VARIABLE attribute

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The VARIABLE attribute establishes the name as a variable and should be specified only along with one of the attributes: ENTRY, FILE or LABEL. It will be ignored in all other declares.

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The VARIABLE attribute is implied if the name is a member of a structure or union, or if any of the following attributes are specified:

  • Storage class attribute
  • DIMENSION
  • PARAMETER
  • Alignment attribute
  • INITIAL

In the following declaration, Account1 and Account2 are file variables and File1 and File2 are file constants.

  declare Account1 file variable,
          Account2 file automatic,
          File1 file,
          File2 file;

File1 and File2 can subsequently be assigned to Account1 or to Account2.