Entry constants

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The appearance of a label prefix to a PROCEDURE or ENTRY statement explicitly declares an entry constant.

A parameter-descriptor list is obtained from the parameter declarations, if any, and by defaults.

External entry constants must be explicitly declared:
  • This declaration defines an entry point to an external procedure.
  • This declaration optionally specifies a parameter-descriptor list (the number of parameters and their attributes), if any, for the entry point.
  • This declaration specifies the attributes of the value that is returned by the procedure if the entry is a function.

Read syntax diagramSkip visual syntax diagramENTRY( parameter-descriptor-list)RETURNSattributeOPTIONS( characteristic-list)EXTERNAL( environment-name)

The attributes can appear in any order.

ENTRY attribute
For complete ENTRY attribute syntax, see ENTRY attribute.
OPTIONS attribute
For complete OPTIONS attribute syntax, see OPTIONS option and attribute.
RETURNS attribute
For complete RETURNS attribute syntax, see RETURNS option and attribute.
EXTERNAL attribute
If you do not specify an environment-name, the name is the same as the declaration. For a complete description of the EXTERNAL attribute, see INTERNAL and EXTERNAL attributes.