1.1.3 "COBOL Language Reference" IBM Library Server

1.1.3 Special Registers

Special registers are reserved words that name storage areas generated by the compiler. Their primary use is to store information produced through specific COBOL features. Each such storage area has a fixed name, and must not be defined within the program.

Unless otherwise explicitly restricted, a special register can be used wherever a data-name or identifier having the same definition as the implicit definition of the special register, (which is specified later in this section).

If qualification is allowed, special registers can be qualified as necessary to provide uniqueness. (For more information, see "Qualification" in topic 1.5.1.1.)

X For the first CALL to a program or INVOKE of a method, the compiler initializes the special register fields to their initial values.

In the following cases:

For subsequent CALLs to a CANCELed program
Programs that possess the INITIAL attribute
X Programs that possess the RECURSIVE attribute
X Programs compiled with the THREAD option (Workstation only)

The following special registers are reset to their initial value on each
X program or method entry:

X ADDRESS OF (for each record in the Linkage Section)
X RETURN-CODE
X SORT-CONTROL
X SORT-CORE-SIZE
X SORT-FILE-SIZE
X SORT-MESSAGE
X SORT-MODE-SIZE
X SORT-RETURN
X TALLY

In all other cases, the special registers will not be reset; they will be
X unchanged from the value contained on the previous CALL or INVOKE.

You can specify an alphanumeric special register in a function wherever an alphanumeric argument to a function is allowed, unless specifically prohibited.

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1.1.3 Special Registers

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