class, factory object,
object, method, 
function or interface. The Identification Division identifies the program,
class, factory object,
object, method,
function or interface.
This entire division
(including the division header) is optional in a program definition.
Another way to identify the
first source element defined in a file is with the basename, which is derived
from the filename of the file containing the source element.
The Identification Division consists of a number of paragraphs. The paragraph header identifies the type of information contained in the paragraph.
The Author,
Installation, Date-Written, Date-Compiled, and Security paragraphs are
classed as obsolete elements in the ANSI'85 standard and may be deleted from
the next full revision of the ANSI Standard.
All dialects in this COBOL implementation except ISO2000 fully
support these obsolete paragraphs. The FLAGSTD Compiler directive can be used
to detect all occurrences of this syntax.
Although they are a part of
the standard COBOL definition, the obsolete paragraphs are explicitly excluded
from the X/Open COBOL language definitions and should not be used in a
conforming X/Open source program.
The paragraphs can appear
in any order.
The periods following the
paragraph-names in the Identification Division are optional as is the period
following the program-name.
If the Compiler directive
SOURCEFORMAT is specified as FREE, the comment-entry cannot be continued; the
next line begins
the next non-comment entry.
The comment-entry can
contain the SKIP1, SKIP2, SKIP3, EJECT or TITLE statements anywhere on the
line. These statements are actioned if they are alone on a line
in the comment-entry, and do not terminate the comment-entry.
The comment-entry can
contain the SKIP1, SKIP2, SKIP3, or EJECT statements anywhere in the B margin.
These statements are actioned if they are alone on a line
in the comment-entry, and do not terminate the comment-entry.
The comment-entry can be
contained in either area A or area B of the comment-entry lines. However, the
next occurrence in area A of any one of the following COBOL words or phrases
terminates the
comment-entry and begin the next paragraph or division:
PROGRAM-ID
AUTHOR
INSTALLATION
DATE-WRITTEN
DATE-COMPILED
SECURITY
ENVIRONMENT
DATA
PROCEDURE
The Program-ID paragraph gives the name by which a program is identified and assigns selected program attributes to that program.
The Program-ID paragraph specifies the name by which a call prototype is identified.
Program-name-1 can be a
nonnumeric literal specified with or without enclosing quotation marks. The
content of the literal must follow the rules for formation of program-names,
but may also contain the characters @, #, and $.
Program-name-1 can be
the same as another user-defined word.
The first 8 characters of
program-name-1 of a program that is not contained in another program should be
unique in the system. The first character must be alphabetic; otherwise it is
converted as follows:
If a hyphen is used in
characters 2 through 8 of program-name-1 in a program that is not contained in
another program, it is changed to zero (0).
For programs that are
contained in another program, program-name-1 can be any valid user-defined
COBOL word, up to 30 characters long. The first eight characters need not be
unique, and they will not be converted as described above. Lower-case letters
are valid, but such program-names will be handled in a case-insensitive manner.
The MAPNAME Compiler directive controls this behavior.
A program contained within
another program must not be assigned the same name as that of any other program
contained within the compilation unit that contains this program.
The optional COMMON clause
can be used only if the program is contained within another program.
If the IS PROGRAM phrase is
present,
or RECURSIVE
must be specified.
Literal-1 must be an
alphanumeric literal and must not be a figurative constant.
Literal-1 must not be
specified in a program that is contained within another program.
The RECURSIVE clause must not be specified if any
program that directly or indirectly contains this program is an initial
program.
The RECURSIVE clause must not be
specified in a program that is contained within another program.
The RECURSIVE clause must not be
specified in a program that contains another program.
The COMMON clause specifies that the program is common. A common
program is contained within another program but can be called from programs
other than that containing it.
The INITIAL clause specifies that the program is initial. When an
initial program is called, it and any programs contained within it are placed
in their initial state. See the section
Initial
State in the chapter Language Fundamentals.
The RECURSIVE clause specifies that the program
and any programs
contained within it
are recursive. The
program may be called while it is active and may call itself. The RECURSIVE
clause is also implied for a program in which the Local-Storage Section is
specified.
If the RECURSIVE clause is not specified in a program or
implied for a program, the program must not be called while it is active.
Additional rules concerning common, initial and
recursive programs are given in the section
Common, Initial and
Recursive Attributes in the chapter Language Fundamentals
Program-name-1 names the
call prototype that will be used during syntax checking to determine the
validity and nature of CALL literal statements.
The Class-ID paragraph indicates that this Identification Division is introducing a class definition and specifies the name that identifies the class and assigns class attributes to the class.
CLASS-ID. [ AS literal-1 ]
[ INHERITS FROM class-name-2 ]
[ USING { parameter-name-1 } ... ] .
or the Class-Control
paragraph
The Factory paragraph indicates that this Identification Division is introducing a factory definition.
FACTORY.
The Object paragraph indicates that this Identification Division is introducing an object definition.
OBJECT.
The Method-ID paragraph indicates that this Identification Division is introducing a method definition, specifies the name that identifies the method and assigns method attributes to the method.
The Interface-ID paragraph indicates that this Identification Division is introducing an interface definition, specifies the name that identifies the interface and assigns interface attributes to the interface.
INTERFACE-ID. interface-name-1 [ AS literal-1 ]
[ INHERITS FROM interface-name-2 ]
[ USING { parameter-name-1 } ... ] .
The Function-ID paragraph specifies the name by which a function is identified and assigns selected attributes to that function.
FUNCTION-ID. user-function-name-1 [ AS literal-1 ].
FUNCTION-ID. function-prototype-name-1 [ AS literal-1 ] IS PROTOTYPE.
The Date-Compiled paragraph provides the date the intermediate code was produced in the Identification Division source program listing.
DATE-COMPILED. current-date-and-time .
where the date and time format is DD-MMM-YY hh:mm.
The DATE Compiler directive can impact the comment-entry replacement string for your COBOL implementation.
The value inserted in the Date-Compiled paragraph
is also the value
used in the WHEN-COMPILED intrinsic function.
However, the format can differ.
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