1.1.1.1 "COBOL Language Reference" IBM Library Server

1.1.1.1 COBOL Words with Single-Byte Characters

A COBOL word is a character-string of not more than 30 characters that forms a user-defined word, a system-name, or a reserved word. Except for arithmetic operators and relation characters, each character of a COBOL word is selected from the following:

A through Z
a through z
0 through 9
- (hyphen)

The hyphen cannot appear as the first or last character in such words. All user-defined words (except for section-names, paragraph-names, segment-numbers, and level-numbers) must contain at least one alphabetic character. Segment numbers and level numbers need not be unique; a given specification of a segment-number or level-number can be identical to any other segment-number or level-number. Each lowercase letter is considered to be equivalent to its corresponding uppercase letter, except in nonnumeric literals.

Within a source program the following rules apply for all COBOL words with single-byte characters:

A reserved word cannot be used as a user-defined word or as a system-name.
The same COBOL word, however, can be used as both a user-defined word and as a system-name. The classification of a specific occurrence of a COBOL word is determined by the context of the clause or phrase in which it occurs.

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1.1.1.1 COBOL Words with Single-Byte Characters

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