Summary -
In this topic, we have explained Character sets with detailed examples.
The character is the fundamental and essential unit of any programming language. The set of valid characters creates the character-set for any programming language that contains the alphabets(A-Z/a-z), digits(0-9), and special characters.
Similarly, the character is a basic and essential unit for the COBOL. COBOL language has its own set of the character-set like other programming languages.
Individual characters are joined to form character-strings, text words and separators in COBOL language.
Character-strings and separators are again used to form words, literals, phrases, clauses, statements, and sentences.
Below is the list of basic COBOL character set –
| Character | Meaning | Usage |
|---|---|---|
| Space | Punctuation character | |
| + | Plus sign | Arithmetic operator Editing character |
| - | Minus sign or hyphen | Arithmetic operator Editing character Continuation character COBOL word element |
| * | Asterisk | Arithmetic operator Editing character Comment character |
| / | Forward slash or solidus | Arithmetic operator Editing character Continuation character |
| = | Equal sign | Punctuation character Relation character |
| $ | Currency sign | Editing character |
| , | Comma | Editing character Punctuation character |
| ; | Semicolon | Punctuation character |
| . | Decimal point or period | Editing character Punctuation character |
| " | Quotation mark | Punctuation character |
| ' | Apostrophe | Punctuation character |
| ( | Left parenthesis | Punctuation character |
| ) | Right parenthesis | Punctuation character |
| > | Greater than | Relational character |
| < | Less than | Relational character |
| : | Colon | Relational character |
| _ | Underscore | User-defined word element |
| A - Z | Alphabet (uppercase) | Alphabetic characters |
| a - z | Alphabet (lowercase) | Alphabetic characters |
| 0 - 9 | Numeric characters | Numeric characters |
Example -
COBOL character-set is basic to form any words, literals, phrases, clauses, statements, and sentences. Below examples shows how they are formed -
| Type | Some Examples |
|---|---|
| User-defined Words | WS-VAR VAR PARA-ADD PARA-SUBTRACT |
| Keywords/Reserved Words | MOVE IF PERFORM |
| Literals | "HELLO WORLD" "123" 123 9 |
| Phases | USING CORRESPONDING |
| Clause | REDEFINES PICTURE VALUE |
| Variables | WS-VAR1 WS-VAR2 WS-VAR3 |
| Statements | IDENTIFICATION DIVISION. DATA DIVISION. WORKING-STORAGE-SECTION. MOVE 10 TO WS-VAR1. |
| Sentences | MOVE 10 to WS-VAR1 PERFORM 10 TIMES. |