For example:
COPY EMPREC.
The file named after the COPY verb can contain any COBOL statements that a copybook can, including EXEC SQL statements.
The SQL Option preprocessor works like the mainframe DB2 preprocessor does. However with the SQL Option preprocessor, you need to specify the preprocessor directive COPY to allow host variables to be defined in COPY statements.
If you specify EXEC SQL statements using the COPY verb, the SQL Option preprocessor will compile the program and will generate an error message for any host variable referenced from the copybook without the COPY directive being set. If you port the same program to the mainframe, the SQL code may not precompile unless your installation has a product that expands copybooks before passing them to the DB2 mainframe preprocessor.