Subscripting
The lowest possible subscript value is 1, which references the first occurrence of a table element. In a one-dimensional table, the subscript corresponds to the row number.
About this task
You can use a literal or a data-name as a subscript. If a data item that has a literal subscript is of fixed length, the compiler resolves the location of the data item.
When you use a data-name
as a variable subscript, you must describe the data-name as an elementary
numeric integer. The most efficient format is COMPUTATIONAL (COMP)
with a PICTURE size that is smaller than five digits.
You cannot use a subscript with a data-name that is used as a subscript.
The code generated for the application resolves the location of a
variable subscript at run time.
You can increment or decrement a literal or variable subscript by a specified integer amount. For example:
TABLE-COLUMN (SUB1 - 1, SUB2 + 3)
You can change part of a table element rather than the whole element. To do so, refer to the character position and length of the substring to be changed. For example:
01 ANY-TABLE.
05 TABLE-ELEMENT PIC X(10)
OCCURS 3 TIMES VALUE "ABCDEFGHIJ".
. . .
MOVE "??" TO TABLE-ELEMENT (1) (3 : 2).
The MOVE statement in the example
above moves the string '??' into table element number
1, beginning at character position 3, for a length of 2 characters.
