CODEWITHSUNDEEP
cobolgnucobol
Quentin
Quentin

Reputation: 1086

Opening file for reading in COBOL

I'm using OpenCobolIDE 4.7.4 (it's based on GnuCOBOL) on Windows 10 and trying to compile this program opening a file for reading:

   IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
   PROGRAM-ID. HELLO.

   ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
      INPUT-OUTPUT SECTION.
         FILE-CONTROL.
         SELECT STUDENT ASSIGN TO 'input.txt'
         ORGANIZATION IS LINE SEQUENTIAL.            

   DATA DIVISION.
      FILE SECTION.
      FD STUDENT.
      01 STUDENT-FILE.
         05 STUDENT-ID PIC 9(5).
         05 NAME PIC A(25).

      WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
      01 WS-STUDENT.
         05 WS-STUDENT-ID PIC 9(5).
         05 WS-NAME PIC A(25).
      01 WS-EOF PIC A(1). 

   PROCEDURE DIVISION.
      OPEN INPUT STUDENT.
         PERFORM UNTIL WS-EOF='Y'
         READ STUDENT INTO WS-STUDENT
            AT END MOVE 'Y' TO WS-EOF
            NOT AT END DISPLAY WS-STUDENT
         END-READ
         END-PERFORM.
      CLOSE STUDENT.
   STOP RUN.

The input.txt is in the same directory as the source coude, yet I'm still getting the following error:

Main.cob:24: libcob: File does not exist (STATUS = 35) File : 'input.txt'

What am I doing wrong?

Upvotes: 3

Views: 6932

Answers (3)

Simon Sobisch
Simon Sobisch

Reputation: 7287

OCIDE has a setting for the output directory, the default is "bin" (relative to the source file). Effectively it just passes this setting to the compiler cobc source.cob -o bin\source.exe

You can change this behaviour in settings Menu Preferences -> Compiler:

Output directory

This option let you chose where to put the binaries, by default binaries will be placed into a bin folder next to the source file. You can define another relative or absolute directory if you want.

In any case you can set the actual name in the environment, check GC FAQ - How to map a file name to an external name.

As an alternative you can set the data directory with the environment var COB_FILE_PATH.

Both environment options can be set in settings Menu Preferences -> Run.

Upvotes: 5

Carlos
Carlos

Reputation: 19

Perhaps better will be to write the full path in the select clause.

select STUDENT ASSIGN TO '/xpto/folder1/input.txt'

Upvotes: 1

Michel Billaud
Michel Billaud

Reputation: 1826

Most IDE for other languages happen to run the executable from another directory (where it is built for example).

A simple test is to write a test program, opening a file for writing. You'll quickly see what happens.

Upvotes: 4

Related Questions