COBOL Manual for TNS and TNS/R Programs

Program Compilation

HP COBOL Manual for TNS and TNS/R Programs—522555-006

11-54

BLANK and NOBLANK

BLANK

adds an implicit VALUE SPACES clause to the description of:

•

Every data item in the Working-Storage Section and Extended-Storage

Section, except those to which an explicit VALUE clause or an EXTERNAL

clause applies

•

Every data item in the File Section, except those to which an EXTERNAL

clause applies

BLANK increases the size of the object file and can increase execution time.

NOBLANK

prevents the addition of implicit VALUE SPACES clauses.

Program units compiled with BLANK (or for which BLANK is the default) include code

that performs implicit and explicit initializations. Program units compiled with

NOBLANK (or for which NOBLANK is the default) do not provide this automatic

initialization, and any data item without a VALUE clause has an undefined initial value.

NOBLANK is recommended for initial programs and programs that declare very large

data items that do not have initial values assigned, because it saves significant

amounts of compilation time, object program storage space on disk, and run-time

initialization time. If you must initialize very large data items to spaces, use VALUE

clauses, INITIALIZE statements, or MOVE statements of the form

MOVE SPACES TO X

VALUE clauses are recommended.

Default: BLANK for the COBOL85 compiler

NOBLANK for the NMCOBOL compiler

Placement: Anywhere

Scope: The last BLANK or NOBLANK in the program is applies.

Dependencies: None

BLANK

NOBLANK

VST267.vsd