COBOL Manual for TNS and TNS/R Programs

Glossary
HP COBOL Manual for TNS and TNS/R Programs—522555-006
Glossary-22
operand
operand. In syntax formats, any lowercase word or words that appear in a statement or
entry format; an implied reference to data or to a literal value.
operational sign. An algebraic sign associated with a numeric data item or a numeric literal
to indicate whether its value is positive or negative.
optional file. An input file that you declare is not necessarily present during each execution
of the object program, the presence or absence of which file the object program
determines during execution.
optional word. A reserved word that appears in a syntax diagram of a statement or entry
only to improve readability and that you can omit when you use the statement or entry
in a source program.
OSS environment. The application program interface (API), tools, and utilities of the Open
System Services (OSS).
OUT file. The output file of a process, either specified explicitly at process start time or
inherited from the parent process.
output file. A file open in either the output mode or the extend mode.
OUTPUT mode. The state of a file after a process executes an OPEN statement that
includes an OUTPUT phrase for that file and before the process executes a CLOSE
statement (without a REEL or UNIT phrase for that file); EXTEND mode includes the
capabilities of OUTPUT mode.
output procedure. A Procedure Division section or group of sections executed during
either SORT or MERGE statements; obtains the ordered records from the SORT or
MERGE operation by executing a RETURN statement, the end of the set of records
being signalled by the EOF condition, which can be tested for with the AT END phrase
of the RETURN statement; receives control (1) during execution of a SORT statement,
after the sort operation is complete, or (2) during execution of a MERGE statement,
after the merge function selects the next record
in merged order.
padding character. An alphanumeric character
used to fill the unused character positions
in a block. HP COBOL does not pad records.
page. One of these:
•
On disk, a contiguous block of storage starting on a sector boundary and
containing 2,048 bytes; a unit of disk allocation.
•
In memory, a division of memory consisting of 2,048 bytes; the 2-byte pages of
physical memory are numbered from 0 through 1,023.
page body. The part of a logical page in which you can put lines or spaces.
PAGE-COUNTER. A special register that is not available in HP COBOL.