Declarations (COBOL)

Use declarations to declare session variables that are effective during a Debug Tool session. Session variables remain in effect for the entire debug session, or process in which they were declared. Variables declared with declarations can be used in other Debug Tool commands as if they were declared to the compiler. Declared variables are removed when your Debug Tool session ends or when the CLEAR command is used to remove them. The keywords cannot be abbreviated.

   .-;------------------------------------------.      
   V                                            |      
>>---level--identifier--+-| attribute |-------+-+--;-----------><
                        '-| usage_attribute |-'        

attribute

|--+-PIC-----+--+----+--picture--| usage_attribute |------------|
   '-PICTURE-'  '-IS-'                                 

usage_attribute

|--+---------------+--+-POINTER---------+-----------------------|
   '-USAGE--+----+-'  +-BINARY----------+   
            '-IS-'    +-COMP------------+   
                      +-COMPUTATIONAL---+   
                      +-COMP-1----------+   
                      +-COMPUTATIONAL-1-+   
                      +-COMP-2----------+   
                      '-COMPUTATIONAL-2-'   

level

1 or 77.

identifier

A valid COBOL data name (including DBCS data names).

picture

A sequence of characters from the set: S X 9 (replication factor is optional).

If picture is not X(*), the COBOL USAGE clause is required.

Usage notes

• For Enterprise COBOL for z/OS® Version 5, if you declare a session variable by using the attribute UNSIGNED BINARY, it can be used only when the current qualification is an Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Version 5 program.
• For Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Version 5, it enforces COBOL rules for variable names when session variables are declared. Version 4 allows some invalid names to be used. Some examples are as follows:
  • For Version 5, it does not allow the name "4-44"; however, the name is allowed in Version 4. The name is invalid because COBOL requires at least one alphabetical character in a variable name.
  • For Version 5, it does not allow the name "SV12#"; however, the name is allowed in Version 4. The name is invalid because '#' is not allowed. Only '-', '_', and alphanumerical characters are allowed in a COBOL variable name.
  • For Version 5, it does not allow the name "_SV12"; however, the name is allowed in Version 4. The name is invalid because '_' cannot be used as the first character in a variable name.
• For Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Version 5, COMP-4 and COMPUTATIONAL-4 are also accepted.
• A declaration cannot be used in a command list; for example, as the subject of an IF command or WHEN clause.
• BINARY and COMP are equivalent.
• Use BINARY or COMP for COMPUTATIONAL-4.
• COMP-1 is short floating point (4 bytes).
• COMP-2 is long floating point (8 bytes).
• Only COBOL PICTURE and USAGE clauses are supported.
• Short forms of COMPUTATIONAL (COMP) are supported.

Examples

• Define a variable named floattmp to hold a floating-point number.

  01 floattmp USAGE COMP-1;

• Define an integer variable name temp.

  77 temp PIC S9(9) USAGE COMP;

Refer to the following topics for more information related to the material discussed in this topic.

• Related tasks
• Debug Tool User's Guide
• Related references
• Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Language Reference