COBOL - Subscript Clause
Use the data-name of the table element, along with its occurrence number (called a subscript) in parentheses. This technique is called subscripting.
- Table individual elements can be accessed by using subscript.
- Subscript values can range from 1 to the number of times the table occurs. A subscript can be any positive number.
- It does not require any declaration in data division. It is automatically created with occurs clause.
Example 1:
01 ANY-TABLE.
05 TABLE-ELEMENT PIC X(10) OCCURS 3 TIMES VALUE "SRINIVASAN". |
........
MOVE "XX" TO TABLE-ELEMENT (1) (3 : 2). |
The MOVE statement in the example above moves the string 'XX' into table element number 1, beginning at character position 3, for a length of 2 characters.
| ANY-TABLE(before change) | ANY-TABLE(after change) |
|---|
| SRINIVASAN | SRXXIVASAN |
| SRINIVASAN | SRINIVASAN |
| SRINIVASAN | SRINIVASAN |
Example 2:
01 WS-TABLE.
05 WS-A OCCURS 3 TIMES.
10 WS-B PIC A(2).
10 WS-C OCCURS 2 TIMES.
15 WS-D PIC X(3).
|
........
MOVE '12ABCDEF34GHIJKL56MNOPQR' TO WS-TABLE.
DISPLAY 'WS-TABLE : ' WS-TABLE.
DISPLAY 'WS-A(1) : ' WS-A(1).
DISPLAY 'WS-C(1,1) : ' WS-C(1,1).
DISPLAY 'WS-C(1,2) : ' WS-C(1,2).
DISPLAY 'WS-A(2) : ' WS-A(2).
DISPLAY 'WS-C(2,1) : ' WS-C(2,1).
DISPLAY 'WS-C(2,2) : ' WS-C(2,2).
DISPLAY 'WS-A(3) : ' WS-A(3).
DISPLAY 'WS-C(3,1) : ' WS-C(3,1).
DISPLAY 'WS-C(3,2) : ' WS-C(3,2).
|
WS-TABLE : 12ABCDEF34GHIJKL56MNOPQR
WS-A(1) : 12ABCDEF
WS-C(1,1) : ABC
WS-C(1,2) : DEF
WS-A(2) : 34GHIJKL
WS-C(2,1) : GHI
WS-C(2,2) : JKL
WS-A(3) : 56MNOPQR
WS-C(3,1) : MNO
WS-C(3,2) : PQR
|
Table elements can also be accessed using index.
Next chapter going to discuss about Index.
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