COBOL – Basic Syntax

Cobol is a high-level language, which has its own compiler. The COBOL compiler translates the COBOL program into an object program, which is finally executed. A Syntax refers to the rules and regulations for writing any statement in a programming language. It is related to the grammar and structure of the language.

Program Syntax Rules of COBOL:

• COBOL syntax is very easy.
• These are not case-sensitive.
• A COBOL consists of more than 300 reserved words.
• It lacks a big-size standard library, as it has only 43 statements, 87 functions, and just one class.

COBOL Character Set:

Cobol is based on an EBCDIC character set which has the following:

• English alphabets (both lowercase and uppercase).
• Number 0-9.
• Few special characters. E.g Space, comma, $,quote, etc.

COBOL Coding Sheet: 

The below table describes the code layout, for writing working executable COBOL code.  

Columns Number with a record length of 80 bytes:

S.No	Column specification	Short Description	Description
1.	1-6	Sequence Number	it is used to identify each line of the source program, can contain any character in the system character set
2.	7	Reserved for special character	it is an indicator area used for specifying. * ⇒ Comment – ⇒ Continuation / ⇒ Form Feed
3.	8-11	Area A	Cobol divisions, sections, paragraphs being written in columns 8-11
4.	12-72	Area B	Space for Writing Cobol Statements
5.	73-80	System generated Number	For programmer use

Let’s take an example and understand how to COBOL syntax and program works:

Example:

Cobol

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. YOUR-PROGRAM-NAME.
DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 NUM1 PIC 9(4) VALUE 1458.
01 MESSAGE PIC X(11) VALUE 'HELLO WORLD'.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
MAIN-PROCEDURE.

**********This is a comment in Cobol***************

DISPLAY NUM1.
DISPLAY MESSAGE.
STOP RUN.
END PROGRAM YOUR-PROGRAM-NAME.

Output:

COBOL Code Explanation:

• In the  COBOL program(YOUR-PROGRAM-NAME) NUM1 is a Numeric literal with a predefined default value of 1458.
• MESSAGE is an Alphanumeric literal with the predefined value of ‘HELLO WORLD’.
• DISPLAY keyword is used to print the Default value for both the Variables(NUM1, MESSAGE) used inside the program.
• There are 4 divisions inside every Cobol program.
• To compile a COBOL program through JCL we a have popularly used utility known as IGYWCL. Refer to JCL for compiling the COBOL.
• After the code is compiled it creates a Load Module. A Load Module is the non-human readable file, a low-level machine-readable file.
• To execute the Program in a mainframe environment we have to give the Program ID in the above example, YOUR-PROGRAM-NAME is the program-id and path of load library. Refer to RUN JCL.

JCL for compiling the COBOL:

//JOBNAME JOB ACCTNO,NAME,MSGCLASS=1
//S001                 EXEC IGYWCL
//COBOL.SYSIN  DD   DSN = LOCATION_OF_CODE,DISP= SHR
//COBOL.SYSLIB DD   DSN = COPYBOOK_LOCATION,DISP = SHR
//LKED.SYSMOD DD   DSN = LOADLIB_PATH(YOUR-PROGRAM-NAME),DISP=SHR

RUN JCL – For running program:

//JOBNAME JOB ACCTNO,NAME,MSGCLASS=1
//* JCL TO RUN COBOL PROGRAM*
//STEP01    EXEC PGM= YOUR-PROGRAM-NAME
//STPLIB     DD   DSN = LOADLIB_PATH,DISP=SHR
//SYSOUT   DD SYSOUT = *