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🧾 COBOL Statements and Phrases – At a Glance

🔹 Imperative Statements​

Imperative statements tell the COBOL program what to do, step-by-step. These statements are executed sequentially and are responsible for carrying out actual operations like moving data or doing arithmetic.

📌 What They Do:​

  • Perform calculations

  • Move data from one field to another

  • Manipulate or transform string data

💡 Examples:​

  • ADD – Add values

  • MOVE – Copy data

  • INSPECT – Analyze and count characters

  • STRING – Concatenate fields into a single value

  • UNSTRING – Break a string into smaller parts

These are the action commands in COBOL – similar to what functions or operations do in other programming languages.

🔹 Conditional Statements​

Conditional statements allow COBOL programs to make decisions. These are similar to if-else statements in other languages. The program evaluates a condition and executes different logic depending on the result.

📌 When They're Used:​

  • Making decisions in business logic

  • Validating inputs

  • Handling exceptions and special cases

💡 Examples:​

  • IF – Basic condition

  • EVALUATE – Multi-branch decision (like switch/case)

  • READ AT END – Used while reading files

  • ON SIZE ERROR – Triggered when a math operation fails

  • ON OVERFLOW – Used with operations like STRING to detect overflow

These statements control program flow based on data values or results of operations.

🔹 Delimited Scope Statements​

In COBOL, a statement or block of code must have a clear start and end. Scope delimiters help ensure that the program knows where a block begins and where it ends, especially important for nested conditions or loops.

✅ Explicit Scope Terminators​

  • Use END-<verb> (like END-IF, END-PERFORM)

  • Helps in making code readable and avoiding logical errors

⚠️ Implicit Scope Terminator​

  • A period . ends all unclosed previous statements

  • Used in simple or older COBOL programs, but can be risky in nested logic

For clarity and maintainability, it's highly recommended to use explicit END- statements in modern COBOL code.

🔹 Compiler-Directing Statements​

These statements are not executed at runtime. Instead, they guide the compiler during the compilation phase. Think of them like compiler instructions or preprocessor directives.

📌 Examples:​

  • COPY – Import reusable code like a copybook

  • SKIP – Advance output listing to a new line (for printed reports)

  • EJECT – Force a page break in the printed output

These help organize code and output, especially in large applications with reusable components.

🔹 Useful COBOL Phrases​

Phrases in COBOL are extensions to statements that modify how they behave. They make the language powerful and flexible when used properly.

🔄 CORRESPONDING (CORR)​

Used with MOVE, ADD, and SUBTRACT to operate on matching data names in group-level structures.

		ADD CORRESPONDING GROUP2 TO GROUP1.

  • Fields with the same name inside each group will be added.

  • Reduces the need for writing multiple ADD or MOVE lines manually.

📤 GIVING​

Used in arithmetic operations to store results in a specified variable without changing the original values.

		ADD 10 TO WS-VALUE GIVING WS-RESULT.

Good for preserving inputs and storing clean results.

🔁 ROUNDED​

Rounds the result when decimal overflow occurs. Used with arithmetic statements.

		COMPUTE WS-RESULT = 10 / 3 ROUNDED.
  • Ensures cleaner output, especially for financial applications.

⚠️ ON SIZE ERROR​

Triggers a special set of instructions when a calculation exceeds the field’s capacity (like trying to store 1000 in a 3-digit field).


		ADD WS-A TO WS-B GIVING WS-RESULT     
		ON SIZE ERROR         
			DISPLAY "Calculation too large!"         
			MOVE 999 TO WS-RESULT 
		END-ADD.

📘 Sample Code Snippet​

  • Adds two fields and stores the result in WS-RESULT

  • If the result doesn't fit, it displays an error and assigns a fallback value

		ADD WS-NUM1 TO WS-NUM2 GIVING WS-RESULT
		ON SIZE ERROR
			DISPLAY "Size error!"
			MOVE 999 TO WS-RESULT
		END-ADD.