IF statement

Remarks#

The conditional expression and selection statement. Use of explicit scope terminators is recommended. COBOL conditional expressions allow shortforms, where the current identifier (and conditional) is assumed through multiple condition tests, unless explicitly given.

IF A = 1 OR 2 ...

is equivalent to

IF A = 1 OR A = 2 ...

IF with shortform conditionals

IF A = 1 OR 2 THEN
    perform miracles
END-IF

IF A = 1 OR 2 AND B = 1 THEN
    perform rites-of-passage
ELSE
    perform song-and-dance
END-IF

IF statements can be terminated with full stop or explicit scope terminator END-IF. Use of periods for scope termination is no longer recommended. Full stops mean just that in the case of nested IF, all nesting is terminated at the first full stop ., and any subsequent code will be outside the IF block.