Separators
A separator can be a single punctuation character or a string of punctuation characters.
The following is a list of the COBOL separator characters and their meaning.
- ␢ (space)
- Space
- ,
- Comma
- .
- Period
- ;
- Semicolon
- (
- Left parenthesis
- )
- Right parenthesis
- "
- Quotation mark
- ==
- Pseudo-text delimiter
- :
- Colon
IBM Extension
IBM Extension
- '
- Apostrophe
- B"
- Opening delimiter for Boolean literal
- X"
- Opening delimiter for hexadecimal nonnumeric literal
- G"
- Opening delimiter for DBCS literal
- N"
Opening
delimiter for - national literal if the NATIONALPICNLIT PROCESS option is in effect
- DBCS literal otherwise

- NX"
- Opening delimiter for national hexadecimal literal
- Z"
- Opening delimiter for null-terminated nonnumeric literal
End of IBM Extension