Welcome to IBM® COBOL for AIX®, IBM's COBOL compiler and run time for AIX!
There are some differences between host and workstation COBOL. For details about language and system differences between COBOL for AIX and Enterprise COBOL for z/OS®, see Summary of differences from host COBOL.
This information will help you write, compile, link-edit, and run IBM COBOL for AIX programs. It will also help you define object-oriented classes and methods, invoke methods, and refer to objects in your programs.
This information assumes experience in developing application programs and some knowledge of COBOL. It focuses on using COBOL to meet your programming objectives and not on the definition of the COBOL language. For complete information about COBOL syntax, see the COBOL for AIX Language Reference.
This information also assumes familiarity with AIX. For information about AIX, see your operating system documentation.
Certain terms are used in a shortened form in this information. Abbreviations for the product names used most frequently are listed alphabetically in the table below.
| Term used | Long form |
|---|---|
| CICS® | IBM TXSeries |
| COBOL for AIX | IBM COBOL for AIX |
| DB2® | Database 2 |
In addition to these abbreviated terms, the term "Standard COBOL 85" is used in this information to refer to the combination of the following standards:
The ISO standards are identical to the American National Standards.
Other terms, if not commonly understood, are shown in italics the first time they appear and are listed in the glossary.
Use the following description to
read the syntax diagrams in this information:

The >>--- symbol indicates the beginning of a syntax diagram.
The ---> symbol indicates that the syntax diagram is continued on the next line.
The >--- symbol indicates that the syntax diagram is continued from the previous line.
The --->< symbol indicates the end of a syntax diagram.
Diagrams of syntactical units other than complete statements start with the >--- symbol and end with the ---> symbol.
If choosing one of the items is optional, the entire stack appears below the main path.
>>-required_item--+------------------+------------------------->< +-optional_choice1-+ '-optional_choice2-'
If one of the items is the default, it appears above the main path and the remaining choices are shown below.
If the repeat arrow contains a comma, you must separate repeated items with a comma.
This information shows numerous examples of sample COBOL statements, program fragments, and small programs to illustrate the coding techniques being discussed. The examples of program code are written in lowercase, uppercase, or mixed case to demonstrate that you can write your programs in any of these ways.
To more clearly separate some examples from the explanatory text, they are presented in a monospace font.
COBOL keywords and compiler options that appear in text are generally shown in SMALL UPPERCASE. Other terms such as program variable names are sometimes shown in an italic font for clarity.
The information in this Programming Guide is available online in the AIX Compiler Information Center, which is available from the COBOL for AIX library page at www.ibm.com/software/awdtools/cobol/aix/library/. The Information Center also has the COBOL for AIX Language Reference and information about using the debugger.