Miscellaneous Options

The miscellaneous options enable you to control a number of aspects of the generated object files, such as bounds checking and optimization.

The following compiler options are supported in Visual COBOL when using ccbl (Windows) or ccbl32 and ccbl64 (UNIX) from the command line or the ACUOPT Compiler directive. 1

Option Definition
-Za Causes the compiler to generate code to test array references at run time. If an index is used which is out-of-bounds, the run-time system displays an error message showing the index value and the allowed bounds. (This causes some extra code to be generated and prevents certain table optimizations from occurring, so it should be turned off once a program is fully debugged.) With this option, the compiler does not re-use previously computed index values.
-Zc This compact option optimizes for smaller code instead of faster code.

This option is accepted by the compiler, but is ignored.

-Zd Although still supported, this option has been replaced by the -Gd option. Both options produce the same results.
-Zg Enables the use of segmentation (overlays) in the source. If this option is not used, section numbers will be ignored.

This option is accepted by the compiler, but is ignored.

-Zi Causes the program to be compiled as if it had the IS INITIAL PROGRAM phrase specified in its PROGRAM-ID paragraph.
-Zl All data items may be larger than 64 KB. This option is obsolete.
-Zn This turns off ACUCOBOL-GT's local optimizer. This is useful primarily to see if the optimizer is introducing errors in the generated object code. This option also prevents the compiler from re-using previously computed index values.

This option is accepted by the compiler, but is ignored.

-Zs Although still supported, this option has been replaced by the -Gy option. Both options produce the same results.
-Zy This option lets you treat ACCEPT FROM DATE as ACCEPT FROM CENTURY-DATE, and ACCEPT FROM DAY as ACCEPT FROM CENTURY-DAY. If you use this option, the 4-digit year format will be used for ACCEPT FROM DATE providing that:
  • The receiving field is numeric or numeric edited and contains eight or more integer digits; or
  • The receiving field is not numeric or numeric edited and contains eight or more character positions.
If neither of the above conditions applies, then ACCEPT FROM DATE will return its normal 6-digit format even if you use -Zy.
-Zr0 This option tells the compiler not to allow recursive PERFORMs. Event procedures require the ability to do recursive PERFORMs.
-Zr1 This option tells the compiler to allow recursive PERFORMs. Event procedures require the ability to do recursive PERFORMs.