COBOL Linkage Section

Brief introduction of variables defined in Linkage Section

Linkage Section Variable Limitations

• Only 01 and 77 level variable is defined in Linkage-Section.
• All 01 and 77 level variable are allocated a pointer size space.
  • Only 01 and 77 level variables are allocated
• Linkage Section variable must be initialize through:
  • caller
  • SET ADDRESS OF LS-VARIABLE TO somewhere
• Uninitialized Linkage Section variable is null value.

Although Linkage Section variable's definition is something like a pointer, but its usage is not that, for exampe:

To set a pointer variable:

SET POINTER-VAR TO ANOTHER-POINTER-VARIABLE
SET POINTER-VAR TO ADDRESS OF NONPOINTER-VARIABLE

To set a Linkage Section variable: