Summary of changes

This section lists the key changes that have been made to this document Start of change for Enterprise COBOL for z/OS® Version 6 Release 2 and Version 6 Release 2 with PTFs installed End of change . The changes that are described in this information have an associated cross-reference for your convenience. The latest technical changes are marked within >| and |< in the HTML version, or marked by vertical bars (|) in the left margin in the PDF version.

Start of change For a complete list of new and improved features in Enterprise COBOL for z/OS 6.2 and COBOL 6.2 with PTFs installed, see What is new in Enterprise COBOL for z/OS 6.2 and COBOL 6.2 with PTFs installed in the Enterprise COBOL for z/OS What's New. End of change

Version 6 Release 2 with PTFs installed

PI91584: As the new compiler option COPYLOC is introduced, the COPY statement is updated. (COPY statement and Copy member search order)
PI95081: A new LOC(24|31) phrase is added to the ALLOCATE statement to control the location of dynamic storage that is acquired, which overrides the influence of the DATA compiler option. (ALLOCATE statement)
PI97160: Add support for the TO FALSE phrase of the SET statement, as well as the corresponding WHEN SET TO FALSE clause, which allow you to use the SET statement to set condition names to values that will test false in conditions. This is part of the 2002 COBOL Standard. (Format 4: SET for condition-names and Format 2 VALUE clause: condition-name value)
PI97434: Add support for processing national data items with the following intrinsic functions:
- REVERSE (REVERSE)
- ULENGTH (ULENGTH)
- UPOS (UPOS)
- USUBSTR (USUBSTR)
- UWIDTH (UWIDTH)
If the updated intrinsic functions (REVERSE, ULENGTH, UPOS, USUBSTR, UWIDTH) in the May compiler PTFs (UI56120, UI56121, UI56122) are used, then the May Runtime PTF UI56043(V2R1)/UI56042(V2R2)/UI55861(V2R3) must also be applied to Language Environment® on all systems where these programs are linked or run.
PI99703:
- The following intrinsic functions are added as IBM® extensions:
  - BIT-OF (BIT-OF)
  - HEX-OF (HEX-OF)
- The following intrinsic functions are added as part of the 2014 COBOL Standard:
  - E (E)
  - PI (PI)
  - TRIM (TRIM)
If the new intrinsic functions (BIT-OF, HEX-OF, E, PI, TRIM) in the July compiler PTFs (UI57342, UI57343, UI57344, UI57345) are used, then the July Runtime PTF UI57304(V2R1)/UI57303(V2R2)/UI57302(V2R3) must also be applied to Language Environment on all systems where these programs are linked or run.
PH02183:
- The following intrinsic functions are added as IBM extensions:
  - BIT-TO-CHAR (BIT-TO-CHAR)
  - HEX-TO-CHAR (HEX-TO-CHAR)
- The following intrinsic functions are added as part of the 2014 COBOL Standard:
  - ABS (ABS)
  - BYTE-LENGTH (BYTE-LENGTH)
  - EXP (EXP)
  - EXP10 (EXP10)
  - NUMVAL-F (NUMVAL-F)
  - SIGN (SIGN)
  - TEST-NUMVAL (TEST-NUMVAL)
  - TEST-NUMVAL-C (TEST-NUMVAL-C)
  - TEST-NUMVAL-F (TEST-NUMVAL-F)
Note: If the new intrinsic functions (BIT-TO-CHAR, HEX-TO-CHAR, NUMVAL-F, TEST-NUMVAL, TEST-NUMVAL-C, TEST-NUMVAL-F) in the September compiler PTFs (UI58632, UI58633, UI58634) are used, then the September Runtime PTF UI58596(V2R1)/UI58595(V2R2)/UI58603(V2R3) must also be applied to Language Environment on all systems where these programs are linked or run.
PH02251: As the new keyword OMITTED is introduced, the JSON PARSE statement is updated. (JSON PARSE statement)
Note: COBOL Runtime LE PTF UI58596(V2R1)/UI58595(V2R2)/UI58603(V2R3) must also be applied on all systems where programs that make use of this new feature are linked or run.
PH19715: The UUID4 intrinsic function is introduced. (UUID4)
Note: COBOL Runtime LE PTF UI66560(V2R2)/UI66555(V2R3)/UI66557(V2R4) must also be applied on all systems where programs that make use of this new feature are linked or run.
PH20084: A new "NAME is OMITTED" phrase is added to the JSON GENERATE statement to allow generation of an anonymous JSON object, whose top-level parent name is not generated. (JSON GENERATE statement)
Note: COBOL Runtime LE PTF UI66560(V2R2)/UI66555(V2R3)/UI66557(V2R4) must also be applied on all systems where programs that make use of this new feature are linked or run.
PH28546: A new "CONVERTING" phrase is added to the JSON GENERATE and JSON PARSE statements so that you can generate and parse JSON boolean values. (JSON GENERATE statement and JSON PARSE statement)
Note: COBOL Runtime LE APAR PH26698 must also be applied on all systems where programs that make use of this new feature are linked or run.
PH32356: New "when-phrase" and "generic-suppression-phrase" are added to the JSON GENERATE statement so that you can conditionally suppress data items during JSON GENERATE. (JSON GENERATE statement)
Note: COBOL Runtime LE APAR PH31172 must also be applied on all systems where programs that make use of this new feature are linked or run.
Runtime APAR PH34885 (V2R3/V2R4): The UUID4 randomness and UUID4 intrinsic function requires significant CPU usage. (UUID4)

Version 6 Release 2

New statements

The new JSON PARSE statement converts JSON text to COBOL data formats. (JSON PARSE statement)

New and changed special registers

The new JSON-STATUS special register is used to indicate either that a JSON PARSE statement executed successfully or that a nonexception condition occurred. (JSON-STATUS)
The JSON-CODE special register is also used to indicate either that a JSON PARSE statement executed successfully or that an exception condition occurred. (JSON-CODE)

New directives

The following new compiler directives are added to support conditional compilation as defined in the 2002 COBOL Standard:
- The DEFINE directive defines or undefines a compilation variable. (DEFINE)
- The EVALUATE directive provides a multi-branch method of choosing the source lines to include in a compilation group. (EVALUATE)
- The IF directive provides for a one-way or two-way conditional compilation. (IF)
The new INLINE directive allows the compiler to decide whether to inline procedures referenced by PERFORM statements in the source program. (INLINE)