File Names
File Names represents the name of the file to be opened. The rules for resolving the name of the file are described below.
1. If
File starts with "-F", all file operations are executed on the physical file indicated in
File. -F causes the file name to be used as is, without applying
iscobol.file.prefix and
iscobol.file.suffix to it.
2. If File starts with "-E " or if iscobol.file_env_naming=1, then File contains the name of a configuration property that defines the physical name of the file.
3. If
File starts with "isf://
server-name:
serverport: " or just "isf://
server-name: ", the next characters identify the name of a file that is managed by the File Server. See
The ISF protocol for more details.
4. If File is "-P SPOOLER", all file operations are redirected to the print spooler.[A]
5. If File is "-P PREVIEW", all file operations are redirected to the preview manager that shows the print preview. The preview window allows job to be saved into a pdf file on disk.[A]
6. If File is "-P PDF filename", all file operations are redirected to the PDF manager that generates the PDF file named filename; the default name (when filename is not indicated) is "iscoboljob.pdf". [A]
7. If File is "-P SPOOLER-DIRECT", all file operations are directly redirected to the printer.[A]
8. If File is "-P ###", where ### doesn’t match with any of the above, ### is passed to the current system command interpreter and the file allows the command output stream and input stream to manage, depending on the open mode.[A]
9. If File is "-S IN", all file operations are redirected to the standard-input device.
10. If File is "-S OUT", all file operations are redirected to the standard-output device.
11. If File is "-S ERR", all file operations are redirected to the standard-error device.
12. If
File is "-Q <printerName>", all file operations are redirected to the named printer. Details are explained in
-Q <printerName> syntax.
13. If File is "PRINTER?", all file operations are redirected to the print spooler in RM/COBOL compatibility mode. It differs from "-P SPOOLER" in terms of text positioning rules.
Data is converted using the current encoding while working with print files. You can avoid this conversion by using + instead of - in file assignments (i.e. +F, +P SPOOLER, +S OUT, etc.)
[A] Piping is allowed only for
• print files; files that are implicitly or explicitly ASSIGN TO PRINTER
• line sequential files; only if the program is compiled with
-flsu option