STRING

STRING variables or literal values are one byte per character length text or ASCII characters.

Syntax

DIM variable AS STRING [* byte_length]

• Byte length is optional in DIM statements, but is required in TYPE definitions as a literal or constant INTEGER value.
• Literal strings are defined by quotation marks on each end. The quotes will not PRINT to the screen.
• Quotation marks cannot be placed inside of literal string values! Use CHR$(34) to display " quotes.
• Semicolons and commas outside of the string can be used to combine strings in a PRINT statement only.
• LEN determines the number of bytes and number of string characters that are in a particular string.
• Literal string ends are designated by quotation marks such as: "text". Use CHR$(34) to add quotes to string values.
• Variable suffix type definition is $ such as: text$.
• STRING values are compared according to the ASCII code values from left to right until one string code value exceeds the other.
• NOTE: Many QBasic keyword variable names CAN be used with a STRING suffix($) ONLY! You CANNOT use them without the suffix, use a numerical suffix or use DIM, REDIM, _DEFINE, BYVAL or TYPE variable AS statements!

Creating a fixed length STRING variable in QBasic:

• Variable$ = " " ' 1 space creates a one byte string length in a procedure(not fixed)
• Variable$ = SPACE$(n%) ' defined as a n% length string in a procedure(not fixed)
• DIM variable AS STRING * n% ' fixed string length cannot be changed later
• Variable AS STRING * n% ' fixed string length in a SUB parameter or TYPE definition.
• CONST variables can also be used after the constant value is defined.

QB64 fixed length string type suffixes

• A number after the string variable name $ suffix denotes the fixed string length: X$2 denotes a 2 byte string.

String Concatenation (addition)

Must be used when defining a string variable's literal value!

• Concatenation uses the + addition symbol to add literal or variable parts to a string variable value.
• Quotation marks cannot be added. Use CHR$(34) as quotes are used to define the ends of strings.
• Numerical values added must be converted to strings in string variable definitions. See the STR$ function.
• Concatenation can be used in PRINT statements along with semicolons and commas used by PRINT ONLY.
• Semicolons or commas outside of quotes cannot be used to make a string variable's literal string value!

Example 1: Using a string type suffix with a fixed length byte size in QB64 only. The number designates the fixed string length.

var$5 = "1234567" PRINT var$5

12345

Note: The suffix must keep the same byte length or it is considered a different string variable with a different value!

Example 2: Creating a string variable value by adding variable and literal string values. This procedure is called string concatenation.

age% = 10 a$ = "I am " + CHR$(34) + LTRIM$(STR$(age%)) + CHR$(34) + " years old." b$ = "How old are you?" question$ = a$ + SPACE$(1) + b$ PRINT question$

I am "10" years old. How old are you?

Note: Since quotation marks are used to denote the ends of literal strings, CHR$(34) must be used to place quotes inside them.

Example 3: How QB64 string type suffixes can fix the length by adding a number of bytes after it.

strings$5 = "Hello world" PRINT strings$5

Hello

Example 4: STRING values can be compared by the ASC code value according to ASCII.

PRINT "Enter a letter, number or punctuation mark from the keyboard: "; valu$ = INPUT$(1) PRINT value$ value1$ = "A" value2$ = "m" value3$ = "z" SELECT CASE value$ CASE value1$: PRINT "A only" CASE value1$ TO value2$: PRINT "B to m" 'A is already evaluated CASE value1$, value2$, value3$: PRINT "z only" 'A and m are already evaluated CASE IS > value2$: PRINT "greater than m but not z" 'z is already evaluated CASE ELSE: PRINT "other value" 'key entry below A including all numbers END SELECT

Notes: STRING values using multiple characters will be compared by the ASCII code values sequentially from left to right. Once the equivalent code value of one string is larger than the other the evaluation stops. This allows string values to be compared and sorted alphabetically using > or < and to SWAP values in arrays irregardless of the string lengths.

See also

• DIM, DEFSTR
• CHR$, ASC (function)
• LEFT$, RIGHT$, MID$ (function)
• LTRIM$, RTRIM$
• LCASE$, UCASE$
• STR$
• HEX$
• MKI$, MKL$, MKS$, MKD$, _MK$
• CVI, CVL, CVS, CVD, _CV
• LEN, VAL
• ASCII, DRAW
• PRINT, PRINT USING, WRITE

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