EVALUATE Directive

The EVALUATE directive checks the value of a constant to determine the inclusion of lines of source code.

>> EVALUATE ConstantName   { >> WHEN String Statement-1 } ...   [ >> WHEN OTHER Statement-2 ] >> END-EVALUATE

Syntax:

1.	ConstantName is a constant defined in the configuration file as iscobol.compiler.const.ConstantName or using the DEFINE Directive compiler directive.

2.	String is a text string delimited by quotes.

3.	Statement-1 and Statement-2 are lines of COBOL code.

General rules:

1.	When String matches the value of ConstantName, the lines in Statement-1 are included.

2.	When no match is found, the lines in Statement-2 are included.

Example

Show a message only if the DEBUG constant is set either to 1 or 2:

>>EVALUATE DEBUG            >>WHEN 1            display message "debug level: 1"            >>WHEN 2            display message "debug level: 2"            >>END-EVALUATE         ...