Landing: 7d8c2f734d6e

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Project / Subsystem

gcc / cobol

Date

2026-08-22

Author

James K. Lowden

Commit

7d8c2f734d6e375034106b4436962ff0e315bdf0

Source

github

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project: gcc
subsystem: cobol
patch_id: —
commit_hash: 7d8c2f734d6e375034106b4436962ff0e315bdf0
source_type: github
headline: Cobol accepts expressions for BY CONTENT parameters with new dialect option.
tldr: New Cobol dialect option `-Wcontent-expr` allows expressions in BY CONTENT parameters, superseding ISO restrictions.
author: James K. Lowden
outcome: committed
performance_win: false
breaking_change: false
series_id: —
series_parts: []
tags: • cobol
• compiler
• parameter passing
• dialect
• expressions
discussion_id_link: —
bugzilla_pr: —
url: https://github.com/gcc-mirror/gcc/commit/7d8c2f734d6e375034106b4436962ff0e315bdf0
date: 2026-08-22T00:00:00.000Z

The Cobol compiler now supports expressions in BY CONTENT parameters, controlled by the new -Wcontent-expr option. This option, added to the IBM dialect, acts as a superset of IBM syntax, allowing constructs like ADDRESS OF and LENGTH OF expressions. This change addresses RT 3611 by relaxing ISO prohibitions on expressions in BY CONTENT parameters when a prototype is not present.