Indent cobol code

Renato Zangerolami · New User Joined: 06 Dec 2019 Posts: 28 Location: Brazil

Can anyone tell me if there is any resource where it is possible to indent Cobol code or is it necessary to create a program for that?

sergeyken · Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 1:13 am

Formatting COBOL code elements

Why does COBOL have to be indented?

Renato Zangerolami · New User Joined: 06 Dec 2019 Posts: 28 Location: Brazil

where I work there are some rules, eg:
Pic, section, exit .. starts at column 40

Nic Clouston · Posted: Thu Feb 13, 2020 2:25 am

Googling "COBOL SOURCE CODE BEAUTIFIER" gives some possible options.

Renato Zangerolami · New User Joined: 06 Dec 2019 Posts: 28 Location: Brazil

Thank you Nic.

Phrzby Phil · Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2020 9:31 am

Just a side note on indentation.

COBOL doesn't give you room to indent too much.

But when I used the PL/I Optimizing compiler (1980's and 90's, but most likely still the same), the max compiler input record length was 100, with just column 1 reserved for carriage control, so 99 characters for source code allowed for very deep indentation.

Another side note - I had an intern (rising college senior in systems engineering) working with me on one one job around 2014, and while working with text files I asked her if she knew what a carriage was. All she knew was the horse drawn vehicle. lol.

prino · Posted: Fri Feb 14, 2020 5:12 pm

I think Enterprise PL/I has been changed fairly recently to allow an input LRECL=200 for source. I personally don't see why it's really necessary, having been used to breaking up lines since forever.