HP 3000 Manuals

HP COBOL II/XL Quick Reference Guide

$DEFINE 

The $DEFINE command defines a macro.

Syntax 

     $DEFINE macro-name=[string-text]#

Parameters 

macro-name    the name of the macro being defined, and consists of an
              initial non-alphanumeric character (default is the percent
              sign, %), followed by an alphabetic character, followed by
              zero or more alphanumeric characters.

              The length of the macro name may be any number of
              characters, but only the first fifteen are recognized by
              the preprocessor.  Note that care must be taken to assure
              uniqueness of such names.

string-text   can be any text you choose.  However, because this text is
              sent to the compiler, it must be a valid COBOL statement or
              sentence, with one exception.  This exception is the use of
              formal parameters in the string-text.

MPE/iX 5.0 Documentation