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The DATA DIVISION is that part of a COBOL program
where every data item processed by the program is
described. It is important to note that unless a data
item is described in the DATA DIVISION, it cannot
be used in the procedure division.
The DATA DIVISION is divided into a number of sections
such as FILE SECTION, WORKING-STORAGE SECTION, SCREEN
SECTION, LINKAGE SECTION and REPORT SECTION. Depending
on the use of a data item, it should be defined in
the appropriate section.
The FILE SECTION includes the description of all data
items that should be read from or written onto some
external file. The data items which are developed
internally as intermediate result as well as the constants
are described in the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
The format of the DATA DIVISION is as follows:
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