Using the Runtime System

The ACUCOBOL-GT runtime system (referred to in this manual as runcbl), runs the programs created by the compiler. Once compiled, programs are ready to run; no linking step is required. Programs compiled with ACUCOBOL-GT are machine transportable. runcbl accommodates the differences between machines.

To run an ACUCOBOL-GT program, enter the following command (substitute the name of your runtime for runcbl):

runcbl  [options]  [program]  [parameters]

program is the name of a compiled program. If omitted, its name defaults to cbl.out (or to the name you have set with the runtime configuration variable DEFAULT_PROGRAM). Remote name notation is allowed for the name of the compiled program, if your runtime is client-enabled. See Remote Name Notation for more information.

parameters are one or more arguments that can be passed to the program. These arguments can be accessed through the CHAINING phrase of the Procedure Division header in the compiled program. If parameters are specified, then program must also be specified. Under VMS, the parameters that are not in double quotes are converted to lower case. Parameters should be enclosed in double quotes to preserve case sensitivity. The maximum number of parameters allowed on the command line is 50. See CHAIN Statement in the ACUCOBOL-GT Reference Manual for more information.

options is a series of one or more of the following flags. These options must be preceded by a hyphen. You can specify more than one option by simply combining them. Option characters may be either upper or lower case.

Separately, or in addition to placing options on the command line, options can be specified in the ACUSW environment variable. ACUSW can contain any runtime options, which are specified with the same syntax used on the command line. ACUSW and command-line options can be used together. ACUSW is processed after the command line, however, the command line takes precedence with options that specify a filename. For example, you can specify a default error file in ACUSW (e.g., with the -e option) and then override it on the command line for a particular run. The --no-acusw option inhibits the processing of ACUSW. This is valuable for programs that directly invoke the runtime and require a fixed set of options that the user is not allowed to modify with ACUSW.