CHARACTER Statement

Description:

This statement defines a character string variable consisting of ASCII characters, including control characters. SCL supports character variables of between 1 and 65535 bytes in length.

Arrays of character variables can be defined, with a maximum of three dimensions. For further information about arrays, see Variable Arrays.

An asterisk may be used instead of a colon to delimit the size.

Format:

 CHARACTER{:n} name {[dimensions]}|{values} {, options}

Parameters:

n

An unsigned integer value in the range 1-65535, representing the size of the variable in bytes. The default is 1.

name

The name of the variable. This must be a valid OpenSTA Dataname.

dimensions

The dimensions of the array to be allocated for this variable. Up to three dimensions can be specified, separated by commas, each comprising one or two numbers.

If a dimension has only one number, the elements in that dimension range from 1 to the number specified. If two numbers are specified, they must be separated by a colon (":"); the elements in this dimension range from the first number to the second.

Note that if "dimensions" is specified, "values" may not be.

values

A list of character values to be associated with the variable. Note that if "values" is specified, "dimensions" may not be. See Variable Values for further information on variable values.

options

A list of variable options. See Variable Options for further information on variable options.

Examples:

 CHARACTER:15 dept
 CHARACTER:20 names ('TOM','JOHN','DICK'), SCRIPT
 CHARACTER:9 months [12]
 CHARACTER*20 staff-by-dept [8,101:150]

See also:

The DEFINITIONS Section