Syntax Rules

  1. Identifier-1 is an alphanumeric data item whose value is a program name. See General Rules for a description of conditions that may occur when you use this operation.
  2. Literal-1 is a nonnumeric literal whose value is either an operating system intrinsic name or a program name. When you are naming an intrinsic, literal-1 must be preceded by the keyword INTRINSIC.
  3. "\\" represents a null value passed as a parameter to an intrinsic or to a System Programming Language (SPL) program that includes the OPTION VARIABLE clause. When the intrinsic option is not specified, the compiler assumes a one-word parameter.
  4. @identifier-2 indicates that the byte address of the data item represented by identifier-2 is to be passed as a parameter. These types of parameters may be passed only to non-COBOL programs.
  5. Identifier-2 is the name of any data item in the calling program, or is a file named in an FD-level entry in the File Section of your program.
  6. Identifier-2 cannot be a function-identifier (i.e., it cannot reference an intrinsic function).