Language
Set Language lang
(Initially: SPL)
The lang codes accepted by Qedit are:
COBOL, COBOLX [ALL], SPL, FORTRAN, Pascal, RPG, Job, Text,
Data, CC, CPP, PowerHouse (PH), COBFREE, Html, XML, Java and QSL (Qedit Scripting Language).
Initially when Qedit starts the language is assumed to be SPL, but this may be changed when you Text a file (“SPL” stands for Systems Programming Language, which is an obscure software tool on the original HP e3000 system; files have 80-character records with columns 73-80 containing a sequence number). You can override this default this with Set Lang. When you Set Lang, you also reset the Window, the Length, the Left margin, and the Right margin.
The “language” sets the following file attributes:
- Increment between lines
- Number of digits in line number
- Placement of line number (left or right)
- Maximum data line length
- Number of first data column
- Name of compiler program file
- Delimiters for Set Window (SMART)
- Numbered or not for Keeps
The following chart shows the values set for each language:
| Lang | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| COBOL | 0.100 | 6 | Left | 66 | 7 | COBOL | Special, not “-” | Yes |
| COBOLX | 0.100 | 6 | Left | 74 | 7 | COBOL | Special, not “-” | Yes |
| SPL | 1.000 | 8 | Right | 72 | 1 | SPL | Special, not “‘” | Yes |
| Fortran | 1.000 | 8 | Right | 72 | 1 | Fortran | Any special | Yes |
| Pascal | 1.000 | 8 | Right | 72 | 1 | Pascal | Special, not “_” | Yes |
| RPG | 1.000 | 8 | Right | 80 | 1 | RPG | Ignored | No |
| Job | 1.000 | 8 | Right | 80 | 1 | Null | Any special | No |
| Text | 1.000 | 8 | Right | 256 | 1 | Null | Any special | No |
| Data | 1.000 | 8 | Right | 8,172 | 1 | Null | Any special | No |
| CC | 1.000 | 8 | Right | 256 | 1 | Null | Special, not “_” | No |
| CPP | 1.000 | 8 | Right | 256 | 1 | Null | Special, not “_” | No |
| PH | 1.000 | 8 | Right | 256 | 1 | Null | Special, not “-” | No |
| COBFREE | 1.000 | 8 | Right | 256 | 1 | Null | Special, not “-” | No |
| HTML | 1.000 | 8 | Right | 256 | 1 | Null | Special | No |
| XML | 1.000 | 8 | Right | 256 | 1 | Null | Special | No |
| Java | 1.000 | 8 | Right | 256 | 1 | Null | Special, not “_” | No |
| QSL | 1.000 | 8 | Right | 256 | 1 | Null | Special, not “_” | No |
COBOL and COBOLX are identical, except that COBOLX allows data to extend into columns 73-80, while COBOL does not. This is a protection against compile errors for those programmers who do not use columns 73-80 for comments. You can force all COBOL files to be in COBOLX format by using
/set lang cobolx all on
This is useful when you are using Set X to tag program changes with a string or the date. You can change from a non-COBOL to a COBOL language, if the highest line number in your file is less than or equal to 999.999.
The COBOL and COBOLX languages follow the COBOL standards very carefully. These standards describe the format of a statement. Most, if not all, compilers support the standards. Some compilers, however, allow a source file to be in a different format. Here is a quick summary of the differences between COBOL, COBOLX and COBFREE:
| COBOL | COBOLX | COBFREE | |
| Line numbers | columns 1-6 | columns 1-6 | none |
| Control column | column 7 | column 7 | column 1 |
| Statements | columns 8-72 | columns 8-72 | columns 1-1,000 |
| Comments | none | columns 73-80 | none |
| Starting column | 7 | 7 | 1 |
| Variable length | no | no | yes |
| Record length | 72 | 80 | 256 |
The Data Language setting defaults to 256 characters per record, but it can handle up to 8,172 characters in a Wide-Jumbo workfile. In a workfile of Jumbo format, the limit is actually 1,000. To use Data, your workfile must be in Jumbo or Wide-Jumbo format, which supports longer lines and more of them (99,999,999 instead of 65,535). If a non-Jumbo workfile is open, you will have to shut it before you can use Set Lang Data and create a new workfile. To check whether your open workfile is Jumbo or not, use Verify Open. If the Language value contains “Jumbo” or “W-Jumbo,” you are using a Jumbo file. If you want to use a Jumbo file, set the Length to a value less than or equal to 1,000. For a Wide-Jumbo format, use a length greater than 1,000.
Because RPG is a column-oriented language, SMART searches on RPG source files are performed in DUMB mode.
In FORTRAN, spaces in the middle of names have no significance (i.e., CUST BOOK is the same as CUSTBOOK).
If a workfile is empty, you can set the Language to anything you like.
When you change Language, you change the maximum line Length. If Length is reduced, as in going from Job to SPL, the lines are not actually truncated to the shorter Length. They are only permanently truncated if you modify the lines. Therefore, you can switch back to the previous Language at once and still recover the full lines. (Note: when you switch from COBOLX to COBOL, lines with comments are actually stripped of their comments.) Of course, when you Keep your file, only the data within the new margins are kept.