IBM extensions and COBOL standards

Computer-name written in DBCS characters

Class-names (for object orientation)

Method-names

User-defined words can include an underscore, but not as the first character.

Allowance of UTF-8 with USAGE DISPLAY

Usage NATIONAL for data categories national, national-edited, numeric, numeric-edited, external decimal, and external floating-point

GROUP-USAGE clause with the NATIONAL phrase

National literals (basic and hexadecimal)

National character value for figurative constants SPACE, ZERO, QUOTE, HIGH-VALUES, LOW-VALUES, ALL literal

Intrinsic functions for data conversion:

• DISPLAY-OF
• NATIONAL-OF

Extended case mapping with UPPER-CASE and LOWER-CASE functions

• SELF
• SUPER

Special registers:

• ADDRESS OF
• JNIENVPTR
• JSON-CODE
• JSON-STATUS
• LENGTH OF
• RETURN-CODE
• SHIFT-IN
• SHIFT-OUT
• SORT-CONTROL
• SORT-CORE-SIZE
• SORT-FILE-SIZE
• SORT-MESSAGE
• SORT-MODE-SIZE
• SORT-RETURN
• TALLY
• WHEN-COMPILED
• XML-CODE
• XML-EVENT
• XML-INFORMATION
• XML-NAMESPACE
• XML-NAMESPACE-PREFIX
• XML-NNAMESPACE
• XML-NNAMESPACE-PREFIX
• XML-NTEXT
• XML-TEXT

NULL and NULLS for pointers and object references

Mixed single-byte and double-byte characters in alphanumeric literals (mixed literals)

Hexadecimal notation for alphanumeric literals, defined by opening delimiters X" and X'

Null-terminated alphanumeric literals, defined by opening delimiters Z" and Z'

DBCS literals, defined by opening delimiters N", N', G", and G'. N" and N' are defined as DBCS when the NSYMBOL(DBCS) compiler option is in effect.

Consecutive alphanumeric literals (coding two consecutive alphanumeric literals by ending the first literal in column 72 of a continued line and starting the next literal with a quotation mark in the continuation line)

National literals N", N', NX", NX' for storing literal content as national characters. N" and N' are defined as national when the NSYMBOL(NATIONAL) compiler option is in effect.

19- to 31-digit fixed-point numeric literals. [The 85 COBOL Standard specifies a maximum of 18 digits.]

Floating-point numeric literals

Comment lines and comment entries containing multibyte characters

Inline comments

• END CLASS
• END FACTORY
• END METHOD
• END OBJECT

Specifying a positive signed integer literal following the operator + or - in relative subscripting

RECURSIVE clause

An optional separator period following PROGRAM-ID, AUTHOR, INSTALLATION, DATE-WRITTEN, and SECURITY paragraph headers. [The 85 COBOL Standard requires a period following each of these paragraph headers.]

An optional separator period following program-name in the PROGRAM-ID paragraph. [The 85 COBOL Standard requires a period following program-name.]

An alphanumeric literal for program-name in the PROGRAM-ID paragraph; characters $, #, and @ in the name of the outermost program, and the underscore can be the first character; program-name up to 160 characters in length. [The 85 COBOL Standard requires that program-name be specified as a user-defined word.]

• CLASS-ID paragraph
• INHERITS clause
• END CLASS marker

In a method definition:

• METHOD-ID paragraph
• EXIT METHOD statement
• END METHOD marker

Optionality of a period after the last clause when no clauses are coded. [The 85 COBOL Standard requires a period, even when no clauses are coded.]

Multiple CURRENCY SIGN clauses. [The 85 COBOL Standard allows a single CURRENCY SIGN clause.]

WITH PICTURE SYMBOL phrase in the CURRENCY SIGN clause

Multiple-character and mixed-case currency signs in the CURRENCY SIGN clause (when the WITH PICTURE SYMBOL phrase is specified). [The 85 COBOL Standard allows only one character, and it is both the currency sign and the currency picture symbol. The standard currency sign must not be:

• The same character as any standard picture symbol
• A digit 0-9
• One of the special characters * + - , ; ( ) " = /
• A space ]

Use of lower-case alphabetic characters as a currency sign. [The 85 COBOL Standard allows only uppercase characters.]

Optionality of the file-control-paragraph when the "FILE CONTROL." syntax is specified and there are no files defined in the compilation unit. [The 85 COBOL Standard requires that a file-control-paragraph be coded if "INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION." is coded.]

PASSWORD clause

The second data-name in the FILE STATUS clause

Optionality of RECORD in the ALTERNATE RECORD KEY clause. [The 85 COBOL Standard requires the word RECORD.]

A numeric, numeric-edited, alphanumeric-edited, alphabetic, internal floating-point, external floating-point, national, national-edited, or DBCS primary or alternate record key data item. [The 85 COBOL Standard requires that the key be alphanumeric.]

A primary or alternate record key defined outside the minimum record size for indexed files containing variable-length records. [The 85 COBOL Standard requires that the primary and alternate record keys be within the minimum record size.]

A numeric data item of usage DISPLAY or NATIONAL in the FILE STATUS clause. [The 85 COBOL Standard requires an alphanumeric file status data item.]

The ORGANIZATION IS LINE SEQUENTIAL clause and line-sequential file control format

National literal in the PADDING CHARACTER clause

Specifying only one file-name in the SAME clause in the sequential, indexed, and sort-merge formats of the I-O-control entry. [The 85 COBOL Standard requires at least two file-names.]

Optionality of the keyword ON in the RERUN clause. [The 85 COBOL Standard requires that ON be coded.]

The line-sequential format I-O-control entry

The RERUN clause in the sort-merge I-O-control entry

The GLOBAL clause in the LINKAGE SECTION

Specifying level numbers that are lower than other level numbers at the same hierarchical level in a data description entry. [The 85 COBOL Standard requires that all elementary or group items at the same level in the hierarchy be assigned identical level numbers.]

Data categories internal floating-point, external floating-point, DBCS, national, and national-edited.

Data category numeric with usage NATIONAL.

Data category numeric-edited with usage NATIONAL.

RECORDING MODE clause

Line-sequential format file description entry

• BLOCK CONTAINS
• LABEL RECORDS
• VALUE OF
• LINAGE
• CODE-SET
• WITH FOOTING
• LINES AT

Complex OCCURS DEPENDING ON. [The 85 COBOL Standard requires that an entry containing OCCURS DEPENDING ON be followed only by subordinate entries, and that no entry containing OCCURS DEPENDING ON be subordinate to an entry containing OCCURS DEPENDING ON.]

Implicit qualification of a key specified without qualifiers when the key name is not unique

Reference to a table through indexing when no INDEXED BY phrase is specified

Keys of usages COMPUTATIONAL-1, COMPUTATIONAL-2, COMPUTATIONAL-3, COMPUTATIONAL-4, and COMPUTATIONAL-5 in the ASCENDING/DESCENDING KEY phrase

Acceptance of nonunique index-names that are not referenced

Unbounded tables and groups

Picture symbols G and N

Picture symbol E and the external floating-point picture format

Coding a trailing comma insertion character or trailing period insertion character immediately followed by a separator comma or separator semicolon in a PICTURE clause that is not the last clause of a data description entry. [The 85 COBOL Standard requires that a PICTURE clause containing a picture ending with a comma or period be the last clause in the entry and that it be followed immediately by a separator period.]

Selecting a currency sign and currency symbol with the CURRENCY compiler option

Case-sensitive currency symbols

The maximum of 31 digits for numeric items of usages DISPLAY and PACKED-DECIMAL and for numeric-edited items of USAGE DISPLAY

The effect of the TRUNC compiler option on the value of data items described with a usage of BINARY, COMPUTATIONAL, or COMPUTATIONAL-4

At a subordinate level, specifying a redefining data item that has a size greater than the size of the redefined data item

• NATIVE
• COMP-1 and COMPUTATIONAL-1
• COMP-2 and COMPUTATIONAL-2
• COMP-3 and COMPUTATIONAL-3
• COMP-4 and COMPUTATIONAL-4
• COMP-5 and COMPUTATIONAL-5
• DISPLAY-1
• OBJECT REFERENCE
• NATIONAL
• POINTER
• PROCEDURE-POINTER
• FUNCTION-POINTER

Use of the SYNCHRONIZED clause for items of usage INDEX

A VALUE clause for a condition-name entry on a group that has usages other than DISPLAY

VALUE IS NULL and VALUE IS NULLS

Omission of a paragraph-name when a section-name is omitted

A method, factory, or object procedure division

Referencing data items in the LINKAGE SECTION without a USING phrase in the PROCEDURE DIVISION header (when those data-names are the operand of an ADDRESS OF phrase or ADDRESS OF special register)

The following statements:

• ENTRY
• EXIT METHOD
• GOBACK
• INVOKE
• JSON PARSE
• JSON GENERATE
• XML PARSE
• XML GENERATE

The RETURNING phrase

Specifying a data item in the USING phrase when the data item has a REDEFINES clause in its description

Specifying multiple instances of a given data item in the USING phrase

The formats for method, factory, and object definitions

Performing a nondeclarative procedure from a declarative procedure

Referencing a declarative procedure or nondeclarative procedure in a GO TO statement from a declarative procedure. [The 85 COBOL Standard specifies that a declarative procedure must not reference a nondeclarative procedure. A reference to a declarative procedure from either another declarative procedure or a nondeclarative procedure is allowed only with a PERFORM statement.]

Executing an active declarative

Omitting the section-header after the declaratives or when there are no declaratives. [The 85 COBOL Standard requires a section-header following the "DECLARATIVES." syntax and following the "END DECLARATIVES." syntax.]

Omitting an initial paragraph-name if there are no declaratives. [The 85 COBOL Standard requires a paragraph-name in the following circumstances:

• After the USE statement if there are statements in the declarative procedure
• Following a section header outside declarative procedures
• Before any procedural statement if there are no declaratives

and the 85 COBOL Standard requires that procedural statements be within a paragraph.]

Specifying paragraphs that are not contained within a section, even if some paragraphs are so contained. [The 85 COBOL Standard requires that paragraphs be within a section except when there are no declaratives. The 85 COBOL Standard requires that either all paragraphs be in sections or that none be.]

Specifying data items of usage COMPUTATIONAL-3 or usage PACKED-DECIMAL in a NUMERIC class test

The data-pointer format, the procedure-pointer and function-pointer format, and the object-reference format

Comparison of an index-name with an arithmetic expression

Use of parentheses within abbreviated combined relation conditions

The DATE YYYYMMDD phrase

The DAY YYYYDDD phrase

The following phrases and parameters:

• ADDRESS OF
• LENGTH OF
• OMITTED
• BY VALUE
• RETURNING

Specifying a file-name as an argument

Specifying the called program-name in an alphabetic or zoned-decimal data item

Specifying an argument defined as a subordinate group item. [The 85 COBOL Standard requires that arguments be an elementary data item or a group item defined with level 01.]

The effect of the PGMNAME compiler option on the name of the program to be canceled

The line-sequential format

Displaying signed numeric literals and noninteger numeric literals

• Only in a single-statement paragraph if no procedure-name is specified
• Otherwise, as the last statement of a sentence.]

Initializing a data item that contains the DEPENDING phrase of the OCCURS clause

Specifying the EXTEND phrase for files that have a LINAGE clause

A common exit for two or more active PERFORMS

Omission of both the INVALID KEY phrase and an applicable declarative procedure

Read into an item that is neither an alphanumeric group item nor an elementary alphanumeric item

Rewriting a record with a different number of character positions than the number of character positions in the record being rewritten

Omission of both the NEXT SENTENCE phrase and imperative statements in the binary search format

The procedure-pointer and function-pointer format

The object reference format

Use of a key of a category other than alphanumeric

Coding STOP as other than the last statement in a sentence

The line-sequential format

For a relative file, writing a different number of character positions than the number of character positions in the record being replaced

Specifying both the ADVANCING PAGE and END-OF-PAGE phrases in a single WRITE statement

The effect of the ADV compiler option on the length of the record written to a file

Using WRITE ADVANCING with stacker selection for a card punch file

For a relative or indexed file, omission of both the INVALID KEY phrase and an applicable exception procedure

The following functions:

• BIT-OF
• BIT-TO-CHAR
• DATE-TO-YYYYMMDD
• DAY-TO-YYYYDDD
• DISPLAY-OF
• HEX-OF
• HEX-TO-CHAR
• NATIONAL-OF
• ULENGTH
• UPOS
• USUBSTR
• USUPPLEMENTARY
• UUID4
• UVALID
• UWIDTH
• YEAR-TO-YYYY

• BASIS
• CBL(PROCESS)
• *CONTROL and *CBL
• DELETE
• EJECT
• INSERT
• READY or RESET TRACE
• SERVICE LABEL
• SERVICE RELOAD
• SKIP1, SKIP2, and SKIP3
• TITLE

Literals for specifying text-name and library-name

SUPPRESS phrase

Nested COPY statements

Hyphen as the first or last character in the word form of REPLACING operands

The use of any character (other than a COBOL separator) in the word form of REPLACING operands. [The 85 COBOL Standard accepts only the characters used in formation of user-defined words.]