Mainframe, MVS and zOS Discussion

Hi

is it possible to use reference modification for a receiving field in a COBOL program? For example, can we use something like this:
?

What did the Enterprise COBOL Language Reference manual tell you when you searched it for reference modification?

What happened when you simply tried it?

My second observation (after suggesting you look at the manual) is that your MOVE statement is incorrectly set up -- you are moving a 6-byte constant into a 3-byte receiving field.

My third observation is that it took 3 minutes for me to code, compile, and execute a test that shows reference modification on receiving variables is perfectly valid. It took 2 more minutes to change my test to match your post and find that the results matched my expectations -- the ABC got moved since you told COBOL the receiving field was only 3 bytes, and alphanumeric data is moved left-to-right. So rather than waiting 10 1/2 hours for responses on a forum, you could have tested it yourself in far less time.