COBOL DISPLAY Statement

COBOL DISPLAY Statement is used to Display the data on Output device. This is a procedure division statement and very useful to get the required data on output device.

Syntax:

DISPLAY identifier/Literal

• Identifier is any declared variable of the program.
• Literal is any text string or figurative constants like ZEROES, SPACES, QUOTES, HIGH-VALUES, LOW-VALUES.

Example  for Identifier 

DISPLAY WW-NAME

Example for Literal

DISPLAY "PROGRAM STARTED:"

Identifier & literal can be combined.

DISPLAY "Account Holder name is : " WW-NAME

It gets printed on output as  ‘Account Holder Name is : Mahender

IN batch Programs, generally the display statements gets printed in the spool and for Online programs, it gets printed in the CICS region spool.

Example Program:

016100 WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
016200
016200 01 WW-NAME-DATE.
016200    05 WW-NAME PIC X(10) VALUE 'MAHENDER'.
016200    05 WW-TIMESTMP.
016200       07 WD-DATE PIC X(06) VALUE SPACES.
016200       07 WD-TIME PIC X(08) VALUE SPACES.
153700
153800 PROCEDURE DIVISION.
153900
           ACCEPT WD-DATE FROM DATE
           ACCEPT WD-TIME FROM TIME
154000     DISPLAY 'PROGRAM STARTED @ ' WW-TIMESTMP
154000     DISPLAY 'CUSTOMER NAME IS :' WW-NAME
           ACCEPT WD-DATE FROM DATE
           ACCEPT WD-TIME FROM TIME
154000     DISPLAY 'PROGRAM ENDED @ 'WW-TIMESTMP
155500
155600 STOP RUN.
155700

Output:

PROGRAM STARTED @ 19092605150946
CUSTOMER NAME IS :MAHENDER
PROGRAM ENDED @ 19092605150946

Here the program is very small and has no processing which takes some time, so that start & end times are same.

Using Multiple Identifiers:

When multiple variables are used under single disply, it gets printed in a single row.

016200 01 WK-NAME-ACNT.
016200      05 WK-NAME PIC X(10) VALUE 'MAHENDER'.
016200      05 WK-ACCOUNT PIC X(10) VALUE '123456 '.

DISPLAY 'CUSTOMER NAME and ACCOUNT :' WK-NAME WK-ACCOUNT

Output:

CUSTOMER NAME and ACCOUNT :MAHENDER 123456

Using Figurative Constants in Display

DISPLAY ZEROES
        HIGH-VALUES
        LOW-VALUES
        QUOTES

Refer MAINFRAMES Section for  ACCEPT verb detailed information. it is explained with examples. Also respond via comments if you feel any of the details are missing.