COBOL Compiler-directing Statements

• Compiler-directing Statements (often called "directives") provide instructions to the COBOL compiler about how the program should compile and produce the desired object code.
• It's important to note that these directives are not executable code. Instead, they influence the behavior of the compiler during the compilation process.

The critical statements used in the COBOL program are -

COPY Statement

COPY statement includes predefined copybooks (usually file record structures) from the library that is outside of the program.

COPY copybook-name

Example - Insert a copybook into the program.

Copybook - MATEPK.COBOL.COPYLIB(EMPREC)

----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----
           05 EMP-NUM           PIC 9(05).  
           05 EMP-NAME          PIC X(10).  
           05 EMP-DESG          PIC X(15).  
           05 EMP-SALARY        PIC 9(10). 

Code -

----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----
       01 EMP-REC.
          COPY EMPREC. 

Listing after compilation -

----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----
       01 EMP-REC.
      *   COPY EMPREC. 
          05 EMP-NUM            PIC 9(05).  
          05 EMP-NAME           PIC X(10).  
          05 EMP-DESG           PIC X(15).  
          05 EMP-SALARY         PIC 9(10). 

EXIT Statement

EXIT statement is a "do-nothing" statement mainly used for readability and structure, giving a logical endpoint for a section or paragraph.

 EXIT

Example - EXIT usage in paragraph.

      ...
       PROCEDURE DIVISION.
           PERFORM 1000-DISPLAY
              THRU 1000-EXIT.
           STOP RUN.

       1000-DISPLAY.
           DISPLAY "PARAGRAPH EXIT EXAMPLE". 
       1000-EXIT.
           EXIT.

Explaining Example -

1000-EXIT is the paragraph coded only with an EXIT statement that acts as an exit paragraph for 1000-DISPLAY.

EJECT Statement

EJECT statement specifies that the next source statement after it should be printed as the first statement of the next page while printing.

EJECT

Example - Coding EJECT statement in COBOL program.

Copybook - MATEPK.COBOL.COPYLIB(EMPREC)

----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+
           05 EMP-NUM          PIC 9(05).  
           05 EMP-NAME         PIC X(10).  
           05 EMP-DESG         PIC X(15).  
           05 EMP-SALARY       PIC 9(10). 

Code -

----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+
       01 EMP-REC.
          COPY EMPREC.
		  EJECT.
		  
	   01 WS-VAR.
	      05 WS-INPUT1         PIC X(10).

Explaining Example -

The EJECT statement won't display in the program listing. It skips the current page listing, and WS-VAR starts displaying as the first line of the following page listing.

SKIP Statement

SKIP1, SKIP2, or SKIP3 statements specify the number of blank lines that should replace the SKIP statement while listing the COBOL source code.

 SKIP1
 SKIP2
 SKIP3

Example - Coding SKIP1 statement in COBOL program.

----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----
       01 EMP-REC.
          COPY EMPREC.
		  SKIP1.
		  
	   01 WS-VAR.
	      05 WS-INPUT1        PIC X(10).

Explaining Example -

SKIP1 statement won't display in the program listing. It inserts one blank line before WS-VAR declaration line in the program listing.

Other Statements -

Statement	Usage
BASIS statement	It is an extended library statement and specifies the complete COBOL program as a source for compilation.
CALLINTERFACE directive	Specifies the interface for CALL and SET statements.
DELETE statement	It is an extended library statement that removes COBOL source statements from the BASIS source program.
ENTER statement	Treats as a comment
INSERT statement	Library statement adds COBOL statements to the source program.
PROCESS (CBL) statement	Should code before IDENTIFICATION DIVISION and used to code compiler options that are to be used to compile the module.
REPLACE statement	Used to replace the source program text.
SERVICE LABEL statement	Generates by the CICS translator and used to specify the control flow.
TITLE statement	Specifies the header that should print on top of each page.
USE statement	Provides the declarative.

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