COBOL Manual for TNS and TNS/R Programs

HP COBOL Manual for TNS and TNS/R Programs—522555-006
14-1
14 Intrinsic Functions
An intrinsic function is a function that your program can use, but does not need to
declare. It returns a value that is computed at the time of reference during the
execution of the object program.
Like an identifier, an intrinsic function has a class and category, and you can use an
intrinsic function wherever you can use an identifier of the same class and category as
a sending data item. An intrinsic function call, which has the format
FUNCTION function_name (arguments)
is considered an identifier. For example, this is allowed:
MOVE FUNCTION NUMVAL (STRING-ITEM) TO NUM-ITEM.
You cannot use an intrinsic function as a receiving data item (in a CALL statement, for
example). (For explanations of class and category, see Data Levels, Classes, and
Categories.)
Topics:
•
Intrinsic Function Types
•
Argument Types
•
The intrinsic functions themselves in alphabetic order:
°
ACOS Function
°
ANNUITY Function
°
ASIN Function
°
ATAN Function
°
CHAR Function
°
COS Function
°
CURRENT-DATE Function
°
DATE-OF-INTEGER Function
°
DAY-OF-INTEGER Function
°
FACTORIAL Function
°
INTEGER Function
°
INTEGER-OF-DATE Function
°
INTEGER-OF-DAY Function
°
INTEGER-PART Function
°
LENGTH Function