MOVE Statement

MOVE statement is used to transfer data from the source data item to the target data item. It ensures that the transferred data is appropriately formatted based on the data types and sizes of the source and destination fields.

MOVE statement allows the following type variables -

• Alphabetic
• Alphanumeric
• Numeric
• Floating-point

Notes -

• It can has one sending item and one or more receiving items.
• The sending and receiving items can be group or elementary items.

Types of MOVE -

MOVE statement is divided into four types based on its usage -

• Simple MOVE
• Group MOVE
• MOVE Corresponding
• MOVE Reference Modification

Simple MOVE

It is used to move the value of the sending item(s) is moved to the receiving item. The sending and receiving data items should be declared with compatible data type to avoid data transferring errors.

Syntax -

MOVE sending-item TO receiving-item.

Example -

 ...
 01 WS-SENDING-VAR   PIC X(5) VALUE 'Hello'.
 01 WS-RECEIVING-VAR PIC X(10).
 ...
 PROCEDURE DIVISION.
     MOVE WS-SENDING-VAR TO WS-RECEIVING-VAR.

After the MOVE, WS-RECEIVING-VAR will contain 'Hello' followed by 5 spaces.

Group MOVE

It is used to move data between two groups whose elementary items are in the same order. However, the elementary items in both groups should have the same names and data type.

Syntax -

MOVE sending-group TO receiving-group

Example - Moving data from one group to another group.

 ...
 WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
 01 WS-GRP1.
    05 NUM    PIC 9(02) VALUE 1.
    05 NAME   PIC X(20) VALUE 'MAINFRAMESTECHHELP'.
 01 WS-GRP2.
    05 NUM    PIC 9(02).
    05 NAME   PIC X(20).
 ...
 PROCEDURE DIVISION.
     MOVE WS-GRP1     TO WS-GRP2.

After the MOVE, WS-GRP2 will contain 01MAINFRAMESTECHHELP.

MOVE Corresponding

It is used to move data between two groups whose elementary items are not in the same order. However, the elementary items in both groups should have the same names and data type.

Syntax -

MOVE CORRESPONDING|CORR sending-group TO receiving-group

Example - Changing the date format from MM-DD-YYYY to DD/MM/YYYY.

 ...
 WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
 01 WS-DATE-MDY.
    05 WS-DATE-MM     PIC 9(02)  VALUE 10.  
    05 FILLER         PIC X      VALUE '-'. 
    05 WS-DATE-DD     PIC 9(02)  VALUE 13.  
    05 FILLER         PIC X      VALUE '-'. 
    05 WS-DATE-YYYY   PIC 9(04)  VALUE 2023.
 01 WS-DATE-DMY.
    05 WS-DATE-DD     PIC 9(02).
    05 FILLER         PIC X      VALUE '/'. 
    05 WS-DATE-MM     PIC 9(02).
    05 FILLER         PIC X      VALUE '/'.
    05 WS-DATE-YYYY   PIC 9(04).
 ...
 PROCEDURE DIVISION.
    MOVE CORR WS-DATE-MDY TO WS-DATE-DMY.

After the MOVE, WS-DATE-DMY will contain 13/10/2023.

MOVE Referencing Modification

It is a special-purpose MOVE that moves a portion of data from the sending item to the receiving item. It is mainly useful when dealing with strings, where we might want to handle only a specific part of the data.

Syntax -

variable (start-position [: length])

Example - Formatting full phone number from three different sources.

       ...
       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).

After the MOVE, WS-FULL-PHN-NBR will contain 919987654321.

MOVE Combinations -

This table represents the souce item data types(left) and target item data types(top). Y = Move is valid, N = Move is invalid.

• MOVE Statement
  • Simple MOVE
  • Group MOVE
  • MOVE Corresponding
  • MOVE Reference Modification