Group MOVE / MOVE CORRESPONDING

Assigning Values to Group Data Items

The MOVE statement assigns values to group data items in COBOL. Different types of group items have specific movement rules.

National Group Items

You can move a national group item to another national group item. The compiler processes the move as though each national group item were an elementary item of category national.

Alphanumeric Group Items

You can move an alphanumeric group item to an alphanumeric group item or to a national group item. You can also move a national group item to an alphanumeric group item.

MOVE CORRESPONDING

The CORRESPONDING phrase enables selective movement of subordinate items with matching names between group items:

01  Group-X.
    02 T-Code    Pic X    Value "A".
    02 Month     Pic 99   Value 04.
    02 State     Pic XX   Value "CA".
    02 Filler    PIC X.

01  Group-N      Group-Usage National.
    02 State     Pic NN.
    02 Month     Pic 99.
    02 Filler    Pic N.
    02 Total     Pic 999.

MOVE CORR Group-X TO Group-N

In this example, only matching elementary items transfer values. State and Month receive national representation conversions from their Group-X counterparts, while unchanged items like Total remain unaffected.

Key Behavior

In a MOVE CORRESPONDING statement, sending and receiving group items are treated as group items, not as elementary data items — group semantics apply. Filler items in receiving groups remain unchanged.