Getting started

Hello, world!

This is a sample program that displays “Hello, world!”:

---- hello.cob -------------------------
      * Sample COBOL program
       IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
       PROGRAM-ID. hello.
       PROCEDURE DIVISION.
           DISPLAY "Hello, world!".
           STOP RUN.
----------------------------------------

The compiler, cobc, is executed as follows:

$ cobc -x hello.cob
$ ./hello
Hello, world!

The executable file name ( hello in this case) is

determined by removing the extension from the source file name.

You can specify the executable file name by specifying the compiler

option -o as follows:

$ cobc -x -o hello-world hello.cob
$ ./hello-world
Hello, world!

The program can be written in a more modern style, with free format code,

inline comments, the GOBACK verb and an optional END-DISPLAY terminator:

---- hellonew.cob ----------------
*> Sample GnuCOBOL program
identification division.
program-id. hellonew.
procedure division.
display
   "Hello, new world!"
end-display
goback.
----------------------------------

To compile free-format code, you must use the compiler option -free.

$ cobc -x -free hellonew.cob
$ ./hellonew
Hello, new world!