If a literal cannot be contained on one line or dividing a literal over several lines makes for easier reading, a continuation line can be used to spread a literal over several lines.
000010 @OPTIONS MAIN 000020*---------------------------------------------------------------------- 000030* Continuation lines can be used for coding over several lines. 000040* 000050* The method for specifying a continued line depends on the Source 000055* Reference Format specified. This example assumes that VAR (Variable) 000060* format has been specified. 000070*---------------------------------------------------------------------- 000080 IDENTIFICATION DIVISION. 000090 PROGRAM-ID SAMPLE. 000100 DATA DIVISION. 000110 WORKING-STORAGE SECTION. 000120*---------------------------------------------------------------------- 000130* For continuation within the definitions, the line to be continued 000140* (line 170) is coded without the closing quote mark. 000150* The continued line (line 180) is continued from the position of the 000155* leading quote mark, and specified with a "-"in the indicator area. 000160*---------------------------------------------------------------------- 000170 01 COL-LINE PIC X(60) VALUE "----+----1----+----2 000180- "----+----3----+----4 000190- "----+----5----+----6". 000200*---------------------------------------------------------------------- 000210 01 STR-DATA PIC X(60). 000220 PROCEDURE DIVISION. 000230*---------------------------------------------------------------------- 000240* Reserved words and user-defined words can also be continued. 000250*---------------------------------------------------------------------- 000260 DISPLAY "Enter the character string 000270- " to be displayed with the column line. >>" WITH NO ADV 000275- ANCING. 000280 ACCEPT STR-D 000290- ATA FROM CONSOLE. 000300*---------------------------------------------------------------------- 000310 DISPLAY " ". 000320 DISPLAY COL-LINE. 000330 DISPLAY STR-DATA. 000340 END PROGRAM SAMPLE.