At 12:01 AM -0400 09/25/1999, Arthur Frank <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> FD  INPUT-FILE
>     LABEL RECORDS ARE STANDARD.
> 01  INPUT-RECORD.
>     05  KEY-VALUE-IN     PIC X(10).
>     05  INPUT-DATA       PIC X(128).          <-----
>
> FD  OUTPUT-FILE
>     LABEL RECORDS ARE STANDARD.
> 01  OUTPUT-RECORD.
>     05  KEY-VALUE-OUT    PIC X(10).
>     05  KEY-COUNT        PIC 9(4).
>     05  OUTPUT-DATA      PIC X(128).          <-----
>
>I would like the INPUT-DATA and OUTPUT-DATA to be variable size, depending =
>on the size of the input file.  I'm sure that this is possible, but I'm =
>pretty new to the language...
>
I don't think there's really any way you can accomplish what you want using the current version of the COBOL standard unless you're willing to utilize an HP extension (the compiler directive $DEFINE):

$DEFINE %DATALENGTH=128#
...
     05  INPUT-DATA       PIC X(%DATALENGTH).
...
     05  OUTPUT-DATA      PIC X(%DATALENGTH).

Not that it'll do you any good now, but the next standard includes a data division construct, SAME AS, that should be just the ticket:

...
     05  INPUT-DATA       PIC X(128).
...
     05  OUTPUT-DATA SAME AS INPUT-DATA.
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