WRITE statement

• It is used to insert logical record to an output or input/output file.
• When WRITE statement is coded without FROM clause, record to be inserted should be moved to record buffer and then perform WRITE operation. Once WRITE operation completes, record is vanished from record buffer.
• When WRITE is to be performed on file with sequential access mode, it should be opened in OUTPT or EXTEND mode
• When WRITE is to be performed on file with random or dynamic access mode, it should be opened in OUTPUT or I-O mode.
• Basic syntax [Format 1 for sequential files]
  WRITE record-name [FROM ws-data-item] [{BEFORE/AFTER} ADVANCING integer-1 {LINE/LINES}] [END-WRITE].
  Note:- BEFORE,AFTER clause is not valid for VSAM files
• In above syntax,
  • record-name must be a data division FD entry. It must be noted that once write operation completes, record is no longer available in record-name
  • FROM ws-data-item is used to specify that data contained in ws-data-item should be written to file. This is equivalent of below statements:-
    MOVE ws-data-item TO record-name WRITE record-name

  • BEFORE ADVANCING specifies that record is to be written before line pointer is advanced by integer- times
  • AFTER ADVANCING specifies that record is to be written, after line pointer is advanced by integer-1 times
• Basic syntax: [ Format 2 for indexed and relative files ]
  WRITE record-name  [FROM ws-data-item]       [INVALID KEY imperative-statement-1]       [NOT INVALID KEY imperative-statement-2] [END-WRITE]

• In above syntax,
  • record-name must be a data division FD entry. It must be noted that once write operation completes, record is no longer available in record-name
  • FROM ws-data-item is used to specify that data contained in ws-data-item should be written to file. This is equivalent of below statements:-
    MOVE ws-data-item TO record-name WRITE record-name

  • INVALID KEY imperative-statement-1 : This becomes true when record is not found for specified key and thus causes execution of imperative-statement-1
  • NOT INVALID KEY imperative-statement-2: This is used to specify statements to be executed when WRITE operation succeeds

Exmpale of Sequential WRITE:-