Enterprise COBOL for z/OS 6.4 – Language Reference

This information provides syntax and semantic information about IBM’s implementation of the COBOL language, including rules for writing source programs and descriptions of IBM language extensions.

Throughout this information, “COBOL” or “Enterprise COBOL” refers to “IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS” or “IBM Enterprise COBOL Value Unit Edition for z/OS”.

See the IBM Enterprise COBOL for z/OS Programming Guide for information and examples that will help you write, compile, and debug programs and classes.

IBM extensions

IBM extensions generally add features, syntax, or rules that are not specified in the ANSI and ISO COBOL standards that are listed in Appendix H, “Industry specifications,” on page 763. In this document, the term 85 COBOL Standard refers to those standards.

Extensions range from minor relaxation of rules to major capabilities, such as XML support, Unicode support, object-oriented COBOL for Java™ interoperability, and DBCS character handling.

The rest of this document describes the complete language without identifying extensions. You will need to review Appendix A, “IBM extensions,” on page 707 and the Compiler options in the Enterprise COBOL Programming Guide if you want to use only standard language elements.