Control Statement

Description

*

Denotes a comment

Bit test

Tests bits in flag fields. A bit test statement is a special kind of IF statement

COMPUTE

Performs arithmetic operations on fields and literals, and creates new fields

CONTROL

Determines the spacing of the diagnostic output and indicates the column to begin or end a read in the control file

DECODE

Translates coded data

DEFINE

Defines a new field or redefines aspects of an existing field

END IF

Ends conditional processing started by an IF statement

END STEP

Ends a processing step

FILE

Specifies the input file used for the report

IF

Starts conditional processing

IGNORE

Discards records that pass IF clauses

MOVE

Moves data from one field to another and packs and unpacks data

NEXT RECORD

Reads the next record in the input file

NOW

Executes a MOVE or COMPUTE statement immediately

PRINT

Prints the specified fields in the output file

PRINT HEADING

Prints report titles

PRINT TOTAL

Describes fields to be totaled and prints results

REDEFINE

Defines subfields within larger fields

SELECT

Processes records that pass IF clauses

SKIP

Skips a specified number of records at the beginning of the input file

SORT

Sorts records

STOP

Terminates processing before the end of the file

SUMMARIZE

Writes summarized fields to an output file

WRITE

Writes fields to an output file