Using the EVALUATE statement

You can also use the EVALUATE statement to cause multiple conditions to lead to the same processing, as shown in these examples:

In an EVALUATE statement, the operands before the WHEN phrase are referred to as selection subjects, and the operands in the WHEN phrase are called the selection objects. Selection subjects can be identifiers, literals, conditional expressions, or the word TRUE or FALSE. Selection objects can be identifiers, literals, conditional or arithmetic expressions, or the word TRUE, FALSE, or ANY.

You can separate multiple selection subjects with the ALSO phrase. You can separate multiple selection objects with the ALSO phrase. The number of selection objects within each set of selection objects must be equal to the number of selection subjects, as shown in this example:

Example: EVALUATE testing several conditions

Identifiers, literals, or arithmetic expressions that appear within a selection object must be valid operands for comparison to the corresponding operand in the set of selection subjects. Conditions or the word TRUE or FALSE that appear in a selection object must correspond to a conditional expression or the word TRUE or FALSE in the set of selection subjects. (You can use the word ANY as a selection object to correspond to any type of selection subject.)

The execution of the EVALUATE statement ends when one of the following conditions occurs:

• The statements associated with the selected WHEN phrase are performed.
• The statements associated with the WHEN OTHER phrase are performed.
• No WHEN conditions are satisfied.

WHEN phrases are tested in the order that they appear in the source program. Therefore, you should order these phrases for the best performance. First code the WHEN phrase that contains selection objects that are most likely to be satisfied, then the next most likely, and so on. An exception is the WHEN OTHER phrase, which must come last.