CONST

The CONST statement globally defines one or more named numeric or string values which will not change while the program is running.

Syntax

CONST constantName = value[, ...]

Parameters

• constantName is the constant name or list of names assigned by the programmer.
• value is the value to initialize the global constant which cannot change once defined.
  • If constantName specifies a numeric type, value must be a numeric expression containing literals and other constants.
  • If constantName specifies a string type, the value must be a literal value.

Description

• The constantName does not have to include a type suffix. The datatype is automatically infered by the compiler using the value.
• Constant values cannot reference a variable, SUB or FUNCTION return values when defined.
  • The exception to the above are color functions _RGB32 and _RGBA32, which can be used in a CONST statement. See Example 2 below.
• Constants cannot be reassigned values. They retain the same value throughout all of the program procedures.
• Constants defined in module-level code have shared scope, so they can also be used in SUB or FUNCTION procedures.
• Constants defined in SUB or FUNCTION procedures are local to those procedures.
• CLEAR will not affect or change constant values.

Examples

Example 1: Display the circumference and area of circles:

' Declare a numeric constant approximately equal to the ratio of a circle's ' circumference to its diameter: CONST PI = 3.141593 ' Declare some string constants: CONST circumferenceText = "The circumference of the circle is" CONST areaText = "The area of the circle is" DO INPUT "Enter the radius of a circle or zero to quit"; radius IF radius = 0 THEN END PRINT circumferenceText; 2 * PI * radius PRINT areaText; PI * radius * radius ' radius squared PRINT LOOP

Enter the radius of a circle or zero to quit? 10 The circumference of the circle is 62.83186 The area of the circle is 314.1593 Enter the radius of a circle or zero to quit? 123.456 The circumference of the circle is 775.697 The area of the circle is 47882.23 Enter the radius of a circle or zero to quit? 0

Explanation: PI cannot change as it is a mathematical constant so it is fitting to define it as a constant. Trying to change PI will result in a calculation error.

Example 2: Using _RGB32 to set a constant's value.

CONST Red = _RGB32(255,0,0) COLOR Red PRINT "Hello World"

See also

• DIM, SHARED
• STATIC, COMMON
• _PI, _RGB32, _RGBA32
• Windows 32 API constant values

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