FILE WRITE Statement

A WRITE statement writes the records in 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), I-O(for indexed and relative files when the files are not empty), or EXTEND (for sequential files when the file is not empty) mode to write a record.
It is used for all types of (sequential, indexed, and relative) files.
A simple READ statement is used when the ACCESS MODE is SEQUENTIAL, 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 - Specifies the record data item where the record will be written.
FROM ws-record-name - Optional. It indicates the record source that will be written to the file. 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 - Optional. Specifies the end of the WRITE statement. END-WRITE is not required when a WRITE 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 -

Full Example

----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+
       ...
       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.
           ...

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