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

If address is ADDRESS OF identifier-3, then identifier-1 is linked to the address
of identifier-3 (not the value of identifier-3 ).
If address is identifier-4, then identifier-1 is linked to the address that
identifier-4 contains.
If address is NULL or NULLS, then identifier-1 is linked to a null address guaranteed
to point to no data item.
identifier-2
is a data item with USAGE POINTER. If pointer is identifier-2, the address specified
by address is moved into identifier-2. This address is valid until the program
terminates or returns control to its calling program.
identifier-3
is a data item of any level except 88, anywhere in the Data Division. The value of ADDRESS
OF identifier-3 is the address of identifier-3, not the value of identifier-3.
identifier-4
is a data item with USAGE POINTER.
NULL
NULLS
is a null address guaranteed not to point to any data item. A reference to a pointer whose
value is NULL causes a trap 1 instruction failure.
If you redefine a VS COBOL II pointer variable as a COMPUTATIONAL field and perform an
arithmetic operation on the field to change the value of the pointer, the pointer does not behave
the same as it would in IBM/370 COBOL. The reason is that pointer format depends on machine
architecture, and NonStop servers and IBM/370 machines have different architectures.
Nonpointer Data Items
SET TO can:
• Set an index-name to one of these values:
A value that corresponds to the occurrence number designated by another index-name◦
◦ A value that corresponds to the occurrence number corresponding to the value of an
integer literal or an integer data item
◦ The value of an index data item
• Set the value of an index data item to the value of an index-name or the value associated with
the contents of another index data item
• Set the value of an integer data item to the occurrence number of an index
SET 437