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Chapter 8: VS COBOL II Compatibility

The VS COBOL II compatibility features available in this COBOL system are controlled by the two Compiler directives:

FLAG "VSC2"
VSC2 "integer"

where integer provides compatibility as follows:

VSC2 (1) VS COBOL II release 1.x
VSC2 (2) VS COBOL II release 2
VSC2 (3) VS COBOL II release 3.x
VSC2 (4) VS COBOL II release 4.x

Most differences are reflected as flagging differences when the FLAG "VSC2" Compiler directive is specified. COBOL will not report any differences in the four levels of support. Indication is always given in the form of a flag.

Element VSC2(1) VSC2(2) VSC2(3) VSC2(4)
ADD..TO..GIVING Flagged as ANSI'85 Flagged as ANSI'85 Supported Supported
ALPHABET alphabetic class test Keyword is prohibited in SPECIAL-NAMES Keyword is prohibited in SPECIAL-NAMES Keyword is required in SPECIAL-NAMES Keyword is required in SPECIAL-NAMES
Alpha-numeric literal 160 chars. Flagged as ANSI'85 Flagged as ANSI'85 Supported Supported
BINARY usage Rejected Rejected Supported Supported
CALL BY CONTENT Flagged as ANSI'85 Flagged as ANSI'85 Supported Supported
CALL ON EXCEPTION Flagged as ANSI'85 Flagged as ANSI'85 Supported Supported
Class Name User defined class names are rejected Only upper case accepted User defined class names are rejected Only upper case is accepted Additional user class names can be defined in the SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph Both upper and lower case are accepted Additional user class names can be defined in the SPECIAL-NAMES paragraph Both upper and lower case are accepted
COMMON Rejected Rejected Supported Supported
Data - name following level number allowed in margin A Flagged as ANSI'85 Flagged as ANSI'85 Supported Supported
DAY - OF - WEEK Rejected Rejected Supported Supported
DISPLAY WITH NO ADVANCING Flagged as ANSI'85 extension Flagged as ANSI'85 extension Supported Supported
END PROGRAM Flagged as ANSI'85 Flagged as ANSI'85 Supported Supported
EVALUATE omitted ALSO Supported Flagged as MF extension Flagged as MF extension Flagged as MF extension
EXIT PROGRAM not alone in paragraph Flagged as ANSI'85 Flagged as ANSI'85 Supported Supported
EXTERNAL Rejected Rejected Supported Supported
File Status Code ANSI 74 codes ANSI 74 codes ANSI'85 codes ANSI'85 codes
GLOBAL clause Rejected Rejected Supported Supported
OCCURS nest depth seven Flagged as ANSI'85 Flagged as ANSI'85 Supported Supported
OPEN EXTEND for relative and indexed organizations Flagged as ANSI'85 Flagged as ANSI'85 Supported Supported
Optional FILLER or data name Flagged as ANSI'85 Flagged as ANSI'85 Supported Supported
INITIAL program-id Flagged as ANSI'85 Flagged as ANSI'85 Supported Supported
INITIALIZE Replacing DBCS Rejected Rejected Supported Supported
INSPECT CONVERTING Rejected Rejected Supported Supported
LESS OR EQUAL, GREATER OR EQUAL, <=, >= Flagged as ANSI'85 Flagged as ANSI'85 Supported Supported
Lower case letters Flagged as ANSI'85 Flagged as ANSI'85 Supported Supported
MERGE GIVING Multiple files Flagged as ANSI'85 Flagged as ANSI'85 Supported Supported
NOT scope delimiter Flagged as ANSI'85 Flagged as ANSI'85 Supported Supported
OPTIONAL RELATIVE files Flagged as ANSI'85 Flagged as ANSI'85 Supported Supported
PACKED - DECIMAL Rejected Rejected Supported Supported
PADDING CHARACTER Rejected Rejected Supported Supported
PIC continuation Flagged as ANSI'85 Flagged as ANSI'85 Supported Supported
Program-name can be the same as a user-defined word Rejected Rejected Rejected Rejected
RECORD DELIMITER Flagged as ANSI'85 Flagged as ANSI'85 Supported Supported
RECORD IS VARYING Flagged as ANSI'85 Flagged as ANSI'85 Supported Supported
Reference modification Flagged as ANSI'85 Flagged as ANSI'85 Supported Supported
REPLACE Rejected Rejected Supported Supported
SET TO ON/OFF Flagged as ANSI'85 Flagged as ANSI'85 Supported Supported
SIGN nested Flagged as ANSI'85 Flagged as ANSI'85 Supported Supported
SORT DUPLICATES phrase Rejected if ORDER used Rejected if ORDER used Supported Supported
STANDARD -2 Rejected Rejected Supported Supported
Symbolic chars. Flagged as ANSI'85 Flagged as ANSI'85 Supported Supported
VALUE with OCCURS Flagged as ANSI'85 Flagged as ANSI'85 Supported Supported


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