EXIT PROGRAM Statement

EXIT PROGRAM Statement

The EXIT PROGRAM statement is used to indicate the end of a called program's (subprogram) processing and to return control to the calling program (main program). It's mainly used in subprograms, or called programs within COBOL.

Syntax -

EXIT PROGRAM.

Notes -

  • The EXIT PROGRAM statement should be the last in a sequence of statements.
  • If no CALL is active, it means the program is not called from any program, and the EXIT PROGRAM is executed, the control returns to the OS.
  • If the CALL is active and the EXIT PROGRAM is executed, the control returns to the calling program and the following statements after CALL after CALL starts executing.

Practical Example -

Scenario - Static Call from MAINPROG to SUBPROG and receiving the result back from SUBPROG.

Main Program -

----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----+
       IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
       PROGRAM-ID. MAINPROG.
       DATA DIVISION.
       WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
       01 WS-VAR.
          05 WS-INP1      PIC 9(02) VALUE 47. *> Input1
          05 WS-INP2      PIC 9(02) VALUE 25. *> Input2
          05 WS-RESULT    PIC 9(04).          *> Result Variable

	   PROCEDURE DIVISION. 

	  * Calling subprogram staically with two inputs 
      * and receiving the result from SUBPROG
           CALL "SUBPROG" USING WS-INP1, WS-INP2, WS-RESULT.

           DISPLAY "INPUTS:  " WS-INP1 ", " WS-INP2.
           DISPLAY "RESULTS: " WS-RESULT.

           STOP RUN.

Sub Program -

----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----+
       IDENTIFICATION DIVISION. 
       PROGRAM-ID. SUBPROG.
       AUTHOR. MTH.

       DATA DIVISION.
       LINKAGE SECTION.
       01 LK-INP1      PIC 9(02).  *> To receive input1 from MAINPROG
       01 LK-INP2      PIC 9(02).  *> To receive input2 from MAINPROG
       01 LK-RESULT    PIC 9(04).  *> To send result to MAINPROG

	  *Receiving data from main program CALL statement
       PROCEDURE DIVISION USING LK-INP1, LK-INP2, LK-RESULT. 

           COMPUTE LK-RESULT = LK-INP1 * LK-INP2.
           EXIT PROGRAM.

JCL -

//MATEPKRJ JOB MSGLEVEL=(1,1),NOTIFY=&SYSUID     
//***********************************************
//*  RUN A COBOL PROGRAM                         
//***********************************************
//STEP01  EXEC PGM=MAINPROG                      
//STEPLIB  DD  DSN=MATEPK.COBOL.LOADLIB,DISP=SHR 
//SYSOUT   DD  SYSOUT=*

Output -

INPUTS:  47, 25
RESULTS:  1175

Explaining Example -

In the above example:

  • MAINPROG is the main program, and SUBPROG is the subprogram.
  • WS-INP1 and WS-INP2 are the inputs passed from MAINPROG to the SUBPROG. SUBPROG receives the data into LK-INP1, LK-INP2 from MAINPROG, multiplies those values, and places the result into LK-RESULT.
  • SUBPROG returns the output in LK-RESULT, and MAINPROG displays the result received from SUBPROG.