Re: IF statement, I don't understand this


"Steve Rainbird" <news.nospam@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:4922pkFlplp7U1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"Jack Benny" <pkline@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:2akn2295mqoqg2hok7b2vs96okhdug438a@xxxxxxxxxx
This is Unisys A-series C74,
I have
000600 01 SHH-SHIP-CODE PIC 9 VALUE 1.
000700 01 ASM010-I-DIR PIC X VALUE "R".
and
001000 IF SHH-SHIP-CODE = 5 AND ASM010-I-DIR = "L" OR "R" OR "S"
001100 DISPLAY "TRUE"
001200 ELSE
001300 DISPLAY "FALSE".
001400 ENDIF.

It comes up "TRUE" and I don't understand why. It doesn't seem right.



Its because AND is evaluated before OR.

So effectively your statements is doing this

IF (SHH-SHIP-CODE = 5 AND ASM010-I-DIR = "L") OR (ASM010-I-DIR ="R") OR (ASM010-I-DIR ="S")

What you want is

IF SHH-SHIP-CODE = 5 AND (ASM010-I-DIR = "L" OR "R" OR "S"

Seriously?

Damn, I'm not sure if my COBOL parser handles this case correctly, then... Abbreviated conditionals are a real pain...

- Oliver

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