A COBOL program is made up of a number of different components. These are listed alphabetically.
1 – clause
A subdivision of a COBOL sentence; an ordered set of consecutive COBOL character-strings that specifies an attribute of an entry.
2 – contained_program
A COBOL source program that is directly or indirectly contained in another COBOL source program.
3 – division
A division is a collection of one or more sections or paragraphs. Each of the four divisions consists of a division header and division body. A division header identifies and marks the beginning of a division. It is a specific combination of reserved words followed by a separator period.
4 – end_of_program
The end of a COBOL source program is indicated either by the end of
that program's Procedure Division or by the END PROGRAM header.
Format -
END PROGRAM program-name
program-name
must contain 1 to 31 characters and follow the rules for user-defined
words. It must be identical to a program-name declared in a
preceding PROGRAM-ID paragraph.
5 – paragraph
A paragraph consists of a paragraph header or paragraph-name (depending on the division) followed by zero, one, or more entries (or sentences). A paragraph header is a reserved word followed by a separator period. Paragraph headers identify paragraphs in the Identification and Environment Divisions. A paragraph-name is a user-defined word followed by a separator period. Paragraph-names identify Procedure Division paragraphs.
6 – phrase
An ordered set of one or more consecutive COBOL character-strings that forms part of a clause or procedural statement.
7 – program_organization
identification-division
[ environment-division ]
[ data-division ]
[ procedure-division ]
[ source-program ] ...
[ end-program-header ]
8 – section
A section is a set of zero, one, or more paragraphs or entries (called a section body) that follows a section header and related section body. A section header identifies and marks the beginning of a section in the Environment, Data, and Procedure Divisions. In the Environment and Data Divisions, a section header is a specific combination of reserved words followed by a separator period. In the Procedure Division, a section header is a user-defined word followed by the word SECTION (and an optional segment-number). A separator period always follows a section header.
9 – sentence
A sequence of one or more statements, the last of which ends with a separator period.
10 – separators
A separator delimits character-strings. It can be one character or two
contiguous characters. The following characters are recognized as
separators:
space ( ) quotation mark (")
comma (,) apostrophe (')
semicolon (;) pseudo-text delimiter (==)
period (.) horizontal tab
colon (:) left (() or right ()) parenthesis
11 – source-program
represents a contained (nested) COBOL source program. It begins with the Identification Division, a COPY statement or a REPLACE statement. It ends with the END PROGRAM header or the end of the Procedure Division.
12 – statement
In the Procedure Division, a syntactically valid combination of words and symbols that begins with a verb.
13 – word
A character-string of not more than 31 characters that forms one of the
following:
function-name
A COBOL word that names a mechanism provided to determine
the value of a function.
reserved word
A COBOL word specified in the list of words that can appear in a
COBOL program. A reserved word cannot appear in a program as a
user-defined word or system-name.
system-name
A COBOL word that has already been defined by the implementor to
refer to the program's operating environment.
text-word
A character (or a sequence of characters) in a COBOL library, source
program, pseudo-text, or dictionary that is subject to certain
restrictions.
user-defined word
A COBOL word that must appear in the source program to satisfy the
format of a clause or statement.
verb
A word that causes the compiler or object program to take action.