A very short COBOL program (http://www.csis.ul.ie/cobol/examples/default.htm)
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IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. ShortestProgram.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
DisplayPrompt.
DISPLAY "I did it".
STOP RUN.
​
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. HELLO.
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
FILE-CONTROL.
SELECT FILEN ASSIGN TO INPUT.
ORGANIZATION IS SEQUENTIAL.
ACCESS IS SEQUENTIAL.
DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION.
FD FILEN 01 NAME PIC A(25).
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 WS-STUDENT PIC A(30).
01 WS-ID PIC 9(5).
LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION.
01 LS-CLASS PIC 9(3).
LINKAGE SECTION. 01 LS-ID PIC 9(5).
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
DISPLAY 'Executing COBOL program using JCL'.
STOP RUN.
The JCL to execute the above COBOL program is as follows:
//SAMPLE JOB(TESTJCL,XXXXXX),CLASS=A,MSGCLASS=C
//STEP1 EXEC PGM=HELLO
//INPUT DD DSN=ABC.EFG.XYZ,DISP=SHR
Output
Executing COBOL program using JCL
Display a Message (https://www.tutorialspoint.com/cobol/cobol_tutorial.pdf)
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IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. Conditions.
AUTHOR. Michael Coughlan.
* An example program demonstrating the use of
* condition names (level 88's).
* The EVALUATE and PERFORM verbs are also used.
DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 Char PIC X.
88 Vowel VALUE "a", "e", "i", "o", "u".
88 Consonant VALUE "b", "c", "d", "f", "g", "h"
"j" THRU "n", "p" THRU "t", "v" THRU "z".
88 Digit VALUE "0" THRU "9".
88 ValidCharacter VALUE "a" THRU "z", "0" THRU "9".
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
Begin.
DISPLAY "Enter lower case character or digit. No data ends.".
ACCEPT Char.
PERFORM UNTIL NOT ValidCharacter
EVALUATE TRUE
WHEN Vowel DISPLAY "The letter " Char " is a vowel."
WHEN Consonant DISPLAY "The letter " Char " is a consonant."
WHEN Digit DISPLAY Char " is a digit."
WHEN OTHER DISPLAY "problems found"
END-EVALUATE
END-PERFORM
STOP RUN.
Demonstrating Conditions (http://www.csis.ul.ie/cobol/examples/Conditn/Conditions.htm)
Reads a sequential file and displays the record (http://www.csis.ul.ie/cobol/examples/SeqRead/Seqread.cbl)
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IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. SeqRead.
AUTHOR. Michael Coughlan.
* An example program showing how to read a sequential file.
* This is the definitive example
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
FILE-CONTROL.
SELECT StudentFile ASSIGN TO "STUDENTS.DAT"
ORGANIZATION IS LINE SEQUENTIAL.
DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION.
FD StudentFile.
01 StudentDetails.
88 EndOfStudentFile VALUE HIGH-VALUES.
02 StudentId PIC 9(7).
02 StudentName.
03 Surname PIC X(8).
03 Initials PIC XX.
02 DateOfBirth.
03 YOBirth PIC 9(4).
03 MOBirth PIC 9(2).
03 DOBirth PIC 9(2).
02 CourseCode PIC X(4).
02 Gender PIC X.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
Begin.
OPEN INPUT StudentFile
READ StudentFile
AT END SET EndOfStudentFile TO TRUE
END-READ
PERFORM UNTIL EndOfStudentFile
DISPLAY StudentId SPACE StudentName SPACE CourseCode SPACE YOBirth
READ StudentFile
AT END SET EndOfStudentFile TO TRUE
END-READ
END-PERFORM
CLOSE StudentFile
STOP RUN.
​
(http://www.csis.ul.ie/cobol/examples/Tables/MonthTable.htm
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IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. MonthTable.
AUTHOR. Michael Coughlan.
* This program counts the number of students born in each month and
* displays the result.
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
FILE-CONTROL.
SELECT StudentFile ASSIGN TO "STUDENTS.DAT"
ORGANIZATION IS LINE SEQUENTIAL.
DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION.
FD StudentFile.
01 StudentDetails.
88 EndOfStudentFile VALUE HIGH-VALUES.
02 StudentId PIC 9(7).
02 StudentName.
03 Surname PIC X(8).
03 Initials PIC XX.
02 DateOfBirth.
03 YOBirth PIC 9(4).
03 MOBirth PIC 9(2).
03 DOBirth PIC 9(2).
02 CourseCode PIC X(4).
02 Gender PIC X.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 MonthTable.
02 TableValues.
03 FILLER PIC X(18) VALUE "January February".
03 FILLER PIC X(18) VALUE "March April".
03 FILLER PIC X(18) VALUE "May June".
03 FILLER PIC X(18) VALUE "July August".
03 FILLER PIC X(18) VALUE "SeptemberOctober".
03 FILLER PIC X(18) VALUE "November December".
02 FILLERh REDEFINES TableValues.
03 Month OCCURS 12 TIMES PIC X(9).
01 MonthCount OCCURS 12 TIMES PIC 999 VALUE ZEROS.
01 MonthIdx PIC 999.
01 HeadingLine PIC X(19) VALUE " Month StudCount".
01 DisplayLine.
02 PrnMonth PIC X(9).
02 FILLER PIC X(4) VALUE SPACES.
02 PrnStudentCount PIC ZZ9.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
Begin.
OPEN INPUT StudentFile
READ StudentFile
AT END SET EndOfStudentFile TO TRUE
END-READ
PERFORM UNTIL EndOfStudentFile
ADD 1 TO MonthCount(MOBirth)
READ StudentFile
AT END SET EndOfStudentFile TO TRUE
END-READ
END-PERFORM
DISPLAY HeadingLine
PERFORM VARYING MonthIdx FROM 1 BY 1 UNTIL MonthIdx > 12
MOVE Month(MonthIdx) TO PrnMonth
MOVE MonthCount(MonthIdx) TO PrnStudentCount
DISPLAY DisplayLine
END-PERFORM.
CLOSE StudentFile
STOP RUN.
Counts the number of students born each month
The table properties
Show me the source code to build a basic Cobol module along with an output
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. HelloWorld.
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 WS-GREETING PIC A(20) VALUE 'Hello, World!'.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
DISPLAY WS-GREETING.
STOP RUN.
Sample Output:
Hello, World!
How to Compile the COBOL Program​:
cobc -x HelloWorld.cob
How to run the COBOL Program​
./HelloWorld
Show me the source code with a table of data I can use to run a basic cobol program
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. TableExample.
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 WS-TABLE-SIZE PIC 9(02) VALUE 5.
01 WS-INDEX PIC 9(02) VALUE 1.
01 WS-NAME-TABLE.
05 WS-NAME OCCURS 5 TIMES INDEXED BY IDX.
10 WS-FIRST-NAME PIC A(20).
10 WS-LAST-NAME PIC A(20).
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
* Initialize table data
MOVE 'John' TO WS-FIRST-NAME (1).
MOVE 'Doe' TO WS-LAST-NAME (1).
MOVE 'Jane' TO WS-FIRST-NAME (2).
MOVE 'Smith' TO WS-LAST-NAME (2).
MOVE 'Alice' TO WS-FIRST-NAME (3).
MOVE 'Johnson' TO WS-LAST-NAME (3).
MOVE 'Bob' TO WS-FIRST-NAME (4).
MOVE 'Brown' TO WS-LAST-NAME (4).
MOVE 'Charlie' TO WS-FIRST-NAME (5).
MOVE 'Davis' TO WS-LAST-NAME (5).
* Display header
DISPLAY 'Name List:'.
* Loop through the table and display names
PERFORM DISPLAY-NAMES UNTIL WS-INDEX > WS-TABLE-SIZE.
STOP RUN.
DISPLAY-NAMES.
DISPLAY 'First Name: ' WS-FIRST-NAME (WS-INDEX)
' Last Name: ' WS-LAST-NAME (WS-INDEX).
ADD 1 TO WS-INDEX.
Sample Output:
​
Name List:
First Name: John Last Name: Doe
First Name: Jane Last Name: Smith
First Name: Alice Last Name: Johnson
First Name: Bob Last Name: Brown
First Name: Charlie Last Name: Davis
The PIC Environment
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. STATE-DFD-INPUT-REPORT.
​
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
FILE-CONTROL.
SELECT EMPFILE ASSIGN TO 'DataTest.txt'
ORGANIZATION IS SEQUENTIAL
ACCESS MODE IS SEQUENTIAL
FILE STATUS IS WS-FILE-STATUS.
DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 INPUT-DATA.
05 CDE-COUNT PIC X(2).
05 IDN-CASE PIC X(7).
05 APPL-LAST-NAME PIC X(15).
05 APPL-FIRST-NAME PIC X(15).
05 ADDRESS1 PIC X(25).
05 ADDRESS2 PIC X(20).
05 CITY PIC X(15).
05 STATE PIC X(2).
05 ZIP PIC X(5).
05 CDE-TIER-LEVEL-CCDBG PIC X(1).
05 POVERTY-LEVEL PIC X(25).
05 NUM-PROGRAM-ACCOUNT PIC X(3).
05 IDN-CHILD PIC X(7).
05 NME-FIRST PIC X(20).
05 NME-LAST PIC X(20).
05 CDE-RACE PIC X(2).
05 CDE-ETHNIC PIC X(1).
05 CAT-CARE PIC X(1).
05 AGE PIC X(3).
05 DTE-BIRTH PIC X(10).
05 F-P-CARE PIC X(1).
05 IDN-PROVIDER PIC X(6).
05 NME-PROVIDER PIC X(20).
05 ADD1 PIC X(20).
05 ADD-CITY PIC X(20).
05 ADD-STATE PIC X(2).
05 ADD-ZIP PIC X(5).
05 CDE-PROVIDER-CARE-TYPE PIC X(1).
05 NUMB-GNJK-CARE-TYPE PIC X(1).
05 NUM-GNJK-LEVEL PIC X(1).
05 EMAIL PIC X(30).
The Code to Run
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
MAIN-PARA.
OPEN INPUT EMPFILE.
PERFORM READ-PARA THRU READ-PARA-EXIT UNTIL WS-EOF="Y".
CLOSE EMPFILE.
STOP RUN.
MAIN-PARA-EXIT.
EXIT.
READ-PARA.
MOVE ZERO TO CDE-Count.
READ EMPFILE
AT END
MOVE "Y" TO WS-EOF
NOT AT END
DISPLAY '*******', NEWFILE
END-READ.
READ-PARA-EXIT.
EXIT.