GOTO

The GOTO instruction transfers program control to a labeled line within the same program block.

Syntax

GOTO [:] label-id
  1. label-id is the name of the LABEL statement to jump to.

Usage

A GOTO statement continues program execution in the line following the LABEL instruction using the label-id identifier specified in the GOTO instruction.

The LABEL jump point can be defined before or after the GOTO statement.

The LABEL and GOTO statements must use the label-id within a single MAIN, FUNCTION, or REPORT program block.

The : colon after the GOTO keyword is optional.

GOTO statements can reduce the readability of your program source and result in infinite loops. Use FOR, WHILE and CASE statements instead.

The GOTO statement can be used in a WHENEVER statement to handle exceptions.

Example

MAIN
  DEFINE exit_code INTEGER
  DEFINE l_status INTEGER

  WHENEVER ANY ERROR GOTO _error 
  DISPLAY 1/0
  GOTO _noerror

LABEL _error:
  LET l_status = status
  DISPLAY "The error number ", l_status, " has occurred."
  DISPLAY "Description: ", err_get(l_status)
  LET exit_code = -1
  GOTO _exit

LABEL _noerror:
  LET exit_code = 0
  GOTO _exit

LABEL _exit:
  EXIT PROGRAM exit_code

END MAIN