COBOL Manual for TNS/E Programs (H06.08+, J06.03+)

Usage Considerations:
• Referencing Global Items
A statement in a program contained directly or indirectly within a program that describes a
global name can reference that name without describing it again.
• Subordinates of Global Names Are Global Names
A file name described using a GLOBAL clause is a global name. All data-names subordinate
to a global name are global names. All condition-names associated with a global name are
global names.
• SAME RECORD AREA Clause
If the SAME RECORD AREA clause is specified for several files, the record description entries
or the file description entries for these files must not include the GLOBAL clause.
BLOCK CONTAINS Clause
Use the optional BLOCK CONTAINS clause to specify the number of logical records or the number
of character positions in a physical record on tape or unstructured disk files only. For these types
of files, if this clause is absent, the compiler assigns a block size of one logical record. The operating
system handles all other file blocking and deblocking in a way that is transparent to the COBOL
program.
blk-1
is an unsigned integer literal that specifies the minimum size of a block.
blk-2
is an unsigned integer literal. In the presence of blk-1, blk-2 is the fixed size of a block;
otherwise, it is the maximum size of a block.
RECORDS
specifies that the values of blk-1 and blk-2 represent numbers of logical records.
CHARACTERS
specifies that the values of blk-1 and blk-2 represent numbers of character positions. This
is the default.
Usage Considerations:
• Limits
The minimum number of character positions you can specify is equal to the maximum record
size of the file. If you specify more than 32,768 character positions, the compiler reports an
error.
If you specify a number of records greater than 32,768 divided by the maximum record size
for the file, the compiler reports an error.
When blk-1 is present, its value must be less than or equal to that of blk-2. When the
RECORDS option is not specified, the value of blk-1 must be greater than or equal to the
minimum record size of the file; otherwise, the value of blk-1 must be greater than 0.
162 Data Division