Rational Developer for System z
COBOL for Windows, Version 7.5, Programming Guide


Finding uninitialized data

Use an INITIALIZE or SET statement to initialize a table or data item when you suspect that a problem might be caused by residual data in those fields.

If the problem happens intermittently and not always with the same data, it could be that a switch was not initialized but is generally set to the right value (0 or 1) by chance. By using a SET statement to ensure that the switch is initialized, you can determine that the uninitialized switch is the cause of the problem or remove it as a possible cause.

related references
INITIALIZE statement (COBOL for Windows Language Reference)
SET statement (COBOL for Windows Language Reference)


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