---
title: "COBOL String modification idea using pointer statement"
description: "The popular string modification ways described here with examples. You can use these into your COBOL project directly."
url: https://srinimf.com/2012/03/28/cobol-string-modification/
date: 2012-03-28
modified: 2026-10-10
author: "Srini"
image: https://i0.wp.com/srinimf.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/cobol-string.png?fit=509%2C339&ssl=1
categories: ["COBOL"]
tags: ["cobol", "STRINGS"]
type: post
lang: en
---

# COBOL String modification idea using pointer statement

I am coming back after a little hectic work. Just sitting relaxed and reading the book “[How the Rich think](http://www.richdad.com/resources/rich-dad-financial-education-blog)“. I just started writing my blog post, got an idea [to write](https://srinimf.com/2017/02/01/the-best-tricky-tip-stored-procedure-if-and-cobol-if/) strings.

The fact is in COBOL, strings is an important concept. You may use it in many places viz: during dynamic SQL queries, concatenating names, error handling etc.

Related[COBOL strings popular ideas to learn now (2 of 2)](https://srinimf.com/2015/07/27/mainframecobol-strings-inspectconcatenation-splitting-2-of-2/)

**Usage 1:**

```
01 Final_name            pic x(8)  value "testname".
String   "18"  Delimited by Size
    into   Final-name
End-String
```

In this case the initialized value will be modified . So the new name is “18stname”.

**Usage 2:**

```
String "My name is srinimf" Delimited by Size
      Into New-name
End-string
```

In this case, the complete string moved into a new variable

**Usage 3:**

```
01 City   pic   x(3)  value "New city"

String   City  Delimited by '  '
      Into New-city-name
End-string
```

In this case, only upto first space will be moved into new name.

**Usage 4:**

```
o1 ws-cnt    pic  99.
Move 1  to  ws-cnt.
String "My name is srinimf" Delimited by Size
      Into New-name
      with Pointer ws-cnt
End-String
```

In this case, the ws-cnt will have the number of chars (ws-cnt -1) that finally moved.

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