Notational conventions

The following metalinguistic conventions are followed in this user guide:

COMOPT	Uppercase letters denote keywords that must be entered exactly as shown.
name	Lowercase letters denote variables which must be replaced by current values when being entered.
YES NO	Underlining indicates a default value that is automatically used when no value has been specified by the user.
{YES | NO}	Braces enclose alternatives, i.e. one of the specified values must be selected. The alternatives are depicted one under the other. If one of the listed values is a default value, no entry need be specified when the default value is desired.
{| a | b |}	Vertical bars within braces enclose optional entries. Here at least one (a or b) but also more than one entry (a and b) can be selected. Each alternative should, however, be used no more than once.
{YES/NO}	A slash separating two adjacent entries also indicates that the entries represent alternatives from which one must be selected. No entry is required if the given default value is desired.
[ ]	Brackets enclose optional entries that may be omitted by the user.
[| a | b |]	Vertical bars within brackets enclose optional entries. Here the specification can be omitted, or more than one of the specified values can be selected. Each alternative should, however, be used no more than once.
( )	Parentheses must be entered.
'BLANK'	This symbol denotes that at least one blank is required for syntactical reasons.
Special characters	Must be entered as given.

Note

The usual COBOL conventions apply with regard to the COBOL formats shown in this manual (see “COBOL2000 Reference Manual” [1]).