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COBOL Basics | Intermediate | COBOL

INSPECT Statement

Problem Description

Use INSPECT to count and replace characters.

Expected Output

Character manipulation results

Hints

INSPECT TALLYING counts, REPLACING modifies.

Solution

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION. PROGRAM-ID. INSPECT. DATA DIVISION. WORKING-STORAGE SECTION. 01 WS-TEXT PIC X(50) VALUE "HELLO WORLD COBOL PROGRAMMING". 01 WS-COUNT PIC 9(3) VALUE 0. 01 WS-PHONE PIC X(12) VALUE "123-456-7890". PROCEDURE DIVISION. * Count occurrences INSPECT WS-TEXT TALLYING WS-COUNT FOR ALL "O". DISPLAY "COUNT OF O: " WS-COUNT. MOVE 0 TO WS-COUNT. INSPECT WS-TEXT TALLYING WS-COUNT FOR ALL SPACES. DISPLAY "COUNT OF SPACES: " WS-COUNT. * Replace characters INSPECT WS-TEXT REPLACING ALL "O" BY "0". DISPLAY "AFTER REPLACE: " WS-TEXT. * Remove dashes from phone INSPECT WS-PHONE REPLACING ALL "-" BY SPACE. DISPLAY "PHONE: " WS-PHONE. * Convert to uppercase (if lowercase) MOVE "hello world" TO WS-TEXT. INSPECT WS-TEXT CONVERTING "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz" TO "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ". DISPLAY "UPPER: " WS-TEXT. STOP RUN.

Explanation:

INSPECT TALLYING counts characters. REPLACING changes them. CONVERTING maps.