Based storage and attribute

A declaration of a based variable is a description of the generation: the amount of storage required and its attributes.

A based variable does not identify the location of a generation in main storage. A locator value identifies the location of the generation. Any reference to a based variable that is not allocated is in error.

locator-reference

Identifies the location of the data.

When reference is made to a based variable, the data and alignment attributes used are those of the based variable, while the qualifying locator variable identifies the location of data.

A based variable cannot have the EXTERNAL attribute, but a locator reference for a based variable can have any storage class, including based.