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Stephen Chapman

COBOL Reserved Words

The following are reserved words in one or more of the many different versions of COBOL. Where a given entry is not a reserved word in your particular version of COBOL it is still best avoided in order to make the code as portable as possible.

ACCEPT
ACCESS
ADD
ADDRESS
ADVANCING
AFTER
ALL
ALLOWING
ALPHABET
ALPHABETIC
ALPHABETIC-LOWER
ALPHABETIC-UPPER
ALPHANUMERIC
ALPHANUMERIC-EDITED
ALSO
ALTER
ALTERNATE
AND
ANY
APPLY
ARE
AREA
AREAS
ARITHMETIC
ASCENDING
ASSIGN
AT
AUTHOR
AUTOMATIC
B-AND
B-EXOR
B-LESS
B-NOT
B-OR
BASIS
BEFORE
BEGINNING
BINARY
BIT
BITS
BLANK
BLOCK
BOOLEAN
BOTTOM
BY
CALL
CANCEL
CBL
CD
CF
CH
CHARACTER
CHARACTERS
CLASS
CLASS-ID
CLOCK-UNITS
CLOSE
COBOL
CODE
CODE-SET
COLLATING
COLUMN
COM-REG
COMMA
COMMIT
COMMON
COMMUNICATION
COMP
COMP-1
COMP-2
COMP-3
COMP-4
COMP-5
COMP-6
COMP-7
COMP-8
COMP-9
COMPUTATIONAL
COMPUTATIONAL-1
COMPUTATIONAL-2
COMPUTATIONAL-3
COMPUTATIONAL-4
COMPUTATIONAL-5
COMPUTATIONAL-6
COMPUTATIONAL-7
COMPUTATIONAL-8
COMPUTATIONAL-9
COMPUTE
CONFIGURATION
CONNECT
CONTAINED
CONTAINS
CONTENT
CONTINUE
CONTROL
CONTROLS
CONVERTING
COPY
CORR
CORRESPONDING
COUNT
CURRENCY
CURRENT
CYCLE
DATA
DATE
DATE-COMPILED
DATE-WRITTEN
DAY
DAY-OF-WEEK
DB
DB-ACCESS-CONTROL-KEY
DB-DATA-NAME
DB-EXCEPTION
DB-RECORD-NAME
DB-SET-NAME
DB-STATUS
DBCS
DE
DEBUG-CONTENTS
DEBUG-ITEM
DEBUG-LINE
DEBUG-NAME
DEBUG-SUB-1
DEBUG-SUB-2
DEBUG-SUB-3
DEBUGGING
DECIMAL-POINT
DECLARATIVES
DEFAULT
DELETE
DELIMITED
DELIMITER
DEPENDING
DESCENDING
DESTINATION
DETAIL
DISABLE
DISCONNECT
DISPLAY
DISPLAY-1
DISPLAY-2
DISPLAY-3
DISPLAY-4
DISPLAY-5
DISPLAY-6
DISPLAY-7
DISPLAY-8
DISPLAY-9
DIVIDE
DIVISION
DOWN
DUPLICATE
DUPLICATES
DYNAMIC
EGCS
EGI
EJECT
ELSE
EMI
EMPTY
ENABLE
END
END-ADD
END-CALL
END-COMPUTE
END-DELETE
END-DISABLE
END-DIVIDE
END-ENABLE
END-EVALUATE
END-IF
END-INVOKE
END-MULTIPLY
END-OF-PAGE
END-PERFORM
END-READ
END-RECEIVE
END-RETURN
END-REWRITE
END-SEARCH
END-SEND
END-START
END-STRING
END-SUBTRACT
END-TRANSCEIVE
END-UNSTRING
END-WRITE
ENDING
ENTER
ENTRY
ENVIRONMENT
EOP
EQUAL
EQUALS
ERASE
ERROR
ESI
EVALUATE
EVERY
EXACT
EXCEEDS
EXCEPTION
EXCLUSIVE
EXIT
EXTEND
EXTERNAL
FALSE
FD
FETCH
FILE
FILE-CONTROL
FILLER
FINAL
FIND
FINISH
FIRST
FOOTING
FOR
FORM
FORMAT
FREE
FROM
FUNCTION
GENERATE
GET
GIVING
GLOBAL
GO
GOBACK
GREATER
GROUP
HEADING
HIGH-VALUE
HIGH-VALUES
I-O
I-O-CONTROL
ID
IDENTIFICATION
IF
IN
INDEX
INDEX-1
INDEX-2
INDEX-3
INDEX-4
INDEX-5
INDEX-6
INDEX-7
INDEX-8
INDEX-9
INDEXED
INDICATE
INHERITS
INITIAL
INITIALIZE
INITIATE
INPUT
INPUT-OUTPUT
INSERT
INSPECT
INSTALLATION

INTO
INVALID
INVOKE
IS
JUST
JUSTIFIED
KANJI
KEEP
KEY
LABEL
LAST
LD
LEADING
LEFT
LENGTH
LESS
LIMIT
LIMITS
LINAGE
LINAGE-COUNTER
LINE
LINE-COUNTER
LINES
LINKAGE
LOCALLY
LOCAL-STORAGE
LOCK
LOW-VALUE
LOW-VALUES
MEMBER
MEMORY
MERGE
MESSAGE
METACLASS
METHOD
METHOD-ID
MODE
MODIFY
MODULES
MORE-LABELS
MOVE
MULTIPLE
MULTIPLY
NATIVE
NEGATIVE
NEXT
NO
NORMAL
NOT
NULL
NULLS
NUMBER
NUMERIC
NUMERIC-EDITED
OBJECT
OBJECT-COMPUTER
OCCURS
OF
OFF
OMITTED
ON
ONLY
OPEN
OPTIONAL
OR
ORDER
ORGANIZATION
OTHER
OUTPUT
OVERFLOW
OVERRIDE
OWNER
PACKED-DECIMAL
PADDING
PAGE
PAGE-COUNTER
PARAGRAPH
PASSWORD
PERFORM
PF
PH
PIC
PICTURE
PLUS
POINTER
POSITION
POSITIVE
PRESENT
PREVIOUS
PRINTING
PRIOR
PROCEDURE
PROCEDURE-POINTER
PROCEDURES
PROCEED
PROCESSING
PROGRAM
PROGRAM-ID
PROTECTED
PURGE
QUEUE
QUOTE
QUOTES
RANDOM
RD
READ
READY
REALM
RECEIVE
RECONNECT
RECORD
RECORD-NAME
RECORDING
RECORDS
RECURSIVE
REDEFINES
REEL
REFERENCE
REFERENCES
RELATION
RELATIVE
RELEASE
RELOAD
REMAINDER
REMOVAL
RENAMES
REPEATED
REPLACE
REPLACING
REPORT
REPORTING
REPORTS
REPOSITORY
RERUN
RESERVE
RESET
RETAINING
RETRIEVAL
RETURN
RETURN-CODE
RETURNING
REVERSED
REWIND
REWRITE
RF
RH
RIGHT
ROLLBACK
ROUNDED
RUN
SAME
SD
SEARCH
SECTION
SECURITY
SEGMENT
SEGMENT-LIMIT
SELECT
SELF
SEND
SENTENCE
SEPARATE
SEQUENCE
SEQUENTIAL
SERVICE
SESSION-ID
SET
SHARED
SHIFT-IN
SHIFT-OUT
SIGN
SIZE
SKIP1
SKIP2
SKIP3
SORT
SORT-CONTROL
SORT-CORE-SIZE
SORT-FILE-SIZE
SORT-MERGE
SORT-MESSAGE
SORT-MODE-SIZE
SORT-RETURN
SOURCE
SOURCE-COMPUTER
SPACE
SPACES
SPECIAL-NAMES
STANDARD
STANDARD-1
STANDARD-2
STANDARD-3
STANDARD-4
START
STATUS
STOP
STORE
STRING
SUB-QUEUE-1
SUB-QUEUE-2
SUB-QUEUE-3
SUB-SCHEMA
SUBTRACT
SUM
SUPER
SUPPRESS
SYMBOLIC
SYNC
SYNCHRONIZED
TABLE
TALLY
TALLYING
TAPE
TENANT
TERMINAL
TERMINATE
TEST
TEXT
THAN
THEN
THROUGH
THRU
TIME
TIMEOUT
TIMES
TITLE
TO
TOP
TRACE
TRAILING
TRANSCEIVE
TRUE
TYPE
UNEQUAL
UNIT
UNSTRING
UNTIL
UP
UPDATE
UPON
USAGE
USAGE-MODE
USE
USING
VALID
VALIDATE
VALUE
VALUES
VARYING
WAIT
WHEN
WHEN-COMPILED
WITH
WITHIN
WORDS
WORKING-STORAGE
WRITE
WRITE-ONLY
ZERO
ZEROES
ZEROS