COBOL- EXIT PROGRAM

• Program can be terminated using STOP RUN, but this statement will directly return control back to OS regardless of whether it is used in a sub program or main program
• Generally, when we call sub routine, we expect the control should be transferred back to main program once processing is done in sub-program. For this purpose, we can use ‘EXIT PROGRAM’
• EXIT PROGRAM is last executable statement of sub-program and it returns control back to main program
• Syntax:-
  EXIT PROGRAM.

• Example:-
  Main program code snippet:-
  PROCEDURE DIVION. DISPLAY 'HELLO WORLD.' CALL SUB-PROG. STOP RUN.
  Sub-program "SUB-PROG" code snippet:-
  LINKAGE SECTION. . . PROCEDURE DIVION. DISPLAY ‘SUB-PROGRAM IS CALLED’ EXIT PROGRAM.