CHAPTER 8. 4TH ARRAYS 81
And what about string literals with quotes. Easy, there is an equivalent to ’S”’ that does the same thing: s| "This is a string with quotes"|
." Length : " . cr
." Address: " . cr
\ show the length
\ show the address
Instead of a quote, the string is delimited by a bar. And what about string literals that include them both? Bad luck? Well, almost but not quite. Just take a look at section 13.17.
8.8
String constants
String constants work the same way as numeric constants:
10 constant ten ten . cr
\ define a string constant
\ equivalent to: 10 . cr
In fact, you give a name to a literal value. After that, you can refer to that literal throughout your program by using its name. String constants do the same thing. Take a look at this little piece of code: s" This is a string"
." Length : " . cr
." Address: " . cr
\ create a temporary string
\ show the length
\ show the address
Now we do the same thing, but this time we define a string constant by using ’SCON-
STANT’: s" This is a string" sconstant mystring
\ define a string constant mystring
." Length : " . cr
\ now we use the string constant
\ show the length
." Address: " . cr \ show the address
Why use string constants? Well, first of all, if you use a string constant throughout your program, it will save you some editing when you have to change your program for one reason or another. Second, it will make your program a little smaller.
8.9
Initializing string variables
You can initialize a string with the ’S"’ word. If you want the string to contain your first name use this construction: s" Hello!" name place
The word ’PLACE’ copies the contents of a string literal into a string-variable.
If you still don’t understand it yet, don’t worry. As long as you use this construction, you’ll get what you want. Just remember that assigning a string literal to a string that is too short will result in an error or even worse, corrupt other strings.
