Normally, the compiler will initialize all data items to spaces or the value specified by the DEFAULTBYTE directive, except for those items given a VALUE clause. If this option is specified, data items are initialized according to their type:
Alphabetic, alphanumeric, alphanumeric edited, and numeric edited items are initialized to spaces.
Numeric items are initialized to zero.
Pointer items are initialized to null.
Index items are initialized to the value 1.
Automatic initialization applies only to Working-Storage, and does not apply to any item that (a) is given a VALUE clause (including via a higher group level) (b) is EXTERNAL, or (c) is subordinate to a REDEFINES phrase.
Comments:
Normally, the compiler will initialize all data items to spaces or the value specified by the DEFAULTBYTE directive, except for those items given a VALUE clause. If this option is specified, data items are initialized according to their type:
Automatic initialization applies only to Working-Storage, and does not apply to any item that (a) is given a VALUE clause (including via a higher group level) (b) is EXTERNAL, or (c) is subordinate to a REDEFINES phrase.