Use the FILE-CONTROL entry to define the files in a COBOL program as QSAM files, and to associate the files with their external file-names.
An external file-name (a ddname or environment variable name) is the name by which a file is known to the operating system. In the following example, COMMUTER-FILE-MST is your program's name for the file; COMMUTR is the external name:
FILE-CONTROL.
SELECT COMMUTER-FILE-MST
ASSIGN TO S-COMMUTR
ORGANIZATION IS SEQUENTIAL
ACCESS MODE IS SEQUENTIAL.
The ASSIGN clause name can include an S- before the external name to document that the file is a QSAM file. Both the ORGANIZATION and ACCESS MODE clauses are optional.
related tasks
Establishing record formats
Setting block sizes