Cobol: cannot find entry point of a text file - file-handling

Hi i am learning cobol from tutorialpoints and every program from there works as i've tested them in OpenCobolIDE(some needed a little editing). Then i came across the File Handling chapter and in there the program had a lot of errors. I did manage to rewrite the program until it didn't show me any errors but it doesn't do anything.
Here's my code:
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. HELLO.
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
FILE-CONTROL.
SELECT STUDENT ASSIGN TO
'C:\Cobol\FIle Handling\input.txt'
ORGANIZATION IS INDEXED
ACCESS IS RANDOM
RECORD KEY IS STUDENT-ID
FILE STATUS IS FS.
DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION.
FD STUDENT.
01 STUDENT-FILE.
05 STUDENT-ID PIC 9(5).
05 NAME PIC A(25).
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 WS-STUDENT-FILE.
05 WS-STUDENT-ID PIC 9(5).
05 WS-NAME PIC A(25).
01 FS PIC 9(02).
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
OPEN I-O STUDENT.
MOVE 20005 TO STUDENT-ID.
READ STUDENT RECORD INTO WS-STUDENT-FILE
KEY IS STUDENT-ID
INVALID KEY DISPLAY 'Invalid Key'
NOT INVALID KEY DISPLAY WS-STUDENT-FILE
END-READ.
CLOSE STUDENT.
STOP RUN.
This is the text file:
20003 Mohtashim M.
20004 Nishant Malik
20005 Amitabh Bachhan
The result should be the text:
20005 Amitabh Bachhan

It's doing something: It's reading the file. But that's all; you didn't ask for it to display or do anything else beyond reading the record into memory. You might want to look at using the DISPLAY statement or maybe create another file to write the output to.
Might I make a couple of suggestions?
In modern COBOL, stylistically, you don't put a period after everything in the procedure division -- you only put it in where it is necessary. For example:
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
OPEN I-O STUDENT
MOVE 20005 TO STUDENT-ID
READ STUDENT RECORD INTO WS-STUDENT-FILE
KEY IS STUDENT-ID
INVALID KEY DISPLAY 'Invalid Key'
NOT INVALID KEY DISPLAY WS-STUDENT-FILE
END-READ
CLOSE STUDENT
STOP RUN
.
Although the compiler doesn't care about spaces and returns, if I were you, I'd try to indent my code a bit better (I like how I indented the above :-) ). It's up to you and a lot of people like to do it differently, but if you are consistent you can spot problems that might sneak through your code.
Edit: I didn't notice that you were reading with a key from a text file. So, either you need to:
read from a pre-built indexed file, or
read the file sequentially and search for what you want by comparing what you read for the student id you wanted.

Related

Reusing the file definition of one file for another with out opening /closing it

Reusing the file definition of file1 for another i.e file2 with out opening /closing file1.
I have a monthly file and my requirement is generate a daily file similar to monthly file.The record length and the File definition of both the files are same.
Can i make use of monthly file's FD to hold data and do some validation using monthly file data items for my Daily file and write my daily file later?
lot of validations are being done using monthly file's FD variables and I cannot do same validations using daily file's variables as i need to make changes/rewrite lot of code in many places in multiple programs.
Note: I am doing my daily file processing & generation after the monthly processing is over at the end .
Also ,we are using UNIX environment.
Please suggest me how can i achieve this if above mentioned method is not possible.
The record area for a file is not available until the file is opened. The SAME RECORD AREA clause may be used to provide an alias.
identification division.
program-id. srac.
environment division.
input-output section.
file-control.
select optional monthly-file assign "monthly.dat"
file status monthly-stat.
select daily-file assign "daily.dat"
file status daily-stat.
i-o-control.
same record area monthly-file daily-file.
data division.
file section.
fd monthly-file.
1 monthly-id pic 999.
fd daily-file.
1 daily-id pic 999.
working-storage section.
1 monthly-stat pic x(2).
1 daily-stat pic x(2).
procedure division.
open input monthly-file daily-file
display "monthly-stat:" space monthly-stat
display "daily-stat: " space daily-stat
read daily-file
display "monthly-id:" space monthly-id
if monthly-id < 10
add 100 to monthly-id
end-if
display "daily-id: " space daily-id
close monthly-file daily-file
stop run
.
monthly-stat: 05
daily-stat: 00
monthly-id: 001
daily-id: 101
In this example, the monthly and daily files have identical record description entries; but, the monthly file does not exist. Yet, one may use the data-names for the monthly file for validation, modification, or whatever.

Is there a way to automatically fill in array after getting user input?

I have an array of 5 elements and each of the elements holds a character. I want to accept user input in one line. For example: ABCDE. And I intend element 1 of the array to have A and element 2 of the array to have B and so on. Could someone help with this? I have attached the relevant portions of the code below:
environment division.
input-output section.
file-control.
select standard-input assign to keyboard.
select standard-output assign to display.
data division.
file section.
fd standard-input.
01 stdin-record pic x(80).
fd standard-output.
01 stdout-record pic x(80).
working-storage section.
01 input-area.
02 inputCharacters pic x(1) occurs 5 times.
01 print-line.
02 inputCharacters pic x(1) occurs 5 times.
procedure division.
open input standard-input, output standard-output.
read standard-input into input-area
at end
close standard-input, standard-output
end-read.
write
stdout-record from print-line after advancing 5 line
end-write
stop run.
MOVE input-area TO print-line
For the code you have, you could also do this:
write
stdout-record from input-area after advancing 5 line
end-write
If you don't need two copies of a table (COBOL doesn't really have "arrays" in the way you're probably used to) then don't have two copies.
If you do have two tables, I'd suggest making the item names different. If you don't, you're making things tougher by having to use "qualification" to make the references unique.
MOVE inputCharacters ( 1 ) OF input-area
TO inputCharacters ( 1 ) OF print-line
Instead of
MOVE inputCharacters ( 1 )
TO outputCharacters ( 1 )
If you don't mind qualification yourself, you may find that colleagues or future maintainers hate it.
I'm not quite sure what you want to happen with this:
read standard-input into input-area
at end
close standard-input, standard-output
end-read.
You only do one read, you you'll only get at end when there is no data (whatever that means with keyboard). In that case, you don't have data to do anything with.
You should look at how to use FILE STATUS for each file. Check the file-status field after each IO, and I'd also recommend using the file-status field for end-of-file checking, rather than the cumbersome AT END.
However, as I said, I don't know what that means with keyboard... so perhaps that won't work :-)

Buffer in cobol file handling

I have written a code to match the date given by user(instream data) with the date mentioned in an input file. When the date matches, the record is moved to an output file. The program ran successfully. Now i am inserting a header in output file by declaring a variable 'header' in working-storage section, moving the 'header' field to output record and writing the output record. Though it is running successfully i have a doubt. I looked for it everywhere but unable to find it. The problem is-
The concept of buffer tells us that while declaring File Description(FD) it creates a structure. The file description(FD) given with all the records and fields creates a buffer structure. Now all the read/write operation happens through it.
If a program processes more than one file, a record buffer must be defined for each file.
To process all the records in an INPUT file, we must ensure that each record instance is copied from the file, into the record buffer, when required.
To create an OUTPUT file containing data records, we must ensure that each record is placed in the record buffer and then transferred to the file.
To transfer a record from an input file to an output file we must read the record into the input record buffer, transfer it to the output record buffer and then write the data to the output file from the output record buffer.
So when i am giving the date separately and moving it to the output record it is SURELY not going into that buffer which i created using FD in output record. So how is it going there?? If it is creating its own buffer then all data can be moved directly, what is the need of declaring FD??
This is the link to see the concept of buffer
[1]: http://www.csis.ul.ie/cobol/course/SequentialFiles1.htm
This is my code as given below-JUST EMPHASIZE ON STATEMENTS IN SLASHES
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. TXNRPT02 .
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
FILE-CONTROL.
SELECT D01-TXN-FILE ASSIGN TO DETLFILE
ORGANIZATION IS SEQUENTIAL
ACCESS MODE IS SEQUENTIAL
FILE STATUS IS WS-INSERT-FILE-STATUS1.
SELECT D02-TXN-FILE ASSIGN TO DATEOUT
ORGANIZATION IS SEQUENTIAL
ACCESS MODE IS SEQUENTIAL
FILE STATUS IS WS-INSERT-FILE-STATUS2.
DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION.
FD D01-TXN-FILE. // CREATES A BUFFER
01 D01-TXN-REC.
05 TXN-DATE PIC 9(8).
05 FILLER PIC X(1).
05 TXN-NUMBER PIC 9(5).
05 FILLER PIC X(1).
05 SBACCT-CODE PIC 9(5).
05 FILLER PIC X(1).
05 TXN-AMOUNT PIC 9(5)V9(2).
05 FILLER PIC X(52).
FD D02-TXN-FILE. //CREATES A BUFFER STRUCTURE IN OUTPUT FILE
01 D02-TXN-REC.
05 TXN-DATE1 PIC 9(8).
05 FILLER PIC X(1).
05 TXN-NUMBER1 PIC 9(5).
05 FILLER PIC X(1).
05 SBACCT-CODE1 PIC 9(5).
05 FILLER PIC X(1).
05 TXN-AMOUNT1 PIC 9(5)V9(2).
05 FILLER PIC X(52).
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 HEAD1 // declaring header
02 FILLER PIC X(20).
02 TEXT PIC X(40) VALUE 'REPORT OF BANK'
01 FILE-STATUS PIC X(02) VALUE '00'.
88 EOF VALUE '10'.
88 SUCCESS VALUE '00'.
01 WS-INSERT-FILE-STATUS1 PIC X(2).
01 WS-INSERT-FILE-STATUS2 PIC X(2).
01 WS-DATE PIC 9(8). // DATE TO BE ACCEPTED FROM INSTREAM DATA
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
MAIN-PARA.
ACCEPT WS-DATE.
PERFORM OPEN-PARA.
PERFORM INIT-PARA.
PERFORM PROCESS-PARA UNTIL EOF.
PERFORM CLOSE-PARA.
STOP RUN.
OPEN-PARA. // OPENS INPUT AND OUTPUT FILES
OPEN INPUT D01-TXN-FILE.
DISPLAY 'INFILE OPEN STATUS' , WS-INSERT-FILE-STATUS1.
OPEN OUTPUT D02-TXN-FILE.
DISPLAY 'OUTFILE OPEN STATUS' ,WS-INSERT-FILE-STATUS2.
INIT-PARA. // INITIALIZES BOTH RECORDS
INITIALIZE D01-TXN-REC.
INITIALIZE D02-TXN-REC.
PROCESS-PARA.
MOVE HEAD1 TO D02-TXN-REC. // MOVING HEADER TO OUTPUT RECORD
WRITE D02-TXN-REC. // WRITING THE HEADER
READ D01-TXN-FILE
AT END MOVE '10' TO FILE-STATUS
NOT AT END PERFORM OPPO-PARA
END-READ.
OPPO-PARA. //PERFORMS EQUAL OPERATION ON BOTH DATES
IF WS-DATE = TXN-DATE
MOVE D01-TXN-REC TO D02-TXN-REC
WRITE D02-TXN-REC
END-IF.
CLOSE-PARA. // CLOSING BOTH FILES
CLOSE D01-TXN-FILE, D02-TXN-FILE.
DISPLAY 'INFILE CLOSE STATUS' , WS-INSERT-FILE-STATUS1.
DISPLAY 'OUTFILE CLOSE STATUS' , WS-INSERT-FILE-STATUS2.
I think you are over-complicating things.
In the FILE SECTION you logically connect a record-layout to a file that will be read, or to a record which will be written (to a file).
No storage is allocated in your COBOL program by the definition of the FD or any 01-levels subordinate to an FD. You simply establish a "map" which will be used to understand the data read from a file, or to use to construct the data which you will write to a file.
When you OPEN a file, some run-time code does that work behind the scenes, and will make the address of the first byte of your record layout(s) under the FD equal to the first byte of the piece of storage that will be used as the "buffer".
A "buffer" in this context is just a piece of storage which is the same size as your BLKSIZE and which will be used, without you having to be aware of it, to store records before they are actually written to the physical output file.
What happens when you WRITE a record is that the record-pointer simply gets changed to the first available byte after the current record.
It is similar when you read.
Although installation-dependent, mostly you will have the default number of buffers for a simple sequential file, which is five. Once a buffer is full the, for an output file, the IO-subsystem will be told it has data available for writing, and the filling will continue, asynchronously, with the next buffer area. What this does is reduce the amount of time your COBOL program is waiting for IO to complete.
It is similar, which obvious reversals, for the READ of a sequential file.
As a beginner, you don't need to know what the buffering is doing. Just keep it conceptually simple. You OPEN, you READ, the record is "under" the FD. You continue doing that until end-of-file, then you CLOSE. At the same time (usually) you OPEN, you WRITE, and you CLOSE at the end. What gets written is the data that is under the FD for the output file.
Also review READ ... INTO ... and WRITE ... FROM .... The concept is the same, it is just that COBOL will "move" the data to the FD for you, rather than you having detailed record-layouts under the FD. Whether you use READ file or READ file INTO record-layout is usually down to local standards for your site - do it the way your team does it.
You have now added some code to your Question.
First thing, you are writing your header inside a loop. You will get one header per record, which is probably not what you want.
Secondly, you've changed to use the FILE STATUS but not fully grasped how it works yet. You don't need the AT END/NOT AT END. The COBOL IO will maintain the FILE STATUS field. When end-of-file is identified by the COBOL run-time the FILE STATUS field will be set to "10", "automatically" as far as you are concerned.
Thirdly, review your use of INITIALIZE. There is never any point in INITIALIZE on an input record. READ always advances the record-pointer. The storage INITIALIZEd is the storage before the record you read. Even if it was not, what is the point of INITIALIZE, just to read a record over the top of the initialised storage? Same with your output.
All that your use of INITIALIZE is doing is using CPU time. Yes, it is not at all uncommon that this happens, but that is no excuse for you to pick up bad habits as well.

Implicit Close of file

I have written the following COBOL program:
*************************************************************
* VERKOOP
*************************************************************
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. VERKOOP.
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
FILE-CONTROL.
SELECT PRODUCTEN ASSIGN TO "BESTANDEN/PRODUCTEN"
ACCESS MODE IS RANDOM
ORGANIZATION IS INDEXED
RECORD KEY IS PRODUCTID
FILE STATUS IS WS-FILE-STATUS.
DATA DIVISION.
FILE SECTION.
FD PRODUCTEN BLOCK CONTAINS 10 RECORDS.
01 PRODUCT.
02 PRODUCTID PIC X(6).
02 LEVERANCIERID PIC X(6).
02 AANTAL PIC 9(6).
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
77 FOUT PIC X.
88 PRODUCT-NIET-GEVONDEN VALUE 1.
77 WS-PRODUCTID PIC X(6).
77 WS-AANTAL PIC 9(6).
77 WS-FILE-STATUS PIC XX.
LINKAGE SECTION.
01 LS-PRODUCTID PIC X(6).
01 LS-AANTAL PIC 9(6).
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
* USING LS-PRODUCTID, LS-AANTAL.
MAIN.
PERFORM INITIALISEER
PERFORM LEES-PRODUCT-IN
PERFORM LEES-BESTAND
PERFORM SLUIT-BESTAND
STOP RUN.
INITIALISEER.
MOVE ZEROS TO PRODUCT
OPEN I-O PRODUCTEN.
* DISPLAY WS-FILE-STATUS..
LEES-PRODUCT-IN.
* MOVE LS-PRODUCTID TO WS-PRODUCTID
* MOVE LS-AANTAL TO WS-AANTAL.
DISPLAY "GEEF PRODUCTID OP: "
ACCEPT WS-PRODUCTID
DISPLAY "GEEF AANTAL OP: "
ACCEPT WS-AANTAL.
LEES-BESTAND.
* DISPLAY "LEES-BESTAND"
MOVE WS-PRODUCTID TO PRODUCTID
* DISPLAY PRODUCTID
READ PRODUCTEN INVALID KEY SET PRODUCT-NIET-GEVONDEN TO TRUE
END-READ
DISPLAY "END-READ" WS-FILE-STATUS
IF PRODUCT-NIET-GEVONDEN PERFORM FOUTJE
ELSE
MOVE WS-PRODUCTID TO PRODUCTID
SUBTRACT WS-AANTAL FROM AANTAL
PERFORM UPDATE-PRODUCT
END-IF.
UPDATE-PRODUCT.
REWRITE PRODUCT INVALID KEY PERFORM FOUTJE.
SLUIT-BESTAND.
* DISPLAY "SLUIT-BESTAND"
CLOSE PRODUCTEN.
FOUTJE.
DISPLAY "ER IS EEN FOUT OPGETREDEN"
* DISPLAY WS-FILE-STATUS
STOP RUN.
The idea is that I find a product by its productid in the file PRODUCTEN.dat and subtract the amount (aantal) by a given number. However everytime I run it I get the following error: WARNING - Implicit CLOSE of PRODUCTEN <"BESTANDEN/PRODUCTEN">. I don't really see the problem, the WS-FILE-STATUS line even gives me back a 00 status. I am 100% sure the product is in the file so I'm not trying to subtract from a non-existing product or anything.
UPDATE: I fixed it by assign PRODUCTEN to a newly declared file as the last one (somehow) got corrupt and was behaving in an unintended way.
To get that Implicit Close message, you must have a STOP RUN before you close the file.
You have a STOP RUN in paragraph FOUTJE, before the file is closed, so paragraph FOUTJE is being used.
You use paragraph FOUTJE in a PERFORM when PRODUCT-NIET-GEVONDEN is true.
PRODUCT-NIET-GEVONDEN is set to true on the INVALID KEY of the READ.
So INVALID KEY is true.
You get a FILE STATUS of ZERO. Unexpected, but fits what you have presented.
I don't have COBOL-IT and I don't know what OS you are using.
I also don't know in your set-up what a READ of a keyed file which does not explicitly reference a key does.
I don't know in any set-up, because I don't do it. If I'm doing a keyed read, I always specify the key.
I don't put data in the key on the file. I use a WORKING-STORAGE field for the key.
Why, well, implementation-dependent for the compiler, but unless your file is OPEN and unless there is a current record on the file, then the content, even the address, of a file record is/can be (implementation dependent) undefined.
As far as I am concerned, the KEY on the SELECT is to define the presence of the key on the file. The key you are using to READ the file obviously comes from elsewhere.
So, I would remove these:
MOVE ZEROS TO PRODUCT
MOVE WS-PRODUCTID TO PRODUCTID
I'd change this to include the KEY of WS-PRODUCTID
READ PRODUCTEN INVALID KEY SET PRODUCT-NIET-GEVONDEN TO TRUE
I'd not use INVALID KEY, I'd just use the value of WS-FILE-STATUS, which I'd expect to be "23" for "not found". I'd do the test with an 88. You then don't need your "flag" (FOUT and PRODUCT-NIET-GEVONDEN) anyway. Check the FILE STATUS field after each IO. This time you spelled your filename correctly, another time you won't and you may waste more time chasing your tail.
Work on consistent indentation, it will make your program easier to read, for you, and anyone else.
If you want to use DISPLAY to verify the logical path, you need to DISPLAY the value which is used to determine the logical path (FOUT in this case).
There are two "formats" of the READ statement. One is for sequential reads, one is for reads using a key. When each is reduced to its mandatory-only content, they are identical. Therefore it is not clear, per compiler, which type of READ is the default (when not explicit) or when it is the default (per file). So I always make it explicit:
READ PRODUCTEN KEY IS WS-PRODUCTID
I would then use the FILE STATUS field to determine whether the key was read (00 in the status) or not found (23) or something else (something else).
NOTE: This Answer as a resolution to your problem only works if everything is as you have described. Further information may invalidate this Answer as a Resolution.
The Answer does work as a generally clearer (therefore better) way to code your COBOL program.
Turns out to have been a suspected corrupted file. This may have caused a disparity between INVALID KEY and FILE STATUS, but in the normal course of events that is not going to happen. It is the only thing which fits all the evidence, but this is an exceptional case, perhaps not able to reproduce without the exact-same file corruption and clutching at this straw in a general case for why a given program is not working is probably the first refuge of a scoundrel.

Is there a way to parameterize functions in COBOL?

I'm coding routines like:
READ-A.
READ FILE-A
AT END
MOVE 1 TO EOF-A
NOT AT END
ADD 1 TO CN-READ-A
END-READ.
F-READ-A. EXIT.
to read several files and I was wondering if there's a way to code a routine that is able to read the filename from a variable so I don't have to code the same thing for each file. Thanks!
One solution as said above is to use multiple programs or nested program, for which
I have included an example below, which is solution 1.
Another solution is to COBOL classes, which might not be to your liking but I like them, so I've included an example, which is solution 2.
Solution 1:
program-id. TestProgram.
working-storage section.
01 file-name pic x(128).
01 file-lines pic 9(9).
procedure division.
move 0 to file-lines
move "d:\rts_win32.txt" to file-name
call "program1" using file-name file-lines
display file-lines
stop run
end program TestProgram.
program-id. Program1.
file-control.
select file-a assign to myfile
organization is line sequential.
data division.
fd file-a.
01 file-a-line pic x(80).
working-storage section.
01 EOF-A pic 9 value 0.
linkage section.
01 lk-filename pic x(128).
01 CN-READ-A pic 9(9).
procedure division using lk-filename
CN-READ-A.
move lk-filename to myfile
open input file-a
perform READ-A until EOF-A equals 1
close file-a
goback.
READ-A.
READ FILE-A
AT END
MOVE 1 TO EOF-A
NOT AT END
ADD 1 TO CN-READ-A
END-READ.
F-READ-A.
EXIT.
end program Program1.
Solution 2
program-id. TestProgram.:
working-storage section.
01 file-counter type FileLineCounter.
procedure division.
set file-counter to new type FileLineCounter("d:\rts_win32.txt")
display file-counter::LineCount
stop run
end program TestProgram.
class-id FileLineCounter.
file-control.
select file-a assign to myfile
organization is line sequential.
data division.
fd file-a.
01 file-a-line pic x(80).
working-storage section.
01 cn-read-a binary-long property as "LineCount".
method-id New.
01 EOF-A pic 9 value 0.
procedure division using by value filename as string.
set myfile to filename
open input file-a
perform READ-A until EOF-A equals 1
close file-a
goback.
READ-A.
READ FILE-A
AT END
MOVE 1 TO EOF-A
NOT AT END
ADD 1 TO CN-READ-A
END-READ.
F-READ-A.
EXIT.
end method.
end class.
May not be "in the wild" yet with compiler support, but the current ISO Draft 20xx standard includes FUNCTION-ID in place of PROGRAM-ID. It adds a parameter friendly function call computing paradigm to COBOL.
Might not help today, but maybe in the near future. If I'm not mistaken, User Defined Functions are actually from the COBOL 2002 spec, but it seems compiler vendors are hit or miss on support for the feature.
FUNCTION-ID support is in closed trials for OpenCOBOL 2.0, but the timeline for the 2.0 release is undetermined and could be another year or more before it's made public.
The proper Cobol way to parameterize routines is via the nested subprogram.
You can do what you want, but it is dependant upon your compiler and environment, you can pass a file, or a file name, or a DDname.
What platform are you on?
Edit: On z/OS, you can change what FILE-A points to at runtime using putenv() to adjust the dataset name associated with the DDNAME that FILE-A uses.
See:
http://ibmmainframes.com/post-57281.html
http://cicswiki.org/cicswiki1/index.php?title=How_do_I_allocate_a_file_dynamically_using_COBOL%3F
You will need a OPEN-A and CLOSE-A paragraph as well between switching files.
It isn't exactly passing parameters to your read statement, but it lets you reuse your OPEN/READ/WRITE/CLOSE statements for different files. But only serially.
There was a way, under VS COBOL II, where you could pass an FD to a subprogram, that would look something like:
CALL MYREADPGM USING FILE-A
CALL MYREADPGM USING FILE-B
This possible with Enterprise Cobol but IIRC VisualAge does not support that.
I realize this is an old thread, but hopefully someone might find this useful in the future: IBM's Enterprise COBOL on z/OS 6.4 compiler supports user-defined functions (released May 2022). User-defined functions could be a useful alternative to the other suggestion for internal programs. In contrast to program calls, there are compile time checks for parameters to user-defined function invocations. Also, you can invoke the function in a lot of places where you couldn't call a program, like within a
n expression.
Here's an example based on passing a file name to a function. It might be possible to combine this with the PUTENV() suggestion above.
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
FUNCTION-ID. READ-FILE.
DATA DIVISION.
LINKAGE SECTION.
1 FILE-NAME PIC X(50).
1 RET PIC 9(9).
PROCEDURE DIVISION USING FILE-NAME RETURNING RET.
* DO STUFF WITH FILE-NAME
* ...
GOBACK
.
END FUNCTION READ-FILE.
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. MAINPROG.
DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
1 READ-RESULT PIC 9(9).
PROCEDURE DIVISION.
COMPUTE READ-RESULT = FUNCTION READ-FILE('MYINPUTFILE')
GOBACK
.
END PROGRAM MAINPROG.
More examples can be found in the Programming Guide Chapter 32 Using user-defined functions.
https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/enterprise-cobol-zos-documentation-library#Table642
You could create a data file of filenames, treat each one as an individual record, and then read each file. In the "SELECT ...ASSIGN" you would need to use a working-storage variable for the filename and move the value from the 'file of filenames' into it.
As you are using VisualAge, I assume in UNIX, you might also be able to run the program from the shell (sh,ksh), with the filename as a parameter, and repeatedly run the program from the shell for each file name.

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