Do you want to ABEND your program or just set a RETURN-CODE?
I suspect setting a RETURN-CODE, writting a message
and then terminating the program via a STOP RUN
or GOBACK
is all that
you really want to do. Causing an actual ABEND may not be necessary.
In an IBM batch environment, the RETURN-CODE set by your program becomes the
RC for the JCL job step the program was run under. This is typically what you
want to set and test for.
The RETURN-CODE
is set by MOVE
ing a numeric value to it. For example:
DISPLAY 'No Detail Records found in file.'
MOVE 16 TO RETURN-CODE
GOBACK.
You may also issue a program dump from a program run under Language Environment (IBM
Mainframe option) using
the CEE3DMP--Generate dump
utility.
In older IBM Mainframe COBOL programs, you might see calls to the ILBOABN0
routine. This call
abended your program and issued a dump. This routine is now depreciated in favour of the
technique outlined above.
Finally, really old programs might have code in them to generate abends by creating a
data exception error (SOC7). This can be done in any number of ways, but division by zero was
often a favourite:
DIVIDE SOME-NUMBER BY ZERO GIVING SOME-NUMBER.
Works every time!
Personally, I recommend setting the RETURN-CODE
over calling ILBOABN0
or data-exception tehcniques.
Note: The RETURN-CODE special-register is not part of the COBOL-85 standard. It is available as an IBM extention to the language. You may need to resort to a different mechanism if you are working in a non-IBM compatible environment.