Structure keywords of COBOL
The following table describes each COBOL-structure keyword and the verbs that the keyword identifies. All verbs are shown in capital letters. Where keywords to a verb are listed, the keywords are shown in lowercase, and the verbs, capitalized, are enclosed in parentheses.
Keyword | Description and Reference |
|---|---|
ALTer | Possible modification of the value of a data name or index: Everything in the INPUT keyword, plus ADD, by (PERFORM), CALL, COMPUTE, DIVIDE, EXAMINE (OS/VS COBOL only), from (PERFORM, WRITE), INITIALIZE (VS COBOL II only), INSPECT, MOVE, MULTIPLY, SEARCH, SET, STRING, SUBTRACT, TRANSFORM (OS/VS COBOL only), UNSTRING, varying (PERFORM); EXEC CICS keywords: ADDRESS, ASKTIME, ASSIGN, FORMATTIME, INQUIRE DATA SET, INQUIRE PROGRAM, INQUIRE TERMINAL, INQUIRE TRANSACTION, LINK, XCTL |
BRAnch | Transfer of logic control: Everything in the CONDition keyword, plus ALTER, CALL, CONTINUE, ENTRY, EXIT, GOBACK, GO TO, NEXT SENTENCE, PROCEDURE DIVISION, PERFORM, STOP, INPUT PROCEDURE, OUTPUT PROCEDURE; EXEC CICS keywords: ABEND, HANDLE ABEND, HANDLE AID, HANDLE CONDITION, LINK, RETURN, XCTL; EXEC SQL keywords: WHENEVER |
CALL | CALL and CANCEL statements, excluding generated calls from EXEC CICS or EXEC DLI |
CICS | EXEC CICS statements |
CONDition | Conditional logic: At end (READ, SEARCH, RETURN), at eop/at end-of-page (WRITE), depending on (GO TO), else (IF), EVALUATE (VS COBOL II only), IF, invalid key (DELETE, WRITE, START, READ, REWRITE), otherwise (IF) (OS/VS COBOL only), ON (OS/VS COBOL only), on exception (CALL), on overflow (STRING, UNSTRING, CALL), on size error (ADD, SUBTRACT, MULTIPLY, DIVIDE, COMPUTE), times (PERFORM), until (PERFORM), when (SEARCH) |
DLI | EXEC DLI statements or calls to CBLTDLI |
IO | Input and output to a program: ACCEPT, CALL, CLOSE, DELETE, DISPLAY, EXHIBIT (OS/VS COBOL only), MERGE, OPEN, READ, RELEASE, RETURN, REWRITE, SORT, START, WRITE NOTE: The CALL modules must be specified in JCL015 member of SLXTINST or they will not be highlighted by the FIND IO command. EXEC CICS keywords: CONVERSE, DELETE, DELETEQ TD, DELETEQ TS, DBR, READ, READNEXT, READPREV, READQ TD, READQ TS, RECEIVE, RESETBR, RETRIEVE, REWRITE, SEND, STARTBR, NCPOINT, UNLOCK, WRITE, WRITEQ TD, WRITEQ TS; CALL CBLTDLI function code keywords: CHKP, CHNG, CLSE, CMD, DEQ, DLET, FLD, GCMD, GET CHN, CHNP, GHU, GN, GNP, GU, IRST, LOAD, LOG, OPEN POS, PURG, REPL, ROLB, ROLL, SHCD, SNAP, STAT, SYMCHKP, SYNC, TERM, XRST; EXEC DLI keywords: CHKP, DLET, GU, GN, GNP, ISRT, LOAD, LOG, REPL, ROLL, ROLB, SCHD, STAT, SYMCHKP, TERM, XRST; EXEC SQL keywords: CLOSE, COMMIT, DECLARE CURSOR, DELETE, FETCH, INSERT, OPEN, ROLLBACK, SELECT, UPDATE |
Input or INPut | Receive data into the program: ACCEPT, READ, RETURN; EXEC CICS keywords: CONVERSE, READ, READNEXT, READPREV, READQ TD, READQ TS, RECEIVE, RETRIEVE; EXEC DLI keywords: GU, GN, GNP, STAT; CALL CBLTDLI function code keywords: CMD, FLD, GCMD, GET, GHN, GHNP, GHU, GN, GNP, GU, POS, STAT; EXEC SQL keywords: FETCH, SELECT, UPDATE |
Output or OUTput | Transmit data out of the program: DELETE, DISPLAY, EXHIBIT (OS/VS COBOL only), MERGE, RELEASE, REWRITE, SORT, WRITE; EXEC CICS keywords: CONVERSE, DELETE, DELETEQ TD, DELETEQ TS, REWRITE, SEND, WRITE, WRITEQ TD, WRITEQ TS; CALL CBLTDLI function code keywords: CMD, DLET, FLD, ISRT, REPL, SNAP; EXEC DLI keywords: DLET, ISRT, REPL; EXEC SQL keywords: DELETE, INSERT, UPDATE |
PARAgraph | Paragraph or section labels |
SQL | Db2 statements or EXEC SQL calls within the procedure division |