COBOL Manual for TNS and TNS/R Programs

ANSI Reference Format
HP COBOL Manual for TNS and TNS/R Programs—522555-006
16-3
Continuation Line
Continuation Line
A continuation line has a hyphen (-) in the indicator area. It is a continuation of the
previous line. Always leave area A of a continuation line blank.
You can continue any word or literal. If you continue a numeric literal, a reserved word,
or a user-defined word, the compiler ignores the trailing spaces of the previous line and
initial spaces of the continuation line.
The ANSI rules for continuing a nonnumeric literal are:
•
The nonnumeric literal contains all trailing spaces present in area B (through
column 72) in the previous line.
•
The first character in area B of the continuation line that is not a space must be a
quotation mark. The continuation begins with the character immediately following
that quotation mark.
The ANSI rules for continuing a national literal are:
•
The national literal contains all trailing spaces present in area B in the previous
line.
•
The first character in area B of the continuation line that is not a space must be an
N or n followed by a quotation mark. The N or n must be in an odd-numbered
column. The continuation begins with the character immediately following the
quotation mark.
•
The literal string must end on the previous line before the internal character count
(the number of bytes) reaches 73. If you are counting the national characters as
you type them, remember that each national character represents two bytes
internally. The number of characters allowed on the line depends on the column in
which the character-string begins. It might take a few compilations before you have
the literal string divided properly over multiple lines.
Example 16-1. Continuation of Nonnumeric Literal in ANSI Format
....+....1....+....2....+....3....+....4....+....5....+....6....+....7....+....8
DISPLAY "THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF CONTINUING A LITERAL IN ANSI S
- "TANDARD FORMAT."