MOVE Reference Modification

The reference modification is used for a special purpose to move part of data from the sending item to the receiving item. This is mainly useful when dealing with strings, where we might want to handle only a specific part of the data item.

Syntax -

variable (start-position [: length])

Parameters -

variable - The name of the variable we're working with..
start-position - The position in the variable where the substring begins. The first character is at position 1.
length - Specifies the number of bytes from the starting position. If not provided, the substring includes all characters from the start-position to the end.

Notes -

The sending item can be an alphanumeric elementary item, a group item, or a literal or figurative constant.
The receiving item should be an alphanumeric elementary item or group item but not a literal or figurative constant.
MOVE statement can have one or more receiving items.

Practical Example -

Scenario - Formatting full phone number from three different sources.

Code -

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

       DATA DIVISION.
       WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
       01 WS-COUNTRY-CODE        PIC 9(02)  VALUE 91.
       01 WS-AREA-CODE           PIC 9(03)  VALUE 999.
       01 WS-PHONE-NBR           PIC 9(08)  VALUE 87654321.
       01 WS-FULL-PHN-NBR        PIC 9(13).

       PROCEDURE DIVISION.
           MOVE WS-COUNTRY-CODE  TO WS-FULL-PHN-NBR(1:2).
           MOVE WS-AREA-CODE     TO WS-FULL-PHN-NBR(3:2).
           MOVE WS-PHONE-NBR     TO WS-FULL-PHN-NBR(5:8).

           DISPLAY 'FULL PHONE NUMBER:  ' WS-FULL-PHN-NBR.
           STOP RUN.

Output -

FULL PHONE NUMBER:  919987654321

Explaining Example -

In the above example:

WS-COUNTRY-CODE value moved to first 2 bytes of WS-FULL-PHN-NBR.
WS-AREA-CODE value moved to 3rd and 4th positions of WS-FULL-PHN-NBR.
WS-PHONE-NBR value moved to WS-FULL-PHN-NBR from 5th position to 8 bytes.