WRITE AFTER ADVANCING followed by WRITE causes 2 lines to appear in the first line - Why?

user_1010405 0
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I got this result from the code below using a COBOL PC Compiler on Windows.

REC 1
FFREC 2-AFTER PAGE    


REC 3 AFTER 3REC 4

I can understand the FF at the beginning of the first line. However, the last output line puts REC 4 at the SAME LINE as record 3! My question is, does MICRO FOCUS COBOL or IBM ENTERPRISE COBOL or Fujitsu COBOL produce the same result? If yes, how to work around this to have a result file one can view on Windows? Thanks.

EDIT-1: I discovered that if I write:

     MOVE "REC 4" TO FD-PRINT-REC
     WRITE FD-PRINT-REC AFTER 1

Then the text "REC 4" appears on a separate line. I assume that this is not the ANSI Standard behavior, I hope you could verify what your compiler does.

EDIT-2:

Another option proposed at this thread, the "ASSIGN TO LINE ADVANCING" is probably not something that would work on ENTERPRISE COBOL (not sure): GNU COBOL Forum-Related Thread

The code:

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID.    CALLER.
ENVIRONMENT    DIVISION.
CONFIGURATION  SECTION.
INPUT-OUTPUT   SECTION.
FILE-CONTROL.
SELECT PRINT-FILE ASSIGN TO "X.TXT"
       ORGANIZATION IS LINE SEQUENTIAL.
*> --------------------------------------------------------------
DATA          DIVISION.
FILE          SECTION.
FD  PRINT-FILE.
01  FD-PRINT-REC               PIC X(132).       
*>---------------------------------------------------------------
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.

     OPEN  OUTPUT PRINT-FILE  

     MOVE "REC 1" TO FD-PRINT-REC
     WRITE FD-PRINT-REC

     MOVE "REC 2-AFTER PAGE" TO FD-PRINT-REC
     WRITE FD-PRINT-REC AFTER PAGE

     MOVE "REC 3 AFTER 3" TO FD-PRINT-REC
     WRITE FD-PRINT-REC AFTER 3

     MOVE "REC 4" TO FD-PRINT-REC
     WRITE FD-PRINT-REC

     CLOSE PRINT-FILE.

     STOP RUN
     .
cobol
1 Answers

If none of the files has a LINAGE clause, then if any of the programs use the WRITE statement with the ADVANCING phrase, all of the programs in the run unit that have a WRITE statement must use the WRITE statement with the ADVANCING phrase. IBM WRITE statement

IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID.    CALLER.
ENVIRONMENT    DIVISION.
CONFIGURATION  SECTION.
INPUT-OUTPUT   SECTION.
FILE-CONTROL.
SELECT PRINT-FILE ASSIGN TO "X.TXT"
       ORGANIZATION IS LINE SEQUENTIAL.
*> --------------------------------------------------------------
DATA          DIVISION.
FILE          SECTION.
FD  PRINT-FILE.
01  FD-PRINT-REC               PIC X(132).       
*>---------------------------------------------------------------
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
PROCEDURE DIVISION.

     OPEN  OUTPUT PRINT-FILE  

     MOVE "REC 1" TO FD-PRINT-REC
     WRITE FD-PRINT-REC END-WRITE

     MOVE "REC 2-AFTER PAGE" TO FD-PRINT-REC
     WRITE FD-PRINT-REC AFTER PAGE  END-WRITE

     MOVE "REC 3 AFTER 3" TO FD-PRINT-REC
     WRITE FD-PRINT-REC AFTER 3 END-WRITE

     MOVE "REC 4" TO FD-PRINT-REC
     WRITE FD-PRINT-REC END-WRITE

     MOVE "REC 5" TO FD-PRINT-REC
     WRITE FD-PRINT-REC AFTER 3 END-WRITE

     MOVE "REC 6" TO FD-PRINT-REC
     WRITE FD-PRINT-REC END-WRITE

     MOVE "REC 7" TO FD-PRINT-REC
     WRITE FD-PRINT-REC END-WRITE

     CLOSE PRINT-FILE.

     STOP RUN.

Result:

$ cat X.TXT 
REC 1

REC 2-AFTER PAGE


REC 3 AFTER 3REC 4



REC 5REC 6
REC 7
user_172603350
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