Micro Focus Visual COBOL 2.3 Update 1 for Eclipse (UNIX) > General Reference > COBOL Language Reference > Part 3. Additional Topics > Report Writer > Data Division > The Report Description Entry > LINE-COUNTER Rules

LINE-COUNTER Rules

LINE-COUNTER is the reserved word used to reference a special register that is automatically created for each report specified in the Report Section. (See the section Special Register LINE-COUNTER.)
In the report section a reference to LINE-COUNTER can appear only in a SOURCE clause. In the Procedure Division, LINE-COUNTER can be used in any context in which a data item with an integral value can appear. However, only the RWCS can change the content of LINE-COUNTER.
If more than one LINE-COUNTER exists in a program, LINE-COUNTER must be qualified by a report-name whenever it is referenced in the Procedure Division.
In the Report Section an unqualified reference to LINE-COUNTER is qualified implicitly by the name of the report in whose description entry the reference is made. Whenever the LINE-COUNTER of a different report is referenced, LINE-COUNTER must be explicitly qualified by the report-name associated with the different report.
Execution of an INITIATE statement causes the RWCS to set the LINE-COUNTER of the referenced report to zero. The RWCS also automatically resets LINE-COUNTER to zero each time it executes a page advance.
The value of LINE-COUNTER is not affected by the processing of nonprintable report groups nor by the processing of a printable report group whose printing is suppressed by means of the SUPPRESS statement.
At the time each print line is presented, the value of LINE-COUNTER represents the line number on which the print line is presented. The value of LINE-COUNTER after the presentation of a report group is governed by the presentation rules for the report group. (See the section Presentation Rules Tables.)