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# COBOL Cheatsheet

## Overview of unique features

- Business-oriented programming language
- Designed for handling large amounts of data
- Uses verbose syntax
- Supports file handling and database access
- Can be used for financial and administrative applications

## Variables

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.

PROGRAM-ID. MYPROGRAM.

DATA DIVISION.

WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.

01 MY-VARIABLE PIC 9(4).

01 MY-CONSTANT PIC X(10) VALUE "HELLO".

01 MY-ARRAY OCCURS 10 TIMES PIC 9(3).

PROCEDURE DIVISION.

## Functions

COBOL does not have functions in the same sense as high-level programming languages. Instead, it uses subroutines to perform specific tasks.

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.

PROGRAM-ID. MYPROGRAM.

DATA DIVISION.

WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.

01 MY-VARIABLE PIC 9(4).

PROCEDURE DIVISION.

PERFORM MY-SUBROUTINE.

MY-SUBROUTINE.

ADD 1 TO MY-VARIABLE.

## Loops

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.

PROGRAM-ID. MYPROGRAM.

DATA DIVISION.

WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.

01 I PIC 9(2).

PROCEDURE DIVISION.

PERFORM VARYING I FROM 1 BY 1 UNTIL I > 10

DISPLAY I

END-PERFORM.

## Conditionals

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.

PROGRAM-ID. MYPROGRAM.

DATA DIVISION.

WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.

01 X PIC 9(3) VALUE 100.

01 Y PIC 9(3) VALUE 200.

PROCEDURE DIVISION.

IF X > Y

DISPLAY "X IS GREATER THAN Y"

ELSE

DISPLAY "Y IS GREATER THAN X"

END-IF.

## File handling

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.

PROGRAM-ID. MYPROGRAM.

DATA DIVISION.

FILE SECTION.

01 MY-FILE.

05 MY-NAME PIC X(10).

05 MY-AGE PIC 9(3).

PROCEDURE DIVISION.

OPEN INPUT MY-FILE.

READ MY-FILE INTO MY-RECORD.

CLOSE MY-FILE.

## Resources

- [COBOL documentation](https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/cobol/)
- [COBOL tutorial](https://www.tutorialspoint.com/cobol/index.htm)
- [COBOL forum](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/cobol) for community support and troubleshooting.