The instanceof operator

The instanceof keyword is a binary operator used to test if an object (instance) is a subtype of a given type.

There is no equivalent statement in COBOL, but you can rely on the isAssignableFrom() method exposed by java.lang.Class.

The following Java source

import java.io.OutputStream; import java.io.FileOutputStream;   public class InstOfTest {     public static void main (String[] args) {         try {             FileOutputStream f = new FileOutputStream("/tmp/foo");             if (f instanceof OutputStream) {                 System.out.println("The f object is an OutputStream");             }         } catch (Exception e){             e.printStackTrace();         }     } }

can be translated to

program-id. InstOfTest.                configuration section.        repository.            class OutputStream      as "java.io.OutputStream"            class FileOutputStream  as "java.io.FileOutputStream"            class JClass            as "java.lang.Class"            class JSystem           as "java.lang.System"            .                    working-storage section.        77 f object reference FileOutputStream.                procedure division.        main.            try               set f to FileOutputStream:>new("/tmp/foo")               if JClass:>forName("java.io.OutputStream")                        :>isAssignableFrom (f:>getClass())                  JSystem:>out:>println                      ("The f object is an OutputStream")               end-if            catch exception               exception-object:>printStackTrace()            end-try.            goback.