If the exit routine inserts records into the final merge and replaces records passed from MFX, the insertion record and the replacement record may be defined in this section. These records will be moved to the WORK area described in the LINKAGE SECTION, so be sure that the PICTURE clause or the OCCURS clause in the WORK area is correct for these records.
This section may also define the return codes as 77-level data items. Alternatively, these codes can be specified as literals in the MOVE instruction. (MOVE literal to RETURN-CODE.) Note that RETURN-CODE is the name of a predefined storage area in COBOL used to pass return codes to the sort; RETURN-CODE should not be defined in the exit routine.