COBOL Identification Division

Only "IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.", "PROGRAM-ID." and the program name are obligatory in the Identification Division. The operating system recognises the program by the name given here. Each program within an installation must have a unique name.

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Seq.No						-	A				B																																																													Ident
							IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
							PROGRAM-ID. program_name.
							AUTHOR. comment.
							INSTALLATION. comment.
							DATE-WRITTEN. comment.
							DATE-COMPILED. comment.
							SECURITY. comment.
							REMARKS. comment.

The author can include his or her name, the installation for which he or she is working, and the date the program was written. The date-compiled comment is overwritten by the compiler with the date of compilation, so that you can see which source listing is which. The security entry is only a comment and does not affect the running of the program.