Rational Developer for System z
Enterprise COBOL for z/OS, Version 4.1, Language Reference


Format 3

Format 3 is used to specify variable-length records.

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Format 3

>>-RECORD--+----+--VARYING--+----+--+------+-------------------->
           '-IS-'           '-IN-'  '-SIZE-'   

>--+---------------------+--+---------------+--+------------+--->
   '-+------+--integer-6-'  '-TO--integer-7-'  '-CHARACTERS-'   
     '-FROM-'                                                   

>--+--------------------------------+--------------------------><
   '-DEPENDING--+----+--data-name-1-'   
                '-ON-'                  

integer-6
Specifies the minimum number of bytes to be contained in any record of the file. If integer-6 is not specified, the minimum number of bytes to be contained in any record of the file is equal to the least number of bytes described for a record in that file.
integer-7
Specifies the maximum number of bytes in any record of the file. If integer-7 is not specified, the maximum number of bytes to be contained in any record of the file is equal to the greatest number of bytes described for a record in that file.

The number of bytes associated with a record description is determined by the sum of the number of bytes in all elementary data items (excluding redefinitions and renamings), plus any implicit FILLER due to synchronization. If a table is specified:

If data-name-1 is specified:

During the execution of a RELEASE, REWRITE, or WRITE statement, the number of bytes in the record is determined by the following conditions:

During the execution of a READ ... INTO or RETURN ... INTO statement, the number of bytes in the current record that participate as the sending data items in the implicit MOVE statement is determined by the following conditions:


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