arithmetic expression, all
operations in the expression are computed as if long floating-point instructions were used.
In extended mode, if an expression is computed in floating-point arithmetic, the precision used to
evaluate the arithmetic operations is determined as follows:
• Single precision is used if all receivers and operands are COMP-1 data items and the expression
contains no multiplication or exponentiation operations.
• Long precision is used if all receivers and operands are COMP-1 or COMP-2 data items, at least
one receiver or operand is a COMP-2 data item, and the expression contains no multiplication or
exponentiation operations.
• In all other cases, extended precision is used.
Whenever extended-precision floating point is used for one operation in an arithmetic expression, all
operations in the expression are computed as if extended-precision floating-point instructions were used.
Alert: If a floating-point operation has an intermediate result field in which exponent overflow occurs, the
job is abnormally terminated.

Exponentiations evaluated in floating-point arithmetic

In compatibility mode, floating-point exponentiations are always evaluated using long floating-point
arithmetic. In extended mode, floating-point exponentiations are always evaluated using extended-
precision floating-point arithmetic.
The value of a negative number raised to a fractional power is undefined in COBOL. For example, (-2) ** 3
is equal to -8, but (-2) ** (3.000001) is undefined. When an exponentiation is evaluated in floating point
and there is a possibility that the result is undefined, the exponent is evaluated at run time to determine if
it has an integral value. If not, a diagnostic message is issued.

698 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Intrinsic functions evaluated in floating-point arithmetic
In compatibility mode, floating-point intrinsic functions always return a long (64-bit) floating-point
value. In extended mode, floating-point intrinsic functions always return an extended-precision (128-bit)
floating-point value.
Mixed functions that have at least one floating-point argument are evaluated using floating-point
arithmetic.

related references
“Terminology used for intermediate results” on page 692
“ARITH” on page 300

Arithmetic expressions in nonarithmetic statements

Arithmetic expressions can appear in contexts other than arithmetic statements. For example, you can
use an arithmetic expression with the IF or EVALUATE statement.
In such statements, the rules for intermediate results with fixed-point data and for intermediate results
with floating-point data apply, with the following changes:
• Abbreviated IF statements are handled as though the statements were not abbreviated.
• In an explicit relation condition where at least one of the comparands is an arithmetic expression, dmax
is the maximum number of decimal places for any operand of either comparand, excluding divisors and
exponents. The rules for floating-point arithmetic apply if any of the following conditions is true:
– Any operand in either comparand is COMP-1, COMP-2, external floating point, or a floating-point
literal.
– An exponent contains decimal places.
– An exponent is an expression that contains an exponentiation or division operator, and dmax is
greater than zero.
For example:

IF operand-1 = expression-1 THEN . . .

If operand-1 is a data-name defined to be COMP-2, the rules for floating-point arithmetic apply to
expression-1 even if it contains only fixed-point operands, because it is being compared to a floating-
point operand.
• When the comparison between an arithmetic expression and another data item or arithmetic expression
does not use a relational operator (that is, there is no explicit relation condition), the arithmetic
expression is evaluated without regard to the attributes of its comparand. For example:

EVALUATE expression-1
WHEN expression-2 THRU expression-3
WHEN expression-4
. . .
END-EVALUATE

In the statement above, each arithmetic expression is evaluated in fixed-point or floating-point

arithmetic based on its own characteristics.

related concepts
“Fixed-point contrasted with floating-point arithmetic” on page 62
related references
“Terminology used for intermediate results” on page 692
“Fixed-point data and intermediate results” on page 693
“Floating-point data and intermediate results” on page 698
IF statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

Appendix A. Intermediate results and arithmetic precision 699

 EVALUATE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)
Conditional expressions (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

700 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Appendix B. Converting double-byte character set
(DBCS) data
The Language Environment service routines IGZCA2D and IGZCD2A were intended for converting
alphanumeric data items that contain DBCS data to and from pure DBCS data items in order to reliably
perform operations such as STRING, UNSTRING, and reference modification.
These service routines continue to be provided for compatibility; however, using national data items and
the national conversion operations is now recommended instead for this purpose.
The service routines do not support a code-page argument and are not sensitive to the code page
specified by the CODEPAGE compiler option. The DBCS compiler option does not affect their operation.

related tasks
“Converting to or from national (Unicode) representation” on page 136
“Processing alphanumeric data items that contain DBCS data” on page 149

related references
“DBCS notation” on page 701
“Alphanumeric to DBCS data conversion (IGZCA2D)” on page 701
“DBCS to alphanumeric data conversion (IGZCD2A)” on page 703
“CODEPAGE” on page 304

DBCS notation
The symbols shown below are used in the DBCS data conversion examples to describe DBCS items.

Symbols Meaning
< and > Shift-out (SO) and shift-in (SI), respectively
D0, D1, D2, . . ., Dn Any DBCS character except for double-byte EBCDIC
characters that correspond to single-byte EBCDIC characters
.A, .B, .C, . . . Any double-byte EBCDIC character that corresponds to a
single-byte EBCDIC character. The period (.) represents the
value X'42'.
A single letter, such as A, B, or s Any single-byte EBCDIC character

Alphanumeric to DBCS data conversion (IGZCA2D)

The Language Environment IGZCA2D service routine converts alphanumeric data that contains double-
byte characters to pure DBCS data.

IGZCA2D syntax
To use the IGZCA2D service routine, pass the following four parameters to the routine by using the CALL
statement:
parameter-1
The sending field for the conversion, handled as an alphanumeric data item.
parameter-2
The receiving field for the conversion, handled as a DBCS data item.
You cannot use reference modification with parameter-2.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 701

 parameter-3
The number of bytes in parameter-1 to be converted.
It can be the LENGTH OF special register of parameter-1, or a 4-byte USAGE IS BINARY data item
containing the number of bytes of parameter-1 to be converted. Shift codes count as 1 byte each.
parameter-4
The number of bytes in parameter-2 that will receive the converted data.
It can be the LENGTH OF special register of parameter-2, or a 4-byte USAGE IS BINARY data item
containing the number of bytes of parameter-2 to receive the converted data.
Usage notes
• You can pass parameter-1, parameter-3, and parameter-4 to the routine BY REFERENCE or BY
CONTENT, but you must pass parameter-2 BY REFERENCE.
• The compiler does not perform syntax checking on these parameters. Ensure that the parameters
are correctly set and passed in the CALL statement to the conversion routine. Otherwise, results are
unpredictable.
• When creating parameter-2 from parameter-1, IGZCA2D makes these changes:
– Removes the shift codes, leaving the DBCS data unchanged
– Converts the single-byte (nonspace) EBCDIC character X'nn' to a character represented by X'42nn'
– Converts the single-byte space (X'40') to DBCS space (X'4040'), instead of X'4240'
• IGZCA2D does not change the contents of parameter-1, parameter-3, or parameter-4.
• The valid range for the contents of parameter-3 and for the contents of parameter-4 is 1 to
134,217,727.
“Example: IGZCA2D” on page 703

related references
“IGZCA2D return codes” on page 702

IGZCA2D return codes

IGZCA2D sets the RETURN-CODE special register to reflect the status of the conversion.

Table 95. IGZCA2D return codes

Return code Explanation
0 parameter-1 was converted and the results were placed in parameter-2.
2 parameter-1 was converted and the results were placed in parameter-2. parameter-2
was padded on the right with DBCS spaces.
4 parameter-1 was converted and the results were placed in parameter-2. The DBCS
data placed in parameter-2 was truncated on the right.
6 parameter-1 was converted and the results were placed in parameter-2. A single-
byte character in the range X'00' to X'3F' or X'FF' was encountered. The valid single-
byte character was converted into an out-of-range DBCS character.
8 parameter-1 was converted and the results were placed in parameter-2. A single-
byte character in the range X'00' to X'3F' or X'FF' was encountered. The valid single-
byte character was converted into an out-of-range DBCS character.
parameter-2 was padded on the right with DBCS spaces.

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 Table 95. IGZCA2D return codes (continued)
Return code Explanation
10 parameter-1 was converted and the results were placed in parameter-2. A single-
byte character in the range X'00' to X'3F' or X'FF' was encountered. The valid single-
byte character was converted into an out-of-range DBCS character.
The DBCS data in parameter-2 was truncated on the right.

12 An odd number of bytes was found between paired shift codes in parameter-1. No
conversion occurred.
13 Unpaired or nested shift codes were found in parameter-1. No conversion occurred.
14 parameter-1 and parameter-2 were overlapping. No conversion occurred.
15 The value provided for parameter-3 or parameter-4 was out of range. No conversion
occurred.
16 An odd number of bytes was coded in parameter-4. No conversion occurred.

Example: IGZCA2D
This example CALL statement converts the alphanumeric data in alpha-item to DBCS data. The results
of the conversion are placed in dbcs-item.

CALL "IGZCA2D" USING BY REFERENCE alpha-item dbcs-item

BY CONTENT LENGTH OF alpha-item LENGTH OF dbcs-item

Suppose the contents of alpha-item and dbcs-item and the lengths before the conversion are:

alpha-item = AB<D1D2D3>CD
dbcs-item = D4D5D6D7D8D9D0

LENGTH OF alpha-item = 12
LENGTH OF dbcs-item = 14

Then after the conversion, alpha-item and dbcs-item will contain:

alpha-item = AB<D1D2D3>CD
dbcs-item = .A.BD1D2D3.C.D

The content of the RETURN-CODE register is 0.

related references
“DBCS notation” on page 701

DBCS to alphanumeric data conversion (IGZCD2A)

The Language Environment IGZCD2A routine converts pure DBCS data to alphanumeric data that can
contain double-byte characters.

IGZCD2A syntax
To use the IGZCD2A service routine, pass the following four parameters to the routine using the CALL
statement:
parameter-1
The sending field for the conversion, handled as a DBCS data item.

Appendix B. Converting double-byte character set (DBCS) data 703

 parameter-2
The receiving field for the conversion, handled as an alphanumeric data item.
parameter-3
The number of bytes in parameter-1 to be converted.
It can be the LENGTH OF special register of parameter-1, or a 4-byte USAGE IS BINARY data item
containing the number of bytes of parameter-1 to be converted.
parameter-4
The number of bytes in parameter-2 that will receive the converted data.
It can be the LENGTH OF special register of parameter-2, or a 4-byte USAGE IS BINARY data item
containing the number of bytes of parameter-2 to receive the converted data. Shift codes count as 1
byte each.
Usage notes
• You can pass parameter-1, parameter-3, and parameter-4 to the routine BY REFERENCE or BY
CONTENT, but you must pass parameter-2 BY REFERENCE.
• The compiler does not perform syntax checking on these parameters. Ensure that the parameters are
correctly set and passed to the conversion routine. Otherwise, results are unpredictable.
• When creating parameter-2 from parameter-1, IGZCD2A makes these changes:
– Inserts shift codes around DBCS characters that do not correspond to single-byte EBCDIC characters
– Converts DBCS characters to single-byte characters when the DBCS characters correspond to single-
byte EBCDIC characters
– Converts the DBCS space (X'4040') to a single-byte space (X'40')
• IGZCD2A does not change the contents of parameter-1, parameter-3, or parameter-4.
• If the converted data contains double-byte characters, shift codes are counted in the length of
parameter-2.
• The valid range for the contents of parameter-3 and for the contents of parameter-4 is 1 to
134,217,727.
“Example: IGZCD2A” on page 705

related references
“IGZCD2A return codes” on page 704

IGZCD2A return codes

IGZCD2A sets the RETURN-CODE special register to reflect the status of the conversion.

Table 96. IGZCD2A return codes

Return code Explanation
0 parameter-1 was converted and the results were placed in parameter-2.
2 parameter-1 was converted and the results were placed in parameter-2. parameter-2
was padded on the right with single-byte spaces.
4 parameter-1 was converted and the results were placed in parameter-2. parameter-2
was truncated on the right.1
14 parameter-1 and parameter-2 were overlapping. No conversion occurred.
15 The value of parameter-3 or parameter-4 was out of range. No conversion occurred.
16 An odd number of bytes was coded in parameter-3. No conversion occurred.

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 Table 96. IGZCD2A return codes (continued)
Return code Explanation

1. If a truncation occurs within the DBCS characters, the truncation is on an even-byte boundary and a
shift-in (SI) is inserted. If necessary, the alphanumeric data is padded with a single-byte space after
the shift-in.

Example: IGZCD2A
This example CALL statement converts the DBCS data in dbcs-item to alphanumeric data with double-
byte characters. The results of the conversion are placed in alpha-item.

CALL "IGZCD2A" USING BY REFERENCE dbcs-item alpha-item

BY CONTENT LENGTH OF dbcs-item LENGTH OF alpha-item

Suppose the contents of dbcs-item and alpha-item and the lengths before the conversion are:

dbcs-item = .A.BD1D2D3.C.D
alpha-item = ssssssssssss

LENGTH OF dbcs-item = 14
LENGTH OF alpha-item = 12

Then after the conversion, dbcs-item and alpha-item will contain:

dbcs-item = .A.BD1D2D3.C.D
alpha-item = AB<D1D2D3>CD

The content of the RETURN-CODE register is 0.

related references
“DBCS notation” on page 701

Appendix B. Converting double-byte character set (DBCS) data 705

706 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Appendix C. XML reference material
The following information describes the XML exception codes that might be returned during XML parsing
or XML generation.

related references
“XML PARSE exceptions with XMLPARSE(XMLSS) in
effect” on page 707
“XML PARSE exceptions with
XMLPARSE(COMPAT) in effect” on page 709
“XML GENERATE exceptions” on page 715
XML specification

XML PARSE exceptions with XMLPARSE(XMLSS) in effect

When the z/OS XML System Services parser passes control to your processing procedure for an exception
event, the XML-CODE special register contains the exception code, which is formed from a return code
and a reason code.
The return code and reason code are each a halfword binary value. The exception code is the
concatenation of those two values: the return code in the high-order halfword, and the reason code
in the low-order halfword.
The return codes and reason codes are documented as hexadecimal values in the z/OS XML System
Services User's Guide and Reference, referenced below, and in Table 97 on page 707 below.
After most exception events, the parser does not continue processing; the value in XML-CODE at the end
of the XML PARSE statement is the original exception code set by the parser.
When the processing procedure returns to the parser after the exception event, control transfers to the
statement specified in the ON EXCEPTION phrase, or to the end of the XML PARSE statement if you did
not code an ON EXCEPTION phrase.
Validation exceptions:
If you code an XML PARSE statement that contains the VALIDATING phrase, and the z/OS XML
System Services parser determines that the document is not valid, the parser generates return code
24 (hexadecimal 18, XRC_NOT_VALID).
Exceptions that are unique to Enterprise COBOL:
Some exceptions are unique to Enterprise COBOL and thus are not documented in the z/OS XML System
Services User's Guide and Reference, for example, errors that occur during XML schema retrieval. The
return code for exceptions with reason codes in the hexadecimal range 800 to 899 is 4 (hexadecimal
0004, XRC_WARNING). For other exceptions, the return code is 16 (hexadecimal 0010, XRC_FATAL). The
exception code (the value in special register XML-CODE), is formed from this return code concatenated
with one of the reason codes shown in the following table.

Table 97. Reason codes for XML PARSE exceptions that are unique to Enterprise COBOL
Reason code Description
(hexadecimal)
700 VALIDATING WITH FILE is not supported under CICS.
701 The optimized XML schema that was read in was too short, or the file was empty.
702 The file identifier for the schema was not a ddname or environment-variable name.
703 The DSN value contained a space character in a position where a space is not allowed.
704 The DSN value specified a temporary data set.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 707

 Table 97. Reason codes for XML PARSE exceptions that are unique to Enterprise COBOL (continued)
Reason code Description
(hexadecimal)
705 The PATH value contained an unescaped space character.
706 The PATH value contained a path name that was not an absolute path.
707 Memory allocation for the XML schema buffer failed.
708 The environment variable was null or contained only spaces.
709 The environment variable contained an invalid keyword.
710 The DSN value contained an invalid character after the member name.
711 The DSN value did not specify a member name.
712 The DSN value did not specify a data set name, or parentheses were not specified
correctly.
713 The PATH value did not specify a path name, or parentheses were not specified
correctly.
714 The DSN value contained an extra parenthesis.
715 The PATH value contained an extra parenthesis.
716 The DSN value was missing the closing parenthesis.
717 The PATH value was missing the closing parenthesis.
718 The DSN value contained an escape character.
720 A character reference for an unrepresentable character was not resolved.
721 An unrepresentable character reference in the document type declaration is not
supported.
800 The attribute name used an undeclared prefix.
801 The START-OF-ELEMENT name used an undeclared prefix. (The END-OF-ELEMENT
name must match, so using the same undeclared prefix does not cause another
exception.)
900 Internal error. Report the error to your service representative.

For any of the reason codes except 900, correct the error and then retry your program.

related concepts
“XML-CODE” on page 544
“XML events” on page 543

related tasks
“Handling XML PARSE exceptions” on page 559

related references
“XMLPARSE” on page 369 (compiler option)

XML PARSE statement (Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference)

z/OS XML System Services User's Guide and Reference

708 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
XML PARSE exceptions with XMLPARSE(COMPAT) in effect
When an exception event occurs, the XML parser that is provided with the Enterprise COBOL library sets
special register XML-CODE to a value that identifies the exception. Depending on the value in XML-CODE,
the parser might or might not be able to continue processing after the exception, as detailed in the
information referenced below.

related references
“XML PARSE exceptions that allow continuation” on page 709
“XML PARSE exceptions that do not allow continuation” on page 712

XML PARSE exceptions that allow continuation

If the XMLPARSE(COMPAT) compiler option is in effect, whether the XML parser can continue processing
after an exception event depends upon the value of the exception code.
The parser can continue processing if the exception code, which is in special register XML-CODE, is within
one of the following ranges:
• 1 - 99
• 100,001 - 165,535
The following table describes each exception, and identifies the actions that the parser takes if you
request that it continue after the exception. Some of the descriptions use the following terms:
• Actual document encoding
• Document encoding declaration
For definitions of the terms, see the related concept about XML input document encoding.

Table 98. XML PARSE exceptions that allow continuation

Exception Description Parser action on continuation
code
(decimal)
1 The parser found an invalid The parser continues detecting errors until it
character while scanning white reaches the end of the document or encounters
space outside element content. an error that does not allow continuation. The
parser does not signal any further normal events,
For further information about
except for the END-OF-DOCUMENT event.
white space, see the related
concept about XML input document
encoding.

2 The parser found an invalid The parser continues detecting errors until it
start of a processing instruction, reaches the end of the document or encounters
element, comment, or document an error that does not allow continuation. The
type declaration outside element parser does not signal any further normal events,
content. except for the END-OF-DOCUMENT event.
3 The parser found a duplicate The parser continues detecting errors until it
attribute name. reaches the end of the document or encounters
an error that does not allow continuation. The
parser does not signal any further normal events,
except for the END-OF-DOCUMENT event.
4 The parser found the markup The parser continues detecting errors until it
character '<' in an attribute value. reaches the end of the document or encounters
an error that does not allow continuation. The
parser does not signal any further normal events,
except for the END-OF-DOCUMENT event.

Appendix C. XML reference material 709

 Table 98. XML PARSE exceptions that allow continuation (continued)
Exception Description Parser action on continuation
code
(decimal)
5 The start and end tag names of an The parser continues detecting errors until it
element did not match. reaches the end of the document or encounters
an error that does not allow continuation. The
parser does not signal any further normal events,
except for the END-OF-DOCUMENT event.
6 The parser found an invalid The parser continues detecting errors until it
character in element content. reaches the end of the document or encounters
an error that does not allow continuation. The
parser does not signal any further normal events,
except for the END-OF-DOCUMENT event.
7 The parser found an invalid start of The parser continues detecting errors until it
an element, comment, processing reaches the end of the document or encounters
instruction, or CDATA section in an error that does not allow continuation. The
element content. parser does not signal any further normal events,
except for the END-OF-DOCUMENT event.
8 The parser found in element The parser continues detecting errors until it
content the CDATA closing character reaches the end of the document or encounters
sequence ']]>' without the matching an error that does not allow continuation. The
opening character sequence '<! parser does not signal any further normal events,
[CDATA['. except for the END-OF-DOCUMENT event.
9 The parser found an invalid The parser continues detecting errors until it
character in a comment. reaches the end of the document or encounters
an error that does not allow continuation. The
parser does not signal any further normal events,
except for the END-OF-DOCUMENT event.
10 The parser found in a comment The parser continues detecting errors until it
the character sequence '--' (two reaches the end of the document or encounters
hyphens) not followed by '>'. an error that does not allow continuation. The
parser does not signal any further normal events,
except for the END-OF-DOCUMENT event.
11 The parser found an invalid The parser continues detecting errors until it
character in a processing instruction reaches the end of the document or encounters
data segment. an error that does not allow continuation. The
parser does not signal any further normal events,
except for the END-OF-DOCUMENT event.
12 The XML declaration was not at the The parser continues detecting errors until it
beginning of the document. reaches the end of the document or encounters
an error that does not allow continuation. The
parser does not signal any further normal events,
except for the END-OF-DOCUMENT event.
13 The parser found an invalid digit in a The parser continues detecting errors until it
hexadecimal character reference (of reaches the end of the document or encounters
the form &#xdddd;). an error that does not allow continuation. The
parser does not signal any further normal events,
except for the END-OF-DOCUMENT event.

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Table 98. XML PARSE exceptions that allow continuation (continued)
Exception Description Parser action on continuation
code
(decimal)
14 The parser found an invalid digit in a The parser continues detecting errors until it
decimal character reference (of the reaches the end of the document or encounters
form &#dddd;). an error that does not allow continuation. The
parser does not signal any further normal events,
except for the END-OF-DOCUMENT event.
15 The encoding declaration value in The parser continues detecting errors until it
the XML declaration did not begin reaches the end of the document or encounters
with lowercase or uppercase A an error that does not allow continuation. The
through Z. parser does not signal any further normal events,
except for the END-OF-DOCUMENT event.
16 A character reference did not refer The parser continues detecting errors until it
to a legal XML character. reaches the end of the document or encounters
an error that does not allow continuation. The
parser does not signal any further normal events,
except for the END-OF-DOCUMENT event.
17 The parser found an invalid The parser continues detecting errors until it
character in an entity reference reaches the end of the document or encounters
name. an error that does not allow continuation. The
parser does not signal any further normal events,
except for the END-OF-DOCUMENT event.
18 The parser found an invalid The parser continues detecting errors until it
character in an attribute value. reaches the end of the document or encounters
an error that does not allow continuation. The
parser does not signal any further normal events,
except for the END-OF-DOCUMENT event.
70 The actual document encoding The parser uses the encoding specified by
was EBCDIC, and the CODEPAGE theCODEPAGE compiler option.
compiler option specified a
supported EBCDIC code page, but
the document encoding declaration
did not specify a supported EBCDIC
code page.
71 The actual document encoding The parser uses the encoding specified by the
was EBCDIC, and the document document encoding declaration.
encoding declaration specified a
supported EBCDIC encoding, but
the CODEPAGE compiler option did
not specify a supported EBCDIC
code page.
72 The actual document encoding was The parser uses EBCDIC code page 1140 (USA,
EBCDIC, the CODEPAGE compiler Canada, . . . Euro Country Extended Code Page).
option did not specify a supported
EBCDIC code page, and the
document did not contain an
encoding declaration.

Appendix C. XML reference material 711

 Table 98. XML PARSE exceptions that allow continuation (continued)
Exception Description Parser action on continuation
code
(decimal)
73 The actual document encoding was The parser uses EBCDIC code page 1140 (USA,
EBCDIC, but neither the CODEPAGE Canada, . . . Euro Country Extended Code Page).
compiler option nor the document
encoding declaration specified a
supported EBCDIC code page.
82 The actual document encoding was The parser uses ASCII code page 819
ASCII, but the document did not (ISO-8859-1 Latin 1/Open Systems).
contain an encoding declaration.
83 The actual document encoding was The parser uses ASCII code page 819
ASCII, but the document encoding (ISO-8859-1 Latin 1/Open Systems).
declaration did not specify code
page 813, 819, or 920.
92 The document data item was The parser uses code page 1200 (Unicode
alphanumeric, but the actual UTF-16).
document encoding was Unicode
UTF-16.
100,001 - The CODEPAGE compiler option If you set XML-CODE to zero before returning
165,535 and the document encoding from the EXCEPTION event, the parser uses the
declaration specified different encoding specified by the CODEPAGE compiler
supported EBCDIC code pages. option. If you set XML-CODE to the CCSID for the
XML-CODE contains the code page document encoding declaration (by subtracting
CCSID for the encoding declaration 100,000), the parser uses this encoding.
plus 100,000.

related concepts
“XML-CODE” on page 544
“XML input document encoding” on page 555

related tasks
“Handling XML PARSE exceptions” on page 559

related references
“XMLPARSE” on page 369 (compiler option)

XML PARSE exceptions that do not allow continuation

If the XMLPARSE(COMPAT) compiler option is in effect, the XML parser cannot continue processing if any
of the exceptions described below occurs.
No further events are returned from the parser for any of these exceptions even if the processing
procedure sets XML-CODE to zero before passing control back to the parser. The parser transfers control
to the statement in the ON EXCEPTION phrase, if specified, otherwise to the end of the XML PARSE
statement.

Table 99. XML PARSE exceptions that do not allow continuation (for XMLPARSE(COMPAT))
Exception code Description
(decimal)
100 The parser reached the end of the document while scanning the start of the XML
declaration.

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Table 99. XML PARSE exceptions that do not allow continuation (for XMLPARSE(COMPAT)) (continued)
Exception code Description
(decimal)
101 The parser reached the end of the document while looking for the end of the XML
declaration.
102 The parser reached the end of the document while looking for the root element.
103 The parser reached the end of the document while looking for the version information
in the XML declaration.
104 The parser reached the end of the document while looking for the version information
value in the XML declaration.
106 The parser reached the end of the document while looking for the encoding
declaration value in the XML declaration.
108 The parser reached the end of the document while looking for the standalone
declaration value in the XML declaration.
109 The parser reached the end of the document while scanning an attribute name.
110 The parser reached the end of the document while scanning an attribute value.
111 The parser reached the end of the document while scanning a character reference or
entity reference in an attribute value.
112 The parser reached the end of the document while scanning an empty element tag.
113 The parser reached the end of the document while scanning the root element name.
114 The parser reached the end of the document while scanning an element name.
115 The parser reached the end of the document while scanning character data in element
content.
116 The parser reached the end of the document while scanning a processing instruction
in element content.
117 The parser reached the end of the document while scanning a comment or CDATA
section in element content.
118 The parser reached the end of the document while scanning a comment in element
content.
119 The parser reached the end of the document while scanning a CDATA section in
element content.
120 The parser reached the end of the document while scanning a character reference or
entity reference in element content.
121 The parser reached the end of the document while scanning after the close of the root
element.
122 The parser found a possible invalid start of a document type declaration.
123 The parser found a second document type declaration.
124 The first character of the root element name was not a letter, '_', or ':'.
125 The first character of the first attribute name of an element was not a letter, '_', or ':'.
126 The parser found an invalid character either in or following an element name.
127 The parser found a character other than '=' following an attribute name.

Appendix C. XML reference material 713

 Table 99. XML PARSE exceptions that do not allow continuation (for XMLPARSE(COMPAT)) (continued)
Exception code Description
(decimal)
128 The parser found an invalid attribute value delimiter.
130 The first character of an attribute name was not a letter, '_', or ':'.
131 The parser found an invalid character either in or following an attribute name.
132 An empty element tag was not terminated by a '>' following the '/'.
133 The first character of an element end tag name was not a letter, '_', or ':'.
134 An element end tag name was not terminated by a '>'.
135 The first character of an element name was not a letter, '_', or ':'.
136 The parser found an invalid start of a comment or CDATA section in element content.
137 The parser found an invalid start of a comment.
138 The first character of a processing instruction target name was not a letter, '_', or ':'.
139 The parser found an invalid character in or following a processing instruction target
name.
140 A processing instruction was not terminated by the closing character sequence '?>'.
141 The parser found an invalid character following '&' in a character reference or entity
reference.
142 The version information was not present in the XML declaration.
143 'version' in the XML declaration was not followed by '='.
144 The version declaration value in the XML declaration is either missing or improperly
delimited.
145 The version information value in the XML declaration specified a bad character, or the
start and end delimiters did not match.
146 The parser found an invalid character following the version information value closing
delimiter in the XML declaration.
147 The parser found an invalid attribute instead of the optional encoding declaration in
the XML declaration.
148 'encoding' in the XML declaration was not followed by '='.
149 The encoding declaration value in the XML declaration is either missing or improperly
delimited.
150 The encoding declaration value in the XML declaration specified a bad character, or
the start and end delimiters did not match.
151 The parser found an invalid character following the encoding declaration value closing
delimiter in the XML declaration.
152 The parser found an invalid attribute instead of the optional standalone declaration
in the XML declaration.
153 standalone in the XML declaration was not followed by =.
154 The standalone declaration value in the XML declaration is either missing or
improperly delimited.
155 The standalone declaration value was neither 'yes' nor 'no' only.

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 Table 99. XML PARSE exceptions that do not allow continuation (for XMLPARSE(COMPAT)) (continued)
Exception code Description
(decimal)
156 The standalone declaration value in the XML declaration specified a bad character,
or the start and end delimiters did not match.
157 The parser found an invalid character following the standalone declaration value
closing delimiter in the XML declaration.
158 The XML declaration was not terminated by the proper character sequence '?>', or
contained an invalid attribute.
159 The parser found the start of a document type declaration after the end of the root
element.
160 The parser found the start of an element after the end of the root element.
315 The actual document encoding was UTF-16 little-endian, which the parser does not
support on this platform.
316 The actual document encoding was UCS4, which the parser does not support.
317 The parser cannot determine the document encoding. The document might be
damaged.
318 The actual document encoding was UTF-8, which the parser does not support.
320 The document data item was national, but the actual document encoding was
EBCDIC.
321 The document data item was national, but the actual document encoding was ASCII.
500 - 599 Internal error. Report the error to your service representative.

related concepts
“XML-CODE” on page 544

related tasks
“Handling XML PARSE exceptions” on page 559

XML GENERATE exceptions

One of several exception codes might be returned in the XML-CODE special register during XML
generation. If one of these exceptions occurs, control is passed to the statement in the ON EXCEPTION
phrase, or to the end of the XML GENERATE statement if you did not code an ON EXCEPTION phrase.

Table 100. XML GENERATE exceptions

Exception code Description
(decimal)
400 The receiver was too small to contain the generated XML document. The COUNT IN
data item, if specified, contains the count of character positions that were actually
generated.
401 A DBCS data-name contained a character that, when converted to Unicode, was not
valid in an XML element or attribute name.
402 The first character of a DBCS data-name, when converted to Unicode, was not valid as
the first character of an XML element or attribute name.
403 The value of an OCCURS DEPENDING ON variable exceeded 16,777,215.

Appendix C. XML reference material 715

 Table 100. XML GENERATE exceptions (continued)
Exception code Description
(decimal)
410 The CCSID page specified by the CODEPAGE compiler option is not supported for
conversion to Unicode.
411 The CCSID specified by the CODEPAGE compiler option is not a supported single-byte
EBCDIC CCSID.
414 The CCSID specified for the XML document was invalid or was not supported.
415 The receiver was national, but the encoding specified for the document was not
UTF-16.
416 The XML namespace identifier contained invalid XML characters.
417 Element character content or an attribute value contained characters that are illegal
in XML content. XML generation has continued, with the element tag name or the
attribute name prefixed with 'hex.' and the original data value represented in the
document in hexadecimal.
Any TYPE IS CONTENT specification is ignored, and the item is treated as an element.

418 Substitution characters were generated by encoding conversion.

419 The XML namespace prefix was invalid.
420 The receiver was alphanumeric and the input included national or DBCS data or
names, but the encoding specified for the document was not 1208.
600-699 Internal error. Report the error to your service representative.

related tasks
“Handling XML GENERATE exceptions” on page 582

716 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Appendix D. JSON reference material
The following information describes the JSON exception codes that might be returned during JSON
parsing or JSON generation.

related references
“JSON GENERATE exceptions” on page 717
“JSON PARSE conditions and associated codes and runtime messages” on page 717
“Nonexception conditions and corresponding values of JSON-STATUS” on page 718
“Exception conditions, and corresponding values of JSON-CODE” on page 718
“Nonexception condition runtime messages” on page 719
“Exception condition runtime messages” on page 720

JSON GENERATE exceptions

One of several exception codes might be returned in the JSON-CODE special register during JSON
generation. If one of these exceptions occurs, control is passed to the statement in the ON EXCEPTION
phrase, or to the end of the JSON GENERATE statement if you did not code an ON EXCEPTION phrase.

Table 101. JSON GENERATE exceptions

Exception code Description
(decimal)
1 The receiver was too small to contain the generated JSON text. The COUNT IN
data item, if specified, contains the count of character positions that were actually
generated.
504 The storage is insufficient for the JSON GENERATE work area. Increase the region size
and rerun the application.
507 Internal error. The LE runtime level might not be up-to-date. Install the latest LE
runtime PTFs. If the error persists, report the error to your service representative.
500 - 599 Internal error. Report the error to your service representative.
(excluding
exception codes
defined above)

JSON PARSE conditions and associated codes and runtime

messages
Two kinds of conditions might occur during the execution of a JSON PARSE statement, and might result in
the receiver being partially modified:
• Nonexception conditions result in a reason code set in the special register JSON-STATUS, but do not
terminate execution of the statement.
• Exception conditions result in the exception code set in the special register JSON-CODE, and cause
execution of the statement to be terminated.
The JSON-STATUS reason code values in the following table are additive. For example, execution of
the JSON PARSE statement might encounter conditions with codes 1 and 4, resulting in a combined
JSON-STATUS value of 5. You can determine if a given condition occurred, and the corresponding code is
present in JSON-STATUS, by using a statement such as the following:

IF FUNCTION MOD(JSON-STATUS 2 * code) / code = 1

DISPLAY 'JSON-STATUS condition ' code ' occurred.'
END-IF

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 717

 where code is one of the individual JSON-STATUS codes.
The runtime messages are issued only if the WITH DETAIL phrase was specified on the JSON PARSE
statement. Special registers JSON-STATUS and JSON-CODE are always set.

Nonexception conditions and corresponding values of JSON-STATUS

Table 102. Reason codes for JSON nonexception conditions
Reason code in the JSON-STATUS register Description
1 One or more data items had no matching JSON
name/value pair, and thus were not changed.
2 One or more JSON name/value pairs did not match
any data item.
4 One or more data items had multiple matching
JSON name/value pairs with duplicate values.
8 One or more table data items had more elements
than the matching JSON array.
16 One or more JSON arrays had more values than the
matching data item.
32 One or more data items were not changed because
the corresponding JSON name/value pair had the
value null.
64 One or more table data items had elements that
were not changed because the corresponding
JSON value was null.
128 A "SIZE ERROR" condition was detected in one or
more numeric assignments. The data items were
modified anyway.
256 A loss of information occurred in one or more
alphanumeric assignments. The data items were
modified anyway.
512 One or more JSON name/value pairs had a
value that resulted in one or more substitution
characters when translated from Unicode to
the CCSID specified by the CODEPAGE compiler
option.

Exception conditions, and corresponding values of JSON-CODE

Table 103. Reason codes for JSON exception conditions
Reason code in the JSON-CODE register Description
100 The JSON text was invalid.
101 The JSON text was zero-length, or consisted only
of whitespace.
102 Superfluous nonwhitespace characters were found
after the closing brace of the outermost JSON
object.

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 Table 103. Reason codes for JSON exception conditions (continued)
Reason code in the JSON-CODE register Description
103 One or more data items had multiple matching
JSON name/value pairs with different values, and
were set to the leftmost value encountered in the
JSON text.
104 One or more JSON name/value pairs had a value
that was incompatible with the matching data item.
105 One or more matching JSON name/value pairs had
the value true or false.
106 No JSON name/value pair matched any data item.

Nonexception condition runtime messages

These messages are issued if the WITH DETAIL phrase was specified.
IGZ0321I
During execution of the JSON PARSE statement on line line-number of program program-name, no
JSON name/value pair matched data item data-name, which was thus not modified.
IGZ0321I
During execution of the JSON PARSE statement on line line-number of program program-name, no
data item matched JSON name JSON-name at offset offset.
IGZ0323I
During execution of the JSON PARSE statement on line line-number of program program-name, a
duplicate JSON name/value pair at offset matched data item data-name. The duplicate value was
accepted.
IGZ0324I
During execution of the JSON PARSE statement on line line-number of program program-name, JSON
array with name JSON-name at offset offset had fewer elements than the matching table item data-
name. The additional table elements were not modified.
IGZ0325I
During execution of the JSON PARSE statement on line line-number of program program-name, JSON
array with name JSON-name at offset offset had more values than the matching table item data-name.
The additional values were ignored.
IGZ0326I
During execution of the JSON PARSE statement on line line-number of program program-name, data
item data-name was not changed because the value of the JSON name/value pair at offset offset was
the special value null.
IGZ0327I
During execution of the JSON PARSE statement on line line-number of program program-name,
JSON array with name JSON-name at offset offset included one or more null values. Corresponding
elements in the matching table item data-name were not changed.
IGZ0328I
During execution of the JSON PARSE statement on line line-number of program program-name,
assignment of the value of the JSON name/value pair at offset offset to data item data-name resulted
in loss of significance ("SIZE ERROR").
IGZ0329I
During execution of the JSON PARSE statement on line line-number of program program-name,
assignment of the value of the JSON name/value pair at offset offset to data item data-name resulted
in a loss of information.

Appendix D. JSON reference material 719

 IGZ0330I
During execution of the JSON PARSE statement on line line-number of program program-name,
the value of JSON name/value pair with name JSON-name at offset offset resulted in one or more
substitution characters when translated from Unicode to the CCSID specified by the CODEPAGE
compiler option. The translated value was assigned to data-item data-name.

Exception condition runtime messages

These messages are issued if the WITH DETAIL phrase was specified.
IGZ0335W
During execution of the JSON PARSE statement on line line-number of program program-name, the
JSON text in data-name was found to be invalid. After JSON text JSON-text-fragment at offset offset,
JSON-token was found, but one of JSON-tokens was expected.
IGZ0336W
During execution of the JSON PARSE statement on line line-number of program program-name, the
JSON text in data-name was found to be invalid. The JSON text was zero-length, or consisted only of
whitespace.
IGZ0337W
During execution of the JSON PARSE statement on line line-number of program program-name, the
JSON text in data-name was found to be invalid. Superfluous characters text were found following the
closing brace of the outermost JSON object.
IGZ0338W
During execution of the JSON PARSE statement on line line-number of program program-name, JSON
name/value pair at offset offset was a duplicate match to data item data-name, but with a value
different from the first (leftmost) matching name/value pair. The value from the first matching JSON
name/value pair was retained.
IGZ0339W
During execution of the JSON PARSE statement on line line-number of program program-name, the
value of JSON name/value pair with name JSON-name at offset offset was found to be incompatible
with the matching data item.
IGZ0340W
During execution of the JSON PARSE statement on line line-number of program program-name, the
value of JSON name/value pair with name JSON-name at offset offset was found to be one of the
special values true or false.
IGZ0341W
During execution of the JSON PARSE statement on line line-number of program program-name, no
JSON name/value pair matched any data item in the receiver. The receiver data-name was not
modified.

720 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Appendix E. EXIT compiler option
You can use the EXIT compiler option to provide user-supplied modules in place of various compiler
functions. For details about processing of each exit module, error handling for exit modules, or using the
EXIT option with CICS, SQL and SQLIMS statements, see the following topics.

related tasks
“Using the user-exit work area” on page 721
“Calling from exit modules” on page 722
Using the EXIT compiler option with CICS, SQL and
SQLIMS statements

related references
“EXIT” on page 317
“Processing of INEXIT” on page 722
“Processing of LIBEXIT” on page 723
“Processing of PRTEXIT” on page 726
“Processing of ADEXIT” on page 728
“Processing of MSGEXIT” on page 729
“Error handling for exit modules” on page 738

Using the user-exit work area

When you use one of the user exits, the compiler provides a work area in which you can save the address
of GETMAIN storage obtained by the exit module. Having such a work area lets the module be reentrant.
The user-exit work area consists of 6 fullwords that reside on a fullword boundary. These fullwords are
initialized to binary zeros before the first exit routine is invoked. The address of the work area is passed
to the exit module in a parameter list. After initialization, the compiler makes no further reference to the
work area.
The words in the user-exit work area are used by the individual exit modules as shown in the following
table.

Table 104. Layout of the user-exit work area

Word number Used by module:
1 INEXIT
2 LIBEXIT
3 PRTEXIT
4 ADEXIT
5 (Reserved)
6 MSGEXIT

related references
“Processing of INEXIT” on page 722
“Processing of LIBEXIT” on page 723
“Processing of PRTEXIT” on page 726
“Processing of ADEXIT” on page 728
“Processing of MSGEXIT” on page 729

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 721

Calling from exit modules
To call COBOL programs or library routines within your exit modules, use standard COBOL linkage. You
need to be aware of the register conventions in order to trace the call chain correctly.
When a call is made to a program or to a routine in an exit module, the registers are set up as follows:
R1
Points to the parameter list passed to the called program or library routine
R13
Points to the register save area provided by the calling program or routine
R14
Holds the return address of the calling program or routine
R15
Holds the address of the called program or routine
Exit modules must have RMODE attribute 24 and AMODE attribute ANY.

related concepts
“Storage and its addressability” on page 39

Processing of INEXIT
The INEXIT exit module is used to read the primary source code instead of obtaining it directly from
SYSIN.

Table 105. INEXIT processing

Action by compiler Action by exit module
Loads the exit module (mod1) during initialization
Calls the exit module with an OPEN operation code Prepares its source for processing. Passes the
(op code) status of the OPEN request back to the compiler.
Calls the exit module with a GET op code when a Returns either the address and length of the next
source statement is needed statement or the end-of-data indication (if no more
source statements exist)
Calls the exit module with a CLOSE op code when Releases any resources that are related to its
the end-of-data is presented output

INEXIT parameters
The compiler uses 10 parameters, passed by reference, to communicate with the exit module. The return
code, data length, and data parameters are set by the exit module for return to the compiler; the other
items are passed from the compiler to the exit module.

Table 106. INEXIT parameters

Parameter Parameter item Description of item
number
1 User-exit type Halfword that identifies which user exit is to perform the
operation.
1=INEXIT

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 Table 106. INEXIT parameters (continued)
Parameter Parameter item Description of item
number
2 Operation code Halfword that indicates the type of operation:
• 0=OPEN
• 1=CLOSE
• 2=GET

3 Return code Fullword, set by the exit module, that indicates the success of
the requested operation:
• 0=Operation was successful
• 4=End-of-data
• 12=Operation failed

4 User-exit work area Six-fullword work area provided by the compiler for use by the
user-exit module.
First word: for use by INEXIT

5 Data length Fullword, set by the exit module, that specifies the length of the
record being returned by the GET operation (must be 80)
6 Data or str1 Fullword, set by the exit module, that contains the address of
the record in a user-owned buffer, for the GET operation.
str1 applies only to OPEN. The first halfword (on a halfword
boundary) contains the length of the string, followed by the
string.

7 Not used (Used only by LIBEXIT and MSGEXIT)

8 Not used (Used only by LIBEXIT)
9 Not used (Used only by LIBEXIT)
10 Not used (Used only by LIBEXIT)

related tasks
“Using the user-exit work area” on page 721
“Calling from exit modules” on page 722
Using the EXIT compiler option with CICS, SQL and
SQLIMS statements

Processing of LIBEXIT
The LIBEXIT exit module is used in place of the SYSLIB, or library-name, data set. Calls are made to the
module by the compiler to obtain copybooks whenever COPY or BASIS statements are encountered.

Table 107. LIBEXIT processing

Action by compiler Action by exit module
Loads the exit module (mod2) during
initialization
Calls the exit module with an OPEN Prepares the specified library-name for processing. Passes
operation code (op code) the status of the OPEN request to the compiler.

Appendix E. EXIT compiler option 723

 Table 107. LIBEXIT processing (continued)
Action by compiler Action by exit module
Calls the exit module with a FIND Establishes positioning at the requested text-name (or basis-
op code if the library-name was name) in the specified library-name; this place becomes the
successfully opened active copybook. Passes an appropriate return code to the
compiler when positioning is complete.
Calls the exit module with a GET op code Passes the compiler either the length and address of the
record to be copied from the active copybook or the end-of-
data indicator
Calls the exit module with a CLOSE op Releases any resources that are related to its input
code when the end-of-data is presented

Processing of LIBEXIT with nested COPY statements

Any record from the active copybook can contain a COPY statement.
You cannot make recursive calls to text-name. That is, a copybook can be named only once in a set of
nested COPY statements until the end-of-data for that copybook is reached.
The following table shows how the processing of LIBEXIT changes when there are one or more valid
COPY statements that are not nested.

Table 108. LIBEXIT processing with nonnested COPY statements

Action by compiler Action by exit module
Loads the exit module (mod2)
during initialization
Calls the exit module with an OPEN Prepares the specified library-name for processing. Passes the
operation code (op code) status of the OPEN request to the compiler.
Calls the exit module with a FIND Establishes positioning at the requested text-name (or basis-name)
op code if the library-name was in the specified library-name; this place becomes the active
successfully opened copybook. Passes an appropriate return code to the compiler when
positioning is complete.
Calls the exit module with a FIND Reestablishes positioning at the previous active copybook. Passes
op code if the library-name was an appropriate return code to the compiler when positioning is
successfully opened complete.
Calls the exit module with a GET op Passes the compiler the same record as was passed previously
code. Verifies that the same record from this copybook. After verification, passes either the length and
was passed. address of the record to be copied from the active copybook or the
end-of-data indicator.
Calls the exit module with a CLOSE Releases any resources that are related to its input
op code when the end-of-data is
presented

The following table shows how the processing of LIBEXIT changes when the compiler encounters a valid
nested COPY statement.

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 Table 109. LIBEXIT processing with nested COPY statements
Action by compiler Action by exit module
If the requested library-name from Pushes its control information about the active copybook
the nested COPY statement was onto a stack. Completes the requested action (OPEN). The
not previously opened, calls the newly requested text-name (or basis-name) becomes the active
exit module with an OPEN op code copybook.
Calls the exit module with a FIND Pushes its control information about the active copybook
op code for the requested new onto a stack. Completes the requested action (FIND). The
text-name newly requested text-name (or basis-name) becomes the active
copybook.
Calls the exit module with a GET op Passes the compiler either the length and address of the record to
code be copied from the active copybook or the end-of-data indicator. At
end-of-data, pops its control information from the stack.

LIBEXIT parameters
The compiler uses 10 parameters, passed by reference, to communicate with the exit module. The return
code, data length, and data parameters are set by the exit module for return to the compiler; the other
items are passed from the compiler to the exit module.

Table 110. LIBEXIT parameters

Parameter Parameter item Description of item
number
1 User-exit type Halfword that identifies which user exit is to perform the
operation.
2=LIBEXIT

2 Operation code Halfword that indicates the type of operation:

• 0=OPEN
• 1=CLOSE
• 2=GET
• 4=FIND

3 Return code Fullword, set by the exit module, that indicates the success of
the requested operation:
• 0=Operation was successful
• 4=End-of-data
• 12=Operation failed

4 User-exit work area Six-fullword work area provided by the compiler for use by the
user-exit module.
Second word: for use by LIBEXIT

5 Data length Fullword, set by the exit module, that specifies the length of the
record being returned by the GET operation (must be 80)

Appendix E. EXIT compiler option 725

 Table 110. LIBEXIT parameters (continued)
Parameter Parameter item Description of item
number
6 Data or str2 Fullword, set by the exit module, that contains the address of
the record in a user-owned buffer, for the GET operation.
str2 applies only to OPEN. The first halfword (on a halfword
boundary) contains the length of the string, followed by the
string.

7 System library-name Eight-character area that contains the library-name from

the COPY statement. Processing and conversion rules for a
program-name are applied. Padded with blanks if required.
Applies to OPEN, CLOSE, and FIND.
8 System text-name Eight-character area that contains the text-name from the COPY
statement (basis-name from BASIS statement). Processing and
conversion rules for a program-name are applied. Padded with
blanks if required. Applies only to FIND.
9 Library-name Thirty-character area that contains the full library-name from
the COPY statement. Padded with blanks if required, and used
as is (not folded to uppercase). Applies to OPEN, CLOSE, and
FIND.
10 Text-name Thirty-character area that contains the full text-name from the
COPY statement. Padded with blanks if required, and used as is
(not folded to uppercase). Applies only to FIND.

related tasks
“Using the user-exit work area” on page 721
“Calling from exit modules” on page 722
Using the EXIT compiler option with CICS, SQL and
SQLIMS statements

Processing of PRTEXIT
The PRTEXIT exit module is used in place of the SYSPRINT data set.

Table 111. PRTEXIT processing

Action by compiler Action by exit module
Loads the exit module (mod3) during initialization
Calls the exit module with an OPEN operation code Prepares its output destination for processing.
(op code) Passes the status of the OPEN request to the
compiler.
Calls the exit modules with a PUT op code when Passes the status of the PUT request to the
a line is to be printed, supplying the address and compiler by a return code. The first byte of the
length of the record that is to be printed record to be printed contains an ANSI printer
control character.
Calls the exit module with a CLOSE op code when Releases any resources that are related to its
the end-of-data is presented output destination

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PRTEXIT parameters
The compiler uses 10 parameters, passed by reference, to communicate with the exit module. The return
code, data length, and data buffer parameters are set by the exit module for return to the compiler; the
other items are passed from the compiler to the exit module.

Table 112. PRTEXIT parameters

Parameter Parameter item Description of item
number
1 User-exit type Halfword that identifies which user exit is to perform the
operation.
3=PRTEXIT

2 Operation code Halfword that indicates the type of operation:

• 0=OPEN
• 1=CLOSE
• 3=PUT

3 Return code Fullword, set by the exit module, that indicates the success of
the requested operation:
• 0=Operation was successful
• 12=Operation failed

4 User-exit work area Six-fullword work area provided by the compiler for use by the
user-exit module.
Third word: for use by PRTEXIT

5 Data length Fullword that specifies the length of the record being supplied
by the PUT operation (the compiler sets this value to 133)
6 Data buffer or str3 Data buffer where the compiler has placed the record to be
printed by the PUT operation.
str3 applies only to OPEN. The first halfword (on a halfword
boundary) contains the length of the string, followed by the
string.

7 Not used (Used only by LIBEXIT and MSGEXIT)

8 Not used (Used only by LIBEXIT)
9 Not used (Used only by LIBEXIT)
10 Not used (Used only by LIBEXIT)

related tasks
“Using the user-exit work area” on page 721
“Calling from exit modules” on page 722
Using the EXIT compiler option with CICS, SQL and
SQLIMS statements

Appendix E. EXIT compiler option 727

Processing of ADEXIT
The ADEXIT module is called for each SYSADATA record immediately after the record has been written
out to the file.
To use an ADEXIT module, you must compile using the ADATA option to produce SYSADATA output, and
code the SYSADATA DD statement.

Table 113. ADEXIT processing

Action by compiler Action by exit module
Loads the exit module (mod4) during initialization
Calls the exit module with an OPEN operation code Prepares its output destination for processing.
(op code) Passes the status of the OPEN request to the
compiler.
Calls the exit module with a PUT op code when the Passes the status of the PUT request to the
compiler has written a SYSADATA record, supplying compiler by a return code
the address and length of the SYSADATA record
Calls the exit module with a CLOSE op code when Releases any resources
the end-of-data is presented

ADEXIT parameters
The compiler uses 10 parameters, passed by reference, to communicate with the exit module. The return
code, data length, and data buffer parameters are set by the exit module for return to the compiler; the
other items are passed from the compiler to the exit module.

Table 114. ADEXIT parameters

Parameter Parameter item Description of item
number
1 User-exit type Halfword that identifies which user exit is to perform the
operation.
4=ADEXIT

2 Operation code Halfword that indicates the type of operation:

• 0=OPEN
• 1=CLOSE
• 3=PUT

3 Return code Fullword, set by the exit module, that indicates the success of
the requested operation:
• 0=Operation was successful
• 12=Operation failed

4 User-exit work area Six-fullword work area provided by the compiler for use by the
user-exit module.
Fourth word: for use by ADEXIT

5 Data length Fullword that specifies the length of the record being supplied
by the PUT operation

728 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Table 114. ADEXIT parameters (continued)
Parameter Parameter item Description of item
number
6 Data buffer or str4 Fullword that contains the address of the data buffer where
the compiler has placed the record to be printed by the PUT
operation.
str4 applies only to OPEN. The first halfword (on a halfword
boundary) contains the length of the string, followed by the
string.

7 Not used (Used only by LIBEXIT and MSGEXIT)

8 Not used (Used only by LIBEXIT)
9 Not used (Used only by LIBEXIT)
10 Not used (Used only by LIBEXIT)

related tasks
“Using the user-exit work area” on page 721
“Calling from exit modules” on page 722
Using the EXIT compiler option with CICS, SQL and
SQLIMS statements

related references
“ADATA” on page 297

Processing of MSGEXIT
The MSGEXIT module is used to customize compiler diagnostic messages and FIPS messages. The
module can customize a message either by changing its severity or suppressing it.
If the MSGEXIT module assigns a severity to a FIPS message, the message is converted into a diagnostic
message. (The message is shown in the summary of diagnostic messages in the listing.)
A MSGEXIT summary at the end of the compiler listing shows how many messages were changed in
severity and how many messages were suppressed.

Table 115. MSGEXIT processing

Action by compiler Action by exit module
Loads the exit module (mod5) during
initialization
Calls the exit module with an OPEN Optionally processes str5 and passes the status of the OPEN
operation code (op code) request to the compiler
Calls the exit module with a MSGSEV One of the following actions:
operation code (op code) when the
• Indicates no customization of the message (by setting
compiler is about to issue a diagnostic
return code to 0)
message or FIPS message
• Specifies a new severity for (or suppression of) the
message, and sets return code to 4
• Indicates that the operation failed (by setting return code to
12)

Calls the exit module with a CLOSE op Optionally frees storage and passes the status of the CLOSE
code request to the compiler

Appendix E. EXIT compiler option 729

 Table 115. MSGEXIT processing (continued)
Action by compiler Action by exit module
Deletes the exit module (mod5) during
compiler termination

MSGEXIT parameters
The compiler uses 10 parameters, passed by reference, to communicate with the exit module. The return
code and user-requested severity parameters are set by the exit module for return to the compiler; the
other items are passed from the compiler to the exit module.

Table 116. MSGEXIT parameters

Parameter Parameter item Description of item
number
1 User-exit type Halfword that identifies which user exit is to perform the
operation.
6=MSGEXIT

2 Operation code Halfword that indicates the type of operation:

• 0=OPEN
• 1=CLOSE
• 5=MSGSEV: customize message severity

3 Return code Fullword, set by the exit module, that indicates the success of
the requested operation.
For op code MSGSEV:
• 0=Message not customized
• 4=Message found and customized
• 12=Operation failed

4 User-exit work area Six-fullword work area provided by the compiler for use by the
user-exit module.
Sixth word: for use by MSGEXIT

5 Not used (Used by the other exits)

6 Message exit data Three-halfword area (on a halfword boundary).
• First halfword: the message number of the message to be
customized
• Second halfword: for a diagnostic message, the default
severity; for a FIPS message, the FIPS category as a numeric
code
• Third halfword: the user-requested severity for the message
(-1 to indicate suppression)

7 str5 First halfword (on a halfword boundary): the length of the string,
followed by the string
8 Not used (Used only by LIBEXIT)
9 Not used (Used only by LIBEXIT)

730 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Table 116. MSGEXIT parameters (continued)
Parameter Parameter item Description of item
number
10 Not used (Used only by LIBEXIT)

“Example: MSGEXIT user exit” on page 733

related tasks
“Using the user-exit work area” on page 721
“Calling from exit modules” on page 722
“Customizing compiler-message severities” on page 731
Using the EXIT compiler option with CICS, SQL and
SQLIMS statements

Customizing compiler-message severities

To change the severities of compiler messages or suppress compiler messages (including FIPS
messages), do the steps described below.
1. Code and compile a COBOL program named ERRMSG. The program needs only a PROGRAM-ID
paragraph, as described in the related task.
2. Review the ERRMSG listing, which contains a complete list of compiler messages with their message
numbers, severities, and message text.
3. Decide which messages you want to customize.
To understand the customizations that are possible, see the related reference about customizable
compiler-message severities.
4. Code a MSGEXIT module to implement the customizations. Refer to the sample MSGEXIT that is
included with the COBOL compiler in the SIGYSAMP dataset called IGYMSGXT. For details, see
“Example: MSGEXIT user exit” on page 733.
a. Verify that the operation-code parameter indicates message-severity customization.
b. Check the two input values in the message-exit-data parameter: the message number; and the
default severity for a diagnostic message or the FIPS category for a FIPS message.
The FIPS category is expressed as numeric code. For details, see the related reference about
customizable compiler-message severities.
c. For a message that you want to customize, set the user-requested severity in the message-exit-
data parameter to indicate either:
• A new message severity, by coding severity 0, 4, 8, or 12
• Message suppression, by coding severity -1
d. Set the return code to one of the following values:
• 0, to indicate that the message was not customized
• 4, to indicate that the message was found and customized
• 12, to indicate that the operation failed and that compilation should be terminated
5. Compile and link your MSGEXIT module.
6. Add the data set that contains your MSGEXIT module to the compiler concatenation by using a
STEPLIB or JOBLIB DD statement.
7. Recompile program ERRMSG, but use compiler option EXIT(MSGEXIT(msgmod)), where msgmod is
the name of your MSGEXIT module.
8. Review the listing and check for:
• Updated message severities

Appendix E. EXIT compiler option 731

 • Suppressed messages (indicated by XX in place of the severity)
• Unsupported severity changes or unsupported message suppression (indicated by a severity-U
diagnostic message, and compiler termination with return code 16)

related tasks
“Generating a list of compiler messages” on page 271

related references
“Severity codes for compiler diagnostic messages” on page 272
“Customizable compiler-message severities” on page 732
“Effect of message customization on compilation return code” on page 733
“Error handling for exit modules” on page 738

Customizable compiler-message severities

To customize compiler-message severities, you need to understand the possible severities of compiler
diagnostic messages, the levels or categories of FIPS messages, and the permitted customizations of
message severities.
The possible severity codes for compiler diagnostic messages are described in the related reference
about severity codes.
The eight categories of FIPS (FLAGSTD) messages are shown in the following table. The category of any
given FIPS message is passed as a numeric code to the MSGEXIT module. Those numeric codes are
shown in the second column.

Table 117. FIPS (FLAGSTD) message categories

FIPS level or category Numeric code Description
D 81 Debug module level 1
E 82 Extension (IBM)
H 83 High level
I 84 Intermediate level
N 85 Segmentation module level 1
O 86 Obsolete elements
Q 87 High-level and obsolete elements
S 88 Segmentation module level 2

FIPS messages have an implied severity of zero (severity I).

Permitted message-severity customizations:
You can change the severity of a compiler message in the following ways:
• Severity-I and severity-W compiler diagnostic messages, and FIPS messages, can be changed to have
any severity from I through S.
Assigning a severity to a FIPS message converts the FIPS message to a diagnostic message of the
assigned severity.
As examples, you can:
– Lower an optimizer warning to severity I.
– Disallow REDEFINING a smaller item with a larger item by raising the severity of message 1154.
– Disallow complex OCCURS DEPENDING ON by changing FIPS message 8235 from a category-E FIPS
message to a severity-S compiler diagnostic message.

732 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 • Severity-E messages can be raised to severity S, but not lowered to severity I or W, because an error
condition has occurred in the program.
• Severity-S and severity-U messages cannot be changed to have a different severity.
You can request suppression of compiler messages as follows:
• I, W, and FIPS messages can be suppressed.
• E and S messages cannot be suppressed.

related references
“Severity codes for compiler diagnostic messages” on page 272
“FLAGSTD” on page 321
“Effect of message customization on compilation return code” on page 733

Effect of message customization on compilation return code

If you use a MSGEXIT module, the final return code from the compilation of a program could be affected
as described below.
If you change the severity of a message, the return code from the compilation might also be changed.
For example, if a compilation produces one diagnostic message, and it is a severity-E message, the
compilation return code would normally be 8. But if the MSGEXIT module changes the severity of that
message to severity S, then the return code from compilation would be 12.
If you suppress a message, the return code from the compilation is no longer affected by the severity
of that message. For example, if a compilation produces one diagnostic message, and it is a severity-W
message, the compilation return code would normally be 4. But if the MSGEXIT module suppresses that
message, then the return code from compilation would be 0.

related tasks
“Customizing compiler-message severities” on page 731

related references
“Severity codes for compiler diagnostic messages” on page 272

Example: MSGEXIT user exit

The following example shows a MSGEXIT user-exit module that changes message severities and
suppresses messages. This example is included with Enterprise COBOL V6 in the SIGYSAMP dataset,
in member IGYMSGXT.
For helpful tips about using a message-exit module, see the comments within the code.

******************************************************************
* IGYMSGXT - Sample COBOL program for MSGEXIT *
******************************************************************
* *
* IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS *
* Version 6 Release 2 Modification 0 *
* *
* LICENSED MATERIALS - PROPERTY OF IBM. *
* *
* 5655-EC6 COPYRIGHT IBM CORP. 2017 *
* ALL RIGHTS RESERVED *
* *
* US GOVERNMENT USERS RESTRICTED RIGHTS - USE, *
* DUPLICATION OR DISCLOSURE RESTRICTED BY GSA *
* ADP SCHEDULE CONTRACT WITH IBM CORP. *
* *
******************************************************************
*****************************************************************
* Function: This is a SAMPLE user exit for the MSGEXIT *
* suboption of the EXIT compiler option. This exit *
* can be used to customize the severity of or *
* suppress compiler diagnostic messages and FIPS *
* messages. This example program includes several *
* sample customizations to show how customizations *

Appendix E. EXIT compiler option 733

 * are done. If you do not want the sample *
* customizations then either delete the unwanted *
* lines of code or comment them out with a comment *
* indicator in column 7 (*). *
* *
*---------------------------------------------------------------*
* *
* USAGE NOTE: To use this user exit program, make the *
* link-edited load module available to your *
* compiles that will use the MSGEXIT suboption of *
* the EXIT compiler option. Also, the name should *
* be changed, since IBM recommends that you avoid *
* having programs with names that start with IGY. *
* Sample steps to take: *
* 1) Make your customizations *
* 2) Change program name (E.G. MYEXIT) *
* 3) Compile and link into a dataset *
* 4) Include that dataset in your compile *
* JCL concatenation for the compile step. *
* If you link into USER.COBOLLIB: *
* *
* //COBOL.STEPLIB DD DSNAME=SYS1.SIGYCOMP,DISP=SHR *
* // DD DSNAME=USER.COBOLLIB,DISP=SHR *
* *
* 5) Finally, compile your programs with the *
* EXIT compiler option, EG: *
* EXIT(MSGEXIT(MYEXIT)) *
* *
* COMPILE NOTE: Compile this program with NOEXIT. *
* *
* *
*****************************************************************
Id Division.
Program-Id. IGYMSGXT.
Data Division.

Working-Storage Section.

*****************************************************************
* *
* Local variables. *
* *
*****************************************************************

77 EXIT-TYPEN PIC 9(4).

77 EXIT-DEFAULT-SEV-FIPS PIC X.

*****************************************************************
* *
* Definition of the User-Exit Parameter List, which is *
* passed from the COBOL compiler to the user-exit module. *
* *
*****************************************************************

Linkage Section.
01 EXIT-TYPE PIC 9(4) COMP.
01 EXIT-OPERATION PIC 9(4) COMP.
01 EXIT-RETURNCODE PIC 9(9) COMP.
01 EXIT-WORK-AREA.
02 EXIT-WORK-AREA-PTR OCCURS 6 POINTER.
01 EXIT-DUMMY POINTER.
01 EXIT-MESSAGE-PARMS.
02 EXIT-MESSAGE-NUM PIC 9(4) COMP.
02 EXIT-DEFAULT-SEV PIC 9(4) COMP.
02 EXIT-USER-SEV PIC S9(4) COMP.
01 EXIT-STRING.
02 EXIT-STR-LEN PIC 9(4) COMP.
02 EXIT-STR-TXT PIC X(64).

*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
* *
* Begin PROCEDURE DIVISION *
* *
* Check parameters and perform the operation requested. *
* *
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************

Procedure Division Using EXIT-TYPE EXIT-OPERATION

EXIT-RETURNCODE EXIT-WORK-AREA
EXIT-DUMMY EXIT-MESSAGE-PARMS

734 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 EXIT-STRING EXIT-DUMMY
EXIT-DUMMY EXIT-DUMMY.

Compute EXIT-RETURNCODE = 0

Evaluate TRUE

*****************************************************************
* Handle a bad invocation of this exit by the compiler. *
* This could happen if this routine was used for one of the *
* other EXITs, such as INEXIT, PRTEXIT or LIBEXIT. *
*****************************************************************
When EXIT-TYPE Not = 6
Move EXIT-TYPE to EXIT-TYPEN
Display '**** Invalid exit routine identifier'
Display '**** EXIT TYPE = ' EXIT-TYPE
Compute EXIT-RETURNCODE = 16

*****************************************************************
* Handle the OPEN call to this exit by the compiler *
* Display the exit string (str5 in syntax diagram) from *
* the EXIT(MSGEXIT('str5',mod5)) option specification. *
*****************************************************************
When EXIT-OPERATION = 0
* Display 'Opening MSGEXIT'
* If EXIT-STR-LEN Not Zero Then
* Display ' str5 len = ' EXIT-STR-LEN
* Display ' str5 = ' EXIT-STR-TXT(1:EXIT-STR-LEN)
* End-If
Continue

*****************************************************************
* Handle the CLOSE call to this exit by the compiler *
*****************************************************************
When EXIT-OPERATION = 1
* Display 'Closing MSGEXIT'
Goback

*****************************************************************
* Handle the customize message severity call to this exit *
* Display information about every customized severity. *
*****************************************************************
When EXIT-OPERATION = 5
* Display 'MSGEXIT called with MSGSEV'
If EXIT-MESSAGE-NUM < 8000 Then
Perform Error-Messages-Severity
Else
Perform FIPS-Messages-Severity
End-If

* If EXIT-RETURNCODE = 4 Then
* Display '>>>> Customizing message ' EXIT=MESSAGE-NUM
* ' with new severity ' EXIT-USER-SEV ' <<<<'
* If EXIT-MESSAGE-NUM > 8000 Then
* Display 'FIPS sev =' EXIT-DEFAULT-SEV-FIPS '<<<<'
* End-If
* End-If

*****************************************************************
* Handle a bad invocation of this exit by the compiler. *
* The compiler should not invoke this exit with EXIT-TYPE = 6 *
* and an opcode other than 0, 1, or 5. This should not happen *
* and IBM service should be contacted if it does. *
*****************************************************************
When Other
Display '**** Invalid MSGEXIT routine operation '
Display '**** EXIT OPCODE = ' EXIT-OPERATION
Compute EXIT-RETURNCODE = 16

End-Evaluate

Goback.

*****************************************************************
* ERROR MESSAGE PROCESSOR *
*****************************************************************
Error-Messages-Severity.

* Assume message severity will be customized...

Compute EXIT-RETURNCODE = 4

Evaluate EXIT-MESSAGE-NUM

Appendix E. EXIT compiler option 735

 *****************************************************************
* Change severity of message 1154(W) to 12 ('S') *
* This is the case of redefining a large item *
* with a smaller item, IBM Req # MR0904063236 *
*****************************************************************
When(1154)
Compute EXIT-USER-SEV = 12

*****************************************************************
* Modify the severity of RULES messages to enforce coding *
* standards or highlight coding that you want to avoid. *
* Here are the message numbers and what they flag: *
* 1158 RULES(NOOMITODOMIN) Missing min idx in ODO table def*
* 1348 RULES(NOEVENPACK) Even digit packed-decimal items *
* 1353 RULES(NOSLACKBYTES) Slack bytes within records *
* 1379 RULES(NOSLACKBYTES) Slack bytes between records *
* 2159 RULES(NOENDPERIOD) Cond stmt terminated by period *
* 2262 RULES(NOUNREFALL) Unref'd items (source/copybook) *
* 2262 RULES(NOUNREFSOURCE) Unref'd items (source only) *
* 2224 RULES(NOLAXPERF) Ineff. type for PERFORM VARYING *
* 2246 RULES(NOLAXPERF) Ineff. type for subscript *
* 2247 RULES(NOLAXPERF) Compiler option NOAWO in effect *
* 2248 RULES(NOLAXPERF) Option ARITH(EXTEND) in effect *
* 2249 RULES(NOLAXPERF) Option NOBLOCK0 in effect *
* 2250 RULES(NOLAXPERF) Option NOFASTSRT in effect *
* 2251 RULES(NOLAXPERF) Option NUMPROC(NOPFD) in effect*
* 2252 RULES(NOLAXPERF) Option OPTIMIZE(0) in effect *
* 2253 RULES(NOLAXPERF) Option SSRANGE in effect *
* 2254 RULES(NOLAXPERF) Option THREAD in effect *
* 2255 RULES(NOLAXPERF) Option TRUNC(STD) in effect *
* 2256 RULES(NOLAXPERF) Option TRUNC(BIN) in effect *
* 3084 RULES(NOLAXPERF) Ineff. type for arith sender *
* 3123 RULES(NOLAXPERF) Lots of padding in alph MOVE *
* *
*****************************************************************
When(1158) *> Disallow omitting ODO table min
Compute EXIT-USER-SEV = 12
When(1348) *> Disallow even-digit Comp-3
Compute EXIT-USER-SEV = 12
When(1353) When(1379) *> Disallow slack bytes
Compute EXIT-USER-SEV = 12
When(2159) *> Disallow period-termination
Compute EXIT-USER-SEV = 12 *> of conditional stmts
When(2262) *> Disallow unref'd data items
Compute EXIT-USER-SEV = 12
* Highlight poorly performing COBOL features
When(2224) *> Ineff. type for PERFORM VARYING
When(2246) *> Ineff. type for subscript
When(2247) *> Compiler option NOAWO in effect
When(2248) *> Option ARITH(EXTEND) in effect
When(2249) *> Option NOBLOCK0 in effect
When(2250) *> Option NOFASTSRT in effect
When(2251) *> Option NUMPROC(NOPFD) in effect
When(2252) *> Option OPTIMIZE(0) in effect
When(2253) *> Option SSRANGE in effect
When(2254) *> Option THREAD in effect
When(2255) *> Option TRUNC(STD) in effect
When(2256) *> Option TRUNC(BIN) in effect
When(3084) *> Ineff. type for arith sender
When(3123) *> Lots of padding in alph MOVE
Compute EXIT-USER-SEV = 8

*****************************************************************
* Change severity of messages 3178(I) to highlight File *
* Definitions that could lead to wrong-length read conditions. *
* Message 3178 is issued when the length of the shortest *
* record description is less than the FROM integer in the *
* RECORD IS VARYING clause, and when the length of the *
* longest record description is greater than the TO integer *
* in the RECORD IS VARYING clause. *
*****************************************************************
When(3178)
Compute EXIT-USER-SEV = 8

*****************************************************************
* Change severity of messages 3188(W) and 3189(W)
* to 12 ('S'). This is to force a fix for all
* SEARCH ALL cases that might behave differently
* between COBOL compilers previous to Enterprise
* COBOL release V3R4 and later compilers suchas
* Enterprise COBOL Version 4 Release 2.

736 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
* Another way to handle this migration is to analyze all of
* the warnings you get and then change them to I-level when
* the analysis is complete.
*****************************************************************
When(3188) When(3189)
Compute EXIT-USER-SEV = 12

*****************************************************************
* Change severity of message 4019 to suppress this message.
* Message 4019 says 'Compiler option "OPTFILE" was specified, "
* but file SYSOPTF could not be opened. No options from a
* "SYSOPTF" file were used.
* This customization would allow users to specify OPTFILE
* as a default option and it would only have an affect
* if there is a SYSOPTF file present
*****************************************************************
When(4019)
Compute EXIT-USER-SEV = -1

*****************************************************************
* Change severity of 'optimization' messages to suppress them
* so that compilation Return Code can be zero (RC=0)
* 7300: The code from lines &2 in program '&1' can never
* be executed and was therefore discarded.
* 7301: A zero base was raised to a zero power in a numeric
* literal exponentiation. The result was set to 1.
* 7302: A zero base was raised to a negative power in a numeric
* literal exponentiation. The result was set to 0.
* 7304: An exception "&1" occured while processing numeric
* literals. The result of the operation was set to zero.
* 7307: This statement may cause a program exception at execution
* time.
* 7309: There may be a loop from the "PERFORM" statement at "
* "PERFORM (line &1)" to itself.
* 7312: Procedure starting at 'proc-name' (line 'num') was
* copied one or more times to be inlined for PERFORM
* statements. xxx total bytes were generated from
* copying that procedure.
*****************************************************************
When(7300) When(7301) When(7302) When(7304)
When(7307) When(7309) When(7312)
Compute EXIT-USER-SEV = -1 *> Suppress the messages

*****************************************************************
* Change severity of message 7311(W) to 12 ('S'). This is the *
* case of INITCHECK messages about uninitialized data items. *
*****************************************************************
When(7311)
Compute EXIT-USER-SEV = 12

*****************************************************************
* Message severity Not customized
*****************************************************************
When Other
Compute EXIT-RETURNCODE = 0

End-Evaluate
.
*****************************************************************
* FIPS MESSAGE PROCESSOR *
*****************************************************************
Fips-Messages-Severity.

* Assume message severity will be customized...

Compute EXIT-RETURNCODE = 4

* Convert numeric FIPS(FLAGSTD) 'category' to character

* See the Programming Guide for description of FIPS category

EVALUATE EXIT-DEFAULT-SEV
When 81
MOVE 'D' To EXIT-DEFAULT-SEV-FIPS
When 82
MOVE 'E' To EXIT-DEFAULT-SEV-FIPS
When 83
MOVE 'H' To EXIT-DEFAULT-SEV-FIPS
When 84
MOVE 'I' To EXIT-DEFAULT-SEV-FIPS
When 85
MOVE 'N' To EXIT-DEFAULT-SEV-FIPS
When 86
MOVE 'O' To EXIT-DEFAULT-SEV-FIPS

Appendix E. EXIT compiler option 737

 When 87
MOVE 'Q' To EXIT-DEFAULT-SEV-FIPS
When 88
MOVE 'S' To EXIT-DEFAULT-SEV-FIPS
When Other
Continue
End-Evaluate

*****************************************************************
* Example of using FIPS category to force coding
* restrictions. This is not a recommendation!
* Change severity of all OBSOLETE item FIPS
* messages to 'S'
*****************************************************************
* If EXIT-DEFAULT-SEV-FIPS = 'O' Then
* Display '>>>> Default customizing FIPS category '
* EXIT-DEFAULT-SEV-FIPS ' msg ' EXIT-MESSAGE-NUM '<<<<'
* Compute EXIT-USER-SEV = 12
* End-If

Evaluate EXIT-MESSAGE-NUM
*****************************************************************
* Change severity of message 8062(O) to 8 ('E')
* 8062 = GO TO without proc name
*****************************************************************
When(8062)
Compute EXIT-USER-SEV = 8

*****************************************************************
* Change severity of message 8193(E) to 0('I')
* 8193 = GOBACK
*****************************************************************
When(8193)
Compute EXIT-USER-SEV = 0

*****************************************************************
* Change severity of message 8235(E) to 8 (Error)
* to disallow Complex Occurs Depending On
* 8235 = Complex Occurs Depending On
*****************************************************************
When(8235)
Compute EXIT-USER-SEV = 08

*****************************************************************
* Change severity of message 8270(O) to -1 (Suppress)
* 8270 = SERVICE LABEL
*****************************************************************
When(8270)
Compute EXIT-USER-SEV = -1

*****************************************************************
* Message severity Not customized
*****************************************************************
When Other
* For the default set 'O' to 'S' case...
* If EXIT-USER-SEV = 12 Then
* Compute EXIT-RETURNCODE = 4
* Else
Compute EXIT-RETURNCODE = 0
* End-If

End-Evaluate
.
END PROGRAM IGYMSGXT.

Error handling for exit modules

The conditions described below can occur during processing of the user exits.
Exit load failure:
Message IGYSI5207-U is written to the operator if a LOAD request for any of the user exits fails:

An error occurred while attempting to load user exit exit-name.

Exit open failure:

738 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Message IGYSI5208-U is written to the operator if an OPEN request for any of the user exits fails:

An error occurred while attempting to open user exit exit-name.

PRTEXIT PUT failure:

• Message IGYSI5203-U is written to the listing:

A PUT request to the PRTEXIT user exit failed with return code nn.

• Message IGYSI5217-U is written to the operator:

An error occurred in PRTEXIT user exit exit-name. Compiler terminated.

SYSIN GET failures:

The following messages might be written to the listing:
• IGYSI5204-U:

The record address was not set by the exit-name user exit.

• IGYSI5205-U:

A GET request from the INEXIT user exit failed with return code nn.

• IGYSI5206-U:

The record length was not set by the exit-name user exit.

ADEXIT PUT failure:

• Message IGYSI5225-U is written to the operator:

An error occurred in ADEXIT user exit exit-name. Compiler terminated.

• Message IGYSI5226-U is written to the listing:

A PUT request to the ADEXIT user exit failed with return code nn.

MSGEXIT failures:
Customization failure: Message IGYPP5293-U is written to the listing if an unsupported severity change
or unsupported message suppression is attempted:

MSGEXIT user exit exit-name specified a message severity customization that is

not supported. The message number, default severity, and user-specified severity
were: mm, ds, us. Change MSGEXIT user exit exit-name to correct this error.

General failure: Message IGYPP5064-U is written to the listing if the MSGEXIT module sets the return
code to a nonzero value other than 4:

A call to the MSGEXIT user exit routine exit-name failed with return code nn.

In the MSGEXIT messages, the two characters PP indicate the phase of the compiler that issued the
message that resulted in a call to the MSGEXIT module.

related tasks
“Customizing compiler-message severities” on page 731

Appendix E. EXIT compiler option 739

Using the EXIT compiler option with CICS, SQL and SQLIMS
statements
When you compile using suboptions of the EXIT compiler option, and your program contains EXEC CICS,
EXEC SQL, or EXEC SQLIMS statements, the actions that you can take in the exit modules depend on
whether you use the separate CICS translator and Db2 precompiler, or the integrated CICS translator and
Db2 coprocessor.
If the program contains EXEC SQLIMS statements, the actions that you can take in the exit modules are
the actions that are listed for the integrated translator.
The following table shows which actions you can take in the exit modules depending on whether you use
the integrated or separate translators.

Table 118. Actions possible in exit modules for CICS, SQL and SQLIMS statements
Compile Translated with Possible actions Comments
with integrated or
suboption separate CICS and
Db2 translators?
INEXIT Integrated Can process EXEC CICS, EXEC The INEXIT module does not get
SQL, and EXEC SQLIMS statements control of the COBOL statements
in the INEXIT module that are generated for the EXEC
statements.
Separate Can process the COBOL statements You can change the generated
that are generated for the EXEC statements in the INEXIT module,
statements in the INEXIT module but doing so is not supported by
IBM.
LIBEXIT Integrated Can process in the LIBEXIT module EXEC SQL INCLUDE and EXEC
the statements that are brought SQLIMS INCLUDE statements
in by the EXEC SQL INCLUDE are processed like COBOL COPY
and EXEC SQLIMS INCLUDE statements.
statements. Can process EXEC
CICS source statements in the
LIBEXIT module.
Separate Can process the COBOL statements You can process the input
that are generated for the EXEC statements that are brought in
CICS statements in the LIBEXIT by the EXEC SQL INCLUDE and
module SQLIMS INCLUDE statements only
by using the INEXIT suboption.
PRTEXIT Integrated Can process the EXEC CICS , EXEC The PRTEXIT module does not have
SQL, and EXEC SQLIMS source access to the COBOL statements
statements from the SOURCE listing that are generated.
in the PRTEXIT module
Separate Can process the COBOL SOURCE
listing statements that are
generated for the EXEC statements
in the PRTEXIT module

740 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 118. Actions possible in exit modules for CICS, SQL and SQLIMS statements (continued)
Compile Translated with Possible actions Comments
with integrated or
suboption separate CICS and
Db2 translators?
ADEXIT Integrated Can process the EXEC CICS, EXEC The ADEXIT module does not have
SQL, and EXEC SQLIMS source access to the COBOL statements
statements in the ADEXIT module that are generated.
Separate Can process the COBOL SYSADATA
statements that are generated for
the EXEC statements in the ADEXIT
module
MSGEXIT Integrated Can process CICS and Db2
messages in the MSGEXIT module
Separate Cannot process CICS and Db2 Messages from CICS are shown in
messages in the MSGEXIT module the separate CICS translator listing;
messages from Db2 are shown in
the Db2 precompiler listing.

related concepts
“Integrated CICS translator” on page 434
“Db2 coprocessor” on page 439

related tasks
“Compiling with the CICS option” on page 433
“Compiling with the SQL option” on page 443

related references
“Processing of INEXIT” on page 722
“Processing of LIBEXIT” on page 723
“Processing of PRTEXIT” on page 726
“Processing of ADEXIT” on page 728
“Processing of MSGEXIT” on page 729

Appendix E. EXIT compiler option 741

742 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Appendix F. JNI.cpy copybook
This listing shows the JNI.cpy copybook, which you can use to access the Java Native Interface (JNI)
services from your COBOL programs.
JNI.cpy contains sample COBOL data definitions that correspond to the Java JNI types, and contains
JNINativeInterface, the JNI environment structure that contains function pointers for accessing the JNI
callable services.
JNI.cpy is in the z/OS UNIX file system in the include subdirectory of the COBOL install directory
(typically /usr/lpp/cobol/include). JNI.cpy is analogous to the header file jni.h that C
programmers use to access the JNI.

*****************************************************************
* COBOL declarations for Java native method interoperation *
* *
* To use the Java Native Interface callable services from a *
* COBOL program: *
* 1) Use a COPY statement to include this file into the *
* the Linkage Section of the program, e.g. *
* Linkage Section. *
* Copy JNI *
* 2) Code the following statements at the beginning of the *
* Procedure Division: *
* Set address of JNIEnv to JNIEnvPtr *
* Set address of JNINativeInterface to JNIEnv *
*****************************************************************
*
* Sample JNI type definitions in COBOL
*
*01 jboolean1 pic X.
* 88 jboolean1-true value X'01' through X'FF'.
* 88 jboolean1-false value X'00'.
*
*01 jbyte1 pic X.
*
*01 jchar1 pic N usage national.
*
*01 jshort1 pic s9(4) comp-5.
*01 jint1 pic s9(9) comp-5.
*01 jlong1 pic s9(18) comp-5.
*
*01 jfloat1 comp-1.
*01 jdouble1 comp-2.
*
*01 jobject1 object reference.
*01 jclass1 object reference.
*01 jstring1 object reference jstring.
*01 jarray1 object reference jarray.
*
*01 jbooleanArray1 object reference jbooleanArray.
*01 jbyteArray1 object reference jbyteArray.
*01 jcharArray1 object reference jcharArray.
*01 jshortArray1 object reference jshortArray.
*01 jintArray1 object reference jintArray.
*01 jlongArray1 object reference jlongArray.
*01 floatArray1 object reference floatArray.
*01 jdoubleArray1 object reference jdoubleArray.
*01 jobjectArray1 object reference jobjectArray.

* Possible return values for JNI functions.

01 JNI-RC pic S9(9) comp-5.
* success
88 JNI-OK value 0.
* unknown error
88 JNI-ERR value -1.
* thread detached from the VM
88 JNI-EDETACHED value -2.
* JNI version error
88 JNI-EVERSION value -3.
* not enough memory
88 JNI-ENOMEM value -4.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 743

 * VM already created
88 JNI-EEXIST value -5.
* invalid arguments
88 JNI-EINVAL value -6.

* Used in ReleaseScalarArrayElements
01 releaseMode pic s9(9) comp-5.
88 JNI-COMMIT value 1.
88 JNI-ABORT value 2.

01 JNIenv pointer.

* JNI Native Method Interface - environment structure.

01 JNINativeInterface.
02 pointer.
02 pointer.
02 pointer.
02 pointer.
02 GetVersion function-pointer.
02 DefineClass function-pointer.
02 FindClass function-pointer.
02 FromReflectedMethod function-pointer.
02 FromReflectedField function-pointer.
02 ToReflectedMethod function-pointer.
02 GetSuperclass function-pointer.
02 IsAssignableFrom function-pointer.
02 ToReflectedField function-pointer.
02 Throw function-pointer.
02 ThrowNew function-pointer.
02 ExceptionOccurred function-pointer.
02 ExceptionDescribe function-pointer.
02 ExceptionClear function-pointer.
02 FatalError function-pointer.
02 PushLocalFrame function-pointer.
02 PopLocalFrame function-pointer.
02 NewGlobalRef function-pointer.
02 DeleteGlobalRef function-pointer.
02 DeleteLocalRef function-pointer.
02 IsSameObject function-pointer.
02 NewLocalRef function-pointer.
02 EnsureLocalCapacity function-pointer.
02 AllocObject function-pointer.
02 NewObject function-pointer.
02 NewObjectV function-pointer.
02 NewObjectA function-pointer.
02 GetObjectClass function-pointer.
02 IsInstanceOf function-pointer.
02 GetMethodID function-pointer.
02 CallObjectMethod function-pointer.
02 CallObjectMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallObjectMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallBooleanMethod function-pointer.
02 CallBooleanMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallBooleanMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallByteMethod function-pointer.
02 CallByteMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallByteMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallCharMethod function-pointer.
02 CallCharMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallCharMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallShortMethod function-pointer.
02 CallShortMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallShortMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallIntMethod function-pointer.
02 CallIntMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallIntMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallLongMethod function-pointer.
02 CallLongMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallLongMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallFloatMethod function-pointer.
02 CallFloatMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallFloatMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallDoubleMethod function-pointer.
02 CallDoubleMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallDoubleMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallVoidMethod function-pointer.
02 CallVoidMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallVoidMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualObjectMethod function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualObjectMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualObjectMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualBooleanMethod function-pointer.

744 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
02 CallNonvirtualBooleanMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualBooleanMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualByteMethod function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualByteMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualByteMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualCharMethod function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualCharMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualCharMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualShortMethod function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualShortMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualShortMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualIntMethod function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualIntMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualIntMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualLongMethod function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualLongMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualLongMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualFloatMethod function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualFloatMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualFloatMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualDoubleMethod function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualDoubleMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualDoubleMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualVoidMethod function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualVoidMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallNonvirtualVoidMethodA function-pointer.
02 GetFieldID function-pointer.
02 GetObjectField function-pointer.
02 GetBooleanField function-pointer.
02 GetByteField function-pointer.
02 GetCharField function-pointer.
02 GetShortField function-pointer.
02 GetIntField function-pointer.
02 GetLongField function-pointer.
02 GetFloatField function-pointer.
02 GetDoubleField function-pointer.
02 SetObjectField function-pointer.
02 SetBooleanField function-pointer.
02 SetByteField function-pointer.
02 SetCharField function-pointer.
02 SetShortField function-pointer.
02 SetIntField function-pointer.
02 SetLongField function-pointer.
02 SetFloatField function-pointer.
02 SetDoubleField function-pointer.
02 GetStaticMethodID function-pointer.
02 CallStaticObjectMethod function-pointer.
02 CallStaticObjectMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallStaticObjectMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallStaticBooleanMethod function-pointer.
02 CallStaticBooleanMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallStaticBooleanMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallStaticByteMethod function-pointer.
02 CallStaticByteMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallStaticByteMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallStaticCharMethod function-pointer.
02 CallStaticCharMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallStaticCharMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallStaticShortMethod function-pointer.
02 CallStaticShortMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallStaticShortMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallStaticIntMethod function-pointer.
02 CallStaticIntMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallStaticIntMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallStaticLongMethod function-pointer.
02 CallStaticLongMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallStaticLongMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallStaticFloatMethod function-pointer.
02 CallStaticFloatMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallStaticFloatMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallStaticDoubleMethod function-pointer.
02 CallStaticDoubleMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallStaticDoubleMethodA function-pointer.
02 CallStaticVoidMethod function-pointer.
02 CallStaticVoidMethodV function-pointer.
02 CallStaticVoidMethodA function-pointer.
02 GetStaticFieldID function-pointer.
02 GetStaticObjectField function-pointer.
02 GetStaticBooleanField function-pointer.
02 GetStaticByteField function-pointer.
02 GetStaticCharField function-pointer.
02 GetStaticShortField function-pointer.

Appendix F. JNI.cpy copybook 745

 02 GetStaticIntField function-pointer.
02 GetStaticLongField function-pointer.
02 GetStaticFloatField function-pointer.
02 GetStaticDoubleField function-pointer.
02 SetStaticObjectField function-pointer.
02 SetStaticBooleanField function-pointer.
02 SetStaticByteField function-pointer.
02 SetStaticCharField function-pointer.
02 SetStaticShortField function-pointer.
02 SetStaticIntField function-pointer.
02 SetStaticLongField function-pointer.
02 SetStaticFloatField function-pointer.
02 SetStaticDoubleField function-pointer.
02 NewString function-pointer.
02 GetStringLength function-pointer.
02 GetStringChars function-pointer.
02 ReleaseStringChars function-pointer.
02 NewStringUTF function-pointer.
02 GetStringUTFLength function-pointer.
02 GetStringUTFChars function-pointer.
02 ReleaseStringUTFChars function-pointer.
02 GetArrayLength function-pointer.
02 NewObjectArray function-pointer.
02 GetObjectArrayElement function-pointer.
02 SetObjectArrayElement function-pointer.
02 NewBooleanArray function-pointer.
02 NewByteArray function-pointer.
02 NewCharArray function-pointer.
02 NewShortArray function-pointer.
02 NewIntArray function-pointer.
02 NewLongArray function-pointer.
02 NewFloatArray function-pointer.
02 NewDoubleArray function-pointer.
02 GetBooleanArrayElements function-pointer.
02 GetByteArrayElements function-pointer.
02 GetCharArrayElements function-pointer.
02 GetShortArrayElements function-pointer.
02 GetIntArrayElements function-pointer.
02 GetLongArrayElements function-pointer.
02 GetFloatArrayElements function-pointer.
02 GetDoubleArrayElements function-pointer.
02 ReleaseBooleanArrayElements function-pointer.
02 ReleaseByteArrayElements function-pointer.
02 ReleaseCharArrayElements function-pointer.
02 ReleaseShortArrayElements function-pointer.
02 ReleaseIntArrayElements function-pointer.
02 ReleaseLongArrayElements function-pointer.
02 ReleaseFloatArrayElements function-pointer.
02 ReleaseDoubleArrayElements function-pointer.
02 GetBooleanArrayRegion function-pointer.
02 GetByteArrayRegion function-pointer.
02 GetCharArrayRegion function-pointer.
02 GetShortArrayRegion function-pointer.
02 GetIntArrayRegion function-pointer.
02 GetLongArrayRegion function-pointer.
02 GetFloatArrayRegion function-pointer.
02 GetDoubleArrayRegion function-pointer.
02 SetBooleanArrayRegion function-pointer.
02 SetByteArrayRegion function-pointer.
02 SetCharArrayRegion function-pointer.
02 SetShortArrayRegion function-pointer.
02 SetIntArrayRegion function-pointer.
02 SetLongArrayRegion function-pointer.
02 SetFloatArrayRegion function-pointer.
02 SetDoubleArrayRegion function-pointer.
02 RegisterNatives function-pointer.
02 UnregisterNatives function-pointer.
02 MonitorEnter function-pointer.
02 MonitorExit function-pointer.
02 GetJavaVM function-pointer.
02 GetStringRegion function-pointer.
02 GetStringUTFRegion function-pointer.
02 GetPrimitiveArrayCritical function-pointer.
02 ReleasePrimitiveArrayCritical function-pointer.
02 GetStringCritical function-pointer.
02 ReleaseStringCritical function-pointer.
02 NewWeakGlobalRef function-pointer.
02 DeleteWeakGlobalRef function-pointer.
02 ExceptionCheck function-pointer.

746 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
related tasks
“Compiling OO applications under z/OS UNIX” on page 281
“Accessing JNI services” on page 633

Appendix F. JNI.cpy copybook 747

748 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents
When you use the ADATA compiler option, the compiler produces a file, the SYSADATA file, that contains
additional program data. You can use this file instead of the compiler listing to extract information about
the program. For example, you can extract information about the program for symbolic debugging tools or
cross-reference tools.
“Example: SYSADATA” on page 751

related references
“ADATA” on page 297
“Compiler options that affect the SYSADATA file” on page 749
“SYSADATA record types” on page 750
“SYSADATA record descriptions” on page 752

Compiler options that affect the SYSADATA file

Several compiler options could affect the contents of the SYSADATA file.
COMPILE
NOCOMPILE(W|E|S) might stop compilation prematurely, resulting in the loss of specific messages.
EXIT
INEXIT prohibits identification of the compilation source file.
LANGUAGE
LANGUAGE controls the message text (Uppercase English, Mixed-Case English, or Japanese).
Selection of Japanese could result in DBCS characters written to Error Identification records.
NUM
NUM causes the compiler to use the contents of columns 1-6 in the source records for line numbering,
rather than using generated sequence numbers. Any invalid (nonnumeric) or out-of-sequence
numbers are replaced with a number one higher than that of the previous record.
TEST
TEST causes additional object text records to be created that also affect the contents of the
SYSADATA file.
The SYSADATA fields shown in the following table contain line numbers whose contents differ depending
on the NUM|NONUM setting.

Type Field Record

0020 AE_LINE External Symbol record
0030 ATOK_LINE Token record
0032 AF_STMT Source Error record
0038 AS_STMT Source record
0039 AS_REP_EXP_SLIN COPY REPLACING record
0039 AS_REP_EXP_ELIN COPY REPLACING record
0042 ASY_STMT Symbol record
0044 AX_DEFN Symbol Cross Reference record
0044 AX_STMT Symbol Cross Reference record
0046 AN_STMT Nested Program record

The Type 0038 Source record contains two fields that relate to line numbers and record numbers:

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 749

 • AS_STMT contains the compiler line number in both the NUM and NONUM cases.
• AS_CUR_REC# contains the physical source record number.
These two fields can always be used to correlate the compiler line numbers, used in all the above fields,
with physical source record numbers.
The remaining compiler options have no direct effect on the SYSADATA file, but might trigger generation of
additional error messages associated with the specific option, such as FLAGSTD or SSRANGE.
“Example: SYSADATA” on page 751

related references
“SYSADATA record types” on page 750
“COMPILE” on page 307
“EXIT” on page 317
“LANGUAGE” on page 330
“NUMBER” on page 336
“TEST” on page 359

SYSADATA record types

The SYSADATA file contains records classified into different record types. Each type of record provides
information about the COBOL program being compiled.
Each record consists of two parts:
• A 12-byte header section, which has the same structure for all record types, and contains the record
code that identifies the type of record
• A variable-length data section, which varies by record type

Table 119. SYSADATA record types

Record type What it does
“Job identification record: X'0000'” on page Provides information about the environment used to
755 process the source data
“ADATA identification record: X'0001'” on page Provides common information about the records in
756 the SYSADATA file
“Compilation unit start | end record: X'0002'” on Marks the beginning and ending of compilation units
page 756 in a source file
“Options record: X'0010'” on page 757 Describes the compiler options used for the
compilation
“External symbol record: X'0020'” on page 767 Describes all external names in the program,
definitions, and references
“Parse tree record: X'0024'” on page 768 Defines a node in the parse tree of the program
“Token record: X'0030'” on page 794 Defines a source token
“Source error record: X'0032'” on page 821 Describes errors in source program statements
“Source record: X'0038'” on page 821 Describes a single source line
“COPY REPLACING record: X'0039'” on page Describes an instance of text replacement as a result
822 of a match of COPY. . .REPLACING operand-1
with text in the copybook
“Symbol record: X'0042'” on page 823 Describes a single symbol defined in the program.
There is one symbol record for each symbol defined
in the program.

750 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Table 119. SYSADATA record types (continued)
Record type What it does
“Symbol cross-reference record: X'0044'” on Describes references to a single symbol
page 835
“Nested program record: X'0046'” on page 837 Describes the name and nesting level of a program
“Library record: X'0060'” on page 837 Describes the library files and members used from
each library
“Statistics record: X'0090'” on page 838 Describes the statistics about the compilation
“EVENTS record: X'0120'” on page 838 EVENTS records provide compatibility with COBOL/
370. The record format is identical with that in
COBOL/370, with the addition of the standard ADATA
header at the beginning of the record and a field
indicating the length of the EVENTS record data.

Example: SYSADATA
The following sample shows part of the listing of a COBOL program. If this COBOL program were compiled
with the ADATA option, the records produced in the associated data file would be in the sequence shown
in the table below.

000001 IDENTIFICATION DIVISION. AD000020

000002 PROGRAM-ID. AD04202. AD000030
000003 ENVIRONMENT DIVISION. AD000040
000004 DATA DIVISION. AD000050
000005 WORKING-STORAGE SECTION. AD000060
000006 77 COMP3-FLD2 pic S9(3)v9. AD000070
000007 PROCEDURE DIVISION. AD000080
000008 STOP RUN.

Type Description
X'0120' EVENTS Timestamp record
X'0120' EVENTS Processor record
X'0120' EVENTS File-ID record
X'0120' EVENTS Program record
X'0001' ADATA Identification record
X'0000' Job Identification record
X'0010' Options record
X'0038' Source record for statement 1
X'0038' Source record for statement 2
X'0038' Source record for statement 3
X'0038' Source record for statement 4
X'0038' Source record for statement 5
X'0038' Source record for statement 6
X'0038' Source record for statement 7
X'0038' Source record for statement 8

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 751

 Type Description
X'0020' External Symbol record for AD04202
X'0044' Symbol Cross Reference record for STOP
X'0044' Symbol Cross Reference record for COMP3-FLD2
X'0044' Symbol Cross Reference record for AD04202
X'0042' Symbol record for AD04202
X'0042' Symbol record for COMP3-FLD2
X'0090' Statistics record
X'0120' EVENTS FileEnd record

related references
“SYSADATA record descriptions” on page 752

SYSADATA record descriptions

The formats of the records written to the associated data file are shown in the related references below.
In the fields described in each of the record types, these symbols occur:
C
Indicates character (EBCDIC or ASCII) data
H
Indicates 2-byte binary integer data
F
Indicates 4-byte binary integer data
A
Indicates 4-byte binary integer address and offset data
X
Indicates hexadecimal (bit) data or 1-byte binary integer data
No boundary alignments are implied by any data type, and the implied lengths above might be changed by
the presence of a length indicator (Ln). All integer data is in big-endian or little-endian format depending
on the indicator bit in the header flag byte. Big-endian format means that bit 0 is always the most
significant bit and bit n is the least significant bit. Little-endian refers to "byte-reversed" integers as seen
on Intel processors.
All undefined fields and unused values are reserved.

related references
“Common header section” on page 753
“Job identification record: X'0000'” on page 755
“ADATA identification record: X'0001'” on page 756
“Compilation unit start | end record: X'0002'” on page 756
“Options record: X'0010'” on page 757
“External symbol record: X'0020'” on page 767
“Parse tree record: X'0024'” on page 768
“Token record: X'0030'” on page 794
“Source error record: X'0032'” on page 821
“Source record: X'0038'” on page 821
“COPY REPLACING record: X'0039'” on page 822
“Symbol record: X'0042'” on page 823
“Symbol cross-reference record: X'0044'” on page 835
“Nested program record: X'0046'” on page 837

752 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 “Library record: X'0060'” on page 837
“Statistics record: X'0090'” on page 838
“EVENTS record: X'0120'” on page 838

Common header section

The table below shows the format of the header section that is common for all record types. For MVS
and VSE, each record is preceded by a 4-byte RDW (record-descriptor word) that is normally used only by
access methods and stripped off by download utilities.

Table 120. SYSADATA common header section

Field Size Description
Language code XL1 16
High Level Assembler
17
COBOL on all platforms
40
PL/I on supported platforms

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 753

 Table 120. SYSADATA common header section (continued)
Field Size Description
Record type HL2 The record type, which can be any of the following ones:
X'0000'
Job Identification record1
X'0001'
ADATA Identification record
X'0002'
Compilation unit start/end record
X'0010'
Options record1
X'0020'
External Symbol record
X'0024'
Parse Tree record
X'0030'
Token record
X'0032'
Source Error record
X'0038'
Source record
X'0039'
COPY REPLACING record
X'0042'
Symbol record
X'0044'
Symbol Cross-Reference record
X'0046'
Nested Program record
X'0060'
Library record
X'0090'
Statistics record1
X'0120'
EVENTS record

Associated data XL1 3

architecture level Definition level for the header structure

Flag XL1 .... ..1.

ADATA record integers are in little-endian (Intel) format
.... ...1
This record is continued in the next record
1111 11..
Reserved for future use

Associated data record XL1 Used to indicate a new format for a specific record type, usually 0
edition level
Reserved CL4 Reserved for future use

754 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Table 120. SYSADATA common header section (continued)
Field Size Description
Associated data field HL2 The length in bytes of the data following the header
length

1. When a batch compilation (sequence of programs) is run with the ADATA option, there will be
multiple Job Identification, Options, and Statistics records for each compilation.

The mapping of the 12-byte header does not include the area used for the variable-length record-
descriptor word required by the access method on MVS and VSE.

Job identification record: X'0000'

The following table shows the contents of the job identification record.

Table 121. SYSADATA job identification record

Field Size Description
Date CL8 The date of the compilation in the format YYYYMMDD
Time CL4 The time of the compilation in the format HHMM
Product number CL8 The product number of the compiler that produced the associated
data file
Product version CL8 The version number of the product that produced the associated
data file, in the form V.R.M
BLD Level CL8 The build level information (of the form PYYMMDD) of the product
that produced the associated data file
System ID CL24 The system identification of the system on which the compilation
was run
Job name CL8 The MVS job name of the compilation job
Step name CL8 The MVS step name of the compilation step
Proc step CL8 The MVS procedure step name of the compilation procedure
Number of input files1 HL2 The number of input files recorded in this record.
The following group of seven fields will occur n times depending on
the value in this field.

...Input file number HL2 The assigned sequence number of the file
...Input file name length HL2 The length of the following input file name
...Volume serial number HL2 The length of the volume serial number
length
...Member name length HL2 The length of the member name
...Input file name CL(n) The name of the input file for the compilation
...Volume serial number CL(n) The volume serial number of the (first) volume on which the input
file resides
...Member name CL(n) Where applicable, the name of the member in the input file

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 755

 Table 121. SYSADATA job identification record (continued)
Field Size Description

1. Where the number of input files would exceed the record size for the associated data file, the record
is continued on the next record. The current number of input files (for that record) is stored in the
record, and the record is written to the associated data file. The next record contains the rest of the
input files. The count of the number of input files is a count for the current record.

ADATA identification record: X'0001'

The following table shows the contents of the ADATA identification record.

Table 122. ADATA identification record

Field Size Description
Time (binary) XL8 Universal Time (UT) as a binary number of microseconds
since midnight Greenwich Mean Time, with the low-order bit
representing 1 microsecond. This time can be used as a time-zone-
independent time stamp.
CCSID1 XL2 Coded Character Set Identifier
Character-set flags XL1 X'80'
EBCDIC (IBM-037)
X'40'
ASCII (IBM-1252)

Code-page name length XL2 Length of the code-page name that follows
Code-page name CL(n) Name of the code page

1. The appropriate CCS flag will always be set. If the CCSID is set to nonzero, the code-page name
length will be zero. If the CCSID is set to zero, the code-page name length will be nonzero and the
code-page name will be present.

Compilation unit start | end record: X'0002'

The following table shows the contents of the compilation unit start|end record.

Table 123. SYSADATA compilation unit start | end record

Field Size Description
Type HL2 Compilation unit type, which is one of the following options:
X'0000'
Start compilation unit
X'0001'
End compilation unit

Reserved CL2 Reserved for future use

Reserved FL4 Reserved for future use

756 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Options record: X'0010'
The following table shows the contents of the options record.

Table 124. SYSADATA options record

Field Size Description
Option byte 0 XL1 1111 1111
Reserved for future use

Option byte 1 XL1 1... ....

Bit 1 = DECK, Bit 0 = NODECK
.1.. ....
Bit 1 = ADATA, Bit 0 = NOADATA
..1. ....
Bit 1 = COLLSEQ(EBCDIC), Bit 0 = COLLSEQ(LOCALE|
BINARY) (AIX only)
...1 ....
Bit 1 = SEPOBJ, Bit 0 = NOSEPOBJ (AIX only)
.... 1...
Bit 1 = NAME, Bit 0 = NONAME
.... .1..
Bit 1 = OBJECT, Bit 0 = NOOBJECT
.... ..1.
Bit 1 = SQL, Bit 0 = NOSQL
.... ...1
Bit 1 = CICS, Bit 0 = NOCICS

Option byte 2 XL1 1... ....

Bit 1 = OFFSET, Bit 0 = NOOFFSET
.1.. ....
Bit 1 = MAP, Bit 0 = NOMAP
..1. ....
Bit 1 = LIST, Bit 0 = NOLIST
...1 ....
Bit 1 = DBCSXREF, Bit 0 = NODBCSXREF
.... 1...
Bit 1 = XREF(SHORT), Bit 0 = not XREF(SHORT). This
flag should be used in combination with the flag at bit 7.
XREF(FULL) is indicated by this flag being off and the flag at
bit 7 being on.
.... .1..
Bit 1 = SOURCE, Bit 0 = NOSOURCE
.... ..1.
Bit 1 = VBREF, Bit 0 = NOVBREF
.... ...1
Bit 1 = XREF, Bit 0 = not XREF. See also flag at bit 4 above.

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 757

 Table 124. SYSADATA options record (continued)
Field Size Description
Option byte 3 XL1 1... ....
Bit 1 = FLAG imbedded diagnostics level specified (a value y is
specified as in FLAG(x,y))
.1.. ....
Bit 1 = FLAGSTD, Bit 0 = NOFLAGSTD
..1. ....
Bit 1 = NUM, Bit 0 = NONUM
...1 ....
Bit 1 = SEQUENCE, Bit 0 = NOSEQUENCE
.... 1...
Bit 1 = SOSI, Bit 0 = NOSOSI (AIX only)
.... .1..
Bit 1 = NSYMBOL(NATIONAL), Bit 0 = NSYMBOL(DBCS)
.... ..1.
Bit 1 = PROFILE, Bit 0 = NOPROFILE (AIX only)
.... ...1
Bit 1 = WORD, Bit 0 = NOWORD

Option byte 4 XL1 1... ....

Bit 1 = ADV, Bit 0 = NOADV
.1.. ....
Bit 1 = APOST, Bit 0 = QUOTE
..1. ....
Bit 1 = DYNAM, Bit 0 = NODYNAM
...1 ....
Bit 1 = AWO, Bit 0 = NOAWO
.... 1...
Bit 1 = RMODE specified, Bit 0 = RMODE(AUTO)
.... .1..
Bit 1 = RENT, Bit 0 = NORENT
.... ..1.
Bit 1 = RES: this flag will always be set on for COBOL.
.... ...1
Bit 1 = RMODE(24), Bit 0 = RMODE(ANY)

758 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 124. SYSADATA options record (continued)
Field Size Description
Option byte 5 XL1 1... ....
Bit 1 = SQLCCSID, Bit 0 = NOSQLCCSID
.1.. ....
Bit 1 = OPT(1|2), Bit 0 = OPT(0)
..1. ....
Bit 1 = SQLIMS, Bit 0 = NOSQLIMS
...1 ....
Bit 1 = DBCS, Bit 0 = NODBCS
.... 1...
Bit 1 = AFP(VOLATILE), Bit 0 = AFP(NOVOLATILE)
.... .1..
Bit 1 = SSRANGE, Bit 0 = NOSSRANGE
.... ..1.
Bit 1 = TEST, Bit 0 = NOTEST
.... ...1
Bit 1 = PROBE, Bit 0 = NOPROBE (Windows only)

Option byte 6 XL1 1... ....

Bit 1 = SRCFORMAT(EXTEND), Bit 0 = SRCFORMAT(COMPAT)
..1. ....
Bit 1 = NUMPROC(PFD), Bit 0 = NUMPROC(NOPFD)
...1 ....
Bit 1 = NUMCLS(ALT), Bit 0 = NUMCLS(PRIM)
.... .1..
Bit 1 = BINARY(S390), Bit 0 = BINARY(NATIVE) (AIX only)
.... ..1.
Bit 1 = TRUNC(STD), Bit 0 = TRUNC(OPT)
.... ...1
Bit 1 = ZWB, Bit 0 = NOZWB
.1.. 1...
Reserved for future use

Option byte 7 XL1 1... ....

Bit 1 = ALOWCBL, Bit 0 = NOALOWCBL
.1.. ....
Bit 1 = TERM, Bit 0 = NOTERM
..1. ....
Bit 1 = DUMP, Bit 0 = NODUMP
.... ..1.
Bit 1 = CURRENCY, Bit 0 = NOCURRENCY
...1 11.1
Reserved for future use

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 759

 Table 124. SYSADATA options record (continued)
Field Size Description
Option byte 8 XL1 1... ....
Bit 1 = RULES, Bit 0 = NORULES
.1.. ....
Bit 1 = OPTFILE, Bit 0 = not OPTFILE
..1. ....
Bit 1 = ADDR(64), Bit 0 = ADDR(32) (AIX only)
.... 1...
Bit 1 = BLOCK0, Bit 0 = NOBLOCK0
.... ..1.
Bit 1 = DISPSIGN(SEP), Bit 0 = DISPSIGN(COMPAT)
.... ...1
Bit 1 = STGOPT, Bit 0 = NOSTGOPT
1..1 .1..
Reserved for future use

Option byte 9 XL1 1... ....

Bit 1 = DATA(24), Bit 0 = DATA(31)
.1.. ....
Bit 1 = FASTSRT, Bit 0 = NOFASTSRT
.... .1..
Bit 1 = THREAD, Bit 0 = NOTHREAD
..11 1.11
Reserved for future use

Option byte A XL1 1... ....

Bit 1 = HGPR(PRESERVE), Bit 0 = HGPR(NOPRESERVE)
.1.. ....
Bit 1 = XMLPARSE(XMLSS), Bit 0 = XMLPARSE(COMPAT)
..1. ....
Bit 1 = MAP(DEC), Bit 0 = MAP(HEX)
...1....
Reserved for future use
....1...
Bit 1 = SUPRESS, Bit 0 = NOSUPPRESS
.....1..
Bit 1 = VSAMOPENFS(SUCC), BIT 0 = VSAMOPENFS(COMPAT)
......11
Reserved for future use

Option byte B XL1 1111 1111

Reserved for future use

760 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 124. SYSADATA options record (continued)
Field Size Description
Option byte C XL1 1... ....
Bit 1 = NCOLLSEQ(LOCALE) (AIX only)
.1.. ....
Reserved for future use
..1. ....
Bit 1 = INTDATE(LILIAN), Bit 0 = INTDATE(ANSI)
...1 ....
Bit 1 = NCOLLSEQ(BINARY) (AIX only)
.... 1...
Bit 1 = CHAR(EBCDIC), Bit 0 = CHAR(NATIVE) (AIX only)
.... .1..
Bit 1 = FLOAT(HEX), Bit 0 = FLOAT(NATIVE) (AIX only)
.... ..1.
Bit 1 = COLLSEQ(BINARY) (AIX only)
.... ...1
Bit 1 = COLLSEQ(LOCALE) (AIX only)

Option byte D XL1 1... ....

Bit 1 = DLL, Bit 0 = NODLL
.1.. ....
Bit 1 = EXPORTALL, Bit 0 = NOEXPORTALL
..1. ....
Bit 1 = CODEPAGE
...1 ....
Bit 1 = SOURCEFORMAT(EXTEND), Bit 0 =
SOURCEFORMAT(COMPAT) (AIX only)
.... ..1.
Bit 1 = WSCLEAR, Bit 0 = NOWSCLEAR (AIX only)
.... ...1
Bit 1 = BEOPT, Bit 0 = NOBEOPT (AIX only)
.... 11..
Reserved for future use

Option byte E XL1 1.......

Bit 1 = VLR(COMPAT), Bit 0 = VLR(STANDARD)
.1.. ....
Bit 1 = DIAGTRUNC, Bit 0 = NODIAGTRUNC
.... .1..
Bit 1 = LSTFILE(UTF-8), Bit 0 = LSTFILE(LOCALE) (AIX
only)
.... ..1.
Bit 1 = MDECK, Bit 0 = NOMDECK
.... ...1
Bit 1 = MDECK(NOCOMPILE)
..11 1...
Reserved for future use

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 761

 Table 124. SYSADATA options record (continued)
Field Size Description
Option byte F XL1 1... ....
Bit 1 = DIVIDE(S390), Bit 0 = DIVIDE(NATIVE) (AIX Only)
.1.. ....
Bit 1 = COPYRIGHT, Bit 0 = NOCOPYRIGHT
..1. ....
Bit 1 = QUALIFY(EXTEND), Bit 0 = QUALIFY(COMPAT)
...1 ....
Bit 1 = SERVICE, Bit 0 = NOSERVICE
.... 1...
Bit 1 = ZONEDATA(MIG)
.... .1..
Bit 1 = ZONEDATA(NOPFD)
.... ..1.
Bit 1 = NUMCHECK(ZON|PAC|BIN|ABD|MSG), Bit 0 =
NONUMCHECK
.... ...1
Bit 1 = PARMCHECK(ABD|MSG), Bit 0 = NOPARMCHECK

Option byte G XL1 1... ....

Bit 1 = NUMCHECK(ZON), Bit 0 = NUMCHECK(NOZON)
.1.. ....
Bit 1 = NUMCHECK(PAC), Bit 0 = NUMCHECK(NOPAC)
..1. ....
Bit 1 = NUMCHECK(BIN), Bit 0 = NUMCHECK(NOBIN)
...1 ....
Bit 1 = NUMCHECK(MSG), Bit 0 = NUMCHECK(ABD)
.... 1...
Bit 1 = NUMCHECK(ZON(NOALPHNUM)), Bit 0 =
NUMCHECK(ZON(ALPHNUM))
.... .1..
Bit 1 = NUMCHECK(ZON(LAX)), Bit 0 =
NUMCHECK(ZON(STRICT))
.... ..1.
Bit 1 = NUMCHECK(BIN(NOTRUNCBIN)), Bit 0 =
NUMCHECK(BIN(TRUNCBIN))
.... ...1
Reserved for future use

Option byte H XL1 1... ....

Bit 1 = PARMCHECK(ABD), Bit 0 = PARMCHECK(MSG) (if
PARMCHECK in effect)
.1.. ....
Reserved for future use

Option byte K XL1 1... ....

Bit 1 = INVDATA(FORCENUMCMP,x)
.2.. .1..
Bit 1 = INVDATA(NOCLEANSIGN,x)

762 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 124. SYSADATA options record (continued)
Field Size Description
Flag level XL1 X'00'
Flag(I)
X'04'
Flag(W)
X'08'
Flag(E)
X'0C'
Flag(S)
X'10'
Flag(U)
X'FF'
Noflag

Imbedded diagnostic XL1 X'00'

level Flag(I)
X'04'
Flag(W)
X'08'
Flag(E)
X'0C'
Flag(S)
X'10'
Flag(U)
X'FF'
Noflag

FLAGSTD (FIPS) XL1 1... ....

specification Minimum
.1.. ....
Intermediate
..1. ....
High
...1 ....
IBM extensions
.... 1...
Level-1 segmentation
.... .1..
Level-2 segmentation
.... ..1.
Debugging
.... ...1
Obsolete

Reserved for flagging XL1 1111 1111

Reserved for future use

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 763

 Table 124. SYSADATA options record (continued)
Field Size Description
Compiler mode XL1 X'00'
Unconditional Nocompile, Nocompile(I)
X'04'
Nocompile(W)
X'08'
Nocompile(E)
X'0C'
Nocompile(S)
X'FF'
Compile

Space value CL1

Data for 3-valued XL1 1... ....
options NAME(ALIAS) specified
.1.. ....
Reserved for future use
..1. ....
TRUNC(BIN) specified
...1 ....
PARMCHECK(ABD) (if PARMCHECK in effect)
.... 1...
INITCHECK(STRICT) specified
.... .111
Reserved for future use

TEST suboptions XL1 1... ....

TEST(EJPD)
.1.. ....
TEST(SOURCE)
..1. ....
TEST|NOTEST(SEPARATE)
...1 ....
NOTEST(DWARF)
.... 1...
TEST|NOTEST(SEPARATE(DSNAME))
.... .111
Reserved for future use

OUTDD name length HL2 Length of OUTDD name

RWT ID Length HL2 Length of Reserved Word Table identifier
BLD LEVEL CL8 Product build level infomation (of the form PYYMMDD)

764 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 124. SYSADATA options record (continued)
Field Size Description
PGMNAME suboptions XL1 1... ....
Bit 1 = PGMNAME(COMPAT)
.1.. ....
Bit 1 = PGMNAME(LONGUPPER)
..1. ....
Bit 1 = PGMNAME(LONGMIXED)
...1 1111
Reserved for future use

Entry interface XL1 1... ....

suboptions Bit 1 = EntryInterface(System) (Windows only)
.1.. ....
Bit 1 = EntryInterface(OptLink) (Windows only)
..11 1111
Reserved for future use

CALLINTERFACE XL1 1... ....

suboptions Bit 1 = CALLINTERFACE(DLL)
.1.. ....
Bit 1 = CALLINTERFACE(DYNAMIC)
..11 1111
Reserved for future use

ARITH suboption XL1 1... ....

Bit 1 = ARITH(COMPAT)
.1.. ....
Bit 1 = ARITH(EXTEND)
..11 1111
Reserved for future use

DBCS Req FL4 DBCS XREF storage requirement

DBCS ORDPGM length HL2 Length of name of DBCS Ordering Program
DBCS ENCTBL length HL2 Length of name of DBCS Encode Table
DBCS ORD TYPE CL2 DBCS Ordering type
Reserved CL5 Reserved for future use
Optimize level XL1 Optimization level 0 <= n <= 2
Converted SO CL1 Converted SO hexadecimal value
Converted SI CL1 Converted SI hexadecimal value
Language ID CL2 This field holds the two-character abbreviation (one of EN, UE, JA,
or JP) from the LANGUAGE option.
INEXIT name length HL2 Length of SYSIN user-exit name
PRTEXIT name length HL2 Length of SYSPRINT user-exit name
LIBEXIT name length HL2 Length of Libraryuser-exit name
ADEXIT name length HL2 Length of ADATA user-exit name

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 765

 Table 124. SYSADATA options record (continued)
Field Size Description
CURROPT CL5 CURRENCY option value
ARCH XL1 ARCH level number
Reserved CL2 Reserved for future use
CODEPAGE HL2 CODEPAGE CCSID option value
Reserved CL50 Reserved for future use
LINECNT HL2 LINECOUNT value
Reserved CL2 Reserved for future use
BUFSIZE FL4 BUFSIZE option value
Reserved FL4 Reserved for future use
Phase residence bits XL1 1... ....
byte 1 Bit 1 = IGYCLIBR in user region
.1.. ....
Bit 1 = IGYCSCAN in user region
..1. ....
Bit 1 = IGYCDSCN in user region
...1 ....
Bit 1 = IGYCGROU in user region
.... 1...
Bit 1 = IGYCPSCN in user region
.... .1..
Bit 1 = IGYCPANA in user region
.... ..1.
Bit 1 = IGYCFGEN in user region
.... ...1
Bit 1 = IGYCPGEN in user region

Phase residence bits XL1 .1.. ....

byte 2 Bit 1 = IGYCLSTR in user region
..1. ....
Bit 1 = IGYCXREF in user region
...1 ....
Bit 1 = IGYCDMAP in user region
.... ..1.
Bit 1 = IGYCDIAG in user region
.... ...1
Bit 1 = IGYCDGEN in user region
1... 11..
Reserved for future use

Phase residence bits XL2 Reserved

bytes 3 and 4
Reserved CL8 Reserved for future use
OUTDD name CL(n) OUTDD name

766 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Table 124. SYSADATA options record (continued)
Field Size Description
RWT CL(n) Reserved word table identifier
DBCS ORDPGM CL(n) DBCS Ordering program name
DBCS ENCTBL CL(n) DBCS Encode table name
INEXIT name CL(n) SYSIN user-exit name
PRTEXIT name CL(n) SYSPRINT user-exit name
LIBEXIT name CL(n) Library user-exit name
ADEXIT name CL(n) ADATA user-exit name

External symbol record: X'0020'

The following table shows the contents of the external symbol record.

Table 125. SYSADATA external symbol record

Field Size Description
Section type XL1 X'00'
PROGRAM-ID name (main entry point name)
X'01'
ENTRY name (secondary entry point name)
X'02'
External reference (referenced external entry point)
X'04'
Not applicable for COBOL
X'05'
Not applicable for COBOL
X'06'
Not applicable for COBOL
X'0A'
Not applicable for COBOL
X'12'
Internal reference (referenced internal subprogram)
X'C0'
External class-name (OO COBOL class definition)
X'C1'
METHOD-ID name (OO COBOL method definition)
X'C6'
Method reference (OO COBOL method reference)
X'FF'
Not applicable for COBOL
Types X'12', X'C0', X'C1' and X'C6' are for COBOL only.

Flags XL1 Not applicable for COBOL

Reserved HL2 Reserved for future use

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 767

 Table 125. SYSADATA external symbol record (continued)
Field Size Description
Symbol-ID FL4 Symbol-ID of program that contains the reference (only for types
x'02' and x'12')
Line number FL4 Line number of statement that contains the reference (only for
types x'02' and x'12')
Section length FL4 Not applicable for COBOL
LD ID FL4 Not applicable for COBOL
Reserved CL8 Reserved for future use
External name length HL2 Number of characters in the external name
Alias name length HL2 Not applicable for COBOL
External name CL(n) The external name
Alias section name CL(n) Not applicable for COBOL

Parse tree record: X'0024'

The following table shows the contents of the parse tree record.

Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record

Field Size Description
Node number FL4 The node number generated by the compiler, starting at 1
Node type HL2 The type of the node:
001
Program
002
Class
003
Method

101
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION
102
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION
103
DATA DIVISION
104
PROCEDURE DIVISION
105
End Program/Method/Class

201
Declaratives body
202
Nondeclaratives body

768 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record (continued)
Field Size Description

301
Section
302
Procedure section

401
Paragraph
402
Procedure paragraph

501
Sentence
502
File definition
503
Sort file definition
504
Program-name
505
Program attribute
508
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION clause
509
CLASS attribute
510
METHOD attribute
511
USE statement

601
Statement
602
Data description clause
603
Data entry
604
File description clause
605
Data entry name
606
Data entry level
607
EXEC entry

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 769

 Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record (continued)
Field Size Description

701
EVALUATE subject phrase
702
EVALUATE WHEN phrase
703
EVALUATE WHEN OTHER phrase
704
SEARCH WHEN phrase
705
INSPECT CONVERTING phrase
706
INSPECT REPLACING phrase
707
INSPECT TALLYING phrase
708
PERFORM UNTIL phrase
709
PERFORM VARYING phrase
710
PERFORM AFTER phrase
711
Statement block
712
Scope terminator
713
INITIALIZE REPLACING phrase
714
EXEC CICS Command
715
INITIALIZE WITH FILLER
716
INITIALIZE TO VALUE
717
INITIALIZE TO DEFAULT
718
ALLOCATE INITIALIZED
719
ALLOCATE LOC
720
DATA DIVISION phrase

770 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record (continued)
Field Size Description

801
Phrase
802
ON phrase
803
NOT phrase
804
THEN phrase
805
ELSE phrase
806
Condition
807
Expression
808
Relative indexing
809
EXEC CICS Option
810
Reserved word
811
INITIALIZE REPLACING category

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 771

 Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record (continued)
Field Size Description

901
Section or paragraph name
902
Identifier
903
Alphabet-name
904
Class-name
905
Condition-name
906
File-name
907
Index-name
908
Mnemonic-name
910
Symbolic-character
911
Literal
912
Function identifier
913
Data-name
914
Special register
915
Procedure reference
916
Arithmetic operator
917
All procedures
918
INITIALIZE literal (no tokens)
919
ALL literal or figcon
920
Keyword class test name
921
Reserved word at identifier level
922
Unary operator
923
Relational operator

772 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record (continued)
Field Size Description

1001
Subscript
1002
Reference modification

Node subtype HL2 The subtype of the node.

For Section type:
0001
CONFIGURATION Section
0002
INPUT-OUTPUT Section
0003
FILE SECTION
0004
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION
0005
LINKAGE SECTION
0006
LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION
0007
REPOSITORY Section

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 773

 Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record (continued)
Field Size Description
For Paragraph type:
0001
PROGRAM-ID paragraph
0002
AUTHOR paragraph
0003
INSTALLATION paragraph
0004
DATE-WRITTEN paragraph
0005
SECURITY paragraph
0006
SOURCE-COMPUTER paragraph
0007
OBJECT-COMPUTER paragraph
0008
SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph
0009
FILE-CONTROL paragraph
0010
I-O-CONTROL paragraph
0011
DATE-COMPILED paragraph
0012
CLASS-ID paragraph
0013
METHOD-ID paragraph
0014
REPOSITORY paragraph

774 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record (continued)
Field Size Description
For ENVIRONMENT DIVISION clause type:
0001
WITH DEBUGGING MODE
0002
MEMORY-SIZE
0003
SEGMENT-LIMIT
0004
CURRENCY-SIGN
0005
DECIMAL POINT
0006
PROGRAM COLLATING SEQUENCE
0007
ALPHABET
0008
SYMBOLIC-CHARACTER
0009
CLASS
0010
ENVIRONMENT NAME
0011
SELECT
0012
XML-SCHEMA

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 775

 Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record (continued)
Field Size Description
For data description clause type:
0001
BLANK WHEN ZERO
0002
DATA-NAME OR FILLER
0003
JUSTIFIED
0004
OCCURS
0005
PICTURE
0006
REDEFINES
0007
RENAMES
0008
SIGN
0009
SYNCHRONIZED
0010
USAGE
0011
VALUE
0012
VOLATILE
0023
GLOBAL
0024
EXTERNAL

776 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record (continued)
Field Size Description
For file description clause type:
0001
FILE STATUS
0002
ORGANIZATION
0003
ACCESS MODE
0004
RECORD KEY
0005
ASSIGN
0006
RELATIVE KEY
0007
PASSWORD
0008
PROCESSING MODE
0009
RECORD DELIMITER
0010
PADDING CHARACTER
0011
BLOCK CONTAINS
0012
RECORD CONTAINS
0013
LABEL RECORDS
0014
VALUE OF
0015
DATA RECORDS
0016
LINAGE
0017
ALTERNATE KEY
0018
LINES AT TOP

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 777

 Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record (continued)
Field Size Description

0019
LINES AT BOTTOM
0020
CODE-SET
0021
RECORDING MODE
0022
RESERVE
0023
GLOBAL
0024
EXTERNAL
0025
LOCK

778 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record (continued)
Field Size Description
For Statement type:
0002
NEXT SENTENCE
0003
ACCEPT
0004
ADD
0005
ALTER
0006
CALL
0007
CANCEL
0008
CLOSE
0009
COMPUTE
0010
CONTINUE
0011
DELETE
0012
DISPLAY
0013
DIVIDE (INTO)
0113
DIVIDE (BY)
0014
ENTER
0015
ENTRY
0016
EVALUATE
0017
EXIT
0018
GO
0019
GOBACK
0020
IF
0021
INITIALIZE
0022
INSPECT

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 779

 Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record (continued)
Field Size Description

0023
INVOKE
0024
MERGE
0025
MOVE
0026
MULTIPLY
0027
OPEN
0028
PERFORM
0029
READ
0030
READY
0031
RELEASE
0032
RESET
0033
RETURN
0034
REWRITE
0035
SEARCH
0036
SERVICE
0037
SET
0038
SORT
0039
START
0040
STOP

780 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record (continued)
Field Size Description

0041
STRING
0042
SUBTRACT
0043
UNSTRING
0044
EXEC SQL
0144
EXEC CICS
0045
WRITE
0046
XML
0047
ALLOCATE
0048
FREE
0049
JSON

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 781

 Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record (continued)
Field Size Description
For Phrase type:
0001
INTO
0002
DELIMITED
0003
INITIALIZE. . .REPLACING
0004
INSPECT. . .ALL
0005
INSPECT. . .LEADING
0006
SET. . .TO
0007
SET. . .UP
0008
SET. . .DOWN
0009
PERFORM. . .TIMES
0010
DIVIDE. . .REMAINDER
0011
INSPECT. . .FIRST
0012
SEARCH. . .VARYING
0013
MORE-LABELS
0014
SEARCH ALL
0015
SEARCH. . .AT END

782 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record (continued)
Field Size Description

0016
SEARCH. . .TEST INDEX
0017
GLOBAL
0018
LABEL
0019
DEBUGGING
0020
SEQUENCE
0021
Reserved for future use
0022
Reserved for future use
0023
Reserved for future use
0024
TALLYING
0025
Reserved for future use
0026
ON SIZE ERROR
0027
ON OVERFLOW
0028
ON ERROR
0029
AT END
0030
INVALID KEY
0031
END-OF-PAGE
0032
USING

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 783

 Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record (continued)
Field Size Description

0033
BEFORE
0034
AFTER
0035
EXCEPTION
0036
CORRESPONDING
0037
Reserved for future use
0038
RETURNING
0039
GIVING
0040
THROUGH
0041
KEY
0042
DELIMITER
0043
POINTER
0044
COUNT
0045
METHOD
0046
PROGRAM
0047
INPUT
0048
OUTPUT
0049
I-O
0050
EXTEND
0051
RELOAD

784 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record (continued)
Field Size Description

0052
ASCENDING
0053
DESCENDING
0054
DUPLICATES
0055
NATIVE (USAGE)
0056
INDEXED
0057
FROM
0058
FOOTING
0059
LINES AT BOTTOM
0060
LINES AT TOP
0061
XML ENCODING
0062
XML GENERATE XML-DECLARATION
0063
XML GENERATE ATTRIBUTES
0064
XML GENERATE NAMESPACE
0065
XML PARSE PROCESSING
0066
XML PARSE VALIDATING
0067
XML GENERATE NAME
0068
XML GENERATE TYPE
0069
XML GENERATE SUPPRESS

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 785

 Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record (continued)
Field Size Description
For Function identifier type:
0001
COS
0002
LOG
0003
MAX
0004
MIN
0005
MOD
0006
ORD
0007
REM
0008
SIN
0009
SUM
0010
TAN
0011
ACOS
0012
ASIN
0013
ATAN
0014
CHAR
0015
MEAN
0016
SQRT
0017
LOG10
0018
RANGE

786 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record (continued)
Field Size Description

0019
LENGTH
0020
MEDIAN
0021
NUMVAL
0022
RANDOM
0023
ANNUITY
0024
INTEGER
0025
ORD-MAX
0026
ORD-MIN
0027
REVERSE
0028
MIDRANGE
0029
NUMVAL-C
0030
VARIANCE
0031
FACTORIAL
0032
LOWER-CASE

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 787

 Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record (continued)
Field Size Description

0033
UPPER-CASE
0034
CURRENT-DATE
0035
INTEGER-PART
0036
PRESENT-VALUE
0037
WHEN-COMPILED
0038
DAY-OF-INTEGER
0039
INTEGER-OF-DAY
0040
DATE-OF-INTEGER
0041
INTEGER-OF-DATE
0042
STANDARD-DEVIATION
0043
YEAR-TO-YYYY
0044
DAY-TO-YYYYDDD
0045
DATE-TO-YYYYMMDD
0049
DISPLAY-OF
0050
NATIONAL-OF
0051
UPOS
0052
UVALID
0053
UWIDTH
0054
ULENGTH
0055
USUBSTR

788 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record (continued)
Field Size Description

0056
USUPPLEMENTARY
0057
HEX-OF
0058
BIT-OF
0059
E
0060
TRIM
0061
PI
0062
ABS
0063
BYTE-LENGTH
0064
EXP
0065
EXP10
0066
BIT-TO-CHAR
0067
NUMVAL-F
0068
HEX-TO-CHAR
0069
SIGN
0070
TEST-NUMVAL
0071
TEST-NUMVAL-C
0072
TEST-NUMVAL-F

For Special Register type:

0001
ADDRESS OF
0002
LENGTH OF

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 789

 Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record (continued)
Field Size Description
For Keyword Class Test Name type:
0001
ALPHABETIC
0002
ALPHABETIC-LOWER
0003
ALPHABETIC-UPPER
0004
DBCS
0005
KANJI
0006
NUMERIC
0007
NEGATIVE
0008
POSITIVE
0009
ZERO

For Reserved Word type:

0001
TRUE
0002
FALSE
0003
ANY
0004
THRU

For Identifier, Data-name, Index-name, Condition-name or

Mnemonic-name type:
0001
REFERENCED
0002
CHANGED
0003
REFERENCED & CHANGED

790 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record (continued)
Field Size Description
For Initialize literal type:
0001
ALPHABETIC
0002
ALPHANUMERIC
0003
NUMERIC
0004
ALPHANUMERIC-EDITED
0005
NUMERIC-EDITED
0006
DBCS/EGCS
0007
NATIONAL
0008
NATIONAL-EDITED

For Procedure-name type:

0001
SECTION
0002
PARAGRAPH

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 791

 Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record (continued)
Field Size Description
For Reserved word at identifier level type:
0001
ROUNDED
0002
TRUE
0003
ON
0004
OFF
0005
SIZE
0006
DATE
0007
DAY
0008
DAY-OF-WEEK
0009
TIME
0010
WHEN-COMPILED
0011
PAGE
0012
DATE YYYYMMDD
0013
DAY YYYYDDD
0014
Attribute
0015
Element
0016
Content
0017
Numeric
0018
Nonnumeric
0019
Every
0020
When

792 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record (continued)
Field Size Description
For Arithmetic Operator type:
0001
PLUS
0002
MINUS
0003
TIMES
0004
DIVIDE
0005
DIVIDE REMAINDER
0006
EXPONENTIATE
0007
NEGATE

For Relational Operator type:

0008
LESS
0009
LESS OR EQUAL
0010
EQUAL
0011
NOT EQUAL
0012
GREATER
0013
GREATER OR EQUAL
0014
AND
0015
OR
0016
CLASS CONDITION
0017
NOT CLASS CONDITION

Parent node number FL4 The node number of the parent of the node
Left sibling node number FL4 The node number of the left sibling of the node, if any. If none, the
value is zero.

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 793

 Table 126. SYSADATA parse tree record (continued)
Field Size Description
Symbol ID FL4 The Symbol ID of the node, if it is a user-name of one of the
following types:
• Data entry
• Identifier
• File-name
• Index-name
• Procedure-name
• Condition-name
• Mnemonic-name
This value corresponds to the Symbol ID in a Symbol (Type 42)
record, except for procedure-names where it corresponds to the
Paragraph ID.
For all other node types this value is zero.

Section Symbol ID FL4 The Symbol ID of the section containing the node, if it is a qualified
paragraph-name reference. This value corresponds to the Section
ID in a Symbol (Type 42) record.
For all other node types this value is zero.

First token number FL4 The number of the first token associated with the node
Last token number FL4 The number of the last token associated with the node
Reserved FL4 Reserved for future use
Flags CL1 Information about the node:
X'80'
Reserved
X'40'
Generated node, no tokens

Reserved CL3 Reserved for future use

Token record: X'0030'

The compiler does not generate token records for any lines that are treated as comment lines, which
include, but are not limited to, items in the following list.
• Comment lines, which are source lines that have an asterisk (*) or a slash (/) in column 7
• The following compiler-directing statements:
– *CBL (*CONTROL)
– BASIS
– COPY
– DELETE
– EJECT
– INSERT
– REPLACE
– SKIP1

794 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 – SKIP2
– SKIP3
– TITLE
• Debugging lines, which are source lines that have a D in column 7, if WITH DEBUGGING MODE is not
specified

Table 127. SYSADATA token record

Field Size Description
Token number FL4 The token number within the source file generated by the compiler,
starting at 1. Any copybooks have already been included in the
source.
Token code HL2 The type of token (user-name, literal, reserved word, and so forth).
For reserved words, the compiler reserved-word table values are
used.
For PICTURE strings, the special code 0000 is used.
For each piece (other than the last) of a continued token, the
special code 3333 is used.
Otherwise, the following codes are used:
0001
ACCEPT
0002
ADD
0003
ALTER
0004
CALL
0005
CANCEL
0007
CLOSE
0009
COMPUTE
0011
DELETE
0013
DISPLAY
0014
DIVIDE
0017
READY
0018
END-PERFORM
0019
ENTER

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 795

 Table 127. SYSADATA token record (continued)
Field Size Description

0020
ENTRY
0021
EXIT
0022
EXEC
EXECUTE
0023
GO
0024
IF
0025
INITIALIZE
0026
INVOKE
0027
INSPECT
0028
MERGE
0029
MOVE

796 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 127. SYSADATA token record (continued)
Field Size Description

0030
MULTIPLY
0031
OPEN
0032
PERFORM
0033
READ
0035
RELEASE
0036
RETURN
0037
REWRITE
0038
SEARCH
0040
SET
0041
SORT
0042
START
0043
STOP
0044
STRING
0045
SUBTRACT
0048
UNSTRING
0049
USE
0050
WRITE
0051
CONTINUE
0052
END-ADD

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 797

 Table 127. SYSADATA token record (continued)
Field Size Description

0053
END-CALL
0054
END-COMPUTE
0055
END-DELETE
0056
END-DIVIDE
0057
END-EVALUATE
0058
END-IF
0059
END-MULTIPLY
0060
END-READ
0061
END-RETURN
0062
END-REWRITE
0063
END-SEARCH
0064
END-START
0065
END-STRING
0066
END-SUBTRACT
0067
END-UNSTRING
0068
END-WRITE
0069
GOBACK

798 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 127. SYSADATA token record (continued)
Field Size Description

0070
EVALUATE
0071
RESET
0072
SERVICE
0073
END-INVOKE
0074
END-EXEC
0075
XML
0076
END-XML
0077
ALLOCATE
0078
FREE
0079
JSON
0080
END-JSON
0099
FOREIGN-VERB
0101
DATA-NAME
0105
DASHED-NUM
0106
DECIMAL
0107
DIV-SIGN
0108
EQ
0109
EXPONENTIATION
0110
GT
0111
INTEGER
0112
LT
0113
LPAREN

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 799

 Table 127. SYSADATA token record (continued)
Field Size Description

0114
MINUS-SIGN
0115
MULT-SIGN
0116
NONUMLIT
0117
PERIOD
0118
PLUS-SIGN
0121
RPAREN
0122
SIGNED-INTEGER
0123
QUID
0124
COLON
0125
IEOF
0126
EGCS-LIT
0127
COMMA-SPACE
0128
SEMICOLON-SPACE
0129
PROCEDURE-NAME
0130
FLT-POINT-LIT
0131
Language Environment

800 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 127. SYSADATA token record (continued)
Field Size Description

0132
GE
0133
IDREF
0134
EXPREF
0136
CICS
0137
NEW
0138
NATIONAL-LIT
0200
ADDRESS
0201
ADVANCING
0202
AFTER
0203
ALL
0204
ALPHABETIC
0205
ALPHANUMERIC
0206
ANY
0207
AND
0208
ALPHANUMERIC-EDITED
0209
BEFORE
0210
BEGINNING

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 801

 Table 127. SYSADATA token record (continued)
Field Size Description

0211
FUNCTION
0212
CONTENT
0213
CORR
CORRESPONDING
0214
DAY
0215
DATE
0216
DEBUG-CONTENTS
0217
DEBUG-ITEM
0218
DEBUG-LINE
0219
DEBUG-NAME
0220
DEBUG-SUB-1
0221
DEBUG-SUB-2
0222
DEBUG-SUB-3
0223
DELIMITED
0224
DELIMITER
0225
DOWN

802 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 127. SYSADATA token record (continued)
Field Size Description

0226
NUMERIC-EDITED
0227
XML-EVENT
0228
END-OF-PAGE
EOP
0229
EQUAL
0230
ERROR
0231
XML-NTEXT
0232
EXCEPTION
0233
EXTEND
0234
FIRST
0235
FROM
0236
GIVING
0237
GREATER
0238
I-O
0239
IN
0240
INITIAL
0241
INTO
0242
INVALID
0243
SQL
0244
LESS

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 803

 Table 127. SYSADATA token record (continued)
Field Size Description

0245
LINAGE-COUNTER
0246
XML-TEXT
0247
LOCK
0248
GENERATE
0249
NEGATIVE
0250
NEXT
0251
NO
0252
NOT
0253
NUMERIC
0254
KANJI
0255
OR
0256
OTHER
0257
OVERFLOW
0258
PAGE
0259
CONVERTING

804 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 127. SYSADATA token record (continued)
Field Size Description

0260
POINTER
0261
POSITIVE
0262
DBCS
0263
PROCEDURES
0264
PROCEED
0265
REFERENCES
0266
DAY-OF-WEEK
0267
REMAINDER
0268
REMOVAL
0269
REPLACING
0270
REVERSED
0271
REWIND
0272
ROUNDED
0273
RUN
0274
SENTENCE
0275
STANDARD

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 805

 Table 127. SYSADATA token record (continued)
Field Size Description

0276
RETURN-CODE
SORT-CORE-SIZE
SORT-FILE-SIZE
SORT-MESSAGE
SORT-MODE-SIZE
SORT-RETURN
TALLY
XML-CODE
0277
TALLYING
0278
SUM
0279
TEST
0280
THAN
0281
UNTIL
0282
UP
0283
UPON
0284
VARYING
0285
RELOAD
0286
TRUE

806 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 127. SYSADATA token record (continued)
Field Size Description

0287
THEN
0288
RETURNING
0289
ELSE
0290
SELF
0291
SUPER
0292
WHEN-COMPILED
0293
ENDING
0294
FALSE
0295
REFERENCE
0296
NATIONAL-EDITED
0297
COM-REG
0298
ALPHABETIC-LOWER
0299
ALPHABETIC-UPPER
0301
REDEFINES
0302
OCCURS
0303
SYNC
SYNCHRONIZED

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 807

 Table 127. SYSADATA token record (continued)
Field Size Description

0304
MORE-LABELS
0305
JUST
JUSTIFIED
0306
SHIFT-IN
0307
BLANK
0308
VALUE
0309
COMP
COMPUTATIONAL
0310
COMP-1
COMPUTATIONAL-1
0311
COMP-3
COMPUTATIONAL-3
0312
COMP-2
COMPUTATIONAL-2
0313
COMP-4
COMPUTATIONAL-4
0314
DISPLAY-1
0315
SHIFT-OUT

808 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 127. SYSADATA token record (continued)
Field Size Description

0316
INDEX
0317
USAGE
0318
SIGN
0319
LEADING
0320
SEPARATE
0321
INDEXED
0322
LEFT
0323
RIGHT
0324
PIC
PICTURE
0325
VALUES
0326
GLOBAL
0327
EXTERNAL
0328
BINARY
0329
PACKED-DECIMAL
0330
EGCS
0331
PROCEDURE-POINTER
0332
COMP-5
COMPUTATIONAL-5

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 809

 Table 127. SYSADATA token record (continued)
Field Size Description

0333
FUNCTION-POINTER
0334
TYPE
0335
JNIENVPTR
0336
NATIONAL
0337
GROUP-USAGE
0342
VOLATILE
0401
HIGH-VALUE
HIGH-VALUES
0402
LOW-VALUE
LOW-VALUES
0403
QUOTE
QUOTES
0404
SPACE
SPACES
0405
ZERO

810 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 127. SYSADATA token record (continued)
Field Size Description

0406
ZEROES
ZEROS
0407
NULL
NULLS
0501
BLOCK
0502
BOTTOM
0505
CHARACTER
0506
CODE
0507
CODE-SET
0514
FILLER
0516
FOOTING
0520
LABEL
0521
LENGTH
0524
LINAGE
0526
OMITTED
0531
RENAMES
0543
TOP
0545
TRAILING
0549
RECORDING

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 811

 Table 127. SYSADATA token record (continued)
Field Size Description

0601
INHERITS
0603
RECURSIVE
0701
ACCESS
0702
ALSO
0703
ALTERNATE
0704
AREA
AREAS
0705
ASSIGN
0707
COLLATING
0708
COMMA
0709
CURRENCY
0710
CLASS
0711
DECIMAL-POINT
0712
DUPLICATES
0713
DYNAMIC
0714
EVERY

812 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 127. SYSADATA token record (continued)
Field Size Description

0716
MEMORY
0717
MODE
0718
MODULES
0719
MULTIPLE
0720
NATIVE
0721
OFF
0722
OPTIONAL
0723
ORGANIZATION
0724
POSITION
0725
PROGRAM
0726
RANDOM
0727
RELATIVE
0728
RERUN
0729
RESERVE
0730
SAME
0731
SEGMENT-LIMIT
0732
SELECT
0733
SEQUENCE

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 813

 Table 127. SYSADATA token record (continued)
Field Size Description

0734
SEQUENTIAL
0736
SORT-MERGE
0737
STANDARD-1
0738
TAPE
0739
WORDS
0740
PROCESSING
0741
APPLY
0742
WRITE-ONLY
0743
COMMON
0744
ALPHABET
0745
PADDING
0746
SYMBOLIC
0747
STANDARD-2
0748
OVERRIDE
0750
PASSWORD
0751
XML-SCHEMA

814 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 127. SYSADATA token record (continued)
Field Size Description

0801
ARE
IS
0802
ASCENDING
0803
AT
0804
BY
0805
CHARACTERS
0806
CONTAINS
0808
COUNT
0809
DEBUGGING
0810
DEPENDING
0811
DESCENDING
0812
DIVISION
0814
FOR
0815
ORDER
0816
INPUT
0817
REPLACE
0818
KEY
0819
LINE
LINES
0820
XML-INFORMATION
0821
OF
0822
ON

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 815

 Table 127. SYSADATA token record (continued)
Field Size Description

0823
OUTPUT
0825
RECORD
0826
RECORDS
0827
REEL
0828
SECTION
0829
SIZE
0830
STATUS
0831
THROUGH
THRU
0832
TIME
0833
TIMES
0834
TO
0836
UNIT

816 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 127. SYSADATA token record (continued)
Field Size Description

0837
USING
0838
WHEN
0839
WITH
0840
SQLIMS
0841
DEFAULT
0901
PROCEDURE
0902
DECLARATIVES
0903
END
1001
DATA
1002
FILE
1003
FD
1004
SD
1005
WORKING-STORAGE
1006
LOCAL-STORAGE
1007
LINKAGE
1101
ENVIRONMENT
1102
CONFIGURATION
1103
SOURCE-COMPUTER

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 817

 Table 127. SYSADATA token record (continued)
Field Size Description

1104
OBJECT-COMPUTER
1105
SPECIAL-NAMES
1106
REPOSITORY
1107
INPUT-OUTPUT
1108
FILE-CONTROL
1109
I-O-CONTROL
1201
ID
IDENTIFICATION
1202
PROGRAM-ID
1203
AUTHOR
1204
INSTALLATION
1205
DATE-WRITTEN
1206
DATE-COMPILED
1207
SECURITY
1208
CLASS-ID
1209
METHOD-ID
1210
METHOD
1211
FACTORY

818 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 127. SYSADATA token record (continued)
Field Size Description

1212
OBJECT
2020
TRACE
2046
SUPPRESS
3000
DATADEF
3001
F-NAME
3002
UPSI-SWITCH
3003
CONDNAME
3004
CONDVAR
3005
BLOB
3006
CLOB
3007
DBCLOB
3008
BLOB-LOCATOR
3009
CLOB-LOCATOR
3010
DBCLOB-LOCATOR
3011
BLOB-FILE
3012
CLOB-FILE
3013
DBCLOB-FILE
3014
DFHRESP
5001
PARSE

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 819

 Table 127. SYSADATA token record (continued)
Field Size Description

5002
AUTOMATIC
5003
PREVIOUS
5004
ENCODING
5005
NAMESPACE
5006
NAMESPACE-PREFIX
5007
XML-DECLARATION
5008
ATTRIBUTES
5009
VALIDATING
5010
UNBOUNDED
5011
ATTRIBUTE
5012
ELEMENT
5013
NONNUMERIC
5014
NAME
5015
CYCLE
5016
PARAGRAPH
5020
AS
5021
INITIALIZED
9999
COBOL

Token length HL2 The length of the token

Token column FL4 The starting column number of the token in the source listing
Token line FL4 The line number of the token in the source listing

820 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Table 127. SYSADATA token record (continued)
Field Size Description
Flags CL1 Information about the token:
X'80'
Token is continued
X'40'
Last piece of continued token
Note that for PICTURE strings, even if the source token is
continued, there will be only one Token record generated. It will
have a token code of 0000, the token column and line of the first
piece, the length of the complete string, no continuation flags set,
and the token text of the complete string.

Reserved CL7 Reserved for future use

Token text CL(n) The actual token string

Source error record: X'0032'

The following table shows the contents of the source error record.

Table 128. SYSADATA source error record

Field Size Description
Line number FL4 The line number of the line in error
Error identifier CL16 The error message identifier (left-justified and padded with blanks)
Error severity HL2 The severity of the error
Error message length HL2 The length of the error message text
Line position XL1 The line position indicator provided in FIPS messages
Reserved CL7 Reserved for future use
Error message CL(n) The error message text

Source record: X'0038'

The following table shows the contents of the source record.

Table 129. SYSADATA source record

Field Size Description
Line number FL4 The listing line number of the source record
Input record number FL4 The input source record number in the current input file
Primary file number HL2 The input file's assigned sequence number if this record is from
the primary input file. (Refer to the Input file n field in the Job
identification record).
Library file number HL2 The library input file's assigned sequence number if this record is
from a COPY|BASIS input file. (Refer to the Member File ID n field
in the Library record.)

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 821

 Table 129. SYSADATA source record (continued)
Field Size Description
Reserved CL8 Reserved for future use
Parent record number FL4 The parent source record number. This will be the record number
of the COPY|BASIS statement.
Parent primary file HL2 The parent file's assigned sequence number if the parent of this
number record is from the primary input file. (Refer to the Input file n field
in the Job Identification Record.)
Parent library assigned HL2 The parent library file's assigned sequence number if this record's
file number parent is from a COPY|BASIS input file. (Refer to the COPY/BASIS
Member File ID n field in the Library record.)
Reserved CL8 Reserved for future use
Length of source record HL2 The length of the actual source record following
Reserved CL10 Reserved for future use
Source record CL(n)

COPY REPLACING record: X'0039'

One COPY REPLACING type record will be emitted each time a REPLACING action takes place. That
is, whenever operand-1 of the REPLACING phrase is matched with text in the copybook, a COPY
REPLACING TEXT record will be written.
The following table shows the contents of the COPY REPLACING record.

Table 130. SYSADATA COPY REPLACING record

Field Size Description
Starting line number of FL4 The listing line number of the start of the text that resulted from
replaced string REPLACING
Starting column number FL4 The listing column number of the start of the text that resulted
of replaced string from REPLACING
Ending line number of FL4 The listing line number of the end of the text that resulted from
replaced string REPLACING
Ending column number FL4 The listing column number of the end of the text that resulted from
of replaced string REPLACING
Starting line number of FL4 The source file line number of the start of the text that was
original string changed by REPLACING
Starting column number FL4 The source file column number of the start of the text that was
of original string changed by REPLACING
Ending line number of FL4 The source file line number of the end of the text that was changed
original string by REPLACING
Ending column number FL4 The source file column number of the end of the text that was
of original string changed by REPLACING

822 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Symbol record: X'0042'
The following table shows the contents of the symbol record.

Table 131. SYSADATA symbol record

Field Size Description
Symbol ID FL4 Unique ID of symbol
Line number FL4 The listing line number of the source record in which the symbol is
defined or declared
Level XL1 True level-number of symbol (or relative level-number of a data
item within a structure). For COBOL, this can be in the range 01-49,
66 (for RENAMES items), 77, or 88 (for condition items).
Qualification indicator XL1 X'00'
Unique name; no qualification needed.
X'01'
This data item needs qualification. The name is not unique
within the program. This field applies only when this data item
is not the level-01 name.

Symbol type XL1 X'68'

Class-name (Class-ID)
X'58'
Method-name
X'40'
Data-name
X'20'
Procedure-name
X'10'
Mnemonic-name
X'08'
Program-name
X'81'
Reserved
The following ORed are into the above types, when applicable:
X'04'
External
X'02'
Global

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 823

 Table 131. SYSADATA symbol record (continued)
Field Size Description
Symbol attribute XL1 X'01'
Numeric
X'02'
Elementary character of one of these classes:
• Alphabetic
• Alphanumeric
• DBCS
• National
X'03'
Group
X'04'
Pointer
X'05'
Index data item
X'06'
Index-name
X'07'
Condition
X'0F'
File
X'10'
Sort file
X'17'
Class-name (repository)
X'18'
Object reference
X'19'
Currency-sign symbol
X'1A'
XML schema name

824 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 131. SYSADATA symbol record (continued)
Field Size Description
Clauses XL1 Clauses specified in symbol definition.
For symbols that have a symbol attribute of Numeric (X'01'),
Elementary character (X'02'), Group (X'03'), Pointer (X'04'),
Index data item (X'05'), or Object reference (X'18'):
1... ....
Value
.1.. ....
Indexed
..1. ....
Redefines
...1 ....
Renames
.... 1...
Occurs
.... .1..
Has Occurs keys
.... ..1.
Occurs Depending On
.... ...1
Occurs in parent
For file types:
1... ....
Select
.1.. ....
Assign
..1. ....
Rerun
...1 ....
Same area
.... 1...
Same record area
.... .1..
Recording mode
.... ..1.
Reserved
.... ...1
Record

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 825

 Table 131. SYSADATA symbol record (continued)
Field Size Description
For mnemonic-name symbols:
01
CSP
02
C01
03
C02
04
C03
05
C04
06
C05
07
C06
08
C07
09
C08
10
C09
11
C10
12
C11
13
C12
14
S01
15
S02
16
S03
17
S04
18
S05
19
CONSOLE

826 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 131. SYSADATA symbol record (continued)
Field Size Description

20
SYSIN|SYSIPT
22
SYSOUT|SYSLST|SYSLIST
24
SYSPUNCH|SYSPCH
26
UPSI-0
27
UPSI-1
28
UPSI-2
29
UPSI-3
30
UPSI-4
31
UPSI-5
32
UPSI-6
33
UPSI-7
34
AFP-5A

Data flags 1 XL1 For file types, and for symbols that have a symbol attribute of
Numeric (X'01'), Elementary character (X'02'), Group (X'03'),
Pointer (X'04'), Index data item (X'05'), or Object reference
(X'18'):
1... ....
Redefined
.1.. ....
Renamed
..1. ....
Synchronized
...1 ....
Implicitly redefined
.... 1...
Volatile
.... .1..
Implicit redefines
.... ..1.
FILLER
.... ...1
Level 77

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 827

 Table 131. SYSADATA symbol record (continued)
Field Size Description
Data flags 2 XL1 For symbols that have a symbol attribute of Numeric (X'01'):
1... ....
Binary
.1.. ....
External floating point (of USAGE DISPLAY or USAGE
NATIONAL)
..1. ....
Internal floating point
...1 ....
Packed
.... 1...
External decimal (of USAGE DISPLAY or USAGE NATIONAL)
.... .1..
Scaled negative
.... ..1.
Numeric edited (of USAGE DISPLAY or USAGE NATIONAL)
.... ...1
Reserved for future use
For symbols that have a symbol attribute of Elementary character
(X'02') or Group (X'03'):
1... ....
Alphabetic
.1.. ....
Alphanumeric
..1. ....
Alphanumeric edited
...1 ....
Group contains its own ODO object
.... 1...
DBCS item
.... .1..
Group variable length
.... ..1.
EGCS item
.... ...1
EGCS edited

828 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 131. SYSADATA symbol record (continued)
Field Size Description

For file types:

1... ....
Object of ODO in record
.1.. ....
Subject of ODO in record
..1. ....
Sequential access
...1 ....
Random access
.... 1...
Dynamic access
.... .1..
Locate mode
.... ..1.
Record area
.... ...1
Reserved for future use

Data flags 3 XL1 1... ....

All records are the same length
.1.. ....
Fixed length
..1. ....
Variable length
...1 ....
Undefined
.... 1...
Spanned
.... .1..
Blocked
.... ..1.
Apply write only
.... ...1
Same sort merge area

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 829

 Table 131. SYSADATA symbol record (continued)
Field Size Description
File organization and XL1 1... ....
attributes Physical sequential (on host, QSAM)
.1.. ....
ASCII
..1. ....
Standard label
...1 ....
User label
.... 1...
Sequential organization
.... .1..
Indexed organization
.... ..1.
Relative organization
.... ...1
Line sequential

USAGE clause FL1 X'00'

USAGE IS DISPLAY
X'01'
USAGE IS COMP-1
X'02'
USAGE IS COMP-2
X'03'
USAGE IS PACKED-DECIMAL or USAGE IS COMP-3
X'04'
USAGE IS BINARY, USAGE IS COMP, USAGE IS COMP-4, or
USAGE IS COMP-5
X'05'
USAGE IS DISPLAY-1
X'06'
USAGE IS POINTER
X'07'
USAGE IS INDEX
X'08'
USAGE IS PROCEDURE-POINTER
X'09'
USAGE IS OBJECT-REFERENCE
X'0A'
FUNCTION-POINTER
X'0B'
NATIONAL

830 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 131. SYSADATA symbol record (continued)
Field Size Description
Sign clause FL1 X'00'
No SIGN clause
X'01'
SIGN IS LEADING
X'02'
SIGN IS LEADING SEPARATE CHARACTER
X'03'
SIGN IS TRAILING
X'04'
SIGN IS TRAILING SEPARATE CHARACTER

Indicators FL1 X'01'

Has JUSTIFIED clause. Right-justified attribute is in effect.
X'02'
Has BLANK WHEN ZERO clause.

Size FL4 The size of this data item. The actual number of bytes this item
occupies in storage. If a DBCS item, the number is in bytes, not
characters. For variable-length items, this field will reflect the
maximum size of storage reserved for this item by the compiler.
Also known as the "Length attribute."
Precision FL1 The precision of a fixed or float data item
Scale FL1 The scale factor of a fixed data item. This is the number of digits to
the right of the decimal point.

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 831

 Table 131. SYSADATA symbol record (continued)
Field Size Description
Storage type FL1 00
Not applicable
01
Files
02
Working-Storage
03
Linkage Section
05
Special registers
07
Indexed by variable
10
UPSI switch
13
Variably located items
14
External data
15
Alphanumeric FUNC
16
Alphanumeric EVAL
17
Object data
19
Local-Storage
20
Factory data
21
XML-TEXT and XML-NTEXT

Date format FL1 Reserved for future use

832 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 131. SYSADATA symbol record (continued)
Field Size Description
Data flags 4 XL1 For symbols that have a symbol attribute of Numeric (X'01'):
1... ....
Numeric national
For symbols that have a symbol attribute of Elementary character
(X'02'):
1... ....
National
.1.. ....
National edited
For symbols that have a symbol attribute of Group (X'03'):
1... ....
Group-Usage National
.1.. ....
Unbounded length group

Data flags 5 XL1 OCCURS flags:

1... ....
UNBOUNDED

Base locator Cell FL2 Base locator cell number

Symbol Identifier FL4 Number identifying the symbol

Structure displacement AL4 Offset of symbol within structure. This offset is set to 0 for variably
located items.
Parent displacement AL4 Byte offset from immediate parent of the item being defined.
Parent ID FL4 The symbol ID of the immediate parent of the item being defined.
Redefined ID FL4 The symbol ID of the data item that this item redefines, if
applicable.
Start-renamed ID FL4 If this item is a level-66 item, the symbol ID of the starting COBOL
data item that this item renames. If not a level-66 item, this field is
set to 0.
End-renamed ID FL4 If this item is a level-66 item, the symbol ID of the ending COBOL
data item that this item renames. If not a level-66 item, this field is
set to 0.
Program-name symbol FL4 ID of the program-name of the program or the class-name of the
ID class where this symbol is defined.
OCCURS minimum FL4 Minimum value for OCCURS
Paragraph ID Proc-name ID for a paragraph-name

OCCURS maximum FL4 Maximum value for OCCURS

Section ID Proc-name ID for a section-name

Dimensions FL4 Number of dimensions

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 833

 Table 131. SYSADATA symbol record (continued)
Field Size Description
Case bit vector XL4 The case of the characters in the symbol name is represented with
one bit per character. Each bit has the following meaning:
0
Uppercase
1
Lowercase
Bit 0 represents the case of the first character, bit 1 represents the
case of the second character, and so forth.

Reserved CL8 Reserved for future use

Value pairs count HL2 Count of value pairs
Symbol name length HL2 Number of characters in the symbol name
Picture data length for HL2 Number of characters in the picture data; zero if symbol has no
data-name associated PICTURE clause. (Length of the PICTURE field.) Length
represents the field as it is found in the source input. This length
or
does not represent the expanded field for PICTURE items that
Assignment-name contain a replication factor. The maximum COBOL length for a
length for file-name PICTURE string is 50 bytes. Zero in this field indicates no PICTURE
specified.
Number of characters in the external file-name if this is a file-
name. This is the DD name part of the assignment-name. Zero if
file-name and ASSIGN USING specified.

Initial Value length for HL2 Number of characters in the symbol value; zero if symbol has no
data-name initial value
External class-name Number of characters in the external class-name for CLASS-ID
length for CLASS-ID

ODO symbol name ID for FL4 If data-name, ID of the ODO symbol name; zero if ODO not
data-name specified
ID of ASSIGN data- If file-name, Symbol-ID for ASSIGN USING data-name; zero if
name if file-name ASSIGN TO specified

Keys count HL2 The number of keys defined

Index count HL2 Count of Index symbol IDs; zero if none specified
Symbol name CL(n)
Picture data string for CL(n) The PICTURE character string exactly as the user types it in. The
data-name character string includes all symbols, parentheses, and replication
factor.
or
The external file-name if this is a file-name. This is the DD name
Assignment-name for
part of the assignment-name.
file-name

Index ID list (n)FL4 ID of each index symbol name

Keys (n)XL8 This field contains data describing keys specified for an array. The
following three fields are repeated as many times as specified in
the 'Keys count' field.

834 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 Table 131. SYSADATA symbol record (continued)
Field Size Description
...Key Sequence FL1 Ascending or descending indicator.
X'00'
DESCENDING
X'01'
ASCENDING

...Filler CL3 Reserved

...Key ID FL4 The symbol ID of the data item that is the key field in the array
Initial Value data for CL(n) This field contains the data specified in the INITIAL VALUE
data-name clause for this symbol. The following four subfields are repeated
according to the count in the 'Value pairs count' field. The total
length of the data in this field is contained in the 'Initial value
External class-name for length' field.
CLASS-ID
The external class-name for CLASS-ID.

...1st value length HL2 Length of first value

...1st value data CL(n) 1st value.
This field contains the literal (or figurative constant) as it is
specified in the VALUE clause in the source file. It includes any
beginning and ending delimiters, embedded quotation marks, and
SHIFT IN and SHIFT OUT characters. If the literal spans multiple
lines, the lines are concatenated into one long string. If a figurative
constant is specified, this field contains the actual reserved word,
not the value associated with that word.

...2nd value length HL2 Length of second value, zero if not a THRU value pair
...2nd value data CL(n) 2nd value.
This field contains the literal (or figurative constant) as it is
specified in the VALUE clause in the source file. It includes any
beginning and ending delimiters, embedded quotation marks, and
SHIFT IN and SHIFT OUT characters. If the literal spans multiple
lines, the lines are concatenated into one long string. If a figurative
constant is specified, this field contains the actual reserved word,
not the value associated with that word.

Symbol cross-reference record: X'0044'

The following table shows the contents of the symbol cross-reference record.

Table 132. SYSADATA symbol cross-reference record

Field Size Description
Symbol name length HL2 Number of characters in the symbol name
Statement definition FL4 The line number where the symbol is defined or declared
For statement XREF only:
statement count - total number of references to this statement.

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 835

 Table 132. SYSADATA symbol cross-reference record (continued)
Field Size Description
Number of references1 HL2 The number of references in this record to the symbol following
Cross-reference type XL1 X'01'
Program
X'02'
Procedure
X'03'
statement
X'04'
Symbol or data-name
X'05'
Method
X'06'
Class

Reserved CL7 Reserved for future use

Symbol name CL(n) The symbol. Variable length.
...Reference flag CL1 For symbol or data-name references:
C' '
Blank means reference only
C'M'
Modification reference flag
For Procedure type symbol references:
C'A'
ALTER (procedure-name)
C'D'
GO TO (procedure-name) DEPENDING ON
C'E'
End of range of (PERFORM) through (procedure-name)
C'G'
GO TO (procedure-name)
C'P'
PERFORM (procedure-name)
C'T'
(ALTER) TO PROCEED TO (procedure-name)
C'U'
Use for debugging (procedure-name)

...Line number XL4 The line number on which the symbol or statement is referenced

1. The reference flag field and the statement number field occur as many times as the number of
references field dictates. For example, if there is a value of 10 in the number of references field, there
will be 10 occurrences of the reference flag and statement number pair for data-name, procedure, or
program symbols, or 10 occurrences of the statement number for statements.
Where the number of references would exceed the record size for the SYSADATA file, the record
is continued on the next record. The continuation flag is set in the common header section of the
record.

836 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Nested program record: X'0046'
The following table shows the contents of the nested program record.

Table 133. SYSADATA nested program record

Field Size Description
Statement definition FL4 The line number where the symbol is defined or declared
Nesting level XL1 Program nesting level
Program attributes XL1 1... ....
Initial
.1.. ....
Common
..1. ....
PROCEDURE DIVISION using
...1 1111
Reserved for future use

Reserved XL1 Reserved for future use

Program-name length XL1 Length of the following field
Program-name CL(n) The program-name

Library record: X'0060'

The following table shows the contents of the SYSADATA library record.

Table 134. SYSADATA library record

Field Size Description
Number of members1 HL2 Count of the number of COPY/INCLUDE code members described
in this record
Library name length HL2 The length of the library name
Library volume length HL2 The length of the library volume ID
Concatenation number XL2 Concatenation number of the library
Library ddname length HL2 The length of the library ddname
Reserved CL4 Reserved for future use
Library name CL(n) The name of the library from which the COPY/INCLUDE member
was retrieved
Library volume CL(n) The volume identification of the volume where the library resides
Library ddname CL(n) The ddname (or equivalent) used for this library
...COPY/BASIS member HL2 The library file ID of the name following
file ID2
...COPY/BASIS name HL2 The length of the name following
length
...COPY/BASIS name CL(n) The name of the COPY/BASIS member that has been used

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 837

 Table 134. SYSADATA library record (continued)
Field Size Description

1. If 10 COPY members are retrieved from a library, the "Number of members" field will contain 10 and
there will be 10 occurrences of the "COPY/BASIS member file ID" field, the "COPY/BASIS name
length" field, and the "COPY/BASIS name" field.
2. If COPY/BASIS members are retrieved from different libraries, a library record is written to the
SYSADATA file for each unique library.

Statistics record: X'0090'

The following table shows the contents of the statistics record.

Table 135. SYSADATA statistics record

Field Size Description
Source records FL4 The number of source records processed
DATA DIVISION FL4 The number of DATA DIVISION statements processed
statements
PROCEDURE DIVISION FL4 The number of PROCEDURE DIVISION statements processed
statements
Compilation number HL2 Batch compilation number
Error severity XL1 The highest error message severity
Flags XL1 1... ....
End of Job indicator
.1.. ....
Class definition indicator
..11 1111
Reserved for future use

EOJ severity XL1 The maximum return code for the compile job
Program-name length XL1 The length of the program-name
Program-name CL(n) Program-name

EVENTS record: X'0120'

Events records are included in the ADATA file to provide compatibility with previous levels of the compiler.

Events records are of the following types:

• Time stamp
• Processor
• File end
• Program
• File ID
• Error

838 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 136. SYSADATA EVENTS TIMESTAMP record layout
Field Size Description
Header CL12 Standard ADATA record header
Record length HL2 Length of following EVENTS record data (excluding this halfword)
EVENTS record type CL12 C'TIMESTAMP'
TIMESTAMP record
Blank separator CL1
Revision level XL1
Blank separator CL1
Date XL8 YYYYMMDD
Hour XL2 HH
Minutes XL2 MI
Seconds XL2 SS

Table 137. SYSADATA EVENTS PROCESSOR record layout

Field Size Description
Header CL12 Standard ADATA record header
Record length HL2 Length of following EVENTS record data (excluding this halfword)
EVENTS record type CL9 C'PROCESSOR'
PROCESSOR record
Blank separator CL1
Revision level XL1
Blank separator CL1
Output file ID XL1
Blank separator CL1
Line-class indicator XL1

Table 138. SYSADATA EVENTS FILE END record layout

Field Size Description
Header CL12 Standard ADATA record header
Record length HL2 Length of following EVENTS record data (excluding this halfword)
EVENTS record type CL7 C'FILEEND'
FILE END record
Blank separator CL1
Revision level XL1
Blank separator CL1
Input file ID XL1
Blank separator CL1

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 839

 Table 138. SYSADATA EVENTS FILE END record layout (continued)
Field Size Description
Expansion indicator XL1

Table 139. SYSADATA EVENTS PROGRAM record layout

Field Size Description
Header CL12 Standard ADATA record header
Record length HL2 Length of following EVENTS record data (excluding this halfword)
EVENTS record type CL7 C'PROGRAM'
PROGRAM record
Blank separator CL1
Revision level XL1
Blank separator CL1
Output file ID XL1
Blank separator CL1
Program input record XL1
number

Table 140. SYSADATA EVENTS FILE ID record layout

Field Size Description
Header CL12 Standard ADATA record header
Record length HL2 Length of following EVENTS record data (excluding this halfword)
EVENTS record type CL7 C'FILEID'
FILE ID record
Blank separator CL1
Revision level XL1
Blank separator CL1
Input source file ID XL1 File ID of source file
Blank separator CL1
Reference indicator XL1
Blank separator CL1
Source file name length H2
Blank separator CL1
Source file name CL(n)

Table 141. SYSADATA EVENTS ERROR record layout

Field Size Description
Header CL12 Standard ADATA record header

840 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Table 141. SYSADATA EVENTS ERROR record layout (continued)
Field Size Description
Record length HL2 Length of following EVENTS record data (excluding this halfword)
EVENTS record type CL5 C'ERROR'
ERROR record
Blank separator CL1
Revision level XL1
Blank separator CL1
Input source file ID XL1 File ID of source file
Blank separator CL1
Annot class XL1 Annot-class message placement
Blank separator CL1
Error input record XL10
number
Blank separator CL1
Error start line number XL10
Blank separator CL1
Error token start number XL1 Column number of error token start
Blank separator CL1
Error end line number XL10
Blank separator CL1
Error token end number XL1 Column number of error token end
Blank separator CL1
Error message ID XL9
number
Blank separator CL1
Error message severity XL1
code
Blank separator CL1
Error message severity XL2
level number
Blank separator CL1
Error message length HL3
Blank separator CL1
Error message text CL(n)

Appendix G. COBOL SYSADATA file contents 841

842 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Appendix H. Using sample programs
The sample programs, which are included on your product tape, demonstrate many language elements
and concepts of COBOL.
This information contains the following items:
• Overview of the programs, including program charts for two of the samples
• Format and sample of the input data
• Sample of reports produced
• Information about how to run the programs
• List of the language elements and concepts that are illustrated
Pseudocode and other comments about the programs are included in the program prolog, which you can
obtain in a program listing.
There are three sample programs:
• IGYTCARA is an example of using QSAM files and VSAM indexed files, and shows how to use many
COBOL intrinsic functions.
• IGYTCARB is an example of using IBM Interactive System Product Facility (ISPF).
• IGYTSALE is an example of using several of the features of the Language Environment callable services.

related concepts
“IGYTCARA: batch application” on page 843
“IGYTCARB: interactive program” on page 847
“IGYTSALE: nested program application” on page 849

IGYTCARA: batch application

A company that has several local offices wants to establish employee carpools. Application IGYTCARA
validates the transaction-file entries (QSAM sequential file processing) and updates a main file (VSAM
indexed file processing).
This batch application does two tasks:
• Produces reports of employees who can share rides from the same home location to the same work
location
• Updates the carpool data:
– Adds data for new employees
– Changes information for participating employees
– Deletes employee records
– Lists update requests that are not valid
The following diagram shows the parts of the application and how they are organized:

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 843

 related tasks
“Preparing to run IGYTCARA” on page 846

related references
“Input data for IGYTCARA” on page 844
“Report produced by IGYTCARA” on page 845
“Language elements and concepts that are illustrated” on page 857

Input data for IGYTCARA

As input to the program, the company collected information from interested employees, coded the
information, and produced an input file. Here is an example of the format of the input file (spaces between
fields are left out, as they would be in your input file) with an explanation of each item.

1. Transaction code
2. Shift
3. Home code
4. Work code
5. Commuter name

844 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 6. Home address
7. Home phone
8. Work phone
9. Home location code
10. Work location code
11. Driving status code

This sample below shows a section of the input file:

A10111ROBERTS AB1021 CRYSTAL COURTSAN FRANCISCOCA9990141555501904155551387H1W1D

A20212KAHN DE789 EMILY LANE SAN FRANCISCOCA9992141555518904155552589H2W2D
P48899 99ASDFG0005557890123ASDFGHJ T
R10111ROBERTS AB1221 CRYSTAL COURTSAN FRANCISCOCA9990141555501904155551387H1W1D
A20212KAHN DE789 EMILY LANE SAN FRANCISCOCA9992141555518904155552589H2W2D
D20212KAHN DE
D20212KAHN DE
A20212KAHN DE789 EMILY LANE SAN FRANCISCOCA9992141555518904155552589H2W2D
A10111BONNICK FD1025 FIFTH AVENUE SAN FRANCISCOCA9990541555595904155557895H8W3
A10111PETERSON SW435 THIRD AVENUE SAN FRANCISCOCA9990541555546904155553717H3W4
. . .

Report produced by IGYTCARA

The following sample shows the first page of the output report produced by IGYTCARA. Your actual output
might vary slightly in appearance, depending on your system.

1REPORT #: IGYTCAR1 COMMUTER FILE UPDATE LIST PAGE #: 1

-PROGRAM #: IGYTCAR1 RUN TIME: 01:40 RUN DATE: 11/24/2003
-========================================================================================================================
| RE-| SHIFT | | | | |STA-|
TRANS|CORD|HOME CODE| COMMUTER | HOME | HOME PHONE | HOME LOCATION JUNCTION |TUS | TRANS. ERROR
CODE |TYPE|WORK CODE| NAME | ADDRESS | WORK PHONE | WORK LOCATION JUNCTION |CODE|
========================================================================================================================
A NEW 1 01 11 ROBERTS AB 1021 CRYSTAL COURT (415) 555-0190 RODNEY/CRYSTAL D
SAN FRANCISCO CA 99901 (415) 555-1387 BAYFAIR PLAZA
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A NEW 2 02 12 KAHN DE 789 EMILY LANE (415) 555-1890 COYOTE D
SAN FRANCISCO CA 99921 (415) 555-2589 14TH STREET/166TH AVENUE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
P 4 88 99 (000) 555-7890 HOME CODE ' ' NOT FOUND. T
99 ASDFG (123) ASD-FGHJ WORK CODE ' ' NOT FOUND. TRANSACT. CODE
SHIFT CODE
HOME LOC. CODE
WORK LOC. CODE
LAST NAME
INITIALS
ADDRESS
CITY
STATE CODE
ZIPCODE
HOME PHONE
WORK PHONE
HOME JUNCTION
WORK JUNCTION
DRIVING STATUS
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
R OLD 1 01 11 ROBERTS AB 1021 CRYSTAL COURT (415) 555-0190 RODNEY/CRYSTAL D
SAN FRANCISCO CA 99901 (415) 555-1387 BAYFAIR PLAZA
NEW 1 01 11 ROBERTS AB 1221 CRYSTAL COURT (415) 555-0190 RODNEY/CRYSTAL D
SAN FRANCISCO CA 99901 (415) 555-1387 BAYFAIR PLAZA
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A 2 02 12 KAHN DE 789 EMILY LANE (415) 555-1890 COYOTE D
SAN FRANCISCO CA 99921 (415) 555-2589 14TH STREET/166TH AVENUE DUPLICATE REC.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D OLD 2 02 12 KAHN DE 789 EMILY LANE (415) 555-1890 COYOTE D
SAN FRANCISCO CA 99921 (415) 555-2589 14TH STREET/166TH AVENUE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
D 2 02 12 KAHN DE REC. NOT FOUND
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A NEW 2 02 12 KAHN DE 789 EMILY LANE (415) 555-1890 COYOTE D
SAN FRANCISCO CA 99921 (415) 555-2589 14TH STREET/166TH AVENUE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A NEW 1 01 11 BONNICK FD 1025 FIFTH AVENUE (415) 555-9590 RODNEY
SAN FRANCISCO CA 99905 (415) 555-7895 17TH FREEWAY SAN LEANDRO
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A NEW 1 01 11 PETERSON SW 435 THIRD AVENUE (415) 555-4690 RODNEY/THIRD AVENUE

Appendix H. Using sample programs 845

Preparing to run IGYTCARA
All files required by the IGYTCARA program (IGYTCARA, IGYTCODE, and IGYTRANX) are supplied on the
product installation tape. These files are located in the IGY.V6R2M0.SIGYSAMP data set.
Data-set and procedure names might be changed at installation time. Check with your system
programmer to verify these names.
Do not change these options on the CBL statement in the source file for IGYTCARA:
• NOADV
• NODYNAM
• NONAME
• NONUMBER
• QUOTE
• SEQUENCE
With these options in effect, the program will not cause any diagnostic messages to be issued. You can
use the sequence number string in the source file to search for the language elements used.

related concepts
“IGYTCARA: batch application” on page 843
related tasks
“Running IGYTCARA” on page 846

related references
“Input data for IGYTCARA” on page 844
“Report produced by IGYTCARA” on page 845
“Language elements and concepts that are illustrated” on page 857

Running IGYTCARA
The following procedure compiles, link-edits, and runs the IGYTCARA program. If you want only to
compile or only to compile and link-edit the program, you must change the IGYWCLG cataloged
procedure.
To run IGYTCARA under z/OS, use JCL to define a VSAM cluster and compile the program. Insert the
information specific to your system and installation (accounting information, volume serial number, unit
name, cluster prefix) in the fields that are shown in lowercase letters. These examples use the name
IGYTCAR.MASTFILE; you can use another name if you want to.
1. Use this JCL to create the required VSAM cluster:

//CREATE JOB (acct-info),'IGYTCAR CREATE VSAM',MSGLEVEL=(1,1),

// TIME=(0,29)
//CREATE EXEC PGM=IDCAMS
//VOL1 DD VOL=SER=your-volume-serial,UNIT=your-unit,DISP=SHR
//SYSPRINT DD SYSOUT=A
//SYSIN DD *
DELETE your-prefix.IGYTCAR.MASTFILE -
FILE(VOL1) -
PURGE
DEFINE CLUSTER -
(NAME(your-prefix.IGYTCAR.MASTFILE) -
VOLUME(your-volume-serial) -
FILE(VOL1) -
INDEXED -
RECSZ(80 80) -
KEYS(16 0) -
CYLINDERS(2))
/*

To remove any existing cluster, a DELETE is issued before the VSAM cluster is created.
2. Use the following JCL to compile, link-edit, and run the IGYTCARA program:

846 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 //IGYTCARA JOB (acct-info),'IGYTCAR',MSGLEVEL=(1,1),TIME=(0,29)
//TEST EXEC IGYWCLG
//COBOL.SYSLIB DD DSN=IGY.V6R2M0.SIGYSAMP,DISP=SHR
//COBOL.SYSIN DD DSN=IGY.V6R2M0.SIGYSAMP(IGYTCARA),DISP=SHR
//GO.SYSOUT DD SYSOUT=A
//GO.COMMUTR DD DSN=your-prefix.IGYTCAR.MASTFILE,DISP=SHR
//GO.LOCCODE DD DSN=IGY.V6R2M0.SIGYSAMP(IGYTCODE),DISP=SHR
//GO.UPDTRANS DD DSN=IGY.V6R2M0.SIGYSAMP(IGYTRANX),DISP=SHR
//GO.UPDPRINT DD SYSOUT=A,DCB=BLKSIZE=133
//

related tasks
Chapter 10, “Processing VSAM files,” on page 179
related references
“Compile, link-edit, and run procedure (IGYWCLG)” on page 249

IGYTCARB: interactive program

IGYTCARB contains an interactive program for entering carpool data by using IBM Interactive System
Productivity Facility (ISPF) to invoke Dialog Manager and Enterprise COBOL. IGYTCARB creates a file that
can be used as input for a carpool listing or matching program such as IGYTCARA.
The input data for IGYTCARB is the same as that for IGYTCARA. IGYTCARB lets you append to the
information in your input file by using an ISPF panel. An example of the panel used by IGYTCARB is shown
below:

--------------------------- CARPOOL DATA ENTRY -------------------------------

New Data Entry Previous Entry
Type =======> - A, R, or D A
Shift ======> - 1, 2, or 3 1
Home Code ==> -- 2 Chars 01
Work Code ==> -- 2 Chars 11
Name =======> --------- 9 Chars POPOWICH
Initials ===> -- 2 Chars AD
Address ====> ------------------ 18 Chars 134 SIXTH AVENUE
City =======> ------------- 13 Chars SAN FRANCISCO
State ======> -- 2 Chars CA
Zip Code ===> ----- 5 Chars 99903
Home Phone => ---------- 10 Chars 4155553390
Work Phone => ---------- 10 Chars 4155557855
Home Jnc code > -- 2 Chars H3
Work Jnc Code > -- 2 Chars W7
Commuter Stat > - D, R or blank

related tasks
“Preparing to run IGYTCARB” on page 847

Preparing to run IGYTCARB

Run the IGYTCARB program under Interactive System Productivity Facility (ISPF). All files required by
IGYTCARB (IGYTCARB, IGYTRANB, and IGYTPNL) are supplied on the product installation tape in the
IGY.V6R2M0.SIGYSAMP data set.
Data-set names and procedure-names might be changed at installation time. Check with your system
programmer to verify the names.
Do not change the following options in the CBL statement in the source file for IGYTCARB:
• NONUMBER
• QUOTE
• SEQUENCE
With these options in effect, the program will not cause any diagnostic messages to be issued. You can
use the sequence number string in the source file to search for language elements.

Appendix H. Using sample programs 847

 related concepts
“IGYTCARB: interactive program” on page 847

related tasks
“Running IGYTCARB” on page 848

related references
“Language elements and concepts that are illustrated” on page 857

Running IGYTCARB
The following procedure compiles, link-edits, and runs the IGYTCARB program. If you want only to
compile or only to compile and link-edit the program, you must change the procedure.
To run IGYTCARB under z/OS, do the following steps:
1. Using the ISPF editor, change the ISPF/PDF Primary Option Panel (ISR@PRIM) or some other panel
to include the IGYTCARB invocation. Panel ISR@PRIM is in your site's PDF panel data set (normally
ISRPLIB).
The following example shows an ISR@PRIM panel modified, in two identified locations, to include the
IGYTCARB invocation. If you add or change an option in the upper portion of the panel definition, you
must also add or change the corresponding line on the lower portion of the panel.

%---------------------- ISPF/PDF PRIMARY OPTION PANEL ------------------------

%OPTION ===>_ZCMD +
% +USERID - &ZUSER
% 0 +ISPF PARMS - Specify terminal and user parameters +TIME - &ZTIME
% 1 +BROWSE - Display source data or output listings +TERMINAL - &ZTERM
% 2 +EDIT - Create or change source data +PF KEYS - &ZKEYS
% 3 +UTILITIES - Perform utility functions
% 4 +FOREGROUND - Invoke language processors in foreground
% 5 +BATCH - Submit to batch for language processing
% 6 +COMMAND - Enter TSO or Workstation commands
% 7 +DIALOG TEST - Perform dialog testing
% 8 +LM UTILITIES- Perform library management utility functions
% C +IGYTCARB - Run IGYTCARB UPDATE TRANSACTION PROGRAM (1)
% T +TUTORIAL - Display information about ISPF/PDF
% X +EXIT - Terminate using console, log, and list defaults
%
%
+Enter%END+command to terminate ISPF.
%
)INIT
.HELP = ISR00003
&ZPRIM = YES /* ALWAYS A PRIMARY OPTION MENU */
&ZHTOP = ISR00003 /* TUTORIAL TABLE OF CONTENTS */
&ZHINDEX = ISR91000 /* TUTORIAL INDEX - 1ST PAGE */
VPUT (ZHTOP,ZHINDEX) PROFILE
)PROC
&Z1 = TRUNC(&ZCMD,1)
IF (&Z1 &notsym.= '.')
&ZSEL = TRANS( TRUNC (&ZCMD,'.')
0,'PANEL(ISPOPTA)'
1,'PGM(ISRBRO) PARM(ISRBRO01)'
2,'PGM(ISREDIT) PARM(P,ISREDM01)'
3,'PANEL(ISRUTIL)'
4,'PANEL(ISRFPA)'
5,'PGM(ISRJB1) PARM(ISRJPA) NOCHECK'
6,'PGM(ISRPCC)'
7,'PGM(ISRYXDR) NOCHECK'
8,'PANEL(ISRLPRIM)'
C,'PGM(IGYTCARB)' (2)
T,'PGM(ISPTUTOR) PARM(ISR00000)'
' ',' '
X,'EXIT'
*,'?' )
&ZTRAIL = .TRAIL
IF (&Z1 = '.') .msg = ISPD141
)END

848 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 As indicated by (1) in this example, you add IGYTCARB to the upper portion of the panel by entering:

% C +IGYTCARB - Run IGYTCARB UPDATE TRANSACTION PROGRAM

You add the corresponding line on the lower portion of the panel, indicated by (2), by entering:

C,'PGM(IGYTCARB)'

2. Place ISR@PRIM (or your other modified panel) and IGYTPNL in a library and make this library the first
library in the ISPPLIB concatenation.
3. Comment sequence line IB2200 and uncomment sequence line IB2210 in IGYTCARB. (The OPEN
EXTEND statement is supported under z/OS.)
4. Compile and link-edit IGYTCARB and place the resulting program object in your LOADLIB.
5. Allocate ISPLLIB by using the following command:

ALLOCATE FILE(ISPLLIB) DATASET(DSN1, SYS1.COBLIB, DSN2) SHR REUSE

Here DSN1 is the library name of the LOADLIB from step 4. DSN2 is your installed ISPLLIB.
6. Allocate the input and output data sets by using the following command:

ALLOCATE FILE(UPDTRANS) DA('IGY.V6R2M0.SIGYSAMP(IGYTRANB)') SHR REUSE

7. Allocate ISPPLIB by using the following command:

ALLOCATE FILE(ISPPLIB) DATASET(DSN3, DSN4) SHR REUSE

Here DSN3 is the library containing the modified panels. DSN4 is the ISPF panel library.
8. Invoke IGYTCARB by using your modified panel.

related references
ISPF Dialog Developer's Guide and Reference

IGYTSALE: nested program application

Application IGYTSALE tracks product sales and sales commissions for a sporting-goods distributor.
This nested program application does the following tasks:
1. Keeps a record of the product line, customers, and number of salespeople. This data is stored in a file
called IGYTABLE.
2. Maintains a file that records valid transactions and transaction errors. All transactions that are not valid
are flagged, and the results are printed in a report. Transactions to be processed are in a file called
IGYTRANA.
3. Processes transactions and report sales by location.
4. Records an individual's sales performance and commission, and prints the results in a report.
5. Reports the sale and shipment dates in local time and UTC (Universal Time Coordinate), and calculates
the response time.
The following diagram shows the parts of the application as a hierarchy:

Appendix H. Using sample programs 849

 The following diagram shows how the parts are nested:

related tasks
“Preparing to run IGYTSALE” on page 856

related references
“Input data for IGYTSALE” on page 850
“Reports produced by IGYTSALE” on page 852
“Language elements and concepts that are illustrated” on page 857

Input data for IGYTSALE

As input to our program, the distributor collected information about its customers, salespeople, and
products, coded the information, and produced an input file.
This input file, called IGYTABLE, is loaded into three separate tables for use during transaction
processing. The format of the file is as follows, with an explanation of the items below:

850 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 1. Record type
2. Customer code
3. Customer name
4. Product code
5. Product description
6. Product unit price
7. Salesperson number
8. Salesperson name
9. Date of hire
10. Commission rate

The value of field 1 (C, P, or S) determines the format of the input record. The following sample shows a
section of IGYTABLE:

S1111Edyth Phillips 062484042327

S1122Chuck Morgan 052780084425
S1133Art Tung 022882061728
S1144Billy Jim Bob 010272121150
S1155Chris Preston 122083053377
S1166Al Willie Roz 111276100000
P01Footballs 0000620
P02Football Equipment 0032080
P03Football Uniform 0004910
P04Basketballs 0002220
P05Basketball Rim/Board0008830
P06Basketball Uniform 0004220
C01L. A. Sports
C02Gear Up
C03Play Outdoors
C04Sports 4 You
C05Sports R US
C06Stay Active
C07Sport Shop
C08Stay Sporty
C09Hot Sports
C10The Sportsman
C11Playing Ball
C12Sports Play
. . .

In addition, the distributor collected information about sales transactions. Each transaction represents an
individual salesperson's sales to a particular customer. The customer can purchase from one to five items
during each transaction. The transaction information is coded and put into an input file, called IGYTRANA.
The format of this file is as follows, with an explanation of the items below:

Appendix H. Using sample programs 851

 1. Sales order number
2. Invoiced items (number of different items ordered)
3. Date of sale (year month day hour minutes seconds)
4. Sales area
5. Salesperson number
6. Customer code
7. Date of shipment (year month day hour minutes seconds)
8. Product code
9. Quantity sold
Fields 8 and 9 occur one to eight times depending on the number of different items ordered (field 2). The
following sample shows a section of IGYTRANA:

A00001119900227010101CNTRL VALLEY11442019900228259999
A00004119900310100530CNTRL VALLEY11441019900403150099
A00005119900418222409CNTRL VALLEY11441219900419059900
A00006119900523151010CNTRL VALLEY11442019900623250004
419990324591515SAN DIEGO 11615 60200132200110522045100
B11114419901111003301SAN DIEGO 11661519901114260200132200110522041100
A00007119901115003205CNTRL VALLEY11332019901117120023
C00125419900118101527SF BAY AREA 11331519900120160200112200250522145111
B11116419901201132013SF BAY AREA 11331519901203060200102200110522045102
B11117319901201070833SAN Diego 1165661990120333020o132200120522041100
B11118419901221191544SAN DIEGO 11661419901223160200142200130522040300
B11119419901210211544SAN DIEGO 11221219901214060200152200160522050500
B11120419901212000816SAN DIEGO 11220419901213150200052200160522040100
B11121419901201131544SAN DIEGO 11330219901203120200112200140522250100
B11122419901112073312SAN DIEGO 11221019901113100200162200260522250100
B11123919901110123314SAN DIEGO 11660919901114260200270500110522250100140010
B11124219901313510000SAN DIEGO 116611 1 0200042200120a22141100
B11125419901215012510SAN DIEGO 11661519901216110200162200130522141111
B11126119901111000034SAN DIEGO 11331619901113260022
B11127119901110154100SAN DIEGO 11221219901113122000
B11128419901110175001SAN DIEGO 11661519901113260200132200160521041104
. . .

Reports produced by IGYTSALE

The figures referenced below are samples of IGYTSALE output.
The program records the following data in reports:
• Transaction errors
• Sales by product and area
• Individual sales performance and commissions
• Response time between the sale date and the date the sold products are shipped
Your output might vary slightly in appearance, depending on your system.

“Example: IGYTSALE transaction errors” on page 853

“Example: IGYTSALE sales analysis by product by area” on page 853
“Example: IGYTSALE sales and commissions” on page 855
“Example: IGYTSALE response time from sale to ship” on page 856

852 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Example: IGYTSALE transaction errors
The following sample of IGYTSALE output shows transaction errors in the last column.

Day of Report: Tuesday C O B O L S P O R T S 11/24/2003 03:12 Page: 1

Invalid Edited Transactions
Sales Inv. Sales Sales Sales Cust. Product And Quantity Sold Ship
Order Items Time Stamp Area Pers Code Date Stamp
----- ----- -------------- ----------- ----- ----- ------------------------- ------------
4 19990324591515 SAN DIEGO 116 15 60200132200110522045100 Error Descriptions
-Sales order number is missing
-Date of sale time stamp is
invalid
-Salesperson number not numeric
-Product code not in product-
table
-Date of ship time stamp is
invalid
B11117 3 19901201070833 SAN Diego 1165 66 33020o132200120522041100 19901203 Error Descriptions
-Sales area not in area-table
-Salesperson not in sales-per-
table
-Customer code not in customer-
table
-Product code not in product-
table
-Quantity sold not numeric
B11123 9 19901110123314 SAN DIEGO 1166 09 260200270500110522250100140010 19901114 Error Descriptions
-Invoiced items is invalid
-Product and quantity not
checked
-Date of ship time stamp is
invalid
B11124 2 19901313510000 SAN DIEGO 1166 11 1 0200042200120a22141100 Error Descriptions
-Date of sale time stamp is
invalid
-Product code is invalid
-Date of ship time stamp is
invalid
133 81119110000 LOS ANGELES 1166 10 040112110210160321251104 Error Descriptions
-Sales order number is invalid
-Invoiced items is invalid
-Date of sale time stamp is
invalid
-Product and quantity not
checked
-Date of ship time stamp is
invalid
C11133 4 1990111944 1166 10 040112110210160321251104 Error Descriptions
-Date of sale time stamp is
invalid
-Sales area is missing
-Date of ship time stamp is
invalid
C11138 4 19901117091530 LOS ANGELES 1155 113200102010260321250004 19901119 Error Descriptions
-Customer code is invalid
D00009 9 19901201222222 CNTRL COAST 115 19 141 1131221 19901202 Error Descriptions
-Invoiced items is invalid

Example: IGYTSALE sales analysis by product by area

The following sample of IGYTSALE output shows sales by product and area.

Day of Report: Tuesday C O B O L S P O R T S 11/24/2003 03:12 Page: 1

Sales Analysis By Product By Area
Areas of Sale
| | CNTRL COAST | CNTRL VALLEY | LOS ANGELES | NORTH COAST | SAN DIEGO | SF BAY AREA
| |
| Product Codes | | | | | | | Product
Totals |

================================================================================================================================
==
|Product Number 04 | | | | | |
| |
|Basketballs | | | | | |
| |
| Units Sold | | | 433 | | 2604 | 5102 |
8139 |
| Unit Price | | | 22.20 | | 22.20 | 22.20
| |
| Amount of Sale | | | $9,612.60 | | $57,808.80 | $113,264.40 |
$180,685.80 |

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
|Product Number 05 | | | | | |
| |
|Basketball Rim/Board| | | | | |
| |
| Units Sold | | 9900 | 2120 | 11 | 2700 | |
14731 |
| Unit Price | | 88.30 | 88.30 | 88.30 | 88.30 |
| |
| Amount of Sale | | $874,170.00 | $187,196.00 | $971.30 | $238,410.00 | |
$1,300,747.30 |

Appendix H. Using sample programs 853

 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
|Product Number 06 | | | | | |
| |
|Basketball Uniform | | | | | |
| |
| Units Sold | | | | 990 | 200 | 200 |
1390 |
| Unit Price | | | | 42.20 | 42.20 | 42.20
| |
| Amount of Sale | | | | $41,778.00 | $8,440.00 | $8,440.00 |
$58,658.00 |

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
|Product Number 10 | | | | | |
| |
|Baseball Cage | | | | | |
| |
| Units Sold | 45 | | 3450 | 16 | 200 | 3320 |
7031 |
| Unit Price | 890.00 | | 890.00 | 890.00 | 890.00 | 890.00
| |
| Amount of Sale | $40,050.00 | |$3,070,500.00 | $14,240.00 | $178,000.00 |$2,954,800.00 |
$6,257,590.00 |

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
|Product Number 11 | | | | | |
| |
|Baseball Uniform | | | | | |
| |
| Units Sold | 10003 | | 3578 | | 2922 | 2746 |
19249 |
| Unit Price | 45.70 | | 45.70 | | 45.70 | 45.70
| |
| Amount of Sale | $457,137.10 | | $163,514.60 | | $133,535.40 | $125,492.20 |
$879,679.30 |

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
|Product Number 12 | | | | | |
| |
|Softballs | | | | | |
| |
| Units Sold | 10 | 137 | 2564 | 13 | 2200 | 22 |
4946 |
| Unit Price | 1.40 | 1.40 | 1.40 | 1.40 | 1.40 | 1.40
| |
| Amount of Sale | $14.00 | $191.80 | $3,589.60 | $18.20 | $3,080.00 | $30.80 |
$6,924.40 |

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
|Product Number 13 | | | | | |
| |
|Softball Bats | | | | | |
| |
| Units Sold | 3227 | | 3300 | 1998 | 5444 | 99 |
14068 |
| Unit Price | 12.60 | | 12.60 | 12.60 | 12.60 | 12.60
| |
| Amount of Sale | $40,660.20 | | $41,580.00 | $25,174.80 | $68,594.40 | $1,247.40 |
$177,256.80 |

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
|Product Number 14 | | | | | |
| |
|Softball Gloves | | | | | |
| |
| Units Sold | 1155 | | 136 | 3119 | 3833 | 5152 |
13395 |
| Unit Price | 12.00 | | 12.00 | 12.00 | 12.00 | 12.00
| |
| Amount of Sale | $13,860.00 | | $1,632.00 | $37,428.00 | $45,996.00 | $61,824.00 |
$160,740.00 |

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
|Product Number 15 | | | | | |
| |
|Softball Cage | | | | | |
| |
| Units Sold | 997 | 99 | 2000 | | 2400 | |
5496 |
| Unit Price | 890.00 | 890.00 | 890.00 | | 890.00 |
| |
| Amount of Sale | $887,330.00 | $88,110.00 |$1,780,000.00 | |$2,136,000.00 | |
$4,891,440.00 |

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
|Product Number 16 | | | | | |
| |
|Softball Uniform | | | | | |
| |
| Units Sold | 44 | | 465 | 16 | 6165 | 200 |
6890 |
| Unit Price | 45.70 | | 45.70 | 45.70 | 45.70 | 45.70
| |
| Amount of Sale | $2,010.80 | | $21,250.50 | $731.20 | $281,740.50 | $9,140.00 |
$314,873.00 |

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
|Product Number 25 | | | | | |
| |
|RacketBalls | | | | | |

854 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 | |
| Units Sold | 1001 | 10003 | 1108 | 8989 | 200 | 522 |
21823 |
| Unit Price | 0.60 | 0.60 | 0.60 | 0.60 | 0.60 | 0.60
| |
| Amount of Sale | $600.60 | $6,001.80 | $664.80 | $5,393.40 | $120.00 | $313.20 |
$13,093.80 |

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
|Product Number 26 | | | | | |
| |
|Racketball Rackets | | | | | |
| |
| Units Sold | 21 | | 862 | 194 | 944 | 31 |
2052 |
| Unit Price | 12.70 | | 12.70 | 12.70 | 12.70 | 12.70
| |
| Amount of Sale | $266.70 | | $10,947.40 | $2,463.80 | $11,988.80 | $393.70 |
$26,060.40 |

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
--

================================================================================================================================
==
| Total Units Sold | 16503 | 20139 | 20016 | 15346 | 29812 | 17394 *
119210 *
| Total Sales |$1,441,929.40 | $968,473.60 |$5,290,487.50 | $128,198.70 |$3,163,713.90 |$3,274,945.70 *
$14,267,748.80 *

Example: IGYTSALE sales and commissions

The following sample of IGYTSALE output shows sales performance and commissions by salesperson.

Day of Report: Tuesday C O B O L S P O R T S 11/24/2003 03:12 Page: 1

Sales and Commission Report
Salesperson: Billy Jim Bob
Customers: Number of Products Total for Discount Discount Commission
Orders Ordered Order (if any) Amount Earned
-------------------- --------- -------- -------------- -------- ----------- -----------
Sports Stop 3 10117 $6,161.40 2.25% $138.63 $746.45
The Sportsman 1 99 $88,110.00 5.06% $4,458.36 $10,674.52
Sports Play 1 9900 $874,170.00 7.59% $66,349.50 $105,905.69
--------- -------- -------------- ----------- -----------
Totals: 5 20116 $968,441.40 $70,946.49 $117,326.66
Salesperson: Willie Al Roz
Customers: Number of Products Total for Discount Discount Commission
Orders Ordered Order (if any) Amount Earned
-------------------- --------- -------- -------------- -------- ----------- -----------
Winners Club 4 13998 $1,572,775.90 7.59% $119,373.69 $157,277.59
Winning Sports 1 3222 $48,777.20 3.38% $1,648.66 $4,877.72
The Sportsman 1 1747 $27,415.50 3.38% $926.64 $2,741.55
Play Outdoors 1 2510 $18,579.60 3.38% $627.99 $1,857.96
--------- -------- -------------- ----------- -----------
Totals: 7 21477 $1,667,548.20 $122,576.98 $166,754.82
Salesperson: Art Tung
Customers: Number of Products Total for Discount Discount Commission
Orders Ordered Order (if any) Amount Earned
-------------------- --------- -------- -------------- -------- ----------- -----------
Sports Stop 1 23 $32.20 2.25% $.72 $1.98
Winners Club 2 16057 $2,274,885.00 7.59% $172,663.77 $140,424.10
Gear Up 1 3022 $107,144.00 7.59% $8,132.22 $6,613.78
Sports Club 1 22 $279.40 2.25% $6.28 $17.24
Sports Fans Shop 1 1044 $20,447.30 3.38% $691.11 $1,262.17
L. A. Sports 1 1163 $979,198.10 7.59% $74,321.13 $60,443.94
--------- -------- -------------- ----------- -----------
Totals: 7 21331 $3,381,986.00 $255,815.23 $208,763.21
Salesperson: Chuck Morgan
Customers: Number of Products Total for Discount Discount Commission
Orders Ordered Order (if any) Amount Earned
-------------------- --------- -------- -------------- -------- ----------- -----------
Sports Play 3 7422 $3,817,245.40 7.59% $289,728.92 $322,270.94
Sports 4 You 1 3022 $398,335.40 7.59% $30,233.65 $33,629.46
The Sportsman 1 3022 $285,229.40 7.59% $21,648.91 $24,080.49
Sports 4 Winners 1 1100 $68,509.40 5.06% $3,466.57 $5,783.90
Sports Club 1 12027 $1,324,256.10 7.59% $100,511.03 $111,800.32
--------- -------- -------------- ----------- -----------
Totals: 7 26593 $5,893,575.70 $445,589.08 $497,565.11
Salesperson: Chris Preston
Customers: Number of Products Total for Discount Discount Commission
Orders Ordered Order (if any) Amount Earned
-------------------- --------- -------- -------------- -------- ----------- -----------
Playing Ball 1 5535 $1,939,219.10 7.59% $147,186.72 $103,509.69
Play Sports 1 5675 $225,130.80 7.59% $17,087.42 $12,016.80
Winners Club 1 631 $14,069.70 2.25% $316.56 $750.99
The Jock Shop 1 2332 $28,716.60 3.38% $970.62 $1,532.80
--------- -------- -------------- ----------- -----------
Totals: 4 14173 $2,207,136.20 $165,561.32 $117,810.28
Salesperson: Edyth Phillips
Customers: Number of Products Total for Discount Discount Commission
Orders Ordered Order (if any) Amount Earned

Appendix H. Using sample programs 855

 -------------------- --------- -------- -------------- -------- ----------- -----------
Sports Play 2 3575 $92,409.90 5.06% $4,675.94 $3,911.43
Winning Sports 1 11945 $56,651.40 5.06% $2,866.56 $2,397.88
--------- -------- -------------- ----------- -----------
Totals: 3 15520 $149,061.30 $7,542.50 $6,309.31
Grand Totals: 33 119210 $14,267,748.80 $1,068,031.60 $1,114,529.39

Example: IGYTSALE response time from sale to ship

The following sample of IGYTSALE output shows response time between the sale date in the United
States and the date the sold products are shipped to Europe.

Day of Report: Monday COBOL SPORTS 11/24/2003 03:12 Page: 1

Response Time from USA Sale to European Ship
Prod Units Sale Date/Time(PST) Ship Date Ship Response Time
Code Sold YYYYMMDD HHMMSS YYYYMMDD Day Days
---- ----- -------- ------ -------- ---- -------------
25 9999 19900226 010101 19900228 WED .95
15 99 19900310 100530 19900403 TUE 23.57
05 9900 19900418 222409 19900419 THU .06
25 4 19900523 151010 19900623 SAT 30.36
04 1100 19901110 003301 19901114 WED 2.97
12 23 19901114 003205 19901117 SAT 1.97
14 5111 19900118 101527 19900120 SAT 1.57
04 5102 19901201 132013 19901203 MON 1.44
04 300 19901221 191544 19901223 SUN 1.19
05 500 19901210 211544 19901214 FRI 3.11
04 100 19901211 000816 19901213 THU .99
25 100 19901201 131544 19901203 MON 1.44
25 100 19901112 073312 19901113 TUE .68
14 1111 19901214 012510 19901216 SUN .94
26 22 19901110 000034 19901113 TUE 1.99
12 2000 19901110 154100 19901113 TUE 2.34
04 1104 19901110 175001 19901113 TUE 2.25
12 114 19901229 115522 19901230 SUN .50
15 2000 19901110 190113 19901114 WED 3.20
10 1440 19901112 001500 19901115 THU 1.98
25 1104 19901118 120101 19901119 MON .49
25 4 19901118 110030 19901119 MON .54
12 144 19901114 010510 19901119 MON 3.95
14 112 19901119 010101 19901122 THU 1.95
26 321 19901117 173945 19901119 MON 1.26
13 1221 19901101 135133 19901102 FRI .42
10 22 19901029 210000 19901030 TUE .12
14 35 19901130 160500 19901201 SAT .32
11 9005 19901211 050505 19901212 WED .78
06 990 19900511 214409 19900515 TUE 3.09
13 1998 19900712 150100 19900716 MON 3.37
26 31 19901010 185559 19901011 THU .21
14 30 19901210 195500 19901212 WED 1.17

Preparing to run IGYTSALE

All files required by the IGYTSALE program (IGYTSALE, IGYTCRC, IGYTPRC, IGYTSRC, IGYTABLE, and
IGYTRANA) are on the product installation tape in the IGY.V6R2M0.SIGYSAMP data set.
You can change data-set names and procedure-names at installation time. Check with your system
programmer to verify these names.
Do not change these options in the CBL statement in the source file for IGYTSALE:
• NONUMBER
• SEQUENCE
• NONUMBER
• QUOTE
With these options in effect, the program might not cause any diagnostic messages to be issued. You can
use the sequence number string in the source file to search for the language elements used.

856 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 When you run IGYTSALE, the following messages are printed to the SYSOUT data set:

Program IGYTSALE Begins

There were 00041 records processed in this program
Program IGYTSALE Normal End

related concepts
“IGYTSALE: nested program application” on page 849
related tasks
“Running IGYTSALE” on page 857

related references
“Input data for IGYTSALE” on page 850
“Reports produced by IGYTSALE” on page 852
“Language elements and concepts that are illustrated” on page 857

Running IGYTSALE
Use the following JCL to compile, link-edit, and run the IGYTSALE program. If you want only to compile or
only to compile and link-edit the program, change the IGYWCLG cataloged procedure.
Insert the accounting information for your system or installation in the fields that are shown in lowercase
letters.

//IGYTSALE JOB (acct-info),'IGYTSALE',MSGLEVEL=(1,1),TIME=(0,29)

//TEST EXEC IGYWCLG
//COBOL.SYSLIB DD DSN=IGY.V6R2M0.SIGYSAMP,DISP=SHR
//COBOL.SYSIN DD DSN=IGY.V6R2M0.SIGYSAMP(IGYTSALE),DISP=SHR
//GO.SYSOUT DD SYSOUT=A
//GO.IGYTABLE DD DSN=IGY.V6R2M0.SIGYSAMP(IGYTABLE),DISP=SHR
//GO.IGYTRANS DD DSN=IGY.V6R2M0.SIGYSAMP(IGYTRANA),DISP=SHR
//GO.IGYPRINT DD SYSOUT=A,DCB=BLKSIZE=133
//GO.IGYPRT2 DD SYSOUT=A,DCB=BLKSIZE=133
//

Language elements and concepts that are illustrated

The sample programs illustrate several COBOL language elements and concepts.
To find the applicable language element for a sample program, locate the abbreviation for that program in
the sequence string:

Sample program Abbreviation

IGYTCARA IA
IGYTCARB IB
IGYTSALE IS

The following table lists the language elements and programming concepts that the sample programs
illustrate. The language element or concept is described, and the sequence string is shown. The sequence
string is the special character string that appears in the sequence field of the source file. You can use this
string as a search argument for locating the elements in the listing.

Language element or concept Sequence string

ACCEPT . . . FROM DAY-OF-WEEK IS0900
ACCEPT . . . FROM DATE IS0901
ACCEPT . . . FROM TIME IS0902

Appendix H. Using sample programs 857

 Language element or concept Sequence string
ADD . . . TO IS4550
AFTER ADVANCING IS2700
AFTER PAGE IS2600
ALL IS4200
ASSIGN IS1101
AUTHOR IA0040
CALL IS0800
Callable services (Language Environment):
1. CEEDATM: format date or time output 1. IS0875, IS2575
2. CEEDCOD: feedback code check 2. IS0905
3. CEEGMTO: UTC offset from local time 3. IS0904
4. CEELOCT: local date and time 4. IS0850
5. CEESECS: convert time stamp to seconds 5. IS2350, IS2550

CLOSE files IS1900

Comma, semicolon, and space interchangeable IS3500, IS3600
COMMON statement for nested programs IS4600
Complex OCCURS DEPENDING ON IS0700, IS3700
COMPUTE IS4501
COMPUTE ROUNDED IS4500
CONFIGURATION SECTION IA0970
CONFIGURATION SECTION (optional) IS0200
CONTINUE statement IA5310, IA5380
COPY statement IS0500
DATA DIVISION (optional) IS5100
Data validation IA5130-6190
Do-until (PERFORM . . . TEST AFTER) IA4900-5010, IA7690-7770
Do-while (PERFORM . . . TEST BEFORE) IS1660
END-ADD IS2900
END-COMPUTE IS4510
END-EVALUATE IA6590, IS2450
END-IF IS1680
END-MULTIPLY IS3100
END-PERFORM IS1700
END PROGRAM IA9990
END-READ IS1800
END-SEARCH IS3400

858 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Language element or concept Sequence string
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION (optional) IS0200
Error handling, termination of program IA4620, IA5080, IA7800-7980
EVALUATE statement IA6270-6590
EVALUATE . . . ALSO IS2400
EXIT PROGRAM not only statement in paragraph IS2000
Exponentiation IS4500
EXTERNAL clause IS1200
FILE-CONTROL entry for sequential file IA1190-1300
FILE-CONTROL entry for VSAM indexed file IA1070-1180
FILE SECTION (optional) IS0200
FILE STATUS code check IA4600-4630, IA4760-4790
FILLER (optional) IS0400
Flags, level-88, definition IA1730-1800, IA2440-2480, IA2710
Flags, level-88, testing IA4430, IA5200-5250
FLOATING POINT IS4400
GLOBAL statement IS0300
INITIAL statement for nested programs IS2300
INITIALIZE IS2500
Initializing a table in the DATA DIVISION IA2920-4260
Inline PERFORM statement IA4410-4520
I-O-CONTROL paragraphs (optional) IS0200
INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION (optional) IS0200
Intrinsic functions:
1. CURRENT-DATE 1. IA9005
2. MAX 2. IA9235
3. MEAN 3. IA9215
4. MEDIAN 4. IA9220
5. MIN 5. IA9240
6. STANDARD-DEVIATION 6. IA9230
7. UPPER-CASE 7. IA9015
8. VARIANCE 8. IA9225
9. WHEN-COMPILED 9. IA9000

IS (optional in all clauses) IS0700

LABEL RECORDS (optional) IS1150
LINKAGE SECTION IS4900
Mixing of indexes and subscripts IS3500

Appendix H. Using sample programs 859

 Language element or concept Sequence string
Mnemonic names IA1000
MOVE IS0903
MOVE CORRESPONDING statement IA4810, IA4830
MULTIPLY . . . GIVING IS3000
Nested IF statement, using END-IF IA5460-5830
Nested program IS1000
NEXT SENTENCE IS4300
NOT AT END IS1600
NULL IS4800
OBJECT-COMPUTER (optional) IS0200
OCCURS DEPENDING ON IS0710
ODO uses maximum length for receiving item IS1550
OPEN EXTEND IB2210
OPEN INPUT IS1400
OPEN OUTPUT IS1500
ORGANIZATION (optional) IS1100
Page eject IA7180-7210
Parenthesis in abbreviated conditions IS4850
PERFORM . . . WITH TEST AFTER (Do-until) IA4900-5010, IA7690-7770
PERFORM . . . WITH TEST BEFORE (Do-while) IS1660
PERFORM . . . UNTIL IS5000
PERFORM . . . VARYING statement IA7690-7770
POINTER function IS4700
Print file FD entry IA1570-1620
Print report IA7100-7360
PROCEDURE DIVISION . . . USING IB1320-IB1650
PROGRAM-ID (30 characters allowed) IS0120
READ . . . INTO . . . AT END IS1550
REDEFINES statement IA1940, IA2060, IA2890, IA3320
Reference modification IS2425
Relational operator <= (less than or equal) IS4400
Relational operator >= (greater than or equal) IS2425
Relative subscripting IS4000
REPLACE IS4100
SEARCH statement IS3300

860 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Language element or concept Sequence string
SELECT IS1100
Sequence number can contain any character IA, IB, IS
Sequential file processing IA4480-4510, IA4840-4870
Sequential table search, using PERFORM IA7690-7770
Sequential table search, using SEARCH IA5270-5320, IA5340-5390
SET INDEX IS3200
SET . . . TO TRUE statement IA4390, IA4500, IA4860, IA4980
SOURCE-COMPUTER (optional) IS0200
SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph (optional) IS0200
STRING statement IA6950, IA7050
Support for lowercase letters IS0100
TALLY IS1650
TITLE statement for nested programs IS0100
Update commuter record IA6200-6610
Update transaction work value spaces IB0790-IB1000
USAGE BINARY IS1300
USAGE PACKED-DECIMAL IS1301
Validate elements IB0810, IB0860, IB1000
VALUE with OCCURS IS0600
VALUE SPACE (S) IS0601
VALUE ZERO (S) (ES) IS0600
Variable-length table control variable IA5100
Variable-length table definition IA2090-2210
Variable-length table loading IA4840-4990
VSAM indexed file key definition IA1170
VSAM return-code display IA7800-7900
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION IS0250

Appendix H. Using sample programs 861

862 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Appendix I. Accessing JCL parameters
You can pass a parameter string from JCL to a COBOL program using the PARM= keyword of the EXEC
statement. You can access these parameters either by standard COBOL coding, or by calling the CEE3PR2
Language Environment callable service.

Using COBOL coding

You must define the LINKAGE SECTION record (level-01) that is to receive the user_parameter data
passed by the PARM string, taking into account the halfword parameter list length field that is inserted in
front of the string by the system.
The program can test this field length for nonzero to verify that PARM-string data has in fact been passed.
For example:

LINKAGE SECTION.
01 PARMDATA.
05 STRINGLEN PIC 9(4) USAGE COMP.
05 STRINGPARM PIC X(80).
PROCEDURE DIVISION USING PARMDATA.
IF STRINGLEN > 0 . . .

For more information, see “Coding the LINKAGE SECTION” on page 495.

Using CEE3PR2
You must define parameters to the CEE3PR2 callable service, without the need to add parameters to your
PROCEDURE DIVISION USING statement.

WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 PARMLEN PIC S9(9) BINARY.
01 PARMSTR.
02 STR1-LENGTH PIC S9(4) BINARY.
02 STR1-STRING.
03 STR1-CHAR PIC X
OCCURS 0 TO 256 TIMES
DEPENDING ON STR1-LENGTH.
. . .
CALL "CEE3PR2" USING PARMLEN,PARMSTR, FC.

For more information about the CEE3PR2 callable service, see CEE3PR2 in the Language Environment
Programming Reference.

Related tasks
“Accessing main program parameters under z/OS” on page 504

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 863

864 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Appendix J. Accessibility features for Enterprise
COBOL for z/OS
Accessibility features assist users who have a disability, such as restricted mobility or limited vision, to
use information technology content successfully. The accessibility features in z/OS provide accessibility
for Enterprise COBOL for z/OS.

Accessibility features
z/OS includes the following major accessibility features:
• Interfaces that are commonly used by screen readers and screen-magnifier software
• Keyboard-only navigation
• Ability to customize display attributes such as color, contrast, and font size
z/OS uses the latest W3C Standard, WAI-ARIA 1.0 (http://www.w3.org/TR/wai-aria/), to ensure
compliance to US Section 508 (https://www.access-board.gov/ict/) and Web Content Accessibility
Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 (http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/). To take advantage of accessibility features,
use the latest release of your screen reader in combination with the latest web browser that is supported
by this product.
The Enterprise COBOL for z/OS online product documentation in IBM Knowledge Center is enabled for
accessibility. The accessibility features of IBM Knowledge Center are described at http://www.ibm.com/
support/knowledgecenter/en/about/releasenotes.html.

Keyboard navigation
Users can access z/OS user interfaces by using TSO/E or ISPF.
Users can also access z/OS services by using IBM Developer for z/OS.
For information about accessing these interfaces, see the following publications:
• z/OS TSO/E Primer (http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/cgi-bin/bookmgr/BOOKS/ikj4p120)
• z/OS TSO/E User's Guide (http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/cgi-bin/bookmgr/BOOKS/ikj4c240/
APPENDIX1.3)
• z/OS ISPF User's Guide Volume I (http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/cgi-bin/bookmgr/BOOKS/ispzug70)
• IBM Developer for z/OS Knowledge Center (http://www.ibm.com/support/knowledgecenter/SSQ2R2/
rdz_welcome.html?lang=en)
These guides describe how to use TSO/E and ISPF, including the use of keyboard shortcuts or function
keys (PF keys). Each guide includes the default settings for the PF keys and explains how to modify their
functions.

Interface information
The Enterprise COBOL for z/OS online product documentation is available in IBM Knowledge Center,
which is viewable from a standard web browser.
PDF files have limited accessibility support. With PDF documentation, you can use optional font
enlargement, high-contrast display settings, and can navigate by keyboard alone.
To enable your screen reader to accurately read syntax diagrams, source code examples, and text that
contains period or comma PICTURE symbols, you must set the screen reader to speak all punctuation.
Assistive technology products work with the user interfaces that are found in z/OS. For specific guidance
information, see the documentation for the assistive technology product that you use to access z/OS
interfaces.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 865

 Related accessibility information
In addition to standard IBM help desk and support websites, IBM has established a TTY telephone
service for use by deaf or hard of hearing customers to access sales and support services:

TTY service 800-IBM-3383 (800-426-3383) (within North America)

IBM and accessibility

For more information about the commitment that IBM has to accessibility, see IBM Accessibility
(www.ibm.com/able).

866 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Notices
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Such information may be available, subject to appropriate terms and conditions, including in some cases,
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© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 867

 through extrapolation. Actual results may vary. Users of this document should verify the applicable data
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Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2021.
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868 Notices
trademarks of IBM or other companies. A current list of IBM trademarks is available on the Web at
“Copyright and trademark information” at www.ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml.
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Other product and service names might be trademarks of IBM or other companies.

Notices 869
870 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Glossary
The terms in this glossary are defined in accordance with their meaning in COBOL. These terms might or
might not have the same meaning in other languages.
This glossary includes terms and definitions from the following publications:
• ANSI INCITS 23-1985, Programming languages - COBOL, as amended by ANSI INCITS 23a-1989,
Programming Languages - COBOL - Intrinsic Function Module for COBOL, and ANSI INCITS 23b-1993,
Programming Languages - Correction Amendment for COBOL
• ISO 1989:1985, Programming languages - COBOL, as amended by ISO/IEC 1989/AMD1:1992,
Programming languages - COBOL: Intrinsic function module and ISO/IEC 1989/AMD2:1994,
Programming languages - Correction and clarification amendment for COBOL
• ANSI X3.172-2002, American National Standard Dictionary for Information Systems
• INCITS/ISO/IEC 1989-2002, Information technology - Programming languages - COBOL
• INCITS/ISO/IEC 1989:2014, Information technology - Programming languages, their environments and
system software interfaces - Programming language COBOL
American National Standard definitions are preceded by an asterisk (*).
A
* abbreviated combined relation condition
The combined condition that results from the explicit omission of a common subject or a common
subject and common relational operator in a consecutive sequence of relation conditions.
abend
Abnormal termination of a program.
above the 16 MB line
Storage above the so-called 16 MB line (or boundary) but below the 2 GB bar. This storage is
addressable only in 31-bit mode. Before IBM introduced the MVS/XA architecture in the 1980s, the
virtual storage for a program was limited to 16 MB. Programs that have been compiled with a 24-bit
mode can address only 16 MB of space, as though they were kept under an imaginary storage line.
Since VS COBOL II, a program that has been compiled with a 31-bit mode can be above the 16 MB
line.
* access mode
The manner in which records are to be operated upon within a file.
* actual decimal point
The physical representation, using the decimal point characters period (.) or comma (,), of the decimal
point position in a data item.
actual document encoding
For an XML document, one of the following encoding categories that the XML parser determines by
examining the first few bytes of the document:
• ASCII
• EBCDIC
• UTF-8
• UTF-16, either big-endian or little-endian
• Other unsupported encoding
• No recognizable encoding
* alphabet-name
A user-defined word, in the SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph of the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION, that
assigns a name to a specific character set or collating sequence or both.

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 871

 * alphabetic character
A letter or a space character.
alphanumeric character position
See character position.
alphabetic data item
A data item that is described with a PICTURE character string that contains only the symbol A. An
alphabetic data item has USAGE DISPLAY.
* alphanumeric character
Any character in the single-byte character set of the computer.
alphanumeric data item
A general reference to a data item that is described implicitly or explicitly as USAGE DISPLAY, and
that has category alphanumeric, alphanumeric-edited, or numeric-edited.
alphanumeric-edited data item
A data item that is described by a PICTURE character string that contains at least one instance of the
symbol A or X and at least one of the simple insertion symbols B, 0, or /. An alphanumeric-edited data
item has USAGE DISPLAY.
* alphanumeric function
A function whose value is composed of a string of one or more characters from the alphanumeric
character set of the computer.
alphanumeric group item
A group item that is defined without a GROUP-USAGE NATIONAL clause. For operations such as
INSPECT, STRING, and UNSTRING, an alphanumeric group item is processed as though all its content
were described as USAGE DISPLAY regardless of the actual content of the group. For operations
that require processing of the elementary items within a group, such as MOVE CORRESPONDING, ADD
CORRESPONDING, or INITIALIZE, an alphanumeric group item is processed using group semantics.
alphanumeric literal
A literal that has an opening delimiter from the following set: ', ", X', X", Z', or Z". The string of
characters can include any character in the character set of the computer.
* alternate record key
A key, other than the prime record key, whose contents identify a record within an indexed file.
ANSI (American National Standards Institute)
An organization that consists of producers, consumers, and general-interest groups and establishes
the procedures by which accredited organizations create and maintain voluntary industry standards in
the United States.
argument
(1) An identifier, a literal, an arithmetic expression, or a function-identifier that specifies a value to
be used in the evaluation of a function. (2) An operand of the USING phrase of a CALL or INVOKE
statement, used for passing values to a called program or an invoked method.
* arithmetic expression
A numeric literal, an identifier representing a numeric elementary item, such identifiers and literals
separated by arithmetic operators, two arithmetic expressions separated by an arithmetic operator, or
an arithmetic expression enclosed in parentheses.
* arithmetic operation
The process caused by the execution of an arithmetic statement, or the evaluation of an arithmetic
expression, that results in a mathematically correct solution to the arguments presented.
* arithmetic operator
A single character, or a fixed two-character combination that belongs to the following set:

Character Meaning
+ Addition
- Subtraction

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 Character Meaning
* Multiplication
/ Division
** Exponentiation

* arithmetic statement
A statement that causes an arithmetic operation to be executed. The arithmetic statements are ADD,
COMPUTE, DIVIDE, MULTIPLY, and SUBTRACT.
array
An aggregate that consists of data objects, each of which can be uniquely referenced by subscripting.
An array is roughly analogous to a COBOL table.
* ascending key
A key upon the values of which data is ordered, starting with the lowest value of the key up to the
highest value of the key, in accordance with the rules for comparing data items.
ASCII
American National Standard Code for Information Interchange. The standard code uses a coded
character set that is based on 7-bit coded characters (8 bits including parity check). The standard
is used for information interchange between data processing systems, data communication systems,
and associated equipment. The ASCII set consists of control characters and graphic characters.
IBM has defined an extension to ASCII (characters 128-255).
ASCII DBCS
See double-byte ASCII.
assignment-name
A name that identifies the organization of a COBOL file and the name by which it is known to the
system.
* assumed decimal point
A decimal point position that does not involve the existence of an actual character in a data item. The
assumed decimal point has logical meaning but no physical representation.
AT END condition
A condition that is caused during the execution of a READ, RETURN, or SEARCH statement under
certain conditions:
• A READ statement runs on a sequentially accessed file when no next logical record exists in the file,
or when the number of significant digits in the relative record number is larger than the size of the
relative key data item, or when an optional input file is not available.
• A RETURN statement runs when no next logical record exists for the associated sort or merge file.
• A SEARCH statement runs when the search operation terminates without satisfying the condition
specified in any of the associated WHEN phrases.
B
basic character set
The basic set of characters used in writing words, character-strings, and separators of the language.
The basic character set is implemented in single-byte EBCDIC. The extended character set includes
DBCS characters, which can be used in comments, literals, and user-defined words.
Synonymous with COBOL character set in the 85 COBOL Standard.
big-endian
The default format that the mainframe and the AIX workstation use to store binary data and UTF-16
characters. In this format, the least significant byte of a binary data item is at the highest address and
the least significant byte of a UTF-16 character is at the highest address. Compare with little-endian.

Glossary 873
 binary item
A numeric data item that is represented in binary notation (on the base 2 numbering system). The
decimal equivalent consists of the decimal digits 0 through 9, plus an operational sign. The leftmost
bit of the item is the operational sign.
binary search
A dichotomizing search in which, at each step of the search, the set of data elements is divided by
two; some appropriate action is taken in the case of an odd number.
* block
A physical unit of data that is normally composed of one or more logical records. For mass storage
files, a block can contain a portion of a logical record. The size of a block has no direct relationship
to the size of the file within which the block is contained or to the size of the logical records that are
either contained within the block or that overlap the block. Synonymous with physical record.
boolean condition
A boolean condition determines whether a boolean literal is true or false. A boolean condition can only
be used in a constant conditional expression.
boolean literal
Can be either B'1', indicating a true value, or B'0', indicating a false value. Boolean literals can only be
used in constant conditional expressions.
breakpoint
A place in a computer program, usually specified by an instruction, where external intervention or a
monitor program can interrupt the program as it runs.
buffer
A portion of storage that is used to hold input or output data temporarily.
built-in function
See intrinsic function.
business method
A method of an enterprise bean that implements the business logic or rules of an application. (Oracle)
byte
A string that consists of a certain number of bits, usually eight, treated as a unit, and representing a
character or a control function.
byte order mark (BOM)
A Unicode character that can be used at the start of UTF-16 or UTF-32 text to indicate the byte order
of subsequent text; the byte order can be either big-endian or little-endian.
bytecode
Machine-independent code that is generated by the Java compiler and executed by the Java
interpreter. (Oracle)
C
callable services
In Language Environment, a set of services that a COBOL program can invoke by using the
conventional Language Environment-defined call interface. All programs that share the Language
Environment conventions can use these services.
called program
A program that is the object of a CALL statement. At run time the called program and calling program
are combined to produce a run unit.
* calling program
A program that executes a CALL to another program.
canonical decomposition
A way to represent a single precomposed Unicode character using two or more Unicode characters. A
canonical decomposition is typically used to separate latin letters with a diacritical mark so that the
latin letter and the diacritical mark are represented individually. See precomposed character for an
example showing a precomposed Unicode character and its canonical decomposition.

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case structure
A program-processing logic in which a series of conditions is tested in order to choose between a
number of resulting actions.
cataloged procedure
A set of job control statements that are placed in a partitioned data set called the procedure library
(SYS1.PROCLIB). You can use cataloged procedures to save time and reduce errors in coding JCL.
CCSID
See coded character set identifier.
century window
A 100-year interval within which any two-digit year is unique. Several types of century window are
available to COBOL programmers:
• For the windowing intrinsic functions DATE-TO-YYYYMMDD, DAY-TO-YYYYDDD, and YEAR-TO-
YYYY, you specify the century window with argument-2.
• For Language Environment callable services, you specify the century window in CEESCEN.
* character
The basic indivisible unit of the language.
character encoding unit
A unit of data that corresponds to one code point in a coded character set. One or more character
encoding units are used to represent a character in a coded character set. Also known as encoding
unit.
For USAGE NATIONAL, a character encoding unit corresponds to one 2-byte code point of UTF-16.
For USAGE DISPLAY, a character encoding unit corresponds to a byte.
For USAGE DISPLAY-1, a character encoding unit corresponds to a 2-byte code point in the DBCS
character set.
character position
The amount of physical storage or presentation space required to hold or present one character. The
term applies to any class of character. For specific classes of characters, the following terms apply:
• Alphanumeric character position, for characters represented in USAGE DISPLAY
• DBCS character position, for DBCS characters represented in USAGE DISPLAY-1
• National character position, for characters represented in USAGE NATIONAL; synonymous with
character encoding unit for UTF-16
character set
A collection of elements that are used to represent textual information, but for which no coded
representation is assumed. See also coded character set.
character string
A sequence of contiguous characters that form a COBOL word, a literal, a PICTURE character string, or
a comment-entry. A character string must be delimited by separators.
checkpoint
A point at which information about the status of a job and the system can be recorded so that the job
step can be restarted later.
* class
The entity that defines common behavior and implementation for zero, one, or more objects. The
objects that share the same implementation are considered to be objects of the same class. Classes
can be defined hierarchically, allowing one class to inherit from another.
class (object-oriented)
The entity that defines common behavior and implementation for zero, one, or more objects. The
objects that share the same implementation are considered to be objects of the same class.

Glossary 875
 * class condition
The proposition (for which a truth value can be determined) that the content of an item is wholly
alphabetic, is wholly numeric, is wholly DBCS, is wholly Kanji, or consists exclusively of the characters
that are listed in the definition of a class-name.
* class definition
The COBOL source unit that defines a class.
class hierarchy
A tree-like structure that shows relationships among object classes. It places one class at the top and
one or more layers of classes below it. Synonymous with inheritance hierarchy.
* class identification entry
An entry in the CLASS-ID paragraph of the IDENTIFICATION DIVISION; this entry contains
clauses that specify the class-name and assign selected attributes to the class definition.
class-name (object-oriented)
The name of an object-oriented COBOL class definition.
* class-name (of data)
A user-defined word that is defined in the SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph of the ENVIRONMENT
DIVISION; this word assigns a name to the proposition (for which a truth value can be defined)
that the content of a data item consists exclusively of the characters that are listed in the definition of
the class-name.
class object
The runtime object that represents a class.
* clause
An ordered set of consecutive COBOL character strings whose purpose is to specify an attribute of an
entry.
client
In object-oriented programming, a program or method that requests services from one or more
methods in a class.
COBOL character set
The set of characters used in writing COBOL syntax. The complete COBOL character set consists of
these characters:

Character Meaning
0,1, . . . ,9 Digit
A,B, . . . ,Z Uppercase letter
a,b, . . . ,z Lowercase letter
Space
+ Plus sign
- Minus sign (hyphen)
* Asterisk
/ Slant (forward slash)
= Equal sign
$ Currency sign
, Comma
; Semicolon
. Period (decimal point, full stop)
" Quotation mark
' Apostrophe

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 Character Meaning
( Left parenthesis
) Right parenthesis
> Greater than
< Less than
: Colon
_ Underscore

* COBOL word
See word.
code page
An assignment of graphic characters and control function meanings to all code points. For example,
one code page could assign characters and meanings to 256 code points for 8-bit code, and another
code page could assign characters and meanings to 128 code points for 7-bit code. For example, one
of the IBM code pages for English on the workstation is IBM-1252 and on the host is IBM-1047. A
coded character set.
code point
A unique bit pattern that is defined in a coded character set (code page). Graphic symbols and control
characters are assigned to code points.
coded character set
A set of unambiguous rules that establish a character set and the relationship between the characters
of the set and their coded representation. Examples of coded character sets are the character sets as
represented by ASCII or EBCDIC code pages or by the UTF-16 encoding scheme for Unicode.
coded character set identifier (CCSID)
An IBM-defined number in the range 1 to 65,535 that identifies a specific code page.
* collating sequence
The sequence in which the characters that are acceptable to a computer are ordered for purposes of
sorting, merging, comparing, and for processing indexed files sequentially.
* column
A byte position within a print line or within a reference format line. The columns are numbered from 1,
by 1, starting at the leftmost position of the line and extending to the rightmost position of the line. A
column holds one single-byte character.
* combined condition
A condition that is the result of connecting two or more conditions with the AND or the OR logical
operator. See also condition and negated combined condition.
combining characters
A Unicode character used to modify other succeeding or preceding Unicode characters. Combining
characters are typically Unicode diacritical mark used to modify latin letters. See precomposed
character for an example of combining character U+0308 (¨) used with latin letter U+0061 (a).
* comment-entry
An entry in the IDENTIFICATION DIVISION that is used for documentation and has no effect on
execution.
comment line
A source program line represented by an asterisk (*) in the indicator area of the line or by an asterisk
followed by greater-than sign (*>) as the first character string in the program text area (Area A plus
Area B), and any characters from the character set of the computer that follow in Area A and Area B of
that line. A comment line serves only for documentation. A special form of comment line represented
by a slant (/) in the indicator area of the line and any characters from the character set of the
computer in Area A and Area B of that line causes page ejection before the comment is printed.

Glossary 877
 * common program
A program that, despite being directly contained within another program, can be called from any
program directly or indirectly contained in that other program.
* compile
(1) To translate a program expressed in a high-level language into a program expressed in an
intermediate language, assembly language, or a computer language. (2) To prepare a machine-
language program from a computer program written in another programming language by making
use of the overall logic structure of the program, or generating more than one computer instruction for
each symbolic statement, or both, as well as performing the function of an assembler.
compilation variable
A symbolic name for a particular literal value or the value of a compile-time arithmetic expression as
specified by the DEFINE directive or by the DEFINE compiler option.
* compile time
The time at which COBOL source code is translated, by a COBOL compiler, to a COBOL object program.
compile-time arithmetic expression
A subset of arithmetic expressions that are specified in the DEFINE and EVALUATE directives or in
a constant conditional expression. The difference between compile-time arithmetic expressions and
regular arithmetic expressions is that in a compile-time arithmetic expression:
• The exponentiation operator shall not be specified.
• All operands shall be integer numeric literals or arithmetic expressions in which all operands are
integer numeric literals.
• The expression shall be specified in such a way that a division by zero does not occur.
compiler
A program that translates source code written in a higher-level language into machine-language
object code.
compiler-directing statement
A statement that causes the compiler to take a specific action during compilation. The standard
compiler-directing statements are COPY, REPLACE, and USE.
* complex condition
A condition in which one or more logical operators act upon one or more conditions. See also
condition, negated simple condition, and negated combined condition.
complex ODO
Certain forms of the OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause:
• Variably located item or group: A data item described by an OCCURS clause with the DEPENDING ON
option is followed by a nonsubordinate data item or group. The group can be an alphanumeric group
or a national group.
• Variably located table: A data item described by an OCCURS clause with the DEPENDING ON option
is followed by a nonsubordinate data item described by an OCCURS clause.
• Table with variable-length elements: A data item described by an OCCURS clause contains a
subordinate data item described by an OCCURS clause with the DEPENDING ON option.
• Index name for a table with variable-length elements.
• Element of a table with variable-length elements.
component
(1) A functional grouping of related files. (2) In object-oriented programming, a reusable object
or program that performs a specific function and is designed to work with other components and
applications. JavaBeans is Oracle's architecture for creating components.
composed form
Representation of a precomposed Unicode character through a canonical decomposition. See
precomposed character for details.
* computer-name
A system-name that identifies the computer where the program is to be compiled or run.

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condition (exception)
An exception that has been enabled, or recognized, by Language Environment and thus is eligible to
activate user and language condition handlers. Any alteration to the normal programmed flow of an
application. Conditions can be detected by the hardware or the operating system and result in an
interrupt. They can also be detected by language-specific generated code or language library code.
condition (expression)
A status of data at run time for which a truth value can be determined. Where used in this information
in or in reference to "condition" (condition-1, condition-2,. . .) of a general format, the term refers
to a conditional expression that consists of either a simple condition optionally parenthesized or a
combined condition (consisting of the syntactically correct combination of simple conditions, logical
operators, and parentheses) for which a truth value can be determined. See also simple condition,
complex condition, negated simple condition, combined condition, and negated combined condition.
* conditional expression
A simple condition or a complex condition specified in an EVALUATE, IF, PERFORM, or SEARCH
statement. See also simple condition and complex condition.
* conditional phrase
A phrase that specifies the action to be taken upon determination of the truth value of a condition that
results from the execution of a conditional statement.
* conditional statement
A statement that specifies that the truth value of a condition is to be determined and that the
subsequent action of the object program depends on this truth value.
* conditional variable
A data item one or more values of which has a condition-name assigned to it.
* condition-name
A user-defined word that assigns a name to a subset of values that a conditional variable can assume;
or a user-defined word assigned to a status of an implementor-defined switch or device.
* condition-name condition
The proposition (for which a truth value can be determined) that the value of a conditional variable is a
member of the set of values attributed to a condition-name associated with the conditional variable.
* CONFIGURATION SECTION
A section of the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION that describes overall specifications of source and object
programs and class definitions.
CONSOLE
A COBOL environment-name associated with the operator console.
constant conditional expression
A subset of conditional expressions that may be used in IF directives or WHEN phrases of the
EVALUATE directives.
A constant conditional expression shall be one of the following items:
• A relation condition in which both operands are literals or arithmetic expressions that contain only
literal terms. The condition shall follow the rules for relation conditions, with the following additions:
– The operands shall be of the same category. An arithmetic expression is of the category numeric.
– If literals are specified and they are not numeric literals, the relational operator shall be “IS
EQUAL TO”, “IS NOT EQUAL TO”, “IS =”, “IS NOT =”, or “IS <>”.
See also relation condition.
• A defined condition. See also defined condition.
• A boolean condition. See also boolean condition.
• A complex condition formed by combining the above forms of simple conditions into complex
conditions by using AND, OR, and NOT. Abbreviated combined relation conditions shall not be
specified. See also complex condition.

Glossary 879
 contained program
A COBOL program that is nested within another COBOL program.
* contiguous items
Items that are described by consecutive entries in the DATA DIVISION, and that bear a definite
hierarchic relationship to each other.
copybook
A file or library member that contains a sequence of code that is included in the source program at
compile time using the COPY statement. The file can be created by the user, supplied by COBOL, or
supplied by another product. Synonymous with copy file.
* counter
A data item used for storing numbers or number representations in a manner that permits these
numbers to be increased or decreased by the value of another number, or to be changed or reset to
zero or to an arbitrary positive or negative value.
cross-reference listing
The portion of the compiler listing that contains information on where files, fields, and indicators are
defined, referenced, and modified in a program.
currency-sign value
A character string that identifies the monetary units stored in a numeric-edited item. Typical examples
are $, USD, and EUR. A currency-sign value can be defined by either the CURRENCY compiler option
or the CURRENCY SIGN clause in the SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph of the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
If the CURRENCY SIGN clause is not specified and the NOCURRENCY compiler option is in effect, the
dollar sign ($) is used as the default currency-sign value. See also currency symbol.
currency symbol
A character used in a PICTURE clause to indicate the position of a currency sign value in a numeric-
edited item. A currency symbol can be defined by either the CURRENCY compiler option or the
CURRENCY SIGN clause in the SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph of the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION. If the
CURRENCY SIGN clause is not specified and the NOCURRENCY compiler option is in effect, the dollar
sign ($) is used as the default currency sign value and currency symbol. Multiple currency symbols
and currency sign values can be defined. See also currency sign value.
* current record
In file processing, the record that is available in the record area associated with a file.
* current volume pointer
A conceptual entity that points to the current volume of a sequential file.
D
* data clause
A clause, appearing in a data description entry in the DATA DIVISION of a COBOL program, that
provides information describing a particular attribute of a data item.
* data description entry
An entry in the DATA DIVISION of a COBOL program that is composed of a level-number followed by
a data-name, if required, and then followed by a set of data clauses, as required.
DATA DIVISION
The division of a COBOL program or method that describes the data to be processed by the program
or method: the files to be used and the records contained within them; internal WORKING-STORAGE
records that will be needed; data to be made available in more than one program in the COBOL run
unit.
* data item
A unit of data (excluding literals) defined by a COBOL program or by the rules for function evaluation.
data set
Synonym for file.

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* data-name
A user-defined word that names a data item described in a data description entry. When used in the
general formats, data-name represents a word that must not be reference-modified, subscripted, or
qualified unless specifically permitted by the rules for the format.
DBCS
See double-byte character set (DBCS).
DBCS character
Any character defined in IBM's double-byte character set.
DBCS character position
See character position.
DBCS data item
A data item that is described by a PICTURE character string that contains at least one symbol G, or,
when the NSYMBOL(DBCS) compiler option is in effect, at least one symbol N. A DBCS data item has
USAGE DISPLAY-1.
* debugging line
Any line with a D in the indicator area of the line.
* debugging section
A section that contains a USE FOR DEBUGGING statement.
* declarative sentence
A compiler-directing sentence that consists of a single USE statement terminated by the separator
period.
* declaratives
A set of one or more special-purpose sections, written at the beginning of the PROCEDURE
DIVISION, the first of which is preceded by the key word DECLARATIVE and the last of which is
followed by the key words END DECLARATIVES. A declarative is composed of a section header,
followed by a USE compiler-directing sentence, followed by a set of zero, one, or more associated
paragraphs.
* de-edit
The logical removal of all editing characters from a numeric-edited data item in order to determine the
unedited numeric value of the item.
defined condition
A compile-time condition that tests whether a compilation variable is defined. Defined conditions are
specified in IF directives or WHEN phrases of the EVALUATE directives.
* delimited scope statement
Any statement that includes its explicit scope terminator.
* delimiter
A character or a sequence of contiguous characters that identify the end of a string of characters and
separate that string of characters from the following string of characters. A delimiter is not part of the
string of characters that it delimits.
dependent region
In IMS, the MVS virtual storage region that contains message-driven programs, batch programs, or
online utilities.
* descending key
A key upon the values of which data is ordered starting with the highest value of key down to the
lowest value of key, in accordance with the rules for comparing data items.
digit
Any of the numerals from 0 through 9. In COBOL, the term is not used to refer to any other symbol.
* digit position
The amount of physical storage required to store a single digit. This amount can vary depending on the
usage specified in the data description entry that defines the data item.

Glossary 881
 * direct access
The facility to obtain data from storage devices or to enter data into a storage device in such a way
that the process depends only on the location of that data and not on a reference to data previously
accessed.
display floating-point data item
A data item that is described implicitly or explicitly as USAGE DISPLAY and that has a PICTURE
character string that describes an external floating-point data item.
* division
A collection of zero, one, or more sections or paragraphs, called the division body, that are formed and
combined in accordance with a specific set of rules. Each division consists of the division header and
the related division body. There are four divisions in a COBOL program: Identification, Environment,
Data, and Procedure.
* division header
A combination of words followed by a separator period that indicates the beginning of a division. The
division headers are:

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
DATA DIVISION.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.

DLL
See dynamic link library (DLL).
DLL application
An application that references imported programs, functions, or variables.
DLL linkage
A CALL in a program that has been compiled with the DLL and NODYNAM options; the CALL resolves
to an exported name in a separate module, or to an INVOKE of a method that is defined in a separate
module.
do construct
In structured programming, a DO statement is used to group a number of statements in a procedure.
In COBOL, an inline PERFORM statement functions in the same way.
do-until
In structured programming, a do-until loop will be executed at least once, and until a given condition
is true. In COBOL, a TEST AFTER phrase used with the PERFORM statement functions in the same
way.
do-while
In structured programming, a do-while loop will be executed if, and while, a given condition is true. In
COBOL, a TEST BEFORE phrase used with the PERFORM statement functions in the same way.
document type declaration
An XML element that contains or points to markup declarations that provide a grammar for a class of
documents. This grammar is known as a document type definition, or DTD.
document type definition (DTD)
The grammar for a class of XML documents. See document type declaration.
double-byte ASCII
An IBM character set that includes DBCS and single-byte ASCII characters. (Also known as ASCII
DBCS.)
double-byte EBCDIC
An IBM character set that includes DBCS and single-byte EBCDIC characters. (Also known as EBCDIC
DBCS.)
double-byte character set (DBCS)
A set of characters in which each character is represented by 2 bytes. Languages such as Japanese,
Chinese, and Korean, which contain more symbols than can be represented by 256 code points,

882 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 require double-byte character sets. Because each character requires 2 bytes, entering, displaying,
and printing DBCS characters requires hardware and supporting software that are DBCS-capable.
DWARF
DWARF was developed by the UNIX International Programming Languages Special Interest Group
(SIG). It is designed to meet the symbolic, source-level debugging needs of different languages in a
unified fashion by supplying language-independent debugging information. A DWARF file contains
debugging data organized into different elements. For more information, see DWARF program
information in the DWARF/ELF Extensions Library Reference.
* dynamic access
An access mode in which specific logical records can be obtained from or placed into a mass storage
file in a nonsequential manner and obtained from a file in a sequential manner during the scope of the
same OPEN statement.
dynamic CALL
A CALL literal statement in a program that has been compiled with the DYNAM option and the NODLL
option, or a CALL identifier statement in a program that has been compiled with the NODLL option.
dynamic link library (DLL)
A file that contains executable code and data that are bound to a program at load time or run time,
rather than during linking. Several applications can share the code and data in a DLL simultaneously.
Although a DLL is not part of the executable file for a program, it can be required for an executable file
to run properly.
dynamic storage area (DSA)
Dynamically acquired storage composed of a register save area and an area available for dynamic
storage allocation (such as program variables). A DSA is allocated upon invocation of a program or
function and persists for the duration of the invocation instance. DSAs are generally allocated within
stack segments managed by Language Environment.
E
* EBCDIC (Extended Binary-Coded Decimal Interchange Code)
A coded character set based on 8-bit coded characters.
EBCDIC character
Any one of the symbols included in the EBCDIC (Extended Binary-Coded-Decimal Interchange Code)
set.
EBCDIC DBCS
See double-byte EBCDIC.
edited data item
A data item that has been modified by suppressing zeros or inserting editing characters or both.
* editing character
A single character or a fixed two-character combination belonging to the following set:

Character Meaning
Space
0 Zero
+ Plus
- Minus
CR Credit
DB Debit
Z Zero suppress
* Check protect
$ Currency sign

Glossary 883
 Character Meaning
, Comma (decimal point)
. Period (decimal point)
/ Slant (forward slash)

EGCS
See extended graphic character set (EGCS).
EJB
See Enterprise JavaBeans.
EJB container
A container that implements the EJB component contract of the J2EE architecture. This contract
specifies a runtime environment for enterprise beans that includes security, concurrency, life cycle
management, transaction, deployment, and other services. An EJB container is provided by an EJB or
J2EE server. (Oracle)
EJB server
Software that provides services to an EJB container. An EJB server can host one or more EJB
containers. (Oracle)
element (text element)
One logical unit of a string of text, such as the description of a single data item or verb, preceded by a
unique code identifying the element type.
* elementary item
A data item that is described as not being further logically subdivided.
encapsulation
In object-oriented programming, the technique that is used to hide the inherent details of an
object. The object provides an interface that queries and manipulates the data without exposing
its underlying structure. Synonymous with information hiding.
enclave
When running under Language Environment, an enclave is analogous to a run unit. An enclave can
create other enclaves by using LINK and by using the system() function in C.
encoding unit
See character encoding unit.
end class marker
A combination of words, followed by a separator period, that indicates the end of a COBOL class
definition. The end class marker is:

END CLASS class-name.

end method marker

A combination of words, followed by a separator period, that indicates the end of a COBOL method
definition. The end method marker is:

END METHOD method-name.

* end of PROCEDURE DIVISION

The physical position of a COBOL source program after which no further procedures appear.
* end program marker
A combination of words, followed by a separator period, that indicates the end of a COBOL source
program. The end program marker is:

END PROGRAM program-name.

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enterprise bean
A component that implements a business task and resides in an EJB container. (Oracle)
Enterprise JavaBeans
A component architecture defined by Oracle for the development and deployment of object-oriented,
distributed, enterprise-level applications.
* entry
Any descriptive set of consecutive clauses terminated by a separator period and written in the
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION, ENVIRONMENT DIVISION, or DATA DIVISION of a COBOL program.
* environment clause
A clause that appears as part of an ENVIRONMENT DIVISION entry.
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION
One of the four main component parts of a COBOL program, class definition, or method definition. The
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION describes the computers where the source program is compiled and those
where the object program is run. It provides a linkage between the logical concept of files and their
records, and the physical aspects of the devices on which files are stored.
environment-name
A name, specified by IBM, that identifies system logical units, printer and card punch control
characters, report codes, program switches or all of these. When an environment-name is associated
with a mnemonic-name in the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION, the mnemonic-name can be substituted in
any format in which such substitution is valid.
environment variable
Any of a number of variables that define some aspect of the computing environment, and are
accessible to programs that operate in that environment. Environment variables can affect the
behavior of programs that are sensitive to the environment in which they operate.
escape sequence
A sequence of characters that are used to represent certain special characters within string literals
and character literals.
Escape sequences consist of two or more characters, the first of which is the backslash (\) character,
which is called the "escape character"; the remaining characters determine the interpretation of the
escape sequence. For example, \n is an escape sequence that denotes a newline character.
Escape sequences are used in programming languages such as C, C++, Java, or Python. COBOL does
not have the concept of "escape sequence" or "escape character". To handle special characters within
COBOL literals, see Basic alphanumeric literals and DBCS literals in the Enterprise COBOL for z/OS
Language Reference.
execution time
See run time.
execution-time environment
See runtime environment.
* explicit scope terminator
A reserved word that terminates the scope of a particular PROCEDURE DIVISION statement.
exponent
A number that indicates the power to which another number (the base) is to be raised. Positive
exponents denote multiplication; negative exponents denote division; and fractional exponents
denote a root of a quantity. In COBOL, an exponential expression is indicated with the symbol **
followed by the exponent.
* expression
An arithmetic or conditional expression.
* extend mode
The state of a file after execution of an OPEN statement, with the EXTEND phrase specified for that file,
and before the execution of a CLOSE statement, without the REEL or UNIT phrase for that file.

Glossary 885
 extended graphic character set (EGCS)
A graphic character set, such as a kanji character set, that requires two bytes to identify each graphic
character. It is refined and replaced by double-byte character set (DBCS).
Extensible Markup Language
See XML.
extensions
COBOL syntax and semantics supported by IBM compilers in addition to those described in the 85
COBOL Standard.
external code page
For XML documents, the value specified by the CODEPAGE compiler option.
* external data
The data that is described in a program as external data items and external file connectors.
* external data item
A data item that is described as part of an external record in one or more programs of a run unit and
that can be referenced from any program in which it is described.
* external data record
A logical record that is described in one or more programs of a run unit and whose constituent data
items can be referenced from any program in which they are described.
external decimal data item
See zoned decimal data item and national decimal data item.
* external file connector
A file connector that is accessible to one or more object programs in the run unit.
external floating-point data item
See display floating-point data item and national floating-point data item.
external program
The outermost program. A program that is not nested.
* external switch
A hardware or software device, defined and named by the implementor, which is used to indicate that
one of two alternate states exists.
F
factory data
Data that is allocated once for a class and shared by all instances of the class. Factory data is declared
in the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION of the DATA DIVISION in the FACTORY paragraph of the class
definition, and is equivalent to Java private static data.
factory method
A method that is supported by a class independently of an object instance. Factory methods are
declared in the FACTORY paragraph of the class definition, and are equivalent to Java public static
methods. They are typically used to customize the creation of objects.
* figurative constant
A compiler-generated value referenced through the use of certain reserved words.
* file
A collection of logical records.
* file attribute conflict condition
An unsuccessful attempt has been made to execute an input-output operation on a file and the file
attributes, as specified for that file in the program, do not match the fixed attributes for that file.
* file clause
A clause that appears as part of any of the following DATA DIVISION entries: file description entry
(FD entry) and sort-merge file description entry (SD entry).
* file connector
A storage area that contains information about a file and is used as the linkage between a file-name
and a physical file and between a file-name and its associated record area.

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File-Control
The name of an ENVIRONMENT DIVISION paragraph in which the data files for a given source
program are declared.
file control block
Block containing the addresses of I/O routines, information about how they were opened and closed,
and a pointer to the file information block.
* file control entry
A SELECT clause and all its subordinate clauses that declare the relevant physical attributes of a file.
FILE-CONTROL paragraph
A paragraph in the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION in which the data files for a given source unit are
declared.
* file description entry
An entry in the FILE SECTION of the DATA DIVISION that is composed of the level indicator FD,
followed by a file-name, and then followed by a set of file clauses as required.
* file-name
A user-defined word that names a file connector described in a file description entry or a sort-merge
file description entry within the FILE SECTION of the DATA DIVISION.
* file organization
The permanent logical file structure established at the time that a file is created.
file position indicator
A conceptual entity that contains the value of the current key within the key of reference for an
indexed file, or the record number of the current record for a sequential file, or the relative record
number of the current record for a relative file, or indicates that no next logical record exists, or that
an optional input file is not available, or that the AT END condition already exists, or that no valid next
record has been established.
* FILE SECTION
The section of the DATA DIVISION that contains file description entries and sort-merge file
description entries together with their associated record descriptions.
file system
The collection of files that conform to a specific set of data-record and file-description protocols, and
a set of programs that manage these files.
* fixed file attributes
Information about a file that is established when a file is created and that cannot subsequently
be changed during the existence of the file. These attributes include the organization of the file
(sequential, relative, or indexed), the prime record key, the alternate record keys, the code set, the
minimum and maximum record size, the record type (fixed or variable), the collating sequence of the
keys for indexed files, the blocking factor, the padding character, and the record delimiter.
* fixed-length record
A record associated with a file whose file description or sort-merge description entry requires that all
records contain the same number of bytes.
fixed-point item
A numeric data item defined with a PICTURE clause that specifies the location of an optional sign, the
number of digits it contains, and the location of an optional decimal point. The format can be either
binary, packed decimal, or external decimal.
floating comment indicators (*>)
A floating comment indicator indicates a comment line if it is the first character string in the program-
text area (Area A plus Area B), or indicates an inline comment if it is after one or more character
strings in the program-text area.
floating point
A format for representing numbers in which a real number is represented by a pair of distinct
numerals. In a floating-point representation, the real number is the product of the fixed-point part
(the first numeral) and a value obtained by raising the implicit floating-point base to a power denoted

Glossary 887
 by the exponent (the second numeral). For example, a floating-point representation of the number
0.0001234 is 0.1234 -3, where 0.1234 is the mantissa and -3 is the exponent.
floating-point data item
A numeric data item that contains a fraction and an exponent. Its value is obtained by multiplying the
fraction by the base of the numeric data item raised to the power that the exponent specifies.
* format
A specific arrangement of a set of data.
* function
A temporary data item whose value is determined at the time the function is referenced during the
execution of a statement.
* function-identifier
A syntactically correct combination of character strings and separators that references a function.
The data item represented by a function is uniquely identified by a function-name with its arguments,
if any. A function-identifier can include a reference-modifier. A function-identifier that references an
alphanumeric function can be specified anywhere in the general formats that an identifier can be
specified, subject to certain restrictions. A function-identifier that references an integer or numeric
function can be referenced anywhere in the general formats that an arithmetic expression can be
specified.
function-name
A word that names the mechanism whose invocation, along with required arguments, determines the
value of a function.
function-pointer data item
A data item in which a pointer to an entry point can be stored. A data item defined with the USAGE
IS FUNCTION-POINTER clause contains the address of a function entry point. Typically used to
communicate with C and Java programs.
G
garbage collection
The automatic freeing by the Java runtime system of the memory for objects that are no longer
referenced.
* global name
A name that is declared in only one program but that can be referenced from the program and from
any program contained within the program. Condition-names, data-names, file-names, record-names,
report-names, and some special registers can be global names.
global reference
A reference to an object that is outside the scope of a method.
group item
(1) A data item that is composed of subordinate data items. See alphanumeric group item and national
group item. (2) When not qualified explicitly or by context as a national group or an alphanumeric
group, the term refers to groups in general.
grouping separator
A character used to separate units of digits in numbers for ease of reading. The default is the
character comma.
H
header label
(1) A data-set label that precedes the data records in a unit of recording media. (2) Synonym for
beginning-of-file label.
hide (a method)
To redefine (in a subclass) a factory or static method defined with the same method-name in a parent
class. Thus, the method in the subclass hides the method in the parent class.
* high-order end
The leftmost character of a string of characters.

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hiperspace
In a z/OS environment, a range of up to 2 GB of contiguous virtual storage addresses that a program
can use as a buffer.
I
IBM COBOL extension
COBOL syntax and semantics supported by IBM compilers in addition to those described in the 85
COBOL Standard.
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION
One of the four main component parts of a COBOL program, class definition, or method definition.
The IDENTIFICATION DIVISION identifies the program, class, or method. The IDENTIFICATION
DIVISION can include the following documentation: author name, installation, or date.
* identifier
A syntactically correct combination of character strings and separators that names a data item.
When referencing a data item that is not a function, an identifier consists of a data-name, together
with its qualifiers, subscripts, and reference-modifier, as required for uniqueness of reference. When
referencing a data item that is a function, a function-identifier is used.
IGZCBSN
The bootstrap routine for COBOL/370 Release 1. It must be link-edited with any module that contains
a COBOL/370 Release 1 program.
IGZCBSO
The bootstrap routine for COBOL for MVS & VM Release 2, COBOL for OS/390 & VM and Enterprise
COBOL. It must be link-edited with any module that contains a COBOL for MVS & VM Release 2,
COBOL for OS/390 & VM or Enterprise COBOL program.
IGZEBST
The bootstrap routine for VS COBOL II. It must be link-edited with any module that contains a VS
COBOL II program.
ILC
InterLanguage Communication. Interlanguage communication is defined as programs that call or are
called by other high-level languages. Assembler is not considered a high-level language; thus, calls to
and from assembler programs are not considered ILC.
* imperative statement
A statement that either begins with an imperative verb and specifies an unconditional action to be
taken or is a conditional statement that is delimited by its explicit scope terminator (delimited scope
statement). An imperative statement can consist of a sequence of imperative statements.
* implicit scope terminator
A separator period that terminates the scope of any preceding unterminated statement, or a phrase of
a statement that by its occurrence indicates the end of the scope of any statement contained within
the preceding phrase.
IMS
Information Management System, IBM licensed product. IMS supports hierarchical databases, data
communication, translation processing, and database backout and recovery.
* index
A computer storage area or register, the content of which represents the identification of a particular
element in a table.
* index data item
A data item in which the values associated with an index-name can be stored in a form specified by
the implementor.
indexed data-name
An identifier that is composed of a data-name, followed by one or more index-names enclosed in
parentheses.
* indexed file
A file with indexed organization.

Glossary 889
 * indexed organization
The permanent logical file structure in which each record is identified by the value of one or more keys
within that record.
indexing
Synonymous with subscripting using index-names.
* index-name
A user-defined word that names an index associated with a specific table.
inheritance
A mechanism for using the implementation of a class as the basis for another class. By definition,
the inheriting class conforms to the inherited classes. Enterprise COBOL does not support multiple
inheritance; a subclass has exactly one immediate superclass.
inheritance hierarchy
See class hierarchy.
* initial program
A program that is placed into an initial state every time the program is called in a run unit.
* initial state
The state of a program when it is first called in a run unit.
inline
In a program, instructions that are executed sequentially, without branching to routines, subroutines,
or other programs.
inline comments
An inline comment is identified by a floating comment indicator (*>) preceded by one or more
character-strings in the program-text area, and can be written on any line of a compilation group.
All characters that follow the floating comment indicator up to the end of area B are comment text.
* input file
A file that is opened in the input mode.
* input mode
The state of a file after execution of an OPEN statement, with the INPUT phrase specified, for that file
and before the execution of a CLOSE statement, without the REEL or UNIT phrase for that file.
* input-output file
A file that is opened in the I-O mode.
* INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION
The section of the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION that names the files and the external media required by
an object program or method and that provides information required for transmission and handling of
data at run time.
* input-output statement
A statement that causes files to be processed by performing operations on individual records or
on the file as a unit. The input-output statements are ACCEPT (with the identifier phrase), CLOSE,
DELETE, DISPLAY, OPEN, READ, REWRITE, SET (with the TO ON or TO OFF phrase), START, and
WRITE.
* input procedure
A set of statements, to which control is given during the execution of a format 1 SORT statement, for
the purpose of controlling the release of specified records to be sorted.
instance data
Data that defines the state of an object. The instance data introduced by a class is defined in
the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION of the DATA DIVISION in the OBJECT paragraph of the class
definition. The state of an object also includes the state of the instance variables introduced by
classes that are inherited by the current class. A separate copy of the instance data is created for each
object instance.
* integer
(1) A numeric literal that does not include any digit positions to the right of the decimal point. (2) A
numeric data item defined in the DATA DIVISION that does not include any digit positions to the

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 right of the decimal point. (3) A numeric function whose definition provides that all digits to the right
of the decimal point are zero in the returned value for any possible evaluation of the function.
integer function
A function whose category is numeric and whose definition does not include any digit positions to the
right of the decimal point.
Interactive System Productivity Facility (ISPF)
An IBM software product that provides a menu-driven interface for the TSO or VM user. ISPF includes
library utilities, a powerful editor, and dialog management.
interlanguage communication (ILC)
The ability of routines written in different programming languages to communicate. ILC support lets
you readily build applications from component routines written in a variety of languages.
intermediate result
An intermediate field that contains the results of a succession of arithmetic operations.
* internal data
The data that is described in a program and excludes all external data items and external file
connectors. Items described in the LINKAGE SECTION of a program are treated as internal data.
* internal data item
A data item that is described in one program in a run unit. An internal data item can have a global
name.
internal decimal data item
A data item that is described as USAGE PACKED-DECIMAL or USAGE COMP-3, and that has a
PICTURE character string that defines the item as numeric (a valid combination of symbols 9, S, P, or
V). Synonymous with packed-decimal data item.
* internal file connector
A file connector that is accessible to only one object program in the run unit.
internal floating-point data item
A data item that is described as USAGE COMP-1 or USAGE COMP-2. COMP-1 defines a single-
precision floating-point data item. COMP-2 defines a double-precision floating-point data item. There
is no PICTURE clause associated with an internal floating-point data item.
* intrarecord data structure
The entire collection of groups and elementary data items from a logical record that a contiguous
subset of the data description entries defines. These data description entries include all entries
whose level-number is greater than the level-number of the first data description entry describing the
intra-record data structure.
intrinsic function
A predefined function, such as a commonly used arithmetic function, called by a built-in function
reference.
* invalid key condition
A condition, at run time, caused when a specific value of the key associated with an indexed or relative
file is determined to be not valid.
* I-O-CONTROL
The name of an ENVIRONMENT DIVISION paragraph in which object program requirements for rerun
points, sharing of same areas by several data files, and multiple file storage on a single input-output
device are specified.
* I-O-CONTROL entry
An entry in the I-O-CONTROL paragraph of the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION; this entry contains
clauses that provide information required for the transmission and handling of data on named files
during the execution of a program.
* I-O mode
The state of a file after execution of an OPEN statement, with the I-O phrase specified, for that file
and before the execution of a CLOSE statement without the REEL or UNIT phase for that file.

Glossary 891
 * I-O status
A conceptual entity that contains the two-character value indicating the resulting status of an input-
output operation. This value is made available to the program through the use of the FILE STATUS
clause in the file control entry for the file.
is-a
A relationship that characterizes classes and subclasses in an inheritance hierarchy. Subclasses that
have an is-a relationship to a class inherit from that class.
ISPF
See Interactive System Productivity Facility (ISPF).
iteration structure
A program processing logic in which a series of statements is repeated while a condition is true or
until a condition is true.
J
J2EE
See Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE).
Java 2 Platform, Enterprise Edition (J2EE)
An environment for developing and deploying enterprise applications, defined by Oracle. The J2EE
platform consists of a set of services, application programming interfaces (APIs), and protocols that
provide the functionality for developing multitiered, Web-based applications. (Oracle)
Java Batch Launcher and Toolkit for z/OS (JZOS)
A set of tools that helps you develop z/OS Java applications that run in a traditional batch
environment, and that access z/OS system services.
Java batch-processing program (JBP)
An IMS batch-processing program that has access to online databases and output message queues.
JBPs run online, but like programs in a batch environment, they are started with JCL or in a TSO
session.
Java batch-processing region
An IMS dependent region in which only Java batch-processing programs are scheduled.
Java Database Connectivity (JDBC)
A specification from Oracle that defines an API that enables Java programs to access databases.
Java message-processing program (JMP)
A Java application program that is driven by transactions and has access to online IMS databases and
message queues.
Java message-processing region
An IMS dependent region in which only Java message-processing programs are scheduled.
Java Native Interface (JNI)
A programming interface that lets Java code that runs inside a Java virtual machine (JVM)
interoperate with applications and libraries written in other programming languages.
Java virtual machine (JVM)
A software implementation of a central processing unit that runs compiled Java programs.
JavaBeans
A portable, platform-independent, reusable component model. (Oracle)
JBP
See Java batch-processing program (JBP).
JDBC
See Java Database Connectivity (JDBC).
JMP
See Java message-processing program (JMP).
job control language (JCL)
A control language used to identify a job to an operating system and to describe the job's
requirements.

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JSON
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight data-interchange format.
JVM
See Java virtual machine (JVM).
JZOS
See Java Batch Launcher and Toolkit for z/OS.
K
K
When referring to storage capacity, two to the tenth power; 1024 in decimal notation.
* key
A data item that identifies the location of a record, or a set of data items that serve to identify the
ordering of data.
* key of reference
The key, either prime or alternate, currently being used to access records within an indexed file.
* keyword
A context-sensitive word or a reserved word whose presence is required when the format in which the
word appears is used in a source unit.
kilobyte (KB)
One kilobyte equals 1024 bytes.
L
* language-name
A system-name that specifies a particular programming language.
Language Environment
Short form of z/OS Language Environment. A set of architectural constructs and interfaces that
provides a common runtime environment and runtime services for C, C++, COBOL, FORTRAN and PL/I
applications. It is required for programs compiled by Language Environment-conforming compilers
and for Java applications.
Language Environment-conforming
A characteristic of compiler products (such as Enterprise COBOL, COBOL for OS/390 & VM, COBOL
for MVS & VM, C/C++ for MVS & VM, PL/I for MVS & VM) that produce object code conforming to the
Language Environment conventions.
last-used state
A state that a program is in if its internal values remain the same as when the program was exited (the
values are not reset to their initial values).
* letter
A character belonging to one of the following two sets:
1. Uppercase letters: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z
2. Lowercase letters: a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z
* level indicator
Two alphabetic characters that identify a specific type of file or a position in a hierarchy. The level
indicators in the DATA DIVISION are: CD, FD, and SD.
* level-number
A user-defined word (expressed as a two-digit number) that indicates the hierarchical position of
a data item or the special properties of a data description entry. Level-numbers in the range from
1 through 49 indicate the position of a data item in the hierarchical structure of a logical record.
Level-numbers in the range 1 through 9 can be written either as a single digit or as a zero followed by
a significant digit. Level-numbers 66, 77, and 88 identify special properties of a data description entry.
* library-name
A user-defined word that names a COBOL library that the compiler is to use for compiling a given
source program.

Glossary 893
 * library text
A sequence of text words, comment lines, inline comments, the separator space, or the separator
pseudo-text delimiter in a COBOL library.
Lilian date
The number of days since the beginning of the Gregorian calendar. Day one is Friday, October 15,
1582. The Lilian date format is named in honor of Luigi Lilio, the creator of the Gregorian calendar.
* linage-counter
A special register whose value points to the current position within the page body.
link
(1) The combination of the link connection (the transmission medium) and two link stations, one
at each end of the link connection. A link can be shared among multiple links in a multipoint or
token-ring configuration. (2) To interconnect items of data or portions of one or more computer
programs; for example, linking object programs by a linkage-editor to produce an executable file.
LINKAGE SECTION
The section in the DATA DIVISION of the called program or invoked method that describes data
items available from the calling program or invoking method. Both the calling program or invoking
method and the called program or invoked method can refer to these data items.
linker
A term that refers to either the z/OS binder (linkage-editor).
literal
A character string whose value is specified either by the ordered set of characters comprising the
string or by the use of a figurative constant.
little-endian
The default format that Intel processors use to store binary data and UTF-16 characters. In this
format, the most significant byte of a binary data item is at the highest address and the most
significant byte of a UTF-16 character is at the highest address. Compare with big-endian.
local reference
A reference to an object that is within the scope of your method.
locale
A set of attributes for a program execution environment that indicates culturally sensitive
considerations, such as character code page, collating sequence, date and time format, monetary
value representation, numeric value representation, or language.
* LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION
The section of the DATA DIVISION that defines storage that is allocated and freed on a per-
invocation basis, depending on the value assigned in the VALUE clauses.
* logical operator
One of the reserved words AND, OR, or NOT. In the formation of a condition, either AND, or OR, or both
can be used as logical connectives. NOT can be used for logical negation.
* logical record
The most inclusive data item. The level-number for a record is 01. A record can be either an
elementary item or a group of items. Synonymous with record.
* low-order end
The rightmost character of a string of characters.
M
main program
In a hierarchy of programs and subroutines, the first program that receives control when the programs
are run within a process.
makefile
A text file that contains a list of the files for your application. The make utility uses this file to update
the target files with the latest changes.

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* mass storage
A storage medium in which data can be organized and maintained in both a sequential manner and a
nonsequential manner.
* mass storage device
A device that has a large storage capacity, such as a magnetic disk.
* mass storage file
A collection of records that is stored in a mass storage medium.
* megabyte (MB)
One megabyte equals 1,048,576 bytes.
* merge file
A collection of records to be merged by a MERGE statement. The merge file is created and can be used
only by the merge function.
message-processing program (MPP)
An IMS application program that is driven by transactions and has access to online IMS databases and
message queues.
message queue
The data set on which messages are queued before being processed by an application program or
sent to a terminal.
method
Procedural code that defines an operation supported by an object and that is executed by an INVOKE
statement on that object.
* method definition
The COBOL source code that defines a method.
* method identification entry
An entry in the METHOD-ID paragraph of the IDENTIFICATION DIVISION; this entry contains a
clause that specifies the method-name.
method invocation
A communication from one object to another that requests the receiving object to execute a method.
method-name
The name of an object-oriented operation. When used to invoke the method, the name can be an
alphanumeric or national literal or a category alphanumeric or category national data item. When used
in the METHOD-ID paragraph to define the method, the name must be an alphanumeric or national
literal.
method hiding
See hide.
method overloading
See overload.
method overriding
See override.
* mnemonic-name
A user-defined word that is associated in the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION with a specified
implementor-name.
module definition file
A file that describes the code segments within a program object.
MPP
See message-processing program (MPP).
multitasking
A mode of operation that provides for the concurrent, or interleaved, execution of two or more tasks.
multithreading
Concurrent operation of more than one path of execution within a computer. Synonymous with
multiprocessing.

Glossary 895
 N
name
A word (composed of not more than 30 characters) that defines a COBOL operand.
namespace
See XML namespace.
national character
(1) A UTF-16 character in a USAGE NATIONAL data item or national literal. (2) Any character
represented in UTF-16.
national character data
A general reference to data represented in UTF-16.
national character position
See character position.
national data
See national character data.
national data item
A data item of category national, national-edited, or numeric-edited of USAGE NATIONAL.
national decimal data item
An external decimal data item that is described implicitly or explicitly as USAGE NATIONAL and that
contains a valid combination of PICTURE symbols 9, S, P, and V.
national-edited data item
A data item that is described by a PICTURE character string that contains at least one instance of the
symbol N and at least one of the simple insertion symbols B, 0, or /. A national-edited data item has
USAGE NATIONAL.
national floating-point data item
An external floating-point data item that is described implicitly or explicitly as USAGE NATIONAL and
that has a PICTURE character string that describes a floating-point data item.
national group item
A group item that is explicitly or implicitly described with a GROUP-USAGE NATIONAL clause. A
national group item is processed as though it were defined as an elementary data item of category
national for operations such as INSPECT, STRING, and UNSTRING. This processing ensures correct
padding and truncation of national characters, as contrasted with defining USAGE NATIONAL data
items within an alphanumeric group item. For operations that require processing of the elementary
items within a group, such as MOVE CORRESPONDING, ADD CORRESPONDING, and INITIALIZE, a
national group is processed using group semantics.
* native character set
The implementor-defined character set associated with the computer specified in the OBJECT-
COMPUTER paragraph.
* native collating sequence
The implementor-defined collating sequence associated with the computer specified in the OBJECT-
COMPUTER paragraph.
native method
A Java method with an implementation that is written in another programming language, such as
COBOL.
* negated combined condition
The NOT logical operator immediately followed by a parenthesized combined condition. See also
condition and combined condition.
* negated simple condition
The NOT logical operator immediately followed by a simple condition. See also condition and simple
condition.
nested program
A program that is directly contained within another program.

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* next executable sentence
The next sentence to which control will be transferred after execution of the current statement is
complete.
* next executable statement
The next statement to which control will be transferred after execution of the current statement is
complete.
* next record
The record that logically follows the current record of a file.
* noncontiguous items
Elementary data items in the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION and LINKAGE SECTION that bear no
hierarchic relationship to other data items.
* noncontiguous items
Elementary data items in the WORKING-STORAGE and LINKAGE SECTIONs that bear no hierarchic
relationship to other data items.
* nonnumeric item
A data item whose description permits its content to be composed of any combination of characters
taken from the computer's character set. Certain categories of nonnumeric items may be formed from
more restricted character sets.
null
A figurative constant that is used to assign, to pointer data items, the value of an address that is not
valid. NULLS can be used wherever NULL can be used.
* numeric character
A character that belongs to the following set of digits: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.
numeric data item
(1) A data item whose description restricts its content to a value represented by characters chosen
from the digits 0 through 9. If signed, the item can also contain a +, -, or other representation of
an operational sign. (2) A data item of category numeric, internal floating-point, or external floating-
point. A numeric data item can have USAGE DISPLAY, NATIONAL, PACKED-DECIMAL, BINARY, COMP,
COMP-1, COMP-2, COMP-3, COMP-4, or COMP-5.
numeric-edited data item
A data item that contains numeric data in a form suitable for use in printed output. The data item can
consist of external decimal digits from 0 through 9, the decimal separator, commas, the currency sign,
sign control characters, and other editing characters. A numeric-edited item can be represented in
either USAGE DISPLAY or USAGE NATIONAL.
* numeric function
A function whose class and category are numeric but that for some possible evaluation does not
satisfy the requirements of integer functions.
* numeric item
A data item whose description restricts its content to a value represented by characters chosen from
the digits from '0' through '9'; if signed, the item may also contain a '+', '-', or other representation of
an operational sign.
* numeric literal
A literal composed of one or more numeric characters that can contain a decimal point or an algebraic
sign, or both. The decimal point must not be the rightmost character. The algebraic sign, if present,
must be the leftmost character.
O
object
An entity that has state (its data values) and operations (its methods). An object is a way to
encapsulate state and behavior. Each object in the class is said to be an instance of the class.
object code
Output from a compiler or assembler that is itself executable machine code or is suitable for
processing to produce executable machine code.

Glossary 897
 * OBJECT-COMPUTER
The name of an ENVIRONMENT DIVISION paragraph in which the computer environment, where the
object program is run, is described.
* object computer entry
An entry in the OBJECT-COMPUTER paragraph of the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION; this entry contains
clauses that describe the computer environment in which the object program is to be executed.
object deck
A portion of an object program suitable as input to a linkage-editor. Synonymous with object module
and text deck.
object instance
A single object, of possibly many, instantiated from the specifications in the object paragraph of a
COBOL class definition. An object instance has a copy of all the data described in its class definition
and all inherited data. The methods associated with an object instance includes the methods defined
in its class definition and all inherited methods.
An object instance can be an instance of a Java class.
object module
Synonym for object deck or text deck.
* object of entry
A set of operands and reserved words, within a DATA DIVISION entry of a COBOL program, that
immediately follows the subject of the entry.
object-oriented programming
A programming approach based on the concepts of encapsulation and inheritance. Unlike procedural
programming techniques, object-oriented programming concentrates on the data objects that
comprise the problem and how they are manipulated, not on how something is accomplished.
object program
A set or group of executable machine-language instructions and other material designed to interact
with data to provide problem solutions. In this context, an object program is generally the machine
language result of the operation of a COBOL compiler on a source program or class definition. Where
there is no danger of ambiguity, the word program can be used in place of object program.
object reference
A value that identifies an instance of a class. If the class is not specified, the object reference is
universal and can apply to instances of any class.
* object time
The time at which an object program is executed. Synonymous with run time.
* obsolete element
A COBOL language element in the 85 COBOL Standard that was deleted from the 2002 COBOL
Standard.
ODO object
In the example below, X is the object of the OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause (ODO object).

WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 TABLE-1.
05 X PIC S9.
05 Y OCCURS 3 TIMES
DEPENDING ON X PIC X.

The value of the ODO object determines how many of the ODO subject appear in the table.
ODO subject
In the example above, Y is the subject of the OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause (ODO subject). The
number of Y ODO subjects that appear in the table depends on the value of X.

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* open mode
The state of a file after execution of an OPEN statement for that file and before the execution of a
CLOSE statement without the REEL or UNIT phrase for that file. The particular open mode is specified
in the OPEN statement as either INPUT, OUTPUT, I-O, or EXTEND.
* operand
(1) The general definition of operand is "the component that is operated upon." (2) For the purposes
of this document, any lowercase word (or words) that appears in a statement or entry format can
be considered to be an operand and, as such, is an implied reference to the data indicated by the
operand.
operation
A service that can be requested of an object.
* operational sign
An algebraic sign that is associated with a numeric data item or a numeric literal, to indicate whether
its value is positive or negative.
optional file
A file that is declared as being not necessarily available each time the object program is run.
* optional word
A reserved word that is included in a specific format only to improve the readability of the language.
Its presence is optional to the user when the format in which the word appears is used in a source
unit.
* output file
A file that is opened in either output mode or extend mode.
* output mode
The state of a file after execution of an OPEN statement, with the OUTPUT or EXTEND phrase specified,
for that file and before the execution of a CLOSE statement without the REEL or UNIT phrase for that
file.
* output procedure
A set of statements to which control is given during execution of a format 1 SORT statement after the
sort function is completed, or during execution of a MERGE statement after the merge function reaches
a point at which it can select the next record in merged order when requested.
overflow condition
A condition that occurs when a portion of the result of an operation exceeds the capacity of the
intended unit of storage.
overload
To define a method with the same name as another method that is available in the same class, but
with a different signature. See also signature.
override
To redefine an instance method (inherited from a parent class) in a subclass.
P
package
A group of related Java classes, which can be imported individually or as a whole.
packed-decimal data item
See internal decimal data item.
padding character
An alphanumeric or national character that is used to fill the unused character positions in a physical
record.
page
A vertical division of output data that represents a physical separation of the data. The separation is
based on internal logical requirements or external characteristics of the output medium or both.
* page body
That part of the logical page in which lines can be written or spaced or both.

Glossary 899
 * paragraph
In the PROCEDURE DIVISION, a paragraph-name followed by a separator period and by zero, one,
or more sentences. In the IDENTIFICATION DIVISION and ENVIRONMENT DIVISION, a paragraph
header followed by zero, one, or more entries.
* paragraph header
A reserved word, followed by the separator period, that indicates the beginning of a paragraph in the
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION and ENVIRONMENT DIVISION. The permissible paragraph headers in
the IDENTIFICATION DIVISION are:

PROGRAM-ID. (Program IDENTIFICATION

DIVISION)
CLASS-ID. (Class IDENTIFICATION DIVISION)
METHOD-ID. (Method IDENTIFICATION
DIVISION)
AUTHOR.
INSTALLATION.
DATE-WRITTEN.
DATE-COMPILED.
SECURITY.

The permissible paragraph headers in the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION are:

SOURCE-COMPUTER.
OBJECT-COMPUTER.
SPECIAL-NAMES.
REPOSITORY. (Program or Class
CONFIGURATION SECTION)
FILE-CONTROL.
I-O-CONTROL.

* paragraph-name
A user-defined word that identifies and begins a paragraph in the PROCEDURE DIVISION.
parameter
(1) Data passed between a calling program and a called program. (2) A data element in the USING
phrase of a method invocation. Arguments provide additional information that the invoked method
can use to perform the requested operation.
Persistent Reusable JVM
A JVM that can be serially reused for transaction processing by resetting the JVM between
transactions. The reset phase restores the JVM to a known initialization state.
* phrase
An ordered set of one or more consecutive COBOL character strings that form a portion of a COBOL
procedural statement or of a COBOL clause.
* physical record
See block.
pointer data item
A data item in which address values can be stored. Data items are explicitly defined as pointers with
the USAGE IS POINTER clause. ADDRESS OF special registers are implicitly defined as pointer data
items. Pointer data items can be compared for equality or moved to other pointer data items.
port
(1) To modify a computer program to enable it to run on a different platform. (2) In the Internet
suite of protocols, a specific logical connector between the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) or the
User Datagram Protocol (UDP) and a higher-level protocol or application. A port is identified by a port
number.
portability
The ability to transfer an application program from one application platform to another with relatively
few changes to the source program.

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precomposed character
A single Unicode character that can be represented using two or more Unicode characters through a
canonical decomposition. A precomposed character does not have the same physical representation
as its composed character form. For example, Unicode character U+00E4 (ä) is a precomposed
character that can be represented as a combination of Unicode characters U+0061 + U+0308 (ä) -
latin small letter a + combining diaeresis. A precomposed character is typically used to represent a
latin letter with a diacritical mark or some other combining character.
preinitialization
The initialization of the COBOL runtime environment in preparation for multiple calls from programs,
especially non-COBOL programs. The environment is not terminated until an explicit termination.
* prime record key
A key whose contents uniquely identify a record within an indexed file.
* priority-number
A user-defined word that classifies sections in the PROCEDURE DIVISION for purposes of
segmentation. Segment numbers can contain only the characters 0 through 9. A segment number
can be expressed as either one or two digits.
private
As applied to factory data or instance data, accessible only by methods of the class that defines the
data.
* procedure
A paragraph or group of logically successive paragraphs, or a section or group of logically successive
sections, within the PROCEDURE DIVISION.
* procedure branching statement
A statement that causes the explicit transfer of control to a statement other than the next executable
statement in the sequence in which the statements are written in the source code. The procedure
branching statements are: ALTER, CALL, EXIT, EXIT PROGRAM, GO TO, MERGE (with the OUTPUT
PROCEDURE phrase), PERFORM and SORT (with the INPUT PROCEDURE or OUTPUT PROCEDURE
phrase), XML PARSE.
PROCEDURE DIVISION
The COBOL division that contains instructions for solving a problem.
procedure integration
One of the functions of the COBOL optimizer is to simplify calls to performed procedures or contained
programs.
PERFORM procedure integration is the process whereby a PERFORM statement is replaced by its
performed procedures. Contained program procedure integration is the process where a call to a
contained program is replaced by the program code.
* procedure-name
A user-defined word that is used to name a paragraph or section in the PROCEDURE DIVISION. It
consists of a paragraph-name (which can be qualified) or a section-name.
procedure pointer
A data item in which a pointer to an entry point can be stored. A data item defined with the USAGE IS
PROCEDURE-POINTER clause contains the address of a procedure entry point.
procedure-pointer data item
A data item in which a pointer to an entry point can be stored. A data item defined with the USAGE
IS PROCEDURE-POINTER clause contains the address of a procedure entry point. Typically used to
communicate with COBOL and Language Environment programs.
process
The course of events that occurs during the execution of all or part of a program. Multiple processes
can run concurrently, and programs that run within a process can share resources.
program
(1) A sequence of instructions suitable for processing by a computer. Processing may include the use
of a compiler to prepare the program for execution, as well as a runtime environment to execute it. (2)

Glossary 901
 A logical assembly of one or more interrelated modules. Multiple copies of the same program can be
run in different processes.
program-name
In the IDENTIFICATION DIVISION and the end program marker, a user-defined word or an
alphanumeric literal that identifies a COBOL source program.
* program identification entry
In the PROGRAM-ID paragraph of the IDENTIFICATION DIVISION, an entry that contains clauses
that specify the program-name and assign selected program attributes to the program.
program-name
In the IDENTIFICATION DIVISION and the end program marker, a user-defined word or
alphanumeric literal that identifies a COBOL source program.
project
The complete set of data and actions that are required to build a target, such as a dynamic link library
(DLL) or other executable (EXE).
* pseudo-text
A sequence of text words, comment lines, inline comments, or the separator space in a source
program or COBOL library bounded by, but not including, pseudo-text delimiters.
* pseudo-text delimiter
Two contiguous equal sign characters (==) used to delimit pseudo-text.
* punctuation character
A character that belongs to the following set:

Character Meaning
, Comma
; Semicolon
: Colon
. Period (full stop)
" Quotation mark
( Left parenthesis
) Right parenthesis
Space
= Equal sign

Q
QSAM (Queued Sequential Access Method)
An extended version of the basic sequential access method (BSAM). When this method is used, a
queue is formed of input data blocks that are awaiting processing or of output data blocks that have
been processed and are awaiting transfer to auxiliary storage or to an output device.
* qualified data-name
An identifier that is composed of a data-name followed by one or more sets of either of the
connectives OF and IN followed by a data-name qualifier.
* qualifier
(1) A data-name or a name associated with a level indicator that is used in a reference either together
with another data-name (which is the name of an item that is subordinate to the qualifier) or together
with a condition-name. (2) A section-name that is used in a reference together with a paragraph-name
specified in that section. (3) A library-name that is used in a reference together with a text-name
associated with that library.
R

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* random access
An access mode in which the program-specified value of a key data item identifies the logical record
that is obtained from, deleted from, or placed into a relative or indexed file.
* record
See logical record.
* record area
A storage area allocated for the purpose of processing the record described in a record description
entry in the FILE SECTION of the DATA DIVISION. In the FILE SECTION, the current number of
character positions in the record area is determined by the explicit or implicit RECORD clause.
* record description
See record description entry.
* record description entry
The total set of data description entries associated with a particular record. Synonymous with record
description.
recording mode
The format of the logical records in a file. Recording mode can be F (fixed-length), V (variable-length),
S (spanned), or U (undefined).
record key
A key whose contents identify a record within an indexed file.
* record-name
A user-defined word that names a record described in a record description entry in the DATA
DIVISION of a COBOL program.
* record number
The ordinal number of a record in the file whose organization is sequential.
recording mode
The format of the logical records in a file. Recording mode can be F (fixed length), V (variable length),
S (spanned), or U (undefined).
recursion
A program calling itself or being directly or indirectly called by one of its called programs.
recursively capable
A program is recursively capable (can be called recursively) if the RECURSIVE attribute is on the
PROGRAM-ID statement.
reel
A discrete portion of a storage medium, the dimensions of which are determined by each implementor
that contains part of a file, all of a file, or any number of files. Synonymous with unit and volume.
reentrant
The attribute of a program or routine that lets more than one user share a single copy of a program
object.
* reference format
A format that provides a standard method for describing COBOL source programs.
reference modification
A method of defining a new category alphanumeric, category DBCS, or category national data item
by specifying the leftmost character and length relative to the leftmost character position of a USAGE
DISPLAY, DISPLAY-1, or NATIONAL data item.
* reference-modifier
A syntactically correct combination of character strings and separators that defines a unique data
item. It includes a delimiting left parenthesis separator, the leftmost character position, a colon
separator, optionally a length, and a delimiting right parenthesis separator.
* relation
See relational operator or relation condition.
* relation character
A character that belongs to the following set:

Glossary 903
 Character Meaning
> Greater than
< Less than
= Equal to

* relation condition
The proposition (for which a truth value can be determined) that the value of an arithmetic expression,
data item, alphanumeric literal, or index-name has a specific relationship to the value of another
arithmetic expression, data item, alphanumeric literal, or index name. See also relational operator.
* relational operator
A reserved word, a relation character, a group of consecutive reserved words, or a group of
consecutive reserved words and relation characters used in the construction of a relation condition.
The permissible operators and their meanings are:

Character Meaning
IS GREATER THAN Greater than
IS > Greater than
IS NOT GREATER THAN Not greater than
IS NOT > Not greater than

IS LESS THAN Less than

IS < Less than
IS NOT LESS THAN Not less than
IS NOT < Not less than

IS EQUAL TO Equal to
IS = Equal to
IS NOT EQUAL TO Not equal to
IS NOT = Not equal to

IS GREATER THAN OR EQUAL TO Greater than or equal to

IS >= Greater than or equal to

IS LESS THAN OR EQUAL TO Less than or equal to

IS <= Less than or equal to

* relative file
A file with relative organization.
* relative key
A key whose contents identify a logical record in a relative file.
* relative organization
The permanent logical file structure in which each record is uniquely identified by an integer value
greater than zero, which specifies the logical ordinal position of the record in the file.
* relative record number
The ordinal number of a record in a file whose organization is relative. This number is treated as a
numeric literal that is an integer.

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* reserved word
A COBOL word that is specified in the list of words that can be used in a COBOL source program, but
that must not appear in the program as a user-defined word or system-name.
* resource
A facility or service, controlled by the operating system, that an executing program can use.
* resultant identifier
A user-defined data item that is to contain the result of an arithmetic operation.
reusable environment
A reusable environment is created when you establish an assembler program as the main program by
using either the old COBOL interfaces for preinitialization (RTEREUS runtime option), or the Language
Environment interface, CEEPIPI.
routine
A set of statements in a COBOL program that causes the computer to perform an operation or series
of related operations. In Language Environment, refers to either a procedure, function, or subroutine.
* routine-name
A user-defined word that identifies a procedure written in a language other than COBOL.
* run time
The time at which an object program is executed. Synonymous with object time.
runtime environment
The environment in which a COBOL program executes.
* run unit
A stand-alone object program, or several object programs, that interact by means of COBOL CALL or
INVOKE statements and function at run time as an entity.
A run unit is also called an enclave in Language Environment terminology.
S
SBCS
See single-byte character set (SBCS).
scope terminator
A COBOL reserved word that marks the end of certain PROCEDURE DIVISION statements.It can be
either explicit (END-ADD, for example) or implicit (separator period).
* section
A set of zero, one, or more paragraphs or entities, called a section body, the first of which is preceded
by a section header. Each section consists of the section header and the related section body.
* section header
A combination of words followed by a separator period that indicates the beginning of a section in
any of these divisions: ENVIRONMENT, DATA, or PROCEDURE. In the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION and
DATA DIVISION, a section header is composed of reserved words followed by a separator period.
The permissible section headers in the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION are:

CONFIGURATION SECTION.
INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.

The permissible section headers in the DATA DIVISION are:

FILE SECTION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION.
LINKAGE SECTION.

In the PROCEDURE DIVISION, a section header is composed of a section-name, followed by the

reserved word SECTION, followed by a separator period.

Glossary 905
 * section-name
A user-defined word that names a section in the PROCEDURE DIVISION.
segmentation
A feature of Enterprise COBOL that is based on the 85 COBOL Standard segmentation module. The
segmentation feature uses priority-numbers in section headers to assign sections to fixed segments
or independent segments. Segment classification affects whether procedures contained in a segment
receive control in initial state or last-used state.
selection structure
A program processing logic in which one or another series of statements is executed, depending on
whether a condition is true or false.
* sentence
A sequence of one or more statements, the last of which is terminated by a separator period.
* separately compiled program
A program that, together with its contained programs, is compiled separately from all other programs.
* separator
A character or two or more contiguous characters used to delimit character strings.
* separator comma
A comma (,) followed by a space used to delimit character strings.
* separator period
A period (.) followed by a space used to delimit character strings.
* separator semicolon
A semicolon (;) followed by a space used to delimit character strings.
sequence structure
A program processing logic in which a series of statements is executed in sequential order.
* sequential access
An access mode in which logical records are obtained from or placed into a file in a consecutive
predecessor-to-successor logical record sequence determined by the order of records in the file.
* sequential file
A file with sequential organization.
* sequential organization
The permanent logical file structure in which a record is identified by a predecessor-successor
relationship established when the record is placed into the file.
serial search
A search in which the members of a set are consecutively examined, beginning with the first member
and ending with the last.
session bean
In EJB, an enterprise bean that is created by a client and that usually exists only for the duration of a
single client/server session. (Oracle)
77-level-description-entry
A data description entry that describes a noncontiguous data item that has level-number 77.
* sign condition
The proposition (for which a truth value can be determined) that the algebraic value of a data item or
an arithmetic expression is either less than, greater than, or equal to zero.
signature
(1) The name of an operation and its parameters. (2) The name of a method and the number and types
of its formal parameters.
* simple condition
Any single condition chosen from this set:
• Relation condition
• Class condition

906 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
 • Condition-name condition
• Switch-status condition
• Sign condition
See also condition and negated simple condition.
single-byte character set (SBCS)
A set of characters in which each character is represented by a single byte. See also ASCII and
EBCDIC (Extended Binary-Coded Decimal Interchange Code).
slack bytes (within records)
Bytes inserted by the compiler between data items to ensure correct alignment of some elementary
data items. Slack bytes contain no meaningful data. The SYNCHRONIZED clause instructs the
compiler to insert slack bytes when they are needed for proper alignment.
slack bytes (between records)
Bytes inserted by the programmer between blocked logical records of a file, to ensure correct
alignment of some elementary data items. In some cases, slack bytes between records improve
performance for records processed in a buffer.
* sort file
A collection of records to be sorted by a format 1 SORT statement. The sort file is created and can be
used by the sort function only.
* sort-merge file description entry
An entry in the FILE SECTION of the DATA DIVISION that is composed of the level indicator SD,
followed by a file-name, and then followed by a set of file clauses as required.
* SOURCE-COMPUTER
The name of an ENVIRONMENT DIVISION paragraph in which the computer environment, where the
source program is compiled, is described.
* source computer entry
An entry in the SOURCE-COMPUTER paragraph of the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION; this entry contains
clauses that describe the computer environment in which the source program is to be compiled.
* source item
An identifier designated by a SOURCE clause that provides the value of a printable item.
source program
Although a source program can be represented by other forms and symbols, in this document the
term always refers to a syntactically correct set of COBOL statements. A COBOL source program
commences with the IDENTIFICATION DIVISION or a COPY statement and terminates with the end
program marker, if specified, or with the absence of additional source program lines.
source unit
A unit of COBOL source code that can be separately compiled: a program or a class definition. Also
known as a compilation unit.
special character
A character that belongs to the following set:

Character Meaning
+ Plus sign
- Minus sign (hyphen)
* Asterisk
/ Slant (forward slash)
= Equal sign
$ Currency sign
, Comma
; Semicolon

Glossary 907
 Character Meaning
. Period (decimal point, full stop)
" Quotation mark
' Apostrophe
( Left parenthesis
) Right parenthesis
> Greater than
< Less than
: Colon
_ Underscore

SPECIAL-NAMES
The name of an ENVIRONMENT DIVISION paragraph in which environment-names are related to
user-specified mnemonic-names.
* special names entry
An entry in the SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph of the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION; this entry provides
means for specifying the currency sign; choosing the decimal point; specifying symbolic characters;
relating implementor-names to user-specified mnemonic-names; relating alphabet-names to
character sets or collating sequences; and relating class-names to sets of characters.
* special registers
Certain compiler-generated storage areas whose primary use is to store information produced in
conjunction with the use of a specific COBOL feature.
* standard data format
The concept used in describing the characteristics of data in a COBOL DATA DIVISION under which
the characteristics or properties of the data are expressed in a form oriented to the appearance of the
data on a printed page of infinite length and breadth, rather than a form oriented to the manner in
which the data is stored internally in the computer, or on a particular external medium.
* statement
A syntactically valid combination of words, literals, and separators, beginning with a verb, written in a
COBOL source program.
structured programming
A technique for organizing and coding a computer program in which the program comprises a
hierarchy of segments, each segment having a single entry point and a single exit point. Control
is passed downward through the structure without unconditional branches to higher levels of the
hierarchy.
* subclass
A class that inherits from another class. When two classes in an inheritance relationship are
considered together, the subclass is the inheritor or inheriting class; the superclass is the inheritee or
inherited class.
* subject of entry
An operand or reserved word that appears immediately following the level indicator or the level-
number in a DATA DIVISION entry.
* subprogram
See called program.
* subscript
An occurrence number that is represented by either an integer, a data-name optionally followed by an
integer with the operator + or -, or an index-name optionally followed by an integer with the operator
+ or -, that identifies a particular element in a table. A subscript can be the word ALL when the
subscripted identifier is used as a function argument for a function allowing a variable number of
arguments.

908 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
* subscripted data-name
An identifier that is composed of a data-name followed by one or more subscripts enclosed in
parentheses.
substitution character
A character that is used in a conversion from a source code page to a target code page to represent a
character that is not defined in the target code page.
* superclass
A class that is inherited by another class. See also subclass.
surrogate pair
In the UTF-16 format of Unicode, a pair of encoding units that together represents a single Unicode
graphic character. The first unit of the pair is called a high surrogate and the second a low surrogate.
The code value of a high surrogate is in the range X'D800' through X'DBFF'. The code value of a low
surrogate is in the range X'DC00' through X'DFFF'. Surrogate pairs provide for more characters than
the 65,536 characters that fit in the Unicode 16-bit coded character set.
switch-status condition
The proposition (for which a truth value can be determined) that an UPSI switch, capable of being set
to an on or off status, has been set to a specific status.
* symbolic-character
A user-defined word that specifies a user-defined figurative constant.
syntax
(1) The relationship among characters or groups of characters, independent of their meanings or
the manner of their interpretation and use. (2) The structure of expressions in a language. (3) The
rules governing the structure of a language. (4) The relationship among symbols. (5) The rules for the
construction of a statement.
* system-name
A COBOL word that is used to communicate with the operating environment.
T
* table
A set of logically consecutive items of data that are defined in the DATA DIVISION by means of the
OCCURS clause.
* table element
A data item that belongs to the set of repeated items comprising a table.
text deck
Synonym for object deck or object module.
* text-name
A user-defined word that identifies library text.
* text word
A character or a sequence of contiguous characters between margin A and margin R in a COBOL
library, source program, or pseudo-text that is any of the following characters:
• A separator, except for space; a pseudo-text delimiter; and the opening and closing delimiters for
alphanumeric literals. The right parenthesis and left parenthesis characters, regardless of context
within the library, source program, or pseudo-text, are always considered text words.
• A literal including, in the case of alphanumeric literals, the opening quotation mark and the closing
quotation mark that bound the literal.
• Any other sequence of contiguous COBOL characters except comment lines and the word COPY
bounded by separators that are neither a separator nor a literal.
thread
A stream of computer instructions (initiated by an application within a process) that is in control of a
process.

Glossary 909
 token
In the COBOL editor, a unit of meaning in a program. A token can contain data, a language keyword, an
identifier, or other part of the language syntax.
top-down design
The design of a computer program using a hierarchic structure in which related functions are
performed at each level of the structure.
top-down development
See structured programming.
trailer-label
(1) A data-set label that follows the data records on a unit of recording medium. (2) Synonym for
end-of-file label.
troubleshoot
To detect, locate, and eliminate problems in using computer software.
* truth value
The representation of the result of the evaluation of a condition in terms of one of two values: true or
false.
typed object reference
A data-name that can refer only to an object of a specified class or any of its subclasses.
U
* unary operator
A plus (+) or a minus (-) sign that precedes a variable or a left parenthesis in an arithmetic expression
and that has the effect of multiplying the expression by +1 or -1, respectively.
unbounded table
A table with OCCURS integer-1 to UNBOUNDED instead of specifying integer-2 as the upper
bound.
Unicode
A universal character encoding standard that supports the interchange, processing, and display of text
that is written in any of the languages of the modern world. There are multiple encoding schemes to
represent Unicode, including UTF-8, UTF-16, and UTF-32. Enterprise COBOL supports Unicode using
UTF-16 in big-endian format as the representation for the national data type.
Uniform Resource Identifier (URI)
A sequence of characters that uniquely names a resource; in Enterprise COBOL, the identifier of a
namespace. URI syntax is defined by the document Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax.
unit
A module of direct access, the dimensions of which are determined by IBM.
universal object reference
A data-name that can refer to an object of any class.
unrestricted storage
Storage below the 2 GB bar. It can be above or below the 16 MB line. If it is above the 16 MB line, it is
addressable only in 31-bit mode.
* unsuccessful execution
The attempted execution of a statement that does not result in the execution of all the operations
specified by that statement. The unsuccessful execution of a statement does not affect any data
referenced by that statement, but can affect status indicators.
UPSI switch
A program switch that performs the functions of a hardware switch. Eight are provided: UPSI-0
through UPSI-7.
URI
See Uniform Resource Identifier (URI).
* user-defined word
A COBOL word that must be supplied by the user to satisfy the format of a clause or statement.

910 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
V
* variable
A data item whose value can be changed by execution of the object program. A variable used in an
arithmetic expression must be a numeric elementary item.
variable-length item
A group item that contains a table described with the DEPENDING phrase of the OCCURS clause.
* variable-length record
A record associated with a file whose file description or sort-merge description entry permits records
to contain a varying number of character positions.
* variable-occurrence data item
A variable-occurrence data item is a table element that is repeated a variable number of times.
Such an item must contain an OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause in its data description entry or be
subordinate to such an item.
* variably located group
A group item following, and not subordinate to, a variable-length table in the same record. The group
item can be an alphanumeric group or a national group.
* variably located item
A data item following, and not subordinate to, a variable-length table in the same record.
* verb
A word that expresses an action to be taken by a COBOL compiler or object program.
volume
A module of external storage. For tape devices it is a reel; for direct-access devices it is a unit.
volume switch procedures
System-specific procedures that are executed automatically when the end of a unit or reel has been
reached before end-of-file has been reached.
VSAM file system
A file system that supports COBOL sequential, relative, and indexed organizations.
W
web service
A modular application that performs specific tasks and is accessible through open protocols like HTTP
and SOAP.
white space
Characters that introduce space into a document. They are:
• Space
• Horizontal tabulation
• Carriage return
• Line feed
• Next line
as named in the Unicode Standard.
* word
A character string of not more than 30 characters that forms a user-defined word, a system-name, a
reserved word, or a function-name.
* WORKING-STORAGE SECTION
The section of the DATA DIVISION that describes WORKING-STORAGE data items, composed either
of noncontiguous items or WORKING-STORAGE records or of both.
workstation
A generic term for computers, including personal computers, 3270 terminals, intelligent workstations,
and UNIX terminals. Often a workstation is connected to a mainframe or to a network.

Glossary 911
 wrapper
An object that provides an interface between object-oriented code and procedure-oriented code.
Using wrappers lets programs be reused and accessed by other systems.
X
x
The symbol in a PICTURE clause that can hold any character in the character set of the computer.
XML
Extensible Markup Language. A standard metalanguage for defining markup languages that was
derived from and is a subset of SGML. XML omits the more complex and less-used parts of SGML and
makes it much easier to write applications to handle document types, author and manage structured
information, and transmit and share structured information across diverse computing systems. The
use of XML does not require the robust applications and processing that is necessary for SGML. XML is
developed under the auspices of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).
XML data
Data that is organized into a hierarchical structure with XML elements. The data definitions are
defined in XML element type declarations.
XML declaration
XML text that specifies characteristics of the XML document such as the version of XML being used
and the encoding of the document.
XML document
A data object that is well formed as defined by the W3C XML specification.
XML namespace
A mechanism, defined by the W3C XML Namespace specifications, that limits the scope of a collection
of element names and attribute names. A uniquely chosen XML namespace ensures the unique
identity of an element name or attribute name across multiple XML documents or multiple contexts
within an XML document.
XML schema
A mechanism, defined by the W3C, for describing and constraining the structure and content of XML
documents. An XML schema, which is itself expressed in XML, effectively defines a class of XML
documents of a given type, for example, purchase orders.
Z
z/OS UNIX file system
A collection of files and directories that are organized in a hierarchical structure and can be accessed
by using z/OS UNIX.
zoned decimal data item
An external decimal data item that is described implicitly or explicitly as USAGE DISPLAY and that
contains a valid combination of PICTURE symbols 9, S, P, and V. The content of a zoned decimal data
item is represented in characters 0 through 9, optionally with a sign. If the PICTURE string specifies a
sign and the SIGN IS SEPARATE clause is specified, the sign is represented as characters + or -. If
SIGN IS SEPARATE is not specified, the sign is one hexadecimal digit that overlays the first 4 bits of
the sign position (leading or trailing).
#
85 COBOL Standard
The COBOL language defined by the following standards:
• ANSI INCITS 23-1985, Programming languages - COBOL, as amended by ANSI INCITS 23a-1989,
Programming Languages - COBOL - Intrinsic Function Module for COBOL and ANSI INCITS 23b-1993,
Programming Languages - Correction Amendment for COBOL
• ISO 1989:1985, Programming languages - COBOL, as amended by ISO/IEC 1989/AMD1:1992,
Programming languages - COBOL: Intrinsic function module and ISO/IEC 1989/AMD2:1994,
Programming languages - Correction and clarification amendment for COBOL

912 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
2002 COBOL Standard
The COBOL language defined by the following standard:
• INCITS/ISO/IEC 1989-2002, Information technology - Programming languages - COBOL
2014 COBOL Standard
The COBOL language defined by the following standard:
• INCITS/ISO/IEC 1989:2014, Information technology - Programming languages, their environments
and system software interfaces - Programming language COBOL

Glossary 913
914 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
List of resources

Enterprise COBOL for z/OS

COBOL for z/OS publications
You can find the following publications in the Enterprise COBOL for z/OS library:
• What's new
• Customization Guide, SC27-8712-01
• Language Reference, SC27-8713-01
• Programming Guide, SC27-8714-01
• Migration Guide, GC27-8715-01
• Performance Tuning Guide, SC27-9202-00
• Messages and Codes, SC27-4648-00
• Program Directory, GI13-4526-01
• Licensed Program Specifications, GI13-4532-01

Softcopy publications
The following collection kits contain Enterprise COBOL and other product publications. You can find them
at http://www.ibm.com/e-business/linkweb/publications/servlet/pbi.wss.
• z/OS Software Products Collection
• z/OS and Software Products DVD Collection

Support

If you have a problem using Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, see the following site that provides
up-to-date support information: https://www.ibm.com/support/home/product/B984385H82239E03/
Enterprise_COBOL_for_z/OS.

Related publications
z/OS library publications
You can find the following publications in the z/OS library.
Run-Time Library Extensions
• Common Debug Architecture Library Reference
• Common Debug Architecture User’s Guide
• DWARF/ELF Extensions Library Reference
z/Architecture
• Principles of Operation
z/OS DFSMS
• Access Method Services for Catalogs
• Checkpoint/Restart

© Copyright IBM Corp. 1991, 2023 915

 • Macro Instructions for Data Sets
• Using Data Sets
• Utilities
z/OS DFSORT
• Application Programming Guide
• Installation and Customization
z/OS ISPF
• Dialog Developer's Guide and Reference
• User's Guide Vol I
• User's Guide Vol II
z/OS Language Environment
• Concepts Guide
• Customization
• Debugging Guide
• Language Environment Vendor Interfaces
• Programming Guide
• Programming Reference
• Run-Time Messages
• Run-Time Application Migration Guide
• Writing Interlanguage Communication Applications
z/OS MVS
• JCL Reference
• JCL User's Guide
• Programming: Callable Services for High-Level Languages
• Program Management: User's Guide and Reference
• System Commands
• z/OS Unicode Services User's Guide and Reference
• z/OS XML System Services User's Guide and Reference
z/OS TSO/E
• Command Reference
• Primer
• User's Guide
z/OS UNIX System Services
• Command Reference
• Programming: Assembler Callable Services Reference
• User's Guide
z/OS XL C/C++
• Programming Guide
• Run-Time Library Reference

CICS Transaction Server for z/OS

You can find the following publications in the CICS library:

916 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
• Developing CICS Applications
• API (EXEC CICS) Reference
• Developing CICS System Programs
• Global User Exit Reference
• XPI Reference
• Using EXCI with CICS

COBOL Report Writer Precompiler

• Programmer's Manual, SC26-4301
• Installation and Operation, SC26-4302

Db2 for z/OS

You can find the following publications in the Db2 library:
• Application Programming and SQL Guide
• Command Reference
• SQL Reference

IBM Debug for z/OS (formerly IBM Debug for z Systems and IBM Debug Tool for
z/OS)
You can find information about IBM Debug for z/OS in the IBM Debug for z/OS library.
IBM Debug for z/OS supersedes IBM Debug for z Systems and IBM Debug Tool for z/OS. Not all
references to IBM Debug for z Systems and IBM Debug Tool for z/OS have been changed in the COBOL
documentation library. It is recommended that you upgrade your debugger to the latest level in order
to have the full range of debugging features available. In some cases, you must upgrade your debugger
to a certain version depending on what level of Enterprise COBOL you are using to create the COBOL
application:
• IBM Debug Tool V13.1 supports Enterprise COBOL V5.1 and earlier versions
• IBM Debug for z Systems V14.0 supports Enterprise COBOL V6.1 and earlier versions
• IBM Debug for z Systems V14.1 supports Enterprise COBOL V6.2 and earlier versions
To find out which IBM debug product best suits your needs, see https://www.ibm.com/support/
knowledgecenter/SSQ2R2_14.2.0/com.ibm.debug.cg.doc/common/dcompo.html?sc=SSQ2R2_latest.

IBM Developer for z/OS (formerly IBM Developer for z Systems)

You can find information about IBM Developer for z Systems in the IBM Developer for z/OS library.
Note: IBM Developer for z/OS supersedes IBM Developer for z Systems and Rational® Developer for z
Systems.
You can find the following publications by searching their publication numbers in the IBM Publications
Center.

IMS
• Application Programming API Reference, SC18-9699
• Application Programming Guide, SC18-9698

WebSphere Application Server for z/OS

• Applications, SA22-7959

List of resources 917

 Softcopy publications for z/OS
The following collection kit contains z/OS and related product publications:
• z/OS CD Collection Kit, SK3T-4269

Java
• IBM SDK for Java - Tools Documentation, publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/javasdk/tools/index.jsp
• The Java 2 Enterprise Edition Developer's Guide, download.oracle.com/javaee/1.2.1/devguide/html/
DevGuideTOC.html
• Java 2 on z/OS, www.ibm.com/servers/eserver/zseries/software/java/
• The Java EE 5 Tutorial, download.oracle.com/javaee/5/tutorial/doc/
• The Java Language Specification, Third Edition, by Gosling et al., java.sun.com/docs/books/jls/
• The Java Native Interface, download.oracle.com/javase/1.5.0/docs/guide/jni/
• JDK 5.0 Documentation, download.oracle.com/javase/1.5.0/docs/

JSON
• JavaScript Object Notation (JSON), www.json.org

Unicode and character representation

• Unicode, www.unicode.org/
• Character Data Representation Architecture Reference and Registry, SC09-2190

XML
• Extensible Markup Language (XML), www.w3.org/XML/
• Namespaces in XML 1.0, www.w3.org/TR/xml-names/
• Namespaces in XML 1.1, www.w3.org/TR/xml-names11/
• XML specification, www.w3.org/TR/xml/

918 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
Index

Special Characters 16 MB line (continued)

performance options 677
_BPX_SHAREAS environment variable 463 24-bit addressing mode 39
_CEE_ENVFILE environment variable 31-bit addressing mode
description 461 dynamic call 478
indicating Java settings 286 64-bit addressing
_CEE_RUNOPTS environment variable no support 39
description 461 85 COBOL Standard
setting XPLINK 288 checkpoints 655
specifying runtime options 459 required compiler options 295
_IGZ_SYSOUT environment variable required runtime options 295
setting 461
writing to stdout or stderr 37
-? cob2 option for displaying the compiler manual page 279
A
-# cob2 option for displaying compile and link steps 279 a suffix with cob2 279
-b cob2 option a.out file from cob2 279
for creating DLLs 276 abends, compile-time 316
for passing information to the linker 277 ACCEPT statement
-c cob2 option for compiling but not linking 278 assigning input 35
-comprc_ok cob2 option for controlling compiler based on reading from stdin 35
return code 278 under CICS 431
-dbrmlib cob2 option for specifying the location to be used access JCL parameters
for DBRM 278 CEE3PR2 863
-e cob2 option for specifying entry point 278 coding 863
-g cob2 option equivalent to specifying TEST 278 LINKAGE SECTION 863
-help cob2 option for displaying the compiler manual page access method services
278 build alternate indexes in advance 201
-I cob2 option for searching copybooks 278 defining VSAM data sets to z/OS 196
-l cob2 option for specifying archive library name 278 loading a VSAM data set 190
-L cob2 option for specifying archive library path 278 accessibility
-o cob2 option for specifying output file 279 of Enterprise COBOL for z/OS
-q cob2 option for specifying compiler options 279 865
-v cob2 option for displaying and executing compile and link of this information 865
steps 279 using z/OS 865
! character, hexadecimal values 558 accessibility features for this product 865
.a suffix with cob2 279 ADATA compiler option 297
.adt file 297 adding records
.adt suffix with cob2 280 to line-sequential files 209
.cbl suffix with cob2 279 to QSAM files 167
.dbg suffix with cob2 280 to VSAM files 192
.dbrm suffix with cob2 280 ADDRESS OF special register
.dek suffix with cob2 280 use in CALL statement 492
.lst suffix with cob2 280 addresses
.o suffix with cob2 279, 280 incrementing 498
.x suffix with cob2 279, 280 NULL value 497
[ character, hexadecimal values 558 passing between programs 497
] character, hexadecimal values 558 passing entry-point addresses 486
*CBL statement 377 addressing mode, definition 39
*CONTROL statement 377 ADEXIT suboption of EXIT option
# character, hexadecimal values 558 processing of 728
| character, hexadecimal values 558 syntax 318
ADMODE attribute
Numerics with multithreading 523
adt suffix with cob2 280
16 MB line ADV compiler option 297
CICS programs 430 AFP compiler option
IMS programs 430 performance considerations 676

Index 919
AIXBLD runtime option alternate reserved-word table (continued)
effect on performance 681 specifying 369
ALL subscript AMODE
examples 88 and DLLs 511
processing table elements iteratively 88 description 39
table elements as function arguments 57 of EXIT modules 722
ALL31 runtime option switching
multioption interaction 40 ALL31(OFF) 478
OFF for AMODE switching 478 examples 478
ALLOCATE command (TSO) overview 478
compiler data sets 252 AMODE 64
with z/OS UNIX files considerations 467–469
252 interaction 467
allocation of files AMP parameter 199
description 154 ANNUITY intrinsic function 61
line-sequential 206 APIs, UNIX and POSIX
QSAM 170 calling 462
under TSO 252 APOST compiler option 298
VSAM 198 APPLY WRITE-ONLY clause 10
ALPHABET clause, establishing collating sequence with 7 ARCH compiler option
alphabetic data performance considerations 676
comparing to national 147 arguments
MOVE statement with 32 describing in calling program 494
alphanumeric comparison 95 from main program
alphanumeric data accessing in z/OS 504
comparing accessing in z/OS UNIX
effect of ZWB 375 464
to national 147 passing BY VALUE 494
converting specifying OMITTED 495
to DBCS with IGZCA2D 701 testing for OMITTED arguments 495
to national with MOVE 137 ARITH compiler option
to national with NATIONAL-OF 138 description 300
MOVE statement with 32 performance considerations 676
with double-byte characters 701 arithmetic
alphanumeric group item COMPUTE statement simpler to code 55
a group without GROUP-USAGE NATIONAL 25 error handling 232
definition 24 with intrinsic functions 56
alphanumeric literals arithmetic comparisons 63
conversion of mixed DBCS/EBCDIC 701 arithmetic evaluation
description 25 conversions and precision 52
with DBCS content 148 data format conversion 51
with double-byte characters 701 examples 62, 63
alphanumeric-edited data fixed-point contrasted with floating-point 62
initializing intermediate results 691
example 29 performance tips 670
using INITIALIZE 74 precedence 56, 692
MOVE statement with 32 precision 691
alternate collating sequence arithmetic expression
choosing 221 as reference modifier 111
example 7 description of 56
alternate entry point, calling 488 in nonarithmetic statement 699
alternate index in parentheses 56
creating 196 arrays
example of 197 COBOL 39
password for 195 Java
path 197 declaring 638
performance considerations 202 manipulating 640
using 183 ASCII
ALTERNATE RECORD KEY clause alphabet, QSAM 177
identify alternate indexes 197 code pages supported in XML documents 554
identifying alternate keys in KSDS files 183 converting to EBCDIC 116
alternate reserved-word job control language (JCL) 177
table record formats, QSAM 177
CICS 436 tape files, QSAM 177

920 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
ASCII files binding OO applications
CODE-SET clause 13 example 287
OPTCD= parameter in DCB 13 using JCL or TSO/E 286
assembler BIT-OF intrinsic function 116
expansion of PROCEDURE DIVISION 402 BIT-TO-CHAR intrinsic function 117
programs BLANK WHEN ZERO clause
calls from (in CICS) 431 coded for numeric data 130
compiling from 254 example with numeric-edited data 45
listing of 331, 674 BLOCK CONTAINS clause
with multithreading 522 FILE SECTION entry 13
ASSIGN clause no meaning for VSAM files 185
corresponds to ddname 8 QSAM files 159, 164, 302
QSAM files 157 block size
assigning values 27 ASCII files 178
assistive technologies 865 compiler data sets 259
associated-data file, creating 262 QSAM files
asynchronous signals with multithreading 523 fixed-length 158
AT END (end-of-file) phrase 236 record layout 160
ATTACH macro 254 using DCB 171
attribute methods 605 variable-length 159
automatic restart 658 system-determined
available files compiler data sets 259
QSAM 167 QSAM files 164, 302
VSAM 195 BLOCK0 compiler option
AWO compiler option description 302
APPLY-WRITE ONLY clause performance performance considerations 676
10 blocking factor, definition 159
description 302 blocking QSAM files
performance considerations 676 using BLOCK CONTAINS clause 164
using BLOCK0 302
blocking records 164
B BPXBATCH utility
Base class calling z/OS UNIX programs
equating to java.lang.Object 598 460
using for java.lang.Object 597 running OO applications 286
base cluster name 197 branch, implicit 99
base locator 397, 399 buffers
base locator table 418 best use of 10
basis libraries 260 obtaining for QSAM 176
BASIS statement 377 BUFSIZE compiler option 303
batch compilation BY CONTENT 491
description 266 BY REFERENCE 491
LANGUAGE option BY VALUE
example 269 description 491
precedence of options restrictions 494
example 268 valid data types 494
overview 268 byte order mark not generated 582
Bibliography 915 BYTE-LENGTH intrinsic function
big-endian, converting to little-endian 129 using 118
binary data 336 with national data 121
binary data item byte-stream files
general description 48 processing with QSAM 176
intermediate results 696
synonyms 46 C
using efficiently 48, 671
binary digits, converting from 117 C/C++ programs
binary digits, converting to 116 with COBOL DLLs 514
binary search with multithreading 522
description 86 c89 command for link step 276
example 86 CALL command (TSO) 252
binder CALL identifier
c89 command 276 always dynamic 478
options needed for DLLs 508 dynamic calls 476
recommended for DLLs 508 making from DLLs 510

Index 921
CALL identifier (continued) CANCEL statement (continued)
with NODLL 476 with dynamic CALL 477
with NODYNAM 480 case structure, EVALUATE statement for 93
CALL literal cataloged procedure
dynamic calls 476 JCL for compiling 246
static calls 476 to compile (IGYWC) 246
with DYNAM 476 to compile and link-edit (IGYWCL) 248
with NODLL 476 to compile, link-edit, run (IGYWCLG) 249
with NODYNAM 476, 480 CBL statement
CALL statement overview 377
AMODE processing 478 specifying compiler options 264
BY CONTENT 491 cbl suffix with cob2 279
BY REFERENCE 491 CBLPSHPOP runtime option 437
BY VALUE CBLQDA runtime option 167
description 491 CCSID
restrictions 494 conflict in XML documents 561, 562
CICS restrictions 431 definition 129
effect of EXIT option on registers 722 EBCDIC multibyte CCSIDs 305
exception condition 241 in PARSE statement 540
for error handling 241 of Db2 string data 444
function-pointer 487 of XML documents 554
handling of program-name in 346 of XML documents to be parsed 540
Language Environment callable services 687 specifying with CODEPAGE option 304
overflow condition 241 chained-list processing
RETURNING 501 example 498
to alternate entry points 488 overview 497
USING 494 changing
with CANCEL 478 characters to numbers 115
with DYNAM 317 file-name 9
with ON EXCEPTION 241 title on source listing 5
with ON OVERFLOW 19, 241 CHAR intrinsic function, example 118
calls character set, definition 129
31-bit addressing mode 478 checking for valid data
AMODE switching for 24-bit programs 478 conditional expressions 95
between COBOL and non-COBOL programs 473 checkpoint
between COBOL programs 473, 475 85 COBOL Standard 655
CICS restrictions 431 designing 656
dynamic example of JCL for restart 660
example 481 messages generated during 658
making 476 methods 655
performance 480 multiple 655, 657
restrictions 477 overview 655
with static calls 480 record data set 656
exception condition 241 restart during DFSORT 227
interlanguage 473 restrictions during sort 656
LINKAGE SECTION 495 setting 655
OMITTED arguments 495 single
overflow condition 241 disk 657
passing arguments 494 tape 657
passing data 491 testing 656
receiving parameters 494 Chinese GB 18030 data
recursive 485 processing 144
static CHKPT keyword 227
example 481 CICS
making 476 alternate reserved-word table 436
performance 480 calling nested programs 432
with dynamic calls 480 CICS HANDLE
to and from object-oriented programs 485 example 438
to JNI services 633 LABEL value 437
to Language Environment callable services 687 coding programs to run under
CANCEL statement calls 431
cannot use with DLL linkage 511 DISPLAY statement 430
for subprograms 477 I/O 430
handling of program-name in 346 overview 429

922 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
CICS (continued) class (continued)
coding programs to run under (continued) name
restrictions 429 external 598, 609
SORT statement 437 in a program 597
command-level interface 429 object, obtaining reference with JNI 634
commands and the PROCEDURE DIVISION 429 user-defined 8
compiling with CICS option 433 class condition
developing programs for 429 testing
DFHCOMMAREA parameter for DBCS 149
calling nested programs 432 for Kanji 149
calling separately compiled programs 431 for numeric 54
DFHEIBLK parameter overview 95
calling nested programs 432 validating data 383
calling separately compiled programs 431 CLASSPATH environment variable
ECI calls and RETURN-CODE special register 432 description 461
EXIT compiler option and 740 example of setting 286
in a multithreaded environment 522 specifying location of Java classes 283
integrated translator client
advantages 434 defining 608
calling nested programs 432 definition of 608
compiler options for 433 CLIST for compiling under TSO 253
overview 434 CLOSE statement
interlanguage communication under 431 line-sequential files 207
macro-level interface 429 QSAM 166
NODYNAM compiler option 431 VSAM 186
performance closing files
overview 669 line-sequential 209
performance considerations 437, 680 multithreading serialization 520
restrictions QSAM
16 MB line 430 overview 168
files 6 with multithreading 169
OO programs 429, 593 VSAM
OUTDD compiler option 344 overview 193
parsing with validation using FILE 549 with multithreading 194
separate translator 434 closing files, automatic
sorting 228 line-sequential 209
separate translator QSAM 168
calling nested programs 432 VSAM 193
compiler options for 435 cluster, VSAM 196
restrictions 434 cob2 command
using 435 compiling with
sorting under examples 276
change reserved-word table overview 275
437 description 277
overview 228 for compiling OO applications 281
restrictions 228 for creating DLLs 276
system date, getting 431 for linking OO applications 282
CICS compiler option input and output 279
description 303 linking with
enables integrated translator 434 examples 276
multioption interaction 296 overview 275
specifying suboptions 304, 434 options and syntax 277
using 433 COBJVMINITOPTIONS environment variable
CISZ (control interval size), performance considerations 202, description 461
681 specifying JVM options 284
CKPT keyword 227 COBOL
class and Java
defining 596 binding 286
definition of 593 communicating between 633
factory data 623 compatibility 289
instance data 599 compiling under z/OS UNIX 281
instantiating compiling using JCL or TSO/E 285
COBOL 617 linking 282
Java 616 running 283, 286

Index 923
COBOL (continued) coding (continued)
and Java (continued) instance methods 600, 620
structuring applications 630 interoperable data types with Java 638
under IMS 455 loops 99
object-oriented OO programs
binding 286 must be reentrant 488
compiling under z/OS UNIX 281 overview 593
compiling using JCL or TSO/E 285 PROCEDURE DIVISION 17
linking 282 programs to run under CICS
running 283 calls 431
under IMS 455 DISPLAY statement 430
COBOL client I/O 430
example 625 must be reentrant 488
example of passing object references 614 overview 429
COBOL DLL programs, calling 512 restrictions 429
COBOL terms 23 SORT statement 437
COBOL_INSTALL_DIR environment variable 273 system date, getting 431
COBOL3 translator option 435 programs to run under Db2
COBOPT environment variable 273 CCSID of string data 444
code overview 439
copy 683 stored procedures must be reentrant 488
optimized 674 programs to run under IMS
code page must be reentrant 488
conflict in XML documents 561, 562 overview 451
DBCS 305 restrictions 451
definition 129 simplifying 683
euro currency support 64 SQL statements
hexadecimal values of special characters 558 overview 440
of Db2 string data 444 restriction 440
overriding 138 SQLIMS statements
specifying 304 overview 452
specifying for alphanumeric XML document 557 subclasses
code point, definition 129 example 621
CODE-SET clause 13 overview 618
coded character set tables 67
definition 129 techniques 11, 669
in XML documents 554 test conditions 96
CODEPAGE compiler option collating sequence
DBCS code pages 305 alternate
description 304 choosing 221
for national literals 136 example 7
items that are not affected 305 ASCII 7
operations that override 305 binary for national keys 219
coding EBCDIC 7
class definition 596 HIGH-VALUE 7
clients 608 ISO 7-bit code 7
condition tests 96 LOW-VALUE 7
constructor methods 623 MERGE 7, 221
DATA DIVISION 11 NATIVE 7
decisions 91 nonnumeric comparisons 7
efficiently 669 ordinal position of a character 118
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION 5 SEARCH ALL 7
errors, avoiding 669 SORT 7, 221
EVALUATE statement 93 specifying 7
factory definition 622 STANDARD-1 7
factory methods 623 STANDARD-2 7
file input/output (overview) 151 symbolic characters in the 8
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION 3 COLLATING SEQUENCE phrase
IF statement 91 does not apply to national keys 219
input/output overview 153 overrides PROGRAM COLLATING SEQUENCE clause 7,
input/output statements 221
for line-sequential files 207 use in SORT or MERGE 221
for QSAM files 166 columns in tables 67
for VSAM files 186 comment lines 877

924 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
comments compiler data sets
sending xxxiii in the z/OS UNIX file system 246,
COMMON attribute 4, 482 251
COMP (COMPUTATIONAL) 48 input and output 256
COMP-1 (COMPUTATIONAL-1) required for compilation 256
format 49 SYSADATA (ADATA records) 262
performance tips 671 SYSDEBUG (debug records) 262
COMP-2 (COMPUTATIONAL-2) SYSIN 259
format 49 SYSJAVA 262
performance tips 671 SYSLIB (libraries) 260
COMP-3 (COMPUTATIONAL-3) 49 SYSLIN (object code) 261
COMP-4 (COMPUTATIONAL-4) 48 SYSMDECK (library processing) 263
COMP-5 (COMPUTATIONAL-5) 48 SYSOPTF 260
comparing data items SYSOUT (listing) 261
national SYSPUNCH (object code) 261
overview 145 SYSTERM (messages) 261
to alphabetic, alphanumeric, or DBCS 147 with cob2 279
to alphanumeric groups 147 compiler listings
to numeric 146 getting 391
two operands 145 compiler options
object references 611 85 COBOL Standard conformance 295
zoned decimal and alphanumeric, effect of ZWB 375 abbreviations 291
compatibility ADATA 297
Java and COBOL 289 ADV 297
object-oriented syntax 289 AFP
compatibility mode 43, 691 performance considerations 676
compilation APOST 298
conformance to 85 COBOL Standard 295 ARCH
results 265 performance considerations 676
with z/OS UNIX files 247 ARITH
compilation statistics 395 description 300
COMPILE compiler option performance considerations 676
description 307 AWO
use NOCOMPILE to find syntax errors 386 description 302
compile-time considerations performance considerations 676
compiler-directed errors 271 BLOCK0
display compile and link steps 279 description 302
dump, generating a 316 performance considerations 676
error messages BUFSIZE 303
determining what severity level to produce 320 CICS 303
severity levels 272 CODEPAGE 304
executing compile and link steps after display 279 COMPILE 307
compiler conflicting 295
calculation of intermediate results 692 COPYLOC 307
environment variables under z/OS UNIX 273 COPYRIGHT 309
generating list of error messages 271 CURRENCY 309
invoking in the z/OS UNIX DATA 310
shell DBCS 311
examples 276 DECK 311
overview 275 DEFINE 311
limits DIAGTRUNC 312
DATA DIVISION 11 DISPSIGN 313
messages DLL 314
choosing severity to be flagged 388 DUMP 316
customizing 731 DYNAM 317, 677
determining what severity level to produce 320 EXIT 317
embedding in source listing 388 EXPORTALL 319
from exit modules 738 FASTSRT
sending to terminal 261 performance considerations 677
severity levels 272, 732 FLAG 320, 388
return code FLAGSTD 321
depends on highest severity 272 for CICS integrated translator 433
effect of message customization 733 for CICS separate translator 433, 435
overview 272 for debugging

Index 925
compiler options (continued) compiler options (continued)
for debugging (continued) SEQUENCE 352
overview 385 SERVICE 352
TEST restriction 384 signature information bytes 403
THREAD restriction 384 SOURCE 353, 391
HGPR SPACE 353
performance considerations 677 specifying
IMS, recommended for 454 using PROCESS (CBL) 264
in effect 403 specifying under TSO 265
INITCHECK specifying under z/OS 265
performance considerations 677 specifying under z/OS UNIX 274
INITIAL 325 specifying with SYSOPTF data set 260
INLINE SQL
performance considerations 677 description 354
INTDATE 326 using with Db2 443
INVDATA 326 SQLCCSID
LANGUAGE description 355
description 330 effect on CCSID of string data 444
example in batch compilation 269 performance considerations 446
LINECOUNT 331 recommended with Db2 coprocessor 446
LIST 331, 391 SQLIMS 355
MAP 332, 390, 391 SSRANGE
MAXPCF 333 performance considerations 678
MAXPCF(nnn) status 395
performance considerations 677 STGOPT 357
MDECK 334 SUPPRESS 358
NAME 335 table of 291
NOCOMPILE 386 TERMINAL 358
NOFASTSRT 224 TEST
NSYMBOL 335 description 359
NUMBER 336, 393 performance considerations 679
NUMCHECK use for debugging 391
performance considerations 678 THREAD
NUMPROC 340 debugging restriction 384
NUMPROC(PFD) description 363
performance considerations 678 performance considerations 679
NUMPROC(PFD|NOPFD) 53 TRUNC
OBJECT 341 description 364
OFFSET 341 performance considerations 679
on compiler invocation 395 under IMS and CICS 430
OPTFILE 342 VBREF 366, 391
OPTIMIZE VLR
description 343 description 366
performance considerations 674, 678 VSAMOPENFS 368
OUTDD 344 WORD 369
PARMCHECK XMLPARSE 369
performance considerations 678 XREF 370, 390
performance considerations 676 ZONECHECK 371
PGMNAME 345 ZONEDATA 372
precedence of ZWB 375
example 268 Compiler options
in batch 268 listing example 414
in SYSOPTF data sets 260, 342 compiler-directing statements
under z/OS 263 description 377
under z/OS UNIX 274 overview 19
QUALIFY 347 compiling
QUOTE 298 AMODE 64 programs 467–469
RENT batch 266
description 348 control of 263
performance considerations 678 data sets for 256
RMODE DLLs 276
description 349 from an assembler program 254
performance considerations 678 OO applications
RULES 350 cob2 command 281

926 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
compiling (continued) conditional expression (continued)
OO applications (continued) IF statement 91
example 283, 287 PERFORM statement 100
under z/OS UNIX 281 conditional statement
using JCL or TSO/E 285 overview 18
under TSO with NOT phrase 19
example CLIST 253 with object references 611
overview 252 CONFIGURATION SECTION 5
under z/OS 245 conflicting compiler options 295
under z/OS UNIX 273 conformance requirements
using shell script 280 85 COBOL Standard 295
using the cob2 command example of passing object references in INVOKE 614
examples 276 RETURNING phrase of INVOKE 615
overview 275 USING phrase of INVOKE 613
with cataloged procedures considerations
compile 246 for AMODE 64 467–469
compile and link-edit 248 Constant area 417
compile, link-edit, run 249 constants
with JCL (job control language) 245 data items 670
compiling and linking in the z/OS UNIX definition 26
shell figurative, definition 26
DLLs 276 contained program integration 675
examples 276 CONTENT-CHARACTERS XML event
OO applications example 574
cob2 command 282 when parsing segments 552
example 283 continuation
overview 275 entry 226
completion code of program 233
merge 221 syntax checking 307
sort 221 CONTINUE statement 91
complex OCCURS DEPENDING ON control
basic forms of 81 in nested programs 482
complex ODO item 81 program flow 91
variably located data item 82 transfer 473
variably located group 82 control interval size (CISZ), performance considerations 202,
computation 681
arithmetic data items 671 CONTROL statement 377
of indexes 72 converting data items
of subscripts 673 between code pages 116
COMPUTATIONAL (COMP) 48 between data formats 51
COMPUTATIONAL-1 (COMP-1) exceptions with national data 139
format 49 from binary digits 117
performance tips 671 from hexadecimal digits 117
COMPUTATIONAL-2 (COMP-2) from hexadecimal or binary digits
format 49 with intrinsic functions 117
performance tips 671 precision 52
COMPUTATIONAL-3 (COMP-3) reversing order of characters 114
description 49 to alphanumeric
COMPUTATIONAL-4 (COMP-4) 48 with DISPLAY 36
COMPUTATIONAL-5 (COMP-5) 48 with DISPLAY-OF 138
COMPUTE statement to binary digits 116
assigning arithmetic results 34 to Chinese GB 18030 from national 144
simpler to code 55 to hexadecimal digits 116
computer, describing 5 to hexadecimal or binary digits
concatenating data items (STRING) 103 with intrinsic functions 116
condition handling to integers with INTEGER, INTEGER-PART 112
closing QSAM files 168 to national
closing VSAM files 193 from Chinese GB 18030 144
in input or output procedures 217 from UTF-8 140
using Language Environment 685 with ACCEPT 35
condition testing 96 with MOVE 137
conditional compilation output, example 425 with NATIONAL-OF 138
conditional expression to numbers with NUMVAL, NUMVAL-C 115
EVALUATE statement 91 to uppercase or lowercase

Index 927
converting data items (continued) cross-reference (continued)
to uppercase or lowercase (continued) embedded 391
with INSPECT 113 list 370
with intrinsic functions 114 program-name 421
to UTF-8 from national 140 special definition symbols 423
with INSPECT 112 statement list 366
with intrinsic functions 113 statements 391
CONVERTING phrase (INSPECT), example 113 text-names and data sets 390
coprocessor, Db2 CRP (file position indicator) 188, 191
CCSID determination of string data 444 CURRENCY compiler option 309
differences from the precompiler 446 currency signs
enable with SQL compiler option 443 euro 64
overview 439 hexadecimal literals 64
recommended compiler option SQLCCSID 446 multiple-character 64
using SQL INCLUDE with 441 using 64
coprocessor, IMS CURRENT-DATE intrinsic function
enable with SQLIMS compiler option 453 example 60
overview 451 under CICS 431
copy libraries customer support xxviii, 915
COPY statement 377
data set 256
example 684
D
search order 378 D-format record
specifying 260 layout 160
SYSLIB 260 requesting 159
z/OS UNIX search order 274, DASD (direct-access storage device) 202
278 data
COPY statement concatenating (STRING) 103
description 377 converting between alphanumeric and DBCS 701
example 684 efficient execution 669
nested 683, 724 format conversion of 51
z/OS considerations 260 format, numeric types 46
z/OS UNIX considerations grouping 496
378 incompatible 53
copybook naming 12
description 377 numeric 43
obtaining from user-supplied module 318 passing 491
searching for 278, 378 record size 13
copybook cross-reference, description 390 splitting (UNSTRING) 105
copybooks validating 53
cross-reference 422 data and procedure-name cross-reference, description 390
using 683 data areas, dynamic 317
COPYLOC compiler option 307 DATA compiler option
COPYRIGHT compiler option 309 description 310
COUNT IN phrase influencing data location 41
UNSTRING 105 multioption interaction 39
XML GENERATE 583 performance considerations 677
counting when passing data 41
characters (INSPECT) 112 data compression 663
generated XML characters 578 data definition 397
creating data description entry 11
associated-data file 262 DATA DIVISION
library-processing output file 263 client 610
line-sequential files in z/OS 206 coding 11
object code 261 description 11
objects 616 entries for line-sequential files 206
QSAM files, z/OS 170, 172 entries for QSAM files 158
SYSJAVA file 262 entries for VSAM files 185
variable-length tables 78 factory data 623
cross-reference factory method 624
COPY/BASIS 422 FD entry 11
COPY/BASIS statements 391 FILE SECTION 11
copybooks 391 GROUP-USAGE NATIONAL clause 68
data and procedure-names 390 instance data 599, 620

928 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
DATA DIVISION (continued) data set (continued)
instance method 602 SYSIN 259
items present in 403 SYSJAVA 262
limits 11 SYSLIB 260
LINKAGE SECTION 11, 16 SYSLIN 261
listing 391 SYSMDECK 263
LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION 11 SYSOPTF 260
mapping of items 332, 391 SYSPRINT 261
OCCURS clause 67 SYSPUNCH 261
OCCURS DEPENDING ON (ODO) clause 78 SYSTERM 261
REDEFINES clause 75 data sets used for compiling 256
restrictions 11 data-definition attribute codes 397
signature information bytes 403 data-name
USAGE clause at the group level 25 cross-reference 420
USAGE IS INDEX clause 72 cross-reference list 266
USAGE NATIONAL clause at the group level 133 in MAP listing 397
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION 11 OMITTED 13
data item password for VSAM files 194
alphanumeric with double-byte characters 701 date and time operations
coding Java types 637 Language Environment callable services 685
common, in subprogram linkage 494 date operations
concatenating (STRING) 103 finding date of compilation 121
converting characters (INSPECT) 112 DATE-COMPILED paragraph 3
converting characters to numbers 115 DATE-OF-INTEGER intrinsic function 60
converting from hexadecimal or binary digits 117 Db2
converting to hexadecimal or binary digits 116 coding considerations 439
converting to uppercase or lowercase 114 coprocessor
converting with intrinsic functions 113 CCSID determination of string data 444
counting characters (INSPECT) 112 database request module (DBRM) 439, 443
DBCS 701 differences from the precompiler 446
elementary, definition 24 enable with SQL compiler option 443
evaluating with intrinsic functions 117 overview 439
finding the smallest or largest item 118 recommended compiler option SQLCCSID 446
group, definition 24 using SQL INCLUDE with 441
index, referring to table elements with 70 DYNAM compiler option with TSO or IMS 448
initializing, examples of 28 NODYNAM compiler option with CICS or CAF 448
map 265 precompiler
numeric 43 differences from the coprocessor 446
reference modification 109 recommended compiler option NOSQLCCSID 446
referring to a substring 109 specifying code page for host variables 441
replacing characters (INSPECT) 112 using 440
reversing characters 114 SQL compiler option 443
splitting (UNSTRING) 105 SQL statements
unused 343, 397 CCSID determination 444
variably located 82 coding 440
data manipulation overview 439
character data 103 return codes 443
DBCS data 701 SQL DECLARE 441
DATA RECORDS clause 13 SQL INCLUDE 441
data set using binary data in 443
alternate data-set names 254 using character data in 441
checkpoint record 656 using national decimal data 442
compiler-option 260 SQLCCSID compiler option 444
defining with environment variable 154 Db2 precompiler
example of checkpoint/restart 660 using 440
file, same meaning as 5 DBCS comparison 95
JAVAERR 286 DBCS compiler option
JAVAIN 286 description 311
JAVAOUT 286 for Java interoperability 281, 285
names, alternate 254 for OO COBOL 281, 285
output 261 multioption interaction 296
source code 259 DBCS data
SYSADATA 262 comparing
SYSDEBUG 262 to national 147

Index 929
DBCS data (continued) debugging, language features (continued)
converting debugging statements 384
to alphanumeric with IGZCD2A 703 declaratives 384
to and from alphanumeric 701 DISPLAY statements 382
to national, overview 149 file status keys 383
declaring 148 INITIALIZE statements 383
encoding and storage 136 scope terminators 382
literals SET statements 383
description 26 WITH DEBUGGING MODE clause 384
maximum length 148 DECK compiler option 311
using 148 declarative procedures
MOVE statement with 32 EXCEPTION/ERROR
notation for 701 with multithreading 236
testing for 149 USE FOR DEBUGGING 384
dbg suffix with cob2 280 deferred restart 659
DBRM data set DEFINE compiler option 311
defining 443 defining
description 439 debug data set 262
dbrm suffix with cob2 280 files, overview 8, 151
DBRMLIB DD statement 439, 443 libraries 260
DCB 165 line-sequential files to z/OS 206
DD control statement QSAM files
allocating line-sequential files 206 to z/OS 170, 172
AMP parameter 199 sort or merge files under z/OS
ASCII tape files 177 217
creating QSAM files 170, 172 VSAM files
DBRMLIB 443 to z/OS 196
DCB overrides data-set label 171 dek suffix with cob2 280
define file 8 DELETE statement
defining merge data sets 217 compiler-directing 379
defining sort data sets 217 multithreading serialization 520
JAVAERR 286 VSAM, coding 186
JAVAIN 286 deleting records from VSAM file 193
JAVAOUT 286 delimited scope statement
RLS parameter 199 description of 19
SYSADATA 262 nested 20
SYSDEBUG 262 DEPENDING ON clause 160, 186
SYSIN 259 depth in tables 69
SYSJAVA 262 device
SYSLIB 260 classes 256
SYSLIN 261 requirements 256
SYSMDECK 263 DFHCOMMAREA parameter
SYSOPTF 260 calling nested CICS programs 432
SYSPRINT 261 calling separately compiled CICS programs 431
SYSPUNCH 261 DFHEIBLK parameter
ddname definition 8 calling nested CICS programs 432
deadlock in I/O error declarative 236 calling separately compiled CICS programs 431
Debug Tool DFSORT
compiler options for 391 defining data sets for 217
description 381 error message for RETURN statement 216
debugging diagnostics, program 395
and performance 361 DIAGTRUNC compiler option 312
compiler options for direct-access
overview 385 direct indexing 72
TEST restriction 384 file organization 152
THREAD restriction 384 storage device (DASD) 202
defining data set 262 directories
overview 381 adding a path to 278
runtime options for 384 disability 865
using COBOL language features 382 DISPLAY (USAGE IS)
using the debugger 391 encoding and storage 136
debugging, language features external decimal 47
class test 383 floating point 48
debugging lines 384 display floating-point data (USAGE DISPLAY) 47

930 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
DISPLAY statement dynamic data areas, allocating storage 41
directing output 344 dynamic file allocation
displaying data values 35 order of allocation 155
displaying on the system logical output device 36 using CBLQDA 167
interaction with OUTDD 36 using environment variables
suppressing line spacing 37 line-sequential files 206
under CICS 430 QSAM files 170
using in debugging 382 VSAM files 198
writing to stdout or stderr 37 dynamic link libraries
DISPLAY-1 (USAGE IS) about 507
encoding and storage 136 binder options for DLLs 508
DISPLAY-OF intrinsic function compiler options required 276
example with Chinese data 144 compiling 508
example with Greek data 139 creating
example with UTF-8 data 140 from the z/OS UNIX shell
using 138 276
with XML documents 555 overview 507
DISPSIGN compiler option 313 creating for OO 282
DLL compiler option for Java interoperability 282
description 314 in OO COBOL applications 514
for Java interoperability 281, 285 linking 508
for OO COBOL 281, 285 programs with DLL support must be reentrant 488
multioption interaction 296 search order for in z/OS UNIX file system 510
DLL igzcjava.x using CALL identifier with 510
binding with using with C/C++ programs 514
example 287 using with dynamic calls 511
preparing OO applications 286 using with Java interoperability 283
linking with using with OO 283
example 283
preparing OO applications 282
DLL libjvm.x
E
binding with E-level error message 272, 388
example 287 EBCDIC
preparing OO applications 286 code pages supported in XML documents 554
linking with converting to ASCII 116
example 283 JNI services 643
preparing OO applications 282 multibyte CCSIDs supported for DBCS 305
with EBCDIC services 644 ECI calls and RETURN-CODE special register 432
DLLs (see dynamic link libraries) 507 efficiency of coding 669
do loop 100 EGCS 886
do-until 100 EJECT statement 379
do-while 100 embedded cross-reference
documentation of program 5 description 391
DSA memory map 402 example 423
dump embedded error messages 388
requesting 231 embedded MAP summary 390, 398
with DUMP compiler option 265 enclave 473
DUMP compiler option encoding
description 316 conflicts in XML documents 561, 562
output 265 controlling in generated XML output 582
DYNAM compiler option description 136
description 317 language characters 129
multioption interaction 296 of XML documents 554, 555
performance considerations 677 of XML documents to be parsed 540
under Db2 with TSO or IMS 448 specifying for alphanumeric XML document 557
with dynamic calls 476 specifying with CODEPAGE option 304
dynamic calls encoding declaration
example 481 preferable to omit 557
making 476 specifying 557
performance 480 end-of-file (AT END phrase) 236
restrictions 477 END-OF-INPUT XML event
using with DLL linkage 511 example 574
when to use 477 when parsing segments 551
with static calls 480 enhancing XML output

Index 931
enhancing XML output (continued) environment variables (continued)
example of modifying data definitions 588 STEPLIB (continued)
rationale and techniques 587 description 461
ENTER statement 379 example 275
entry point SYSLIB
alternate 488 description 274
alternate in ENTRY statement 486 specifying location of JNI.cpy 281
ENTRY label 488 text-name 274, 377
passing entry addresses of 486 using to allocate files 154
procedure-pointer data item 486 environment-name 5
ENTRY statement ERRMSG, for generating list of error messages 271
for alternate entry points 486 error
handling of program-name in 346 arithmetic 232
ENVAR runtime option 286 compiler options, conflicting 295
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION handling 231
class 598 handling for I/O 155
client 609 listing 265
collating sequence coding 7 message table
CONFIGURATION SECTION 5 example using indexing 77
description 5 example using subscripting 76
entries for line-sequential files 205 processing
entries for QSAM files 157 line-sequential files 210
entries for VSAM files 181 QSAM files 169
INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION 5 VSAM files 194
instance method 602 XML GENERATE 582
items present in, program initialization code 403 XML PARSE 561
signature information bytes 403 routines for handling 242
subclass 620 error messages
environment variables compiler
_BPX_SHAREAS 463 choosing severity to be flagged 388
_CEE_ENVFILE correcting source 270
description 461 customizing 731
indicating Java settings 286 determining what severity level to produce 320
_CEE_RUNOPTS embedding in source listing 388
description 461 format 271
setting XPLINK 288 from exit modules 738
specifying runtime options 459 generating a list of 271
_IGZ_SYSOUT 461 location in listing 271
allocating line-sequential files 206 sending to terminal 261
and copybooks 377 severity levels 272, 732
CLASSPATH compiler-directed 271
description 461 ESDS (entry-sequenced data sets)
example of setting 286 file access mode 184
specifying location of Java classes 283 organization 182
COBJVMINITOPTIONS euro currency sign 64
description 461 EVALUATE statement
specifying JVM options 284 case structure 93
COBOL_INSTALL_DIR 273 coding 93
COBOPT 273 contrasted with nested IFs 94
compiler 273 example that tests several conditions 95
defining files, example 8 example with multiple WHEN phrases 94
defining QSAM files 170 example with THRU phrase 94
example of setting and accessing 462 performance 94
LIBPATH structured programming 670
description 461 testing multiple values, example 97, 98
example of setting 286 use to test multiple conditions 91
specifying location for COBOL classes 283 evaluating data item contents
library-name 274, 377 class test
PATH for numeric 54
description 461 overview 95
example of setting 286 INSPECT statement 112
runtime 461 intrinsic functions 117
setting and accessing 460 exception condition
STEPLIB CALL 241

932 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
exception condition (continued) F-format record (continued)
XML GENERATE 582 layout 159
XML PARSE 561 requesting 158
exception handling factoring expressions 670
with Java 634 factory data
with XML GENERATE 582 defining 623
with XML PARSE 559 definition of 593
EXCEPTION XML event 561 making it accessible 623
EXCEPTION/ERROR declarative private 623
description 236 factory definition, coding 622
file status key 238 factory methods
line-sequential error processing 210 defining 623
QSAM error processing 169 definition of 593
VSAM error processing 194 hiding 624
EXEC control statement, RD parameter of 658 invoking 625
EXIT compiler option using to wrap procedural programs 630
considerations for SQL and CICS statements 740 FACTORY paragraph
description 317 factory data 623
MSGEXIT suboption 729 factory methods 623
register usage 722 factory section, defining 622
user-exit work area 721 FASTSRT compiler option
using 317 description 320
exit modules improving sort performance 222, 677
called for SYSADATA data set 728 information message 222
calling COBOL programs 722 requirements
error messages generated 738 JCL 223
message severity customization 729 QSAM 223
used in place of library-name 723 sort input and output files 223
used in place of SYSLIB 723 VSAM 224
used in place of SYSPRINT 726 FD (file description) entry 12
EXIT PROGRAM statement feedback
in subprogram 474 sending xxxiii
with multithreading 474 figurative constants
explicit scope terminator 20 definition 26
exponentiation HIGH-VALUE restriction
evaluated in fixed-point arithmetic 694 131
evaluated in floating-point arithmetic 698 national-character 131
performance tips 672 file access mode
EXPORTALL compiler option choosing 152
description 319 dynamic 184
DLL considerations 508 example 185
multioption interaction 296 for indexed files (KSDS) 184
extended mode 43, 691 for relative files (RRDS) 184
external class-name 598, 609 for sequential files (ESDS) 184
EXTERNAL clause performance considerations 201
example for files 502 random 184
for data items 501 sequential 184
for sharing files 12, 501 summary table of 181
external data file allocation 154
obtaining storage for 41 file availability
sharing 501 QSAM files under z/OS
storage location of 41 167
external decimal data VSAM files under z/OS 195
national 47 file description (FD) entry 12
zoned 47 file organization
external file 501 choosing 152
external floating-point data comparison of ESDS, KSDS, RRDS 180
display 47 indexed 151, 182
national 48 line-sequential 205
External symbols 419 overview 151
QSAM 157
relative 152
F relative-record 183
F-format record sequential 151, 182

Index 933
file organization (continued) files (continued)
VSAM 180 describing 11
file position indicator (CRP) 188, 191 external 501
FILE SECTION identifying to z/OS 170, 172, 196
BLOCK CONTAINS clause 13 line-sequential, allocating 206
CODE-SET clause 13 multithreaded processing
DATA RECORDS clause 13 example 521
description 11 recommended organization 521
EXTERNAL clause 12 recommended usage patterns 521
FD entry 12 serialization 520
GLOBAL clause 12 optional
LABEL RECORDS clause 13 QSAM 167
LINAGE clause 13 VSAM 189
OMITTED 13 overview 152
RECORD CONTAINS clause 13 processing
record description 11 line-sequential 205
RECORD IS VARYING 13 QSAM 157
RECORDING MODE clause 14 VSAM 179
VALUE OF 13 with multithreading 520
FILE STATUS clause sort performance
description 155 FASTSRT 222
example 241 variable-length files 218
line-sequential error processing 210 storage of file-definition records 520
NOFASTSRT error processing 224 unavailable
QSAM error processing 169 QSAM 167
using 237 VSAM 195
VSAM error processing 194 usage explanation 9
with VSAM status code 238 FIPS messages
file status code categories 732
02 191 FLAGSTD compiler option 321
30 190 fixed-length records
37 166 QSAM
39 166, 173, 176 layout 159
49 193 requesting 158
90 164, 169, 194 VSAM
92 193, 462 defining 185
file status key RRDS 180
05 188 fixed-point arithmetic
35 188 comparisons 63
39 189 evaluation 62
checking for I/O errors 237 example evaluations 63
checking for successful OPEN 237, 238 exponentiation 694
error handling 383 fixed-point data
set for error handling 155 binary 48
used with VSAM status code 238 conversions and precision 52
VSAM, importance of in 194 conversions between fixed- and floating-point 52
FILE-CONTROL paragraph external decimal 47
example of entries 6 intermediate results 693
relation to FD entries 8 packed-decimal 49
files planning use of 670
associating program files to external files 5 FLAG compiler option
attributes 173 compiler output 388
available description 320
QSAM 167 using 388
VSAM 195 flags and switches 96
changing name 9 FLAGSTD compiler option
CICS, restrictions under 6 multioption interaction 296
COBOL coding floating comment indicators (*>) 887
DATA DIVISION entries 158, 185, 206 floating-point arithmetic
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION entries 157, 181, 205 comparisons 63
input/output statements 166, 186, 207 evaluation 62
overview 153 example evaluations 63
data sets, same meaning as 5 exponentiation 698
defining to operating system 8 floating-point data

934 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
floating-point data (continued) get and set methods 605
conversions and precision 52 GETMAIN, saving address of 721
conversions between fixed- and floating-point 52 GLOBAL clause for files 12, 16
external 47 global names 485
intermediate results 698 Glossary 871
internal GOBACK statement
format 49 in main program 474
performance tips 671 in subprogram 474
planning use of 670 with multithreading 474
format of record group item
fixed-length cannot subordinate alphanumeric group within national
defining for VSAM 185 group 134
layout of QSAM 159 comparing to national data 147
requesting for QSAM 158 definition 24
for QSAM ASCII tape 177 for defining tables 67
format D group move contrasted with elementary move 33, 134
layout 160 initializing
requesting 159 using a VALUE clause 76
format F using INITIALIZE 31, 73
layout 159 MOVE statement with 33
requesting 158 passing as an argument 496
format S treated as a group item
layout 162 example with INITIALIZE 73
overview 162 in INITIALIZE 32
requesting 161 variably located 82
format U group move contrasted with elementary move 33, 134
layout 163 GROUP-USAGE NATIONAL clause
requesting 163 communicating with Java 638
format V defining a national group 133
layout 160 defining tables 68
requesting 159 example of declaring a national group 24
spanned initializing a national group 31
layout 162 grouping data to pass as an argument 496
overview 162
requesting 161
undefined
H
layout 163 header on listing 5
requesting 163 HEAP runtime option
variable-length influencing data location 41
defining for VSAM 186 multioption interaction 40
layout of QSAM 160 HEX-OF intrinsic function 116
requesting for QSAM 159 HEX-TO-CHAR intrinsic function 117
formatted dump 231 hexadecimal digits, converting from 117
freeing object instances 617 hexadecimal digits, converting to 116
function-pointer data item hexadecimal literals
addressing JNI services 743 as currency sign 64
CALL statement 487 national
calling COBOL 487 description 26
calling DLL program using 131
example 513 HGPR compiler option
calling Language Environment services 487 performance considerations 677
definition 486 hiding factory methods 624
SET function-pointer 486 hierarchy of compiler options
with DLLs 512 in batch 268
in SYSOPTF data sets 342
G under z/OS 263
under z/OS UNIX 274
garbage collection 617
GB 18030 data
converting to or from national 144
I
processing 144 I-level message 272, 388
generating XML output IDENTIFICATION DIVISION
example 583 class 597
overview 577

Index 935
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION (continued) index (continued)
CLASS-ID paragraph 597, definition 70
619 incrementing or decrementing 72
client 608 initializing 72
coding 3 key, detecting faulty 240
DATE-COMPILED paragraph 3 range checking 387
errors 3 referencing other tables with 72
listing header example 5 index data item
method 601 cannot use as subscript or index 72
PROGRAM-ID paragraph 3 creating with USAGE IS INDEX clause 72
required paragraphs 3 indexed file organization
subclass 619 description 151
TITLE statement 5 specifying 182
IF statement indexing
coding 91 computation of element displacement, example 70
nested 92 definition 70
use EVALUATE instead for multiple conditions 92 example 77
with null branch 91 preferred to subscripting 672
IGZCA2D service routine 701 tables 72
IGZCD2A service routine 703 INEXIT suboption of EXIT option
igzcjava.x processing of 722
binding with syntax 318
example 287 inheritance hierarchy, definition of 594
preparing OO applications 286 INITCHECK compiler option
linking with description 323
example 283 invalid COBOL data 386
preparing OO applications 282 INITIAL attribute
IGZEOPT module effect on subprograms 476
with multithreading 523 use of dynamic call and CANCEL instead 478
IGZETUN module INITIAL clause
with multithreading 523 effect on main program 475
IGZSRTCD data set 226 effect on nested programs 4
imperative statement, list 18 setting programs to initial state 4
implicit scope terminator 20 INITIAL compiler option
IMS description 325
COBOL-Java interoperability INITIALIZE statement
accessing databases 457 examples 28
calling COBOL method from Java 455 loading group values 31
calling Java method from COBOL 456 loading national group values 31
messages 457 loading table values 73
restriction on EXEC SQL 457 REPLACING phrase 73
STOP RUN 456 using for debugging 383
synchronizing transactions 457 initializing
using the AIB 457 a group item
coding programs under using a VALUE clause 76
overview 451 using INITIALIZE 31, 73
restrictions 6, 451 a national group item
compiling and linking for 454 using a VALUE clause 76
coprocessor using INITIALIZE 31, 74
overview 451 a structure using INITIALIZE 31
performance considerations 680 a table
SQLIMS compiler option 453 all occurrences of an element 76
SQLIMS statements at the group level 76
return codes 453 each item individually 75
SQLIMS INCLUDE 452 using INITIALIZE 73
using character data in 452 using PERFORM VARYING 101
using EXEC SQL under IMS 457 examples 28
IMS SQL instance data 616
coprocessor 452 variable-length group 80
incrementing addresses 498 inline comments 890
index INLINE compiler option
assigning a value to 72 description 325
computation of element displacement, example 70 inline PERFORM
creating with OCCURS INDEXED BY clause 72 example 100

936 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
inline PERFORM (continued) integrated CICS translator (continued)
overview 99 overview 434
input Interaction
coding for CICS 430 for AMODE 64 467
coding for line-sequential files 207 interactive program, example 847
coding for QSAM files 166 Interactive System Productivity Facility (ISPF) 847
coding for VSAM files 186 interlanguage communication
from files 151 and PL/I tasking 522
to compiler, under z/OS 256 between COBOL and Java 633
input procedure IMS applications 456
coding 214 subprograms 473
example 220 under CICS 431
FASTSRT option not effective 223 with multithreading 522
requires RELEASE or RELEASE FROM 215 intermediate results 691
restrictions 217 internal floating-point data (COMP-1, COMP-2) 49
INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION 5 interoperable data types with Java 638
input/output interrupts 655
checking for errors 237 intrinsic functions
coding overview 153 as reference modifiers 111
controlling with FASTSRT option 320 converting alphanumeric data items with 113
logic flow after error 233 converting national data items with 113
overview 151 evaluating data items 117
processing errors example of
line-sequential files 210 ANNUITY 61
QSAM files 169, 233 BIT-OF 117
VSAM files 194, 233 BIT-TO-CHAR 117
input/output coding CHAR 118
AT END (end-of-file) phrase 236 CURRENT-DATE 60
checking for successful operation 237 DISPLAY-OF 139
checking VSAM status codes 238 HEX-OF 116
detecting faulty index key 240 HEX-TO-CHAR 117
error handling techniques 233 INTEGER 112
EXCEPTION/ERROR declaratives 236 INTEGER-OF-DATE 60
INSERT statement 379 LENGTH 60, 119, 120
INSPECT statement LOG 61
avoid with UTF-8 data 558 LOWER-CASE 114
examples 112 MAX 60, 88, 119
using 112 MEAN 61
inspecting data (INSPECT) 112 MEDIAN 61, 88
instance MIN 111
creating 616 NATIONAL-OF 139
definition of 593 NUMVAL 115
deleting 617 NUMVAL-C 60, 115
instance data ORD 118
defining 599, 620 ORD-MAX 88, 119
definition of 593 PRESENT-VALUE 61
initializing 616 RANGE 61, 88
making it accessible 605 REM 61
private 599 REVERSE 114
instance methods SQRT 61
defining 600, 620 SUM 88
definition of 593 UPPER-CASE 114
invoking overridden 615 WHEN-COMPILED 121
overloading 605 example of Unicode functions 141
overriding 604 finding date of compilation 121
INTDATE compiler option finding largest or smallest item 118
description 326 finding length of data items 120
effect on calendar starting date 59 intermediate results 696, 699
INTEGER intrinsic function, example 112 introduction to 38
INTEGER-OF-DATE intrinsic function 60 nesting 38
INTEGER-PART intrinsic function 112 numeric functions
integrated CICS translator differences from Language Environment callable
advantages 434 services 58
compiler options for 433

Index 937
intrinsic functions (continued) Java (continued)
numeric functions (continued) example (continued)
equivalent Language Environment callable services J2EE client 645
58 processing an integer array 641
examples of 57 exception
integer, floating-point, mixed 56 catching 634
nested 57 example 635
special registers as arguments 57 handling 634
table elements as arguments 57 throwing 634
uses for 56 float array 639
processing table elements 87 float type 638
UTF-8 140 global references
INVALID KEY phrase JNI services for 636
description 240 managing 635
example 241 object 635
INVDATA compiler option passing 636
description 326 int array 638
INVOKE statement int type 638
RETURNING phrase 615 interoperability 633
USING phrase 613 interoperable data types, coding 638
using to create objects 616 invoking from a batch COBOL program 648
using to invoke methods 612 jstring class 637
with ON EXCEPTION 612, 625 local references
with PROCEDURE DIVISION RETURNING 500 deleting 636
invoking freeing 636
COBOL programs under z/OS 504 JNI services for 636
COBOL programs under z/OS UNIX 459 managing 635
factory or static methods 625 object 635
instance methods 612 passing 636
Language Environment callable services 687 per multithreading 636
ISAM data set, analogous to VSAM KSDS data set 179 saving 636
ISPF (Interactive System Productivity Facility) 847 long array 639
long type 638
methods
J access control 637
J2EE client object array 639
example 645 running with COBOL
running 284 under z/OS UNIX 283
Java using JCL or TSO/E 286
and COBOL XPLINK linkage 288
binding 286 sharing data with 637
communicating between 633 short array 638
compatibility 289 short type 638
compiling under z/OS UNIX 281 string array 639
compiling using JCL or TSO/E 285 strings
linking 282 declaring 638
running 283, 286 manipulating 642
structuring applications 630 Java programs
array classes 637 AMODE 64 programs 467
arrays Java virtual machine
declaring 638 exceptions 634
example 641 initializing 284
manipulating 640 object references 635
boolean array 638 java.lang.Object
boolean type 638 referring to as Base 597
byte array 638 javac command
byte type 638 compiling Java class definitions 281
char array 639 recompile for Java 6 or later 289
char type 638 JAVAERR data set 286
class types 638 JAVAIN data set 286
double array 639 JAVAOUT data set 286
double type 638 JCL
example ASCII tape files 177
exception handling 635 cataloged procedures 246

938 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
JCL (continued) JSON-STATUS special register
example of checkpoint/restart 660 nonexception reason codes for parsing 717
FASTSRT requirement 222 jstring Java class 637
for compiling 245 JZOS
for compiling in the z/OS UNIX file system example 648
247 Java Batch Launcher and Toolkit for z/OS
for line-sequential files 206 651
for merge 217
for OO applications
example 287
K
for QSAM files 171 Kanji comparison 95
for sort 217 Kanji data, testing for 149
for VSAM data sets 198 keyboard navigation 865
JNI keys
accessing services 633 alternate in KSDS file 183
comparing object references 611 for binary search 86
converting local references to global 616 for merging
EBCDIC services 643 defining 219
environment structure overview 212
addressability for 633 for sorting
exception handling services 634 defining 219
Java array services 640 overview 212
Java string services 642 permissible data types
obtaining class object reference 634 in MERGE statement 219
restrictions when using 634 in OCCURS clause 68
Unicode services 642 in SORT statement 219
UTF-8 services 645 prime in KSDS file 182
JNI.cpy relative-record 183
for compiling 281 to specify order of table elements 68
for JNINativeInterface 633 keyword 893
listing 743 KSDS (key-sequenced data sets)
JNIEnvPtr special register file access mode 184
use for JNI callable services 633 organization 182
JNINativeInterface
environment structure 633
JNI.cpy 633 L
JOB control statement, RD parameter of 658
LABEL RECORDS clause
job resubmission 660
FILE SECTION entry 13
job stream 473
LANGUAGE compiler option
JSON document
description 330
generating
Language Environment callable services
overview 535
condition handling 685
parsing
corresponding math intrinsic functions 58
description 529
date and time computations 685
example 532
differences from intrinsic functions 58
overview 529
dynamic storage services 685
JSON exception codes
example of using 687
for generating 717
feedback code 687
for parsing 717
for date and time 59
JSON generation
for mathematics 58
overview 535
invoking with CALL 687
JSON input
mathematics 685
parsing
message handling 685
example 532
national language support 685
overview 529
omitted feedback code 687
JSON output
overview 685
generating
return code 687
overview 535
RETURN-CODE special register 687
JSON parse
sample list of 686
example 532
types of 685
overview 529
large block interface (LBI) 165
JSON-CODE special register
largest or smallest item, finding 118
exception codes for generating 717
last-used state
exception codes for parsing 717

Index 939
last-used state (continued) line-sequential files (continued)
subprograms with EXIT PROGRAM or GOBACK 475 organization 205
subprograms without INITIAL attribute 476 processing 205
LBI (large block interface) 165 reading from 207
LENGTH intrinsic function reading records from 208
compared with LENGTH OF special register 121 under z/OS
example 60, 120 allocating 206
using 118 creating 206
variable-length results 119 job control language (JCL) 206
with national data 121 writing to 207
length of data items, finding 120 LINECOUNT compiler option 331
LENGTH OF special register LINK macro 254
passing 492 LINKAGE SECTION
using 121 coding 495
level-88 item for describing parameters 494
conditional expressions 95 with recursive calls 16
setting switches off, example 99 with the THREAD option 16
setting switches on, example 98 linked-list processing, example 498
switches and flags 96 linking in the z/OS UNIX shell
testing multiple values, example 97 c89 command 276
testing single values, example 97 passing information to cob2 277
level-number 397 using the cob2 command
LIBEXIT suboption of EXIT option DLLs 276
processing of 723 examples 276
syntax 318 overview 275
libjvm.x linking OO applications
binding with cob2 command 282
example 287 under z/OS UNIX
preparing OO applications 286 example 283
linking with overview 282
example 283 using JCL or TSO/E
preparing OO applications 282 example 287
with EBCDIC services 644 overview 286
LIBPATH environment variable LIST compiler option
description 461 assembler code for source program 402
example of setting 286 base locator table 418
specifying location for COBOL classes 283 compiler output 403, 412
library conflict with OFFSET option 391
BASIS 260 Constant area section 417
COPY 260 description 331
defining 260 DSA memory map 402, 419
directory entry 254 External symbols section 419
specifying path for 377 getting output 391
library-name MD5 signature example 413
alternative if not specified 278 multioption interaction 296
cross-reference to data-set names 422 reading output 402
when not used 723 special register table 418
library-name environment variable 274 Static map section 416
limits of the compiler symbols used in output 400
DATA DIVISION 11 Timestamp and version information example 413
user data 11 List of resources 915
line number 396, 425 listings
line-sequential files assembler expansion of PROCEDURE DIVISION 402
adding records to 209 data and procedure-name cross-reference 390
blocking 12 embedded error messages 388
closing 209 generating a short listing 391
closing to prevent reopening 208 line numbers, user-supplied 393
control characters in 206 sorted cross-reference of program-names 421
DATA DIVISION entries 206 sorted cross-reference of text-names 422
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION entries 205 terms used in MAP output 399
input/output error processing 210 text-name cross-reference 390
input/output statements for 207 literals
national data not supported 209 alphanumeric
opening 208 description 25

940 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
literals (continued) MAP compiler option (continued)
alphanumeric (continued) description 332
with DBCS content 148 embedded MAP summary 391
DBCS example 396, 402
description 26 nested program map
maximum length 148 example 402
using 148 symbols used in output 400
definition 25 terms used in output 399
hexadecimal using 390, 391
using 131 mapping of DATA DIVISION items 391
national mathematics
description 26 intrinsic functions 57, 61
using 130 Language Environment callable services 58, 685
numeric 25 MAX intrinsic function
using 25 example table calculation 88
little-endian, converting to big-endian 129 example with functions 60
loading a table dynamically 73 using 119
local names 484 MAXPCF compiler option 333
local references, converting to global 616 MDECK compiler option
LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION description 334
client 610 MEAN intrinsic function
comparison with WORKING- example statistics calculation 61
STORAGE example table calculation 88
example 14 MEDIAN intrinsic function
OO client 610 example statistics calculation 61
overview 14 example table calculation 88
determining location 41 memory map
LOG intrinsic function 61 DSA 402
logical record merge
description 151 alternate collating sequence 221
fixed-length format completion code 221
defining for VSAM 185 criteria 219
requesting for QSAM 158 data sets needed under z/OS 217
QSAM, definition 158 DD statements for defining z/OS data sets
variable-length format 217
defining for VSAM 186 description 211
layout for QSAM 160 determining success 221
requesting for QSAM 159 diagnostic message 222
loops files, describing 213
coding 99 keys
conditional 100 defining 219
do 100 overview 212
in a table 101 pass control statements to 226
performed an explicit number of times 100 process 212
LOWER-CASE intrinsic function 114 restrictions 211
lowercase, converting to 114 storage use 226
lst suffix with cob2 280 terminating 222
work files
describing 212
M MERGE statement
main program ASCENDING|DESCENDING KEY phrase 219
accessing parameter list in COLLATING SEQUENCE phrase 7, 221
z/OS description 218
example 505 GIVING phrase 218
overview 504 overview 211
accessing parameter list in z/OS restrictions 211
UNIX USING phrase 218
example 464 message handling, Language Environment callable services
overview 464 685
and subprograms 473 messages
dynamic calls 476 compiler
main storage, allocating to buffers 303 choosing severity to be flagged 388
MAP compiler option customizing 731
data items and relative addresses 265 determining what severity level to produce 320

Index 941
messages (continued) multithreading (continued)
compiler (continued) coding file I/O
embedding in source listing 388 example 521
generating a list of 271 recommended organization 521
sending to terminal 261 recommended usage patterns 521
severity levels 272, 732 serialization 520
compiler-directed 271 control transfer 519
from exit modules 738 ending programs 519
sending to SYSTERM 358 EXIT PROGRAM statement 474
METHOD-ID paragraph 601 GOBACK statement 474
methods I/O error declaratives 236
constructor 623 IGZEOPT 523
factory 623 IGZETUN 523
hiding factory 624 interlanguage communication 522
instance 600, 620 limitations 522
invoking 612, 625 nested programs 522
invoking superclass 615 older compilers 523
Java access control 637 overview 517
obtaining passed arguments 603 preinitializing 519
overloading 605 preparing COBOL programs for 517
overriding 604, 624 recursion 519
returning a value from 603 recursive requirement 522
signature 601 reentrancy 522
migration considerations reentrancy requirement 522
Java and COBOL 289 runtime restrictions 523
MIN intrinsic function sort and merge restriction 211
example 111 STOP RUN statement 474
using 119 synchronizing access to resources 522
Mixed AMODE 467 terminology 517
mixed DBCS/EBCDIC literal THREAD compiler option
alphanumeric to DBCS conversion 701 restrictions with 363
DBCS to alphanumeric conversion 703 when to choose 518
mnemonic-name UPSI switches 523
SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph 5 with PL/I tasks 522
MOVE statement
assigning arithmetic results 34
converting to national data 137
N
CORRESPONDING 33 N delimiter for national or DBCS literals 26
effect of ODO on lengths of sending and receiving items NAME compiler option
79 description 335
group move contrasted with elementary move 33, 134 using 3
with elementary receiving items 32 name declaration
with group receiving items 33 searching for 485
with national items 32 NAMESPACE-DECLARATION XML event 547
MSGEXIT suboption of EXIT option naming
effect on compilation return code 733 files 8
example user exit 733 programs 3
message severity levels 732 NATIONAL (USAGE IS)
processing of 729 external decimal 47
syntax 319 floating point 48
MSGFILE runtime option 344 national comparison 95
multiple currency signs national data
example 65 BYTE-LENGTH intrinsic function and 121
using 64 communicating with Java 638
multiple inheritance, not permitted 596, 619 comparing
multiple thread environment, running in 363 overview 145
multithreading to alphabetic, alphanumeric, or DBCS 147
AMODE setting 523 to alphanumeric groups 147
asynchronous signals 523 to numeric 146
choosing data section two operands 145
in an OO client 610 concatenating (STRING) 103
closing QSAM files 169 converting
closing VSAM files 194 exceptions 139
COBOL programs 517 from alphanumeric or DBCS with NATIONAL-OF 138

942 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
national data (continued) national group item (continued)
converting (continued) passing as an argument 496
from alphanumeric, DBCS, or integer with MOVE treated as a group item
137 example with INITIALIZE 135
overview 136 in INITIALIZE 32
to alphanumeric with DISPLAY-OF 138 in MOVE CORRESPONDING 33
to numbers with NUMVAL, NUMVAL-C 115 summary 135
to or from Chinese GB 18030 144 treated as an elementary item
to or from Greek alphanumeric, example 139 example with MOVE 33
to or from UTF-8 140 in most cases 24, 132
to uppercase or lowercase 114 using
with INSPECT 112 as an elementary item 134
defining 130 overview 133
displaying on output 36 VALUE clause with alphanumeric literal, example 76
encoding in XML documents 555 national language support (NLS)
evaluating with intrinsic functions 117 DBCS 147
external decimal 47 LANGUAGE compiler option 330
external floating-point 48 processing data 123
figurative constants 131 national literals
finding the smallest or largest item 118 description 26
in conditional expressions 145 using 130
in generated XML documents 578 national-edited data
in keys defining 130
in MERGE statement 219 editing symbols 130
in OCCURS clause 68 initializing
in SORT statement 219 example 29
initializing, example of 29 using INITIALIZE 74
input with ACCEPT 35 MOVE statement with 32
inspecting (INSPECT) 112 PICTURE clause 130
LENGTH intrinsic function and 121 NATIONAL-OF intrinsic function
LENGTH OF special register 121 example with Chinese data 144
literals example with Greek data 139
using 130 example with UTF-8 data 140
MOVE statement with 32, 137 using 138
NSYMBOL compiler option if no USAGE clause 130 with XML documents 555
reference modification of 109 nested COPY statement 683, 724
reversing characters 114 nested delimited scope statements 20
specifying 129 nested IF statement
splitting (UNSTRING) 105 coding 92
VALUE clause with alphanumeric literal, example 120 CONTINUE statement 91
national decimal data (USAGE NATIONAL) EVALUATE statement preferred 92
defining 132 with null branches 91
example 43 nested intrinsic functions 57
format 47 nested program integration 675
initializing, example of 30 nested program map
national floating-point data (USAGE NATIONAL) description 391
defining 132 example 402
definition 48 nested programs
national group item calling 482
advantages over alphanumeric groups 133 description 483
BYTE-LENGTH intrinsic function and 121 effect of INITIAL clause 4
can contain only national data 24, 134 guidelines 482
communicating with Java 638 map 391, 402
contrasted with USAGE NATIONAL group 25 scope of names 484
defining 133 transfer of control 482
example 24 nesting level
for defining tables 68 program 396, 402, 425
in generated XML documents 578 statement 396, 425
initializing NEXT SENTENCE statement 92
using a VALUE clause 76 NOCBLCARD translator option 435
using INITIALIZE 31, 74 NOCOMPILE compiler option
LENGTH intrinsic function and 121 use to find syntax errors 386
MOVE statement with 33 NODLL compiler option
overview 132 with dynamic calls 476

Index 943
NODLL compiler option (continued) numeric data (continued)
with static calls 476 packed-decimal (continued)
NODYNAM compiler option USAGE COMPUTATIONAL-3 (COMP-3) 49
under CICS 431 USAGE PACKED-DECIMAL 49
under Db2 with CICS or CAF 448 PICTURE clause 43, 45
with static and dynamic calls 480 storage formats 46
with static calls 476 USAGE DISPLAY 43
with stored procedures 448 USAGE NATIONAL 43
NOFASTSRT compiler option 224, 227 zoned decimal (USAGE DISPLAY)
NORENT compiler option format 47
multioption interaction 296 sign representation 53
NOSQLCCSID compiler option recommended for numeric intrinsic functions
compatibility with Db2 precompiler 446 differences from Language Environment callable
Notices 867 services 58
NSYMBOL compiler option equivalent Language Environment callable services 58
description 335 example of
effect on N literals 26 ANNUITY 61
for DBCS literals 131 CURRENT-DATE 60
for national data items 130 INTEGER 112
for national literals 130 INTEGER-OF-DATE 60
multioption interaction 296 LENGTH 60, 119
null branch 91 LOG 61
null-terminated strings MAX 60, 88, 119
example 108 MEAN 61
handling 497 MEDIAN 61, 88
manipulating 108 MIN 111
NUMBER compiler option NUMVAL 115
description 336 NUMVAL-C 60, 115
for debugging 393 ORD 118
NUMCHECK compiler option ORD-MAX 88
invalid COBOL data 386 PRESENT-VALUE 61
NUMCLS installation option, effect on numeric class test 54 RANGE 61, 88
numeric class test REM 61
checking for valid data 54 SQRT 61
effect of NUMPROC, NUMCLS 54 SUM 88
numeric comparison 95 integer, floating-point, mixed 56
numeric data nested 57
binary special registers as arguments 57
USAGE BINARY 48 table elements as arguments 57
USAGE COMPUTATIONAL (COMP) 48 uses for 56
USAGE COMPUTATIONAL-4 (COMP-4) 48 numeric literals, description 25
USAGE COMPUTATIONAL-5 (COMP-5) 48 numeric-edited data
can compare algebraic values regardless of USAGE 146 BLANK WHEN ZERO clause
comparing to national 146 coding with numeric data 130
converting example 45
between fixed- and floating-point 51 defining 130
precision 52 editing symbols 45
to national with MOVE 137 initializing
defining 43 examples 30
display floating-point (USAGE DISPLAY) 47 using INITIALIZE 74
editing symbols 45 PICTURE clause 45
external decimal USAGE DISPLAY
USAGE DISPLAY 47 displaying 45
USAGE NATIONAL 47 initializing, example of 30
external floating-point USAGE NATIONAL
USAGE DISPLAY 47 displaying 45
USAGE NATIONAL 48 initializing, example of 30
internal floating-point NUMPROC compiler option
USAGE COMPUTATIONAL-1 (COMP-1) 49 affected by NUMCLS 54
USAGE COMPUTATIONAL-2 (COMP-2) 49 description 340
national decimal (USAGE NATIONAL) 47 effect on sign processing 53
national floating-point (USAGE NATIONAL) 48 performance considerations 678
packed-decimal NUMVAL intrinsic function
sign representation 53 description 115

944 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
NUMVAL-C intrinsic function object-oriented COBOL (continued)
description 115 running (continued)
example 60 using JCL or TSO/E 286
NX delimiter for national literals 26 XPLINK linkage 288
writing OO programs 593
OCCURS clause
O ASCENDING|DESCENDING KEY phrase
o suffix with cob2 279, 280 example 86
object needed for binary search 86
creating 616 specify order of table elements 68
definition of 593 cannot use in a level-01 item 68
deleting 617 defining tables 67
object code for defining table elements 68
compilation and listing 265 INDEXED BY phrase for creating indexes 72
creating 261 nested for creating multidimensional tables 68
generating 307 OCCURS DEPENDING ON (ODO) clause
producing in 80-column record 311 complex 81
OBJECT compiler option for creating variable-length tables 78
description 341 initializing ODO elements 80
multioption interaction 296 ODO object 78
object instances, definition of 593 ODO subject 78
OBJECT paragraph optimization 673
instance data 599, 620 simple 78
instance methods 600 variable-length records
object references QSAM 160
comparing 611 VSAM 186
converting from local to global 616 OCCURS INDEXED BY clause, creating indexes with 72
example of passing 614 ODO object 78
setting 611 ODO subject 78
typed 610 OFFSET compiler option
universal 610 description 341
OBJECT-COMPUTER paragraph 5 multioption interaction 296
object-oriented COBOL output 424
binding OMITTED clause, FILE SECTION 13
example 287 OMITTED parameters 687
overview 286 OMITTED phrase for omitting arguments 495
calls to and from OO programs 485 ON EXCEPTION phrase
communicating with Java 638 INVOKE statement 612, 625
compatibility 289 OPEN statement
compiling file availability 166, 188, 208
under z/OS UNIX 281 file status key 237
using JCL or TSO/E 285 line-sequential files 207
DLLs in 514 multithreading serialization 520
IMS QSAM files 166
accessing databases 457 VSAM files 186
calling COBOL method from Java 455 opening files
calling Java method from COBOL 456 line-sequential 208
linking multithreading serialization 520
example 283 QSAM 166
overview 282 VSAM
preparing applications empty 189
under z/OS UNIX 282 overview 188
using JCL or TSO/E 286 OPTFILE compiler option 342
programs must be reentrant 488 optimization
restrictions avoid ALTER statement 670
cannot run under CICS 429 BINARY data items 671
CICS 593 consistent data 671
EXEC CICS statements 593 constant data items 670
EXEC SQL statements 593 contained program integration 675
sort and merge 211 effect of compiler options on 675
SQL compiler option 593 effect on parameter passing 495
SQL statements 440 effect on performance 669
running factor expressions 670
under z/OS UNIX 283 index computations 673

Index 945
optimization (continued) packed-decimal data item
indexing 672 description 49
nested program integration 675 sign representation 53
OCCURS DEPENDING ON 673 synonym 46
out-of-line PERFORM 670 using efficiently 49, 671
packed-decimal data items 671 page
performance implications 673 control 168
procedure integration 675 depth 13
structured programming 669 paragraph
subscript computations 673 definition 18
subscripting 672 grouping 101
table elements 672 parameters
top-down programming 670 accessing from main program in
unreachable code 675 z/OS
unused data items 343, 397 example 505
OPTIMIZE compiler option overview 504
description 343 accessing from main program in z/OS
effect on parameter passing 495 UNIX
performance considerations 674, 678 example 464
optimizer overview 464
overview 674 ADEXIT 728
optional files describing in called program 494
QSAM 167 INEXIT 722
VSAM 189 LIBEXIT 725
ORD intrinsic function, example 118 MSGEXIT 730
ORD-MAX intrinsic function PRTEXIT 727
example table calculation 88 PARMCHECK compiler option
using 119 invalid COBOL program 386
ORD-MIN intrinsic function 119 parse data item, definition 540
order of evaluation parsing JSON documents 529
arithmetic operators 56, 692 parsing XML documents
compiler options 296 description 540
out-of-line PERFORM 99 one segment at a time
OUTDD compiler option example 572
DD not allocated 37 overview 551
description 344 overview 538
interaction with DISPLAY 36 UTF-8 558
output white space 555
coding for CICS 430 with validation
coding for line-sequential files 207 example 574
coding for QSAM files 166 overview 548
coding for VSAM files 186 performance considerations 549
data set 261 restrictions 549
from compiler, under z/OS 258 XML declaration 555
to files 151 passing data between programs
output files with cob2 279 addresses 497
output procedure arguments in calling program 494
coding 216 BY CONTENT 491
example 216, 220 BY REFERENCE 491
FASTSRT option not effective 223 BY VALUE
requires RETURN or RETURN INTO 216 overview 491
restrictions 217 restrictions 494
overflow condition EXTERNAL data 501
CALL 241 JNI services 634
joining and splitting strings 232 OMITTED arguments 495
UNSTRING 105 options considerations 41
overloading instance methods 605 parameters in called program 494
overriding RETURN-CODE special register 500
factory methods 624 with Java 637
instance methods 604 password
alternate index 195
example 195
P VSAM files 194
packed decimal data 336 PASSWORD clause 194

946 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
PATH environment variable performance (continued)
description 461 effects of buffer size 303
example of setting 286 exponentiations 672
path name FASTSRT 222
for copybook search 278, 377 IMS environment 454, 680
PERFORM statement OCCURS DEPENDING ON 673
coding loops 99 optimizer
for a table overview 674
example using indexing 77 order of WHEN phrases in EVALUATE 94
example using subscripting 76 out-of-line PERFORM compared with inline 99
for changing an index 72 parsing XML documents with validation 549
inline 99 programming style 669
out-of-line 99 sorting with FASTSRT 222
performed an explicit number of times 100 striped extended-format QSAM data sets 175
TEST AFTER 100 table handling 673
TEST BEFORE 100 table searching
THRU 101 binary compared with serial 85
TIMES 100 improving serial search 85
UNTIL 100 tape, QSAM 165
VARYING 101 tuning 669
VARYING WITH TEST AFTER 101 variable subscript data format 71
WITH TEST AFTER . . . UNTIL 100 VSAM files 201, 681
WITH TEST BEFORE . . . UNTIL 100 worksheet 679
performance period as scope terminator 20
AIXBLD runtime option 681 PGMNAME compiler option
and debugging 361 COMPAT suboption 346
APPLY WRITE-ONLY clause 10 description 345
arithmetic evaluations 670 LONGMIXED suboption 347
arithmetic expressions 671 LONGUPPER suboption 346
blocking QSAM files 164, 302 phrase, definition of 18
calls 480 physical block 151
CBLPSHPOP considerations 437 physical record 14, 151
CBLPSHPOP runtime option 437 PICTURE clause
CICS cannot use for internal floating point 44
overview 669 determining symbol used 309
CICS coding 680 incompatible data 53
coding for 669 N for national data 130
coding tables 672 national-edited data 130
compiler option numeric data 43
AFP 676 numeric-edited data 130
ARCH 676 Z for zero suppression 45
ARITH 676 PL/I tasking
AWO 676 POSIX runtime option 522
BLOCK0 676 with COBOL 522
DYNAM 677 pointer data item
FASTSRT 677 description 39
HGPR 677 incrementing addresses with 498
INITCHECK 677 NULL value 497
INLINE 677 passing addresses 497
MAXPCF 677 processing chained lists 497
NUMCHECK 678 used to process chained list 498
NUMPROC 53, 678 porting applications
OPTIMIZE 674, 678 effect of separate sign 44
PARMCHECK 678 POSIX
RENT 678 calling APIs 462
RMODE 678 threads 522
SQLCCSID 446 POSIX runtime option
SSRANGE 678 effect on DLL search order 510
TEST 679 use in OO applications 286
THREAD 364, 679 precedence
TRUNC 364, 679 arithmetic operators 56, 692
consistent data types 671 CICS options 433
data usage 671 compiler options
effect of compiler options on 675 in batch 268

Index 947
precedence (continued) product support xxviii, 915
compiler options (continued) program
in SYSOPTF data sets 260, 342 attribute codes 402
under z/OS 263 compiling and linking using cob2
under z/OS UNIX 274 DLLs 276
copybook search order 274 examples 276
preferred sign 53 overview 275
preinitializing the COBOL environment compiling under z/OS 245
with multithreading 519 compiling under z/OS UNIX 273
PRESENT-VALUE intrinsic function 61 decisions
preserving original sequence in a sort 221 EVALUATE statement 91
priority numbers, segmentation 676 IF statement 91
procedure and data-name cross-reference, description 390 loops 100
PROCEDURE DIVISION PERFORM statement 100
additional information 403 switches and flags 96
client 608 developing for z/OS UNIX 459
description 17 diagnostics 395
in subprograms 496 initialization code 412
instance method 603 limitations 669
RETURNING main 473
to return a value 17 nesting level 396, 425
using 500 reentrant 488
s present in 403 restarting 658
signature information bytes 403 signature information bytes 403
statements statistics 395
compiler-directing 19 structure 3
conditional 18 subprogram 473
delimited scope 19 PROGRAM COLLATING SEQUENCE clause
imperative 18 does not affect national or DBCS operands 7
terminology 17 establishing collating sequence 7
USING overridden by COLLATING SEQUENCE phrase 7
BY VALUE 496 overrides default collating sequence 221
to receive parameters 17, 494 Program information
procedure integration 675 listing example 414
procedure-pointer data item program processing table 431
calling C/C++ 487 Program prolog area
calling JNI services 487 listing example 415
definition 486 program termination
entry address for entry point 486 actions taken in main and subprogram 474
passing parameters to callable services 486 statements 474
SET procedure-pointer 486 PROGRAM-ID paragraph
with DLLs 512 coding 3
process COMMON attribute 4
definition 517 INITIAL clause 4
PROCESS (CBL) statement program-names
batch compiling 268 avoid using certain prefixes 3
conflicting options in 295 cross-reference 421
overview 379 handling of case 345
precedence specifying 3
in batch 268 protecting VSAM files 194
under z/OS 263 PRTEXIT suboption of EXIT option
under z/OS UNIX processing of 726
274 syntax 318
specifying compiler options 264 publications 915
processing
chained lists
example 498
Q
overview 497 QSAM files
tables adding records to 167
example using indexing 77 ASCII tape file 177
example using subscripting 76 ASSIGN clause 157
processing JSON input 529 attributes 173
producing JSON output 535 BLOCK CONTAINS clause 164, 302
producing XML output 577 block size 164, 302

948 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
QSAM files (continued) record
blocking enhances performance 164, 302 description 11
blocking records 164, 176 format
closing 168 fixed-length QSAM 158, 159
closing to prevent reopening 166 fixed-length VSAM 185
DATA DIVISION entries 158 format D 159, 160, 177
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION entries 157 format F 158, 159, 177
FASTSRT requirements 223 format S 161, 162
input/output error processing 169, 233 format U 163, 177
input/output statements for 166 format V 159, 160, 177
obtaining buffers for 176 QSAM ASCII tape 177
opening 166 spanned 161, 162
processing undefined 163
existing files 174 variable-length QSAM 159, 160
in reverse order 167 variable-length VSAM 186
new files 175 order, effect of organization on 151
overview 157 RECORD CONTAINS clause
z/OS UNIX files 176 FILE SECTION entry 13
replacing records 167 RECORD KEY clause
retrieving 172 identifying prime key in KSDS files 182
striped extended-format 175 RECORDING MODE clause
tape performance 165 fixed-length records, QSAM 158
under z/OS QSAM files 14
creating files 170, 172 specify record format 158
DD statement for 170, 172 variable-length records, QSAM 159, 160
defining 170, 172 recursive calls
environment variable for 170 and the LINKAGE SECTION 16
file availability 167 coding 485
job control language (JCL) 171 identifying 4
updating files 167 REDEFINES clause, making a record into a table using 75
using same input/output file under FASTSRT reentrant programs 488
223 reference modification
writing to a printer 168 example 110
QUALIFY compiler option 347 expression checking with SSRANGE 356
QUOTE compiler option 298 generated XML documents 578
intrinsic functions 109
national data 109
R out-of-range values 110
railroad track diagrams, how to read xxvii tables 71, 109
random numbers, generating 58 UTF-8 documents 140
RANGE intrinsic function reference modifier
example statistics calculation 61 arithmetic expression as 111
example table calculation 88 intrinsic function as, example 111
RCFs variables as 110
sending xxxiii registers used by EXIT compiler option 722
RD parameter of JOB or EXEC statement 658 relation condition 95
READ INTO for format-V VSAM files 186 relative file organization 152
READ NEXT statement 186 RELEASE FROM statement
READ statement compared to RELEASE 215
AT END phrase 236 example 214
line-sequential files 207 RELEASE statement
multithreading serialization 520 compared to RELEASE FROM 215
QSAM 166 with SORT 214, 215
VSAM 186 REM intrinsic function 61
reader comments RENT compiler option
sending xxxiii description 348
reading records for DLLs 508
block size 164 for IMS 454
from line-sequential files 208 for Java interoperability 281, 285
reading records from VSAM files for OO COBOL 281, 285
dynamically 191 influencing addressability 41
randomly 191 multioption interaction 40, 296
sequentially 191 performance considerations 678
reason code from XML parsing 559, 707 when passing data 41

Index 949
REPLACE statement return code (continued)
Db2 considerations 447 VSAM files (continued)
description 379 description 238
replacing example 239
data items (INSPECT) 112 RLS mode 200
records in QSAM file 167 when control returns to operating system 500
records in VSAM file 193 RETURN statement
text, Db2 considerations 447 required in output procedure 216
REPLACING phrase (INSPECT), example 112 with INTO phrase 216
REPOSITORY paragraph RETURN-CODE special register
class 598 calls to Language Environment services 687
client 609 CICS ECI calls 432
coding 5 considerations for Db2 443
subclass 620 not set by INVOKE 612
representation passing data between programs 500
data 53 sharing return codes between programs 500
sign 53 when control returns to operating system 500
RERUN clause RETURNING phrase
checkpoint/restart 227 CALL statement 501
reserved-word table, CICS INVOKE statement 615
alternate PROCEDURE DIVISION header 500, 603
overview 436 REVERSE intrinsic function 114
specifying with WORD 369 reverse order of tape files 167
residency mode, definition 39 reversing characters 114
restart REWRITE statement
automatic 658 multithreading serialization 520
automatic or deferred 655 QSAM 166
deferred 659 VSAM 186
overview 655 RLS parameter 199
restarting a program 658 RMODE
restrictions description 39
CICS of EXIT modules 722
16 MB line 430 RMODE compiler option
calls 431 description 349
coding 429 influencing addressability 39
files 6 multioption interaction 39
OUTDD compiler option 344 performance considerations 678
parsing with validation using FILE 549 when passing data 41
separate translator 434 ROUNDED phrase 692
sorting 228 rows in tables 69
Db2 coprocessor 444 RRDS (relative-record data sets)
IMS file access mode 184
16 MB line 430 fixed-length records 180, 184
coding 6, 451 organization 183
IMS SQL coprocessor 453 performance considerations 202
input/output procedures 217 simulating variable-length records 184
OO programs 593 variable-length records 180, 184
SQL compiler option 444 RULES compiler option
SQL statements 440 description 350
SQLIMS compiler option 453 run time
subscripting 71 accessing arguments in
resubmitting a job 660 z/OS
return code example 505
compiler overview 504
depends on highest severity 272 accessing arguments in z/OS
effect of message customization 733 UNIX
overview 272 example 464
feedback code from Language Environment services overview 464
687 changing file-name 9
from CICS ECI 432 multithreading restrictions 523
from Db2 SQL statements 443 performance 669
from XML parsing 559, 707 run unit
RETURN-CODE special register 500, 687 description 473
VSAM files role in multithreading 517

950 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
running OO applications searching (continued)
under z/OS UNIX tables (continued)
overview 283 serial search 85
XPLINK linkage 288 section
using JCL or TSO/E 286 declarative 21
XPLINK linkage 288 definition 18
runtime options grouping 101
85 COBOL Standard conformance 295 segmentation 676
AIXBLD 681 SELECT clause
ALL31 478 ASSIGN clause 8
CBLOPTS 504 naming files 8
CBLPSHPOP 437 vary input-output file 9
DEBUG 384 SELECT OPTIONAL
ENVAR 286 QSAM 167
MSGFILE 344 VSAM 189
POSIX SELF 611
DLL search order 510 sentence, definition of 18
use in OO applications 286 separate CICS translator
specifying under z/OS 504 compiler options for 433, 435
specifying under z/OS UNIX 459 restrictions 434
TRAP using 435
closing files in QSAM 168 separate sign
closing files in VSAM 193 for line-sequential files 209
closing line-sequential files 209 portability 44
ON SIZE ERROR 232 printing 44
XPLINK required for signed national decimal 44
not recommended as a default 288 SEQUENCE compiler option 352
setting 288 sequential file organization 151
sequential search
description 85
S example 85
S-format record sequential storage device 152
layout 162 serial search
overview 162 description 85
requesting 161 example 85
S-level error message 272, 388 serialization of files with multithreading 520
sample programs 843 SERVICE compiler option 352
scope of names SERVICE LABEL statement 379
global 485 SET condition-name TO TRUE statement
local 484 example 100, 101
scope terminator switches and flags 98
aids in debugging 382 SET statement
explicit 19, 20 for changing an index 72
implicit 20 for changing index data items 72
SD (sort description) entry, example 214 for function-pointer data items 485
SEARCH ALL statement for object references 611
binary search 86 for procedure-pointer data items 485
example 86 for setting a condition, example 98
for changing an index 72 handling of program-name in 346
table must be ordered 86 using for debugging 383
search order setting
DLLs in the z/OS UNIX file system index data items 72
510 indexes 72
SEARCH statement switches and flags 98
example 85 sharing
for changing an index 72 data
nesting to search more than one level of a table 85 between separately compiled programs 501
serial search 85 coding the LINKAGE SECTION 495
searching from another program 16
for name declarations 485 in recursive or multithreaded programs 16
tables in separately compiled programs 16
binary search 86 overview 491
overview 84 parameter-passing mechanisms 491
performance 85 passing arguments to a method 613

Index 951
sharing (continued) sort (continued)
data (continued) restrictions on input/output procedures 217
PROCEDURE DIVISION header 496 special registers 225
RETURN-CODE special register 500 storage use 226
returning a value from a method 615 terminating 222
scope of names 484 under CICS 228
with Java 637 variable-length records 218
files work files
scope of names 484 describing 212
using EXTERNAL clause 12, 501 workspace 227
using GLOBAL clause 12 SORT statement
short listing, example 393 ASCENDING|DESCENDING KEY phrase 219
sign condition COLLATING SEQUENCE phrase 7, 221
testing sign of numeric operand 95 description 218
SIGN IS SEPARATE clause GIVING phrase 218
for line-sequential files 209 overview 211
portability 44 restrictions 211
printing 44 restrictions for CICS applications 228
required for signed national decimal data 44 under CICS
sign representation 53 change reserved-word table
signature 437
definition of 601 USING phrase 218
must be unique 601 SORT-CONTROL special register 225
signature information bytes SORT-CORE-SIZE special register 225
compiler options in effect 403 SORT-FILE-SIZE special register 225
DATA DIVISION 403 SORT-MESSAGE special register 225
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION 403 SORT-MODE-SIZE special register 225
PROCEDURE DIVISION 403 SORT-RETURN special register
size of printed page, control 168 determining sort or merge success 221
skip a block of records 164 terminating sort or merge 222
softcopy information xxviii SORTCKPT DD statement 227
sort sorting
alternate collating sequence 221 tables
checkpoint/restart 227 overview 87
completion code 221 SOURCE and NUMBER output, example 396
controlling behavior of 225 source code
criteria 219 compiler data set 259
data sets needed under z/OS 217 line number 396, 397, 402, 425
DD statements for defining z/OS data sets 217 listing, description 391
description 211 program listing 265
determining success 221 SOURCE compiler option
diagnostic message 222 description 353
FASTSRT compiler option getting output 391
improving performance 222 SOURCE-COMPUTER paragraph 5
requirements 223 SPACE compiler option 353
using same QSAM file for input and output 223 spanned files 162
files, describing 213 spanned record format
input procedures description 161
coding 214 layout 162
example 220 requesting 161
keys special feature specification 5
defining 219 special register
overview 212 ADDRESS OF
NOFASTSRT compiler option 224 use in CALL statement 492
output procedures arguments in intrinsic functions 57
coding 216 JNIEnvPtr
example 216, 220 use for JNI callable services 633
pass control statements to 226 LENGTH OF 121, 492
performance RETURN-CODE 500
FASTSRT 222 SORT-RETURN
variable-length files 218 determining sort or merge success 221
preserving original sequence 221 terminating sort or merge 222
process 212 using in XML parsing 541, 543
restrictions 211 WHEN-COMPILED 121

952 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
special register (continued) START statement
XML-CODE 542, 544 multithreading serialization 520
XML-EVENT 541, 543 VSAM 186
XML-INFORMATION 542 statement
XML-NAMESPACE 542, 547 compiler-directing 19
XML-NAMESPACE-PREFIX 542, 547 conditional 18
XML-NNAMESPACE 542, 547 definition 18
XML-NNAMESPACE-PREFIX 542, 547 delimited scope 19
XML-NTEXT 542, 546 explicit scope terminator 20
XML-TEXT 542, 546 imperative 18
special register table 418 implicit scope terminator 20
SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph nesting level 396, 425
coding 5 statement cross-reference listing
QSAM files 177 description 391
splitting data items (UNSTRING) 105 statements used in program 391
SQL compiler option static calls
description 354 example 481
restrictions making 476
compiling in batch 444 performance 480
OO programs 593 with dynamic calls 480
using 443 static data areas, allocating storage 41
SQL statements static data, definition of 593
CCSID determination 444 Static map 416
coding static methods
overview 440 definition of 593
restriction 440 invoking 625
EXIT compiler option and 740 statistics intrinsic functions 61
overview 439 status code, VSAM files
restrictions 440 description 238
return codes 443 example 239
SQL DECLARE 441 stderr
SQL INCLUDE 441 controlling line spacing 37
use for Db2 services 439 directing with DISPLAY 37
using binary data in 443 setting DISPLAY to 461
using character data in 441 stdin
using national decimal data 442 reading with ACCEPT 35
SQLCA stdout
declare for programs that use SQL statements 440 controlling line spacing 37
declare for programs that use SQLIMS statements 452 directing with DISPLAY 37
return codes from Db2 443 setting DISPLAY to 461
SQLCCSID compiler option STEPLIB environment variable
description 355 description 461
effect on CCSID of string data 444 example of specifying compiler 275
performance considerations 446 STGOPT compiler option 357
recommended with Db2 coprocessor 446 STOP RUN statement
SQLIMS compiler option in main program 474
restrictions in subprogram 474
compiling in batch 453 with multithreading 474
using 453 storage
SQLIMS statements character data 136
coding device
overview 452 direct-access 152
EXIT compiler option and 740 sequential 152
SQLIMS INCLUDE 452 for arguments 494
SQRT intrinsic function 61 management with Language Environment callable
SSRANGE compiler option services 685
description 356 mapping 391
performance considerations 678 use during sort 226
reference modification 110 stride, table 673
using 387 STRING statement
STACK runtime option example 104
influencing data location 41 overflow condition 232
multioption interaction 40 using 103
STANDARD clause, FD entry 13 with DBCS data 701

Index 953
strings SYSADATA (continued)
handling 103 output 297
Java records, exit module 728
declaring 638 SYSADATA file
manipulating 642 description 258
null-terminated 497 example 751
striped extended-format QSAM file 175 file contents 749
structure, initializing using INITIALIZE 31 record descriptions 752
structured programming 670 record types 750
structuring OO applications 630 SYSDEBUG data set
subclass defining 262
coding use of 360
example 621 SYSDEBUG file
overview 618 description 258
instance data 620 SYSIN data set
subprogram defining 259
and main program 473 description 256
definition 491 SYSJAVA file
description 473 defining 262
linkage description 258
common data items 494 SYSLIB data set
PROCEDURE DIVISION in 496 defining 260
termination description 256
effects 474 when not used 723
subscript SYSLIB environment variable
definition 70 description 274
literal, example 70 specifying location of JNI.cpy 281
range checking 387 SYSLIN data set
variable, example 70 description 258
subscripting SYSMDECK file
definition 70 defining 263
example 76 description 258
literal, example 70 SYSMDUMP file
reference modification 71 description 258
relative 71 SYSOPTF data set
restrictions 71 defining 260
use data-name or literal 71 description 256
variable, example 70 SYSPRINT data set
substitution character 132 defining 261
substrings description 258
of table elements 109 when not used 726
reference modification of 109 SYSPUNCH data set
SUM intrinsic function, example table calculation 88 description 258, 261
SUPER 615 requirements for DECK compiler option 311
support xxviii, 915 system date
SUPPRESS compiler option 358 under CICS 431
switch-status condition 95 system dump 231
switches and flags system-determined block size
defining 97 compiler data sets 259
description 96 QSAM files 164, 302
resetting 98 system-name 5
setting switches off, example 99 SYSTERM data set
setting switches on, example 98 defining 261
testing multiple values, example 97 description 258
testing single values, example 97 sending messages to 358
SYMBOLIC CHARACTERS clause 8 SYSUDUMP file
symbolic constant 670 description 258
syntax diagrams, how to read xxvii SYSUT data set 257
syntax errors
finding with NOCOMPILE compiler option 386
SYSABEND file
T
description 258 table
SYSADATA assigning values to 74
file, creating 262 columns 67

954 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
table (continued) TEST compiler option
compare to array 39 description 359
defining with OCCURS clause 67 multioption interaction 296
definition 67 performance considerations 679
depth 69 use for debugging 391
description 39 text-name cross-reference, description 390
dynamically loading 73 text-name environment variable 274
efficient coding 672, 673 THREAD compiler option
elements 67 and the LINKAGE SECTION 16
identical element specifications 672 cannot use with nested programs 483
index, definition 70 description 363
initializing for Java interoperability 281, 285
all occurrences of an element 76 for OO COBOL 281, 285
at the group level 76 multioption interaction 296
each item individually 75 performance considerations 679
using INITIALIZE 73 threading
using PERFORM VARYING 101 and preinitialization 519
loading values in 73 control transfer 519
looping through 101 ending programs 519
multidimensional 68 z/OS UNIX considerations
one-dimensional 67 459
processing with intrinsic functions 87 TITLE statement
redefining a record as 75 controlling header on listing 5
reference modification 71 top-down programming
referencing substrings of elements 109 constructs to avoid 670
referencing with indexes, example 70 TRACK OVERFLOW option 165
referencing with subscripts, example 70 Trademarks 868
referring to elements 70 transferring control
rows 69 between COBOL and non-COBOL programs 473
searching between COBOL programs 475, 482
binary 86 called program 473
overview 84 calling program 473
performance 85 main and subprograms 473
sequential 85 nested programs 483
serial 85 transforming COBOL data to XML
sorting example 583
overview 87 overview 577
stride computation 673 TRAP runtime option
subscript, definition 70 closing line-sequential files 209
three-dimensional 69 closing QSAM files 168
two-dimensional 69 closing VSAM files 193
variable-length ON SIZE ERROR 232
creating 78 TRUNC compiler option
example of loading 80 description 364
initializing 80 performance considerations 679
preventing overlay in 83 suboptions for separate CICS translator 435
TALLYING phrase (INSPECT), example 112 TSO
tape files ALLOCATE command 252
performance 165 CALL command 252
reverse order 167 compiling under
TERMINAL compiler option 358 example CLIST 253
terminal, sending messages to the 358 overview 252
terminating XML parsing 563 SYSTERM for compiler messages 261
termination 474 tuning considerations, performance 675, 676
terminology typed object references 610
VSAM 179
terms used in MAP output 399
test
U
conditions 100 U-format record
data 95 layout 163
numeric operand 95 requesting 163
UPSI switch 95 U-level error message 272, 388
TEST AFTER 100 unavailable files
TEST BEFORE 100 QSAM 167

Index 955
unavailable files (continued) V
VSAM 195
UNBOUNDED groups V-format record
processing 88 layout 160
undefined record format requesting 159
layout 163 validating XML documents
QSAM 177 example 574
requesting 163 overview 548
unfilled tracks 165 performance considerations 549
Unicode restrictions 549
description 129 VALUE clause
encoding and storage 136 alphanumeric literal with national data, example 120
JNI services 642 alphanumeric literal with national group, example 76
processing data 123 assigning table values
using with Db2 441 at the group level 76
universal object references 610 to each item individually 75
UNIX to each occurrence of an element 76
calling APIs 462 assigning to a variable-length group 80
unreachable code 675 cannot use for external floating point 48
UNSTRING statement initializing internal floating-point literals 44
example 106 large literals with COMP-5 49
overflow condition 232 large, with TRUNC(BIN) 365
using 105 VALUE IS NULL 497
with DBCS data 701 VALUE OF clause 13
updating VSAM records 191 variable
UPPER-CASE intrinsic function 114 as reference modifier 110
uppercase, converting to 114 definition 23
UPSI switches with multithreading 523 variable-length records
USAGE clause OCCURS DEPENDING ON (ODO) clause 673
at the group level 25 QSAM
incompatible data 53 layout 160
INDEX phrase, creating index data items with 72 requesting 159
NATIONAL phrase at the group level 133 sorting 218
OBJECT REFERENCE 610 VSAM
USE FOR DEBUGGING declaratives defining 186
overview 384 RRDS 180
USE statement 380 variable-length table
user exit routine assigning values to 80
DFSORT 228 creating 78
user-defined condition 95 example 79
user-exit work area 721 example of loading 80
USING phrase preventing overlay in 83
INVOKE statement 613 variables, environment
PROCEDURE DIVISION header 496, 603 example of setting and accessing 462
UTF-16 library-name 377
definition 129 runtime 461
encoding for national data 129 variably located data item 82
UTF-8 variably located group 82
avoid INSPECT 558 VBREF compiler option
avoid moves that truncate 558 description 366
avoid reference modification with XML documents 140 output example 424
converting to or from national 140 using 391
definition 129 VLR compiler option
encoding and storage 136 description 366
encoding for ASCII invariant characters 129 VSAM files
example of generating an XML document 579 adding records to 192
JNI services 645 allocating with environment variable 198
parsing XML documents 558 closing 193
processing data items 140 coding input/output statements 186
using intrinsic functions 140 comparison of file organizations 180
UTF-8 data creating alternate indexes 196
using Unicode intrinsic functions 141 DATA DIVISION entries 185
deleting records from 193
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION entries 181

956 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
VSAM files (continued) WORKING-STORAGE SECTION
error processing 233 client 610
extended addressability 202 comparison with LOCAL-
file position indicator (CRP) 188, 191 STORAGE
file status key 194 example 14
input/output error processing 194 OO client 610
loading overview 14
dynamically or randomly 189 factory data 623
extended format 190 instance data 599, 620
sequentially 189 instance method 602
with access method services 190 multithreading considerations 610
opening storage location for data 310
empty 189 workspace
overview 188 use during sort 227
performance considerations 201 wrapper, definition of 630
processing files 179 wrapping procedure-oriented programs 630
protecting with password 194 Writable static area 416
reading records from 191 write a block of records 164
record-level sharing (RLS) WRITE ADVANCING statement 168
error handling 200 WRITE statement
overview 199 line-sequential files 207
preventing update problems 200 multithreading serialization 520
restrictions 200 QSAM 166
replacing records in 193 VSAM 186
status codes
description 238
example 239
X
under z/OS x suffix with cob2 279, 280
defining data sets 196 XML declaration
file availability 195 generating 579
JCL 198 specifying encoding declaration 557
RLS mode 199 white space cannot precede 555
updating records 191 XML document
VSAM terminology accessing 539
BDAM data set 179 code pages supported 554
comparison to non-VSAM terms controlling the encoding of 582
179 EBCDIC special characters 558
ESDS for QSAM 179 encoding 554, 555
KSDS for ISAM 179 enhancing
RRDS for BDAM 179 example of modifying data definitions 588
VSAMOPENFS compiler option 368 rationale and techniques 587
events
W example 569
generating
W-level message 272, 388 example 583
WHEN phrase overview 577
EVALUATE statement 93 handling parsing exceptions 559
SEARCH ALL statement 86 national language 555
SEARCH statement 85 parser 538
WHEN-COMPILED intrinsic function 121 parsing
WHEN-COMPILED special register 121 description 540
white space in XML documents 555 example 564, 569, 572
WITH DEBUGGING MODE clause large documents 553
for debugging lines 384 one segment at a time 551
for debugging statements 384 UTF-8 558
WITH POINTER phrase parsing with validation
STRING 103 example 574
UNSTRING 105 overview 548
WORD compiler option performance considerations 549
description 369 restrictions 549
multioption interaction 296 processing 537
recommended for CICS integrated translator 433 specifying encoding if alphanumeric 557
recommended for CICS separate translator 435 white space 555
work data sets for compiling 256 XML declaration 555

Index 957
XML event XML PARSE statement (continued)
CONTENT-CHARACTERS using 540
example 574 XML parser
when parsing segments 552 error handling 561
encoding conflicts 561, 562 overview 538
END-OF-INPUT XML parsing
example 574 control flow with processing procedure 544
when parsing segments 551 description 540
EXCEPTION 561 fatal errors 561
fatal errors 561 handling encoding conflicts 561, 562
NAMESPACE-DECLARATION 547 handling exceptions 559
overview 543 one segment at a time
processing 538, 541 example 572
processing procedure 540 overview 551
XML exception codes overview 537
for generating 715 reason code 559, 707
for parsing 707 return code 559, 707
for parsing with XMLPARSE(COMPAT) special registers 541, 543
handleable 709 terminating 563
not handleable 712 with validation
for parsing with XMLPARSE(XMLSS) 707 example 574
XML GENERATE statement overview 548
COUNT IN 583 performance considerations 549
NAME 580 restrictions 549
NAMESPACE 579 XML processing procedure
NAMESPACE-PREFIX 579 control flow with parser 544
NOT ON EXCEPTION 581 error with EXIT PROGRAM or GOBACK 542
ON EXCEPTION 582 example
SUPPRESS 580 one segment at a time 572
TYPE 581 parsing with validation 574
WITH ATTRIBUTES 578 program for processing XML 564
WITH ENCODING 582 handling encoding conflicts 562
XML-DECLARATION 579 handling parsing exceptions 559
XML generation multiple segments 551
controlling type of XML data 581 restriction on XML PARSE 542
counting generated characters 578 setting XML-CODE in 562
description 577 specifying 540
enhancing output using special registers 541, 543
example of modifying data definitions 588 writing 541
rationale and techniques 587 XML schemas 550
example 583 XML-CODE special register
generating attributes 578 content 544
generating elements 578 continuation after nonzero value 562
handling errors 582 control flow between parser and processing procedure
ignored data items 578 544
naming attributes or elements 580 description 542
no byte order mark 582 exception codes for generating 715
overview 577 exception codes for parsing 707
suppressing generation of specified attributes or exception codes for parsing with XMLPARSE(COMPAT)
elements 580 encoding conflicts 560
using namespace prefixes 579 handleable 709
using namespaces 579 not handleable 712
XML output exception codes for parsing with XMLPARSE(XMLSS)
controlling the encoding of 582 707
enhancing fatal errors 561
example of modifying data definitions 588 reason code 559, 707
rationale and techniques 587 return code 559, 707
generating setting to -1 544, 563
example 583 setting to 1 551
overview 577 subtracting 100,000 from 562
XML PARSE statement terminating parsing 563
NOT ON EXCEPTION 540 using in generating 581
ON EXCEPTION 540 using in parsing 537
overview 538 with code-page conflicts 561

958 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
XML-CODE special register (continued) z/OS UNIX
with encoding conflicts 562 accessing environment variables
with generating exceptions 582 example 462
with parsing exceptions 561 overview 460
XML-EVENT special register accessing main parameters under
content 543, 564 example 464
description 541 overview 464
using 537, 541 compiler environment variables 273
with parsing exceptions 561 compiling from script 280
XML-INFORMATION special compiling OO applications
register example 283
content 546 overview 281
description 542 compiling under 273
XML-NAMESPACE special register copybook search order 274, 278, 378
content 547 copybooks 378
description 542 developing programs 459
using 537 execution environments 459
XML-NAMESPACE-PREFIX special register linking OO applications
content 547 example 283
description 542 overview 282
using 537 preparing OO applications
XML-NNAMESPACE special register example 283
content 547 overview 282
description 542 programs must be reentrant 488
using 537 restrictions 459
XML-NNAMESPACE-PREFIX special register running OO applications
content 547 overview 283
description 542 XPLINK linkage 288
using 537 running programs 459
XML-NTEXT special register setting environment variables
content 546 example 462
description 542 overview 460
using 537 sort and merge restriction 211
with parsing exceptions 561 specifying compiler options 274
XML-TEXT special register z/OS UNIX file system
content 546, 564 compiler data sets 247
description 542 defining file with environment variable 154
using 537 processing files with QSAM 176
with parsing exceptions 561 reading file with ACCEPT 35
XMLPARSE compiler option search order for DLLs in 510
choosing the parser 537 writing files with DISPLAY 37
description 369 zero suppression
XPLINK linkage convention in OO applications 288 example of BLANK WHEN ZERO clause 45
XPLINK runtime option PICTURE symbol Z 45
not recommended as a default 288 zlib 663
setting 288 ZONECHECK compiler option 371
XREF compiler option zoned decimal data (USAGE DISPLAY)
description 370 effect of ZWB on comparison to alphanumeric 375
finding copybook data sets 390 example 43
finding data- and procedure-names 390 format 47
getting output 391 sign representation 53
XREF output ZONEDATA compiler option 372
COPY/BASIS cross-references 422 ZWB compiler option 375
data-name cross-references 420
program-name cross-references 421

Z
z/OS
accessing main parameters under
example 505
overview 504
compiling under 245
running programs under 504

Index 959
960 Enterprise COBOL for z/OS: Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V6.2 Programming Guide
IBM®

Product Number: 5655-EC6

SC27-8714-01