IF Statement

• IF statement validates a condition and decides the program flow depending on the condition validation.
• It comes under selective programming.
• IF statements are 3 formats based on their usage in the program -
  • Simple IF
  • IF ELSE
  • Nested IF

Simple IF -

A simple IF statement is used to execute the set of statements (statements-block-1) only if condition-1 is true.

Syntax -

IF condition-1 [THEN] 
	statements-block-1 | NEXT SENTENCE
[END-IF].
statements-block-n.

If the condition-1 is true, then the statements-block-1 gets executed. If the condition-1 is flase, the control transfers to the statements-block-n which are immediately after IF statement.

Parameters -

• condition-1, ... - Specifies conditions. A condition can be a simple, compound, class, condition-name, or sign condition.
• statements-block-1, ... - These are the COBOL statements that get executed when the associated condition is true.
• THEN - This is an optional keyword that can be used after a condition for clarity, but it's not required by most COBOL compilers.
• NEXT SENTENCE - It transfers control to statement immediately following the period.
• END-IF - It marks the end of the IF statement. If a period (.) can be coded at the last statement of the IF block, END-IF is not needed.

Example -

Scenario - Validating gender

IF WS-GENDER EQUAL 'M'
	DISPLAY "Person is Male"
END-IF.

IF ELSE -

IF...ELSE condition is used to validate a condition and handles both (either TRUE or FALSE) outcomes of the condition.

Syntax -

IF condition-1 [THEN] 
	statements-block-1 | NEXT SENTENCE
[ELSE]  
	statements-block-2 | NEXT SENTENCE}
[END-IF].
statements-block-n.

If the condition-1 is true, the statements-block-1 gets executed first, and control transfers to statements-block-n. If the condition-1 is false, the statements-block-2 gets executed first, and control transfers to statements-block-n.

Example -

Scenario - Validating gender

IF WS-GENDER EQUAL 'M'
	DISPLAY "Person is Male"
ELSE 
    DISPLAY "person is Female"
END-IF.

NESTED IF -

IF statement coded within another IF statement is called as NESTED IF statement. In Nested IF, all IF statements should have their matching END-IF.

Syntax -

IF condition-1 [THEN]
	IF condition-2 [THEN]
		statements-block-1
	[ELSE
		statements-block-2
	END-IF]
[ELSE
	IF condition-3 [THEN]
		statements-block-3
	[ELSE
		statements-block-4
	END-IF]
END-IF].
statements-block-n.

If condition-1 is true, the condition-2 is evaluated. If condition-2 is also true, statements-block-1 gets executed first, and control transfers to statements-block-n. If condition-2 is false, statements-block-2 gets executed first, and control transfers to statements-block-n.

If condition-1 is false, the control transfers to the ELSE part and validates condition-3. If condition-3 is true, statements-block-3 gets executed first, and control transfers to statements-block-n. If condition-3 is false, statements-block-4 get executed first, and control transfers to statements-block-n.

Practical Example -

Scenario - Coding all types of IF conditions.

Code -

----+----1----+----2----+----3----+----4----+----5----+
       ...
       DATA DIVISION.
       WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
       01 WS-VAR.
          05 WS-NAME            PIC X(20).
             88 WS-NAME-VALID   VALUE 'A' THRU 'Z'.
          05 WS-GENDER          PIC X(01).
             88 WS-MALE         VALUE 'M'.
             88 WS-FEMALE       VALUE 'F'.
          05 WS-MARKS-PERCENT   PIC 9(03).

       PROCEDURE DIVISION.

      * Receiving data from JCL SYSIN
           ACCEPT WS-NAME.
           ACCEPT WS-GENDER.
           ACCEPT WS-MARKS-PERCENT. 
		   
      * IF statement
           IF WS-NAME-VALID 
              DISPLAY 'VALID NAME: ' WS-NAME
           END-IF.

      * IF..ELSE statement
           IF WS-MALE
              DISPLAY 'PERSON IS MALE'
           ELSE 
              DISPLAY 'PERSON IS FEMALE'
           END-IF. 

      * Nested IF..ELSE statement
           IF WS-MARKS-PERCENT > 60
              DISPLAY 'GOT FIRST CLASS'
           ELSE
              IF WS-MARKS-PERCENT > 50
                 DISPLAY 'GOT SECOND CLASS'
              ELSE 
                 IF WS-MARKS-PERCENT > 35
                    DISPLAY 'GOT THIRD CLASS'
                 ELSE                        
                    DISPLAY 'FAILED'
                 END-IF
              END-IF
           END-IF.
		   ...

Run JCL -

//MATEPKRJ JOB MSGLEVEL=(1,1),NOTIFY=&SYSUID
//*
//STEP01  EXEC PGM=IFCOND
//STEPLIB  DD  DSN=MATEPK.COBOL.LOADLIB,DISP=SHR 
//SYSIN    DD  *
SRINIVAS
M
90
/*
//SYSOUT   DD  SYSOUT=*

Output -

VALID NAME: SRINIVAS
PERSON IS MALE
GOT FIRST CLASS