Thread: COBOL

What are 88-levels for? Keep seeing them in copybooks

Started by Alex • user3 replies233 viewsLast activity 2 months ago

Post #1

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Alex

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Posts: 35

Joined: 06/15/2026, 09:20 AM

Posted: 07/28/2026, 11:50 AM

Saw this in a copybook:

01 WS-STATUS PIC X.
88 STATUS-OPEN VALUE 'O'.
88 STATUS-CLOSED VALUE 'C'.

What does 88 mean and why not just IF WS-STATUS = 'O'?

Post #2

1 votes

James

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Posts: 30

Joined: 05/02/2024, 08:00 AM

Posted: 07/28/2026, 01:50 PM

88 is a condition name. IF STATUS-OPEN reads clearer than IF WS-STATUS = 'O'. Same field underneath.

You can SET STATUS-OPEN TO TRUE which moves 'O' into WS-STATUS. Handy once you get used to it.

Post #3

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Anita

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Posts: 23

Joined: 05/29/2025, 12:45 PM

Posted: 07/28/2026, 06:50 PM

Also one 88 can list several values. 88 VALID-STATUS VALUE 'O' 'P' 'H'. Then IF NOT VALID-STATUS ...

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What are 88-levels for? Keep seeing them in copybooks | MainframeMaster Forum