Problem:

There are times when it would be desirable to have a hex dump generated to assist with debugging and troubleshooting, but there is no documented method of obtaining a memory hex dump.

Resolution:

There is an undocumented feature in the ACUCOBOL-GT runtime that facilitates the generation of a memory hex dump. This feature is available on Windows and UNIX. To obtain the hex dump, type “x” at the debugger prompt followed by a space and the name of the dump file. The file will contain a snap shot of the hex values in memory at the time the command is executed.

Attached to this article is a sample hex dump from running our sample program newftest.cbl.