Free-Format RPG
A modern RPG coding style that drops the rigid column-based syntax of traditional fixed-format RPG in favor of freer, more readable statement syntax.
Free-format RPG is IBM's modernized RPG syntax, introduced incrementally starting with RPG IV and expanded significantly in later releases. It reads closer to other modern programming languages than fixed-format RPG's column-position rules. Converting existing fixed-format RPG to free-format is one of the most common IBM i modernization projects, and is one of the tasks IBM Bob is built to help with.
Related Terms
RPG
Report Program Generator, the primary business application programming language on IBM i and its AS/400 predecessors, still running the majority of production logic in most IBM i shops.
IBM Bob (Project Bob)
IBM's generally available AI coding agent for IBM i, built as a fork of Visual Studio Code and tuned for RPG, CL, DDS, and SQL. Reached GA on March 24, 2026; Bob 2.0 and the IBM i-specific Bob Premium Package for i shipped June 24, 2026.