How to use an array in Cobol

22/05/2025

Andreas Peters

In COBOL, the OCCURS clause can be used to define a table (array). In the example, a table WS-NUM-TABLE with 10 elements is created. Each element (NUM-ITEM) is of type PIC 9(4) and can store a number up to 9999. Using the PERFORM VARYING loop, the array is filled starting with WS-INDEX. The loop assigns a value to each element in the table (here, from 1 to 10).

       IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
       PROGRAM-ID. array.

       DATA DIVISION.
       WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.

       01  WS-INDEX        PIC 9(02) VALUE 1.

      * Array with 10 numbers
       01  WS-NUM-TABLE.
           05 NUM-ITEM     PIC 9(4) OCCURS 10 TIMES.

       PROCEDURE DIVISION.
       MAIN-PROGRAM.
           DISPLAY "Fill array with values 1 to 10".

           PERFORM VARYING WS-INDEX FROM 1 BY 1 UNTIL WS-INDEX > 10
               MOVE WS-INDEX TO NUM-ITEM(WS-INDEX)
           END-PERFORM

           DISPLAY "Content off Array:".

           PERFORM VARYING WS-INDEX FROM 1 BY 1 UNTIL WS-INDEX > 10
               DISPLAY "Array Value " WS-INDEX ": " NUM-ITEM(WS-INDEX)
           END-PERFORM

           STOP RUN.

cobol, mainframe