Accept and Display DATA in COBOL

Much of how that data will look, such as in a report, is defined in
the data division.

The following code is taken from a full program given in the Sample
code section should illustrate how a printed report is defined in the
data division. If writing to a file it would be virtually identical
(see Sample code section for an example of this).

If you wished to print a report in the form of a table then you would
first have to assign an identifier name to the printer in the
environment division using the select clause.
Printing and Writing Data

000110 ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
000120 INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
000130 FILE-CONTROL.
000140
000210 SELECT PRINT-FILE ASSIGN TO PRINTER.
000220
000230
000240 DATA DIVISION.
000250 FILE SECTION.
000580 FD PRINT-FILE.
000590 01 REPORT-OUT PIC X(80).
000630 WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
000640
001040 01 PRINT-HEADERS.
001050 03 P-TITLE.
001060 05 P-TITLE-TXT PIC X(49) VALUE
001070 ' Batch Control Program - Error Report. Page:'.
001080 05 P-PAGE-NO PIC Z9 VALUE ZERO.
001090 03 COL-HEAD-1 PIC X(31)
001100 VALUE ' PART CUST/ DATE QUANT'.
001110 03 COL-HEAD-2 PIC X(24)
001120 VALUE ' NO SUP NO SUP/REC'.
001130
001140 01 PRINT-LINE.
001150 03 P-PART-NO PIC X(8).
001160 03 PIC X VALUE SPACE.
001170 03 P-CUS-SUP-NO PIC X(6).
001180 03 PIC XX VALUE SPACES.
001190 03 P-DATE-S-D. 001200 05 P-DATE-1 PIC XX.
001210 05 PIC X VALUE '/'.
001220 05 P-DATE-2 PIC XX.
001230 05 PIC X VALUE '/'.
001240 05 P-DATE-3 PIC XX.
001250 03 PIC X VALUE SPACE.
001260 03 P-QUANT PIC Z(4)9.
001270
001280 01 P-FOOTER.
001290 03 TOT-REC-TXT PIC X(21)
001300 VALUE 'Total record number: '.
001310 03 P-REC-COUNT PIC ZZ9 VALUE ZERO.
001320
001330 01 P-BATCH-REC.
001340 03 BAT-TITLE PIC X(38)
001350 VALUE ' HASH TOTALS IN BATCH CONTROL RECORD'.
001360 03 BATCH-SOURCE PIC X(29) VALUE SPACES
001370 03 P-BAT-CUS-SUPP.
001380 05 BAT-CUS-SUP PIC X(25)
001390 VALUE ' CUSTOMER/SUPPLIER NOS: '.
001400 05 BAT-C-S-N-TOT PIC Z(7)9.
001410 03 P-BAT-DATE.
001420 05 BAT-DATE PIC X(9)
001430 VALUE ' DATES: '.
001440 05 BAT-D-S-D-TOT PIC Z(7)9.
001450 03 P-BAT-QUANT.
001460 05 BAT-QUANT PIC X(14)
001470 VALUE ' QUANTITIES: '.
001480 05 BAT-Q-TOT PIC Z(7)9.
001490 03 P-BAT-PART.
001500 05 BAT-PART PIC X(12)
001510 VALUE ' PART NOS: '.
001520 05 BAT-P-N-TOT PIC Z(7)9.