COBOL DISPLAY Statement

DISPLAY statement prints the variable contents to the output device, from left to right. It is mainly used to -

• Debug the program when no tools are available.
• To see the values of the variable at runtime.

Syntax -

DISPLAY [variable-name|literal] 
     [UPON output-device-env] 
	 [WITH NO ADVANCING]

• variable-name - refers the variable name.
• literal - refers to the literal coded with double or single quotes.
• UPON output-device-env - Optional. UPON clause specifies where the displayed information should appear. Common options include UPON CONSOLE or UPON DISPLAY. If the UPON clause is omitted, the compiler chooses the display device.
• WITH NO ADVANCING - Optional. If coded, the cursor does not move to a new line after displaying the content.

Practical Example -

Scenario1 - Basic DISPLAY

Code -

 ...
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
 01 WS-VAR.
    05 WS-VAR1      PIC X(05) VALUE 'HELLO'.
    05 WS-VAR2      PIC X(05) VALUE 'WORLD'.
 ...
 PROCEDURE DIVISION.
* Simple DISPLAY
     DISPLAY "MESSAGE1: " WS-VAR1.
     DISPLAY "MESSAGE2: " WS-VAR2.

Output -

MESSAGE1: HELLO
MESSAGE2: WORLD

Scenario2 - DISPLAY with multiple items

Code -

 ...
 WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
 01 WS-VAR.
    05 WS-VAR1      PIC X(05) VALUE 'HELLO'.
    05 WS-VAR2      PIC X(05) VALUE 'WORLD'.
 ...
 PROCEDURE DIVISION.
* Simple DISPLAY
     DISPLAY "MESSAGE: " WS-VAR1 " " WS-VAR2.

Output -

MESSAGE: HELLO WORLD

Scenario3 - DISPLAY with no advancing

Code -

 WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
 01 WS-VAR.
    05 WS-VAR1      PIC X(05) VALUE 'HELLO'.
    05 WS-VAR2      PIC X(05) VALUE 'WORLD'.

 PROCEDURE DIVISION.
* DISPLAY WITH NO ADVANCING             
     DISPLAY WS-VAR1 WITH NO ADVANCING. 
     DISPLAY " " WS-VAR2.

Output -

HELLO WORLD