Gnu COBOL 2.2 Manual

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GnuCOBOL Manual
for GnuCOBOL 2.2-rc

Keisuke Nishida, Roger While, Brian Tiffin, Simon Sobisch
Edition 2.2-rc
Updated for GnuCOBOL 2.2-rc
18 July 2017
GnuCOBOL is a free and open-source COBOL compiler, which translates COBOL programs to
C code and compiles it using GCC or other native operating system C compiler.

This manual corresponds to GnuCOBOL 2.2-rc.

Copyright c 2002-2012, 2014-2017 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
Written by Keisuke Nishida, Roger While, Brian Tiffin, Simon Sobisch.
Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of this manual provided the copyright notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this manual under the conditions for verbatim copying, provided that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under
the terms of a permission notice identical to this one.
Permission is granted to copy and distribute translations of this manual into another language,
under the above conditions for modified versions, except that this permission notice may be
stated in a translation approved by the Free Software Foundation.

i

Table of Contents
1

Getting started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1.1

2

Hello, world! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

Compile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.1

Compiler options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.1.1 Help options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.1.2 Build target. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.1.3 Source format . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.1.4 Warning options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.1.5 Configuration options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.1.6 Listing options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.1.7 Debug switches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.1.8 Miscellaneous . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2 Multiple sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2.1 Static linking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.2.2 Dynamic linking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2.2.1 Driver program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2.2.2 Compiling programs separately . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.2.3 Building library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.2.4 Using library. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.3 C interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.3.1 Writing Main Program in C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.3.2 Static linking with COBOL programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.3.3 Dynamic linking with COBOL programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.3.4 Static linking with C programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.3.5 Dynamic linking with C programs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13

3

Customize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.1
3.2

4

Optimize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4.1
4.2
4.3

5

Optimize options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Optimize call . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Optimize binary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Debug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
5.1

6

Customizing compiler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Customizing library . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

Debug options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

Non-standard extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
6.1
6.2
6.3

SELECT ASSIGN TO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Indexed file packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Extended ACCEPT statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
6.3.1 AUTO-SKIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
6.3.2 PROTECTED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
6.3.3 SIZE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

ii
6.4

ACCEPT special keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
6.4.1 Arrow keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
6.4.2 Backspace key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
6.4.3 Delete keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
6.4.4 End keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
6.4.5 Home keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
6.4.6 Insert key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
6.4.7 Tab keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
6.5 Extended DISPLAY statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
6.5.1 BELL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
6.5.2 BLANK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
6.5.3 ERASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
6.5.4 SIZE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

7

System routines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
7.1
7.2
7.3
7.4
7.5

CBL
CBL
CBL
CBL
CBL

GC
GC
GC
GC
GC

GETOPT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
HOSTED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
NANOSLEEP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
FORK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
WAITPID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Appendix A

cobc --help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

Appendix B

cobc --list-reserved . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32

Appendix C

cobc --list-intrinsics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45

Appendix D cobc --list-system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Appendix E

cobc --list-mnemonics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

Appendix F

Compiler Configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Appendix G cobcrun --help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Appendix H Runtime configuration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
H.1
H.2
H.3
H.4
H.5

General instructions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
General environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Call environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
File I/O. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Screen I/O . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

Appendix I

GNU Free Documentation License . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

1

1 Getting started
1.1 Hello, world!
This is a sample program that displays “Hello, world!”:
---- hello.cob ------------------------* Sample COBOL program
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. hello.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
DISPLAY "Hello, world!".
STOP RUN.
---------------------------------------The compiler, cobc, is executed as follows:
$ cobc -x hello.cob
$ ./hello
Hello, world!
The executable file name (hello in this case) is determined by removing the extension from the
source file name.
You can specify the executable file name by specifying the compiler option -o as follows:
$ cobc -x -o hello-world hello.cob
$ ./hello-world
Hello, world!
The program can be written in a more modern style, with free format code, inline comments,
the GOBACK verb and an optional END-DISPLAY terminator:
---- hellonew.cob ---------------*> Sample GnuCOBOL program
identification division.
program-id. hellonew.
procedure division.
display
"Hello, new world!"
end-display
goback.
---------------------------------To compile free-format code, you must use the -free compiler option.
$ cobc -x -free hellonew.cob
$ ./hellonew
Hello, new world!

2

2 Compile
This chapter describes how to compile COBOL programs using GnuCOBOL.

2.1 Compiler options
The compiler cobc accepts the options described in this section. The compiler arguments follow
the general syntax cobc [options] file [file . . . ]. A complete list of options can be displayed by
using the help option.

2.1.1 Help options
The following switches display information about the compiler:
--help, -h
Display help screen (see Appendix A [cobc –help], page 27). No further actions will
be taken.
--version
Display compiler version, author package date and executable build date. -V will
also display version. No further actions will be taken.
--info

Display build information along with the default and current compiler configurations. No further actions will be taken except for further display options.

-v

Verbosely display the programs invoked during compilation.

--list-reserved
Display reserved words (see Appendix B [cobc –list-reserved], page 32). A Y/N field
shows if the word is supported.1 The given options for reserved words specified for
example by -std will be taken into account. No further actions will be taken except
for further display options.
--list-intrinsics
Display intrinsic functions (see Appendix C [cobc –list-intrinsics], page 45). A Y/N
field shows if the function is implemented. No further actions will be taken except
for further display options.
--list-system
Display system routines (see Appendix D [cobc –list-system], page 48). No further
actions will be taken except for further display options.
--list-mnemonics
Display mnemonic names (see Appendix E [cobc –list-mnemonics], page 50). No
further actions will be taken except for further display options.

2.1.2 Build target
The cobc compiler treats files like *.cob, *.cbl as COBOL source code, *.c as C source code,
*.o as object code, *.i as preprocessed code and *.so as dynamic modules and knows how to
handle such files in the generation, compilation, and linking steps.
The special input name - takes input from stdin which is assumed to be COBOL source,
and uses a default output name of a.out (or a.so/c/o/i, selected as appropriate) for the build
type.
By default, the compiler builds a dynamically loadable module.
1

Support may be partial or complete.

Chapter 2: Compile

3

The following options specify the target type produced by the compiler:
-E

Preprocess only: compiler directives are executed, comment lines are removed and
COPY statements are expanded. The output is saved in file *.i.

-C

Translation only. COBOL source files are translated into C files. The output is
saved in file *.c.

-S

Compile only. Translated C files are compiled by the C compiler to assembler code.
The output is saved in file *.s.

-c

Compile and assemble. This is equivalent to cc -c. The output is saved in file *.o.

-m

Compile, assemble, and build a dynamically loadable module (i.e., a shared library).
The output is saved in file *.so.2 This is the default behaviour.

-b

Compile, assemble, and combine all input files into a single dynamically loadable
module. Unless -o is also used, the output is saved using the first filename as *.so.

-x

Include the main function in the output, creating an executable image. The main
entry point being the first program in the file.
This option takes effect at the translation stage. If you give this option with -C,
you will see the main function at the end of the generated C file.

-j(=), -job(=)
Run job after compilation. Either from executable with -x, or with cobcrun when
compiling a module. Optional arguments, if given, are passed to the program or
module command line.
-I 
Add  to copy/include search path.
-L 
Add  to library search path.
-l 

Link the library .

-D 
Pass  to the COBOL compiler.
-o  Place the output into .

2.1.3 Source format
GnuCOBOL supports both fixed and free source format. The default format is the fixed format.
This can be overriden either by the >>SOURCE [FORMAT] [IS] {FIXED|FREE} directive, or by
one of the following options:
-free, -F Free format. The program-text area starts in column 1 and continues till the end
of line (effectively 255 characters in GnuCOBOL).
-fixed

2
3

Fixed format. Source code is divided into: columns 1-6, the sequence number area;
column 7, the indicator area; columns 8-72, the program-text area; and columns
72-80 as the reference area.3

The extension varies depending on your host.
Historically, fixed format was based on 80-character punch cards.

Chapter 2: Compile

4

2.1.4 Warning options
-W

Enable every possible warning. This includes more information than -Wall would
normally provide.

-Wall

Enable all common warnings.

-Warchaic
Warn if archaic features are used, such as continuation lines or the NEXT SENTENCE
statement.
-Wcall-params
Warn if non-01/77-level items are used as arguments in a CALL statement. This is
not set with -Wall.
-Wcolumn-overflow
Warn if text after column 72 in FIXED format. This is not set with -Wall.
-Wconstant
Warn inconsistent constant
-Wimplicit-define
Warn if implicitly defined data items are used.
-Wlinkage
Warn dangling LINKAGE items. This is not set with -Wall.
-Wobsolete
Warn if obsolete features are used.
-Wparentheses
Warn about any lack of parentheses around AND within OR.
-Wredefinition
Warn about incompatible redefinitions of data items.
-Wstrict-typing
Warn about type mismatch strictly.
-Wterminator
Warn about the lack of scope terminator END-XXX. This is not set with -Wall.
-Wtruncate
Warn on possible field truncation. This is not set with -Wall.
-Wunreachable
Warn if statements are unreachable. This is not set with -Wall.

2.1.5 Configuration options
-std=
Compiler uses the given dialect to determine certain compiler features and warnings.
See Appendix F [Appendix F], page 52, and config/*.conf.
Note: The GnuCOBOL compiler tries to limit both the feature-set and reserved
words to the specified compiler when the "strict" dialects are used. COBOL sources
compiled with these dialects are therefore likely to compile with the specified compiler and vice versa: sources that were compiled on the specified compiler should
compile without any issues with GnuCOBOL.
With the "non-strict" dialects GnuCOBOL will activate the complete feature-set
where it doesn’t directly conflict with the specified dialect, including reserved words.

Chapter 2: Compile

5

COBOL sources compiled with these dialects therefore may work only with GnuCOBOL. COBOL sources may need a change because of reserved words in GnuCOBOL, otherwise offending words may be removed by -fno-reserved=word.
COBOL-85, COBOL 2002 and COBOL 2014 are always "strict".
-std=default
GnuCOBOL dialect, supporting many of the COBOL 2002 and COBOL 2014 features, many extensions found in other dialects and its own feature-set
-std=cobol85
COBOL-85 without any extensions other than the amendment Intrinsic Function
Module (1989), source compiled with this dialect is likely to compile with most
COBOL compilers
-std=xopen
X/Open COBOL (based on COBOL-85) without any vendor extensions, source
compiled with this dialect is likely to compile with most COBOL compilers, will warn
items that "should not be used in a conforming X/Open COBOL source program"
-std=cobol2002, -std=cobol2014
COBOL 2002 / COBOL 2014 without any vendor extensions, use -Warchaic and
-Wobsolete if archaic/obsolete features should be flagged
-std=ibm-strict, -std=ibm
IBM compatible
-std=mvs-strict, -std=mvs
MVS compatible
-std=mf-strict, -std=mf
Micro Focus compatible
-std=bs2000-strict, -std=bs2000
BS2000 compatible
-std=acu-strict, -std=acu
ACUCOBOL-GT compatible
-std=rm-strict, -std=rm
RM/COBOL compatible
-conf=
User-defined dialect configuration. See -std= above.
See Appendix F [Appendix F], page 52, and config/*.conf.
You can override each single configuration entry by using compiler configuration options on
the command line.
Examples:
-frelax-syntax-checks
-frenames-uncommon-levels=warning
-fnot-reserved=CHAIN,SCREEN
-ftab-width=4
See Appendix A [Appendix A], page 27.

2.1.6 Listing options
-t=
Generate and place the standard print listing into *.lst.

Chapter 2: Compile

6

-T=
Generate and place a wide print listing into *.lst.
--tlines=
Specify lines per page in print listing, default = 55. Set to zero for no aditional page
breaks.
--tsymbols
Generate symbol table in listing.
-P(=)
Generate and place a preprocessed listing (old format) into *.lst.
-Xref
Generate cross reference in the listing.

-X

Here is an example program listing with the -t -tsymbols option:
GnuCOBOL 2.0.0
test.cbl
Mon Oct 17 10:23:45 2016
LINE

PG/LN

Page 0001

A...B............................................................

000001
IDENTIFICATION
DIVISION.
000002
PROGRAM-ID.
prog.
000003
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
000004
CONFIGURATION SECTION.
000005
DATA
DIVISION.
000006
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
000007
COPY ’values.cpy’.
000001C
78 I
VALUE 20.
000002C
78 J
VALUE 5000.
000003C
78 M
VALUE 5.
000008
01 SETUP-REC.
000009
05 FL1
PIC X(04).
000010
05 FL2
PIC ZZZZZ.
000011
05 FL3
PIC 9(04).
000012
05 FL4
PIC 9(08) COMP.
000013
05 FL5
PIC 9(04) COMP-4.
000014
05 FL6
PIC Z,ZZZ.99.
000015
05 FL7
PIC S9(05) SIGN LEADING SEPARATE.
000016
05 FL8
PIC X(04).
000017
05 FL9 REDEFINES FL8 PIC 9(04).
000018
05 FLA.
000019
10 FLB OCCURS I TIMES.
000020
15 FLC PIC X(02).
000021
10 FLD
PIC X(20).
000022
05 FLD1
PIC X(100).
000023
05 FLD2 OCCURS M TO J TIMES DEPENDING ON FL5.
000024
10 FILLER PIC X(01).
000025
05 FLD3
PIC X(3).
000026
05 FLD4
PIC X(4).
000027
PROCEDURE
DIVISION.
000028
STOP RUN.
The first part of the listing lists the program text. If the program text is a COPY the line
number reflects the COPY line number and is appended with a ’C’.

Chapter 2: Compile

7

When the wide list option is specified (-T), the SEQUENCE columns are included in the
listing.
The second part of the listing file is the listing of the Symbol Table:
GnuCOBOL 2.0.0

test.cbl

SIZE TYPE

LVL

NAME

5204
0004
0005
0004
0004
0002
0008
0006
0004
0004
0060
0040
0002
0020
0100
5000
0001
0003
0004

01
05
05
05
05
05
05
05
05
05
05
10
15
10
05
05
10
05
05

SETUP-REC
FL1
FL2
FL3
FL4
FL5
FL6
FL7
FL8
FL9
FLA
FLB
FLC
FLD
FLD1
FLD2
FILLER
FLD3
FLD4

GROUP
ALPHANUMERIC
ALPHANUMERIC
ALPHANUMERIC
NUMERIC
NUMERIC
ALPHANUMERIC
ALPHANUMERIC
ALPHANUMERIC
ALPHANUMERIC-R
ALPHANUMERIC
ALPHANUMERIC
ALPHANUMERIC
ALPHANUMERIC
ALPHANUMERIC
ALPHANUMERIC
ALPHANUMERIC
ALPHANUMERIC
ALPHANUMERIC

Mon Oct 17 10:23:45 2016

Page 0002

PICTURE

X(04)
ZZZZZ
9(04)
9(08) COMP
9(04) COMP
Z,ZZZ.99
S9(05)
X(04)
9(04)
OCCURS 20
X(02)
X(20)
X(100)
OCCURS 5 TO 5000
X(01)
X(3)
X(4)

If the symbol redefines another variable the TYPE is marked with ’R’. If the symbol is an
array the OCCURS phrase is in the PICTURE field.
The last part of the listing file is the summary of warnings an error in the compilation group:
0 warnings in compilation group
2 errors in compilation group

2.1.7 Debug switches
-debug, -d
Enable all run-time error checks.
-g

Produce debugging information in the output.

-O

Enable optimization of code size and execution speed. See man gcc for details.

-O2

Optimize even more.

-Os

Optimize for size. Optimizer will favour code size over execution speed.

-ftrace

Generate trace code (log executed procedures).

-ftraceall
Generate trace code (log executed procedures and statements).
-fsyntax-only
Check syntax only; don’t emit any output.
-fdebugging-line
Enable debugging lines (D in indicator column).

Chapter 2: Compile

8

-fsource-location
Generate source location code (implied by -debug or -g).
-fimplicit-init
Do automatic initialization of the COBOL runtime system.
-fstack-check
Enable PERFORM stack checking (implied by -debug or -g).
-fnotrunc
Do not truncate binary fields according to PICTURE.

2.1.8 Miscellaneous
-ext 
Add default file extension.
-fmfcomment
Treat lines with * or / in column 1 as comment (fixed-format only).
-acucomment
Treat | as an inline comment marker.
-fsign=ASCII
Numeric display sign ASCII (default on ASCII machines).
-fsign=EBCDIC
Numeric display sign EBCDIC (default on EBCDIC machines).
-ffunctions-all
Allow use of intrinsic functions without FUNCTION keyword.
-ffold-copy=LOWER
Fold COPY subject to lower case (default no transformation).
-ffold-copy=UPPER
Fold COPY subject to upper case (default no transformation).
-save-temps(=)
Save intermediate files (by default, in current directory).

2.2 Multiple sources
This section describes how to compile a program from multiple source files.
This section also describes how to build a shared library that can be used by any COBOL
program and how to use external libraries in COBOL programs.

2.2.1 Static linking
The easiest way of combining multiple files is to compile them into a single executable.
One way is to compile all the files in one command:
$ cobc -x -o prog main.cob subr1.cob subr2.cob
Another way is to compile each file with the option -c, and link them at the end. The
top-level program must be compiled with the option -x.
$
$
$
$

cobc
cobc
cobc
cobc

-c
-c
-c
-x

subr1.cob
subr2.cob
-x main.cob
-o prog main.o subr1.o subr2.o

Chapter 2: Compile

9

You can link C routines as well using either method:
$ cobc -o prog main.cob subrs.c
or
$ cobc -c subrs.c
$ cobc -c -x main.cob
$ cobc -x -o prog main.o subrs.o
Any number of functions can be contained in a single C file.
The linked programs will be called dynamically; that is, the symbol will be resolved at run
time. For example, the following COBOL statement
CALL "subr" USING X.
will be converted into equivalent C code like this:
int (*func)() = cob_resolve("subr");
if (func != NULL)
func (X);
With the compiler option -fstatic-call, more efficient code will be generated:
subr(X);
Note that this option only takes effect when the called program name is in a literal (like CALL
"subr"). With a data name (like CALL SUBR), the program is still called dynamically.

2.2.2 Dynamic linking
There are two methods to achieve this: a driver program, or compiling the main program and
subprograms separately.

2.2.2.1 Driver program
Compile all programs with the option -m:
$ cobc -m main.cob subr.cob
This creates the shared object files main.so subr.so.4
Before running the main program, install the module files in your library directory:
$ cp subr.so /your/cobol/lib
Set the runtime variable COB_LIBRARY_PATH to your library directory, and run the main
program:
$ export COB_LIBRARY_PATH=/your/cobol/lib
(Note: You may set the variable via a runtime configuration file, see Appendix H [Appendix
H], page 58. You may also set the variable to directly point to the directory where you compiled
the sources.)
Now execute your program:
$ cobcrun main

2.2.2.2 Compiling programs separately
The main program is compiled as usual:
$ cobc -x -o main main.cob
Subprograms are compiled with the option -m:
$ cobc -m subr.cob
This creates a module file subr.so5 .
4
5

The extension used depends on your operating system.
The extension used depends on your operating system.

Chapter 2: Compile

10

Before running the main program, install the module files in your library directory:
$ cp subr.so /your/cobol/lib
Now, set the environment variable COB_LIBRARY_PATH to your library directory, and run the
main program:
$ export COB_LIBRARY_PATH=/your/cobol/lib
$ ./main

2.2.3 Building library
You can build a shared library by combining multiple COBOL programs and even C routines:
$ cobc -c subr1.cob
$ cobc -c subr2.cob
$ cc -c subr3.c
$ cc -shared -o libsubrs.so subr1.o subr2.o subr3.o

2.2.4 Using library
You can use a shared library by linking it with your main program.
Before linking the library, install it in your system library directory:
$ cp libsubrs.so /usr/lib
or install it somewhere else and set LD_LIBRARY_PATH:
$ cp libsubrs.so /your/cobol/lib
$ export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=/your/cobol/lib
Then, compile the main program, linking the library as follows:
$ cobc -x main.cob -L/your/cobol/lib -lsubrs

2.3 C interface
This chapter describes how to combine C programs with COBOL programs.

2.3.1 Writing Main Program in C
Include libcob.h in your C program and call cob_init before using any COBOL module:
#include 
int
main (int argc, char **argv)
{
/* initialize your program */
...
/* initialize the COBOL run-time library */
cob_init (argc, argv);
/* rest of your program */
...
/* Clean up and terminate - This does not return */
cob_stop_run (return_status);
}
You can write cobc_init(0, NULL); if you do not want to pass command line arguments to
COBOL.

Chapter 2: Compile

You can compile your C program as follows:
cc -c `cob-config --cflags` main.c
The compiled object must be linked with libcob as follows:
cc -o main main.o `cob-config --libs`

2.3.2 Static linking with COBOL programs
Let’s call the following COBOL module from a C program:
---- say.cob --------------------------IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. say.
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
DATA DIVISION.
LINKAGE SECTION.
01 hello PIC X(7).
01 world PIC X(6).
PROCEDURE DIVISION USING hello world.
DISPLAY hello world.
EXIT PROGRAM.
---------------------------------------This program accepts two arguments, displays them, and exits.
From the viewpoint of C, this is equivalent to a function having the following prototype:
extern int say(char *hello, char *world);
So, your main program will look like as follows:
---- hello.c --------------------------#include 
extern int say(char *hello, char *world);
int
main()
{
int ret;
char hello[8] = "Hello, ";
char world[7] = "world!";
cob_init(0, NULL);
ret = say(hello, world);
return ret;
}
---------------------------------------Compile these programs as follows:
$ cc -c ‘cob-config --cflags‘ hello.c
$ cobc -c -static say.cob
$ cobc -x -o hello hello.o say.o
$ ./hello
Hello, world!

11

Chapter 2: Compile

12

2.3.3 Dynamic linking with COBOL programs
You can find a COBOL module having a specific name by using the C function cob_resolve,
which takes the module name as a string and returns a pointer to the module function.
cob_resolve returns NULL if there is no module. In this case, the function cob_resolve_
error returns the error message.
Let’s see an example:
---- hello-dynamic.c ------------------#include 
static int (*say)(char *hello, char *world);
int main()
{
int ret;
char hello[8] = "Hello, ";
char world[7] = "world!";
cob_init(0, NULL);
/* Find the module with PROGRAM-ID "say". */
say = cob_resolve("say");
/* If there is no such module, show error and exit. */
if(say == NULL) {
fprintf(stderr, "%s\n", cob_resolve_error());
exit(1);
}
/* Call the module found and exit with the return code. */
ret = say(hello, world);
return ret;
}
---------------------------------------Compile these programs as follows:
$ cc -c ‘cob-config --cflags‘ hello-dynamic.c
$ cobc -x -o hello hello-dynamic.o
$ cobc -m say.cob
$ export COB_LIBRARY_PATH=.
$ ./hello
Hello, world!

2.3.4 Static linking with C programs
Let’s call the following C function from COBOL:
---- say.c ----------------------------int say(char *hello, char *world)
{
int i;
for(i = 0; i < 7; i++)
putchar(hello[i]);

Chapter 2: Compile

13

for(i = 0; i < 6; i++)
putchar(world[i]);
putchar(’\n’);
return 0;
}
---------------------------------------This program is equivalent to the program in say.cob above.
Note that, unlike C, the arguments passed from COBOL programs are not terminated by
the null character (i.e., ’\0’).
You can call this function in the same way you call COBOL programs:
---- hello.cob ------------------------IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. hello.
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 hello PIC X(7) VALUE "Hello, ".
01 world PIC X(6) VALUE "world!".
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
CALL "say" USING hello world.
STOP RUN.
---------------------------------------Compile these programs as follows:
$ cc -c say.c
$ cobc -c -static -x hello.cob
$ cobc -x -o hello hello.o say.o
$ ./hello
Hello, world!

2.3.5 Dynamic linking with C programs
You can create a dynamically-linked module from a C program by passing an option -shared
to the C compiler:
$ cc -shared -o say.so say.c
$ cobc -x hello.cob
$ export COB_LIBRARY_PATH=.
$ ./hello
Hello, world!

14

3 Customize
3.1 Customizing compiler
These settings are effective at compile-time.
Environment variables (default value in brackets):
COB_CC

C compiler ("gcc")

COB_CFLAGS
Flags passed to the C compiler ("-I$(PREFIX)/include")
COB_LDFLAGS
Flags passed to the C compiler ("")
COB_LIBS

Standard libraries linked with the program ("-L$(PREFIX)/lib -lcob")

COB_LDADD
Additional libraries linked with the program ("")

3.2 Customizing library
These settings are effective at run-time. You can set them either via the environment or by a
runtime configuration file.
To set the global runtime configuration file export COB_RUNTIME_CONFIG to point to your
configuration file. To set an explicit runtime configuration file for a single run via cobcrun you
can use its option -c , -config=.
For displaying the current runtime settings you can use the option -r, -runtime-env of
cobcrun.
For a complete list of runtime variables, aliases, their default values and options to set them
see Appendix H [Appendix H], page 58.

15

4 Optimize
4.1 Optimize options
There are three compiler options for optimization: -O, -Os and -O2. These options enable
optimization at both translation (from COBOL to C) and compilation (C to assembly) levels.
Currently, there is no difference between these optimization options at the translation level.
The option -O, -Os or -O2 is passed to the C compiler as is and used for C level optimization.

4.2 Optimize call
When a CALL statement is executed, the called program is linked at run time. By specifying the
compiler option -fstatic-call, you can statically link the program at compile time and call it
efficiently. (see Section 2.2.1 [Static linking], page 8)

4.3 Optimize binary
By default, data items of usage binary or comp are stored in big-endian form. On those machines
whose native byte order is little-endian, this is not quite efficient.
If you prefer, you can store binary items in the native form of your machine. Set the config
option binary-byteorder to native in your config file (see Chapter 3 [Customize], page 14).
In addition, setting the option binary-size to 2-4-8 or 1-2-4-8 is more efficient than
others.

16

5 Debug
5.1 Debug options
The compiler option -debug can be used during the development of your programs. It enables
all run-time error checking, such as subscript boundary checks and numeric data checks, and
displays run-time errors with source locations.

17

6 Non-standard extensions
6.1 SELECT ASSIGN TO


6.2 Indexed file packages


6.3 Extended ACCEPT statement
Extended ACCEPT statements allow for full control of items accepted from the screen. Items
accept by line and column positioning.
ACCEPT variable-1
LINE  COLUMN 
WITH
AUTO-SKIP | AUTO
[PROTECTED] SIZE [IS] variable-2 | literal-2
END-ACCEPT.

6.3.1 AUTO-SKIP
With this option the ACCEPT statement returns after the last character is typed at the end of
the field. This is the same as if the Enter key were pressed.
Without this option the cursor remains at the end of the field and waits for the user to press
Enter.
The word AUTO may be used for AUTO-SKIP.
The Right-Arrow key returns from the end of the field. The Left-Arrow key returns from the
beginning. See Section 6.4 [ACCEPT special], page 18.
The Alt-Right-Arrow and Alt-Left-Arrow keys never AUTO-SKIP.

6.3.2 PROTECTED
PROTECTED is ignored. It is optional.

6.3.3 SIZE
The size of variable-1 to accept from the screen. It is optional.
SIZE 
If SIZE is less than the length of variable-1 then only the SIZE number of characters
accept into the field. Variable-1 pads with spaces after SIZE to the end of the field.
If SIZE is greater than variable-1, then the screen pads with spaces after variable-1
to the SIZE length.
SIZE ZERO

The variable-1 field accepts with its length.

Chapter 6: Non-standard extensions

18

6.4 ACCEPT special keys
Special keys are available for extended ACCEPT statements.
The COB-CRT-STATUS values are in the screenio.cpy copy file.

6.4.1 Arrow keys
The Left-Arrow key moves the cursor to the left. Without AUTO-SKIP the cursor stops at the
beginning of the field. With AUTO-SKIP it returns with the COB-SCR-KEY-LEFT value of 2009.
See Section 6.3 [Extended ACCEPT], page 17.
The Alt-Left-Arrow key is the same as Left-Arrow except that it never returns, even for
AUTO-SKIP.
The Right-Arrow key moves the cursor to the right. Without AUTO-SKIP the cursor stops
at the end of the field. With AUTO-SKIP it returns with the COB-SCR-KEY-RIGHT value of 2010.
See Section 6.3 [Extended ACCEPT], page 17.
The Alt-Right-Arrow key is the same as Right-Arrow except that it never returns, even for
AUTO-SKIP.

6.4.2 Backspace key
The Backspace key moves the cursor, and the remainder of the text, to the left.

6.4.3 Delete keys
The Delete key deletes the cursor’s character and moves the remainder of the text to the left.
The cursor does not move.
The Alt-Delete key deletes all text from the cursor to the end of the field.

6.4.4 End keys
The End key moves the cursor after the last non-space character.
The Alt-End key moves the cursor to the end of the field.

6.4.5 Home keys
The Home key moves the cursor to the first non-space character.
The Alt-Home key moves the cursor to the beginning of the field.

6.4.6 Insert key
The Insert key changes the insert mode.
When the insert mode is on, typed characters move the existing characters to the right.
When it is off, typed characters type over existing characters.
The default insert mode is set by the COB_INSERT_MODE variable, See Appendix H [Appendix
H], page 58. This must be set before the first extended ACCEPT, DISPLAY, or any routine that
gets information from the screen.
The last press of the Insert key is used in all following ACCEPT statements while the program
is running.

6.4.7 Tab keys
The Tab key returns from the ACCEPT with the COB-SCR-TAB value of 2007.
The Shift-Tab key returns with the COB-SCR-BACK-TAB value of 2008.

Chapter 6: Non-standard extensions

19

6.5 Extended DISPLAY statement
Extended DISPLAY statements allow for full control of items that display on the screen. Items
display by line and column positioning.
DISPLAY variable-1 | literal-1 | figurative constant
LINE  COLUMN 
WITH BELL
BLANK LINE | SCREEN
ERASE EOL | EOS
SIZE [IS] variable-2 | literal-2
END-DISPLAY.

6.5.1 BELL
Ring the bell. It is optional.

6.5.2 BLANK
Clear the whole line or screen. It is optional.
BLANK LINE
Clear the line from the beginning of the line to the end of the line.
BLANK SCREEN
Clear the whole screen.

6.5.3 ERASE
Clear the line or screen from LINE and COLUMN. It is optional.
ERASE EOL
Clear the line from LINE and COLUMN to the end of the line.
ERASE EOS
Clear the screen from LINE and COLUMN to the end of the screen.

6.5.4 SIZE
The size of variable-1, literal-1, or figurative constant to display onto the screen. It is optional.
SIZE 
If SIZE is less than the length of variable-1 or literal-1 then only the SIZE number
of characters display.
If SIZE is greater than the length of variable-1 or literal-1, then the screen pads with
spaces after the field to the SIZE length.
Figurative constants display repeatedly the number of times in SIZE. Except that
LOW-VALUES always positions the cursor (see SIZE ZERO below).
SIZE ZERO

Variable-1 or literal-1 displays with the field length.
Certain figurative constants have special functions.
SPACE: Display spaces from LINE and COLUMN to the end of the screen. This is
the same as WITH ERASE EOS.
LOW-VALUE: Position the cursor to LINE and COLUMN. The next DISPLAY statement does not need a LINE or COLUMN to display at that position.

20

ALL "1" Display spaces from LINE and COLUMN to the end of the line. This is
the same as WITH ERASE EOL.
ALL "2" Clear the whole screen. This is the same as WITH BLANK SCREEN.
ALL "7" Ring the bell. This is the same as WITH BELL.
All other figurative constants display as a single character.

21

7 System routines
For a complete list of supported system routines See Appendix D [cobc –list-system], page 48.

7.1 CBL GC GETOPT
CBL_GC_GETOPT realises the quite well-known option parser, getopt, for GnuCOBOL. The usage
of this system routine is described by the following example.
identification division.
program-id. prog.
data division.
working-storage section.
78 shortoptions value "jkl".
01 longoptions.
05 optionrecord occurs 2 times.
10 optionname
pic x(25).
10 has-value
pic 9.
10 valpoint
pointer value NULL.
10 return-value pic x(4).
01 longind
01 long-only

pic 99.
pic 9 value 1.

01 return-char pic x(4).
01 opt-val
pic x(10).
01 counter
pic 9 value 0.
We first need to define the necessary fields for getopt’s shortoptions (so), longoptions (lo),
longoption index (longind), long-only-option (long-only) and also the fields for return values
return-char and opt-val (arbitrary size with trimming, see return codes).
The shortoptions are written down as an alphanumeric field (i.e., a string with arbitrary size)
as follows:
"ab:c::d"
This means we want getopt to look for shortoptions named a, b, c or d and we demand an
option value for b and we are accepting an optional one for c.
The longoptions are defined as a table of records with oname, has-value, valpoint and val.
• oname defines the name of a longoption.
• has-value defines if an option value is demanded (has-val = 1), optional (has-val = 2) or
not required (has-val = 0).
• valpoint is a pointer used to specify an address to save getopt’s return value to. The pointer
is optional. If it is NULL, getopt returns a value as usual. If you use the pointer it has to
point to a PIC X(4) field.
• The field val is a PIC X(4) character which is returned if the longoption was recognized.
The longoption structure is immutable! You can only vary the number of records.
Now we have the tools to run CBL_GC_GETOPT within the procedure division.
procedure division.
move "version" to optionname
(1).

Chapter 7: System routines

move 0
move "v"

22

to has-value
(1).
to return-value (1).

move "verbose" to optionname
(2).
move 0
to has-value
(2).
move "V"
to return-value (2).
perform with test after until return-code = -1
call ’CBL_GC_GETOPT’ using
by reference shortoptions longoptions longind
by value long-only
by reference return-char opt-val
end-call
display return-char end-display
display opt-val
end-display
end-perform
stop run.
The example shows how we initialize all parameters and call the routine until CBL_GC_GETOPT
runs out of options and returns -1.
The return-char might contain the following:
• regular character if an option was recognized
• ’ ?’ if we have an undefined or ambiguous option
• ’1’ if we have a non-option (only if first byte of so is ’-’)
• ’0’ if valpoint != NULL and we are writing the return value to the specified address
• ’-1’ if we don’t have any more options (or reach the first non-option if first byte of so is ’+’)
The
• 1
• 0
• -1
• 2
• 3

return-codes of CBL_GC_GETOPT are:
if we’ve got a non-option (only if first byte of so is ’-’)
if valpoint != NULL and we are writing the return value to the specified address
if we don’t have any more options (or reach the first non-option if first byte of so is ’+’)
if we have got an truncated option value in opt-val (because opt-val was too small)
if we got a regular answer from getopt

7.2 CBL GC HOSTED
CBL_GC_HOSTED provides access to the following C hosted variables:
• argc to binary-long by value
• argv to pointer to char **
• stdin, stdout, stderr to pointer
• errno giving address of errno in pointer to binary-long, use based for more direct access
and conditional access to the following variables:
• tzname pointer to pointer to array of two char pointers
• timezone C long, will be seconds west of UTC
• daylight C int, will be 1 during daylight savings
System will need to HAVE TIMEZONE defined for these to return anything meaningful.
Attempts made when they are not available return 1 from CBL GC HOSTED.

Chapter 7: System routines

It returns 0 when match, 1 on failure, case matters as does length, "arg" won’t match.
The usage of this system routine is described by the following example.
HOSTED identification division.
program-id. hosted.
data division.
working-storage section.
01 argc usage binary-long.
01 argv usage pointer.
01 stdin usage pointer.
01 stdout usage pointer.
01 stderr usage pointer.
01 errno usage pointer.
01 err
usage binary-long based.
01 domain usage float-long value 3.0.
01 tzname usage pointer.
01 tznames usage pointer based.
05 tzs usage pointer occurs 2 times.
01 timezone
01 daylight

usage binary-long.
usage binary-short.

*> Testing CBL_GC_HOSTED
procedure division.
call "CBL_GC_HOSTED" using stdin "stdin"
display "stdin
: " stdin
call "feof" using by value stdin
display "feof stdin
: " return-code
call "CBL_GC_HOSTED" using stdout "stdout"
display "stdout
: " stdout
call "fprintf" using by value stdout by content "Hello" & x"0a"
call "CBL_GC_HOSTED" using stderr "stderr"
display "stderr
: " stderr
call "fprintf" using by value stderr by content "on err" & x"0a"
call "CBL_GC_HOSTED" using argc "argc"
display "argc
: " argc
call "CBL_GC_HOSTED" using argv "argv"
display "argv
: " argv
call "args" using by value argc argv
call "CBL_GC_HOSTED" using errno "errno"
display "&errno
: " errno

23

Chapter 7: System routines

24

set address of err to errno
display "errno
: " err
call "acos" using by value domain
display "errno after acos(3.0): " err ", EDOM is 33"
call "CBL_GC_HOSTED" using argc "arg"
display "’arg’ lookup
: " return-code
call "CBL_GC_HOSTED" using null "argc"
display "null with argc
: " return-code
display "argc is still
: " argc

*> the following only returns zero if the system has HAVE_TIMEZONE set
call "CBL_GC_HOSTED" using daylight "daylight "
display "’timezone’ lookup
: " return-code
if return-code not = 0
display "system doesn’t has timezone"
else
display "timezone is

: " timezone

call "CBL_GC_HOSTED" using daylight "daylight "
display "’daylight’ lookup
: " return-code
display "daylight is
: " daylight
set environment "TZ" to "PST8PDT"
call static "tzset" returning omitted on exception continue end-call
call "CBL_GC_HOSTED" using tzname "tzname"
display "’tzname’ lookup
: " return-code
*> tzs(1) will point to z"PST" and tzs(2) to z"PDT"
if return-code equal 0 and tzname not equal null then
set address of tznames to tzname
if tzs(1) not equal null then
display "tzs #1
: " tzs(1)
end-if
if tzs(2) not equal null then
display "tzs #2
: " tzs(2)
end-if
end-if
end-if
goback.
end program hosted.

Chapter 7: System routines

25

7.3 CBL GC NANOSLEEP
CBL_GC_NANOSLEEP allows you to pause the program for nanoseconds. The actual precision
depends on the system.
*> Waiting a half second
call "CBL_GC_NANOSLEEP" using "500000000" end-call
*> Waiting five seconds using compiler string catenation for readability
call "CBL_GC_NANOSLEEP" using "500" & "0000000" end-call

7.4 CBL GC FORK
CBL_GC_FORK allows you to fork the current COBOL process to a new one. The current content
of the process’ storage (including LOCAL-STORAGE) will be identical, any file handles get invalid
in the new process, positions and file / record locks are only available to the original process.
This system routine is not available on Windows (exception: GCC on Cygwin).
Parameters: none Returns: PID (the child process gets ’0’ returned, the calling process gets
the PID of the created children). Negative values are returned for system dependand error codes
and -1 if the function is not available on the current system.
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. prog.
DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 CHILD-PID
PIC S9(9) BINARY.
01 WAIT-STS
PIC S9(9) BINARY.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
CALL "CBL_GC_FORK" RETURNING CHILD-PID END-CALL
EVALUATE TRUE
WHEN CHILD-PID = ZERO
PERFORM CHILD-CODE
WHEN CHILD-PID > ZERO
PERFORM PARENT-CODE
WHEN CHILD-PID = -1
DISPLAY ’CBL_GC_FORK is not available ’
’on the current system!’
END-DISPLAY
PERFORM CHILD-CODE
MOVE 0 TO CHILD-PID
PERFORM PARENT-CODE
WHEN OTHER
MULTIPLY CHILD-PID BY -1 END-MULTIPLY
DISPLAY ’CBL_GC_FORK returned system error: ’
CHILD-PID
END-DISPLAY
END-EVALUATE
STOP RUN.
CHILD-CODE.
CALL "C$SLEEP" USING 1 END-CALL
DISPLAY "Hello, I am the child"

Chapter 7: System routines

26

END-DISPLAY
MOVE 2 TO RETURN-CODE
CONTINUE.
PARENT-CODE.
DISPLAY "Hello, I am the parent"
END-DISPLAY
CALL "CBL_GC_WAITPID" USING CHILD-PID RETURNING WAIT-STS
END-CALL
MOVE 0 TO RETURN-CODE
EVALUATE TRUE
WHEN WAIT-STS >= 0
DISPLAY ’Child ended with status: ’
WAIT-STS
END-DISPLAY
WHEN WAIT-STS = -1
DISPLAY ’CBL_GC_WAITPID is not available ’
’on the current system!’
END-DISPLAY
WHEN WAIT-STS < -1
MULTIPLY -1 BY WAIT-STS END-MULTIPLY
DISPLAY ’CBL_GC_WAITPID returned system error: ’ WAIT-STS
END-DISPLAY
END-EVALUATE
CONTINUE.

7.5 CBL GC WAITPID
CBL_GC_WAITPID allows you to wait until another system process ended. Additional you can
check the process’ return code.
Parameters: none Returns: function-status / child-status Negative values are returned for
system dependand error codes and -1 if the function is not available on the current system.
CALL "CBL_GC_WAITPID" USING CHILD-PID RETURNING WAIT-STS
END-CALL
MOVE 0 TO RETURN-CODE
DISPLAY ’CBL_GC_WAITPID ended with status: ’ WAIT-STS
END-DISPLAY

27

Appendix A cobc --help
GnuCOBOL compiler for most COBOL dialects with lots of extensions
Usage: cobc [options]... file...
Options:
-h, -help
-V, -version
-i, -info

display this help and exit
display compiler version and exit
display compiler information (build/environment)
and exit
-v, -verbose
display compiler version and the commands
invoked by the compiler
-vv, -verbose=2
like -v but additional pass verbose option
to assembler/compiler
-vvv, -verbose=3
like -vv but additional pass verbose option
to linker
-q, -brief
reduced displays, commands invoked not shown
-###
like -v but commands not executed
-x
build an executable program
-m
build a dynamically loadable module (default)
-j [], -job[=]
run program after build, passing 
-std=
warnings/features for a specific dialect
 can be one of:
default, cobol2014, cobol2002, cobol85, xopen,
ibm-strict, ibm, mvs-strict, mvs,
mf-strict, mf, bs2000-strict, bs2000,
acu-strict, acu, rm-strict, rm;
see configuration files in directory config
-F, -free
use free source format
-fixed
use fixed source format (default)
-O, -O2, -O3, -Os
enable optimization
-g
enable C compiler debug / stack check / trace
-d, -debug
enable all run-time error checking
-o 
place the output into 
-b
combine all input files into a single
dynamically loadable module
-E
preprocess only; do not compile or link
-C
translation only; convert COBOL to C
-S
compile only; output assembly file
-c
compile and assemble, but do not link
-T 
generate and place a wide program listing into 
-t 
generate and place a program listing into 
--tlines=
specify lines per page in listing, default = 55
--tsymbols
specify symbols in listing
-P[=]
generate preprocessed program listing (.lst)
-Xref
specify cross reference in listing
-I 
add  to copy/include search path
-L 
add  to library search path
-l 
link the library 
-A 
add  to the C compile phase
-Q 
add  to the C link phase

Appendix A: cobc --help

-D 
-K 
-conf=
-list-reserved
-list-intrinsics
-list-mnemonics
-list-system
-save-temps[=]
-ext 

28

define  for COBOL compilation
generate CALL to  as static
user-defined dialect configuration; see -std
display reserved words
display intrinsic functions
display mnemonic names
display system routines
save intermediate files
- default: current directory
add file extension for resolving COPY

-W
-Wall
-Wno-
-Wno-unfinished

enable all warnings
enable most warnings (all except as noted below)
disable warning enabled by -W or -Wall
do not warn if unfinished features are used
- ALWAYS active
-Wno-pending
do not warn if pending features are mentioned
- ALWAYS active
-Wobsolete
warn if obsolete features are used
-Warchaic
warn if archaic features are used
-Wredefinition
warn incompatible redefinition of data items
-Wtruncate
warn field truncation from constant assignments
-Wpossible-truncate
warn possible field truncation
- NOT set with -Wall
-Woverlap
warn overlapping MOVE items
-Wpossible-overlap
warn MOVE items that may overlap depending on variables
- NOT set with -Wall
-Wparentheses
warn lack of parentheses around AND within OR
-Wstrict-typing
warn type mismatch strictly
-Wimplicit-define
warn implicitly defined data items
-Wcorresponding
warn CORRESPONDING with no matching items
-Winitial-value
warn Initial VALUE clause ignored
-Wprototypes
warn missing FUNCTION prototypes/definitions
-Warithmetic-osvs
warn if arithmetic expression precision has changed
-Wcall-params
warn non 01/77 items for CALL params
- NOT set with -Wall
-Wconstant-expression warn expressions that always resolve to true/false
-Wcolumn-overflow
warn text after program-text area, FIXED format
- NOT set with -Wall
-Wterminator
warn lack of scope terminator END-XXX
- NOT set with -Wall
-Wlinkage
warn dangling LINKAGE items
- NOT set with -Wall
-Wunreachable
warn unreachable statements
- NOT set with -Wall
-Werror
treat all warnings as errors
-Werror=
treat specified  as error
-fsign=[ASCII|EBCDIC] define display sign representation
- default: machine native
-ffold-copy=[UPPER|LOWER]
fold COPY subject to value
- default: no transformation

Appendix A: cobc --help

29

-ffold-call=[UPPER|LOWER]
fold PROGRAM-ID, CALL, CANCEL subject to value
- default: no transformation
-fdefaultbyte=0..255 or any quoted character initialize fields without VALUE to decimal v
- default: initialize to picture
-fmax-errors= maximum number of errors to report
- default: 100
-fintrinsics=[ALL|intrinsic function name(,name,...)] intrinsics to be used without FUNCTI
-ftrace
generate trace code
- executed SECTION/PARAGRAPH
-ftraceall
generate trace code
- executed SECTION/PARAGRAPH/STATEMENTS
- turned on by -debug
-fsyntax-only
syntax error checking only; don’t emit any output
-fdebugging-line
enable debugging lines
- ’D’ in indicator column or floating >>D
-fsource-location
generate source location code
- turned on by -debug/-g/-ftraceall
-fimplicit-init
automatic initialization of the COBOL runtime system
-fstack-check
PERFORM stack checking
- turned on by -debug or -g
-fwrite-after
use AFTER 1 for WRITE of LINE SEQUENTIAL
- default: BEFORE 1
-fmfcomment
’*’ or ’/’ in column 1 treated as comment
- FIXED format only
-facucomment
’$’ in indicator area treated as ’*’,
’|’ treated as floating comment
-fnotrunc
allow numeric field overflow
- non-ANSI behaviour
-fodoslide
adjust items following OCCURS DEPENDING
- requires implicit/explicit relaxed syntax
-fsingle-quote
use a single quote (apostrophe) for QUOTE
- default: double quote
-frecursive-check
check recursive program call
-foptional-file
treat all files as OPTIONAL
- unless NOT OPTIONAL specified
-freserved-words=
use of complete/fixed reserved words
-ftab-width=1..12
set number of spaces that are asumed for tabs
-ftext-column=72..255 set right margin for source (fixed format only)
-fpic-length= maximum number of characters allowed in the character-string
-fword-length=1..61
maximum word-length for COBOL words / Programmer defined words
-fliteral-length=
maximum literal size in general
-fnumeric-literal-length=1..38
maximum numeric literal size
-fassign-clause=
set way of interpreting ASSIGN
-fbinary-size= binary byte size - defines the allocated bytes according to PIC
-fbinary-byteorder=
binary byte order
-ffilename-mapping
resolve file names at run time using environment variables.
-fpretty-display
alternate formatting of numeric fields
-fbinary-truncate
numeric truncation according to ANSI
-fcomplex-odo
allow complex OCCURS DEPENDING ON
-findirect-redefines allow REDEFINES to other than last equal level number
-flarger-redefines-ok allow larger REDEFINES items

Appendix A: cobc --help

30

-frelax-syntax-checks allow certain syntax variations (e.g. REDEFINES position)
-frelax-level-hierarchy
allow non-matching level numbers
-fsticky-linkage
LINKAGE-SECTION items remain allocated between invocations
-fmove-ibm
MOVE operates as on IBM (left to right, byte by byte)
-fperform-osvs
exit point of any currently executing perform is recognized if reach
-farithmetic-osvs
limit precision in intermediate results to precision of final result
-fconstant-folding
evaluate constant expressions at compile time
-fhostsign
allow hexadecimal value ’F’ for NUMERIC test of signed PACKED DECIMA
-fprogram-name-redefinition
program names don’t lead to a reserved identifier
-faccept-update
set WITH UPDATE clause as default for ACCEPT dest-item, instead of W
-faccept-auto
set WITH AUTO clause as default for ACCEPT dest-item, instead of WIT
-fconsole-is-crt
assume CONSOLE IS CRT if not set otherwise
-fno-echo-means-secure
NO-ECHO hides input with asterisks like SECURE
-fcomment-paragraphs=
comment paragraphs in IDENTIFICATION DIVISION (AUTHO
-fmemory-size-clause=
MEMORY-SIZE clause
-fmultiple-file-tape-clause= MULTIPLE-FILE-TAPE clause
-flabel-records-clause=
LABEL-RECORDS clause
-fvalue-of-clause=
VALUE-OF clause
-fdata-records-clause=
DATA-RECORDS clause
-ftop-level-occurs-clause=
OCCURS clause on top-level
-fsynchronized-clause=
SYNCHRONIZED clause
-fgoto-statement-without-name=
GOTO statement without name
-fstop-literal-statement=
STOP-literal statement
-fstop-identifier-statement= STOP-identifier statement
-fdebugging-mode=
DEBUGGING MODE and debugging indicator
-fuse-for-debugging= USE FOR DEBUGGING
-fpadding-character-clause= PADDING CHARACTER clause
-fnext-sentence-phrase=
NEXT SENTENCE phrase
-flisting-statements=
listing-directive statements EJECT, SKIP1, SKIP2, SK
-ftitle-statement=
listing-directive statement TITLE
-fentry-statement=
ENTRY statement
-fmove-noninteger-to-alphanumeric=
move noninteger to alphanumeric
-fmove-figurative-constant-to-numeric=
move figurative constants to numeric
-fmove-figurative-quote-to-numeric= move figurative constant QUOTE to numeric
-fodo-without-to=
OCCURS DEPENDING ON without to
-fsection-segments= section segments
-falter-statement=
ALTER statement
-fcall-overflow=
OVERFLOW clause for CALL
-fnumeric-boolean=
boolean literals (B’1010’)
-fhexadecimal-boolean=
hexadecimal-boolean literals (BX’A’)
-fnational-literals= national literals (N’UTF-16 string’)
-fhexadecimal-national-literals=
hexadecimal-national literals (NX’265E’)
-facu-literals=
ACUCOBOL-GT literals (#B #O #H #X)
-fword-continuation= continuation of COBOL words
-fnot-exception-before-exception=
NOT ON EXCEPTION before ON EXCEPTION
-faccept-display-extensions= extensions to ACCEPT and DISPLAY
-frenames-uncommon-levels=
RENAMES of 01-, 66- and 77-level items
-fconstant-78=
constant with level 78 item (note: has left to right precede
-fconstant-01=
constant with level 01 CONSTANT AS/FROM item
-fprogram-prototypes=
CALL/CANCEL with program-prototype-name
-freference-out-of-declaratives=
references to sections not in DECLARATIVES f
-fnumeric-value-for-edited-item=
numeric literals in VALUE clause of numeric-

31

-fincorrect-conf-sec-order= incorrect order of CONFIGURATION SECTION paragraphs
-fdefine-constant-directive= allow >> DEFINE CONSTANT var AS literal
where  is one of the following:
’ok’, ’warning’, ’archaic’, ’obsolete’, ’skip’, ’ignore’, ’error’, ’unconformable’
-fnot-reserved= word to be taken out of the reserved words list
-freserved=
word to be added to reserved words list
-freserved=:
word to be added to reserved words list as alias

Report bugs to: bug-gnucobol@gnu.org
or (preferably) use the issue tracker via the home page.
GnuCOBOL home page: 
General help using GNU software: 

32

Appendix B cobc --list-reserved
Reserved Words
ACCEPT
ACCESS
ACTIVE-CLASS
ADD
ADDRESS
ADVANCING
AFTER
ALIGNED
ALL
ALLOCATE
ALPHABET
ALPHABETIC
ALPHABETIC-LOWER
ALPHABETIC-UPPER
ALPHANUMERIC
ALPHANUMERIC-EDITED
ALSO
ALTER
ALTERNATE
AND
ANY
ANYCASE
ARE
AREA
AREAS
ARGUMENT-NUMBER
ARGUMENT-VALUE
ARITHMETIC
AS
ASCENDING
ASCII
ASSIGN
AT
ATTRIBUTE
AUTO
AUTO-SKIP
AUTOMATIC
AUTOTERMINATE
AWAY-FROM-ZERO
B-AND
B-NOT
B-OR
B-XOR
BACKGROUND-COLOR
BACKGROUND-COLOUR
BASED
BEEP
BEFORE

Implemented
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes (aliased with AREAS)
Yes (aliased with AREA)
Yes
Yes
No (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes (aliased with AUTO-SKIP, AUTOTERMINATE)
Yes (aliased with AUTO, AUTOTERMINATE)
Yes
Yes (aliased with AUTO, AUTO-SKIP)
Yes (Context sensitive)
No
No
No
No
Yes (aliased with BACKGROUND-COLOUR)
Yes (aliased with BACKGROUND-COLOR)
Yes
Yes (aliased with BELL)
Yes

Appendix B: cobc --list-reserved

BELL
BINARY
BINARY-C-LONG
BINARY-CHAR
BINARY-DOUBLE
BINARY-INT
BINARY-LONG
BINARY-LONG-LONG
BINARY-SHORT
BIT
BLANK
BLINK
BLOCK
BOOLEAN
BOTTOM
BY
BYTE-LENGTH
CALL
CANCEL
CAPACITY
CARD-PUNCH
CARD-READER
CASSETTE
CD
CENTER
CF
CH
CHAIN
CHAINING
CHARACTER
CHARACTERS
CLASS
CLASS-ID
CLASSIFICATION
CLOSE
COBOL
CODE
CODE-SET
COL
COLLATING
COLOR
COLS
COLUMN
COLUMNS
COMMA
COMMAND-LINE
COMMIT
COMMON
COMMUNICATION
COMP
COMP-1
COMP-2

33

Yes (aliased with BEEP)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes (aliased with BINARY-LONG-LONG)
Yes (aliased with BINARY-LONG)
Yes (aliased with BINARY-INT)
Yes (aliased with BINARY-DOUBLE)
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes
No (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes (aliased with COMPUTATIONAL)
Yes (aliased with COMPUTATIONAL-1)
Yes (aliased with COMPUTATIONAL-2)

Appendix B: cobc --list-reserved

COMP-3
COMP-4
COMP-5
COMP-6
COMP-X
COMPUTATIONAL
COMPUTATIONAL-1
COMPUTATIONAL-2
COMPUTATIONAL-3
COMPUTATIONAL-4
COMPUTATIONAL-5
COMPUTATIONAL-X
COMPUTE
CONDITION
CONFIGURATION
CONSTANT
CONTAINS
CONTENT
CONTINUE
CONTROL
CONTROLS
CONVERSION
CONVERTING
COPY
CORR
CORRESPONDING
COUNT
CRT
CRT-UNDER
CURRENCY
CURSOR
CYCLE
DATA
DATA-POINTER
DATE
DAY
DAY-OF-WEEK
DE
DEBUGGING
DECIMAL-POINT
DECLARATIVES
DEFAULT
DEFAULT-FONT
DELETE
DELIMITED
DELIMITER
DEPENDING
DESCENDING
DESTINATION
DESTROY
DETAIL
DISABLE

34

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

(aliased with COMPUTATIONAL-3)
(aliased with COMPUTATIONAL-4)
(aliased with COMPUTATIONAL-5)
(aliased
(aliased
(aliased
(aliased
(aliased
(aliased
(aliased
(aliased

with
with
with
with
with
with
with
with

COMPUTATIONAL-X)
COMP)
COMP-1)
COMP-2)
COMP-3)
COMP-4)
COMP-5)
COMP-X)

(Context sensitive)

(aliased with CORRESPONDING)
(aliased with CORR)

(Context sensitive)

Appendix B: cobc --list-reserved

DISC
DISK
DISPLAY
DIVIDE
DIVISION
DOWN
DUPLICATES
DYNAMIC
EBCDIC
EC
ECHO
EGI
ELSE
EMI
EMPTY-CHECK
ENABLE
END
END-ACCEPT
END-ADD
END-CALL
END-CHAIN
END-COMPUTE
END-DELETE
END-DISPLAY
END-DIVIDE
END-EVALUATE
END-IF
END-MULTIPLY
END-OF-PAGE
END-PERFORM
END-READ
END-RECEIVE
END-RETURN
END-REWRITE
END-SEARCH
END-START
END-STRING
END-SUBTRACT
END-UNSTRING
END-WRITE
ENTRY
ENTRY-CONVENTION
ENVIRONMENT
ENVIRONMENT-NAME
ENVIRONMENT-VALUE
EO
EOL
EOP
EOS
EQUAL
EQUALS
ERASE

35

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

(Context sensitive)
(Context sensitive)

(Context sensitive)

(aliased with REQUIRED)

(aliased with EOP)

(Context sensitive)

(Context
(aliased
(Context
(aliased
(aliased

sensitive)
with END-OF-PAGE)
sensitive)
with EQUALS)
with EQUAL)

Appendix B: cobc --list-reserved

ERROR
ESCAPE
ESI
EVALUATE
EXCEPTION
EXCEPTION-OBJECT
EXCLUSIVE
EXIT
EXPANDS
EXTEND
EXTERN
EXTERNAL
F
FACTORY
FALSE
FD
FILE
FILE-CONTROL
FILE-ID
FILLER
FINAL
FIRST
FIXED
FIXED-FONT
FLOAT-BINARY-128
FLOAT-BINARY-32
FLOAT-BINARY-64
FLOAT-DECIMAL-16
FLOAT-DECIMAL-34
FLOAT-EXTENDED
FLOAT-INFINITY
FLOAT-LONG
FLOAT-NOT-A-NUMBER
FLOAT-SHORT
FLOATING
FONT
FOOTING
FOR
FOREGROUND-COLOR
FOREGROUND-COLOUR
FOREVER
FORMAT
FREE
FROM
FULL
FUNCTION
FUNCTION-ID
FUNCTION-POINTER
GENERATE
GET
GIVING
GLOBAL

36

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
No (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes (aliased with FOREGROUND-COLOUR)
Yes (aliased with FOREGROUND-COLOR)
Yes (Context sensitive)
No
Yes
Yes
Yes (aliased with LENGTH-CHECK)
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes

Appendix B: cobc --list-reserved

GO
GOBACK
GRAPHICAL
GREATER
GRID
GROUP
GROUP-USAGE
HANDLE
HEADING
HIGH-VALUE
HIGH-VALUES
HIGHLIGHT
I-O
I-O-CONTROL
ID
IDENTIFICATION
IF
IGNORE
IGNORING
IMPLEMENTS
IN
INDEPENDENT
INDEX
INDEXED
INDICATE
INHERITS
INITIAL
INITIALISE
INITIALISED
INITIALIZE
INITIALIZED
INITIATE
INPUT
INPUT-OUTPUT
INSPECT
INTERFACE
INTERFACE-ID
INTERMEDIATE
INTO
INTRINSIC
INVALID
INVOKE
IS
JUST
JUSTIFIED
KEPT
KEY
KEYBOARD
LABEL
LARGE-FONT
LAST
LAYOUT-MANAGER

37

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes (aliased with HIGH-VALUES)
Yes (aliased with HIGH-VALUE)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes (Context sensitive)
No (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes (aliased with INITIALIZE)
Yes (aliased with INITIALIZED)
Yes (aliased with INITIALISE)
Yes (aliased with INITIALISED)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes
No
Yes
Yes (aliased with JUSTIFIED)
Yes (aliased with JUST)
Yes
Yes
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

Appendix B: cobc --list-reserved

LC_ALL
LC_COLLATE
LC_CTYPE
LC_MESSAGES
LC_MONETARY
LC_NUMERIC
LC_TIME
LEADING
LEFT
LEFT-JUSTIFY
LEFTLINE
LENGTH
LENGTH-CHECK
LESS
LIMIT
LIMITS
LINAGE
LINAGE-COUNTER
LINE
LINE-COUNTER
LINES
LINKAGE
LM-RESIZE
LOCAL-STORAGE
LOCALE
LOCK
LOW-VALUE
LOW-VALUES
LOWER
LOWLIGHT
MAGNETIC-TAPE
MANUAL
MEDIUM-FONT
MEMORY
MENU
MERGE
MESSAGE
METHOD
METHOD-ID
MINUS
MODE
MODULES
MOVE
MULTIPLE
MULTIPLY
NAME
NATIONAL
NATIONAL-EDITED
NATIVE
NEAREST-AWAY-FROM-ZERO
NEAREST-EVEN
NEAREST-TOWARD-ZERO

38

No (Context sensitive)
No (Context sensitive)
No (Context sensitive)
No (Context sensitive)
No (Context sensitive)
No (Context sensitive)
No (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes (aliased with FULL)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes (aliased with LOW-VALUES)
Yes (aliased with LOW-VALUE)
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes (Context sensitive)

Appendix B: cobc --list-reserved

NEGATIVE
NESTED
NEXT
NO
NO-ECHO
NONE
NORMAL
NOT
NOTHING
NULL
NULLS
NUMBER
NUMBERS
NUMERIC
NUMERIC-EDITED
OBJECT
OBJECT-COMPUTER
OBJECT-REFERENCE
OCCURS
OF
OFF
OMITTED
ON
ONLY
OPEN
OPTIONAL
OPTIONS
OR
ORDER
ORGANISATION
ORGANIZATION
OTHER
OUTPUT
OVERFLOW
OVERLINE
OVERRIDE
PACKED-DECIMAL
PADDING
PAGE
PAGE-COUNTER
PARAGRAPH
PERFORM
PF
PH
PIC
PICTURE
PLUS
POINTER
POP-UP
POSITION
POSITIVE
PREFIXED

39

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No (Context sensitive)
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes
Yes (aliased with NULLS)
Yes (aliased with NULL)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes (aliased with ORGANIZATION)
Yes (aliased with ORGANISATION)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes (aliased with PICTURE)
Yes (aliased with PIC)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No (Context sensitive)

Appendix B: cobc --list-reserved

PRESENT
PREVIOUS
PRINT
PRINTER
PRINTER-1
PRINTING
PRIORITY
PROCEDURE
PROCEDURE-POINTER
PROCEDURES
PROCEED
PROGRAM
PROGRAM-ID
PROGRAM-POINTER
PROHIBITED
PROMPT
PROPERTY
PROTECTED
PROTOTYPE
PURGE
QUEUE
QUOTE
QUOTES
RAISE
RAISING
RANDOM
RD
READ
RECEIVE
RECORD
RECORDING
RECORDS
RECURSIVE
REDEFINES
REEL
REFERENCE
REFERENCES
RELATION
RELATIVE
RELEASE
REMAINDER
REMOVAL
RENAMES
REPLACE
REPLACING
REPORT
REPORTING
REPORTS
REPOSITORY
REQUIRED
RESERVE
RESET

40

Yes
Yes
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes (aliased with PROGRAM-POINTER)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes (aliased with PROCEDURE-POINTER)
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes (aliased with QUOTES)
Yes (aliased with QUOTE)
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes (aliased with EMPTY-CHECK)
Yes
Yes

Appendix B: cobc --list-reserved

RESUME
RETRY
RETURN
RETURNING
REVERSE
REVERSE-VIDEO
REVERSED
REWIND
REWRITE
RF
RH
RIGHT
RIGHT-JUSTIFY
ROLLBACK
ROUNDED
ROUNDING
RUN
S
SAME
SCREEN
SCROLL
SD
SEARCH
SECONDS
SECTION
SECURE
SEGMENT
SEGMENT-LIMIT
SELECT
SELF
SEND
SENTENCE
SEPARATE
SEQUENCE
SEQUENTIAL
SET
SHARING
SIGN
SIGNED
SIGNED-INT
SIGNED-LONG
SIGNED-SHORT
SIZE
SMALL-FONT
SORT
SORT-MERGE
SOURCE
SOURCE-COMPUTER
SOURCES
SPACE
SPACE-FILL
SPACES

41

No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes

(Context sensitive)

(Context sensitive)

(Context sensitive)

(aliased with SPACES)
(aliased with SPACE)

Appendix B: cobc --list-reserved

SPECIAL-NAMES
STANDARD
STANDARD-1
STANDARD-2
STANDARD-BINARY
STANDARD-DECIMAL
START
STATEMENT
STATIC
STATUS
STDCALL
STEP
STOP
STRING
STRONG
SUB-QUEUE-1
SUB-QUEUE-2
SUB-QUEUE-3
SUBTRACT
SUBWINDOW
SUM
SUPER
SUPPRESS
SYMBOL
SYMBOLIC
SYNC
SYNCHRONISED
SYNCHRONIZED
SYSTEM-DEFAULT
SYSTEM-OFFSET
TAB
TABLE
TALLYING
TAPE
TERMINATE
TEST
TEXT
THAN
THEN
THREAD
THREADS
THROUGH
THRU
TIME
TIME-OUT
TIMEOUT
TIMES
TO
TOP
TOWARD-GREATER
TOWARD-LESSER
TRADITIONAL-FONT

42

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No (Context sensitive)
No (Context sensitive)
Yes
No (Context sensitive)
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes
Yes
No (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes (aliased with SYNCHRONISED, SYNCHRONIZED)
Yes (aliased with SYNC, SYNCHRONIZED)
Yes (aliased with SYNC, SYNCHRONISED)
Yes
Yes
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes (aliased with THRU)
Yes (aliased with THROUGH)
Yes
Yes (Context sensitive) (aliased with TIMEOUT)
Yes (aliased with TIME-OUT)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes

Appendix B: cobc --list-reserved

TRAILING
TRAILING-SIGN
TRANSFORM
TRUE
TRUNCATION
TYPE
TYPEDEF
U
UCS-4
UNBOUNDED
UNDERLINE
UNIT
UNIVERSAL
UNLOCK
UNSIGNED
UNSIGNED-INT
UNSIGNED-LONG
UNSIGNED-SHORT
UNSTRING
UNTIL
UP
UPDATE
UPON
UPPER
USAGE
USE
USER
USER-DEFAULT
USING
UTF-16
UTF-8
V
VAL-STATUS
VALID
VALIDATE
VALIDATE-STATUS
VALUE
VALUES
VARIABLE
VARIANT
VARYING
WAIT
WHEN
WINDOW
WITH
WORDS
WORKING-STORAGE
WRITE
YYYYDDD
YYYYMMDD
ZERO
ZERO-FILL

43

Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes
No
Yes
No (Context sensitive)
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes
Yes
No (Context sensitive)
No (Context sensitive)
Yes
No
No
No
No
Yes (aliased with VALUES)
Yes (aliased with VALUE)
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes (Context sensitive)
Yes (aliased with ZEROES, ZEROS)
No

44

ZEROES
ZEROS

Yes (aliased with ZERO, ZEROS)
Yes (aliased with ZERO, ZEROES)

Extra (obsolete) context sensitive words
AUTHOR
DATE-COMPILED
DATE-MODIFIED
DATE-WRITTEN
INSTALLATION
REMARKS
SECURITY

Internal registers
RETURN-CODE
SORT-RETURN
NUMBER-OF-CALL-PARAMETERS
COB-CRT-STATUS
TALLY
ADDRESS OF
’LENGTH OF’ phrase
WHEN-COMPILED

Implemented
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

Definition
GLOBAL USAGE BINARY-LONG VALUE ZERO
GLOBAL USAGE BINARY-LONG VALUE ZERO
USAGE BINARY-LONG
PICTURE 9(4) USAGE DISPLAY VALUE ZERO
GLOBAL PICTURE 9(5) USAGE BINARY VALUE ZERO
USAGE POINTER
CONSTANT USAGE BINARY-LONG
CONSTANT PICTURE X(16) USAGE DISPLAY

45

Appendix C cobc --list-intrinsics
Intrinsic Function
ABS
ACOS
ANNUITY
ASIN
ATAN
BOOLEAN-OF-INTEGER
BYTE-LENGTH
CHAR
CHAR-NATIONAL
COMBINED-DATETIME
CONCATENATE
COS
CURRENCY-SYMBOL
CURRENT-DATE
DATE-OF-INTEGER
DATE-TO-YYYYMMDD
DAY-OF-INTEGER
DAY-TO-YYYYDDD
DISPLAY-OF
E
EXCEPTION-FILE
EXCEPTION-FILE-N
EXCEPTION-LOCATION
EXCEPTION-LOCATION-N
EXCEPTION-STATEMENT
EXCEPTION-STATUS
EXP
EXP10
FACTORIAL
FORMATTED-CURRENT-DATE
FORMATTED-DATE
FORMATTED-DATETIME
FORMATTED-TIME
FRACTION-PART
HIGHEST-ALGEBRAIC
INTEGER
INTEGER-OF-BOOLEAN
INTEGER-OF-DATE
INTEGER-OF-DAY
INTEGER-OF-FORMATTED-DATE
INTEGER-PART
LENGTH
LENGTH-AN
LOCALE-COMPARE
LOCALE-DATE
LOCALE-TIME
LOCALE-TIME-FROM-SECONDS
LOG

Implemented
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

Parameters
1
1
2
1
1
2
1
1
1
2
Unlimited
1
0
0
1
1 - 3
1
1 - 3
1 - 2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
2
4 - 5
3 - 4
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
1
1
1
2 - 3
1 - 2
1 - 2
1 - 2
1

Appendix C: cobc --list-intrinsics

LOG10
LOWER-CASE
LOWEST-ALGEBRAIC
MAX
MEAN
MEDIAN
MIDRANGE
MIN
MOD
MODULE-CALLER-ID
MODULE-DATE
MODULE-FORMATTED-DATE
MODULE-ID
MODULE-PATH
MODULE-SOURCE
MODULE-TIME
MONETARY-DECIMAL-POINT
MONETARY-THOUSANDS-SEPARATOR
NATIONAL-OF
NUMERIC-DECIMAL-POINT
NUMERIC-THOUSANDS-SEPARATOR
NUMVAL
NUMVAL-C
NUMVAL-F
ORD
ORD-MAX
ORD-MIN
PI
PRESENT-VALUE
RANDOM
RANGE
REM
REVERSE
SECONDS-FROM-FORMATTED-TIME
SECONDS-PAST-MIDNIGHT
SIGN
SIN
SQRT
STANDARD-COMPARE
STANDARD-DEVIATION
STORED-CHAR-LENGTH
SUBSTITUTE
SUBSTITUTE-CASE
SUM
TAN
TEST-DATE-YYYYMMDD
TEST-DAY-YYYYDDD
TEST-FORMATTED-DATETIME
TEST-NUMVAL
TEST-NUMVAL-C
TEST-NUMVAL-F
TRIM

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

46

1
1
1
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1 - 2
0
0
1
2
1
1
Unlimited
Unlimited
0
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
2
1
2
0
1
1
1
2 - 4
Unlimited
1
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
1
1
1
2
1
2
1
1 - 2

47

UPPER-CASE
VARIANCE
WHEN-COMPILED
YEAR-TO-YYYY

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes

1
Unlimited
0
1 - 3

48

Appendix D cobc --list-system
System routine

Parameters

SYSTEM
CBL_AND
CBL_CHANGE_DIR
CBL_CHECK_FILE_EXIST
CBL_CLOSE_FILE
CBL_COPY_FILE
CBL_CREATE_DIR
CBL_CREATE_FILE
CBL_DELETE_DIR
CBL_DELETE_FILE
CBL_EQ
CBL_ERROR_PROC
CBL_EXIT_PROC
CBL_FLUSH_FILE
CBL_GET_CSR_POS
CBL_GET_CURRENT_DIR
CBL_GET_SCR_SIZE
CBL_IMP
CBL_NIMP
CBL_NOR
CBL_NOT
CBL_OPEN_FILE
CBL_OR
CBL_READ_FILE
CBL_READ_KBD_CHAR
CBL_RENAME_FILE
CBL_SET_CSR_POS
CBL_TOLOWER
CBL_TOUPPER
CBL_WRITE_FILE
CBL_XOR
CBL_GC_FORK
CBL_GC_GETOPT
CBL_GC_HOSTED
CBL_GC_NANOSLEEP
CBL_GC_PRINTABLE
CBL_GC_WAITPID
CBL_OC_GETOPT
CBL_OC_HOSTED
CBL_OC_NANOSLEEP
C$CALLEDBY
C$CHDIR
C$COPY
C$DELETE
C$FILEINFO
C$GETPID

1
3
1
2
1
2
1
5
1
1
3
2
2
1
1
3
2
3
3
3
2
5
3
5
1
2
1
2
2
5
3
0
6
2
1
1 - 2
1
6
2
1
1
2
3
2
2
0

49

C$JUSTIFY
C$MAKEDIR
C$NARG
C$PARAMSIZE
C$PRINTABLE
C$SLEEP
C$TOLOWER
C$TOUPPER
X"91"
X"E4"
X"E5"
X"F4"
X"F5"

1 - 2
1
1
1
1 - 2
1
2
2
2
0
0
2
2

50

Appendix E cobc --list-mnemonics
System names
SYSIN
SYSIPT
STDIN
SYSOUT
SYSLIST
SYSLST
STDOUT
PRINT
PRINTER
PRINTER-1
SYSERR
STDERR
CONSOLE
C01
C02
C03
C04
C05
C06
C07
C08
C09
C10
C11
C12
CSP
FORMFEED
CALL-CONVENTION
SWITCH-0
SWITCH-1
SWITCH-2
SWITCH-3
SWITCH-4
SWITCH-5
SWITCH-6
SWITCH-7
SWITCH-8
SWITCH-9
SWITCH-10
SWITCH-11
SWITCH-12
SWITCH-13
SWITCH-14
SWITCH-15
SWITCH-16
SWITCH-17
SWITCH-18
SWITCH-19

device name
device name
device name
device name
device name
device name
device name
device name
device name
device name
device name
device name
device name
feature name
feature name
feature name
feature name
feature name
feature name
feature name
feature name
feature name
feature name
feature name
feature name
feature name
feature name
feature name
switch name
switch name
switch name
switch name
switch name
switch name
switch name
switch name
switch name
switch name
switch name
switch name
switch name
switch name
switch name
switch name
switch name
switch name
switch name
switch name

51

SWITCH-20
SWITCH-21
SWITCH-22
SWITCH-23
SWITCH-24
SWITCH-25
SWITCH-26
SWITCH-27
SWITCH-28
SWITCH-29
SWITCH-30
SWITCH-31
SWITCH-32
SWITCH-33
SWITCH-34
SWITCH-35
SWITCH-36

switch
switch
switch
switch
switch
switch
switch
switch
switch
switch
switch
switch
switch
switch
switch
switch
switch

name
name
name
name
name
name
name
name
name
name
name
name
name
name
name
name
name

52

Appendix F Compiler Configuration
The following list was extracted from config/default.conf.

# Value: any string
name: "GnuCOBOL"
# Value: enum
standard-define
#
CB_STD_OC = 0,
#
CB_STD_MF,
#
CB_STD_IBM,
#
CB_STD_MVS,
#
CB_STD_BS2000,
#
CB_STD_ACU,
#
CB_STD_85,
#
CB_STD_2002,
#
CB_STD_2014

0

# Value: int
tab-width:
8
text-column:
72
# Maximum word-length for COBOL words / Programmer defined words
# Be aware that GC checks the word length against COB_MAX_WORDLEN
# first (currently 61)
word-length:
61
# Maximum literal size in general
literal-length:
8191
# Maximum numeric literal size (absolute maximum: 38)
numeric-literal-length: 38
# Maximum number of characters allowed in the character-string (max. 255)
pic-length:
255
# Value: ’mf’, ’ibm’
#
assign-clause:

mf

# If yes, file names are resolved at run time using
# environment variables.
# For example, given ASSIGN TO "DATAFILE", the file name will be
# 1. the value of environment variable ’DD_DATAFILE’ or
# 2. the value of environment variable ’dd_DATAFILE’ or
# 3. the value of environment variable ’DATAFILE’ or
# 4. the literal "DATAFILE"
# If no, the value of the assign clause is the file name.
#
filename-mapping:
yes

Appendix F: Compiler Configuration

53

# Alternate formatting of numeric fields
pretty-display:
yes
# Allow complex OCCURS DEPENDING ON
complex-odo:
no
# Allow REDEFINES to other than last equal level number
indirect-redefines:
no
# Binary byte size - defines the allocated bytes according to PIC
# Value:
signed unsigned bytes
#
------ -------- ----# ’2-4-8’
1 - 4
same
2
#
5 - 9
same
4
#
10 - 18
same
8
#
# ’1-2-4-8’
1 - 2
same
1
#
3 - 4
same
2
#
5 - 9
same
4
#
10 - 18
same
8
#
# ’1--8’
1 - 2
1 - 2
1
#
3 - 4
3 - 4
2
#
5 - 6
5 - 7
3
#
7 - 9
8 - 9
4
#
10 - 11
10 - 12
5
#
12 - 14
13 - 14
6
#
15 - 16
15 - 16
7
#
17 - 18
17 - 18
8
#
binary-size:
1-2-4-8
# Numeric truncation according to ANSI
binary-truncate:
yes
# Binary byte order
# Value: ’native’, ’big-endian’
binary-byteorder:
big-endian
# Allow larger REDEFINES items
larger-redefines-ok:

no

# Allow certain syntax variations (eg. REDEFINES position)
relax-syntax-checks:
no
# Perform type OSVS - If yes, the exit point of any currently
# executing perform is recognized if reached.
perform-osvs:
no
# Compute intermediate decimal results like IBM OSVS
arithmetic-osvs:
no

Appendix F: Compiler Configuration

54

# MOVE like IBM (mvc); left to right, byte by byte
move-ibm:
no
# If yes, linkage-section items remain allocated
# between invocations.
sticky-linkage:
no
# If yes, allow non-matching level numbers
relax-level-hierarchy:
no
# If yes, evaluate constant expressions at compile time
constant-folding:
yes
# Allow Hex ’F’ for NUMERIC test of signed PACKED DECIMAL field
hostsign:
no
# If yes, set WITH UPDATE clause as default for ACCEPT dest-item,
# except if WITH NO UPDATE clause is used
accept-update:
no
# If yes, set WITH AUTO clause as default for ACCEPT dest-item,
# except if WITH TAB clause is used
accept-auto:
no
# If yes, DISPLAYs and ACCEPTs are, by default, done on the CRT (i.e., using
# curses).
console-is-crt:
no
# If yes, allow redefinition of the current program’s name. This prevents its
# use in a prototype-format CALL/CANCEL statement.
program-name-redefinition:
yes
# If yes, NO ECHO/NO-ECHO/OFF is the same as SECURE (hiding input with
# asterisks, not spaces).
no-echo-means-secure:
no
# Dialect features
# Value: ’ok’, ’warning’, ’archaic’, ’obsolete’, ’skip’, ’ignore’, ’error’,
#
’unconformable’
alter-statement:
comment-paragraphs:
call-overflow:
data-records-clause:
debugging-mode:
use-for-debugging:
listing-statements:
title-statement:
entry-statement:
goto-statement-without-name:
label-records-clause:
memory-size-clause:

obsolete
obsolete
archaic
obsolete
ok
obsolete
skip
# may be a user-defined word
skip
# may be a user-defined word
obsolete
obsolete
obsolete
obsolete

Appendix F: Compiler Configuration

move-noninteger-to-alphanumeric:
error
move-figurative-constant-to-numeric:
archaic
move-figurative-quote-to-numeric:
obsolete
multiple-file-tape-clause:
obsolete
next-sentence-phrase:
archaic
odo-without-to:
warning
padding-character-clause:
obsolete
section-segments:
ignore
stop-literal-statement:
obsolete
stop-identifier-statement:
obsolete
synchronized-clause:
ok
top-level-occurs-clause:
ok
value-of-clause:
obsolete
numeric-boolean:
ok
hexadecimal-boolean:
ok
national-literals:
ok
hexadecimal-national-literals:
ok
acu-literals:
unconformable
word-continuation:
warning
not-exception-before-exception:
ok
accept-display-extensions:
ok
renames-uncommon-levels:
ok
constant-01:
ok
constant-78:
ok
program-prototypes:
ok
reference-out-of-declaratives:
warning
numeric-value-for-edited-item:
ok
incorrect-conf-sec-order:
warning
define-constant-directive:
archaic

# use complete word list; synonyms and exceptions are specified below
reserved-words:
default
# not-reserved:
# Value: Word to be taken out of the reserved words list
not-reserved:
TERMINAL
# reserved:
#
Entries of the form word-1=word-2 define word-1 as an alias for default
# reserved word word-2. No spaces are allowed around the equal sign.
reserved:
AUTO-SKIP=AUTO
reserved:
AUTOTERMINATE=AUTO
reserved:
BACKGROUND-COLOUR=BACKGROUND-COLOR
reserved:
BEEP=BELL
reserved:
BINARY-INT=BINARY-LONG
reserved:
BINARY-LONG-LONG=BINARY-DOUBLE
reserved:
EMPTY-CHECK=REQUIRED
reserved:
EQUALS=EQUAL
reserved:
FOREGROUND-COLOUR=FOREGROUND-COLOR
reserved:
INITIALISE=INITIALIZE
reserved:
INITIALISED=INITIALIZED

55

56

reserved:
reserved:
reserved:
reserved:

LENGTH-CHECK=FULL
ORGANISATION=ORGANIZATION
SYNCHRONISED=SYNCHRONIZED
TIMEOUT=TIME-OUT

57

Appendix G cobcrun --help
COBOL driver program for GnuCOBOL modules
Usage: cobcrun [options] PROGRAM [parameter ...]
or: cobcrun options
Options:
-h, -help
-V, -version
-i, -info
-c , -config=
-r, -runtime-conf
-M , -module=

display this help and exit
display cobcrun and runtime version and exit
display runtime information (build/environment)
set runtime configuration from 
display current runtime configuration
(value and origin for all settings)
set entry point module name and/or load path
where -M module prepends any directory to the
dynamic link loader library search path
and any basename to the module preload list
(COB_LIBRARY_PATH and/or COB_PRELOAD)

Report bugs to: bug-gnucobol@gnu.org
or (preferably) use the issue tracker via the home page.
GnuCOBOL home page: 
General help using GNU software: 

58

Appendix H Runtime configuration
The following list was extracted from config/runtime.cfg.

H.1 General instructions
The initial runtime.cfg file is found in the $COB_CONFIG_DIR/config ( COB_CONFIG_DIR
defaults to installdir/gnucobol ). The environment variable COB_RUNTIME_CONFIG may
define a different runtime configuration file to read.
If settings are included in the runtime environment file multiple times then the last setting value
is used, no warning occurs.
Settings via environment variables always take precedence over settings that are given in runtime
configuration files. And the environment is checked after completing processing of the runtime
configuration file(s)
All values set to string variables or environment variables are checked for ${envvar} and replacement is done at the time of the setting.
Any environment variable may be set with the directive setenv . Example: setenv COB_
LIBARAY_PATH ${LD_LIBRARY_PATH}
Any environment variable may be unset with the directive unsetenv (one var per line). Example: unsetenv COB_LIBRARY_PATH
Runtime configuration files can include other files with the directive include. Example: include
my-runtime-configuration-file
To include another configuration file only if it is present use the directive includeif. You can
also use ${envvar} inside this. Example: includeif ${HOME}/mygc.cfg
If you want to reset a parameter to its default value use: reset parametername
Most runtime variables have boolean values, some are switches, some have string values, integer
values and some are size values. The boolean values will be evaluated as following: to true: 1,
Y, ON, YES, TRUE (no matter of case) to false: 0, N, OFF A ’size’ value is an integer optionally
followed by K, M, or G for kilo, mega or giga.
For convenience a parameter in the runtime.cfg file may be defined by using either the environment variable name or the parameter name. In most cases the environment variable name is
the parameter name (in upper case) with the prefix COB_ .

H.2 General environment

Environment name:
Parameter name:
Purpose:
Type:
Default:
Example:

COB_DISABLE_WARNINGS
disable_warnings
turn off runtime warning messages
boolean
false
DISABLE_WARNINGS TRUE

Environment name:
Parameter name:
Purpose:

COB_ENV_MANGLE
env_mangle
names checked in the environment would get non alphanumeric
change to ’_’

Appendix H: Runtime configuration

Type:
Default:
Example:

boolean
false
ENV_MANGLE

59

TRUE

Environment name:
Parameter name:
Purpose:
Type:
Default:
Example:

COB_SET_TRACE
set_trace
to enable to COBOL trace feature
boolean
false
SET_TRACE TRUE

Environment name:
Parameter name:
Purpose:
Type:
Default:
Example:

COB_TRACE_FILE
trace_file
to define where COBOL trace output should go
string
stderr
TRACE_FILE ${HOME}/mytrace.log

Environment name:
Parameter name:
Purpose:

COB_CURRENT_DATE
current_date
specify an alternate Date/Time to be returned to ACCEPT clauses
this is used for testing purposes
numeric string in format YYYYDDMMHH24MISS
the operating system date is used
COB_CURRENT_DATE "2016/03/16 16:40:52"

Type:
Default:
Example:

H.3 Call environment

Environment name:
Parameter name:
Purpose:
Type:
Note:
Example:
Environment name:
Parameter name:
Purpose:

Type:
Note:

Example:
Environment name:

COB_LIBRARY_PATH
library_path
paths for dynamically-loadable modules
string
the default paths .:/installpath/extras are always
added to the given paths
LIBRARY_PATH
/opt/myapp/test:/opt/myapp/production
COB_PRE_LOAD
pre_load
modules that are loaded during startup, can be used
to CALL COBOL programs or C functions that are part
of a module library
string
the modules listed should NOT include extensions, the
runtime will use the right ones on the various platforms,
COB_LIBRARY_PATH is used to locate the modules
PRE_LOAD
COBOL_function_library:external_c_library
COB_LOAD_CASE

Appendix H: Runtime configuration

Parameter name:
Purpose:
Type:
Default:
Example:
Environment name:
Parameter name:
Purpose:

Alias:
Type:
Default:
Example:

60

load_case
resolve ALL called program names to UPPER or LOWER case
Only use UPPER or LOWER
if not set program names in CALL are case sensitive
LOAD_CASE UPPER
COB_PHYSICAL_CANCEL
physical_cancel
physically unload a dynamically-loadable module on CANCEL,
this frees some RAM and allows the change of modules during
run-time but needs more time to resolve CALLs (both to
active and not-active programs)
default_cancel_mode, LOGICAL_CANCELS (0 = yes)
boolean (evaluated for true only)
false
PHYSICAL_CANCEL TRUE

H.4 File I/O

Environment name:
Parameter name:
Purpose:

Type:

Default:
Example:

COB_VARSEQ_FORMAT
varseq_format
declare format used for variable length sequential files
- different types and lengths precede each record
- ’length’ is the data length & does not include the prefix
0
means 2 byte record length (big-endian) + 2 NULs
1
means 4 byte record length (big-endian)
2
means 4 byte record length (local machine int)
3
means 2 byte record length (big-endian)
0
VARSEQ_FORMAT 1

Environment name:
Parameter name:
Purpose:
Type:
Default:
Example:

COB_FILE_PATH
file_path
define default location where data files are stored
file path directory
. (current directory)
FILE_PATH ${HOME}/mydata

Environment name:
Parameter name:
Purpose:

COB_LS_FIXED
ls_fixed
Defines if LINE SEQUENTIAL files should be fixed length
(or variable, by removing trailing spaces)
STRIP_TRAILING_SPACES (0 = yes)
boolean
false
LS_FIXED TRUE

Alias:
Type:
Default:
Example:
Environment name:

COB_LS_NULLS

Appendix H: Runtime configuration

Parameter name:
Purpose:

Type:
Default:
Note:
Example:

ls_nulls
Defines for LINE SEQUENTIAL files what to do with data
which is not DISPLAY type. This could happen if a LINE
SEQUENTIAL record has COMP data fields in it.
boolean
false
The TRUE setting will handle files that contain COMP data
in a similar manner to the method used by Micro Focus COBOL
LS_NULL = TRUE

Environment name:
Parameter name:
Purpose:
Type:
Default:
Example:

COB_SYNC
sync
Should the file be synced to disk after each write/update
boolean
false
SYNC: TRUE

Environment name:
Parameter name:
Purpose:

COB_SORT_MEMORY
sort_memory
Defines how much RAM to assign for sorting data
if this size is exceeded the SORT will be done
on disk instead of memory
size but must be more than 1M
128M
SORT_MEMORY 64M

Type:
Default:
Example:
Environment name:
Parameter name:
Purpose:
Type:
Default:
Example:

61

COB_SORT_CHUNK
sort_chunk
Defines how much RAM to assign for sorting data in chunks
size but must be within 128K and 16M
256K
SORT_CHUNK 1M

H.5 Screen I/O

Environment name:
Parameter name:
Purpose:
Type:
Default:
Example:

COB_BELL
bell
Defines how a request for the screen to beep is handled
FLASH, SPEAKER, FALSE, BEEP
BEEP
BELL SPEAKER

Environment name:
Parameter name:
Purpose:
Type:
Default:
Example:

COB_REDIRECT_DISPLAY
redirect_display
Defines if DISPLAY output should be sent to ’stderr’
boolean
false
redirect_display Yes

Appendix H: Runtime configuration

Environment name:
Parameter name:
Purpose:
Type:
Default:
Note:
Example:

COB_SCREEN_ESC
screen_esc
Enable handling of ESC key during ACCEPT
boolean
false
is only evaluated if COB_SCREEN_EXCEPTIONS is active
screen_esc Yes

Environment name:
Parameter name:
Purpose:
Type:
Default:
Example:

COB_SCREEN_EXCEPTIONS
screen_exceptions
enable exceptions for function keys during ACCEPT
boolean
false
screen_exceptions Yes

Environment name:
Parameter name:
Purpose:

COB_TIMEOUT_SCALE
timeout_scale
specify translation in milliseconds for ACCEPT clauses
BEFORE TIME value / AFTER TIMEOUT
integer
0 means 1000 (Micro Focus COBOL compatible), 1 means 100
(ACUCOBOL compatible), 2 means 10, 3 means 1
0
timeout_scale 3

Type:

Default:
Example:
Environment name:
Parameter name:
Purpose:
Type:
Default:
Example:

COB_INSERT_MODE
insert_mode
specify default insert mode for ACCEPT; 0=off, 1=on
boolean
false
insert_mode Y

Environment name:
Parameter name:
Purpose:

COB_LEGACY
legacy
keep behaviour of former runtime versions, currently only
for setting screen attributes for non input fields
boolean
not set
legacy true

Type:
Default:
Example:
Environment name:
Parameter name:
Purpose:
Type:
Default:
Example:
Environment name:
Parameter name:
Purpose:

COB_EXIT_WAIT
exit_wait
to wait on main program exit if an extended screenio
DISPLAY was issued without an ACCEPT following
boolean
true
COB_EXIT_WAIT off
COB_EXIT_MSG
exit_msg
string to display if COB_EXIT_WAIT is processed, set to ’’

62

63

Type:
Default:
Example:

if no actual display but an ACCEPT should be done
string
’end of program, please press a key to exit’ (localized)
COB_EXIT_MSG ’’

Note: If you want to slightly speed up a program’s startup time, remove all
of the comments from the actual real file that is processed

64

Appendix I GNU Free Documentation License
Version 1.3, 3 November 2008
Copyright c 2000, 2001, 2002, 2007, 2008 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
http://fsf.org/
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
0. PREAMBLE
The purpose of this License is to make a manual, textbook, or other functional and useful
document free in the sense of freedom: to assure everyone the effective freedom to copy
and redistribute it, with or without modifying it, either commercially or noncommercially.
Secondarily, this License preserves for the author and publisher a way to get credit for their
work, while not being considered responsible for modifications made by others.
This License is a kind of “copyleft”, which means that derivative works of the document
must themselves be free in the same sense. It complements the GNU General Public License,
which is a copyleft license designed for free software.
We have designed this License in order to use it for manuals for free software, because free
software needs free documentation: a free program should come with manuals providing the
same freedoms that the software does. But this License is not limited to software manuals;
it can be used for any textual work, regardless of subject matter or whether it is published
as a printed book. We recommend this License principally for works whose purpose is
instruction or reference.
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words.

Appendix I: GNU Free Documentation License

65

A “Transparent” copy of the Document means a machine-readable copy, represented in a
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this License applies to the Document are reproduced in all copies, and that you add no
other conditions whatsoever to those of this License. You may not use technical measures
to obstruct or control the reading or further copying of the copies you make or distribute.
However, you may accept compensation in exchange for copies. If you distribute a large
enough number of copies you must also follow the conditions in section 3.
You may also lend copies, under the same conditions stated above, and you may publicly
display copies.
3. COPYING IN QUANTITY
If you publish printed copies (or copies in media that commonly have printed covers) of the
Document, numbering more than 100, and the Document’s license notice requires Cover
Texts, you must enclose the copies in covers that carry, clearly and legibly, all these Cover
Texts: Front-Cover Texts on the front cover, and Back-Cover Texts on the back cover. Both

Appendix I: GNU Free Documentation License

66

covers must also clearly and legibly identify you as the publisher of these copies. The front
cover must present the full title with all words of the title equally prominent and visible.
You may add other material on the covers in addition. Copying with changes limited to
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(directly or through your agents or retailers) of that edition to the public.
It is requested, but not required, that you contact the authors of the Document well before
redistributing any large number of copies, to give them a chance to provide you with an
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4. MODIFICATIONS
You may copy and distribute a Modified Version of the Document under the conditions
of sections 2 and 3 above, provided that you release the Modified Version under precisely
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addition, you must do these things in the Modified Version:
A. Use in the Title Page (and on the covers, if any) a title distinct from that of the
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version if the original publisher of that version gives permission.
B. List on the Title Page, as authors, one or more persons or entities responsible for
authorship of the modifications in the Modified Version, together with at least five of
the principal authors of the Document (all of its principal authors, if it has fewer than
five), unless they release you from this requirement.
C. State on the Title page the name of the publisher of the Modified Version, as the
publisher.
D. Preserve all the copyright notices of the Document.
E. Add an appropriate copyright notice for your modifications adjacent to the other copyright notices.
F. Include, immediately after the copyright notices, a license notice giving the public
permission to use the Modified Version under the terms of this License, in the form
shown in the Addendum below.
G. Preserve in that license notice the full lists of Invariant Sections and required Cover
Texts given in the Document’s license notice.
H. Include an unaltered copy of this License.
I. Preserve the section Entitled “History”, Preserve its Title, and add to it an item stating
at least the title, year, new authors, and publisher of the Modified Version as given
on the Title Page. If there is no section Entitled “History” in the Document, create
one stating the title, year, authors, and publisher of the Document as given on its

Appendix I: GNU Free Documentation License

67

Title Page, then add an item describing the Modified Version as stated in the previous
sentence.
J. Preserve the network location, if any, given in the Document for public access to a
Transparent copy of the Document, and likewise the network locations given in the
Document for previous versions it was based on. These may be placed in the “History”
section. You may omit a network location for a work that was published at least four
years before the Document itself, or if the original publisher of the version it refers to
gives permission.
K. For any section Entitled “Acknowledgements” or “Dedications”, Preserve the Title
of the section, and preserve in the section all the substance and tone of each of the
contributor acknowledgements and/or dedications given therein.
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titles. Section numbers or the equivalent are not considered part of the section titles.
M. Delete any section Entitled “Endorsements”. Such a section may not be included in
the Modified Version.
N. Do not retitle any existing section to be Entitled “Endorsements” or to conflict in title
with any Invariant Section.
O. Preserve any Warranty Disclaimers.
If the Modified Version includes new front-matter sections or appendices that qualify as
Secondary Sections and contain no material copied from the Document, you may at your
option designate some or all of these sections as invariant. To do this, add their titles to
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distinct from any other section titles.
You may add a section Entitled “Endorsements”, provided it contains nothing but endorsements of your Modified Version by various parties—for example, statements of peer review
or that the text has been approved by an organization as the authoritative definition of a
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You may add a passage of up to five words as a Front-Cover Text, and a passage of up
to 25 words as a Back-Cover Text, to the end of the list of Cover Texts in the Modified
Version. Only one passage of Front-Cover Text and one of Back-Cover Text may be added
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a cover text for the same cover, previously added by you or by arrangement made by the
same entity you are acting on behalf of, you may not add another; but you may replace the
old one, on explicit permission from the previous publisher that added the old one.
The author(s) and publisher(s) of the Document do not by this License give permission to
use their names for publicity for or to assert or imply endorsement of any Modified Version.
5. COMBINING DOCUMENTS
You may combine the Document with other documents released under this License, under
the terms defined in section 4 above for modified versions, provided that you include in the
combination all of the Invariant Sections of all of the original documents, unmodified, and
list them all as Invariant Sections of your combined work in its license notice, and that you
preserve all their Warranty Disclaimers.
The combined work need only contain one copy of this License, and multiple identical
Invariant Sections may be replaced with a single copy. If there are multiple Invariant
Sections with the same name but different contents, make the title of each such section
unique by adding at the end of it, in parentheses, the name of the original author or
publisher of that section if known, or else a unique number. Make the same adjustment to
the section titles in the list of Invariant Sections in the license notice of the combined work.

Appendix I: GNU Free Documentation License

6.

7.

8.

9.

68

In the combination, you must combine any sections Entitled “History” in the various original
documents, forming one section Entitled “History”; likewise combine any sections Entitled
“Acknowledgements”, and any sections Entitled “Dedications”. You must delete all sections
Entitled “Endorsements.”
COLLECTIONS OF DOCUMENTS
You may make a collection consisting of the Document and other documents released under
this License, and replace the individual copies of this License in the various documents with
a single copy that is included in the collection, provided that you follow the rules of this
License for verbatim copying of each of the documents in all other respects.
You may extract a single document from such a collection, and distribute it individually
under this License, provided you insert a copy of this License into the extracted document,
and follow this License in all other respects regarding verbatim copying of that document.
AGGREGATION WITH INDEPENDENT WORKS
A compilation of the Document or its derivatives with other separate and independent
documents or works, in or on a volume of a storage or distribution medium, is called an
“aggregate” if the copyright resulting from the compilation is not used to limit the legal
rights of the compilation’s users beyond what the individual works permit. When the
Document is included in an aggregate, this License does not apply to the other works in
the aggregate which are not themselves derivative works of the Document.
If the Cover Text requirement of section 3 is applicable to these copies of the Document,
then if the Document is less than one half of the entire aggregate, the Document’s Cover
Texts may be placed on covers that bracket the Document within the aggregate, or the
electronic equivalent of covers if the Document is in electronic form. Otherwise they must
appear on printed covers that bracket the whole aggregate.
TRANSLATION
Translation is considered a kind of modification, so you may distribute translations of the
Document under the terms of section 4. Replacing Invariant Sections with translations
requires special permission from their copyright holders, but you may include translations
of some or all Invariant Sections in addition to the original versions of these Invariant
Sections. You may include a translation of this License, and all the license notices in
the Document, and any Warranty Disclaimers, provided that you also include the original
English version of this License and the original versions of those notices and disclaimers. In
case of a disagreement between the translation and the original version of this License or a
notice or disclaimer, the original version will prevail.
If a section in the Document is Entitled “Acknowledgements”, “Dedications”, or “History”,
the requirement (section 4) to Preserve its Title (section 1) will typically require changing
the actual title.
TERMINATION
You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Document except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute
it is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License.
However, if you cease all violation of this License, then your license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated (a) provisionally, unless and until the copyright holder explicitly
and finally terminates your license, and (b) permanently, if the copyright holder fails to
notify you of the violation by some reasonable means prior to 60 days after the cessation.
Moreover, your license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated permanently if the
copyright holder notifies you of the violation by some reasonable means, this is the first
time you have received notice of violation of this License (for any work) from that copyright
holder, and you cure the violation prior to 30 days after your receipt of the notice.

Appendix I: GNU Free Documentation License

69

Termination of your rights under this section does not terminate the licenses of parties
who have received copies or rights from you under this License. If your rights have been
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material does not give you any rights to use it.
10. FUTURE REVISIONS OF THIS LICENSE
The Free Software Foundation may publish new, revised versions of the GNU Free Documentation License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the
present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns. See http://
www.gnu.org/copyleft/.
Each version of the License is given a distinguishing version number. If the Document
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Document specifies that a proxy can decide which future versions of this License can be
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to choose that version for the Document.
11. RELICENSING
“Massive Multiauthor Collaboration Site” (or “MMC Site”) means any World Wide Web
server that publishes copyrightable works and also provides prominent facilities for anybody
to edit those works. A public wiki that anybody can edit is an example of such a server. A
“Massive Multiauthor Collaboration” (or “MMC”) contained in the site means any set of
copyrightable works thus published on the MMC site.
“CC-BY-SA” means the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license published
by Creative Commons Corporation, a not-for-profit corporation with a principal place of
business in San Francisco, California, as well as future copyleft versions of that license
published by that same organization.
“Incorporate” means to publish or republish a Document, in whole or in part, as part of
another Document.
An MMC is “eligible for relicensing” if it is licensed under this License, and if all works that
were first published under this License somewhere other than this MMC, and subsequently
incorporated in whole or in part into the MMC, (1) had no cover texts or invariant sections,
and (2) were thus incorporated prior to November 1, 2008.
The operator of an MMC Site may republish an MMC contained in the site under CC-BYSA on the same site at any time before August 1, 2009, provided the MMC is eligible for
relicensing.

Appendix I: GNU Free Documentation License

70

ADDENDUM: How to use this License for your documents
To use this License in a document you have written, include a copy of the License in the document
and put the following copyright and license notices just after the title page:
Copyright (C) year your name.
Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document
under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.3
or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation;
with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover
Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled ‘‘GNU
Free Documentation License’’.

If you have Invariant Sections, Front-Cover Texts and Back-Cover Texts, replace the
“with. . . Texts.” line with this:
with the Invariant Sections being list their titles, with
the Front-Cover Texts being list, and with the Back-Cover Texts
being list.

If you have Invariant Sections without Cover Texts, or some other combination of the three,
merge those two alternatives to suit the situation.
If your document contains nontrivial examples of program code, we recommend releasing
these examples in parallel under your choice of free software license, such as the GNU General
Public License, to permit their use in free software.

71

Index
A

H

ACCEPT special keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Arrow keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
AUTO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
AUTO-SKIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Home keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

B
Backspace key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
BELL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
BLANK LINE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
BLANK SCREEN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

I
Indexed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Indexed file packages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Insert key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Invoking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2

N
Non-standard extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

C
Copying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

P
PROTECTED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

D
Delete keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

S
E
End keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ERASE EOL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ERASE EOS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Extended ACCEPT statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Extended DISPLAY statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

18
19
19
17
19
17

SELECT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
SELECT ASSIGN TO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
SIZE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17, 19

T
Tab keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18



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