DEFINE CHARACTER
Keywords: sic

Next: DEFINE COMMAND Up: DEFINE Previous: DEFINE ALIAS Contents Index

###
DEFINE CHARACTER

            [SIC\]DEFINE CHARACTER Var1*Lvar1[DIM1] [...]
            [SIC\]DEFINE CHARACTER*Length Var1[DIM1] [...]

        CHARACTER variables can be scalar or multi-dimensional.  The  length  of
        CHARACTER  variable  is specified after an * either after CHARACTER key-
        word or after the name of the variable. When both are present, the  per-
        variable  length has precedence. The dimension field (same syntax as for
        other arrays) should follow the length declaration.  The CHARACTER  key-
        word can be abbreviated, i.e. this is a valid statement
            DEFIN CHAR*12 Var1  Var2*36 Var3[16]

        Character  substrings  can  be accessed for reading and writing with the
        [charmin:charmax] specification, e.g.
            DEFINE CHARACTER C*128
            LET C[3:4] "AB"
            EXAMINE C[3:4]
            IF C[3:4].EQ."AB"  SAY "Yes"
        The substring specification MUST be provided with the column  ":",  even
        for  a  single character, e.g. C[1:1]. If the character variable has one
        or more dimensions, the substring specification  can  be  applied  to  a
        scalar subarray, e.g.
            DEFINE CHARACTER*128 D[3,4]
            EXAMINE D[1,2][3:4]
        It is an error to apply a substring specification to an array, e.g.
            EXAMINE D[1,][3:4]  ! Invalid