Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, V4.2, Language Reference

MOVE statement

The MOVE statement transfers data from one area of storage to one or more other areas.

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Format 1: MOVE statement

                               .--------------.   
                               V              |   
>>-MOVE--+-identifier-1-+--TO----identifier-2-+----------------><
         '-literal-1----'                         


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Format 2: MOVE statement with CORRESPONDING phrase

>>-MOVE--+-CORRESPONDING-+--identifier-1--TO--identifier-2-----><
         '-CORR----------'                                   

CORR is an abbreviation for, and is equivalent to, CORRESPONDING.

identifier-1 , literal-1
The sending area.
identifier-2
The receiving areas. identifier-2 must not reference an intrinsic function.

When format 1 is specified:

When format 2 is specified:

Data items described with the following types of usage cannot be specified in a MOVE statement:

A data item defined with a usage of INDEX, POINTER, FUNCTION-POINTER, PROCEDURE-POINTER, or OBJECT REFERENCE can be part of an alphanumeric group item that is referenced in a MOVE CORRESPONDING statement; however, no movement of data from those data items takes place.

The evaluation of the length of the sending or receiving area can be affected by the DEPENDING ON phrase of the OCCURS clause (see OCCURS clause).

If the sending field (identifier-1) is reference-modified or subscripted, or is an alphanumeric or national function-identifier, the reference-modifier, subscript, or function is evaluated only once, immediately before data is moved to the first of the receiving operands.

Any length evaluation, subscripting, or reference-modification associated with a receiving field (identifier-2) is evaluated immediately before the data is moved into that receiving field.

For example, the result of the statement:

MOVE A(B) TO B, C(B).

is equivalent to: 

MOVE A(B) TO TEMP.
MOVE TEMP TO B.
MOVE TEMP TO C(B).

where TEMP is defined as an intermediate result item. The subscript B has changed in value between the time that the first move took place and the time that the final move to C(B) is executed.

For further information about intermediate results, see Intermediate results and arithmetic precision in the Enterprise COBOL Programming Guide.

After execution of a MOVE statement, the sending fields contain the same data as before execution.

Usage note: Overlapping operands in a MOVE statement can cause unpredictable results.

Elementary moves

An elementary move is one in which the receiving item is an elementary data item and the sending item is an elementary data item or a literal.

Valid operands belong to one of the following categories:

  • Alphabetic: includes data items of category alphabetic and the figurative constant SPACE
  • Alphanumeric: includes the following:
    • Data items of category alphanumeric
    • Alphanumeric functions
    • Alphanumeric literals
    • The figurative constant ALL alphanumeric-literal and all other figurative constants (except NULL) when used in a context that requires an alphanumeric sending item
  • Alphanumeric-edited: includes data items of category alphanumeric-edited
  • DBCS: includes data items of category DBCS, DBCS literals, and the figurative constant ALL DBCS-literal.
  • External floating-point: includes data items of category external floating point (described with USAGE DISPLAY or USAGE NATIONAL) and floating-point literals.
  • Internal floating-point: includes data items of category internal floating-point (defined as USAGE COMP-1 or USAGE COMP-2)
  • National: includes the following:
    • National group items (treated as elementary item of category national)
    • Data items of category national
    • National literals
    • National functions
    • Figurative constants ZERO, SPACE, QUOTE, and ALL national-literal when used in a context that requires a national sending item
  • National-edited: includes data items of category national-edited
  • Numeric: includes the following:
    • Data items of category numeric
    • Numeric literals
    • The figurative constant ZERO (when ZERO is moved to a numeric or numeric-edited item).
  • Numeric-edited: includes data items of category numeric-edited.

Elementary move rules

Any necessary conversion of data from one form of internal representation to another takes place during the move, along with any specified editing in, or de-editing implied by, the receiving item. The code page used for conversion to or from alphanumeric characters is the one in effect for the CODEPAGE compiler option when the source code was compiled.

The following rules outline the execution of valid elementary moves. When the receiving field is:

Alphabetic:

  • Alignment and any necessary space filling or truncation occur as described under Alignment rules.
  • If the size of the sending item is greater than the size of the receiving item, excess characters on the right are truncated after the receiving item is filled.

Alphanumeric or alphanumeric-edited:

  • If the sending item is a national decimal integer item, the sending data is converted to usage DISPLAY and treated as though it were moved to a temporary data item of category alphanumeric with the same number of character positions as the sending item. The resulting alphanumeric data item is treated as the sending item.
  • Alignment and any necessary space filling or truncation take place, as described under Alignment rules.
  • If the size of the sending item is greater than the size of the receiving item, excess characters on the right are truncated after the receiving item is filled.
  • If the initial sending item has an operational sign, the unsigned value is used. If the operational sign occupies a separate character, that character is not moved, and the size of the sending item is considered to be one less character than the actual size.

DBCS:

  • If the sending and receiving items are not the same size, the sending data is either truncated on the right or padded with DBCS spaces on the right.

External floating-point:

  • For a floating-point sending item, the floating-point value is converted to the usage of the receiving external floating-point item (if different from the sending item's representation).
  • For other sending items, the numeric value is treated as though that value were converted to internal floating-point and then converted to the usage of the receiving external floating-point item.

Internal floating-point:

  • When the category of the sending operand is not internal floating-point, the numeric value of the sending item is converted to internal floating-point format.

National or national-edited:

  • If the representation of the sending item is not national characters, the sending data is converted to national characters and treated as though it were moved to a temporary data item of category national of a length not to cause truncation or padding. The resulting category national data item is treated as the sending data item.
  • If the representation of the sending item is national characters, the sending data is used without conversion.
  • Alignment and any necessary space filling or truncation take place as described under Alignment rules. The programmer is responsible for ensuring that multiple encoding units that together form a graphic character are not split by truncation.
  • If the sending item has an operational sign, the unsigned value is used. If the operational sign occupies a separate character, that character is not moved, and the size of the sending item is considered to be one less character than the actual size.

Numeric or numeric-edited:

  • Except when zeros are replaced because of editing requirements, alignment by decimal point and any necessary zero filling take place, as described under Alignment rules.
  • If the receiving item is signed, the sign of the sending item is placed in the receiving item, with any necessary sign conversion. If the sending item is unsigned, a positive operational sign is generated for the receiving item.
  • If the receiving item is unsigned, no operational sign is generated for the receiving item and the absolute value of the sending item is used in the move.
  • When the category of the sending item is alphanumeric, alphanumeric-edited, national, or national-edited, the data is moved as if the sending item were described as an unsigned integer.
  • When the sending item is floating-point, the data is first converted to either a binary or internal decimal representation and is then moved.
  • When the receiving item is numeric-edited, editing takes place as defined by the picture character string or BLANK WHEN ZERO clause associated with the receiving item.
  • When the sending item is numeric-edited, the compiler de-edits the sending data to establish the unedited value of the numeric-edited item (this value can be signed). The unedited numeric value is used in the move to the receiving numeric or numeric-edited data item.

Usage notes:

  1. If the receiving item is of category alphanumeric, alphanumeric-edited, numeric-edited, national, or national-edited and the sending field is numeric, any digit positions described with picture symbol P in the sending item are considered to have the value zero. Each P is counted in the size of the sending item.
  2. If the receiving item is numeric and the sending field is an alphanumeric literal, a national literal, or an ALL literal, all characters of the literal must be numeric characters.

Valid and invalid elementary moves

The following table shows valid and invalid elementary moves for each category. In the table:

  • YES = Move is valid.
  • NO = Move is invalid.
  • Column headings indicate receiving item categories; row headings indicate sending item categories.

Table 1. Valid and invalid elementary moves
  Alpha- betic Alpha- numeric Alpha- numeric edited Numeric Numeric- edited External floating- point Internal floating- point DBCS1 National, national- edited
Alphabetic and SPACE sending item Yes Yes Yes No No No No No Yes
Alphanumeric sending item2 Yes Yes Yes Yes3 Yes3 Yes8 Yes8 No Yes
Alphanumeric-edited sending item Yes Yes Yes No No No No No Yes
Numeric integer and ZERO sending item4 No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Numeric noninteger sending item5 No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
Numeric-edited sending item No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes
Floating-point sending item6 No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
DBCS sending item7 No No No No No No No Yes Yes
National sending item9 No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes
National-edited sending item No No No No No No No No Yes
  1. Includes DBCS data items.
  2. Includes alphanumeric literals.
  3. Figurative constants and alphanumeric literals must consist only of numeric characters and will be treated as numeric integer fields.
  4. Includes integer numeric literals.
  5. Includes noninteger numeric literals.
  6. Includes floating-point literals, external floating-point data items (USAGE DISPLAY or USAGE NATIONAL), and internal floating-point data items (USAGE COMP-1 or USAGE COMP-2).
  7. Includes DBCS data-items, DBCS literals, and figurative constant SPACE.
  8. Figurative constants and alphanumeric literals must consist only of numeric characters and will be treated as numeric integer fields. The ALL literal cannot be used as a sending item.
  9. Includes national data items, national literals, national functions, and figurative constants ZERO, SPACE, QUOTE, and ALL national literal.

Moves involving date fields

If the sending item is specified as a year-last date field, then all receiving fields must also be year-last date fields with the same date format as the sending item. If a year-last date field is specified as a receiving item, then the sending item must be either a nondate or a year-last date field with the same date format as the receiving item. In both cases, the move is then performed as if all items were nondates.

Table 2 describes the behavior of moves involving non-year-last date fields. If the sending item is a date field, then the receiving item must be a compatible date field. If the sending and receiving items are both date fields, then they must be compatible; that is, they must have the same date format, except for the year part, which can be windowed or expanded.

This table uses the following terms to describe the moves:

Normal
The move is performed with no date-sensitive behavior, as if the sending and receiving items were both nondates.
Expanded
The windowed date field sending item is treated as if it were first converted to expanded form, as described under Semantics of windowed date fields.
Invalid
The move is not allowed.

Table 2. Moves involving date fields

 Nondate receiving item Windowed date field receiving item Expanded date field receiving item
Nondate sending item Normal Normal Normal
Windowed date field sending item Invalid Normal Expanded
Expanded date field sending item Invalid Normal1 Normal
  1. A move from an expanded date field to a windowed date field is, in effect, a "windowed" move, because it truncates the century component of the expanded date field. If the move is alphanumeric, it treats the receiving windowed date field as if its data description specified JUSTIFIED RIGHT. This is true even if the receiving windowed date field is a group item, for which the JUSTIFIED clause cannot be specified.

Moves involving file record areas

The successful execution of an OPEN statement for a given file makes the record area for that file available. You can move data to or from the record description entries associated with a file only when the file is in the open status. Execution of an implicit or explicit CLOSE statement removes a file from open status and makes the record area unavailable.

Group moves

A group move is any move in which an alphanumeric group item is a sending item or a receiving item, or both. The following are group moves:

  • A move to an alphanumeric group item from one of the following:
    • any elementary data item that is valid as a sending item in the MOVE statement
    • a national group item
    • a literal
    • a figurative constant
  • A move from an alphanumeric group item to the following:
    • any elementary data item that is valid as a receiving item in the MOVE statement
    • a national group item
    • an alphanumeric group item

A group move is treated as though it were an alphanumeric-to-alphanumeric elementary move, except that there is no conversion of data from one form of internal representation to another. In a group move, the receiving area is filled without consideration for the individual elementary items contained within either the sending area or the receiving area, except as noted in the OCCURS clause. (See OCCURS clause.)


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