COBOL DISPLAY Statement

COBOL DISPLAY Statement

The DISPLAY statement outputs data to the console or other output device.

Syntax

DISPLAY identifier/literal [identifier/literal ...]
    [UPON mnemonic-name]
    [WITH NO ADVANCING]

Example Program

       IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
       PROGRAM-ID. DISPLAY-DEMO.

       DATA DIVISION.
       WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
       01 WS-NAME         PIC X(20) VALUE 'John Smith'.
       01 WS-SALARY       PIC 9(7)V99 VALUE 55000.00.
       01 WS-EDITED-SAL   PIC $$$,$$$,$$9.99.
       01 WS-COUNTER      PIC 99 VALUE 0.
       01 WS-HEADER       PIC X(40) VALUE ALL '='.

       PROCEDURE DIVISION.
      * Simple display
           DISPLAY 'Hello, COBOL World!'

      * Display with variable
           DISPLAY 'Employee: ' WS-NAME

      * Display multiple items
           MOVE WS-SALARY TO WS-EDITED-SAL
           DISPLAY 'Name: ' WS-NAME ' Salary: ' WS-EDITED-SAL

      * Display with formatting
           DISPLAY WS-HEADER
           DISPLAY '       EMPLOYEE REPORT'
           DISPLAY WS-HEADER

      * Display in a loop
           DISPLAY ' '
           DISPLAY 'Counting:'
           PERFORM VARYING WS-COUNTER FROM 1 BY 1
               UNTIL WS-COUNTER > 5
               DISPLAY '  Count: ' WS-COUNTER
           END-PERFORM

      * Display without new line
           DISPLAY 'Processing' WITH NO ADVANCING
           DISPLAY '.' WITH NO ADVANCING
           DISPLAY '.' WITH NO ADVANCING
           DISPLAY '.' WITH NO ADVANCING
           DISPLAY ' Done!'

      * Display special values
           DISPLAY 'Spaces: [' SPACES ']'
           DISPLAY 'Zeros:  [' ZEROS ']'
           DISPLAY 'Quote:  [' QUOTE ']'

           STOP RUN.

Expected Output

Hello, COBOL World!
Employee: John Smith
Name: John Smith         Salary:     $55,000.00
========================================
       EMPLOYEE REPORT
========================================

Counting:
  Count: 01
  Count: 02
  Count: 03
  Count: 04
  Count: 05
Processing... Done!
Spaces: [          ]
Zeros:  [0000000000]
Quote:  [""]

Key Points

• Multiple items concatenated on one line
• WITH NO ADVANCING suppresses newline
• UPON specifies output device
• Figurative constants: SPACES, ZEROS, QUOTES
• Essential for debugging and user output