COBOL

COBOL Programming Last Printed: 08/12/21
CONTENTS
1. What is a program?........................................................................................................... 4
1.1. What is COBOL?........................................................................................................ 4
1.2. Course Conventions................................................................................................... 6
1.3. Glossary..................................................................................................................... 6
1.4. General rules for columns........................................................................................... 6
2. Overview of a COBOL Program......................................................................................... 7
3. IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.............................................................................................. 8
4. ENVIRONMENT DIVISION............................................................................................... 9
5. DATA DIVISION.............................................................................................................. 10
5.1. Level Number........................................................................................................... 10
5.2. Name........................................................................................................................ 10
5.3. Picture...................................................................................................................... 10
6. WORKING-STORAGE SECTION....................................................................................11
6.1. Example.................................................................................................................... 11
6.2. FILLER..................................................................................................................... 12
6.3. VALUE...................................................................................................................... 12
6.4. Spacing..................................................................................................................... 12
7. PROCEDURE DIVISION.................................................................................................13
7.1. ACCEPT................................................................................................................... 13
7.2. ACCEPT.... FROM................................................................................................... 14
7.3. DISPLAY.................................................................................................................. 15
7.4. GOBACK.................................................................................................................. 15
8. FURTHER DATA DIVISION............................................................................................16
8.1. FILE DEFINITION..................................................................................................... 16
8.2. RECORD DESCRIPTION.........................................................................................17
9. FURTHER PROCEDURE DIVISION...............................................................................19
9.1. File Handling Verbs - OPEN.....................................................................................19
9.2. READ....................................................................................................................... 19
9.3. WRITE...................................................................................................................... 20
9.4. CLOSE..................................................................................................................... 20
10. Data Handling Verbs.................................................................................................... 21
10.1. MOVE................................................................................................................... 21
10.2. MOVE - Other Considerations..............................................................................22
11. PERFORM................................................................................................................... 23
11.1. Sections................................................................................................................ 23
11.2. PERFORM with UNTIL phrase.............................................................................25
11.3. PERFORM with TIMES phrase.............................................................................26
12. Decimal Point............................................................................................................... 27
12.1. MOVE and Decimal Points....................................................................................27
13. Signed Fields............................................................................................................... 28
13.1. IF........................................................................................................................... 29
13.2. GO TO.................................................................................................................. 30
13.3. PARM.................................................................................................................... 31
14. Explicit Scope Terminators........................................................................................... 32
15. INITIALIZE................................................................................................................... 33
16. CONDITION-NAMES (88 LEVEL)................................................................................34
17. SET TO TRUE............................................................................................................. 35
18. In-Line PERFORM....................................................................................................... 37
19. Figurative Constants - 1............................................................................................... 38
19.1. ZERO.................................................................................................................... 38
19.2. SPACE or SPACES..............................................................................................38
20. VALUE......................................................................................................................... 39
21. READ ... INTO.............................................................................................................. 40
22. WRITE ... FROM.......................................................................................................... 40
23. PRINTING.................................................................................................................... 41
24. Naming Standards for Print Fields...............................................................................43
25. Editing fields................................................................................................................. 43
25.1. Z (Suppression).................................................................................................... 44
IT TRAINING 1
25.2. * Cheque Protect (Replacement).........................................................................44

25.3. £ Fixed (Insertion).................................................................................................44
25.4. £ Floating (Replacement).....................................................................................45
25.5. Plus and Minus Signs (Insertion)..........................................................................45
25.6. + or - Fixed (Insertion)........................................................................................... 45
25.7. + and - Floating (Replacement).............................................................................46
25.8. Credit or Debit Indicators (Insertion).....................................................................46
25.9. Blank Spaces (Insertion).......................................................................................46
25.10. Commas (Insertion)..............................................................................................47
25.11. Slash (Insertion).................................................................................................... 47
25.12. Full Stop or Decimal Point (Insertion)...................................................................48
25.13. BLANK WHEN ZERO...........................................................................................48
26. Figurative Constants 2................................................................................................. 49
26.1. HIGH-VALUE or HIGH-VALUES...........................................................................49
26.2. LOW-VALUE or LOW-VALUES............................................................................49
26.3. ALL....................................................................................................................... 49
27. COPY........................................................................................................................... 50
28. Arithmetic Verbs........................................................................................................... 51
28.1. ADD...................................................................................................................... 51
28.2. ROUNDED............................................................................................................ 52
28.3. ON SIZE ERROR..................................................................................................53
28.4. SUBTRACT........................................................................................................... 54
28.5. MULTIPLY............................................................................................................ 55
28.6. DIVIDE.................................................................................................................. 56
29. Conditions.................................................................................................................... 57
29.1. IF ... ELSE............................................................................................................. 57
29.2. IF ... AND.............................................................................................................. 57
29.3. IF ... OR................................................................................................................ 58
29.4. IF....NOT............................................................................................................... 58
29.5. IF - Testing Field Contents....................................................................................59
30. COMPUTE................................................................................................................... 60
30.1. IF and Arithmetic Expressions..............................................................................60
31. EVALUATE.................................................................................................................. 61
32. Numeric fields.............................................................................................................. 63
32.1. PACKED-DECIMAL.............................................................................................. 63
32.1.1. Decimal point in a packed decimal field.............................................................63
32.1.2. Length of a packed decimal field.......................................................................63
32.2. BINARY................................................................................................................. 64
32.2.1. Binary Fields and Length...................................................................................64
32.2.2. Decimal point in a binary field............................................................................64
32.3. Choice of numeric fields........................................................................................65
32.3.1. Zoned decimal................................................................................................... 65
32.3.2. Packed decimal.................................................................................................65
32.3.3. Binary................................................................................................................ 65
33. File Handling................................................................................................................ 66
33.1. Implicit Redefinition............................................................................................... 66
34. Variable Length Records.............................................................................................. 68
35. REDEFINES................................................................................................................. 69
35.1. Further Examples.................................................................................................. 70
36. OCCURS, SUBSCRIPTS and TABLES.......................................................................71
36.1. Further Considerations..........................................................................................73
37. OCCURS DEPENDING ON......................................................................................... 74
37.1. Length Calculation................................................................................................ 75
38. APPLY WRITE ONLY.................................................................................................. 77
39. PERFORM VARYING..................................................................................................78
40. STRING....................................................................................................................... 79
41. UNSTRING.................................................................................................................. 80
IT TRAINING 2
42. NORWICH UNION DATES.......................................................................................... 81

43. GO TO....DEPENDING................................................................................................82
44. COBOL Subroutines.................................................................................................... 83
44.1. CALL..................................................................................................................... 83
44.1.1. Further Consideration........................................................................................84
44.2. Link Editing........................................................................................................... 84
45. INSPECT...................................................................................................................... 85
46. REFERENCE MODIFICATION....................................................................................85
47. INDEXED..................................................................................................................... 86
48. Modifying Indexes........................................................................................................ 87
48.1. SET....................................................................................................................... 87
48.2. SEARCH............................................................................................................... 88
48.3. Serial Search........................................................................................................ 89
48.4. Binary Search....................................................................................................... 90
48.5. Comparison Between Subscripting and Indexing..................................................92
49. INDEX.......................................................................................................................... 95
IT TRAINING 3
1. What is a program?
A program is a collection of statements written in a language the computer understands. A
computer executes program statements one after another in sequence until it reaches the end
of the program unless some statement in the program alters the order of execution.
1.1. What is COBOL?

In 1959 it was decided that it would be desirable to produce a common programming
language for business applications. Until 1959 each computer had its own specific language
which was either numeric or machine code.
The benefits of this common language would be:
1. It would be machine independent and thus transfer of programs between

machines would be easier.
2. The language would be in English narrative form.
3. Relatively inexperienced personnel could write programs.
4. Training of personnel could be speeded up.
5. The language should be designed so that new facilities can be added when
necessary.
From the above aims COBOL was designed.
COBOL stands for COmmon Business Oriented Language (or COmmercial Business
Oriented Language in some texts).
The language emphasises the description and handling of data items and of input/output
records. Instead of extensive algebraic or logical processing, COBOL applications
manipulate large files of data in a relatively simple way.
Today COBOL is available on a large range of machines. It is produced to American National

Standards Institute (ANSI) specifications. The benefit of the standard is that the same
COBOL instructions work in the same way on every machine.
COBOL is an English based language that can be self-documenting. Like any language it
has its own grammar or syntax rules which must be adhered to. It is part of the COBOL
syntax that instructions are written in the correct place and throughout this course column
positions will be given. The general rule is one COBOL statement per line but the exact
layout of statements will be described (where applicable) later in the course.
The current version of COBOL is COBOL 85. It got that name from the year in which the
standard was adopted. The marketing name for COBOL 85 is COBOL II. Before this version
everyone was using COBOL 74 but calling it COBOL or OS/VS COBOL (on the mainframe).
COBOL II is a licensed program that prepares COBOL programs for execution in an IBM
processor. COBOL II extends many of the capabilities of any previous COBOL product,
allowing for improved programmer productivity, application efficiency, debugging and
maintenance.
To coincide with the implementation of COBOL II, Norwich Union introduced a revised set of
COBOL Programming Standards. These standards apply to all COBOL code that should be
written in COBOL II (on the mainframe) or COBOL/2 (on the PC).
The purpose of the standards is to ensure that all COBOL programs written within NU are a
consistent style. By adhering to the standards, programmers will ensure that their programs
are written and maintained in the most efficient way.
IT TRAINING 4
Some of the changes to the standards are due to Norwich Union's adoption of Systems
Application Architecture (SAA) - IBM's family of standard interfaces that enable software to be
written independently of hardware and operating system. At its simplest it means that
systems written to the SAA standards should run virtually unchanged on IBM mainframes and
micros. The standards therefore state that all code written should be SAA compliant.
Exceptions have only been made to provide existing functionality and where there is
considerable advantage to be gained from using non-SAA code.
IT TRAINING 5
1.2. Course Conventions.
Actual COBOL code examples are in Courier Font.
The programmer must supply words in lower case within a code example or format.
Words in brackets within a code example or format are optional.
1.3. Glossary.
A COBOL sentence must end with a full stop. A sentence consists of one or more COBOL
statements.
Integer means a whole number with no sign or decimal point.
A numeric literal consists of the digits 0-9. If a sign + or - is included it must be the leftmost
character. A decimal point may be included too.
A non-numeric literal consists of any character from the EBCDIC character set, enclosed in
quotes ('), with a maximum length of 120 characters.
A dataname is a programmer-defined word that names a data item:
 its name may contain 1 to 30 characters (A-Z, 0-9 or - (hyphen), but it can not
begin or end with a hyphen).
 it must contain at least 1 alphabetic character and must be unique within a
program.
 it must not be a COBOL reserved word.
An identifier is one or more words making a unique reference to a data item through
qualification, subscripting or indexing.
1.4. General rules for columns.
Columns 1 to 6 are reserved for line numbers. By putting a * in column 7 the remainder of the
line is then regarded as documentation and is ignored by the compiler.
All divisions, sections and paragraphs, file descriptions and record names must begin in what
is known as region A (columns 8, 9, 10 and 11). Everything else must be in columns 12 to 72
(known as section B). Everything past column 72 is treated as a comment and is ignored by
the compiler.
Numbers
*
A B comments
1-6 7 8 – 11 12 – 72 73 - 80
IT TRAINING 6
2. Overview of a COBOL Program.

A COBOL program consists of COBOL statements. These statements have to conform to
certain rules, which will be given when the statements are described. The position of
statements will be given where appropriate.
A COBOL program is divided into 4 divisions:
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION
DATA DIVISION
PROCEDURE DIVISION
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION
This division names the program and the author and gives the date the program was written.
It should also contain comments giving a brief description of the program. When a program is
amended due to maintenance a note of the date and a brief description of the amendment will
also be given here.
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION
This division describes where to find any files your program will use by defining the
relationship between hardware devices and the files that use those devices.
DATA DIVISION
The data division is a repository of information about the data the program uses. This division
will contain a description of all the files the program accesses. Any work fields and constants
will also be described here. All statements in this division relate to the format in which data is
input, stored or output.
PROCEDURE DIVISION
This contains the program logic. The COBOL verbs are used here to tell the computer how to
manipulate the data you have described. This division is normally subdivided into sections,
each section apart from the first doing a particular task. The first section is the control section
and it defines the order in which the program works. The technique of dividing a program into
sections is called structuring.
IT TRAINING 7
3. IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
This division in most programs will be in the following form.
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
starting in column 8
PROGRAM-ID.
This is followed on the next line by the name of the program starting in column 26. The form
of program names is:
Pppsxxxx
P indicates that this is a program name.

pp is the project code, e.g. TR for Training, MO for Motor.
s is the suite indicator, for example:
M monthly U utility
A ad-hoc D daily
W weekly M monthly
Q quarterly U utility (not usually in production)
R request (i.e. production but run on request) Y yearly
X one off (production but only run once)
xxxx alphanumeric identifier to give uniqueness within suite.
Example. PTRA025
NB.
Program names are always given in the program specification.
AUTHOR.
The programmer’s name is on the next line starting in column 26. Do not use just initials.
DATE-WRITTEN.
This is followed on the next line, starting in column 26, by the date the program was written
usually only months and years. E.g. AUGUST 1996.
The IDENTIFICATION DIVISION ends with a comment box (NB. a comment line starts with a
* in column 7). Comments are enclosed in a box of asterisks. The comment here will give a
brief description of the program. An amendment log skeleton should be coded containing the
following information:
 Date
 DP131 number (if used)
 Programmer Name (RACFID)
 Description of the change(s)
in ascending chronological order. For examples of identification division layouts see either
the Norwich Union COBOL II Programming Standards or the example programs from this
course.
IT TRAINING 8
4. ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
starts in column 8
INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
This section names the files that the program handles i.e. reads and writes to. The SELECT ..
ASSIGN statements links a filename to a DD name. DD names provide the link between the
file referenced within the program and the actual data sets. This means a program is written
to operate on a certain type of file, e.g. a motor mainfile, whilst the actual data set does not
have to be defined until runtime.
INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
starts in column 8
FILE-CONTROL.
starts in column 8
SELECT filename ASSIGN ddname.
starts in column 12
There has to be a SELECT statement for each file in the program. Sometimes the select
statement requires additional information. This will be described, where appropriate later in
this course.
Filename will be the same as the file definition (FD) statement and be in the form:
PP-<meaningful-name>-FILE.
where PP is Project code.
e.g. TR-ACCOUNT-FILE.
NB.
Meaningful name should not be longer than 8 characters.
DDnames will be in the form:
AAnn
AA is LP for print files

UT for a disk or tape sequential file
DA for VSAM files
ST for Sort Files
nn is in the range
01 - 09 for input
11 - 19 for output
21 - 29 for input/output
e.g. UT11, DA21, LP11
IT TRAINING 9
5. DATA DIVISION.
The data division contains descriptions of all data fields referenced in the program. Each data
field consists of a level number, name and data description.
5.1. Level Number

Level numbers within the data division are used to indicate which data items are sub
components of others. Level numbers range from 01 to 49, with 01 always being used to
denote the highest level. At Norwich Union we only use the odd level numbers (01, 03, 05,
etc.). Level number 01 should start in column 8, level 03 in column 12 and subsequent
numbers indented by two - e.g. 05 in column 14, 07 in column 16, etc.
5.2. Name
The next component of a data field is its name. The rules for data names are as follows:
 The first character must be alphabetic
 It cannot be a COBOL reserved word
 Cannot contain spaces
 Hyphens must be embedded
 Must be unique within a program
The programmer has the responsibility for inventing these names and they should convey the
meaning and nature of the data. The NU programming standards dictate that all data names
within the working storage section conform to the following rules:
 The first character must be a W
 The next characters give guidance to the section in which the data item is used in the
form of the section number
 The next character will be a hyphen
 The remainder of the data name should be meaningful, using hyphens to replace
spaces
5.3. Picture
A description of the type and size of data it will hold complete the data field. We will consider
two types of data - numeric and alphanumeric. Numeric data consists of digits 0 to 9 with or
without a sign. Alphabetic data consists of any characters in the EBCDIC characterset.
The information is held as a PICTURE clause. There are two characters that are used to
represent the data held within a field - 9 and X. Numeric data is represented by a 9 in the
picture clause and alphanumeric by an X.
For example, a one character numeric field can hold any number from 0 to 9 and would have
this picture clause:
PICTURE IS 9
The phrase 'picture is' is normally abbreviated to PIC, hence PIC 9. If the field needed to hold
a larger number, say 76, then the number of characters would have to be extended to two, a
PIC 99, which has the range 00 to 99.
Alphanumeric data follows the same principles. A field to hold a six letter word has the
picture:
PIC XXXXXX
Where the descriptor is repeated a shorter notation can be used. In this case PIC X(6) would
mean the same. This applies to numeric data as well, e.g. a 7 digit numeric field is shown as
a PIC 9(7).
IT TRAINING 10
6. WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
The Working-Storage Section describes data fields that are developed and processed by the
program. It also describes data items whose values are assigned in the source program and
do not change during execution of the object program (i.e. constants).
The format of this section is as follows:
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
starts in column 8
This is followed by descriptions of the Working-Storage fields.
6.1. Example
A data item to contain a count of the number of policies that is referenced most often in the
section with the number 70 could be:
W70-POLICY-COUNT
Even though COBOL would be happy with it being called A. By using these conventions and
meaningful names the program is easier to maintain.
Data fields example, assuming this data is need in the section with the number 30:
FIELD NAME FIELD TYPE LENGTH Possible dataname PICTURE
Name Alphanumeric 32 bytes W30-NAME PIC X(32)

Staff Number Numeric 2 bytes W30-STAFF-NUMBER PIC 99
Date Numeric 8 bytes W30-DATE PIC 9(8)
Hours Numeric 3 bytes W30-HOURS PIC 9(3)
Fields beginning with the same Wnn prefixes are grouped together under an 01 level called
Wnn-WORKFIELDS (e.g.W30-WORKFIELDS). Using the previous example the data
structure would look like this:
01 W30-WORKFIELDS.
03 W30-NAME PIC X(32).
03 W30-STAFF-NUMBER PIC 99.
03 W30-DATE PIC 9(8).
03 W30-HOURS PIC 9(3).
NB. Each line is terminated by a full stop.
COLUMN POSITIONS
In this example W30-WORKFIELDS consists of 4 further fields. Each of these further fields,
known as elementary items, has a picture. One character in these fields takes up one byte of
storage so the length of W30-NAME is 32 bytes, W30-DATE is 8 bytes, etc. The length of
W30-WORKFIELDS is the total length of the fields within it (i.e. 45 bytes). W30-
WORKFIELDS is known as a group field. Group fields can consist of further group fields and
elementary fields.
IT TRAINING 11
If, for example, we know that the date component is in the following format DDMMYYYY then
we could split up the field into further elementary fields:
03 W30-DATE.
05 W30-DAY PIC 99.
05 W30-MONTH PIC 99.
05 W30-YEAR PIC 9(4).
The total length of W30-DATE is still 8 bytes but now we can directly access the year
component of it for calculation purposes.
The working storage section should always begin with a literal in the form:
01 FILLER PIC X(25) VALUE

'<PROGRAM> W-S STARTS HERE'.
The length of this field should the total of the program name, spaces and other words with in
the quotes.
6.2. FILLER
When a field is not going to be referenced a special dataname of FILLER is used. The
following rules apply to FILLER:
 It may not be referenced by a COBOL verb.

 it may appear many times in a program and is therefore not unique.
 It can be at any level.
 Always described as an alphanumeric (i.e. PIC X(n)) field.
 If several adjacent fields are not to be referenced in the program, their total length can
be summed and described in one FILLER.
6.3. VALUE
To give a value at the start of the program to a field in WORKING-STORAGE. Its use is
normally used to set up fields that will retain the value for all the time the program is
executing. The VALUE clause follows the picture in column 55. If the data that is to be held
in the field as a result of the VALUE clause contains anything non-numeric it must be held in
single quotes (APOSTS). Numeric information does not need the quotes.
6.4. Spacing.
Blank lines should be inserted as follows:
5 blank lines between DIVISIONS

3 blank lines between SECTIONS
2 blank lines between FDs
1 blank line between 01 levels
IT TRAINING 12
7. PROCEDURE DIVISION
The instructions within the PROCEDURE DIVISION must follow the logic of the program i.e.
they must be obeyed in the correct order to give the desired outcome. The words that specify
the actions are called COBOL verbs. A statement containing a COBOL verb starts in column
12. Each verb must be on a separate line. We will start by looking at some COBOL verbs
and then see how these can be linked together to form a simple program.
The procedure division is split up into sections. Each section can be further sub divided by
the use of paragraphs. Each section should have a name, starting in column 8, in the form:
Snn-meaningfulname SECTION.
The first section within the procedure division of a COBOL program at NU should be:
S10-CONTROL SECTION.
Following section names should increment the section number by 10, i.e. the next section will
start with S20-
A section should always start with a series of comments describing what that section does
then the first paragraph marker in the form:
Pnn-10.
Paragraph markers should start in column 8. The nn part reflects the section number. The
section ends with a final paragraph marker in the form:
Pnn-EXIT.
EXIT.
The last line ('EXIT') beginning in column 12.
7.1. ACCEPT
Purpose: to get a small volume of data into a program, for example a parameter date.
Format.
ACCEPT dataname
Dataname must be either an alphanumeric (i.e. PIC X(n)) or a numeric (i.e. PIC 9(n)) field and
can be any length. The system will read in as many characters as the number of bytes in the
dataname. Dataname can be a group field. This format of the ACCEPT statement has to
have a SYSIN DD statement in the JCL.
Example.
ACCEPT W10-PROGRAMMER-NAME.
IT TRAINING 13
7.2. ACCEPT.... FROM....
Purpose: This form of ACCEPT is used to extract values from COBOL reserved words -
DATE, DAY or TIME. DATE and DAY are today's date (in different formats) and TIME is the
current time.
Format 1.
ACCEPT dataname FROM DATE.
Dataname should be 6 byte numeric field. DATE is in the form YYMMDD.
Example.
ACCEPT W10-DATE FROM DATE.
Where W10-DATE is defined in Working Storage as:
03 W10-DATE PIC 9(6).
or…
03 W10-DATE.
05 W10-YEAR PIC 99.
05 W10-MONTH PIC 99.
05 W10-DAY PIC 99.
if the individual components of the date need to be accessed. Here 6 bytes of data will be
input to the program.
Format 2.
ACCEPT dataname FROM DAY.
Dataname should be a 5 byte numeric field. DAY is the Julian date format in the form
YYDDD.
The Julian date consists of the year and days into that year (e.g. 13.2.96 is 96044 and
31.12.96 is 96366)
Format 3.
ACCEPT dataname FROM TIME.
Dataname should be an 8 byte numeric field. TIME is 2 digits for hour, 2 digits for minutes, 2
digits for seconds and 2 digits for hundredths of second i.e. in the form HHMMSSCC.
IT TRAINING 14
7.3. DISPLAY.
Purpose: To output small amounts of information. The information is written to the SYSOUT
DD statement in the JCL.
Format.
DISPLAY dataname.
DISPLAY literal 1 literal 2.
DISPLAY literal 1 dataname.
Example.
DISPLAY 'DATE ASSUMED' W20-DATE.
NB.
There is no limit on the number of characters, but should be restricted to less than 80 bytes.
The data should be numeric or alphanumeric for best results. DISPLAY can also be used for
debugging.
7.4. GOBACK.
Purpose: to stop the program execution. The GOBACK statement specifies the logical end
of a program.
Format.
GOBACK.
There should be only one GOBACK in a program because any statements logically following
the GOBACK are not executed.
The GOBACK is always located at the of the S00-CONTROL-SECTION (NU Standard):
*******************************************************
* *
* *
* CONTROLS THE PROGRAM *
* *
* *
*******************************************************
P00-10.
COBOL statements.
P00-EXIT.
GOBACK.
IT TRAINING 15
8. FURTHER DATA DIVISION.

This division contains descriptions of all data fields referenced in the program. There can be
three sections in the DATA DIVISION:
File Section.
Defines the structure of data files (including sort-merge files).
Working-Storage Section.
Describes records and subordinate data items that are not part of data files but are developed
and processed by the program.
Linkage Section.
Describes data made available by another program. It appears in the called program and
describes data items that are referred to by the calling and the called programs.
Each section has a specific logical function within a COBOL source program, and each can
be omitted from the source program when that logical function is not needed. If included, the
sections must be written in the order shown.
FILE SECTION starting in column 8
8.1. FILE DEFINITION.
A file definition is needed for each file used in the program. The file definition (or FD ) for each
file is in the following format.
FD filename
Filename must tie back to a SELECT....ASSIGN statement.

Sequential files need the following statements:
BLOCK 0
The block clause specifies the number of logical records contained within a physical record.
This is determined by the SMS (System Managed Storage) at runtime.
RECORDING MODE F or V
This tells the program that the records in this file are all the same length (F for fixed), or vary
in length (V for variable).
Example File Definition.
FD TR-MAIN-FILE
BLOCK 0
RECORDING MODE F.
IT TRAINING 16
8.2. RECORD DESCRIPTION.
Following the FD statement there is a description of the record(s) found in that file. As the
program can only deal with one record at a time it need only be described once for each type
of record contained on the file. If there is more than one type of record on a file there must be
a record description for each type. Files containing more than one type of record are
described later in this course. For the moment we will assume a file only contains one type of
record.
Record Names.
Format.
pp-<meaningful-name>-REC
Where pp is the project code and must be the same as for the associated file.
Meaningful-name must be the same as for the associated file name.
Example.
TR-MAIN-REC
A suffix is optional and is only required when there is more than one record definition
associated with the file.
pp-<meaningful-name>-REC-suffix
Example.
TR-ACCOUNT-REC-1
Each line (or multiple lines) of data is known as a logical record and is subdivided into smaller
areas of information known as fields.
Within a record, information is held in these fields. They have to be described in the order
they are within the record. Fields can be one of two types; group or elementary. Group fields
can be broken down into further (group and elementary) fields whereas elementary fields can
not.
Example.
A file contains details of hours worked by employees. Each record on the file holds the
following information:
 Name, consisting of first name, second name and surname.

 Employee number
 Date, consisting of day, month and year,
 Hours worked.
In COBOL we represent this structure by level numbers. The topmost level or record name is
level 01 and each successive level downwards is 03, 05, 07 etc. In the above example Name,
Employee number, Date and Hours worked would be 03 level whilst first name, second name,
surname, day, month and year would be 05 levels.
IT TRAINING 17
This could be written as in FIGURE 1. The indentation follows the NU Programming

Standards:
01 starts in column 8.
07 starts in column 16 etc.
Level numbers are in the range 01 to 49 (we only use odd). There is an 88 level, which has a
special meaning and will be described later in this course.
The names attached to the level numbers are data names. We also have to apply the NU
Programming Standards. These state that the project letter prefix of filename followed by a
hyphen should prefix any field name.
Data names start in column 21. The exception is when the level number is greater than 09, in
which case the most appropriate column should be used.
Following the dataname formation rules and the NU programming standards FIGURE 2 is the
correct layout.
IT TRAINING 18
9. FURTHER PROCEDURE DIVISION.

The instructions within the PROCEDURE DIVISION must follow the logic of the program i.e.
they must be obeyed in the correct order to give the desired outcome. The words which
specify the actions are called COBOL verbs. A statement containing a COBOL verb starts in
column 12. Each verb must be on a separate line. We will start by looking at some COBOL
verbs and then see how these can be linked together to form a simple program.
9.1. File Handling Verbs - OPEN.
Purpose: to open a file. Like a book a file must be opened before it can be read or written to.
The successful execution of an OPEN statement determines the availability of the file and
results in that file being in open mode. A file is available if it is physically present and is
recognised by the input-output control system.
The successful execution of the OPEN statement makes the associated record area available
to the program; it does not obtain or release the first data record.
Format.
OPEN INPUT filename 1.
OPEN OUTPUT filename 2.
INPUT is necessary for a file that is to be read. OUTPUT is for a file that is to be written to.
There may be more than one file opened for input and/or output.
Filename is that in the FD statement.
Example.
OPEN INPUT TR-ACCOUNT-FILE.
OPEN OUTPUT TR-PRINT-FILE.
9.2. READ.
Purpose: to read a record from a file. A program can only deal with one record at a time.
Records are held in blocks for ease of handling and efficiency. The first read statement for a
file causes the physical transmission of the first block of records from the file to a buffer, and
the first record in the block is made available for processing. This means that one record at a
time can be accessed via the 01 record area of the file. Each subsequent read for that file
causes each subsequent record to become available until all records in the block have been
processed. The next read will transfer the next block of data and thus the process will be
repeated until the end of the file. The handling of the blocks of data, does not need any
programmer action.
Format.
READ filename AT END

imperative statement.
Filename is that named in the FD statement for this file.
IT TRAINING 19
AT END asks is it the end of file. The imperative statement will be obeyed if it is the end of
file. End of file means the label after the last record on the file has been found this indicates
that there is no data left. Imperative statement is an unconditional statement.
Example.
READ TR-ACCOUNT-FILE AT END

MOVE 1 TO W90-END-OF-FILE.
(MOVE will be explained later).
9.3. WRITE.
Purpose: to write a record to a file. The record is created in the record area of the output file.
That is, in the fields described under the 01 entry of that file's FD. Conversely to the read, a
record is written to a buffer one at a time, then when the buffer is full the data is transferred to
the actual disk or tape. Once again the handling of the buffer is done automatically and is
quite transparent to the programmer.
Format.
WRITE recordname.
Where recordname is the name of an 01 level in a file that has been opened for OUTPUT.
Example.
WRITE TR-OUTPUT-REC.
9.4. CLOSE.
Purpose: to close a file after all processing for that file has been completed.
A CLOSE statement may be executed only for a file in an open mode. After successful
execution of a CLOSE statement:
 The record area associated with the file-name is no longer available.

 An OPEN statement for the file must be executed before any other input/output
statement.
Unsuccessful execution of a CLOSE statement leaves availability of the record data

undefined.
Format.
CLOSE filename 1.
CLOSE filename 2.
Filename must be described in a FD entry.
Example.
CLOSE TR-ACCOUNT-FILE.
CLOSE TR-PRINT-FILE.
IT TRAINING 20
10. Data Handling Verbs.
10.1. MOVE.
Purpose: The MOVE statement transfers data from one area of storage to one or more other
areas in the DATA DIVISION. The data in the sending field remains the same but that in the
receiving field is overwritten. As COBOL is primarily a data handling language this is one of
the most used verbs.
Format.
MOVE dataname1 TO dataname 2.

MOVE literal 1 TO dataname 3
dataname 4.
The data names must be described in one of the sections in the DATA DIVISION.
A literal can be either:

 a numeric literal, size 1 to 18 digits
 a non-numeric literal, size 1 to 120 characters. A non-numeric literal must be enclosed in
double quotes (i.e. 'literal').
Example.
MOVE TR-DATE TO W20-INPUT-DATE.

MOVE 200 TO W30-RATE.
MOVE 'INVALID' TO W20-MESSAGE
TR-WARNING.
IT TRAINING 21
10.2. MOVE - Other Considerations.
The manner in which data is moved is governed by the picture of the receiving field (i.e.
dataname 2).
If the receiving field is alphanumeric:
 The data is left justified

 If the receiving field is smaller than the sending field the data is truncated.
 If the receiving field is larger than the sending field the receiving field is filled with
trailing spaces.
If the receiving field is numeric:
 The data is right justified

 If the receiving field is smaller than the sending field the most significant digit(s) are
lost.
 If the receiving field is longer than the sending field the receiving field is filled with
leading zeros.
A numeric field can be moved to a numeric or alphanumeric field.
An alphanumeric field can be moved to an alphanumeric field but can only be moved to a
numeric field only if it contains digits.
Example.
Sending Field Data Receiving field Data
PIC 9(3) 123 PIC 9(3) 123

PIC 9(4) 1234 PIC 99 34
PIC 9(3) 123 PIC 9(4) 0123
PIC X(4) ABCD PIC X(3) ABC
PIC X(3) ABC PIC X(3) ABC
IT TRAINING 22
11. PERFORM.
Purpose: the PROCEDURE DIVISION is made up of sections, each of which given a name.
Sections are used when passing control to a different piece of code. All programs now written
at Norwich Union are structured and make use of sections. This is the out-of-line perform but
is normally referred to just as a perform. The PERFORM statement transfers control explicitly
to one or more procedures and implicitly returns control to the next executable statement after
execution of the specified procedure(s) is completed.
11.1. Sections.
Section Names.
Snn-meaningful name SECTION.
nn is always a multiple of 10.
Example.
S10-INITIALISE SECTION.
S30-ERROR-CONTROL SECTION.
S80-HEADING SECTION.
S900-READ SECTION.
Each SECTION begins with a comment that briefly describes the action of that section and an
initial paragraph number, e.g.
Pnn-10.
Pnn-EXIT.
Starting in column 8
EXIT.
Starting in column 12
Pnn-EXIT is used for clarity and readability.
NB.
Spacing between sections is three blank lines.
Sections are arranged in ascending order within the Procedure Division. There can be
paragraphs within sections. Do not perform paragraphs, only sections.
Sections are actioned by use of the PERFORM verb and must only perform higher numbered
sections.
When a program starts processing, the first statement obeyed is the first one in the
PROCEDURE DIVISION, this is also the first statement within the first section of the program.
Control is then passed to other sections by use of the PERFORM statement.
Format.
PERFORM section name.
Example.
PERFORM S90-READ.
IT TRAINING 23
NB.
The system obeys the PERFORM verb by going to the section named, obeying the
instructions in that section, control then returns to the statement following the PERFORM. The
system recognises the end of a section either by the word SECTION in the next instruction or
the end of the program. Therefore always check the word SECTION is present in the section
name.
Example.
Consider the following code to print headings when the end of the page is reached:
IF W70-LINE-COUNT > 60
PERFORM S80-HEADING
END-IF.
MOVE TR-DESC-CODE TO W70-DESC-CODE.
S80-HEADING SECTION.
P80-10.
ADD 1 TO W80-PAGE.
MOVE W80-PAGE TO P-REP2-H1-PAGE.
WRITE TR-PRINT-REC FROM P-REP2-H1 AFTER PAGE.
MOVE 2 TO W70-LINE-COUNT.
P80-EXIT.
EXIT.
IT TRAINING 24
11.2. PERFORM with UNTIL phrase.
Sometimes we need to repeat a piece of code until a certain condition arises. In the UNTIL
phrase format, the procedure(s) referred to are performed until the condition specified by the
UNTIL phrase is true. Control is then passed to the next executable statement following the
PERFORM statement.
Format.
PERFORM section name UNTIL condition.
Examples.
We are reading a sequential file containing records. We wish to process all the records. The
following could be coded:
S20-PROCESS SECTION.
******************************************************
* *
* PRINTS RECORD DETAILS *
* *
******************************************************
P20-10.
ADD 1 TO W20-RECORDS-READ.
IF TR-ACCOUNT-NO = W10-ACCOUNT-NO
PERFORM S40-DUPLICATE RECORD
END-IF.
PERFORM S90-READ.
P20-EXIT.
EXIT.
We would then perform this section until the required condition(s) is met.
PERFORM S20-PROCESS
UNTIL W90-ENDFILE = 1.
We may have to consider other conditions. In a different example we may be processing

accounts and may include the following statement.
PERFORM S70-ACCOUNT
UNTIL TR-ACCOUNT-NO NOT = W10-ACCOUNT-NO
OR W90-ENDFILE = 1.
NB.
Whenever a PERFORM...UNTIL statement is first obeyed the conditions are tested first. So if
the condition is satisfied the section will not be performed at all (i.e. if W90-ENDFILE does
contain 1 then S20-PROCESS will not be performed).
It is a Norwich Union standard to have an INITIALISE SECTION at the beginning of each

program, after the CONTROL SECTION, and a TERMINATE SECTION at the end.
IT TRAINING 25
A simple program may, therefore, have the following CONTROL SECTION.
************************************************
* *
* CONTROLS THE PROGRAM *
* *
************************************************
P00-10.
PERFORM S10-INITIALISE.
PERFORM S90-READ.
PERFORM S20-PROCESS
UNTIL W90-ENDFILE = 1.
PERFORM S30-TERMINATE.
P00-EXIT.
GOBACK.
The INITIALISE SECTION is normally used to carry out instructions before the main
processing takes place, such as:
 Opening any files

 Zeroise any necessary fields, such as W90-ENDFILE.
The TERMINATE SECTION is used to carry out instructions after the main processing has
taken place, such as:
 Printing a terminal report.

 Closing any files.
11.3. PERFORM with TIMES phrase.
The procedure referred to in the TIMES phrase PERFORM statement is executed the
number of times specified by the value in identifier (W30-NUMBER) or integer (4). Control
then passes to the next executable statement following the PERFORM statement.
Example.
PERFORM S40-COUNT W30-NUMBER TIMES.

PERFORM S20-ACCUMULATE 4 TIMES.
IT TRAINING 26
12. Decimal Point.

Purpose: we use a V to denote a decimal point in a field. The V does not occupy a character
position, it is an implied decimal point.
Example.
A 5 byte zoned decimal with 2 decimal places is described thus:-

PIC 9(3)V99
A 7 byte zoned decimal field with 5 decimal places

PIC 99V9(5)
Remember that V shows the position of a decimal point, so a 4 byte field with no decimal
places is really PIC 9(4)V but when the decimal point is at the end of the field it is not shown.
There can only be one decimal point in a picture.
12.1. MOVE and Decimal Points.
If there is a decimal point in a field a MOVE will line up the receiving field on the decimal
point.
Example.
Sending field Contents Receiving field Contents

PIC 9(3)V99 123.45 PIC 9(2)V99 23.45
PIC 9(3)V99 123.45 PIC 9(3)V9 123.4
PIC 9(3)V99 123.45 PIC 9(4) 0123
IT TRAINING 27
13. Signed Fields.

Purpose: if a field is signed this is shown by an S as the first character of the picture. It does
not occupy position in a field. There can only be one S in a picture.
Example 1.
03 W20-AMOUNT PIC S9(3).
This field can hold any number is the range +999 to -999.
MOVE -35 to W20-AMOUNT.
After the move statement has been obeyed the contents of W20-AMOUNT will be:
bin 1111 0000 1111 0011 1101 0101

hex F 0 F 3 D 5
Example 2.
MOVE 147 to W20-AMOUNT
After move statement has been obeyed the contents of W20-AMOUNT will be:
bin 1111 0001 1111 0100 1100 0111

hex F 1 F 4 C 7
NB.
 When zoned decimal is signed the top bits of the rightmost byte will contain a sign
either hex C or D.
 Zero in a signed field is always positive.
 A signed field with an unsigned value gives a compiler warning.
IT TRAINING 28
13.1. IF.
Purpose: the IF statement evaluates a condition and provides for alternative actions in the
program, depending on the evaluation.
Format.
IF condition
imperative statement
END-IF.
Example.
MOVE TR-AMOUNT TO W60-AMOUNT.

MOVE TR-VAT-AMOUNT TO W60-VAT-AMOUNT.
IF TR-DEB-CRED-IND = 'D'
MULTIPLY -1 BY W60-AMOUNT
MULTIPLY -1 BY W60-VAT-AMOUNT
END-IF.
The condition can be negated by the inclusion of a NOT.
Example.
IF TR-DEB-CRED-IND NOT = 'C'

MULTIPLY -1 BY W60-AMOUNT
MULTIPLY -1 BY W60-VAT-AMOUNT
END-IF.
 Statements following IF should be indented 6 spaces.

 The explicit scope terminator END-IF should be used.
 Only code nested IF statements if the resulting code is more easily understood than it
would be without the nested IF statements.
 A maximum of 3 levels of nested IF are permitted.
 No in-line performs may be coded within an IF statement.
 All statements under an IF statement must be highly associated.
IT TRAINING 29
13.2. GO TO.
Purpose: a GO TO statement is a sequence control statement and enables you to branch

backwards or forwards in a program. Norwich Union Standards only allow the use of a
forward GO TO.
The GO TO statement transfers control to the first statement in the paragraph or section
named after the GO TO. This verb may be used where it helps to simplify coding, but the
following rules should be observed.
 Keep the use of GO TOs to a minimum

 Only use forward GO TOs. These must remain within a section.
 Do not overlap GO TOs.
Format.
GO TO paragraph name
where paragraph name is a label in the same section. The rules for paragraph names are:
 Must be unique
 In the form Pnn-mm. Where nn is section number and mm is a multiple of 10, starting at
10.
 Paragraph names are arranged in ascending order within a section.
 Start in column 8.
Example.
GO TO P20-30.
IT TRAINING 30
13.3. PARM.
Purpose: To pass a small amount of data, maximum 100 characters, to a program. PARM is
used in conjunction with EXEC JCL statement (explained in the JCL course).
NB.
This method is preferable to ACCEPT. Parameters are passed directly to a program. An
ACCEPT statement is not needed.
Format.
A LINKAGE SECTION is required; this comes after the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.

The data is automatically transferred from the JCL to the LINKAGE SECTION. The system
puts the number of characters passed in the first 2 bytes of the section. If no characters are
passed, this field is set to zero. Thus the first field should always be a 2 byte binary field. The
data is then put in byte 3 onwards, these will be alphanumeric or zoned decimal, and can
consist of several fields or groups. The Linkage Section has to be linked with the Procedure
Division by coding PROCEDURE DIVISION USING ... The field named on this is the 01 field
in the LINKAGE SECTION.
Example.
LINKAGE SECTION.
01 L-DETAILS.
03 L-LENGTH PIC S9(4) BINARY.
03 L-DATE PIC 9(6).
....
....
PROCEDURE DIVISION USING L-DETAILS.
See Intermediate JCL book for examples of JCL to use in conjunction with PARM & LINKAGE
SECTION.
IT TRAINING 31
14. Explicit Scope Terminators.
An explicit scope terminator marks the end of certain Procedure Division statements. Their
main function is to increase the legibility of the source code.
Explicit scope terminators must be used with the following verbs:
 EVALUATE
 IF
 PERFORM (in-line only)
Example.
IF W30-ORDER-1 = 'BURGER'
MOVE W30-BIG-MAC TO W30-BURGER
MOVE 2 TO W30-MEAL-INDICATOR
END-IF.
NB.
Explicit scope terminators may be used to enhance the clarity of the program with the
following verbs:
ADD, REWRITE, CALL, SEARCH, COMPUTE, START, DIVIDE, STRING, MULTIPLY,

SUBTRACT, READ, UNSTRING, RETURN, WRITE.
They are of the most use when the statement following the verb is quite large.
IT TRAINING 32
15. INITIALIZE.
Purpose: at the beginning of a program the contents of working storage fields are
unpredictable. It is quite common to initialise fields at the beginning of a program (i.e. in the
S10-INITIALIZE SECTION).
Format.
INITIALIZE dataname 1 (dataname 2 ...)
Example.
Field Description After INITIALIZE

PIC 9(5) ZERO
PIC S9(3) PACKED-DECIMAL ZERO
PIC S9(4) BINARY ZERO
PIC X(5) SPACES
One of the advantages of the INITIALIZE statement is that you can reset the values of
subordinate items by initialising only the group item. This facility may be extremely useful for
initialising tables.
By using INITIALIZE on a group field, alphanumeric elementary fields will be set to spaces
and numeric to zero.
Example.
01 W10-DETAILS.
03 W10-ACCOUNT-NO PIC 9(8).
03 W10-ADDRESS PIC X(32).
After executing the following code:
INITIALIZE W10-DETAILS.
W10-ACCOUNT-NO will have the value zero, W10-NAME and W10-ADDRESS will be space
filled.
IT TRAINING 33
16. CONDITION-NAMES (88 LEVEL).

Using a condition-name is another way of setting up a relationship test. To use a condition-
name the data field (which must be an elementary item) that is to be tested has extra entries
following it. These extra entries have a level number of 88. Each 88 level has a data name,
which is called a condition-name, followed by a VALUE clause. VALUE is coded in column
41.
Format:
88 condition-name VALUE literal 1 (THRU literal 2)

literal 4 (THRU literal 5) ...............
Example.
TR-BRANCH is held as a number in the range 1 to 470.

A main branch is when TR-BRANCH is equal to 1,2,3,4,5,11,12,13,14,15,45.
This can be described in the FILE SECTION as
03 TR-BRANCH PIC S9(3) PACKED-DECIMAL.

88 MAIN-BRANCH VALUE 1 THRU 5
11 THRU 15 45.
Then the tests:
IF MAIN-BRANCH .............is equivalent

IF TR-BRANCH < 6
OR > 10 and < 16
OR = 45 ............
By choosing a meaningful condition-name, the coding in 1. is easier to follow.

88 levels can be used in the FILE SECTION or the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION. 88
levels can be used with an OCCURS field, they are described in the same way.
Example.
03 W30-VALUE PIC 99
OCCURS 24.
88 VALID-VALUE VALUE 2 5 7 13.
When referenced the condition-name must be subscripted by a subscript or index (explained

later).
Example.
IF VALID-VALUE(W30-SUB) ............
Condition-names can be used with alphanumeric fields, the literal must be in quotes.
IT TRAINING 34
Example.
03 W20-MONTH PIC X(4).

88 REQUIRED-MONTH VALUE 'JAN'
'JUNE' 'JULY'.
03 W10-IDENTIFIER PIC X.
88 VALID-IDENTIFIER VALUE 'A' THRU 'J'.
A simple example would be the end of file marker. The following statement might be written.
PERFORM S20-ACCOUNTS
UNTIL W90-END-OF-FILE.
Where W90-END-OF-FILE is an 88 level - attached to an end of file indicator
01 W90-WORKFIELDS.
03 W90-ENDFILE PIC 9.
88 W90-END-OF-FILE VALUE 1.
and the read section is
READ TR-MAIN-FILE AT END

MOVE 1 TO W90-ENDFILE.
17. SET TO TRUE.

This command is used for setting condition flags.
Format.
SET condition name 1 (condition name 2) TO TRUE.
Example.
....
03 W900-ENDFILE PIC 9.
88 W900-END-OF-FILE VALUE 1.
....
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
....
PERFORM S900-READ
UNTIL W900-END-OF-FILE.
....
S900-READ SECTION.
P900-10
READ TR-MAIN-FILE AT END
SET W900-END-OF-FILE TO TRUE.
P900-EXIT.
EXIT.
This command is particularly useful when a field is being used to test several conditions, and
so may have many possible values.
IT TRAINING 35
Example.
01 TR-INPUT-RECORD.
03 TR-TRANSACTION-CODE PIC X(9).
....
01 TR-OUTPUT-RECORD.
03 TR-TYPE PIC X.
88 TR-REC-ACTIVE VALUE 'A'.
88 TR-REC-SUSPENDED VALUE 'S'.
88 TR-REC-DELETED VALUE 'D'.
03 TR-KEY PIC X(5).
....
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
....
IF TR-TRANSACTION-CODE = 'ADDED '
SET TR-RECORD-ACTIVE TO TRUE
END-IF.
IF T-TRANSACTION-CODE = 'SUSPENDED'
SET TR-RECORD-SUSPENDED TO TRUE
END-IF.
IF T-TRANSACTION-CODE = 'DELETED '
SET TR-RECORD-DELETED TO TRUE
END-IF.
If more than one literal is specified in the VALUE clause of condition name 1, its associated
conditional variable is set equal to the first literal.
Example.
01 TR-OUTPUT-RECORD.
03 TR-RECORD-TYPE PIC X.
88 TR-TYPE VALUE 1 THRU 10.
.
.
SET TR-TYPE TO TRUE.
After this code has been executed TR-RECORD-TYPE will contain 1.
IT TRAINING 36
18. In-Line PERFORM.

The in-line PERFORM statement allows statements to be executed whilst enclosed within the
PERFORM and END-PERFORM statements, instead of being in a separate section.
However code within an in-line PERFORM must be kept simple, no nested IF statements,
out-of-line PERFORMS or GO TOs are allowed under NU standards (The only exception to
this rule is when performing an initialise section).
Example 1.
MOVE ZERO TO W30-COMM-SUB.

PERFORM 5 TIMES
MOVE 'VOID' TO W30-COMMENT(W30-COMM-SUB)
ADD 1 TO W30-COMM-SUB
END-PERFORM.
Example 2.
PERFORM VARYING W20-TABLE-SUB FROM 1 BY W20-INCREMENT

UNTIL W20-TABLE-SUB > 30
OR W20-TABLE-CODE(W20-TABLE-SUB) = 200
ADD 1 TO W20-SALARY-TOTAL(W20-TABLE-SUB)
END-PERFORM.
Example 3.
PERFORM
UNTIL W20-SUB1 > 20
OR W20-MEANING-LIFE(W20-SUB1 W20-SUB2) = 42
PERFORM UNTIL W20-SUB2 > 30
OR W20-MEANING-LIFE(W20-SUB1 W20-SUB2) = 42
ADD 1 TO W20-SUB2
END-PERFORM
IF W20-SUB2 > 30
MOVE 1 TO W20-SUB2
ADD 1 TO W20-SUB1
END-IF
END-PERFORM.
END-PERFORM delimits the scope of the in-line PERFORM statement. Execution of an in-
line PERFORM is completed after the last statement contained within it has been executed.
Statements other than imperatives statements within an in-line PERFORM must be coded
with their scope terminators; e.g. END-IF as shown in the example above.
IT TRAINING 37
19. Figurative Constants - 1.

For certain values COBOL has a FIGURATIVE CONSTANT.
19.1. ZERO.
ZERO, ZEROES or ZEROS which are self explanatory and all mean the same.
Example.
MOVE ZERO TO W40-TOTAL.

MOVE ZERO TO W90-ENDFILE.
If W40-TOTAL had the picture PIC 9(4), after the move W40-TOTAL will contain hex
F0F0F0F0. If the contents of W40-TOTAL were printed it would be 0000.
ZERO, ZEROES or ZEROS can be used with any field types.
19.2. SPACE or SPACES.
Example.
MOVE SPACES TO W40-MESSAGE.

MOVE SPACES TO TR-PRINT-REC.
If W40-MESSAGE had the picture PIC X(10). After the MOVE W40-MESSAGE will contain
hex 40404040404040404040. If the contents of W40-MESSAGE were printed it would be
(i.e. ten spaces).
SPACES or SPACES can only be moved to an alphanumeric field.
IT TRAINING 38
20. VALUE.
Purpose: to give a value at the start of the program to a field in WORKING-STORAGE. Its
use is normally used to set up fields that will retain the value for all the time the program is
executing. The VALUE clause follows the picture.
Example.
03 W20-PAGE PIC X(4) VALUE 'PAGE'.
03 W20-PAGE PIC X(15) VALUE

'PAGE NUMBER IS:'.
VALUE should be coded in column 55. If BINARY or PACKED-DECIMAL are being used or if
the literal is too long to fit on the same line, value item should be coded in the most suitable
place.
NB.
The figurative constants ZERO, SPACES can be used with VALUE.
Assigning an initial value to a field follows the same rules as a move.
If the field is alphanumeric and
 if it is longer than the VALUE it will be filled with trailing spaces.

 if it is shorter, it will give a compiler warning and will be truncated.
If the field is numeric and
 if it is longer than the VALUE it will be filled with leading zeros.

 If it is shorter, the most significant figure(s) will be lost.
IT TRAINING 39
21. READ ... INTO.

Purpose: To put a copy of a record into an area in the WORKING-STORAGE, LINKAGE
SECTION or another previously opened file. The record is also available via its record
description.
Format.
READ filename INTO dataname 1

AT END imperative statement.
This statement is equivalent to:
READ filename
AT END imperative statement
MOVE record-name TO dataname 1.
Example.
READ TR-MAIN-FILE INTO W10-RECORD

AT END MOVE 1 TO W90-ENDFILE.
This statement is equivalent to:
READ TR-MAIN-FILE
AT END MOVE 1 TO W90-ENDFILE.
MOVE TR-MAIN-REC TO W10-RECORD.
22. WRITE ... FROM.

Purpose: to write a record to an output file, when the record has been constructed or is in
another area than the record description of that output file.
Format.
WRITE record-name FROM dataname 1.
Like the READ INTO the dataname can be in WORKING-STORAGE, LINKAGE SECTION or
another previously opened file. The contents of dataname are moved to the record name,
then the record is written.
Example.
WRITE TR-MAIN-REC FROM W20-RECORD.

WRITE TR-PRINT-REC FROM P-REP1-H1.
IT TRAINING 40
23. PRINTING
A lot of COBOL batch programs produce printed output. Standard computer paper at the NU
is 132 print positions wide and 66 lines deep (we only print on 62). The maximum width is 150
print positions. There are several other sizes and types of stationery, including pre-printed
stationery and 2,3 and 4 ply (i.e. paper with carbon). We will only consider standard stationery
in our examples.
As with writing a sequential file to disk or tape the record (in this case a line of print) is
assembled and then written.
The FD for a print file is normally:
FD TR-PRINT-FILE
BLOCK 0
RECORDING F.
01 TR-PRINT-REC PIC X(132).
The print lines are set up in working storage, usually one line per 01 level. Consideration has
to be given to spacing between fields on a line. This is done by use of the phrase:
03 FILLER PIC X(n) VALUE SPACES.
where n is the number of blank characters.
All data to be printed must be in the alphanumeric or zoned decimal form, i.e. stored as one
character per byte. You can not print the contents of packed decimal or binary fields directly.
Headings are set up by the VALUE clause, e.g.

'PAGE NUMBER'
Vertical spacing also has to be considered. The computer has to be told if we wish to write on
every line, leave gaps, or write at the top of the page. This is done via an extension of the
WRITE statement.
Format.
WRITE recordname AFTER integer.

WRITE recordname AFTER PAGE.
WRITE recordname AFTER dataname.
Integer must be a positive whole number, and this is the number of lines 'thrown' before the
record is written. If AFTER n is omitted, A value of one is assumed.
Example 1.
WRITE TR-PRINT-REC AFTER 2.
This code would leave one blank line before the record was written.
Example 2.
WRITE TR-PRINT-REC AFTER PAGE.
This will write the line at the top of a new page (useful for page headings).
IT TRAINING 41
Example 3.
WRITE TR-PRINT-REC AFTER W20-PAGE-THROW.
W20-PAGE-THROW should contain a positive whole number. This is similar to Example 1.
The computer interprets the paper throw needed and writes a character at the front of the
print record. This character is a standard ANSI control character. The printer then
understands the control character. The printer record is therefore 133 bytes long 132 + 1 byte
control character.
When printing it is the programmer's responsibility, via the logic in his code, to write the
correct number of lines per page and to write headings (if required) at the top of each new
page.
IT TRAINING 42
24. Naming Standards for Print Fields.

Datanames which describe print lines will indicate the report they belong to, and where
possible, the line in the report, and will take the form:
P-xxx-ann
where xxx is report name abbreviation (variable length)

a is H for Heading
L for Line
F for footer
nn is the line number
Example.
01 P-REP1-H1.
03 FILLER PIC X(120) VALUE SPACES.
03 FILLER PIC X(4) VALUE 'PAGE'.
03 P-REP1-H1-PAGE PIC 9(4).
The above code describes a header print line at the top of a page (H1). This is the first page
of a report called REP (REP1).
If the following code was executed:
MOVE W10-PAGE-NUMBER TO P-REP1-H1-PAGE.

WRITE TR-PRINT-REC FROM P-REP1-H1 AFTER PAGE.
The result would be the word PAGE followed by the contents of W10-PAGE-NUMBER printed
in the top right corner of a new page.
The line numbers and size of the fields are usually given on a print layout sheet in the
program specification document.
25. Editing fields.

When fields are printed, especially numeric fields, we frequently wish to print extra detail (e.g.
£, + - decimal point etc.) or we do not want to print (i.e. suppress) details (e.g. leading zeros).
To do this editing characters are used.
Editing characters can only be used with alphanumeric and zoned decimal fields. There are
two types of editing characters, insertion and replacement. An insertion editing character is
additional information whilst replacement, as its name suggests, replaces digit(s) with another
character.
Arithmetic functions can not be performed on edited fields but an edited field can follow
GIVING in arithmetic statements or can be the receiving field in a COMPUTE statement
(explained later).
IT TRAINING 43
25.1. Z (Suppression).
Purpose: the Z editing character replaces leading zero(s) with spaces.
If we printed the contents of a six byte numeric field containing 123 it would be printed as
000123. Normally we do not want to print three leading zeroes. To achieve this we could use
the following edited field.
Example.
P-REP1-H2-AMOUNT PIC Z(5)9
Up to 5 leading zeros will be replaced by spaces but if the field is zero a single zero will be
printed.
Further examples.
Data Receiving field Contents

(zero) PIC Z(4) _ _ _ _
8730 PIC Z(4) 8 7 3 0
0087 PIC Z(4) _ _ 8 7
0087 PIC Z(3)9 _ _ 8 7
(zero) PIC Z(3)9 _ _ _ 0
0036 PIC Z9(3) _ 0 3 6
0025 PIC ZZ99 _ _ 2 5
Where _ signifies a blank space.
25.2. * Cheque Protect (Replacement).
Purpose: the cheque protect character * replaces leading zeros with *'s. This is to stop
people changing figures on cheques etc.
Example.
P-REP-H2-AMOUNT PIC *(5)9
If 30 was moved to P-REP-H2-AMOUNT it would be printed as ****30.
25.3. £ Fixed (Insertion).
If only one £ sign appears in a PIC clause it is treated as being an insertion character, and will
be printed in that position.
Example.

103 PIC £9(4) £0103
23 PIC £Z(4)9 £__23
IT TRAINING 44
25.4. £ Floating (Replacement).
If more than one £ sign appears in a PIC it is interpreted as floating. It will suppress leading
zeros as dictated by the picture and will position a £ in place of the rightmost zero
suppressed.
Example.

0000134 PIC £££9(4) £0134
(zero) PIC £(3) ____
8 PIC £(5) ___£8
123 PIC ££99 £123
NB.
The number of £ signs plus the number of 9's in a picture must be one more than the
maximum number of digits in a field.
i.e. PIC 9(6) containing 123456 moved to a PIC £(6) would print £23456.
25.5. Plus and Minus Signs (Insertion).
When using a plus or a minus sign the following applies:
 A minus sign in a picture will be printed if the item is negative and a space will appear if
the amount is positive, zero or unsigned.
 A plus sign will be printed if the item is positive, unsigned or zero and a minus sign will be
printed if the item is negative.
25.6. + or - Fixed (Insertion).
NB.
Only one + or - will be interpreted as fixed. Like the £ sign it will be printed where it appears in
a picture.
Example.

+33 PIC -99 _33
-33 PIC 99- 33-
-33 PIC -99 -33
(zero) PIC -99 _00
(zero) PIC +99 +00
-22 PIC +99 -22
+20 PIC 99+ 20+
IT TRAINING 45
25.7. + and - Floating (Replacement).
NB.
More than one + or - sign in a picture will be interpreted as replacement. These will appear at
the beginning of the picture only. Once again like £ sign the number of + or - must be one
more than the number of digits to be suppressed.
Example.

123 PIC --99 123
-12 PIC -(3)99 -12
(zero) PIC -(4)
12 PIC ++99 +12
-6 PIC ++9 -6
(zero) PIC +(4)
123 PIC ++99 +123
25.8. Credit or Debit Indicators (Insertion).
Purpose: to print CR or DB when the field in whose PIC they are, is negative.
Example.
03 P-REP-L2-AMOUNT PIC Z(6)9CR.
If P-REP-L2-AMOUNT contains -12, 12CR will be printed.
03 P-REP-L2-AMOUNT PIC Z(6)DB.
If P-REP-L2-AMOUNT contains -45, 45DB will be printed.
NB.
In both cases if the field moved to P-REP-L2-AMOUNT is positive, zero or unsigned, spaces
are printed in place of CR or DB.
25.9. Blank Spaces (Insertion).
Purpose: to insert a space. Can be used with alphanumeric and zoned decimal fields.
Example.
03 P-REP-L2-DATE PIC XXBXXBXX
If '160784' was moved to P-REP-L2-DATE the printed result would be:
16 07 84
IT TRAINING 46
25.10. Commas (Insertion).
Purpose: to insert a comma in a numeric field.
Example.
03 P-REP-L2-AMOUNT PIC 9,999,999.

8388679 P-REP-L2-AMOUNT 8,388,679
4567 P-REP-L2-AMOUNT 0,004,567
(zero) P-REP-L2-AMOUNT 0,000,000
Combining suppression and insertion characters:
03 P-REP-L3-AMOUNT PIC Z,Z(3),Z(3).

8388679 P-REP-L3-AMOUNT 8,388,679
4567 P-REP-L3-AMOUNT 4,567
(zero) P-REP-L3-AMOUNT
NB.
Suppression will override insertion. This rule applies to all editing characters.
25.11. Slash (Insertion).
Purpose: to insert a / into a field.
Example.
03 P-REP-L3-DATE PIC XX/XX/XX.
i.e. 130272 Would be printed as 13/02/72
NB.
The sending field must be an elementary field, it will not work if the sending field is a group
field.
IT TRAINING 47
25.12. Full Stop or Decimal Point (Insertion).
Purpose: to print a decimal point. A full stop will be aligned to correspond to the decimal
point in the sending field. Recall in a non-edited field V indicates the position of the decimal
point in a data item.
Example.

12.34 PIC 9(3).99 012.34
12.34 PIC 9(3).9 012.3
12.34 PIC Z(5)9.99 12.34
.34 PIC Z(5)9.99 .34
12 PIC Z(5)9.99 12.00
.02 PIC Z(6).ZZ .02
(zero) PIC Z(6).ZZZ _._
.02 PIC *(5).** *****.02
(zero) PIC *(5).** *****.**
NB.
Only one full stop is allowed in a picture. V and . can not both appear in the same picture.
There is no suppression after the decimal point.
If you wish to print a field held as pence, as pounds and pence use divide by 100 GIVING an
edited field.
Example.
03 TR-PREMIUM PIC S9(7) PACKED-DECIMAL.
03 P-REP-L2-AMOUNT PIC Z(4)9.99.
DIVIDE TR-PREMIUM BY 100 GIVING P-REP-L2-AMOUNT.
25.13. BLANK WHEN ZERO.
Purpose: to fill with space(s) when an amount is zero. Can only be used with zoned decimal
fields, and can not be used with the cheque protect character.
Example.
03 P-REP-L2-AMOUNT PIC Z(5)9.99 BLANK WHEN ZERO.
Small amounts will be printed as 0.04 while zero will be printed as spaces instead of 0.00.
NB.
This has very limited use.
IT TRAINING 48
26. Figurative Constants 2.

We have seen Figurative Constants that are COBOL terms and describe commonly needed
data values (e.g. SPACE and ZERO). There are three more:
26.1. HIGH-VALUE or HIGH-VALUES.
Both spellings have the same meaning. This represents the highest possible value in a byte
(i.e. each bit set to 1) - seen in hex FF. HIGH-VALUE(S) can only be used with alphanumeric
fields (includes group fields).
26.2. LOW-VALUE or LOW-VALUES.
Both spellings have the same meaning. Represents the lowest possible value in a byte i.e.
each bit set to zero. (HEX 00). Can only be used with alphanumeric fields (includes group
fields).
26.3. ALL.
Represents one or more occurrences of a string of characters composing a literal and must
be non-numeric and can only be used with alphanumeric fields.
Example.
03 FILLER PIC X(30) VALUE ALL '*'.

is the same as:
'******************************'.
03 FILLER PIC X(33) VALUE ALL

'(*)'.
is the same as:
'(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)'.
MOVE ALL '*' TO W20-VARIABLE.

is the same as:
MOVE '********************' TO W20-VARIABLE.
where:
03 W20-VARIABLE PIC X(20).
IT TRAINING 49
27. COPY.
Purpose: to copy into your program pieces of code. This is usually used in the Data Division
but may be in any part of a COBOL program. The advantage is code that is to be used in a lot
of programs needs only to be written (and stored) once. Record descriptions are usually
copied. This is so all programs that access the same file type use the same field names, this
leads to easier understanding and maintenance and also saves programmer time and effort.
The COPY statement instructs the compiler to copy the text name into your program at
compilation time. The text is stored in a partitioned dataset. The text name being
membername.
Format.
COPY text name
Example.
01 TR-MAIN-REC.
COPY MAINFILE.
After the compilation:
01 TR-MAIN-REC.
COPY MAINFILE.
03 TR-ACCOUNT .....
Copied record descriptions normally start at the 03 level, this is so record names can be
decided as appropriate per program.
IT TRAINING 50
28. Arithmetic Verbs.

Purpose: arithmetic verbs can not be performed on alphanumeric fields, they can only be
used with numeric fields. Packed decimal and binary are preferable to zoned decimal.
The following fields will be used in examples
03 TR-PREMIUM PIC S9(7) PACKED-DECIMAL.

03 W10-TOTAL PIC S9(7) PACKED-DECIMAL.
03 W20-GRAND-TOT PIC S9(7) PACKED-DECIMAL.
28.1. ADD.
The ADD statement sums two or more numeric operands and stores the result.
Format 1.
ADD dataname1 TO dataname 2

ADD literal1 dataname1 TO dataname 2
The answer is put in the dataname following the TO, thus this can not be a literal. All
identifiers or literals preceding the key word TO are added together, and this sum is added to
and stored in dataname 2.
Example 1.
ADD TR-PREMIUM TO W10-TOTAL.

ADD 8 TO W10-TOTAL.
More than two fields can be used:-
Example 2.
ADD 8 TR-PREMIUM TO W10-TOTAL
ADD 8 TR-PREMIUM TO W10-TOTAL

W20-GRAND-TOT.
ADD TR-PREMIUM TO W10-TOTAL

W20-GRAND-TOT.
Format 2.
ADD dataname1 dataname 2 dataname 3

literal 1 literal 2 literal 3
GIVING dataname 4 dataname 5.
Adds up the literals and contents of fields before the GIVING and puts the answer in the
dataname(s) following the GIVING, overwriting whatever is there (similar to a MOVE).
IT TRAINING 51
28.2. ROUNDED.
Purpose: is to round the answer if the answer field can not contain all the decimal places.
After decimal point alignment, the number of decimal places in the fraction of the result of an
arithmetic operation is compared with the number of decimal places provided for the fraction
of the resultant identifier.
When the size of the fractional result exceeds the number of places provided for its storage,
truncation occurs unless ROUNDED is specified. When ROUNDED is specified, the least
significant digit of the resultant identifier is increased by 1 whenever the most significant digit
of the excess is greater than or equal to 5 (i.e. greater than or equal to .5 rounded up, less
than .5 rounded down).
Example.
03 W10-AMOUNT PIC S9(5)V99 PACKED-DECIMAL.

03 W10-PREMIUM PIC S9(6)V9(3) PACKED-DECIMAL.
03 W10-GRAND-TOT PIC S9(7)V99 PACKED-DECIMAL.
If W10-AMOUNT contained 33.74 and W10-PREMIUM contained 41.389, the result of:
ADD W10-PREMIUM W10-AMOUNT GIVING W10-GRANT-TOT
would be 75.12 (i.e. the result of simply adding 33.74 to 41.389 is 75.129).
By using ROUNDED:
ADD W10-PREMIUM W10-AMOUNT GIVING W10-GRAND-TOT ROUNDED
The contents of W10-GRAND-TOT would be 75.13.
IT TRAINING 52
28.3. ON SIZE ERROR.
Purpose: if the result of an ADD statement is too big for the resultant field that field will be
truncated i.e. leading digit(s) will be lost.
If necessary this truncation can be identified by using ON SIZE ERROR.
Example.
If TR-PREMIUM contained 7785476 and W10-TOTAL contained 4477889 and the following
statement was executed:
ADD TR-PREMIUM TO W10-TOTAL.
The contents of W10-TOTAL would be 2263365 as the most significant digit, a one, would be
lost.
By using the following code this problem would be flagged:
ADD TR-PREMIUM TO W10-TOTAL

ON SIZE ERROR imperative statement.
If the field is too small the imperative statement would be obeyed (e.g. PERFORM S70-
ERROR) and the contents of W10-TOTAL would be as they were before the ADD statement
was executed.
NB.
Both ROUNDED and ON SIZE ERROR can be used for the same dataname.
ROUNDED and ON SIZE ERROR can be applied in the same way to SUBTRACT,
MULTIPLY and DIVIDE statements, and will therefore not be explained again.
IT TRAINING 53
28.4. SUBTRACT.
The SUBTRACT statement subtracts one numeric item, or the sum of two or more numeric
items, from one or more numeric items, and stores the result.
The fields described earlier are used in the following examples.
Format 1.
SUBTRACT dataname1 FROM dataname 2

SUBTRACT literal 1 FROM dataname 2
Example 1.
SUBTRACT TR-PREMIUM FROM W20-GRAND-TOT.

SUBTRACT 25 FROM W20-GRAND-TOT.
Format 2.
SUBTRACT dataname1 dataname 2 FROM dataname 3 dataname 4.

SUBTRACT literal 1 literal 2 FROM dataname 3.
The fields and literals before the FROM are added together and subtracted from the
dataname(s) following the FROM.
All datanames or literals preceding the key word FROM are added together and this sum is
subtracted from and stored immediately in dataname 3. This process is repeated for each
successive occurrence of datanames after FROM, in the left-to-right order in which the
datanames are specified.
Example 2.
SUBTRACT TR-PREMIUM FROM W20-GRAND-TOT

W10-AMOUNT.
Format 3.
SUBTRACT dataname 1 literal 1 FROM dataname 2 literal 2

GIVING dataname 3.
Example 3.
SUBTRACT TR-PREMIUM FROM W10-TOTAL

GIVING W20-GRAND-TOT.
All datanames or literals preceding the key word FROM are added together and this sum is
subtracted from dataname 2 or literal 2. The result of the subtraction is stored as the new
value of each data item referenced by dataname 3.
IT TRAINING 54
28.5. MULTIPLY.
The MULTIPLY statement multiplies numeric items and sets the values of data items equal to
the results.
Format 1.
MULTIPLY dataname1 BY dataname 2

MULTIPLY literal1 BY dataname 2
In Format 1, the value of dataname 1 or literal 1 is multiplied by the value of dataname 2; the
product is then placed in dataname 2.
Example.
MULTIPLY 10 BY W10-TOTAL.
MULTIPLY TR-PREMIUM BY W10-TOTAL.
Format 2.
MULTIPLY dataname 1 BY dataname 2 GIVING dataname 3.

MULTIPLY literal1 BY literal 2 GIVING dataname 3.
In Format 2, the value of dataname 1 or literal 1 is multiplied by the value of dataname 2 or

literal 2. The product is then stored in the data item(s) referenced by dataname 3.
Example.
MULTIPLY TR-PREMIUM BY 10 GIVING W10-TOTAL.
IT TRAINING 55
28.6. DIVIDE.
The DIVIDE statement divides one numeric data item into or by other(s) and sets the values
of data items equal to the quotient and remainder.
Format 1.
DIVIDE dataname 1 INTO dataname 2.

DIVIDE literal 1 INTO dataname 2.
The value of dataname 1 or literal 1 is divided into the value of dataname 2; the quotient then
is placed in dataname 2.
Example 1.
DIVIDE 10 INTO W10-TOTAL.
Format 2.
DIVIDE dataname1 BY dataname 2 GIVING dataname 3.

DIVIDE literal 1 INTO literal 2 GIVING dataname 3.
The value of dataname 1 or literal 1 is divided into/by the value of dataname 2 or literal 2.
The value of the quotient is stored in each data item referenced by dataname 3.
Example 2.
DIVIDE TR-PREMIUM BY 100 GIVING W20-RATE.

DIVIDE 100 INTO TR-PREMIUM GIVING W20-RATE.
Given that the contents of TR-PREMIUM are the same for both statements the contents of
W20-RATE will be the same after execution of both statements.
Format 3.
DIVIDE dataname 1 BY dataname 2 GIVING dataname 3

REMAINDER dataname 4.
DIVIDE literal 1 INTO literal 2 GIVING dataname 3
REMAINDER dataname 4.
The value of dataname 1 or literal 1 is divided into/by dataname 2 or literal 2. The value of
the quotient is stored in dataname 3, and the value of the remainder is stored in dataname 4.
IT TRAINING 56
29. Conditions.
29.1. IF ... ELSE.
Purpose: without the ELSE, the IF statement causes the imperative statements, up to the
END-IF statement following the condition to be actioned if the condition is true. When ELSE is
incorporated, the statements between the condition and ELSE are actioned if the condition is
true. Those following the ELSE and up to the full stop are actioned if the condition is false.
Format.
IF condition
imperative statement(s)
ELSE
imperative statement(s)
END-IF.
Example.
IF TR-DEB-CRED-IND = 'D'
MULTIPLY TR-PREMIUM BY -1 GIVING W20-AMOUNT
ELSE
MOVE TR-PREMIUM TO W20-AMOUNT
END-IF.
NB.
 Only one full stop.
 The ELSE is on a line by itself.
 The imperative statements should be lined up.
 There should not be too many imperative statements.
29.2. IF ... AND.
When conditions are joined by AND both conditions have to be true for the statement
following to be actioned.
Example.
IF TR-RISK = 44
AND TR-CLASS = 52
MOVE 'BURGLARY' TO W20-TYPE
END-IF.
IT TRAINING 57
29.3. IF ... OR.
When conditions are joined by OR only one condition needs to be true for the following
statement(s) to be actioned.
Example.
IF TR-RISK = 30
OR TR-RISK = 40
MOVE 'HOUSEHOLD' TO W30-RISK
END-IF.
In both conditions the AND/OR is written in column 19 with the second condition following it
on the same line. The imperative statement(s) start in column 26 on subsequent lines (i.e.
indented by six spaces).
29.4. IF....NOT.
NOT's can be incorporated in compound IF conditions.
Example.
IF TR-CLASS NOT = 30
AND TR-POL-DEPT = W20-POL-DEPT
MOVE TR-POL-NO TO W20-POLICY
END-IF.
Using NOT and OR in the same IF statement is not good practice, see example below.
Example.
IF TR-CLASS NOT = 30
OR TR-CLASS NOT = 31
MOVE TR-POL-NO TO W20-POLICY
END-IF.
If TR-CLASS is 31 the first condition is satisfied (i.e. the condition is true) and the statement
following the IF will be obeyed. If TR-CLASS is 30 the second condition is satisfied and the
statement(s) following the IF will be obeyed, i.e. this condition will always be true and the
code is equivalent to:
MOVE TR-POL-NO TO W20-POLICY.
IT TRAINING 58
29.5. IF - Testing Field Contents.
Purpose: to test a numeric field, dataname must be a numeric field. Positive means greater
than zero, negative means less than zero. If a field is unsigned it will be treated as positive.
Format.
IF dataname NEGATIVE
POSITIVE
ZERO
END-IF.
Purpose: to test a field to see if it is numeric without causing the program to abend, if the
data does not conform to its picture. Can be used with PIC X, 9 or PACKED-DECIMAL.
Format.
IF dataname NUMERIC
END-IF.
NB.
A PIC X field will be treated as numeric if it contains digits (i.e.0-9).
Purpose: To see if a field contains only A to Z or space. Can only be used with PIC X fields.
Format.
IF dataname ALPHABETIC
END-IF.
NB.
All of these conditions can be negated by included the NOT phrase.
IT TRAINING 59
30. COMPUTE.
Purpose: The COMPUTE statement combines together the ADD, MULTIPLY, DIVIDE and
SUBTRACT verbs. Special symbols are used to represent these verbs. Thus these operands
can be combined in one statement.
Format.
COMPUTE dataname 1 = arithmetic expression.
The arithmetic expression is evaluated and the answer is put in the dataname(s) following the
COMPUTE. This can be ROUNDED. ON SIZE ERROR can also be used, both work in the
same manner as with the arithmetic verbs.
Symbols. + ADD - SUBTRACT

* MULTIPLY / DIVIDE
** EXPONENTIATION
Examples.
COMPUTE W10-TOTAL = (TR-PREMIUM + TR-BONUS) / TR-RATE.
COMPUTE W40-RESULT = (W20-INT**2 + W10-AMOUNT)

* 4 - W20-DEDUCT.
COMPUTE W40-RESULT ROUNDED = (TR-PREMIUM * 7.41)

+ W70-BONUS.
The expression is evaluated following the normal parenthesis for arithmetic expressions:
1. Expressions within brackets

2. Unary operator i.e. multiply by +1 or -1
3. Exponentiation
4. Multiplication and Division
5. Addition and Subtraction
30.1. IF and Arithmetic Expressions.
Arithmetic expressions containing the symbols used in COMPUTE statements can be used in
IF statements. Do not make expressions complicated.
Example.
IF W10-PREMIUM > W40-COMMISSION + 20.4

PERFORM S20-CHECK-COMMISSION
END-IF.
IF W10-PREMIUM / W20-RATE NOT > TR-PREMIUM X .75

PERFORM S30-CHECK-PREMIUM
END-IF.
IT TRAINING 60
31. EVALUATE.
Purpose: The EVALUATE verb is very useful for coding 'case statements'. It provides a
clearer, simpler, alternative, to a series of repeated IF statements, or nested IF statements.
Also GO TO commands become unnecessary.
Example.
01 W10-WORKFIELDS.
03 W10-AGE PIC 9(3).
03 W10-SEX PIC X.
03 W10-DETAILS PIC X(20).
....
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
....
EVALUATE W10-AGE ALSO W10-SEX
WHEN 0 THROUGH 12 ALSO 'F'
MOVE 'FEMALE CHILD' TO W10-DETAILS
WHEN 0 THROUGH 12 ALSO 'M'
MOVE 'MALE CHILD' TO W10-DETAILS
MOVE 'FEMALE TEENAGER' TO W10-DETAILS
MOVE 'MALE TEENAGER' TO W10-DETAILS
WHEN 20 ALSO 'F'
MOVE 'FEMALE 20 YRS' TO W10-DETAILS
WHEN 20 ALSO 'M'
MOVE 'MALE 20 YRS' TO W10-DETAILS
MOVE 'FEMALE ADULT' TO W10-DETAILS
MOVE 'MALE ADULT' TO W10-DETAILS
WHEN OTHER
MOVE 'VERY OLD PERSON' TO W10-DETAILS
END-EVALUATE.
In the EVALUATE statement, expressions to be tested are called selection-subjects. In the

example above, W50-AGE and W50-SEX are the selection-subjects. The reserved word
ALSO separates the selection subjects. The answer selected is called a selection-object.
When evaluated each pair of selection-subjects and selection-objects must belong to the
same class (numeric, character, CONDITION TRUE or FALSE or ANY).
In the example, W50-AGE is a numeric field, so the selection object is also numeric (e.g. 13),
and W50-SEX is an alphanumeric field, so the selection object is also an alphanumeric (e.g.
'F'). If WHEN OTHER is coded, the statement following it will be executed if none of the
preceding conditions have been true.
You can specify up to 255 evaluate subjects and objects in an EVALUATE statement. There
is no limit to the number of WHEN clauses that can be specified in an EVALUATE statement,
but one page is a practical limit to observe.
The WHEN phrase will be indented by 3 spaces. Statements following a when will be
indented by 6 spaces.
The first WHEN condition is examined; if this condition is satisfied, the processing actions
associated with this phrase are selected.
IT TRAINING 61
The execution of the EVALUATE statement ends when:
 The statements associated with the selected WHEN phrase are executed
 The statements associated with the WHEN OTHER phrase are executed
 No WHEN conditions are satisfied
Because the WHEN phrases are tested in the order in which they are coded, you should
order these phrases with optimum performance in mind, i.e. code the WHEN phrase
containing selection-objects most likely to be satisfied first, the other WHEN phrases coded
in descending order of probability of satisfaction. The WHEN OTHER phrase must be coded
last.
There will be no in-line PERFORM or nested IF statements within EVALUATE statements.
IT TRAINING 62
32. Numeric fields.
32.1. PACKED-DECIMAL.
Recall from data representation that a packed decimal field is one where the number is stored
as two digits to a byte. Apart from the rightmost byte which contains the least significant digit
and the sign in the last 4 bits of this byte.
A three byte field containing +12345 will be held thus:
binary: 0001 0010 0011 0100 0101 1100

hex: 1 2 3 4 5 C
Format.
PIC S9(n) PACKED-DECIMAL.
NB.
 PACKED-DECIMAL in column 55 indicates the field is packed decimal.
 n is the number of digits in the field.
 n can be in the range 1 to 18.
 n should always be odd to utilise all the space as a packed decimal is an exact number of
bytes.
 The exception to 4 above is the maximum size of packed decimal field which is PIC
S9(18) PACKED-DECIMAL (ANSI standard).
 Packed decimal fields should always be signed.
 In older programs expect to see COMP-3 rather than PACKED-DECIMAL as this was
used in OS/VS COBOL
32.1.1. Decimal point in a packed decimal field.
V is used to denote a decimal point as in a zoned decimal field
Example.
PIC S9(5)V99 PACKED-DECIMAL.
This will contain a maximum of 7 digits and has 2 decimal places.
32.1.2. Length of a packed decimal field.
The length of a packed decimal field is (n+1)/2 bytes, where n is the total number of digits.
Example.
PIC S9(9) PACKED-DECIMAL

is a 5 byte field (9+1)/2 = 5
PIC S9(5)V99 PACKED-DECIMAL

is a 4 byte field (7+1)/2 = 4
IT TRAINING 63
32.2. BINARY.
Format.
PIC S9(n) BINARY
 n is either 4, 9 or 18 and represents the total number of digits the field should hold.
 BINARY in column 55 indicates the field is binary.
 Binary fields should always be signed.
32.2.1. Binary Fields and Length.
 A PIC S9(4) BINARY will hold a maximum of 9999 and will occupy 2 bytes.
 A PIC S9(9) BINARY will hold a maximum of 999,999,999 and will occupy 4 bytes.
 A PIC S9(18) BINARY will hold a maximum of 18 9's and will occupy 8 bytes.
 Binary fields in COBOL can only be one of these 3 lengths, if n is not 4, 9 or 18 the
number is rounded up to give a field 2, 4 or 8 bytes long.
 Binary fields larger than PIC S9(9) BINARY are inefficient, (a special routine has to
be invoked to use them) and only should be used when necessary.
NB.
It is possible to store a number greater than 9999 in a 2 byte and a number greater than
999,999,999 in a 4 byte field, but this should not be done. If the number is bigger use the next
size field. Problems can occur when comparing a PIC S9(9) BINARY and a PIC S9(18)
BINARY where the PIC S9(9) BINARY contains a number greater than 999,999,999.
In older programs expect to see COMP rather than binary as this was used in OS/VS
COBOL.
32.2.2. Decimal point in a binary field.
Like zoned decimal and packed decimal fields a decimal point in a binary field is represented
by a V.
Example.
PIC S9(5)V9(4) BINARY.
This is a 4 byte binary field (9 digit) and has 4 decimal places.
IT TRAINING 64
32.3. Choice of numeric fields.
32.3.1. Zoned decimal.
Used to define numeric fields where one number is held in one byte. Typically used for print
fields or fields on screens.
The computer has to convert zoned decimal fields to use in arithmetic operations.
32.3.2. Packed decimal.
Used for all arithmetic fields except subscripts, as they do not have to be converted for
arithmetic, can be easily understood in hex prints. They must always be defined as an odd
number of numeric digits and be signed.
32.3.3. Binary.
Used for arithmetic fields and subscripting (explained later in this course), but inefficient if
larger than 9 digits or 4 bytes.
IT TRAINING 65
33. File Handling.
33.1. Implicit Redefinition

Redefinition allows you to use different data description entries to describe the same
computer storage area.
NB.
Fixed length records only.
A file can have any number of record descriptions. Each record description is described by an
01 level. Each record will have its own fields but at least one field will be common to all types
of record. This field will indicate which record type the record is, and it will be in the same
position in all records, normally at the beginning.
When the records are fixed length the record descriptions apply to the same length input area
and if any fields are in the same position in one or more records they need only be named
once.
Example.
Record 1 consists of:

Type 1 byte zoned decimal
Name 20 byte alphanumeric
Address 40 byte alphanumeric
Bank code 9 byte zoned decimal
Record 2 consists of:

Type 1 byte zoned decimal
Salary 6 byte zoned decimal
Job 10 byte alphanumeric
Tax 4 byte zoned decimal
Description 40 byte alphanumeric
Deduction code 9 byte zoned decimal
In this example type is the 'key' field and since it is in the same position (i.e. the first byte) in
both record descriptions it need only be named once.
A file definition could be:
FD TR-STAFF-FILE
BLOCK 0
RECORDING F.
01 TR-STAFF-REC1.
03 TR-TYPE1 PIC 9.
03 TR-NAME PIC X(20).
03 TR-ADDRESS PIC X(40).
03 TR-BANK-CODE PIC 9(9).
01 TR-STAFF-REC2.
03 TR-TYPE2 PIC 9.
03 TR-SALARY PIC 9(6).
03 TR-JOB PIC X(10).
03 TR-TAX PIC 9(4).
03 TR-DESC PIC X(40).
03 TR-DED-CODE PIC 9(9).
IT TRAINING 66
Remember record descriptions tell the computer a field's position relative to the start of the
record and the field type.
Multiple record descriptions are really telling the computer to interpret the data in a particular
way. Thus in our example when TR-NAME is accessed the computer will take bytes 2-21 of
the record area and treat it as alphanumeric. Whilst if TR-SALARY is referenced bytes 2-7
are accessed and are treated as zoned decimal.
So you can see why it is necessary to decide which record you have prior to processing, i.e. if
record type 1 was the last record read with a name of WATSON, and TR-SALARY was
referenced, the contents of bytes 2-7 would be WATSON followed by one trailing space, not a
valid salary amount!
As both TR-TYPE fields are the same length and refer to the same byte, it is common
practice to only name one field and have FILLER for the second. It would be possible to use a
FILLER for the second of the code fields (TR-DED-CODE) as this field is in the same position
and is the same length as TR-BANK-CODE, although this could lead to maintenance
problems.
Thus a revised record descriptions could be:
01 TR-STAFF-REC1.
03 TR-TYPE PIC 9.
03 TR-ADDRESS PIC X(40).
03 TR-CODE PIC 9(9).
01 TR-STAFF-REC2.
03 FILLER PIC X.
03 TR-SALARY PIC 9(6).
03 TR-JOB PIC X(10).
03 TR-TAX PIC 9(4).
03 TR-DESC PIC X(40).
03 FILLER PIC X(9).
IT TRAINING 67
34. Variable Length Records.

In previous topics we have been using files containing fixed length records. In practice some
files contain records which vary in length. This may be because the file contains several
different record descriptions, which are different lengths or it could be one record description
which varies in length (see OCCURS DEPENDING later in this course).
Variable length records have a 4 byte field in front of the first data field which contains the
length of the record. This is called the record descriptor word or RDW. The system uses this
field to decide how many bytes of the record can be made available to your program. This
field is created by the system not by your program when a record is written. It can not be
accessed by your program and does not have to be described in the DATA DIVISION.
Files containing variable length records, have RECORDING V in the FD.
Example.
FD TR-CLIENT-FILE
BLOCK 0
RECORDING V.
....
01 TR-CLIENT-REC-1.
03 TR-NUMBER PIC S9(5) PACKED-DECIMAL.
03 TR-TYPE PIC 9.
03 TR-FIRST-NAME PIC X(32).
03 TR-SECOND-NAME PIC X(32).
01 TR-CLIENT-REC-2.
03 FILLER PIC X(4).
03 TR-ADDRESS-1 PIC X(32).
03 TR-POST-CODE PIC X(8).
FILLER is used in the second description as TR-NUMBER and TR-TYPE are common to both
descriptions.
TR-CLIENT-REC-1 is 68 bytes long and TR-CLIENT-REC-2 is 108 bytes.
TR-TYPE has to be accessed to decide which record type has been read. If a record type 1
had just been read and TR-POSTCODE was accessed, the contents would be indeterminate,
you would be trying to access bytes 100-108 when the record read was only 68 bytes long.
When using READ ... INTO with variable records the area following the INTO must be large
enough to hold the maximum record length, otherwise records may be truncated.
When writing variable length records to as file, the correct record name must be in the
WRITE statement, so a record of the correct length will be written. Given the above file
description, if TR-CLIENT-REC-2 had been constructed but then the statement:
WRITE TR-CLIENT-REC-1.
was executed later in the program logic a record 68 bytes long would be written not 108
bytes.
Remember the system will automatically put the Record Descriptor Word on the front of the
record when it is written.
IT TRAINING 68
35. REDEFINES.
We have already seen that we have implicit redefinition at 01 levels i.e. record level in the
FILE SECTION, this is because records within a given file are automatically redefined. In
such 01 level entries, the REDEFINES clause must not be specified.
If we wish to redefine an area of storage outside the FILE SECTION we use the REDEFINES
clause. The REDEFINES clause allows you to use different data description entries to
describe the same computer storage area.
Format:
level no dataname 1 REDEFINES dataname 2
Thus the area of store allocated to dataname 1 will be the same as that allocated to
dataname 2. The level numbers of the datanames must be the same and consecutive at that
level, dataname 2 must appear first. Dataname 1 can be a FILLER field.
Redefinition begins at dataname 1 and ends when a level number less than or equal to that of
data-name-1 is encountered. No entry having a level number numerically lower than those of
dataname 1 and dataname 2 may occur between these entries.
Example:
A field that is 6 bytes long is alphanumeric if an indicator field has the value 2 and numeric if
the indicator field has the value 3.
03 TR-ALPHA-BRANCH PIC X(6).

03 TR-NUMERIC-BRANCH REDEFINES TR-ALPHA-BRANCH
PIC 9(6).
The data description entry for dataname 2, the redefined item, can contain a REDEFINES
clause.
REDEFINES is coded in column 41. If a picture is coded for the dataname then it should be
coded in column 41 of the next line.
Multiple redefinitions must all use the data-name of the original entry that defined this storage
area.
Example:
03 TR-MOTOR.
05 TR-CAR-NO PIC X(7).
05 TR-AREA PIC S9(7) PACKED-DECIMAL.
03 TR-FIRE REDEFINES TR-MOTOR.
05 TR-CLASS PIC X(4).
05 TR-SUM-INSURED PIC S9(13) PACKED-DECIMAL.
03 TR-LIVESTOCK REDEFINES TR-MOTOR.
05 TR-ANIMAL-CODE PIC S9(5) PACKED-DECIMAL.
05 FILLER PIC X(8).
Each level can be sub divided, if one level is a group the next can be a group or elementary
item. Dataname 1 and dataname 2 should be the same length, unless they are 01 levels, then
the lengths may differ. In the above example TR-LIVESTOCK has an 8 byte FILLER to make
this so.
IT TRAINING 69
This facility is used extensively for files containing records concerning different classes of
insurance. The details peculiar to each class are held in the last bytes of the record, these
bytes have a different description for each type of insurance.
NB.
The data description entry for the redefined item cannot contain an OCCURS clause with or
without the DEPENDING ON option. However, the redefined item may be subordinate to an
item whose data description entry contains an OCCURS clause. In this case, the reference to
the redefined item in the REDEFINES clause must not be subscripted. Neither the original
definition nor the redefinition can include a variable occurrence data item. Neither the
redefined item nor the redefining item, or any items subordinate to them, can contain an
OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause. The redefining entry (identified by dataname 1), and any
subordinate entries, must not contain any VALUE clauses.
35.1. Further Examples.
The REDEFINES clause may be specified for an item within the scope of an area being
redefined (that is, an item subordinate to a redefined item).
03 W10-REGULAR-EMP.
05 W10-LOCATION PIC X(8).
05 W10-GRADE PIC X(4).
05 W10-SEMI-MONTH-PAY PIC 9(4)V99.
05 W10-WEEKLY-PAY REDEFINES W10-SEMI-MONTH-PAY
PIC 999V999.
03 W10-TEMP-EMPLOYEE REDEFINES W10-REGULAR-EMP.

05 W10-FILLER PIC X(6).
05 W10-HOURLY-PAY PIC 99V99.
The REDEFINES clause may also be specified for an item subordinate to a redefining item.
*
03 W20-REGULAR-EMP.
05 W20-GRADE PIC X(4).
05 W20-SEMI-MONTH-PAY PIC 999V999.
*
03 W20-TEMP-EMPLOYEE REDEFINES W20-REGULAR-EMP.
05 FILLER PIC X(6).
05 W20-HOURLY-PAY PIC 99V99.
05 W20-CODE-H REDEFINES W20-HOURLY-PAY
PIC 9(4).
IT TRAINING 70
36. OCCURS, SUBSCRIPTS and TABLES.

We have seen that data is described in the data division and that each elementary field is
given a picture.
If we wished to describe 4 date fields we might code this:
01 W20-WORKFIELDS.
03 W20-DATE1 PIC X(8).
W20-WORKFIELDS is 32 bytes long. Each elementary field has a different name and each
has a picture.
There is an alternative way to write this using the OCCURS statement.
One of the Data Division clauses used for table handling is the OCCURS clause. The
OCCURS clause specifies tables whose elements can be referred to by indexing or
subscripting. It eliminates the need for separate entries for repeated data items.
Format.
level no dataname picture

OCCURS n
Example.
01 W20-WORKFIELDS.
03 W20-DATE PIC X(8)
OCCURS 4.
W20-WORKFIELDS is still 32 bytes long and the 4 occurrences of W20-DATE are held next
to each other in store. OCCURS is coded in column 41.
This is a one dimensional table.
To refer to a dataname in COBOL it must be unique. Therefore we have to distinguish

between the 4 occurrences of W20-DATE. To do this we use a subscript. The subscript is put
in brackets following the dataname.
Format.
dataname (subscript)
Subscript can be either a numeric literal between 1 and the number of OCCURS, or a
dataname containing a whole number in that range.
To reference an occurrence of W20-DATE we could code
W20-DATE(3) or
W20-DATE(W20-SUB)
IT TRAINING 71
NB.
 OCCURS cannot be used at a 01 level.
 Cannot have a VALUE clause with OCCURS.
 A subscript should be preferably 2 byte binary field.
 A subscript cannot itself be subscripted.
This is the simplest form of OCCURS. The field that occurs can itself be subdivided. There
can be up to 3 levels of OCCURS (also called a three dimensional table). Normally we only
use 2 levels.
Example.
01 TR-ITEMS.
03 TR-GROUP OCCURS 3.
05 TR-PART PIC 99.
This could be expressed diagrammatically thus:
TR-ITEMS
TR-GROUP(1) TR-GROUP(2) TR-GROUP(3)
TR-PART(1) TR-NAME(1) TR-PART(2) TR-NAME(2) TR-PART(3) TR-NAME(3)
Example.
Two levels of OCCURS:
03 W20-MONTH OCCURS 12.

05 W20-WEEK PIC X(7)
OCCURS 4.
To reference the third week of the seventh month can have either.
W20-WEEK (7 3)
or
W20-WEEK (W20-MTH-SUB W20-WK-SUB)
where W20-MTH-SUB would contain 7 and W20-WK-SUB would contain 3.
NB.
 The subscript of the highest level comes first i.e. of W20-MONTH in the above example.
 The subscripts are separated by a space.
We can combine OCCURS and REDEFINES to hold tables of information. For example
branches are numbered, but invariably the name of the branch needs to be printed not the
number. One solution is to have successive IF statements or an EVALUATE.
IT TRAINING 72
Example.
Either
IF TR-BRANCH = 1
MOVE 'NORWICH' TO W20-BRANCH
ELSE IF TR-BRANCH = 2
MOVE 'IPSWICH' TO W20-BRANCH
ELSE
MOVE 'EDINBURGH' TO W20-BRANCH
END-IF
END-IF.
or
EVALUATE TR-BRANCH
WHEN 1
MOVE 'NORWICH' TO W20-BRANCH
WHEN 2
MOVE 'IPSWICH' TO W20-BRANCH
WHEN OTHER
MOVE 'EDINBURGH' TO W20-BRANCH
END-EVALUATE.
Instead we can code as the following working storage:-
03 W20-BRANCH-LIST.
05 FILLER PIC X(9) VALUE ‘NORWICH’.
05 FILLER PIC X(9) VALUE ‘IPSWICH’.
05 FILLER PIC X(9) VALUE ‘EDINBURGH’.
3 W20-BRANCH-ARRAY REDEFINES W20-BRANCH-LIST.
05 W20-BRANCH-NAME PIC X(9) OCCURS 3.
Then one move statement is needed
MOVE W20-BRANCH-NAME(TR-BRANCH) TO W20-BRANCH.
where TR-BRANCH contains a number in the range one to three.

NB.
 The field must be as long as the longest name. The shorter names will have trailing
spaces.
 Instead of FILLER. we could have W20-BR1, W20-BR2 etc. Names are sometimes
better as it can be easier if the name and its occurrence number are linked. However
FILLER is often the preferred method, as the VALUE defines the link.
36.1. Further Considerations.
An alternative and normally more efficient way of handling tables is by INDEXING, explained
later in this course.
IT TRAINING 73
37. OCCURS DEPENDING ON.

One way to have variable length records is to have a separate 01 entry for each possible
length of record. Another way is to use the OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause, this allows a
single 01 level entry to represent a range of record lengths. This may appear in a unique
record description or in one or several of a set of 01 levels in the same file. The OCCURS
DEPENDING ON clause can be used in record descriptions and in the Working Storage
section.
Format.
level dataname 1 OCCURS integer 1 TO integer 2 (TIMES)

DEPENDING ON dataname 2
NB.
 Integer 1 gives the minimum number of occurrences.
 Integer 2 gives the maximum number of occurrences.
 Dataname 1 is the subject of the OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause.
 Dataname 2 is the object of the clause. Dataname 2 will usually be in the fixed part of the
same record description (it can not be in the variable portion) sometimes it will be in a
WORKING-STORAGE field.
 If dataname 2 is a working storage field it should be a binary field.
Consider a file containing motor records. Each motor record can insure up to 4 cars. In this
file 60% of the records have details of one car, 20% of the records have details of two cars,
15% have three cars and 5% of records insure four cars.
If the record was a constant length then each record would need space for four cars and if the
file contained half a million records a lot of space would be unused and therefore wasted.
Thus if each record only contained the bytes it used this problem would be overcome. There
could be a separate 01 for record description for each length but it is better to use the
OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause.
Example.
03 TR-CAR-COUNT PIC S9 BINARY.

03 TR-CAR-DETAILS OCCURS 0 TO 4
DEPENDING ON TR-CAR-COUNT.
05 TR-MAKE PIC X(20).
05 TR-CAR-REG PIC X(7).
The length of the subject item (i.e. TR-CAR-DETAILS) is fixed. It is the number of the
occurrences that varies (from zero to four in this example). The object of the OCCURS
DEPENDING ON (i.e. TR-CAR-COUNT) must contain a positive whole number. The contents
of this field will determine how long the record is (i.e. TR-CAR-COUNT contains the number
of occurrences of TR-CAR-DETAILS).
Any statement which uses a piece of data containing an OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause
will take note of the value in the object and act upon that variably sized piece of data. In the
above example if TR-COUNT contains 3 there will be 81 bytes of data available.
NB.
You should not attempt to access items whose occurrence number exceeds the value of the
object. When the value of the object is reduced, the contents of the items whose occurrence
number exceeds the new value are unpredictable. In the above example if TR-CAR-COUNT
is 3 you should not try to access TR-CAR-DETAILS(4).
IT TRAINING 74
37.1. Length Calculation.
The length is calculated when a record is read and when the object of the OCCURS
DEPENDING ON is changed as a result of a MOVE (or arithmetic function) to it or a move to
a group that contains it. Thus a move to TR-CAR-COUNT will cause the length to be
recalculated but a move to TR-CAR-DETAILS(4) will not.
It is important to understand when the system takes note of changes in length.
Example.
A program contains:
FD TR-MAIN-FILE
BLOCK 0
RECORDING MODE V.
....
01 TR-MAIN-REC.
03 TR-COUNT PIC S9(3) PACKED-DECIMAL.
03 TR-DETAILS.
05 TR-ITEM PIC X
OCCURS ZERO TO 10
DEPENDING ON TR-COUNT.
....
....
01 W10-GROUP.
03 W10-COUNT PIC S9(4) BINARY.
03 W10-DETAILS.
05 W10-ITEM PIC X
OCCURS ZERO TO 5.
The code is:
MOVE 5 TO W10-COUNT.
MOVE 'ABCDE' TO W10-DETAILS.
MOVE 5 TO TR-COUNT.
NB.
 length of TR-MAIN-REC is now 7 bytes.
 the first of the five occurrences of W10-ITEM contains 'A', the second 'B', etc.
MOVE 12345 TO TR-DETAILS.

MOVE 2 TO TR-COUNT.
NB.
length of TR-MAIN-REC is recalculated as 4 bytes and occurrences 3, 4 and 5 should not
accessed.
MOVE W10-GROUP TO TR-MAIN-REC.

MOVE 5 TO TR-COUNT.
IT TRAINING 75
NB.
 moves AB to the first two occurrences of TR-ITEM as the length of TR-MAIN-REC is
only 4 bytes.
 as 5 has been moved to TR-COUNT (this is the object of the OCCURS DEPENDING
ON) the length of TR-MAIN-REC is now recalculated to 7 bytes.
DISPLAY TR-DETAILS.
would display AB345
In order to ensure the system knows the correct length before any move always move to the
object of the OCCURS DEPENDING ON first, thus establishing the length. Then move the
record or group, e.g.
MOVE W10-COUNT TO TR-COUNT.

MOVE W10-GROUP TO TR-MAIN-REC.

 Never attempt to change the length of an input record in the FD (i.e. in the input
buffer).
 Before a record is written always set the object of the OCCURS in the output FD to its
correct value.
 It is possible to have more than one OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause in the same
record description. These need to be accessed very carefully and should be avoided
if possible.
Example.
01 W10-GROUP.
03 W10-COUNT1 PIC S9(4) BINARY.
03 W10-COUNT2 PIC S9(4) BINARY.
03 W10-LINE1 OCCURS ZERO TO 12
DEPENDING ON W10-COUNT1.
05 W10-ITEMS1 PIC X(15).
03 W10-LINE2 OCCURS ZERO TO 10
DEPENDING ON W10-COUNT2.
05 W10-ITEMS2 PIC X(20).
Before W10-LINE1 can be changed W10-LINE2 has to be moved. W10-LINE1 can the be
amended and W10-LINE2 moved back.
IT TRAINING 76
38. APPLY WRITE ONLY.

NB.
APPLY WRITE-ONLY is applicable only to variable length records.
Normally as data is transferred to a record description and records are written, a buffer the
size of the maximum block size is gradually filled. After each WRITE the amount of space left
in the buffer is checked. If this space is too small to contain the largest record specified in the
FD the block is truncated and transferred to secondary storage e.g. disk or tape and a new
block begun. This may mean wasted space and hence more input/output activity. Thus if the
maximum record length is 4000 bytes and the average record is 1000 bytes, 3000 bytes could
be wasted at the end of each block.
APPLY WRITE-ONLY can be used to minimise wasted space. Using APPLY WRITE-ONLY
records are built up away from the output record area (e.g. in WORKING-STORAGE) and
output using 'WRITE....FROM'. At write time APPLY WRITE-ONLY causes the system to
check to see if the current record length will fit in the buffer instead of using the maximum
record length. If there is not sufficient space the block is truncated and transferred to
secondary storage and a new block started, otherwise data is transferred to the output buffer.
The clause is contained in a paragraph called I-O-CONTROL in the CONFIGURATION

SECTION starting in column 8. This paragraph follows the SELECT .... ASSIGN statement(s).
Format.
I-O-CONTROL.
APPLY WRITE-ONLY filename.
NB.
 The file must be opened for output.
 The WRITE statement for this filename must be in the form: WRITE recordname FROM
identifier
 None of the datanames defined under the output FD can be referenced in the
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
If this file contains a DEPENDING ON clause, the object of this DEPENDING ON clause must
be outside the record area. You will recall that before a record containing an OCCURS
DEPENDING ON clause is written, it is necessary to move that correct value to the object of
the OCCURS DEPENDING ON clause. If the object is part of the record description we
would contravene rule 3 above. Therefore if the object of the OCCURS DEPENDING clause
is a WORKING STORAGE field, when the value of that field is amended the length of the
output record will be correctly calculated.
IT TRAINING 77
39. PERFORM VARYING.

By updating a subscript it is possible to access items held in a table, that is, subordinate to an
OCCURS statement. One method is to add or subtract a value from a subscript, then test to
ascertain whether the requisite number of records have been processed.
Example.
MOVE 1 TO W50-SUB.
P40-20.
MOVE ZERO TO W50-TOTAL(W50-SUB).
ADD 1 TO W50-SUB.
IF W50-SUB < 11
GO TO P40-20
END-IF.
This would process 10 occurrences of S50-TOTALS, but includes a backward GO TO

statement. Instead we could have coded the following:
PERFORM S60-ZEROISE VARYING W40-SUB FROM 1 BY 1

UNTIL W40-SUB > 10.
....
S60-ZEROISE SECTION.
....
MOVE ZERO TO W40-TOTAL(W40-SUB).
P60-EXIT.
EXIT.
NOTE – when using PERFORM – VARYING – the subscript to be varied is incremented

BEFORE the UNTIL condition is tested. This can cause problems where a ZERO iteration
may be encountered – the subscript will always be incremented to the first value.
IT TRAINING 78
40. STRING.
Purpose: the STRING statement strings together the partial or complete contents of two or
more data items or literals into one single data item. One STRING statement can be written
instead of a series of MOVE statements.
Format.
STRING dataname 1
DELIMITED BY dataname 2
INTO dataname 3.
STRING literal 1
DELIMITED BY literal 2
INTO dataname 3.
STRING identifier 1
DELIMITED BY SIZE
INTO dataname 3.
Example 1.
03 P-REP1-H5-DATE PIC X(8).

....
03 W20-ACCEPTED-DATE.
05 W20-YEAR PIC 99.
05 W20-MTH PIC 99.
05 W20-DAY PIC 99.
....
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
....
STRING W20-DAY '/' W20-MTH '/' W20-YEAR
DELIMITED BY SIZE
INTO P-REP1-H5-DATE.
This code 'converts' a date in the format YYMMDD to a format of DD/MM/YY.
Example 2.
STRING W40-FIELD1 W40-FIELD2 W40-FIELD3

DELIMITED BY '*'
INTO W80-RESULT.
This would take the contents of W40-FIELD1 up to an * in this field and copy them to W80-
RESULT (if no * present the complete field would be moved.) This is then repeated with W40-
FIELD2 and W40-FIELD3. If the receiving field is filled before all the data is transferred the
operation stops. If the receiving field is only partially filled trailing spaces are not added. If a
dataname is used in the delimited statement, it contains the delimiting character(s). The fields
used in a STRING statement should be zoned decimal or alphanumeric.
IT TRAINING 79
A pointer can be used to control the placement of data in the receiving field. A string overflow
statement can be added to determine when the receiving field is full.
Example.
STRING W20-DAY '/' W20-MTH '/' W20-YEAR

DELIMITED BY SIZE
INTO TR-DATE-OUT
OVERFLOW PERFORM S30-OVERFLOW
END-STRING.
41. UNSTRING.
Purpose: the UNSTRING statement causes contiguous data in a sending field to be
separated and placed into multiple receiving fields. One UNSTRING statement can be written
instead of a series of MOVE statements.
Format.
UNSTRING dataname1 DELIMITED BY dataname2

INTO dataname3
UNSTRING dataname1 DELIMITED BY literal 1

INTO dataname3
Example.
03 W40-INPUT PIC X(30).

03 W40-ACCOUNT PIC X(6).
03 W40-INITIALS PIC X(4).
If W40-INPUT contains 1235A*BROWN*JKS, the following instruction:
UNSTRING W40-INPUT
DELIMITED BY '*'
INTO W40-ACCOUNT
W40-NAME
W40-INITIALS
would result in:
W40-ACCOUNT containing 1235A

W40-NAME containing BROWN
W40-INITIALS containing JKS
 It is possible to count the number of characters transferred into a field.

 Using the POINTER phrase different starting points can be used.
 It is possible to specify that several continuous occurrences of a delimiter can be treated
as one. The TALLYING option will count the number of 'target' fields.
IT TRAINING 80
42. NORWICH UNION DATES.

Dates are very important in the Insurance business. For example, we have to store the
following:
Dates of birth
Date of policy or renewal
Date of endorsement (alteration)
Date of payment
Date of accident
What we need is a formula for storing dates which is convenient for calculations. We very
often have to calculate the difference between two dates.
Norwich Union Date Format.
NU dates, commonly referred to as ‘SNUF’ dates (Standard Norwich Union Format), are
stored as the number of months since December 1849 (e.g. Jan 1850 is month 1, January
1998 is month 1777). These dates are stored in two 2-byte binary fields, the first holding
months, the second the day of the month.
These dates are easily managed as there are several routines to convert 'normal' (i.e.
DDMMYY) dates to NU dates and vice versa. Routines are documented in the dataset
NUCWS.CENTSOFT.SUB#PROG or by using S.CENT option in TSO.
Example.
The routine RDDTOUTA will convert a Norwich Union date to a normal DDMMYY format
CALL 'RDDTOUTA' USING TR-DATE

W30-DATE
W30-ERROR.
 TR-DATE is the name of a field (can be a group or elementary) containing the Norwich
Union date.
 W30-DATE is the name of the field to contain the normal date.
 W30-ERROR is an error message field set to zero if no error is found, if an error is
discovered identifier 3 is set to 1 and the contents of identifier 2 are indeterminate.
The statement following the CALL should test the error message field and take the
appropriate action if the contents are not zero.
As the identifiers are accessed by both programs their lengths must be the same and their
types compatible. The details of field lengths and types expected by project wide subroutines
are contained in NU SOFTWARE.
IT TRAINING 81
43. GO TO....DEPENDING.
Purpose: to use the contents of dataname to determine which paragraph is to be executed.
This is not a recommended way of controlling the logical flow through the code.
Format.
GO TO paragraph name 1
paragraph name 2 .....
DEPENDING ON dataname
Example.
The following:-
IF W20-TYPE = 1
GO TO P20-10
END-IF.
IF W20-TYPE = 2
GO TO P20-40
END-IF.
IF W20-TYPE = 3
GO TO P20-60
END-IF.
Could be replaced by:
GO TO P20-10
P20-40
P20-60 DEPENDING ON W20-TYPE.
NB.
The dataname must be a numeric field.
If the value of dataname is less than 1 or greater than the number of paragraphs listed control
passes to the instruction following the GO TO.
Paragraph names can be repeated.
IT TRAINING 82
44. COBOL Subroutines.

A COBOL subroutine is a complete program in itself, that is, the four divisions have to be
present.
44.1. CALL.
A CALL statement enables you to borrow pieces of compiled logic, normally called a
subroutine (or sub program). Subroutines allow common code to be accessed by many
programs. Subroutines need not be written in COBOL and can be written in another language
(e.g. ASSEMBLER) if that is more appropriate to the task being carried out.
Control is passed from the main program to the subroutine by the CALL statement. Usually
data items in the calling program need to be accessed by the subroutine. This is done via the
USING option of the CALL statement which makes data items in the calling program available
to the subroutine.
Format.
CALL 'Subroutine name'

CALL 'Subroutine name' USING identifier 1
identifier 2
Subroutine name is a maximum of eight alphanumeric characters, the first must be

alphabetic. The identifier(s) may be a field anywhere in the DATA DIVISION. Fields passed to
the subroutine as input only, must not be changed by the called subroutine.
Control is passed to the subroutine (sometimes referred to as the called program) and data is
passed to the subroutine via the CALL statement as previously described. The name of the
subroutine is the PROGRAM-ID of the subroutine. The data fields are not copied into the
subroutine, the subroutine has access to specified fields in the calling program's area. The
passed fields are specified to the called program on the PROCEDURE DIVISION statement.
Status checks will be carried out immediately following a CALL, where possible.
IT TRAINING 83
Format.
PROCEDURE DIVISION USING identifier 1

identifier 2 .........
These identifiers are described, each at an 01 level, in the LINKAGE SECTION of the
subroutine. The LINKAGE SECTION follows the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION. As the
identifiers on the CALL and the PROCEDURE DIVISION are corresponded on position, not
name, the identifiers must appear in the same order on both statements but not necessarily in
this order in the LINKAGE SECTION. The identifiers must contain the same number of
characters, although their pictures need not be the same. The names of the identifiers can
differ between the calling program and the subroutine. The value statement cannot be used in
the LINKAGE SECTION (other than for 88 levels) as data is overwritten each time the routine
is called.
The execution of a called program always starts at the first statement of the PROCEDURE
DIVISION. The first time a called program is entered its state is that of a fresh copy of the
program. Each subsequent time a called program is entered its state is as it was upon the last
exit from that program. Control is returned to the calling program by a GOBACK statement in
the subroutine.
After the CALL statement has been executed control passes to the statement following the
CALL.
44.1.1. Further Consideration.
Subroutines need not handle files, if they do normally all the file handling is done by the
subroutine. If the file is opened and closed within the subroutine care must be taken that the
file is not opened and closed every time the subroutine is called.
44.2. Link Editing.
A load module of a calling and called programs can be produced in two ways.
 The program and subroutines can be compiled and object modules produced in the
normal way. Linkage editor commands are then created in a LEL library with a member
name of the program. These commands specify the object modules to be included to form
the load module. The calling program is then link edited, but the LEL library is specified
not the object library.
 The subroutines can be held in load module form. If COBOL they are compiled in the
normal way, then link edited with an extra option NCAL. A subroutine being linked by itself
must be linked with NCAL, so that external references (i.e. CALLS) will not be resolved,
because external references should only be resolved when we link edit the main program.
The calling program is then link edited in the normal way, with the normal options.
The advantage of the second method is that the special commands in the linkage editor
library are not required.
IT TRAINING 84
45. INSPECT.
Purpose: To count characters in a dataname and/or replace them. Can only be used with
alphanumeric or zoned decimal fields.
Example 1.
INSPECT W20-FIELD
TALLYING W20-TOTAL FOR LEADING ZEROS.
Example 2.
INSPECT W20-FIELD REPLACING LEADING SPACES BY '*'.
46. REFERENCE MODIFICATION

Purpose – to reference a portion of a data item. Can only be used with alphanumeric or
zoned decimal fields. Note – not NU standard but occasionally useful.
Syntax - W00-DATA-ITEM (START BYTE POSITION : NUMBER OF BYTES)
Example 1
01 W10-WORKFIELDS.
03 W10-DATA-STRING PIC X(30) VALUE
‘A0025JONES NR126JU’.
MOVE W10-DATA-STRING(6:10) TO P-REP1-L1-SURNAME.
Would move the characters JONES (with the 5 trailing spaces) to the print line field. Much
better to break down the string in Working Storage with group fields – easier to access.
Example 2
01 W10-WORKFIELDS.
03 W10-SYS-DATE PIC 9(6).
01 P-REP1-H1.
03 FILLER PIC X(6) VALUE ‘DATE : ‘.
03 P-REP1-H1-DAY PIC 99.
03 FILLER PIC X VALUE ‘/’.
03 P-REP1-H1-MONTH PIC 99.
03 FILLER PIC X VALUE ‘/’.
03 P-REP1-H1-CENT PIC 99 VALUE 20.
03 P-REP1-H1-YEAR PIC 99.
P10-XX.
ACCEPT W10-SYS-DATE FROM DATE.
MOVE W10-SYS-DATE(1:2) TO P-REP1-H1-YEAR.
MOVE W10-SYS-DATE(3:2) TO P-REP1-H1-MONTH.
MOVE W10-SYS-DATE(5:2) TO P-REP1-H1-DAY.
IT TRAINING 85
47. INDEXED.
We have already seen how to access occurring fields and tables. Indexing is a more efficient
way of accessing these fields.
Example.
Using subscripting:
03 W10-TOTAL PIC S9(3) PACKED-DECIMAL

OCCURS 10.
03 W10-SUB PIC S9(4) BINARY.
MOVE W10-TOTAL(W10-SUB) TO W10-PREMIUM.
Using indexing we would have:-

OCCURS 10
INDEXED BY X-TOTAL.
....
MOVE W10-TOTAL(X-TOTAL) TO W10-PREMIUM.
 X-TOTAL is not defined anywhere else in the DATA DIVISION, it will be set up
automatically.
 If a field is indexed you can still access it by a subscript.
 The index (i.e. X-TOTAL) contains a displacement value i.e. a value which points to
an item in a field relative to the start of the table.
Example.
To access the fourth occurrence of the above table the index would contain:
(occurrence - 1) X length in bytes
(4 - 1) X 2 = 6
Can use relative indexing;
MOVE W10-TOTAL(X-TOTAL + 2) TO ......
where 2 is the number of occurrences. This statement does not affect the value in X-
TOTAL.
It is possible to have up to 3 levels of occurs with indexing at all levels.

Example.
03 W10-BRANCH OCCURS 60
INDEXED BY X-BRANCH.
05 W10-CLASS OCCURS 20
INDEXED BY X-CLASS.
07 W10-PREMIUM PIC S9(5) PACKED-DECIMAL.
....
MOVE W10-PREMIUM(X-BRANCH X-CLASS) TO .....
IT TRAINING 86
Cannot have INDEXED BY at a 01 level, (you cannot have OCCURS at 01 level).
Cannot mix INDEXES and subscripts in the same reference.
Can have more than 1 index per occurs (see later).
Indexes are named X-meaningful name.
If tables are identical e.g. same level, same number of occurrences and the occurrences are
the same length, an index belonging to one table can be used to access the other.
48. Modifying Indexes.

An index can only be modified by the following verbs;
SET
PERFORM
SEARCH
NB. Not by the MOVE verb.
48.1. SET.
Purpose: to move a value to an index. The SET statement establishes reference points for
table handling operations by doing one of the following:
 Placing values associated with table elements into indexes associated with index-
names
 Incrementing or decrementing an occurrence number
 Setting the status of an external switch to ON or OFF
 Moving data to condition names to make conditions true
 Setting pointer data items.
Index-names are related to a given table through the INDEXED BY phrase of the OCCURS
clause; they are not further defined in the program.
When the sending and receiving fields in a SET statement share part of their storage (that is,
the operands overlap), the result of the execution of such a SET statement is undefined.
Format.
SET index 1 TO dataname 2

SET dataname 1 TO index 2
SET dataname 1 TO integer
NB.
 index 1, dataname 1 are the receiving fields and must name either index data items or
elementary numeric integer items.
 index 2 is a sending field. The value before the SET statement is executed must
correspond to the occurrence number of its associated table.
 dataname 2 is a sending field. It must name either an index data item or an elementary
numeric integer item.
 integer 1 is a sending field a and must be a positive integer.
IT TRAINING 87
Example.
SET X-TABLE TO 1.
SET X-TABLE TO X-TOT-TABLE.
SET X-TABLE TO W20-COUNT.
In all cases the value is converted to a displacement value.
As arithmetic functions cannot be performed on an index, the following versions of the SET
verb can be used.
SET index 1 index 2 UP BY dataname

SET index 1 DOWN BY integer
Example.
SET X-TOT-TABLE UP BY 1.
SET X-TOT-TABLE DOWN BY W20-COUNT.
48.2. SEARCH.
Purpose: to search a table for an element that satisfies the specified condition, and adjusts
the associated index to indicate that element. When the item is found or the whole table has
been searched, the SEARCH stops and control passes to the next statement. There are two
versions of the SEARCH verb.
 A serial search, the table is searched one entry at a time until the condition is
satisfied or the end of table is reached.
 A binary search, the number of entries in a table are continually divided by two until
the required condition is satisfied or the search has been completed.
The following working storage is used for the serial and binary search examples:
03 W50-CAR-MAKE-TABLE.
05 W50-BMW PIC X(18) VALUE
'BMW ,GOOD '.
05 W50-FORD PIC X(18) VALUE
'FORD ,POOR '.
05 W50-VAUXHALL PIC X(18) VALUE
'VAUXHALL ,GOOD '.
03 FILLER REDEFINES W50-CAR-MAKE-TABLE.
05 W50-CAR-MAKE-ENTRY OCCURS 3
ASCENDING KEY IS W50-CAR-MAKE
INDEXED BY
W50-CAR-MAKE-TABLE-INDEX.
07 W50-CAR-MAKE PIC X(10).
07 FILLER PIC X.
07 W50-CAR-MAKE-QUAL PIC X(7).
NB.
ASCENDING KEY IS clause is only required if a Binary chop (SEARCH ALL) is to be
performed on the table.
IT TRAINING 88
48.3. Serial Search.
Format.
SEARCH dataname1 VARYING index name

WHEN condition
END-SEARCH.
SEARCH dataname1
END-SEARCH.
The serial search statement executes a search beginning at the current index setting. When
the search begins, if the value of the index name associated with dataname1 is not greater
than the highest possible occurrence number, the following actions take place:

1. The condition(s) in the WHEN phrase are evaluated in the order in which they are written.
2. If none of the conditions are satisfied, the index name for dataname 1 is increased to
correspond to the next table element, and step 1 is repeated.
3. If upon evaluation, one of the WHEN conditions is satisfied, the search is terminated
immediately, and the imperative statement associated with that condition is executed. The
index name points to the table element that satisfied the condition.
4. If the end of the table is reached (that is, the incremented index name value is greater than
the highest possible occurrence number) without the WHEN condition being satisfied, the
search is terminated, as described in the next paragraph.
If, when the search begins, the value of the index-name associated with dataname 1 is
greater than the highest possible occurrence number, the search immediately ends, and, if
specified, the AT END imperative statement is executed. If the AT END phrase is omitted,
control passes to the next statement after the SEARCH statement.
Example.
SET W50-CAR-MAKE-TABLE-INDEX TO 1.
SEARCH W50-CAR-MAKE-ENTRY
AT END MOVE '?' TO W100-CAR-MAKE-QUALITY
WHEN W50-CAR-MAKE(W50-CAR-MAKE-TABLE-INDEX)
= W70-CAR-MAKE
MOVE W50-CAR-MAKE-QUALITY(W50-CAR-MAKE-TABLE-INDEX)
TO W100-CAR-MAKE-QUALITY
END-SEARCH.
IT TRAINING 89
48.4. Binary Search.

Format.
SEARCH ALL dataname 1

WHEN condition
END-SEARCH.
The SEARCH ALL statement executes a binary search. The search index need not be
initialised by SET statements, because its setting is varied during the search operation so that
its value is at no time less than the value of the first table element, nor ever greater than the
value of the last table element. The index used is always that associated with the first index-
name specified in the OCCURS clause.
The results of a SEARCH ALL operation are predictable only when:
 The data in the table is ordered in ASCENDING/DESCENDING KEY, i.e. in the format:
............. OCCURS integer TIMES

(ASCENDING/DESCENDING) KEY is dataname1
INDEXED BY index name1
index name2
 The contents of the ASCENDING/DESCENDING keys specified in the WHEN clause

provide a unique table reference.
Dataname 1 can be a data item subordinate to a data item that contains an OCCURS clause;
that is, it can be a part of a two to seven-dimensional table. In this case, the data description
entry must specify an INDEXED BY phrase for each dimension of the table. It must refer to all
occurrences within the table element; that is, it must not be subscripted or reference-modified.
Cannot be a floating-point data item. It cannot be a pointer data item. The Data Division
description of dataname 1 must contain an OCCURS clause with the INDEXED BY option.
AT END, the condition that exists when the search operation terminates without satisfying the
condition specified in any of the associated WHEN phrases.
Example.
SEARCH ALL W50-CAR-MAKE-ENTRY

AT END MOVE '?' TO W100-CAR-MAKE-QUALITY
WHEN W50-CAR-MAKE(W50-CAR-MAKE-TABLE-INDEX)
= W70-CAR-MAKE
MOVE W50-CAR-MAKE-QUALITY(W50-CAR-MAKE-TABLE-INDEX)
TO W100-CAR-MAKE-QUALITY
END-SEARCH.
IT TRAINING 90
Example 2.
03 W20-BRANCHES OCCURS 150

ASCENDING KEY IS W20-BRANCH
INDEXED BY X-BRANCH.
05 W20-BRANCH PIC S9(5) PACKED-DECIMAL.
05 W20-BRANCH-TOTAL PIC S9(4) BINARY.
....
SEARCH ALL W20-BRANCHES
AT END GO TO P20-30
WHEN W20-BRANCH (X-BRANCH) = TR-BRANCH
ADD W20-BRANCH-TOTAL (X-BRANCH) TO W20-AMT
END-SEARCH.
NB.
 In the above example the table must be in W20-BRANCH order.
 Condition could be an 88 level name. An 88 level could only have a single value.
 The index does not have to be initialised before the SEARCH ALL statement.
 Only one WHEN is allowed but the conditions can be joined by an AND.
 The index used is always the first named index.
 If the search is unsuccessful the AT END statement, if present is obeyed, otherwise
control passes to the next statement. In this case the final value of the index is
unpredictable.
 If the search is successful the index contains the value that satisfied the WHEN
condition.
 If a relation-condition is specified it must be in the following format:
dataname 1 (EQUAL TO) (dataname2 )

( = ) (literal)
(arithmetic expression)
 dataname1 must be a key field.

 dataname2 must not be a key field or a field indexed by the same index used in
the SEARCH.
 If the key consists of more than one field, all preceding key datanames must be
specified.
IT TRAINING 91
48.5. Comparison Between Subscripting and Indexing.
1. Subscript.
MOVE 1 TO W20-SUB.
PERFORM UNTIL W20-SUB > 10
IF W20-BRANCH (W20-SUB) = TR-BRANCH
MOVE W20-BRANCH-NAME (W20-SUB) TO P-REP1-L7-NAME
END-IF
ADD 1 TO W20-SUB
END-PERFORM.
IF W20-SUB > 10
MOVE 'INVALID BRANCH' TO P-REP1-L7-NAME
END-IF.
2. Indexing.
P20-20.
MOVE SPACES TO P-REP1-L7-NAME.
SET X-BR-IND TO 1.
SEARCH W20-NAMES
WHEN W20-BRANCH (X-BR-IND) = TR-BRANCH
MOVE W20-BRANCH-NAME (X-BR-IND) TO P-REP1-L7-NAME
END-SEARCH.
IF P-REP1-L7-NAME = SPACES
MOVE 'INVALID BRANCH' TO P-REP1-L7-NAME
END-IF.
P20-30.
Or:
SET X-BR-IND TO 1.
SEARCH W20-NAMES
AT END MOVE 'INVALID' TO W30-MESSAGE
WHEN W20-BRANCH (X-BR-IND) = TR-BRANCH
MOVE W20-BRANCH-NAME (X-BR-IND) TO P-REP1-L7-NAME
END-SEARCH.
3 Indexing with an Array Subscript.
01 W-ARRAY-WORKFIELDS.
03 W-ARRAY-SUB PIC 9(3) PACKED-DECIMAL.
03 W-ARRAY OCCURS (0 TO ) 50.
05 W-ARRAY-KEY PIC X(4).
05 W-ARRAY-ITEM PIC X(35).
PXX-00.
MOVE 1 TO W-ARRAY-SUB.
SEARCH W-ARRAY VARYING W-ARRAY-SUB
AT END
MOVE 'NOT THERE' TO P-REP1-DECODE
WHEN W-ARRAY-KEY(W-ARRAY-SUB) = TR-KEY
MOVE W-ARRAY-ITEM(W-ARRAY-SUB) TO P-REP1-DECODE
END-SEARCH.
IT TRAINING 92
4 Indexing varying Array Index.
03 W-ARRAY OCCURS (0 TO) 50
INDEXED BY W-ARRAY-INDEX.
PXX-00.
SET W-ARRAY-INDEX TO 1.
SEARCH W-ARRAY VARYING W-ARRAY-INDEX
AT END
WHEN W-ARRAY-KEY(W-ARRAY-INDEX) = TR-KEY
MOVE W-ARRAY-ITEM(W-ARRAY-INDEX) TO P-REP1-DECODE
END-SEARCH.
5 Indexing varying Array Index.
03 W-ARRAY OCCURS (0 TO) 50
ASCENDING KEY IS W-ARRAY-KEY
INDEXED BY W-ARRAY-INDEX.
PXX-00.
SEARCH ALL W-ARRAY
AT END
WHEN W-ARRAY-KEY(W-ARRAY-INDEX) = TR-KEY
MOVE W-ARRAY-ITEM(W-ARRAY-INDEX) TO P-REP1-DECODE
END-SEARCH.
IT TRAINING 93
1. Searching a two dimensional table:
03 W20-LINE1 OCCURS 10
INDEXED BY X-LINE1.
05 W20-LINE2 PIC S9(4) BINARY
OCCURS 5
INDEXED BY X-LINE2.
....
PERFORM S30-SEARCH
VARYING X-LINE1 FROM 1 BY 1 UNTIL W30-FOUND
OR X-LINE1 > 10.
S30-SEARCH SECTION.
P30-10.
SET X-LINE2 TO 1.
SEARCH W20-LINE2
WHEN W20-LINE2 (X-LINE1 X-LINE2) = 7
MOVE 1 TO W30-FOUND-IND.
P30-EXIT.
EXIT.
2. More than one index and the VARYING option of SEARCH. An OCCURS item can have
more than one index. If the varying option is not used, the first named index is used for the
SEARCH.
Example.

OCCURS 10
INDEXED BY X-1-TOTAL
X-2-TOTAL
X-3-TOTAL.
IT TRAINING 94
49. INDEX
DISPLAY · 15
+ DIVIDE · 56
divisions · 7
+ and - Floating (Replacement) · 46
+ or - Fixed (Insertion) · 45
E
£ Editing fields · 43
elementary fields · 17
£ Floating (Replacement) · 45 END-IF · 32
£ Fixed (Insertion) · 44 END-PERFORM · 37
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION · 1, 7, 9
EVALUATE · 61
8 EXIT · 23
Explicit Scope Terminators · 32
88 LEVEL · 34
F
A
FD · 16
ACCEPT · 13 Figurative Constants · 38
ACCEPT.... FROM.... · 14 Figurative Constants 2 · 49
ADD · 51 file definition · 16
ALL · 49 File Handling · 66
ALPHABETIC · 59 FILLER · 12
APPLY WRITE ONLY · 77 Full Stop or Decimal Point (Insertion) · 48
Arithmetic Verbs · 51
G
B
GIVING · 51
BINARY · 64 GO TO · 30
Binary Search · 90 GO TO....DEPENDING · 82
Blank Spaces (Insertion) · 46 GOBACK · 15
BLANK WHEN ZERO · 48 Group fields · 17
C H
Cheque Protect (Replacement) · 44 HIGH-VALUES · 49
Choice of numeric fields · 65
CLOSE · 20
column 8 · 18 I
COLUMN POSITIONS · 11
Columns · 6 IDENTIFICATION DIVISION · 1, 7, 8
Commas (Insertion) · 47 identifier · 6
COMPUTE · 60 IF · 29
CONDITION-NAMES (88 LEVEL). · 34 IF - Testing Field Contents · 59
CONTROL SECTION · 26 IF ... AND · 57
COPY · 50 IF ... ELSE · 57
Credit or Debit Indicators (Insertion) · 46 IF ... OR · 58
IF and Arithmetic Expressions · 60
IF....NOT · 58
D Implicit Redefinition · 66
INDEXED · 86
DATA DIVISION · 1, 7, 10, 16, 21, 68, 83, 86 INITIALIZE · 33
dataname · 6 In-Line PERFORM · 37
Dates · 81 INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION · 9
DDnames · 9 INSPECT · 85
Decimal Point · 27
IT TRAINING 95
L S
level numbers · 17 S.CENT · 81
Level numbers · 10, 18 SEARCH · 88
Link Editing · 84 SELECT .. ASSIGN · 9
LOW-VALUES · 49 sentence · 6
SET · 87
SET TO TRUE · 35
M Signed Fields · 28
Slash (Insertion) · 47
SNUF’ dates · 81
Modifying Indexes · 87
SPACE or SPACES · 38
MOVE · 21
Spacing · 12
MOVE - Other Considerations · 22
STRING · 79
MOVE and Decimal Points · 27
string overflow · 80
MULTIPLY · 55
Subroutines · 83
Subscripting and Indexing · 92
SUBSCRIPTS · 71
N SUBTRACT · 54
Naming Standards for Print Fields · 43

NEGATIVE · 59 U
NORWICH UNION DATES · 81
Numeric fields · 63
UNSTRING · 80
numeric literal · 6
O V
VALUE · 12, 39
OCCURS · 71
Variable Length Records · 68
OCCURS and REDEFINES · 72
OCCURS DEPENDING ON · 74
OCCURS, SUBSCRIPTS and TABLES · 71
ON SIZE ERROR · 53 W
OPEN · 19
Working-Storage · 11
WRITE · 20
P WRITE ... FROM · 40
PACKED-DECIMAL · 63
PARM · 31 Z
PERFORM · 23
PERFORM VARYING · 78 Z (Suppression) · 44
PERFORM with TIMES phrase · 26 ZERO · 38
PERFORM with UNTIL phrase · 25
Picture (PIC) ·
Plus and Minus Signs (Insertion) · 45
POSITIVE · 59
print lines · 41
PRINTING · 41
PROCEDURE DIVISION · 1, 7, 13, 19, 23, 31,
35, 36, 61, 77, 79, 83, 84
PROGRAM-ID · 8
R
READ · 19
READ ... INTO · 40
RECORD DESCRIPTION · 17
REDEFINES · 69
REFERENCE MODIFICATION · 85
ROUNDED · 52
IT TRAINING 96
IT TRAINING 97

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COBOL Programming Last Printed: 08/12/21

25.2. * Cheque Protect (Replacement).........................................................................44

42. NORWICH UNION DATES.......................................................................................... 81

1.1. What is COBOL?

The benefits of this common language would be:

1. It would be machine independent and thus transfer of programs between

From the above aims COBOL was designed.

Today COBOL is available on a large range of machines. It is produced to American National

1.2. Course Conventions.

Actual COBOL code examples are in Courier Font.

Words in brackets within a code example or format are optional.

Integer means a whole number with no sign or decimal point.

A dataname is a programmer-defined word that names a data item:

1.4. General rules for columns.

2. Overview of a COBOL Program.

A COBOL program is divided into 4 divisions:

P indicates that this is a program name.

xxxx alphanumeric identifier to give uniqueness within suite.

where PP is Project code.

DDnames will be in the form:

AA is LP for print files

e.g. UT11, DA21, LP11

5.1. Level Number

The format of this section is as follows:

This is followed by descriptions of the Working-Storage fields.

FIELD NAME FIELD TYPE LENGTH Possible dataname PICTURE

Name Alphanumeric 32 bytes W30-NAME PIC X(32)

NB. Each line is terminated by a full stop.

01 FILLER PIC X(25) VALUE

 It may not be referenced by a COBOL verb.

5 blank lines between DIVISIONS

The last line ('EXIT') beginning in column 12.

7.2. ACCEPT.... FROM....

ACCEPT dataname FROM DATE.

Dataname should be 6 byte numeric field. DATE is in the form YYMMDD.

ACCEPT W10-DATE FROM DATE.

Where W10-DATE is defined in Working Storage as:

03 W10-DATE PIC 9(6).

ACCEPT dataname FROM DAY.

ACCEPT dataname FROM TIME.

DISPLAY 'DATE ASSUMED' W20-DATE.

The GOBACK is always located at the of the S00-CONTROL-SECTION (NU Standard):

8. FURTHER DATA DIVISION.

FILE SECTION starting in column 8

8.1. FILE DEFINITION.

Filename must tie back to a SELECT....ASSIGN statement.

Example File Definition.

8.2. RECORD DESCRIPTION.

 Name, consisting of first name, second name and surname.

This could be written as in FIGURE 1. The indentation follows the NU Programming

9. FURTHER PROCEDURE DIVISION.

9.1. File Handling Verbs - OPEN.

OPEN INPUT filename 1.

OPEN OUTPUT filename 2.

Filename is that in the FD statement.

OPEN INPUT TR-ACCOUNT-FILE.

OPEN OUTPUT TR-PRINT-FILE.

READ filename AT END

Filename is that named in the FD statement for this file.

READ TR-ACCOUNT-FILE AT END

(MOVE will be explained later).

 The record area associated with the file-name is no longer available.

Unsuccessful execution of a CLOSE statement leaves availability of the record data