Specifying a Function

The general format of a function-identifier is:

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Format

>>-FUNCTION--function-name-1--+----------------------+---------->
                              |    .------------.    |   
                              |    V            |    |   
                              '-(----argument-1-+--)-'   

>--+--------------------+--------------------------------------><
   '-reference-modifier-'   

function-name-1
Function-name-1 must be one of the Intrinsic Function names.
argument-1
Argument-1 must be an identifier, literal (other than a figurative constant), or arithmetic expression.
reference-modifier
Can be specified only for functions of the category alphanumeric or DBCS.

The following examples show an intrinsic function invocation for an alphanumeric source statement and a numeric source statement.

The alphanumeric source statement:
MOVE FUNCTION UPPER-CASE("hello") TO DATA-NAME.
replaces each lowercase letter in the argument with the corresponding uppercase letter, resulting in the movement of HELLO into DATA-NAME.
The numeric source statement,
COMPUTE NUM-ITEM = FUNCTION MEAN(A B C)
Adds the values of A, B, and C then divides by 3, and places the result in NUM-ITEM.

Within a Procedure Division statement, each function-identifier is evaluated at the same time as any reference modification or subscripting associated with an identifier in that same position would be evaluated.