a. Can the OPTIONAL clause in COBOL only be coded for input files? b. If it

a. Can the OPTIONAL clause in COBOL only be coded for input
files?
b. If it is coded for files opened in OUTPUT, I-O or EXTEND
mode, will it give a compilation error?
c. If there are no compilation errors and if such files are
not coded in the JCL, will the OPEN statement run fine when
these files are opened?
d. How will a WRITE statement work for the above files?

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a. Can the OPTIONAL clause in COBOL only be coded for input files? b. If it is coded for files o..

Answer / kb

An OPTIONAL file is being opened as EXTEND or I-O. Optional
files are files that are not necessarily present each time
the program is run. You can define files opened in INPUT,
I-O, or EXTEND mode as optional by using the SELECT OPTIONAL
phrase in the FILE-CONTROL paragraph.

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a. Can the OPTIONAL clause in COBOL only be coded for input files? b. If it is coded for files o..

Answer / sandy

OPTIONAL clause can be specified for files opened INPUT,
OUTPUT, I-O and EXTEND modes. It will not give any
compilation error.
If we do not have DD statements for such files during
execution, the following file status code would be obtained
when we open the file.
INPUT (JCL RC = 0)
------
Open statement will give file status of '05'. Open is
successfule but file is not present.

EXTEND (JCL RC = 0)
------
Open statement give file status of '96'. No DDNAME present.

I-O (JCL RC = 0)
------
Open statement give file status of '96'. No DDNAME present.

WRITE (JCL SOC4 ABEND)

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