Strings
Comments
A comment can appear within a statement or on a line by itself. If a comment appears within a statement, it must be preceded by at least one blank. If it appears on a line by itself, it must have an asterisk in the first position (to prevent it from being treated as a label). In the following example, the sentence "End program execution" is a comment:
STOP End program execution
"End program execution" is also a comment in this example:
* End program execution
STOP
Note: For a list of possible actions and the ACL/E commands you use to perform them,
see the appendix
(see page 113). For a list of ACL/E commands
and the actions you perform with them, see the appendix
(see
page 119).
Strings
ACL/E operands are strings or constructions that contain strings. A string is a set of characters. The length of a string is determined by the number of characters that comprise it.
Simple Strings
A set of characters that begins with a non-null character and contains no commas, spaces, or quotes is a simple string. Simple strings do not need to be bounded by quotes. A simple string that is not bounded by quotes must be terminated by a space or a comma. The length of a simple string is the number of characters prior to the terminating space or comma. Enclosing a simple string in quotes does not change its length or value. The following examples show two ways to write the same simple string: strings
'strings'
In each case, the length of the string is 7.
Chapter 2: Syntax and Semantics 19
