initialize an index variable in cobol

Question

We have a COBOL program in which we populate values into a COBOL internal table and then search this table to find out a certain value. Prior to this search, we initialize tables index variable.

SET PAF-IDX                  TO 1.   

Could anyone clarify, if it is allowed in COBOL to initialize an index variable loke this.

INITIALIZE                   PAF-IDX.

Answer 1

No. And why would you want to "INITIALIZE" it?

This is from the IBM Enterprise Cobol manual:

identifier-1
Receiving areas.
identifier-1 must reference one of the following:
v An alphanumeric group item
v A national group item
v An elementary data item of one of the following categories:
Alphabetic
Alphanumeric
Alphanumeric-edited
DBCS
External floating-point
Internal floating-point
National
National-edited
Numeric
Numeric-edited
v A special register that is valid as a receiving operand in a MOVE
statement with identifer-2 or literal-1 as the sending operand.
When identifier-1 re

EDIT:

The OpenCobol Programmer's Guide documents it specifically:

The list of data items eligible to be set to new values by this statement is:
Every elementary item specified as identifier-1 ..., PLUS...
Every elementary item defined subordinate to every group item specified as dentifier-1 
..., with the following exceptions:
USAGE INDEX items are excluded.
Items with a REDEFINES as part of their definition are excluded; this means that
tems subordinate to them are excluded as well. 

The Draft Cobol Standard is less explicit, but these items when used in INITIALIZE are processed by generating a SET rather than a MOVE: DATA-POINTER, FUNCTION-POINTER, OBJECT-REFERENCE, or PROGRAM-POINTER.

EDIT:

Seeing that the OpenCobol reference is not as "specific" as I thought: In IBM Cobol, currently, nothing which cannot be manipulated by being the target of a MOVE can be INITIALIZEd. This is the same for the current OpenCobol. The Draft Cobol has some exceptions, listed, but including neither INDEXED BY (which are not part of the table itself, but separate items for which the compiler itself defines storage) nor USAGE INDEX.