CHARACTER Command

This command defines a character variable capable of holding everything that can be contained in a quoted character string. SCL character variables can be defined to contain up to 65535 characters.

Arrays of character variables can be defined, with a maximum of 3 dimensions.

Command Definition:

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

n

An unsigned integer value in the range 1-65535, representing the size of the variable in characters. If unspecified 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, each separated by comma. If dimensions are specified, values may not be.

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.

values

A list of character values to be associated with the variable. If values are specified, dimensions may not be.

options

A list of variable options.

Note: Only one of dimensions or values may be specified for any one definition.

Examples:

CHARACTER:15 Dept
CHARACTER:20 Names ('TOM','JOHN','DICK'), SCRIPT
CHARACTER:9 Months [12]
CHARACTER*20 Staff-By-Dept [8,101:150]

Related:

• Variables