COBOL Manual for TNS/E Programs (H06.08+, J06.03+)
Example 3 Continuation Line in Tandem Reference Format
....+....1....+....2....+....3....+....4....+....5....+....6....+....7....+....8
DISPLAY "THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF CONTINUING A LITERAL
- " IN TANDEM REFERENCE FORMAT."
Text Line
The compiler handles any line that begins with a space character as a program text line.
NOTE: If the character in the indicator area is not a question mark, asterisk, slash, the letter D
(uppercase or lowercase), or a hyphen, the compiler issues a warning and handles the character
as if it were a space.
If all characters between margin A and margin R are spaces, then the line is a blank line. Blank
lines can occur anywhere in the source text and have no effect on either the syntax or semantics
of source programs. If at least one character other than spaces occurs after margin A, that character
begins a new lexical element. When a program text line is not continued (that is, when its successor
text line does not contain a hyphen in its indicator area), the compiler assumes that a space follows
the last nonblank character of the first line. If the final character is a period, comma, or semicolon,
the assumed space completes the separator begun by that character; otherwise, the assumed space
itself acts as a space separator.
Area A and Area B
HP COBOL ignores the distinction between area A and area B. The lexical elements of a source
program can occur anywhere between margin A and margin R. The few exceptions to this are
described in Restrictions.
Restrictions
You can format the text of a source program line freely except as noted in these topics:
• Reserved Words
• Period Separators
• Embedded SQL/MP or SQL/MX Statements
• Comment-Entry
• Standard COBOL Practice
Reserved Words
Do not split these reserved words across program lines:
• COPY
For other restrictions on the format of the COPY statement body, see COPY Statement (page 499).
• DATE-COMPILED
If you split the reserved word DATE-COMPILED across program lines, the compiler handles
the paragraph as a simple comment-entry and does not replace its contents with the date and
time of compilation.
• REPLACE
46 Source Program Organization and Format