Returning Items

A returning item must be specified in the activating statement, if and only if a returning item is specified in the PROCEDURE DIVISION header

or ENTRY statement

of the activated source element. A returning item is implicitly specified in the activating element when a function or inline method invocation is referenced.

The returning item in the activated source element is the sending operand, the corresponding returning item in the activating source element is the receiving operand.

The rules for conformance between the sending operand and the receiving operand depend on whether at least one of the operands is an alphanumeric group item or both operands are elementary items.