Appendix D: COBOL Reserved Words

Reserved words in COBOL cannot be used as programmer-defined names — data names, paragraph names, section names, or file names. Using a reserved word as an identifier causes a compilation error that can be baffling, especially when the word seems perfectly ordinary (like DATE, COUNT, or REFERENCE). This appendix provides a comprehensive listing to help you avoid these collisions and understand which words were introduced in newer standards.

D.1 How to Use This Reference

Every COBOL compiler maintains its own reserved word list, which may differ slightly from the standard. IBM Enterprise COBOL, Micro Focus Visual COBOL, and GnuCOBOL each add vendor-specific reserved words and may not reserve every word in the 2014 standard. When in doubt:

1. Check this list before naming a new data item or paragraph.
2. Compile with maximum diagnostics (FLAG(I,I) on IBM) to catch conflicts immediately.
3. Prefix your data names with a qualifier (e.g., WS-DATE instead of DATE) — this is the single most effective practice for avoiding reserved word conflicts.

Legend for the alphabetical listing:

• 85 — Reserved in COBOL-85 (ANSI X3.23-1985)
• 02 — Added in COBOL 2002 (ISO/IEC 1989:2002)
• 14 — Added in COBOL 2014 (ISO/IEC 1989:2014)
• Words without a tag have been reserved since at least COBOL-74.

D.2 Complete Alphabetical Listing

A

ACCEPT | ACCESS | ACTIVE-CLASS (02) | ADD | ADDRESS | ADVANCING | AFTER | ALIGNED (02) | ALL | ALLOCATE (14) | ALPHABET (85) | ALPHABETIC | ALPHABETIC-LOWER (85) | ALPHABETIC-UPPER (85) | ALPHANUMERIC (85) | ALPHANUMERIC-EDITED (85) | ALSO | ALTER | ALTERNATE | AND | ANY | ANYCASE (14) | ARE | AREA | AREAS | ASCENDING (85) | ASSIGN | AT | AUTHOR

B

B-AND (14) | B-NOT (14) | B-OR (14) | B-XOR (14) | BASED (85) | BEFORE | BEGINNING (85) | BINARY (85) | BINARY-CHAR (02) | BINARY-DOUBLE (02) | BINARY-LONG (02) | BINARY-SHORT (02) | BIT (02) | BLANK | BLOCK | BOOLEAN (02) | BOTTOM | BY

C

CALL | CANCEL | CD | CF | CH | CHARACTER | CHARACTERS | CLASS (85) | CLASS-ID (02) | CLOCK-UNITS | CLOSE | COBOL | CODE | CODE-SET | COLLATING | COLUMN | COMMA | COMMON (85) | COMMUNICATION | COMP | COMP-1 | COMP-2 | COMP-3 | COMP-4 | COMP-5 | COMPUTATIONAL | COMPUTATIONAL-1 | COMPUTATIONAL-2 | COMPUTATIONAL-3 | COMPUTATIONAL-4 | COMPUTATIONAL-5 | COMPUTE | CONDITION (02) | CONFIGURATION | CONSTANT (14) | CONTAINS | CONTENT (85) | CONTINUE (85) | CONTROL | CONTROLS | CONVERTING (85) | COPY | CORR | CORRESPONDING | COUNT | CURRENCY | CURSOR (85)

D

DATA | DATA-POINTER (02) | DATE | DATE-COMPILED | DATE-WRITTEN | DAY | DAY-OF-WEEK (85) | DE | DEBUGGING | DECIMAL-POINT | DECLARATIVES | DEFAULT (02) | DELETE | DELIMITED (85) | DELIMITER (85) | DEPENDING | DESCENDING (85) | DESTINATION | DETAIL | DISABLE | DISPLAY | DISPLAY-1 | DIVIDE | DIVISION | DOWN | DUPLICATES | DYNAMIC (85)

E

EBCDIC | EC (02) | EGI | ELSE | EMI | ENABLE | END | END-ACCEPT (85) | END-ADD (85) | END-CALL (85) | END-COMPUTE (85) | END-DELETE (85) | END-DISPLAY (85) | END-DIVIDE (85) | END-EVALUATE (85) | END-IF (85) | END-INVOKE (02) | END-MULTIPLY (85) | END-OF-PAGE | END-PERFORM (85) | END-READ (85) | END-RECEIVE (85) | END-RETURN (85) | END-REWRITE (85) | END-SEARCH (85) | END-SEND (85) | END-START (85) | END-STRING (85) | END-SUBTRACT (85) | END-UNSTRING (85) | END-WRITE (85) | ENDING (85) | ENTRY | ENVIRONMENT | EO (02) | EOP | EQUAL | ERROR | ESI | EVALUATE (85) | EVERY | EXCEPTION | EXCEPTION-OBJECT (02) | EXCLUSIVE (02) | EXIT | EXTEND | EXTERNAL (85)

F

FACTORY (02) | FALSE (85) | FD | FILE | FILE-CONTROL | FILLER | FINAL | FIRST | FLOAT-BINARY-128 (14) | FLOAT-BINARY-32 (14) | FLOAT-BINARY-64 (14) | FLOAT-DECIMAL-16 (14) | FLOAT-DECIMAL-34 (14) | FLOAT-EXTENDED (02) | FLOAT-INFINITY (14) | FLOAT-LONG (02) | FLOAT-NOT-A-NUMBER (14) | FLOAT-SHORT (02) | FOOTING | FOR | FORMAT (02) | FREE (14) | FROM | FUNCTION (85) | FUNCTION-ID (02) | FUNCTION-POINTER (14)

G

GENERATE | GET (02) | GIVING | GLOBAL (85) | GO | GOBACK | GREATER | GROUP | GROUP-USAGE (02)

H

HEADING | HIGH-VALUE | HIGH-VALUES

I

I-O | I-O-CONTROL | ID (85) | IDENTIFICATION | IF | IMPLEMENTOR (02) | IN | INDEX | INDEXED | INDICATE | INHERITS (02) | INITIAL | INITIALIZE (85) | INITIATE | INPUT | INPUT-OUTPUT | INSPECT | INSTALLATION | INTERFACE (02) | INTERFACE-ID (02) | INTO | INVALID | INVOKE (02) | IS

J

JSON (14) | JUST | JUSTIFIED

K

KANJI | KEY

L

LABEL | LAST | LEADING | LEFT | LENGTH | LESS | LIMIT | LIMITS | LINAGE | LINAGE-COUNTER | LINE | LINE-COUNTER | LINES | LINKAGE | LOCAL-STORAGE (02) | LOCALE (02) | LOCK | LOW-VALUE | LOW-VALUES

M

MEMORY | MERGE | MESSAGE | METHOD (02) | METHOD-ID (02) | MINUS | MODE | MODULES | MORE-LABELS | MOVE | MULTIPLE | MULTIPLY

N

NATIONAL (02) | NATIONAL-EDITED (02) | NATIVE | NEGATIVE | NESTED (85) | NEXT | NO | NOT | NULL (85) | NULLS (85) | NUMBER | NUMERIC | NUMERIC-EDITED (85)

O

OBJECT (02) | OBJECT-COMPUTER | OBJECT-REFERENCE (02) | OCCURS | OF | OFF | OMITTED | ON | OPEN | OPTIONAL | OPTIONS (02) | OR | ORDER (85) | ORGANIZATION | OTHER (85) | OUTPUT | OVERFLOW | OVERRIDE (02)

P

PACKED-DECIMAL (85) | PADDING (85) | PAGE | PAGE-COUNTER | PARAGRAPH (02) | PERFORM | PF | PH | PIC | PICTURE | PLUS | POINTER (85) | POSITION | POSITIVE | PRESENT (02) | PRINTING | PROCEDURE | PROCEDURE-POINTER | PROCEDURES | PROCEED | PROGRAM | PROGRAM-ID | PROGRAM-POINTER (02) | PROPERTY (02) | PROTOTYPE (02) | PURGE

Q

QUEUE | QUOTE | QUOTES

R

RAISE (02) | RAISING (02) | RANDOM | RD | READ | RECEIVE | RECORD | RECORDING | RECORDS | RECURSIVE (02) | REDEFINES | REEL | REFERENCE (85) | REFERENCES | RELATION (02) | RELATIVE | RELEASE | REMAINDER | REMOVAL | RENAMES | REPLACE (85) | REPLACING | REPORT | REPORTING | REPORTS | REPOSITORY (02) | REPRESENTS-NOT-A-NUMBER (14) | RERUN | RESERVE | RESET | RESUME (02) | RETRY (02) | RETURN | RETURN-CODE | RETURNING (85) | REVERSED | REWIND | REWRITE | RF | RH | RIGHT | ROUNDED | RUN

S

SAME | SCREEN (85) | SD | SEARCH | SECTION | SECURITY | SEGMENT | SEGMENT-LIMIT | SELECT | SELF (02) | SEND | SENTENCE | SEPARATE | SEQUENCE | SEQUENTIAL | SET | SHARING (02) | SIGN | SIZE | SORT | SORT-MERGE | SORT-RETURN | SOURCE | SOURCE-COMPUTER | SOURCES (02) | SPACE | SPACES | SPECIAL-NAMES | STANDARD | STANDARD-1 | STANDARD-2 | START | STATEMENT (02) | STATUS | STOP | STRING | STRONG (02) | SUB-QUEUE-1 | SUB-QUEUE-2 | SUB-QUEUE-3 | SUBTRACT | SUM | SUPER (02) | SUPPRESS | SYMBOL | SYMBOLIC | SYNC | SYNCHRONIZED | SYSTEM-DEFAULT (02)

T

TABLE | TALLYING | TAPE | TERMINAL | TERMINATE | TEST (85) | TEXT | THAN | THEN (85) | THROUGH | THRU | TIME | TIMES | TO | TOP | TRAILING | TRUE (85) | TURN (02) | TYPE (02) | TYPEDEF (02)

U

UNIT | UNIVERSAL (02) | UNLOCK (02) | UNSTRING | UNTIL | UP | UPON | USAGE | USE | USER-DEFAULT (02) | USING

V

VAL-STATUS (02) | VALID (02) | VALIDATE (02) | VALIDATE-STATUS (02) | VALUE | VALUES | VARYING

W

WHEN | WITH | WORDS | WORKING-STORAGE | WRITE

X

XML (02) | XML-DECLARATION (02) | XML-SCHEMA (02)

Z

ZERO | ZEROES | ZEROS

D.3 Reserved Words by Category

D.3.1 Data Description

BINARY | BLANK | COMP | COMP-1 | COMP-2 | COMP-3 | COMP-4 | COMP-5 | COMPUTATIONAL | DISPLAY | EXTERNAL | FILLER | GLOBAL | GROUP-USAGE | INDEXED | JUSTIFIED | JUST | NATIONAL | OCCURS | PACKED-DECIMAL | PIC | PICTURE | POINTER | REDEFINES | RENAMES | SIGN | SYNC | SYNCHRONIZED | USAGE | VALUE | VALUES

D.3.2 Procedure Division Verbs

ACCEPT | ADD | ALTER | CALL | CANCEL | CLOSE | COMPUTE | CONTINUE | DELETE | DISPLAY | DIVIDE | EVALUATE | EXIT | FREE | GENERATE | GO | GOBACK | IF | INITIALIZE | INITIATE | INSPECT | INVOKE | MERGE | MOVE | MULTIPLY | OPEN | PERFORM | RAISE | READ | RECEIVE | RELEASE | RETURN | REWRITE | SEARCH | SEND | SET | SORT | START | STOP | STRING | SUBTRACT | SUPPRESS | TERMINATE | UNLOCK | UNSTRING | VALIDATE | WRITE

D.3.3 File I/O

ACCESS | ALTERNATE | ASSIGN | BLOCK | CLOSE | CODE-SET | DATA | DELETE | DYNAMIC | EXTEND | FD | FILE | FILE-CONTROL | I-O | INPUT | INDEXED | KEY | LABEL | LINAGE | LOCK | OPEN | OPTIONAL | ORGANIZATION | OUTPUT | PADDING | RANDOM | READ | RECORD | RECORDING | RECORDS | RELATIVE | RESERVE | REWRITE | SD | SELECT | SEQUENTIAL | START | STATUS | WRITE

D.3.4 Arithmetic and Numeric

ADD | COMPUTE | CORRESPONDING | CORR | DIVIDE | GIVING | MULTIPLY | NEGATIVE | NUMERIC | ON SIZE ERROR | POSITIVE | REMAINDER | ROUNDED | SUBTRACT | SUM | ZERO | ZEROES | ZEROS

D.3.5 String Handling

DELIMITED | DELIMITER | INSPECT | REPLACING | STRING | TALLYING | UNSTRING | CONVERTING | ALL | LEADING | FIRST | CHARACTERS

D.3.6 Control Flow

ALSO | ELSE | END-EVALUATE | END-IF | END-PERFORM | EVALUATE | EXIT | GO | IF | NOT | OTHER | PERFORM | SENTENCE | TEST | THEN | THROUGH | THRU | TIMES | TRUE | FALSE | UNTIL | VARYING | WHEN

D.3.7 Object-Oriented (COBOL 2002+)

B-AND | B-NOT | B-OR | B-XOR | CLASS-ID | FACTORY | GET | INHERITS | INTERFACE | INTERFACE-ID | INVOKE | METHOD | METHOD-ID | OBJECT | OBJECT-REFERENCE | OVERRIDE | PROPERTY | PROTOTYPE | RAISE | RAISING | RESUME | SELF | SUPER | UNIVERSAL

D.4 Common Reserved Word Conflicts

These are the reserved words most likely to collide with programmer-chosen names. Each entry shows the reserved word, why it looks like a good variable name, and the recommended alternative.

The universal fix: Prefix all data names with a 2-3 character qualifier indicating scope or context:

• WS- for WORKING-STORAGE
• LS- for LOCAL-STORAGE
• LK- for LINKAGE SECTION
• TX- for transaction-related fields
• FD- or the file's abbreviation for file record fields
• RPT- for report fields

This convention, followed by virtually every professional COBOL shop, eliminates reserved word conflicts and makes code self-documenting.

D.5 Vendor Extensions — Notable Reserved Words

D.5.1 IBM Enterprise COBOL Additions

IBM Enterprise COBOL reserves additional words beyond the standard:

D.5.2 Micro Focus Visual COBOL Additions

Micro Focus adds several extensions:

D.5.3 GnuCOBOL Additions

GnuCOBOL generally follows the Micro Focus conventions and adds:

D.5.4 Checking Your Compiler

To determine the exact reserved word list for your compiler:

• IBM Enterprise COBOL: See the Language Reference manual, Appendix E. Or compile a test program with the intended name; the compiler will issue IGYDS1089-S if it conflicts.
• Micro Focus: Use the MFLEVEL directive to control which standard's reserved words are active. MFLEVEL"19" uses the most current list.
• GnuCOBOL: Use the -std flag to select the standard (cobol85, cobol2002, cobol2014, ibm, mf). Reserved words vary by standard selection. Use cobc --list-reserved to see the full list for your current configuration.

D.6 Context-Sensitive Words

Some words in COBOL 2002 and later are context-sensitive — they are reserved only when they appear in specific syntactic positions. Outside those positions, they can be used as programmer-defined names. This was introduced to reduce the burden of the ever-growing reserved word list.

Examples of context-sensitive words in COBOL 2014:

Practical advice: Even though context-sensitive words are technically allowed as data names, avoid using them. Future compiler versions, porting between compilers, and the confusion of maintenance programmers all argue for steering clear. The two-character prefix convention (WS-, LS-, etc.) costs nothing and prevents all of these problems.

D.7 Total Reserved Word Counts by Standard

The growth of the reserved word list is one reason the COBOL standards committee introduced context-sensitive words in 2002 — without them, the list would be even larger, and more existing programs would break when compiled under newer standards.

This appendix covers the reserved words most relevant to the intermediate COBOL programmer. For the definitive list for your specific compiler, always consult the compiler's language reference manual or use the compiler's own diagnostic facilities. The few minutes spent checking a name before coding can save hours of debugging cryptic compilation errors.