Re: Beautify code

Steve Rainbird wrote:
"void * clvrmnky()" <clvrmnky.invalid@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:DM64g.19706$43.12859@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx!nnrp1.uunet.ca...
Steve Rainbird wrote:
I have a huge Cobol program which I have been asked to maintain. Unfortunately its very badly indented which makes it difficult to follow.

Does anyone know of any software (preferably free) which will indent it nicely for me?

Google came back with some interesting hits for the terms "COBOL beautifier".

Not really. The only one it came up with was something called cblbeau which costs $495 for the non-trial version. I only want to do one program!

Really? I found <http://www.siber.com/sct/tools/cbl-beau.html> as the first hit, which is advertised as shareware you can try with no line count restrictions.

I'm not sure how you feel about shareware for what is probably a commercial use, but I suppose a single use is not really a lost sale.

There is payware at <http://www.semdesigns.com/Purchase/#Formatters> for US$250.

And it looks like SlickEdit can beautify COBOL, as well. Might be hard to get a copy, but you could check eBay. Perhaps other editors also do this (i.e., that Swiss-army knife known as Emacs might be a start).

If you already have a compiler license, see if your vendor has a beautifier. For example, I think COBOL85 from Fujitsu has a bundles "structurizer".

Finally, some products like JIndent might be able to do COBOL, or they are considering it.
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