The NOW keyword can be used with the COMPUTE and MOVE statements to affect a MOVE or COMPUTE step before processing SELECT or IGNORE statements. The parameters for the NOW COMPUTE and NOW MOVE statements are the same as those for the COMPUTE and MOVE statements. NOW COMPUTE and NOW MOVE statements are executed before any SELECT or IGNORE statements, while COMPUTE and MOVE statements are executed after any SELECT or IGNORE statements in the step. NOW COMPUTE and NOW MOVE statements can be used to produce a computed value upon which SELECT and IGNORE statements act.

Example

For example, to compute the value of the WORK statement before the SELECT statement is executed, add a NOW COMPUTE statement similar to this one:

NOW COMPUTE WORK AS FLDA PLUS FLDB DISPLAY ‘99999’ TYPE P/D HD.
SELECT IF WORK GT ‘100’.