1.3.5.2 Comment Lines
A comment line is any line with an asterisk (*) or slash (/) in the indicator area (column 7) of the line. The comment may be written anywhere in Area A and Area B of that line, and may consist of any combination of characters from the character set of the computer. A comment line may be placed anywhere in the program following the Identification Division header.
X Comment lines are permitted to appear before the Identification Division,
X but they must follow any control cards (for example, PROCESS or CBL).
X Note: Comments intermixed with control cards could nullify some of the
X control cards and cause them to be diagnosed as errors.
Multiple comment lines are allowed. Each must begin with either an asterisk (*) or a slash (/) in the indicator area.
An asterisk (*) comment line is printed on the next available line in the output listing. The effect may be dependent on the LINECOUNT compiler option. See "LINECOUNT" compiler option in the IBM COBOL Programming Guide for your platform. A slash (/) comment line is printed on the first line of the next page, and the current page of the output listing is ejected.
The compiler treats a comment line as documentation, and does not check it syntactically.
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