How logic is divided in the PROCEDURE DIVISION

The PROCEDURE DIVISION of a program is divided into sections and paragraphs, which contain sentences, statements, and phrases.

Section

Logical subdivision of your processing logic.

A section has a section header and is optionally followed by one or more paragraphs.

A section can be the subject of a PERFORM statement. One type of section is for declaratives.

Paragraph

Subdivision of a section, procedure, or program.

A paragraph has a name followed by a period and zero or more sentences.

A paragraph can be the subject of a statement.

Sentence

Series of one or more COBOL statements that ends with a period.

Statement

Performs a defined step of COBOL processing, such as adding two numbers.

A statement is a valid combination of words, and begins with a COBOL statement. Statements are imperative (indicating unconditional action), conditional, or compiler-directing. Using explicit scope terminators instead of periods to show the logical end of a statement is preferred.

Phrase

A subdivision of a statement.