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

position
marks a starting and ending place for a replacement cycle. It follows the same item
rules as replace-string. A CHARACTERS phrase, ALL phrase, LEADING phrase,
or FIRST phrase can have a single BEFORE phrase, a single AFTER phrase, or one
BEFORE phrase and one AFTER phrase in either order.
BEFORE
specifies that scanning is up to but not including the character or characters matching
delim-string. If INSPECT does not find delim-string in source-string,
it scans all of source-string.
AFTER
specifies that scanning starts at the position immediately following the character or
characters matching delim-string. If INSPECT does not find delim-string
in source-string, it does not scan source-string .
INITIAL
is for documentation only and has no effect.
delim-string
is the identifier of an elementary item with USAGE DISPLAY or a nonnumeric literal.
It can be a figurative constant that does not include the keyword ALL, in which case
it represents one character.
matching-replacement
defines the character-string being scanned for.
ALL
specifies that all occurrences of compare-string are replaced.
LEADING
specifies scanning for consecutive occurrences of compare-string beginning at the
current position within source-string. For example, REPLACING LEADING “0”
replaces only the first three zeros in “000120020.”
INSPECT 355