MOVE [literal-1 or identifier-1] TO [identifier-2] ...
The MOVE statement has already been extensively used in
the examples in the Defining Data section. A couple of features have not been
described yet: CORRESPONDING (abreviation CORR) and the qualification OF or IN.
The elipsis (...) means more of the same, i.e. above [identifier-2]
[identifier-3] [identifier-4]...and so on.
To move a group of items from one field description to
another:
03 DATE-IN.
05 W-DAY PIC 99.
05 W-MONTH PIC 99.
05 W-YEAR PIC 99.
:
03 DATE-OUT.
05 W-DAY PIC 99.
05 PIC X VALUE '/'.
05 W-MONTH PIC 99.
05 PIC X VALUE '/'.
05 W-YEAR PIC 99.
If you were to code: MOVE DATE-IN TO DATE-OUT you would end up with the 6
characters of DATE-IN appearing in the first 6 positions of DATE-OUT, including
over-written fillers. To get the contents of W-DAY of DATE-IN into W-DAY of
DATE-OUT (and the same for the other two items) you could either move them
individually, or you could simply code: MOVE CORRESPONDING DATE-IN TO DATE-OUT.
To do this the items must have the same name spelling and must be
of the same level (here they are both level 03). They don't have to be in the
same level 01 group.
Of course, this does present the programmer with a
potential problem, this being that if elsewhere in the program you were to code,
say, ADD 12 to W-MONTH, the compiler would report a syntax error since it
W-MONTH appears twice in the data division and doesn't know which one you mean.
To remedy this, you have to qualify the item, i.e. state which group W-MONTH you
mean, i.e. :
MOVE 12 TO W-MONTH IN DATE-OUT.
You could use the word OF instead of IN here to the same effect.
To access specific characters within a string you can use
a reference modifier.
STRING-ITEM (startPosition:Length)
The start position is the nth character of the STRING-ITEM. For MicroFocus
compilers at least, the length can be omitted if you want all characters to the
end of the string. e.g.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 STRING-1 PIC X(10) VALUE 'ABCDEFGHIJ'.
01 STRING-2 PIC X(10) VALUE SPACES.
01 STRING-3 PIC X(10) VALUE SPACES.
01 STRING-4 PIC X(10) VALUE SPACES.
01 STRING-5 PIC X(10) VALUE SPACES.
01 STRING-6 PIC X(10) VALUE SPACES.
:
:
in procedure division:
MOVE STRING-1(2:6) TO STRING-2
MOVE STRING-1(1:9) TO STRING-3
MOVE STRING-1(6) TO STRING-4
MOVE STRING-1(5:1) TO STRING-5
MOVE STRING-1(3:3) TO STRING-6
Then:
STRING-2 will contain characters 2 to 6, i.e. : "BCDEFG "
STRING-3 will contain characters 1 to 9, i.e. : "ABCDEFGHI "
STRING-4 will contain characters 6 to the end of STRING-1, i.e. : "FGHIJ "
STRING-5 will contain character 5 only, i.e. : "E "
STRING-6 will contain characters 3 to 5, i.e. : "CDE "
