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INITCHECK

Use the INITCHECK option to have the compiler check for uninitialized data items and issue warning messages when they are used without being initialized.

Syntax

Read syntax diagramSkip visual syntax diagramINITCHECK=*NOYES
Default
INITCHECK=NO
NO
The compiler will not issue any warning messages for uninitialized data items.
YES
The compiler will check for uninitialized data items and issue a warning message when a data item is used without being initialized. However, if a data item is possibly initialized when it is used in a statement, no warning message will be issued.
Restrictions:
  • The INITCHECK option analyzes data items in the WORKING-STORAGE SECTION and LOCAL-STORAGE SECTION only. In particular, it does not analyze data items in the LINKAGE SECTION or FILE SECTION.
  • The INITCHECK analysis does not track external or global data items.
  • The INITCHECK analysis does not track individual elements in tables independently. Instead, if one element of a table is initialized, all corresponding elements of the table are considered to be initialized. This applies to both fixed-length and variable-length tables.
  • The INITCHECK analysis does not track the initialization of items if it happens through a pointer. For example, if a pointer to an uninitialized data item is created by using ADDRESS-OF, and that data item is initialized through that pointer, the INITCHECK analysis might also issue a warning message.
  • For uninitialized data items being passed BY REFERENCE, no warning messages will be issued. However, the INITCHECK analysis will warn about uninitialized data items being passed BY CONTENT and BY VALUE.
Notes:
  • All of the INITCHECK analyses occur at compile time only.
  • The INITCHECK option has no effect on the behavior or performance of the program after it has been compiled.
  • Start of changeUse of the INITCHECK option might increase compile time and memory consumption.End of change
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