FILE WRITE Statement

WRITE statement is used to add a record to the file. At a time, only one record is written to the file.

Points to note -

The file should open in OUTPUT (for sequential, indexed and relative files when the files are empty) or I-O (indexed and relative files when the files are not empty) or EXTEND (for sequential files when the file is not empty) mode to perform the WRITE statement.
The WRITE statement is used for all types of (sequential, indexed and relative) files.
A simple READ statement is used when the ACCESS MODE is SEQUENTIAL or RANDOM or DYNAMIC.

Syntax -

For Sequential files -

WRITE record-name 
     [FROM ws-record-name]
	 [BEFORE ADVANCING ws-variable|num LINES]
	 [AFTER  ADVANCING ws-variable|num LINES]
[END-WRITE].

For Index and Relative files -

WRITE record-name 
     [FROM ws-record-name]
         [INVALID KEY statements-set1]
     [NOT INVALID KEY statements-set2]
[END-WRITE].

Note! All statements coded in [ ] are optional.

Parameters -

record-name - This specifies the record in the data file where the information will be written.
FROM ws-record-name - This optional clause indicates the data source that will be written to the record. If this clause is ignored, the data will be taken from the record-name.
BEFORE ADVANCING - Specifies the number of lines to forward before writing a record.
AFTER ADVANCING - Specifies the number of lines to forward after writing a record.
END-WRITE - An optional phrase marking the end of the WRITE statement. END-WRITE is not required when a WRITE statement ends with a period.

Error Handling -

INVALID KEY - This phrase specifies the action to be taken if there's an error during the write operation, like attempting to add a record with a duplicate key in an indexed file. The statements following INVALID KEY are executed in such cases. This is applicable to indexed or relative files.
NOT INVALID KEY - This is executed if the WRITE operation is completed without errors. This is applicable to indexed or relative files.

Note! If the FILE-STATUS clause is coded, the associated file status is updated when the START statement is executed.

Practical Example -

Scenario - Below example describes how to write a new record into a new PS file.

Code -

----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+
       IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
       PROGRAM-ID. FILEWRIT.

       ENVIRONMENT DIVISION. 
       INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
       FILE-CONTROL.
           SELECT EMPFILE ASSIGN TO INPUT01
           ORGANIZATION IS SEQUENTIAL 
           ACCESS MODE  IS SEQUENTIAL 
           FILE STATUS  IS WS-FS1.

       DATA DIVISION.
       FILE SECTION.
       FD EMPFILE
           RECORD CONTAINS 80  CHARACTERS 
           BLOCK  CONTAINS 800 CHARACTERS
           DATA RECORD     IS EMPFILE-RECORD.

       01 EMPFILE-RECORD.
          05 EMP-ID        PIC X(05).
          05 EMP-NAME      PIC X(15).
          05 EMP-DESG      PIC X(10).
          05 EMP-SALARY    PIC 9(10).
          05 FILLER        PIC X(40) VALUE SPACES.

       WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
       01 WS-VAR.
          05 WS-FS1        PIC 9(02).
          05 WS-EOF-SW     PIC X(01).
             88 WS-EOF               VALUE 'Y'.
             88 WS-NOT-EOF           VALUE 'N'.

       PROCEDURE DIVISION. 
      * Opening the file for writing
           OPEN OUTPUT EMPFILE.

           INITIALIZE EMPFILE-RECORD
      * Receiving all the information of the record 
           ACCEPT EMP-ID.
           ACCEPT EMP-NAME.
           ACCEPT EMP-DESG.
           ACCEPT EMP-SALARY.
      * Writing record into file and validation 
           WRITE EMPFILE-RECORD.
           IF WS-FS1 EQUAL ZERO
              DISPLAY "RECORD INSERTED"
           ELSE
              DISPLAY "RECORD INSERTION FAILED"
           END-IF.
      * Closing file
           CLOSE EMPFILE.
           STOP RUN.

Run JCL -

//MATESYF JOB MSGLEVEL=(1,1),NOTIFY=&SYSUID
//*
//STEP01  EXEC PGM=FILEWRIT 
//STEPLIB  DD  DSN=MATESY.COBOL.LOADLIB,DISP=SHR
//INPUT01  DD  DSN=MATESY.EMPLOYEE.INPFILE1,
//             DISP=(NEW,CATLG,DELETE),
//             SPACE=(TRK,(1,1),RLSE),
//             UNIT=SYSDA,
//             DCB=(DSORG=PS,RECFM=FB,LRECL=80,BLKSIZE=800)
//SYSOUT   DD  SYSOUT=*
//SYSIN    DD  * 
E0006
EMPLOYEE6 
SE 
0000040000
/*

Output -

RECORD INSERTED

MATESY.EMPLOYEE.INPFILE1 -

E0006EMPLOYEE6      SE        0000040000