MainframeMaster

COBOL Tutorial

COBOL TEXT - Quick Reference

Progress0 of 0 lessons

Overview

The TEXT feature in COBOL provides comprehensive text processing and string manipulation capabilities. It enables programs to handle text data efficiently, manipulate strings, parse text content, and perform various text-based operations.

Purpose and Usage

  • Text processing - Handle and manipulate text data
  • String manipulation - Concatenate, split, and modify strings
  • Text parsing - Extract and analyze text content
  • Text formatting - Format text for display and output
  • Text validation - Validate text content and format

TEXT vs Standard Alphanumeric Operations

Standard: Basic alphanumeric handling
TEXT: Specialized text processing and manipulation
Result: Enhanced text processing capabilities

TEXT provides specialized text processing capabilities beyond basic alphanumeric operations.

Syntax and Usage

TEXT operations are implemented in the PROCEDURE DIVISION using specialized constructs for text processing, string manipulation, and text-based operations.

Basic TEXT Syntax

cobol
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
* Basic TEXT syntax examples
       PROCEDURE DIVISION.
       
       * String concatenation
       STRING FIRST-NAME DELIMITED BY SPACE
              " " DELIMITED BY SIZE
              LAST-NAME DELIMITED BY SPACE
              INTO FULL-NAME
       
       * String parsing
       UNSTRING INPUT-TEXT DELIMITED BY ","
              INTO FIELD1 FIELD2 FIELD3
       
       * Text inspection and replacement
       INSPECT TEXT-FIELD REPLACING ALL "OLD" BY "NEW"
       
       * Text formatting
       MOVE FUNCTION TRIM(TEXT-INPUT) TO FORMATTED-TEXT
       
       * Text validation
       IF TEXT-FIELD IS ALPHABETIC
           PERFORM PROCESS-TEXT
       END-IF
       
       * Text searching
       INSPECT TEXT-FIELD TALLYING COUNT FOR ALL "SEARCH-TERM"

Basic TEXT operations for string manipulation and text processing.

Complete TEXT Program Example

cobol
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
* Complete COBOL program demonstrating TEXT usage
       IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
       PROGRAM-ID. TEXT-DEMO.
       
       ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
       CONFIGURATION SECTION.
       
       DATA DIVISION.
       WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
       01  TEXT-DATA.
           05  INPUT-TEXT     PIC X(100).
           05  OUTPUT-TEXT    PIC X(100).
           05  PARSED-FIELDS.
               10  FIELD1     PIC X(30).
               10  FIELD2     PIC X(30).
               10  FIELD3     PIC X(30).
       
       01  TEXT-STATISTICS.
           05  CHAR-COUNT     PIC 9(3).
           05  WORD-COUNT     PIC 9(3).
           05  LINE-COUNT     PIC 9(3).
       
       01  TEXT-OPERATIONS.
           05  SEARCH-TERM    PIC X(20).
           05  REPLACE-TERM   PIC X(20).
       
       PROCEDURE DIVISION.
       MAIN-LOGIC.
           PERFORM INITIALIZE-TEXT-PROCESSING
           PERFORM PROCESS-TEXT-DATA
           PERFORM ANALYZE-TEXT
           PERFORM FORMAT-TEXT-OUTPUT
           STOP RUN.
       
       INITIALIZE-TEXT-PROCESSING.
           MOVE "Hello,World,COBOL" TO INPUT-TEXT
           MOVE "Hello" TO SEARCH-TERM
           MOVE "Hi" TO REPLACE-TERM.
       
       PROCESS-TEXT-DATA.
           * Parse comma-separated text
           UNSTRING INPUT-TEXT DELIMITED BY ","
                  INTO FIELD1 FIELD2 FIELD3
           
           * Replace text content
           INSPECT INPUT-TEXT REPLACING ALL SEARCH-TERM BY REPLACE-TERM
           
           * Concatenate processed text
           STRING FIELD1 DELIMITED BY SPACE
                  " " DELIMITED BY SIZE
                  FIELD2 DELIMITED BY SPACE
                  " " DELIMITED BY SIZE
                  FIELD3 DELIMITED BY SPACE
                  INTO OUTPUT-TEXT.
       
       ANALYZE-TEXT.
           * Count characters
           MOVE FUNCTION LENGTH(INPUT-TEXT) TO CHAR-COUNT
           
           * Count words (simplified)
           INSPECT INPUT-TEXT TALLYING WORD-COUNT FOR ALL " "
           ADD 1 TO WORD-COUNT
           
           * Count lines (simplified)
           INSPECT INPUT-TEXT TALLYING LINE-COUNT FOR ALL "."
           ADD 1 TO LINE-COUNT.
       
       FORMAT-TEXT-OUTPUT.
           * Format output text
           MOVE FUNCTION TRIM(OUTPUT-TEXT) TO OUTPUT-TEXT
           
           * Display results
           DISPLAY "Original Text: " INPUT-TEXT
           DISPLAY "Processed Text: " OUTPUT-TEXT
           DISPLAY "Character Count: " CHAR-COUNT
           DISPLAY "Word Count: " WORD-COUNT
           DISPLAY "Line Count: " LINE-COUNT.

The program demonstrates comprehensive text processing capabilities.

Advanced TEXT Usage

cobol
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
* Advanced TEXT usage with complex text processing
       PROCEDURE DIVISION.
       
       ADVANCED-TEXT-OPERATIONS.
           PERFORM COMPLEX-TEXT-PARSING
           PERFORM TEXT-TRANSFORMATION
           PERFORM TEXT-VALIDATION
           PERFORM TEXT-FORMATTING.
       
       COMPLEX-TEXT-PARSING.
           * Parse complex text structure
           UNSTRING COMPLEX-TEXT DELIMITED BY "|"
                  INTO PARSED-FIELD1 PARSED-FIELD2 PARSED-FIELD3
                  WITH POINTER PARSE-POINTER
                  ON OVERFLOW PERFORM HANDLE-PARSE-ERROR
                  NOT ON OVERFLOW PERFORM CONTINUE-PARSING.
       
       TEXT-TRANSFORMATION.
           * Transform text case
           MOVE FUNCTION UPPER-CASE(INPUT-TEXT) TO UPPER-TEXT
           MOVE FUNCTION LOWER-CASE(INPUT-TEXT) TO LOWER-TEXT
           
           * Replace multiple patterns
           INSPECT TRANSFORM-TEXT REPLACING ALL "PATTERN1" BY "REPLACEMENT1"
           INSPECT TRANSFORM-TEXT REPLACING ALL "PATTERN2" BY "REPLACEMENT2"
           INSPECT TRANSFORM-TEXT REPLACING ALL "PATTERN3" BY "REPLACEMENT3".
       
       TEXT-VALIDATION.
           * Validate text format
           IF TEXT-TO-VALIDATE IS ALPHABETIC
               MOVE 'VALID' TO VALIDATION-STATUS
           ELSE IF TEXT-TO-VALIDATE IS NUMERIC
               MOVE 'VALID' TO VALIDATION-STATUS
           ELSE
               MOVE 'INVALID' TO VALIDATION-STATUS
           END-IF
           
           * Check text length
           IF FUNCTION LENGTH(TEXT-TO-VALIDATE) > MAX-LENGTH
               MOVE 'TOO-LONG' TO VALIDATION-STATUS
           END-IF.
       
       TEXT-FORMATTING.
           * Format text for output
           MOVE FUNCTION TRIM(UNFORMATTED-TEXT) TO FORMATTED-TEXT
           
           * Add formatting characters
           STRING "[" DELIMITED BY SIZE
                  FORMATTED-TEXT DELIMITED BY SPACE
                  "]" DELIMITED BY SIZE
                  INTO FINAL-TEXT.
       
       HANDLE-PARSE-ERROR.
           DISPLAY "Error: Text parsing failed"
           MOVE 'ERROR' TO PARSE-STATUS.
       
       CONTINUE-PARSING.
           DISPLAY "Text parsing completed successfully"
           MOVE 'SUCCESS' TO PARSE-STATUS.

Advanced TEXT usage with complex text processing and validation.

Common Use Cases

TEXT is essential in various scenarios where text processing, string manipulation, and text-based applications are required.

Text Parsing Applications

cobol
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
* Text parsing application using TEXT
       IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
       PROGRAM-ID. TEXT-PARSER.
       
       DATA DIVISION.
       WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
       01  PARSING-DATA.
           05  CSV-LINE       PIC X(200).
           05  PARSED-FIELDS.
               10  FIELD OCCURS 10 TIMES PIC X(50).
           05  FIELD-COUNT    PIC 9(2).
       
       01  PARSING-CONTROL.
           05  DELIMITER      PIC X VALUE ",".
           05  PARSE-POINTER  PIC 9(3).
       
       PROCEDURE DIVISION.
       MAIN-LOGIC.
           PERFORM INITIALIZE-PARSER
           PERFORM PARSE-CSV-DATA
           PERFORM PROCESS-PARSED-FIELDS
           STOP RUN.
       
       INITIALIZE-PARSER.
           MOVE "Name,Age,City,Occupation,Salary" TO CSV-LINE
           MOVE ZERO TO FIELD-COUNT.
       
       PARSE-CSV-DATA.
           * Parse CSV line into fields
           UNSTRING CSV-LINE DELIMITED BY DELIMITER
                  INTO FIELD(1) FIELD(2) FIELD(3) FIELD(4) FIELD(5)
                  WITH POINTER PARSE-POINTER
                  TALLYING IN FIELD-COUNT
                  ON OVERFLOW PERFORM HANDLE-PARSE-OVERFLOW
                  NOT ON OVERFLOW PERFORM CONTINUE-PROCESSING.
       
       PROCESS-PARSED-FIELDS.
           * Process each parsed field
           PERFORM VARYING I FROM 1 BY 1 UNTIL I > FIELD-COUNT
               PERFORM PROCESS-INDIVIDUAL-FIELD
           END-PERFORM.
       
       PROCESS-INDIVIDUAL-FIELD.
           * Clean and format individual field
           MOVE FUNCTION TRIM(FIELD(I)) TO FIELD(I)
           
           * Display processed field
           DISPLAY "Field " I ": " FIELD(I).
       
       HANDLE-PARSE-OVERFLOW.
           DISPLAY "Warning: Parse overflow occurred"
           DISPLAY "Parsed " FIELD-COUNT " fields".
       
       CONTINUE-PROCESSING.
           DISPLAY "Successfully parsed " FIELD-COUNT " fields".

Text parsing applications use TEXT for structured data extraction.

Report Formatting

cobol
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
* Report formatting using TEXT
       IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
       PROGRAM-ID. REPORT-FORMATTER.
       
       DATA DIVISION.
       WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
       01  REPORT-DATA.
           05  REPORT-TITLE   PIC X(50).
           05  REPORT-DATE    PIC X(10).
           05  REPORT-HEADER  PIC X(100).
           05  REPORT-LINE    PIC X(100).
       
       01  FORMATTING-CONTROL.
           05  LINE-WIDTH     PIC 9(3) VALUE 80.
           05  MARGIN-SIZE    PIC 9(2) VALUE 5.
       
       PROCEDURE DIVISION.
       MAIN-LOGIC.
           PERFORM FORMAT-REPORT-HEADER
           PERFORM FORMAT-REPORT-CONTENT
           PERFORM FORMAT-REPORT-FOOTER
           STOP RUN.
       
       FORMAT-REPORT-HEADER.
           * Format report title
           MOVE "Monthly Sales Report" TO REPORT-TITLE
           MOVE FUNCTION CURRENT-DATE TO REPORT-DATE
           
           * Create formatted header
           STRING REPORT-TITLE DELIMITED BY SPACE
                  " - " DELIMITED BY SIZE
                  REPORT-DATE DELIMITED BY SPACE
                  INTO REPORT-HEADER
           
           * Center the header
           PERFORM CENTER-TEXT
           DISPLAY REPORT-HEADER.
       
       FORMAT-REPORT-CONTENT.
           * Format report content lines
           MOVE "Sales data for the current month" TO REPORT-LINE
           PERFORM FORMAT-LINE
           DISPLAY REPORT-LINE
           
           MOVE "Total sales: $1,234,567" TO REPORT-LINE
           PERFORM FORMAT-LINE
           DISPLAY REPORT-LINE.
       
       FORMAT-REPORT-FOOTER.
           * Format report footer
           MOVE "End of Report" TO REPORT-LINE
           PERFORM CENTER-TEXT
           DISPLAY REPORT-LINE.
       
       FORMAT-LINE.
           * Add margin to line
           STRING SPACES DELIMITED BY SIZE
                  REPORT-LINE DELIMITED BY SPACE
                  INTO FORMATTED-LINE.
       
       CENTER-TEXT.
           * Center text within line width
           COMPUTE CENTER-POSITION = (LINE-WIDTH - FUNCTION LENGTH(REPORT-LINE)) / 2
           MOVE SPACES TO CENTERED-TEXT
           STRING SPACES DELIMITED BY SIZE
                  REPORT-LINE DELIMITED BY SPACE
                  INTO CENTERED-TEXT
                  WITH POINTER CENTER-POSITION.

Report formatting uses TEXT for structured output presentation.

Text Processing Applications

cobol
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
* Text processing application using TEXT
       IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
       PROGRAM-ID. TEXT-PROCESSOR.
       
       DATA DIVISION.
       WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
       01  PROCESSING-DATA.
           05  INPUT-TEXT     PIC X(500).
           05  PROCESSED-TEXT PIC X(500).
           05  WORD-COUNT     PIC 9(3).
           05  CHAR-COUNT     PIC 9(3).
       
       01  PROCESSING-CONTROL.
           05  SEARCH-WORD    PIC X(20).
           05  REPLACE-WORD   PIC X(20).
           05  PROCESS-STATUS PIC X(10).
       
       PROCEDURE DIVISION.
       MAIN-LOGIC.
           PERFORM INITIALIZE-PROCESSOR
           PERFORM PROCESS-TEXT-CONTENT
           PERFORM ANALYZE-TEXT-STATISTICS
           PERFORM DISPLAY-PROCESSING-RESULTS
           STOP RUN.
       
       INITIALIZE-PROCESSOR.
           MOVE "This is a sample text for processing" TO INPUT-TEXT
           MOVE "sample" TO SEARCH-WORD
           MOVE "example" TO REPLACE-WORD.
       
       PROCESS-TEXT-CONTENT.
           * Copy input text to processed text
           MOVE INPUT-TEXT TO PROCESSED-TEXT
           
           * Replace words in text
           INSPECT PROCESSED-TEXT REPLACING ALL SEARCH-WORD BY REPLACE-WORD
           
           * Convert to uppercase
           MOVE FUNCTION UPPER-CASE(PROCESSED-TEXT) TO PROCESSED-TEXT
           
           * Trim whitespace
           MOVE FUNCTION TRIM(PROCESSED-TEXT) TO PROCESSED-TEXT.
       
       ANALYZE-TEXT-STATISTICS.
           * Count characters
           MOVE FUNCTION LENGTH(PROCESSED-TEXT) TO CHAR-COUNT
           
           * Count words (simplified)
           INSPECT PROCESSED-TEXT TALLYING WORD-COUNT FOR ALL " "
           ADD 1 TO WORD-COUNT.
       
       DISPLAY-PROCESSING-RESULTS.
           DISPLAY "=== TEXT PROCESSING RESULTS ==="
           DISPLAY "Original Text: " INPUT-TEXT
           DISPLAY "Processed Text: " PROCESSED-TEXT
           DISPLAY "Character Count: " CHAR-COUNT
           DISPLAY "Word Count: " WORD-COUNT
           DISPLAY "Processing Status: " PROCESS-STATUS.

Text processing applications use TEXT for content manipulation and analysis.

Best Practices and Tips

Following these best practices ensures effective use of TEXT in COBOL applications for better text processing and performance.

TEXT Best Practices

  • Design efficient text processing algorithms - Optimize for large text data
  • Implement proper text validation - Validate text content and format
  • Use appropriate text formatting - Ensure readability and proper output
  • Handle text encoding properly - Manage character sets and encoding issues
  • Optimize text processing performance - Use efficient algorithms and techniques
  • Document text processing logic - Maintain clear documentation of text operations

Text Processing Techniques

TechniquePurposeExample
String ConcatenationCombine multiple stringsSTRING A B INTO C
String ParsingSplit strings by delimitersUNSTRING TEXT DELIMITED BY ","
Text ReplacementReplace text patternsINSPECT TEXT REPLACING ALL "OLD" BY "NEW"
Text SearchingFind text patternsINSPECT TEXT TALLYING COUNT FOR ALL "PATTERN"
Text FormattingFormat text for outputFUNCTION TRIM(TEXT)
Case ConversionConvert text caseFUNCTION UPPER-CASE(TEXT)

Performance Considerations

  • Efficient algorithms - Use optimized text processing algorithms
  • Memory management - Manage memory usage for large text data
  • Batch processing - Process text in batches for large datasets
  • Caching strategies - Cache frequently used text operations
  • Error handling - Implement robust error handling for text operations
  • Resource optimization - Optimize resource usage for text processing

TEXT Quick Reference

AspectDescriptionExample
LocationPROCEDURE DIVISIONIn text processing operations
String ConcatenationCombine strings using STRINGSTRING A B INTO C
String ParsingSplit strings using UNSTRINGUNSTRING TEXT DELIMITED BY ","
Text ReplacementReplace text using INSPECTINSPECT TEXT REPLACING ALL "OLD" BY "NEW"
Text FunctionsUse built-in text functionsFUNCTION TRIM(TEXT)

Test Your Knowledge

1. What is the primary purpose of TEXT in COBOL?

  • To define arithmetic operations
  • To handle text processing, string manipulation, and text-based operations
  • To control file operations
  • To define data types

2. Where is TEXT typically used in a COBOL program?

  • In the DATA DIVISION for text data definitions
  • In the PROCEDURE DIVISION for text processing operations
  • In the ENVIRONMENT DIVISION for system configuration
  • In the IDENTIFICATION DIVISION

3. What types of operations can TEXT handle?

  • Only file operations
  • Only database operations
  • Text processing, string manipulation, parsing, and text formatting operations
  • Only mathematical calculations

4. How does TEXT differ from standard alphanumeric operations?

  • They are identical in function
  • TEXT provides specialized text processing and string manipulation capabilities
  • TEXT only works with numeric data
  • Standard alphanumeric operations are more advanced than TEXT

5. Which of the following is a common use of TEXT?

  • File sorting operations
  • Text parsing, string manipulation, report formatting, and text processing applications
  • Database operations
  • Mathematical calculations

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Concepts

String Operations

Understanding string operations in COBOL.

Text Processing

Working with text processing in COBOL.

Data Validation

Validating text data in COBOL applications.

Report Generation

Generating formatted reports in COBOL.

Data Manipulation

Manipulating data in COBOL programs.

TESTTHEN