The ENVIRONMENT DIVISION of an instance method can have only one section, the INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION. This section relates the file-names used in a method definition to the corresponding file-names as they are known to the operating system.
For example, if the Account class defined a method that read information from a file, the Account class might have an INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION that is coded like this:
Environment Division.
Input-Output Section.
File-Control.
Select account-file Assign AcctFile.
The syntax for the INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION of a method is the same as the syntax for the INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION of a program.
related tasks
Describing the computing environment
related references
INPUT-OUTPUT section (Enterprise COBOL Language Reference)