WSCLEAR

Use WSCLEAR to clear a program's non-EXTERNAL data items in WORKING-STORAGE to binary zeros at initialization. The storage is cleared before any VALUE clauses are applied.

WSCLEAR option syntax

Read syntax diagramSkip visual syntax diagramNOWSCLEARWSCLEAR(nnn)

Default is: NOWSCLEAR

Abbreviations are: None

Use NOWSCLEAR to bypass the storage-clearing process.

nnn is any integer from 0 to 255. WSCLEAR without the suboption is the same as WSCLEAR(0).

You can specify the WSCLEAR option either in a command line or in a COBOL statement. However, the WSCLEAR option that is specified in the COBOL statement takes precedence over the option specified in the command line.
  • To specify WSCLEAR with the nnn suboption in the command line, use the format of -qwsclear(nnn). In this case, the command processor scans characters that are in the range of 0 to 255 only, and other excessive characters are ignored. No error message is issued.

    For example, if you specify -qwsclear(99999), the command processor takes WSCLEAR(99) only.

  • To specify WSCLEAR with the nnn suboption in COBOL statements, use the WSCLEAR(nnn) format.

If you specify WSCLEAR(nnn), the byte value represented by nnn is used to initialize each byte of WORKING-STORAGE data to a specific value. This applies only to data items that do not have a VALUE attributed specified.

Performance considerations: If you use WSCLEAR and are concerned about the size or performance of an object program, also use OPTIMIZE(FULL). Doing so instructs the compiler to eliminate all unreferenced data items from the DATA DIVISION, which will speed up initialization.

Related references
OPTIMIZE