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COBOL Subroutine

By Arch Brooks on August 13, 2026 in Programming

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       IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
       PROGRAM-ID. DISPLAY-80.

       DATA DIVISION.
       WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.

       LINKAGE SECTION.
       01  LK-CONTENT                 PIC X(80).

       PROCEDURE DIVISION USING LK-CONTENT.

           DISPLAY LK-CONTENT

           GOBACK.

If you want the subroutine to issue multiple DISPLAY commands based on fields within the 80-byte linkage area, for example:

       IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
       PROGRAM-ID. DISPLAY-80.

       DATA DIVISION.
       WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.

       01  WS-LINE                    PIC X(80).

       LINKAGE SECTION.
       01  LK-CONTENT                 PIC X(80).

       PROCEDURE DIVISION USING LK-CONTENT.

           MOVE LK-CONTENT TO WS-LINE

           DISPLAY WS-LINE(1:20)
           DISPLAY WS-LINE(21:20)
           DISPLAY WS-LINE(41:20)
           DISPLAY WS-LINE(61:20)

           GOBACK.

For a GnuCOBOL-compatible callable subroutine, the calling program would be:

       CALL "DISPLAY-80" USING WS-CONTENT.

where:

       01 WS-CONTENT PIC X(80).

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