GCOBOL(1)

🌈 gcobol — GCC COBOL Front-end 🌈

okay bestie, welcome to GCOBOL(1) from the GCC COBOL Compiler manual ✨ grab ur boba, we're going in, and we are not skipping a single flag 💅

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🎀 NAME 🎀

gcobol — GCC COBOL Front-end 💖

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✨ SYNOPSIS ✨

gcobol [-Dname[=value]] [-E] [-fdefaultbyte=value] [-fsyntax-only]
       [-Icopybook-path] [-fmax-errors=nerror] [-nomain | -main filename
       | -main=filename -main=filename:program-id]
       [-fcobol-exceptions exception[,exception...]] [-copyext ext]
       [-ffixed-form | -ffree-form] [-findicator-column]
       [-fexec-charset=encoding] [-fexec-national-charset=encoding]
       [-dialect dialect-name] [-include filename]
       [-preprocess preprocess-filter] [-fflex-debug] [-fyacc-debug]
       [-Wno-apply-commit] [-Wno-file-code-set] [-Wno-high-order-bit]
       [-Wno-bad-line-directive] [-Wno-bad-numeric]
       [-Wno-binary-long-long] [-Wno-call-giving] [-Wno-call-literal]
       [-Wno-cdf-dollar] [-Wno-cdf-invalid-parameter]
       [-Wno-cdf-name-not-found] [-Wno-cobol-eject] [-Wno-cobol-resume]
       [-Wno-cobol-volatile] [-Wno-comp-6] [-Wno-comp-x]
       [-Wno-copybook-found] [-Wno-ec-unknown] [-Wno-entry-convention]
       [-Wno-iconv-error] [-Wno-include-file-found]
       [-Wno-include-file-not-found] [-Wno-inspect-trailing]
       [-Wno-length-of] [-Wno-level-1-occurs] [-Wno-level-78]
       [-Wno-level-78-defined] [-Wno-literal-concat] [-Wno-locale-error]
       [-Wno-move-corresponding] [-Wno-move-index] [-Wno-move-pointer]
       [-Wno-nllanginfo-error] [-Wno-operator-space]
       [-Wno-preprocessor-error] [-Wno-procedure-not-found]
       [-Wno-procedure-pointer] [-Wno-replace-error]
       [-Wno-returning-number] [-Wno-segment-error]
       [-Wno-segment-negative] [-Wno-stop-number] [-Wno-stray-indicator]
       [-Wno-usage-typename] [-Wno-recording-mode] [-Wno-set-locale-to]
       [-Wno-set-to-locale] filename [...]

look at that wall of -Wno- flags, she's iconic and she's thorough 🫶

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💫 DESCRIPTION 💫

gcobol compiles COBOL source code to object code, and optionally produces an executable binary or shared object. As a GCC component, it accepts all the options that affect code-generation and linking. The COBOL-specific ones are listed below, and yes we are doing every single one, no cap 🧚

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• -main filename — gcobol will generate a main() function as an entry point calling the first PROGRAM-ID in filename.

-main is the default. When none of -nomain, -c, or -shared is present, an implicit -main is inserted into the command line ahead of the first source file name ✨

• -main=filename — the .o object module for filename will include a main() entry point calling the first PROGRAM-ID in filename 💅
• -main=filename:program-id — the .o object module for filename will include a main() entry point that calls the program-id entry point 🎀
• -nomain — no main() entry point will be generated by this compilation. The -nomain option is incompatible with -main, and is implied by -shared. It is also implied by -c when there is no -main present.

See below for examples showing the use of -main and -nomain 👀

• -D name[=expr] — define a CDF name (for use with >>IF) to have the value of expr.
• -E — write the CDF-processed COBOL input to standard output in free-form reference format. Certain non-COBOL markers are included in the output to indicate where copybook files were included. For line-number consistency with the input, blank lines are retained.

Unlike the C compiler, This option does not prevent compilation. To prevent compilation, use the option -fsyntax-only also. (yes, also, she's extra like that 😭)

• -fdefaultbyte=value — use value, a number between 0 and 255, as the default value for all WORKING-STORAGE data items that have no VALUE clause. By default, alphanumeric data items are initialized with blanks, and numeric data items are initialized to zero. This option overrides the default with value 🌸
• -fsyntax-only — invoke only the parser. Check the code for syntax errors, but don't do anything beyond that. the vibe check, and nothing else 💀
• -copyext ext — for the CDF directive

COPY name

if name is unquoted, several varieties of name are tried, as described below under Copybooks. The -copyext option extends the names searched to include ext. If ext is all uppercase or all lowercase, both forms are tried, with preference given to the one supplied. If ext is mixed-case, only that version is tried. For example, with

-copyext .abc

given the CDF directive

COPY name

gcobol will add to possible names searched ‘name.abc’ and ‘name.ABC’ in that order 🦋

• -ffixed-form — use strict fixed-form reference format in reading the COBOL input: 72-character lines, with a 6-character sequence area, and an indicator column. Data past column 72 are ignored. 🙈
• -ffree-form — force the COBOL input to be interpreted as free-form reference format. Line breaks are insignificant, except that ‘*’ at the start of a line acts as a comment marker. Equivalent to -indicator-column 0 ✨
• -findicator-column — describes the location of the Indicator Area in a COBOL file in Reference Format, where the first 6 columns — known as the “Sequence Number Area” — are ignored, and the 7th column — the Indicator Area — may hold a character of significance to the compiler.

Although reference format, strictly speaking, ignores data after column 72, with this option gcobol accepts long COBOL lines, sometimes known as extended source format. Text past column 72 is treated as ordinary COBOL text. (Line continuation remains in effect, however, provided no text appears past column 72.)

There is no maximum line length. Regardless of source code format, the entire program could appear on one line. 😭

By default, gcobol auto-detects the source code format by examining the line that contains the text "program-id". When there are characters on past column 72 on that line, the file is assumed to be in extended source format, with the indicator area in column 7. Otherwise, columns 1-6 are examined. If those characters are all digits or blanks, the file is assumed to be in fixed-form reference format, also with the indicator in column 7. If not auto-detected as fixed-form reference format or extended source format, the file is assumed to be in free-form reference format. she literally guesses and she's usually right 💅

• -fcobol-exceptions exception [,exception...] — by default, no exception condition is enabled (including fatal ones), and by the ISO standard exception conditions are enabled only via the CDF TURN directive. This option enables one or more exception conditions by default, as though TURN had appeared at the top of the first source code file. This option may also appear more than once on the command line.

The value of exception is a Level 1, 2, or 3 exception condition name, as described by ISO/IEC 1989:2023. ‘EC-ALL’ means enable all exceptions 🫶

The -fno-cobol-exceptions form turns off exception, just as though

>>TURN exception CHECKING OFF

had appeared.

Not all exception conditions are implemented. Any that are not produce a warning message. bestie, read ur warnings 😭

• -fmax-errors=nerror — nerror represents the number of error messages produced. Without this option, gcobol attempts to recover from a syntax error by resuming compilation at the next statement, continuing until end-of-file. With it, gcobol counts the messages as they're produced, and stops when nerror is reached. 💀
• -fstatic-call, -fno-static-call — with -fno-static-call, gcobol never uses static linking for

CALL program

By default, or with -fstatic-call, if program is an alphanumeric literal, gcobol uses static linkage, meaning the compiler produces an external symbol program for the linker to resolve. (In the future, that will work with CONSTANT data items, too.) With static linkage, if program is not supplied by the source code module or another object file or library at build time, the linker will produce an “unresolved symbol” error. With -fno-static-call, gcobol always uses dynamic linking.

This option affects the CALL statement for literals only. If program is a non-constant data item, it is always resolved using dynamic linking, with dlsym(3), because its value is determined at run time. ⭐

• -fexec-charset=encoding — set the default execution character set for alphanumeric data items and literals in the absence of CHARACTER CLASSIFICATION in CONFIGURATION SECTION. encoding is an encoding name as defined by iconv(3). Unless otherwise specified, the runtime encoding for both alphanumeric and NATIONAL is CP1252 as defined by iconv(3) 🌈
• -fexec-national-charset=encoding — set the default execution character set for NATIONAL data items and literals in the absence of CHARACTER CLASSIFICATION in CONFIGURATION SECTION. encoding is an encoding name as defined by iconv(3). To use an EBCDIC encoding for data items, one might use

-fexec-national-charset=CP1140

for example 🎀

• -dialect dialect-name — by default, gcobol accepts COBOL syntax as defined by ISO/IEC 1989:2023, with some extensions for backward compatibility with COBOL-85. Additional syntax is supported with this option. The value of dialect-name may be

ok so ibm is the vibe check for IBM COBOL 6.4 syntax, and here's the whole shopping list bestie:

• EJECT
• EQUAL as assignment operator
• LENGTH OF
• PROCEDURE POINTER
• SECTION segment
• STOP <number>
• VOLATILE
• Per-program Registers

                            RETURN-CODE            S9(4)
                            SORT-CONTROL           X(160)
                            SORT-CORE-SIZE         S9(8)
                            SORT-FILE-SIZE         S9(8)
                            SORT-MESSAGE           X(8)
                            SORT-MODE-SIZE         S9(5)
                            SORT-RETURN            S9(4)
                            TALLY                  9(5)
                            WHEN-COMPILED          X(16)
                            XML-CODE               S9(9)
                            XML-EVENT              X(30)
                            XML-INFORMATION        S9(9)
                            XML-NAMESPACE          X(0) to X(32,768)
                            XML-NNAMESPACE         N(0) to N(16,384)
                            XML-NAMESPACE-PREFIX   X(0) to X(4,096)
                            XML-NNAMESPACE-PREFIX  N(0) to N(2,048)
                            XML-NTEXT              N(0) to N(2,000,000)
                            XML-TEXT               X(0) to X(2,147,483,646)

• gnu — this one's for GnuCOBOL syntax, which is generally compatible with MicroFocus. iykyk 💅
• mf — and this one is the MicroFocus syntax moment:
  • BINARY-LONG-LONG
  • CALL ... GIVING
  • CDF $IF
  • COMPUTATIONAL-6
  • COMPUTATIONAL used with PICTURE X
  • INSPECT ... TRAILING
  • OCCURS at LEVEL 01
  • LEVEL 78 constants
  • MOVE POINTER
  • RETURNING <number>
  • USAGE IS TYPENAME

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• -include filename — bestie this just slurps filename in as if

      COPY “filename”

showed up as the literal first line of the primary source file. 🌈

Ok but listen: if filename is not an absolute path, the directory that gets searched is the current working directory, not the directory holding the main source file. The name is used verbatim. No permutations applied, no directories searched. Periodt.

And if you stack multiple -include options? They get included in the order they appear on the command line. In order, bestie. 💖

• -preprocess preprocess-filter — okay so after all the CDF text-manipulation has been applied, and before the prepared COBOL gets sent off to the cobol1 compiler, the input may get further altered by one or more filters. In the sacred tradition of sed(1), each preprocess-filter reads from standard input and writes to standard output. Iconic behavior honestly.

To supply options to preprocess-filter, use a comma-separated string, similar to how linker options get supplied to -Wl. > Do NOT put any spaces after the commas, because the shell will treat it as an option separator. 😭

gcobol replaces each comma with a space when preprocess-filter is invoked. So for example:

      -preprocess tee,output.cbl

invokes tee(1) with the output filename argument output.cbl, which causes a copy of the input to be written to the file. cute!

gcobol searches the current working directory and the PATH environment variable directories for an executable file whose name matches preprocess-filter. The first one found is used. If none is found, an error is reported and the compiler is not invoked. 💀

The -preprocess option may appear more than once on the command line, and each preprocess-filter is applied in turn, in order of appearance.

The preprocess-filter should return a zero exit status, indicating success. If it returns a nonzero exit status, an error is reported and the compiler is not invoked. no cap.

• -fflex-debug, -fyacc-debug — these two produce messages useful for compiler development, so if you're not out here developing the compiler, this is giving "not for you bestie" energy. The -fflex-debug option prints the tokenized input stream. The -fyacc-debug option shows the shift and reduce actions taken by the parser. 🦋

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✨ Diagnostic Messages ✨

Many warning options can be used to convert error messages to warnings, or to suppress messages related to COBOL dialects. The user may mix and match, bestie — it's a whole build-your-own-adventure. A group of features may be enabled by indicating a dialect (or more than one dialect) and individual features may be enabled as a warning, or error, or suppressed. 💅

• -Wno-apply-commit — Warn if APPLY COMMIT is used.
• -Wno-bad-line-directive — Warn if malformed ‘#line’ directive is encountered.
• -Wno-binary-long-long — Warn if BINARY-LONG-LONG is used.
• -Wno-call_giving — Warn if CALL ... GIVING is used.
• -Wno-call_literal — Warn if CALL is used is used with a literal parameter by reference.
• -Wno-cdf-dollar — Warn if CDF $IF is used.
• -Wno-comp-6 — Warn if COMPUTATIONAL-6 is used.
• -Wno-comp-x — Warn if COMPUTATIONAL is used with PICTURE X.
• -Wno-file-code-set — Warn if FILE CODE SET is used.
• -Wno-inspect-trailing — Warn if INSPECT ... TRAILING is used.
• -Wno-level-1-occurs — Warn if Level 01 is used with OCCURS.
• -Wno-level-78-defined — Warn if CDF defines Level 78 constant.
• -Wno-move-index — Warn if MOVE INDEX is used.
• -Wno-move-pointer — Warn if MOVE POINTER is used.
• -Wno-returning-number — Warn if RETURNING <number> is used.
• -Wno-usage-typename — Warn if USAGE IS TYPENAME is used.
• -Wno-bad-numeric — Warn if numeric string is invalid.
• -Wno-cdf-invalid-parameter — Warn if referenced CDF PARAMETER is not defined.
• -Wno-cdf-name-not-found — Warn if referenced CDF name is not defined.
• -Wno-cobol-eject — Warn if IBM-style EJECT is used (instead of error).
• -Wno-cobol-resume — Warn if ISO RESUME is used with -dialect ibm (instead of error).
• -Wno-cobol-volatile — Warn if VOLATILE is used (instead of error if -dialect ibm).
• -Wno-copybook-found — Print message when copybook is processed.
• -Wno-ec-unknown — Warn if unimplemented/unknown exception condition is referenced.
• -Wno-entry-convention — Print message when ENTRY CONVENTION is specified.
• -Wno-high-order-bit — Warn if HIGH-ORDER-LEFT HIGH-ORDER-RIGHT is used.
• -Wno-include-file-found — Print message when include file is processed.
• -Wno-length-of — Warn if LENGTH OF is used.
• -Wno-level-78 — Warn if Level 78 is used.
• -Wno-literal-concat — Warn if concatenated literals use different encodings.
• -Wno-locale-error — Warn if locale(3) fails.
• -Wno-move-corresponding — Warn if COBOL MOVE has no corresponding fields.
• -Wno-nllanginfo-error — Warn if nlanglanginfo(3) fails.
• -Wno-recording-mode — Warn if RECORDING MODE is used.
• -Wno-segment — Warn if SECTION segments are used.
• -Wno-set-locale-to — Warn if SET LOCALE ... TO is used.
• -Wno-set-to-locale — Warn if SET ... TO LOCALE is used. `. Warn if a line directive is malformed (instead of error).
• -Wno-iconv-error — Warn if iconv(3) cannot convert between encodings (instead of error).
• -Wno-include-file-not-found — Warn if include file is not found (instead of error).
• -Wno-operator-space — Warn if relational operator not followed by space (instead of error).
• -Wno-preprocessor-error — Warn if a preprocessor fails (instead of error).
• -Wno-procedure-pointer — Warn if PROCEDURE POINTER is used.
• -Wno-procedure-not-found — Warn if a referenced procedure is not found (instead of error).
• -Wno-replace-error — Warn if REPLACE cannot be processed (instead of error).
• -Wno-segment-error — Warn if a SEGMENT section is invalid (instead of error).
• -Wno-segment-negative — Warn if a SEGMENT range is negative (instead of error).
• -Wno-stop-number — Warn if IBM-style STOP <number> is used (instead of error).
• -Wno-stray-indicator — Warn if indicator column has no recognized meaning (instead of error).

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🌈 COMPILATION SCENARIOS 🌈

Okay bestie, this is the part where it all clicks. Let's go scenario by scenario. 💖

             gcobol xyz.cob
             gcobol -main xyz.cob
             gcobol -main=xyz.cob xyz.cob

These are equivalent. The xyz.cob code is compiled and a main() function is inserted that calls the first PROGRAM-ID in the xyz.cob source file. slay.

             gcobol -nomain xyz.cob elsewhere.o

The -nomain option prevents a main() function from being generated by the gcobol compiler. A main() entry point must be present in the elsewhere.o module; without it the linker will report a “missing main” error. 😭

             gcobol aaa.cob bbb.cob ccc.cob
             gcobol -main aaa.cob bbb.cob ccc.cob

The two commands are equivalent. The three source code modules are compiled and linked together along with a generated main() function that calls the first PROGRAM-ID in the aaa.cob module.

             gcobol aaa.cob bbb.cob -main ccc.cob
             gcobol -main=ccc.cob aaa.cob bbb.cob ccc.cob

These two commands have the same result: An a.out executable is created that starts executing at the first PROGRAM-ID in ccc.cob. 👑

             gcobol -main=bbb.cob:b-entry aaa.cob bbb.cob ccc.cob

An a.out executable is created that starts executing at the PROGRAM-ID b-entry. iconic.

             gcobol -c aaa.cob
             gcobol -c -main bbb.cob
             gcobol -c ccc.cob
             gcobol aaa.o bbb.o ccc.o

The first three commands each create a .o file. The bbb.o file will contain a main() entry point that calls the first PROGRAM-ID in bbb. The fourth links the three .o files into an a.out. and that's the whole pipeline bestie 🫶

🦋 EBCDIC 🦋

Ok so if you're working with mainframe COBOL programs that are meant for EBCDIC-encoded files, the -fexec-charset=cp1140 option is literally the moment. Here's the tea: with this option on, your COBOL text stays in ASCII, but your character literals and field initial values produce EBCDIC strings in the compiled binary, and any character data read from a file gets interpreted as EBCDIC data. Periodt.

And the file data does not get converted — nope, the file is just assumed to use EBCDIC representation. The string literals in the COBOL text do get converted though, so they can be compared meaningfully with the data in the file. Iconic behaviour tbh.

Code Page 1140 is one of a number of EBCDIC code pages. It's often useful because it closely parallels the commonly-used Code Page 1252, which provides many Western European characters. 💅

Only file data and character literals are affected, bestie. Data read from and written to the environment, or taken from the command line, are interpreted according to the locale(7) in force during execution. The same is true of ACCEPT and DISPLAY. Names known to the operating system — such as file names and the names of environment variables — are processed verbatim. No cap.

At the present time, this is an all-or-nothing setting. Support for USAGE and CODESET, which would allow conversion between encodings, remains a future goal. 🎀

See also “Feature-set Variables”, below.

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🌸 REDEFINES ... USAGE POINTER 🌸

So per ISO, an item that REDEFINES another may not be larger than the item it redefines — unless that item has LEVEL 01 and is not EXTERNAL. Them's the rules.

But in gcobol, when you use -dialect ibm, this rule gets relaxed for REDEFINES with USAGE POINTER whose redefined member is a 4-byte USAGE COMP-5 (usually PIC S9(8)), or vice-versa. In that case, the redefined member is re-sized to 8 bytes, to accommodate the pointer. The way that just works? Obsessed.

This feature allows pointer arithmetic on a 64-bit system with source code targeted at a 32-bit system. Main character energy fr fr.

See also “Feature-set Variables”, below.

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👑 IMPLEMENTATION NOTES 👑

gcobol is a gcc compiler, and follows gcc conventions where applicable. Sometimes those conventions (and user expectations) conflict with common Mainframe practice. Unless required of the compiler by the ISO specification, any such conflicts are resolved in favor of gcc. Periodt.

🔗 Linking 🔗

Unlike C, the COBOL CALL statement implies dynamic linking, because for

CALL program

program can be a variable whose value is determined at runtime. Sneaky, right?

However, the parameter may also be a compile-time constant — either an alphanumeric literal, or a CONSTANT data item. ✨

gcobol supports static linking where possible, unless defeated by -fno-static-call. If the parameter value is known at compile time, the compiler produces an external reference to be resolved by the linker. The referenced program is normally supplied via an object module, a static library, or a shared object. If it is not supplied, the linker will report an “unresolved symbol” error — either at build time or, if using a shared object, when the program is executed. This feature informs the programmer of the error at the earliest opportunity. Considerate king behaviour. 🫶

Programs that are expected to execute correctly in the presence of an unresolved symbol (perhaps because the program logic won't require that particular CALL) can use the -no-static-call option. That forces all CALL statements to be resolved dynamically, at runtime.

💀 Implemented Exception Conditions 💀

By default, per ISO, no EC is enabled. Implemented ECs may be enabled on the command line or via the TURN directive. Any attempt to enable an EC that is not implemented is treated as an error.

An enabled EC not handled by a DECLARATIVE is written to the system log and to standard error. (The authors intend to make that an option.) A fatal EC not handled with RESUME ends with a call to abort(3) and process termination. Yeah. It's giving final boss.

Not all Exception Conditions are implemented. Any attempt to enable an EC that is not implemented produces a warning message. The following are implemented:

• EC-FUNCTION-ARGUMENT — for the following functions: ACOS, ANNUITY, ASIN, LOG, LOG10, PRESENT-VALUE, SQRT
• EC-SORT-MERGE-FILE-OPEN
• EC-BOUND-SUBSCRIPT — subscript not an integer, less than 1, or greater than occurs
• EC-BOUND-REF-MOD — refmod start not an integer, start less than 1, start greater than variable size, length not an integer, length less than 1, and start+length exceeds variable size
• EC-BOUND-ODO — DEPENDING not an integer, greater than occurs upper limit, less than occurs lower limit, and subscript greater than DEPENDING for sending item
• EC-SIZE-ZERO-DIVIDE — for both fixed-point and floating-point division
• EC-SIZE-TRUNCATION
• EC-SIZE-EXPONENTIATION

As of this writing, no COBOL compiler documents a complete implementation of ISO/IEC 1989:2023 Exception Conditions. gcobol will give priority to those ECs that the user community deems most valuable. 🦋

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🌈 EXTENSIONS TO ISO COBOL 🌈

Standard COBOL has no provision for environment variables as defined by Unix and Windows, or command-line arguments. gcobol supports them using syntax similar to that of GnuCOBOL. ISO and IBM also define incompatible ways to return the program's exit status to the operating system. gcobol supports IBM syntax.

🍓 Environment Variables 🍓

To read an environment variable:

ACCEPT target FROM ENVIRONMENT envar

where target is a data item defined in DATA DIVISION, and envar names an environment variable. envar may be a string literal or alphanumeric data item whose value is the name of an environment variable. The value of the named environment variable is moved to target. The rules are the same as for MOVE. Slay.

To write an environment variable:

SET ENVIRONMENT envar TO source

where source is a data item defined in DATA DIVISION, and envar names an environment variable. envar again may be a string literal or alphanumeric data item whose value is the name of an environment variable. The value of the named environment variable is set to the value of source. 💖

🎀 Command-line Arguments 🎀

To read command-line arguments, use the registers COMMAND-LINE and COMMAND-LINE-COUNT in an ACCEPT statement (only). Used without a subscript, COMMAND-LINE returns the whole command line as a single string. With a subscript, COMMAND-LINE is a table of command-line arguments. For example, if the program is invoked as

./program -i input output

then

ACCEPT target FROM COMMAND-LINE(3)

moves input into target. The program name is the first thing in the whole command line and is found in COMMAND-LINE(1) COMMAND-LINE table.

To discover how many arguments were provided on the command line, use

ACCEPT target FROM COMMAND-LINE-COUNT

If ACCEPT refers to a nonexistent environment variable or command-line argument, the target is set to LOW-VALUES. 🙈

The system command line parameters can also be accessed through the LINKAGE SECTION in the program where execution starts. The data structure looks like this:

        linkage         section.
        01   argc       pic 999.
        01   argv.
         02  argv-table   occurs 1 to 100 times depending on argc.
          03 argv-element pointer.
        01   argv-string  pic x(100) .

and the code to access the third parameter looks like this

        procedure division using by value argc by reference argv.
        set address of argv-string to argv-element(3)
        display argv-string

⭐ #line directive ⭐

The parser accepts lines in the form

#line lineno “filename”.

The effect is to set the current line number to lineno and the current input filename to filename. Preprocessors may use this directive to control the filename and line numbers reported in error messages and in the debugger. Very demure, very mindful.

🧚 SELECT ... ASSIGN TO 🧚

In the phrase

ASSIGN TO filename

filename may appear in quotes or not. If quoted, it represents a filename as known to the operating system. If unquoted, it names either a data element or an environment variable containing the name of a file. If filename matches the name of a data element, that element is used. If not, resolution of filename is deferred until runtime, when the name must appear in the program's environment. ✨

💜 XML PARSE 💜

gcobol emulates the IBM XML PARSE statement. The following values for XML-EVENT are defined:

• COMMENT — text of a comment between "<!--" and "-->".
• CONTENT-CHARACTERS — some or all of the character content of the element between start and end tags.
• END-OF-ELEMENT — end-element tag, with name if present in the input.
• PROCESSING-INSTRUCTION-DATA — processing instruction (after the target name), excluding "?>".
• PROCESSING-INSTRUCTION-TARGET — the processing instruction target name appears in XML-TEXT or XML-NTEXT.
• START-OF-ELEMENT — name of the start element tag or empty element tag.

ISO COBOL Implementation Status 💫

USAGE Data Types

okay bestie, here's the tea on USAGE IS — gcobol serves up these:

• INDEX — for use as an index in a table. 🎯
• POINTER — for variables whose value is the address of an external function, a PROGRAM-ID, or a data item. You assign to it via the SET statement.
• BINARY, COMP, COMPUTATIONAL, COMP-4, COMPUTATIONAL-4 — big-endian integer, 1 to 16 bytes, sized per PICTURE.
• COMP-1, COMPUTATIONAL-1, FLOAT-BINARY-32 — IEEE 754 single-precision (4-byte) floating point, as provided by the hardware. 🖥️
• COMP-2, COMPUTATIONAL-2, FLOAT-BINARY-64 — IEEE 754 double-precision (8-byte) floating point, as provided by the hardware.
• COMP-3, COMPUTATIONAL-3, PACKED-DECIMAL — currently unimplemented. 😭 not yet, babes.
• COMP-5, COMPUTATIONAL-5 — little-endian integer, 1 to 16 bytes, per PICTURE.
• FLOAT-BINARY-128, FLOAT-EXTENDED — 128-bit floating point, per IEEE 754. ✨

gcobol supports the ISO integer BINARY-<type> types, and most of them alias COMP-5. Here's the compatibility chart, every last cell, untouched:

COMP-5        Compatible
Picture       BINARY Type        Bytes   Value
              BINARY-CHAR        1       0 — 256
              [UNSIGNED]
S9(1...4)     BINARY-CHAR        1       -128 — +127
              SIGNED
 9(1...4)     BINARY-SHORT       2       0 — 65535
              [UNSIGNED]
S9(1...4)     BINARY-SHORT       2       -32768 — +32767
              SIGNED
 9(5...9)     BINARY-LONG        4       0 — 4,294,967,295
              [UNSIGNED]
S9(5...9)     BINARY-LONG        4       -2,147,483,648 —
              SIGNED                     +2,147,483,647
 9(10...18)   BINARY-LONG-LONG   8       0 —
              [UNSIGNED]                 18,446,744,073,709,551,615
S9(10...18)   BINARY-LONG-LONG   8       -9,223,372,036,854,775,808
              SIGNED                     —
                                         +9,223,372,036,854,775,807

These define a size (in bytes) and cannot be used with a PICTURE clause. And per the ISO standard, SIGNED is the default for the BINARY-type aliases. 📏

All computation — integer and floating point alike — is done using 128-bit intermediate forms. no cap. 💅

Environment Names

In gcobol,

DISPLAY UPON

maps SYSOUT and STDOUT to standard output, and SYSPUNCH, SYSPCH and STDERR to standard error. 🫶

Exit Status

gcobol supports the ISO syntax for returning an exit status to the operating system:

STOP RUN [WITH] {NORMAL | ERROR} [STATUS] status

And bonus round — gcobol also supports the IBM syntax for returning an exit status to the operating system. Just use the RETURN-CODE register:

MOVE ZERO TO RETURN-CODE.
GOBACK.

The RETURN-CODE register is defined as a 4-byte binary integer. ⭐

---

🎀 COMPILER-DIRECTING FACILITY 🎀

⚠️ Use the CDF with caution — no comprehensive test suite has been identified. fr fr, tread carefully.

CDF Text Manipulation

• COPY copybook [OF|BY library] [REPLACING ...] — If copybook is a literal, it's treated as a literal filename, which either does or does not exist. If copybook is a COBOL word, gcobol looks first for an environment variable named copybook and, if it finds one, uses the contents of that variable as the name of the copybook file. If that file doesn't exist, it keeps looking for a file named one of:
  • copybook (literally)
  • copybook.cpy
  • copybook.CPY
  • copybook.cbl
  • copybook.CBL
  • copybook.cob
  • copybook.COB

in that order. It looks first in the same directory as the source code file, and then in any copybook-path named with the -I option. copybook-path may (like the shell's PATH variable) be a colon-separated list. The -I option may occur multiple times on the command line. Each successive copybook-path is concatenated to previous ones. Relative paths (having no leading ‘/’) are searched relative to the compiler's current working directory.

For example,

-I /usr/local/include:include

searches first the directory where the COBOL program is found, next in /usr/local/include, and finally in an include subdirectory of the directory from which gcobol was invoked. 🦋

For the REPLACING phrase, both the modern pseudo-text and the COBOL/85 forms are recognized. (The older forms are used in the NIST CCVS/85 test suite.)

• REPLACE ... — gcobol supports the full ISO REPLACE syntax. slay. 💅

CDF Directives

• >>DEFINE name AS {expression | PARAMETER} [OVERRIDE] — Define name as a compilation variable to have the value expression. If name was previously defined, OVERRIDE is required, else the directive is invalid. AS PARAMETER is accepted, but has no effect in gcobol.
• >>DEFINE name AS OFF — releases the definition name, making it subsequently invalid for use.
• >>IF cce text [>>ELSE alt-text] >>END-IF — evaluates cce, a constant conditional expression, for conditional compilation. If cce is a name, it may be defined with the -D command-line parameter. If true, the COBOL text text is compiled. If false, else-text, if present, is compiled. [IS [NOT]] DEFINED is supported. Boolean literals are not supported.
• >>EVALUATE — Not implemented. 🙈
• >>CALL-CONVENTION convention — convention may be one of:
  • COBOL — Use standard COBOL case-insensitive symbol-name matching. For CALL "name", name is rendered by the compiler in lowercase.
  • C — Use case-sensitive symbol-name matching. The CALL target is not changed in any way; it is used verbatim.
  • VERBATIM — An alias for >>CALL-CONVENTION C.
• >>COBOL-WORDS EQUATE keyword WITH alias — makes alias a synonym for keyword.
• >>COBOL-WORDS UNDEFINE keyword — keyword is removed from the COBOL grammar. Use of it in a program will provoke a syntax error from the compiler. 💀
• >>COBOL-WORDS SUBSTITUTE keyword BY new-word — keyword is deleted as a keyword from the grammar, replaced by new-word. keyword may thereafter be used as a user-defined word.
• >>COBOL-WORDS RESERVE new-word — Treat new-word as a COBOL keyword. It cannot be used by the program, either as a keyword or as a user-defined word.
• >>DISPLAY string ... — Write string to standard error as a warning message.
• >>SOURCE format — format may be one of:
  • FIXED — Source conforms to COBOL fixed-form reference format with unlimited line length.
  • FREE — Source conforms to COBOL free-form reference format. ‘*’ at the beginning of a line is recognized as a comment.
• >>FLAG-02 — Not implemented.
• >>FLAG-85 — Not implemented.
• >>FLAG-NATIVE-ARITHMETIC — Not implemented.
• >>LEAP-SECOND — Not implemented.
• >>LISTING — Not implemented.
• >>PAGE — Not implemented.
• >>PROPAGATE — Not implemented.
• >>PUSH directive
• >>POP directive — With PUSH, push CDF state onto a stack. With POP, return to the prior pushed state. directive may be one of CALL-CONVENTION, COBOL-WORDS, DEFINE, SOURCE FORMAT, TURN.
• >>TURN [ec [file ...] ...] CHECKING {[ON] [[WITH] LOCATION] | OFF} — Enable (or, with OFF, disable) exception condition ec, optionally associated with the file connectors file. If LOCATION is specified, gcobol reports at runtime the source filename and line number of the statement that triggered the exception condition. 📍

Feature-set Variables

Some command-line options affect CDF feature-set variables that are special to gcobol. You can set and test them using >>DEFINE and >>IF, and they stand out by a leading ‘%’ in the name — which is otherwise invalid in a COBOL identifier:

• %EBCDIC-MODE — is set by -fexec-charset=<encoding> for all EBCDIC encodings.
• %64-BIT-POINTER — is implied by -dialect ibm.

To set a feature-set variable, use

>>SET feature [AS] {ON | OFF}

If feature is %EBCDIC-MODE, the directive must appear before PROGRAM-ID.

To test a feature-set variable, use

>>IF feature DEFINED

Intrinsic functions

gcobol implements all intrinsic functions defined by ISO/IEC 1989:2023, plus a few others. Listed alphabetically below, exactly as promised: 🌸

ABS ACOS ANNUITY ASIN ATAN
BASECONVERT BIT-OF BIT-TO-CHAR BOOLEAN-OF-INTEGER BYTE-LENGTH
CHAR CHAR-NATIONAL COMBINED-DATETIME CONCAT CONVERT COS CURRENT-DATE
DATE-OF-INTEGER DATE-TO-YYYYMMDD DAY-OF-INTEGER DAY-TO-YYYYDDD
DISPLAY-OF
E EXCEPTION-FILE EXCEPTION-FILE-N EXCEPTION-LOCATION
EXCEPTION-LOCATION-N EXCEPTION-STATEMENT EXCEPTION-STATUS EXP EXP10
FACTORIAL FIND-STRING FORMATTED-CURRENT-DATE FORMATTED-DATE
FORMATTED-DATETIME FORMATTED-TIME FRACTION-PART
HEX-OF HEX-TO-CHAR HIGHEST-ALGEBRAIC
INTEGER INTEGER-OF-BOOLEAN INTEGER-OF-DATE INTEGER-OF-DAY
INTEGER-OF-FORMATTED-DATE INTEGER-PART
LENGTH LOCALE-COMPARE LOCALE-DATE LOCALE-TIME LOCALE-TIME-FROM-SECONDS
LOG LOG10 LOWER-CASE LOWEST-ALGEBRAIC
MAX MEAN MEDIAN MIDRANGE MIN MOD MODULE-NAME
NATIONAL-OF NUMVAL NUMVAL-C NUMVAL-F ORD
ORD-MAX ORD-MIN
PI PRESENT-VALUE
RANDOM RANGE REM REVERSE
SECONDS-FROM-FORMATTED-TIME SECONDS-PAST-MIDNIGHT SIGN SIN
SMALLEST-ALGEBRAIC SQRT STANDARD-COMPARE STANDARD-DEVIATION SUBSTITUTE
SUM
TAN TEST-DATE-YYYYMMDD TEST-DAY-YYYYDDD TEST-FORMATTED-DATETIME
TEST-NUMVAL TEST-NUMVAL-C TEST-NUMVAL-F TRIM
ULENGTH UPOS UPPER-CASE USUBSTR USUPPLEMENTARY UUID4 UVALID UWIDTH
VARIANCE
WHEN-COMPILED
YEAR-TO-YYYY

Binary floating point DISPLAY

How the DISPLAY presents binary floating point numbers depends on the value. 👀

• When a value has six or fewer decimal digits to the left of the decimal point, it is expressed as 123456.789....
• When a value is less than 1 and has no more than three zeroes to the right of the decimal point, it is expressed as 0.0001234....
• Otherwise, exponential notation is used: 1.23456E+7.

In all cases, trailing zeroes on the right of the number are removed from the displayed value. ✨

• COMP-1 — shows up with 9 decimal digits 💅
• COMP-2 — shows up with 17 decimal digits ✨
• FLOAT-EXTENDED — shows up with 36 decimal digits 🦋

Those digit counts are literally just matching what IEEE 754 asks for when you're interchanging info, no cap. Like, take COMP-2 binary64 values for example (per Wikipedia, bestie):

If an IEEE 754 double-precision number is converted to a decimal string with at least 17 significant digits, and then converted back to double-precision representation, the final result must match the original number.

17 digits got picked so that the DISPLAY statement can show you what's inside a COMP-2 variable without hiding a single crumb of information. 🍓

---

🫶 Binary floating point MOVE

Okay so during a MOVE statement, a floating-point value might get truncated. And ngl, it's genuinely not unusual for Numeric Display values to get altered when they get moved through a floating-point value. It's giving ✨chaos✨.

This program:

    01 PICV999 PIC 9999V999.
    01 COMP2 COMP-2.
   PROCEDURE DIVISION.
    MOVE 1.001 to PICV999
    MOVE PICV999 TO COMP2
    DISPLAY "The result of MOVE " PICV999 " TO COMP2 is   " COMP2
    MOVE COMP2 to PICV999
    DISPLAY "The result of MOVE COMP2    TO PICV999 is " PICV999

generates this result:

    The result of MOVE 0001.001 TO COMP2 is   1.00099999999999989
    The result of MOVE COMP2    TO PICV999 is 0001.000

However, the internal implementation can produce results that might be seem surprising:

    The result of MOVE 0055.110 TO COMP2 is   55.1099999999999994
    The result of MOVE COMP2    TO PICV999 is 0055.110

The source of this inconsistency is the way gcobol stores and converts numbers. Converting the floating-point value to the numeric display value 0055110 is done by multiplying 55.109999... by 1,000 and then truncating the result to an integer. And it turns out that even though 55.11 can't be represented in floating-point as an exact value, the product of the multiplication, 55110, is an exact value. slay 💅

In cases where it is important for conversions to have predictable results, we need to be able to apply rounding, which can be done with an arithmetic statement:

    MOVE 1.001 to PICV999
    MOVE PICV999 TO COMP2
    DISPLAY "The result of MOVE " PICV999 " TO COMP2 is   " COMP2
    MOVE COMP2 to PICV999
    DISPLAY "The result of MOVE COMP2    TO PICV999 is " PICV999
    ADD COMP2 to ZERO GIVING PICV999 ROUNDED
    DISPLAY "The result of ADD COMP2 to ZERO GIVING PICV999 ROUNDED is " PICV999

    The result of MOVE 0001.001 TO COMP2 is   1.00099999999999989
    The result of MOVE COMP2    TO PICV999 is 0001.000
    The result of ADD COMP2 to ZERO GIVING PICV999 ROUNDED is 0001.001

---

🌈 Binary floating point computation

gcobol attempts to do internal computations using binary integers when possible. So like, simple arithmetic between binary values and numeric display values conclude with binary intermediate results. cute, right? 🎀

But the moment a floating-point value gets included in the mix of variables specified for a calculation, then the intermediate result becomes a 128-bit floating-point value. she's different now 😭

---

💀 A warning about binary floating point comparison

The cardinal rule when doing comparisons involving floating-point values: Never, ever, test for equality. It's just not worth the hassle. fr fr, don't do it.

For example:

   WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
    01 COMP1 COMP-1 VALUE 555.11.
    01 COMP2 COMP-2 VALUE 555.11.
   PROCEDURE DIVISION.
    DISPLAY "COMPARE " COMP1 " with " COMP2
    IF COMP1 EQUAL COMP2 DISPLAY "Equal" ELSE DISPLAY "Not equal" END-IF

    MOVE COMP1 to COMP2
    DISPLAY "COMPARE " COMP1 " with " COMP2
    IF COMP1 EQUAL COMP2 DISPLAY "Equal" ELSE DISPLAY "Not equal" END-IF

the results:

    COMPARE 555.1099854 with 555.110000000000014
    Not equal
    COMPARE 555.1099854 with 555.1099853515625
    Equal

Why? Again, it has to do with the internals of gcobol. When differently sized floating-point values need to be compared, they are first converted to 128-bit floats. And it turns out that when a COMP1 is moved to a COMP2, and they are both converted to FLOAT-EXTENDED, the two resulting values are (probably) equal. 🙈

Avoid testing for equality unless you really know what you are doing and you really test the code. And then avoid it anyway. periodt. 💅

Finally, it is observably the case that the gcobol implementations of floating-point conversions and comparisons don't precisely match the behavior of other COBOL compilers.

You have been warned. ⚠️ 😭

---

🌸 ENVIRONMENT 🌸

• COBPATH — If defined, specifies the directory paths to be used by the gcobol runtime library, libgcobol.so, to locate shared objects. Like LD_LIBRARY_PATH, it may contain several directory names separated by a colon (‘:’). COBPATH is searched first, followed by LD_LIBRARY_PATH. Note that COBPATH does not change where the runtime linker looks for libgcobol.so itself. How the runtime linker searches for libgcobol.so when the executable loads is controlled by ld.so(8), not libgcobol. 👑

Each directory is searched for files whose name ends in ‘.so’. For each such file, dlopen(3) is attempted, and, if successful dlsym(3). No relationship is defined between the symbol's name and the filename. 🤝

Without COBPATH, binaries produced by gcobol behave as one might expect of any program compiled with gcc. Any shared objects needed by the program are mentioned on the command line with a -llibrary option, and are found by following the executable's RPATH or otherwise per the configuration of the runtime linker, ld.so(8).

• UPSI — COBOL defines a User Programmable Status Indicator (UPSI) switch. In gcobol, the settings are denoted UPSI-0 through UPSI-7, where 0-7 indicates a bit position. The value of the UPSI switches is taken from the UPSI environment variable, whose value is a string of up to eight 1's and 0's. The first character represents the value of UPSI-0, and missing values are assigned 0. For example, UPSI=1000011 in the environment sets bits 0, 5, and 6 on, which means that UPSI-0, UPSI-5, and UPSI-6 are on. 🔥
• GCOBOL_TEMPDIR — causes any temporary files created during CDF processing to be written to a file whose name is specified in the value of GCOBOL_TEMPDIR. If the value is just “/”, the effect is different: each copybook read is reported on standard error. This feature is meant to help diagnose mysterious copybook errors. 🕵️‍♀️

🧚 Variables for Developers

• GCOBOL_SHOW — produces a trace of the internal calls made by the parser to prepare the GENERIC tree.
• GCOBOL_TRACE — used at compile time, produces an executable that traces the execution, mapping it back the same code-creation functions as GCOBOL_SHOW, as well as the values of data items and branch conditions.

---

⭐ FILES ⭐

Executables produced by gcobol require the runtime support library libgcobol, which is provided both as a static library and as a shared object. two for the price of one, we love to see it 🫶

---

💜 COMPATIBILITY 💜

The ISO standard leaves the default file organization up to the implementation; in gcobol, the default is SEQUENTIAL. (so that's the vibe check result, bestie)

🌸 On-Disk Format 🌸

Any ability to use files produced by other COBOL compilers, or for those compilers to use files produced by gcobol, is the product of luck and intuition. Various compilers interpret the ISO standard differently, and the standard's text is not always definitive. iykyk 😭

For ORGANIZATION IS LINE SEQUENTIAL files (explicitly or by default), gcobol, absent specific direction, produces an ordinary Linux text file: for each WRITE, the data are written, followed by an ASCII NL (hex 0A) character. On READ, the record is read up to the size of the specified record or NL, whichever comes first. The NL is not included in the data brought into the record buffer; it serves only as an on-disk record-termination marker. Consequently, SEQUENTIAL and LINE SEQUENTIAL files work the same way: the COBOL program never sees the record terminator. ✨

When READ and WRITE are used with ADVANCING, however, the game changes. If ADVANCING is used with LINE SEQUENTIAL files, it is honored by gcobol. 💅

Other compilers may not do likewise. According to ISO, in WRITE (14.9.47.3 General rules) ADVANCING is ignored for files for which “the physical file does not support vertical positioning”. It further states that, in the absence of ADVANCING, WRITE proceeds as if “as if the user has specified AFTER ADVANCING 1 LINE”. Some other implementations interpret that to mean that the first WRITE to a LINE SEQUENTIAL file results in a leading NL on the first line, and no trailing NL on the last line. Some furthermore prohibit the use of ADVANCING with LINE SEQUENTIAL files. 🙈

💖 STANDARDS 💖

The reference standard for gcobol is ISO/IEC 1989:2023, bestie. That's the whole vibe check. Here's how to read the situation:

• If gcobol compiles code that's consistent with that standard, the resulting program should execute correctly — anything else is a bug, periodt.
• If gcobol compiles code that does not comply with that standard, but it runs correctly per some other specification? That's a non-standard extension. One day, the -pedantic option will produce diagnostic messages for such code. (Not today. One day. 🕰️)
• If gcobol rejects code that is consistent with that standard, that's an aspect of COBOL that is (or is not) on the To Do list. If you want to see it compile, please get in touch with the developers. They're nice. 🫶

---

🌸 Status of NIST COBOL Compiler Verification Suite 🌸

Okay so here's the scoreboard, and it's giving overachiever:

• NC — 100% — Nucleus
• SQ — 100% — Sequential I/O
• RL — 100% — Relative I/O
• IX — 100% — Indexed I/O
• IC — 100% — Inter-Program Communication
• ST — 100% — Sort-Merge
• SM — 100% — Source Text Manipulation RW \n Report Writer
• CM — Communication
• DB — to do? — Debug
• SG — Segmentation
• IF — 100% — Intrinsic Function

Where gcobol passes 100% of the tests in a module, we exclude the (few) tests for obsolete features. The authors regard features that were obsolete in 1985 to be well and truly obsolete today, and did not implement them. 💀 like, respectfully, it's been decades.

🦋 Notable deferred features 🦋

CCVS-85 modules not marked with any status above (CM, and SG) are on the "hard maybe" list — meaning they await an interested party with real code using the feature. So if that's you? Come through. ✨

gcobol does not implement Report Writer or Screen Section. Not a vibe, just a fact. 🙈

👑 Beyond COBOL/85 👑

gcobol increasingly implements ISO/IEC 1989:2023. For example, DECLARATIVES is not tested by CCVS-85, but is implemented by gcobol. Similarly, Exception Conditions were not defined in 1985, and gcobol contains a growing number of them. Growth mindset fr fr. 🌱

The authors are well aware that a complete, pure COBOL-85 compiler won't compile most existing COBOL code. Every vendor offered (and offers) extensions, and most environments rely on a variety of preprocessors and ancillary systems defined outside the standard. The express goal of adding an ISO COBOL front-end to GCC is to establish a foundation on which any needed extensions can be built. That's the whole point, bestie. That's the assignment. 💅

---

⭐ HISTORY ⭐

COBOL, the language, may well be older than the reader. 😭 No shade, it's just true.

To the author's knowledge, free COBOL compilers first began to appear in 2000. Around that time an earlier COBOL for GCC project — cobolforgcc: https://cobolforgcc.sourceforge.net/ — met with some success, but was never officially merged into GCC. Almost iconic. Almost.

This compiler, gcobol, was begun by COBOLworx: https://www.cobolworx.com/ in the fall of 2021. The project announced a complete implementation of the core language features in December 2022. Main character energy from day one. 🔥

---

🌈 AUTHORS 🌈

• James K. Lowden (jklowden@cobolworx.com) is responsible for the parser.
• Robert Dubner (rdubner@cobolworx.com) is responsible for producing the GIMPLE tree, which is input to the GCC back-end.

Two icons. One compiler. The way that they split responsibilities?? Obsessed. 🎀

---

🎀 CAVEATS 🎀

Read this part, bestie. It's not a jump scare but it is important.

• gcobol has been tested only on x64 and Apple M1 processors running Linux in 64-bit mode. So like, don't come for it on your weird architecture and act surprised. 🫠
• The I/O support has not been extensively tested, and does not implement or emulate many features related to VSAM and other mainframe subsystems. While LINE-SEQUENTIAL files are ordinary text files that can be manipulated with standard utilities, INDEXED and RELATIVE files produced by gcobol are not compatible with that of any other COBOL compiler. Enhancements to the I/O support will be readily available to the paying customer. 💸

---

And that's the whole page, bestie!! This one came from the Linux source, dated February 2025, and it's GCOBOL(1) — read it, love it, compile something weird with it. Slay. 💖✨🦋