Identification Division

The Identification Division marks the beginning of a COBOL program. It serves to name and comment the program.

General Format

        [ IDENTIFICATION DIVISION. ]
        [ ID DIVISION.             ]
        [ PROGRAM-ID. program-name [ IS {INITIAL } PROGRAM ] . ]
                                        {RESIDENT}
        [ AUTHOR. [ comment-entry ] ... ]
        [ INSTALLATION. [ comment-entry ] ... ]
        [ DATE-WRITTEN. [ comment-entry ] ... ]
        [ DATE-COMPILED. [ comment-entry ] ... ]
        [ SECURITY. [ comment-entry ] ... ]
        [ REMARKS. [ comment-entry ] ... ]

Syntax Rules

A comment-entry can consist of any set of characters over any number of lines. It ends with the next line that starts in Area A.
ID DIVISION is interchangeable with IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
The AUTHOR, INSTALLATION, DATE_WRITTEN, DATE_COMPILED, SECURITY, and REMARKS paragraphs may be placed in any order.

General Rule

The AUTHOR, INSTALLATION, DATE-WRITTEN, DATE-COMPILED, and SECURITY paragraphs are used solely for commentary.