MSTRING

An mstring is a multi-line string, which is a convenient way to represent textual data. An mstring can be thought of as a list of strings which can grow to accommodate new strings being appended to it.

As with strings, EASI manages the memory storage of an mstring, allocating enough space to hold the assigned data. An MSTRING initial contains no data. When an initial value is assigned to the MSTRING, it becomes the first string in the string-list, and is accessed using array style indexing with the index 1.

 EASI>local mstring ListOfNames
 EASI>ListOfNames = "Alfred"
 EASI>print ListOfNames
 Alfred
 EASI>print ListOfNames[1]
 Alfred

A new strings can be appended to the end of an MSTRING by assigning it to the next available index. For example, a second string can be added to the list by assigning it to index 2.

 EASI>ListOfNames[2] = "Betty"
 EASI>print ListOfNames
 Alfred
 Betty

More new strings can be added to the list, and any of the previously assigned strings can be replaced with new values.

 EASI>ListOfNames[3] = "Charles"
 EASI>ListOfNames[1] = "Alexander"
 EASI>print ListOfNames
 Alexander
 Betty
 Charles

Note that it is not possible to insert a string into the middle of an MSTRING, nor to delete a string from an MSTRING. There is no automatic reshuffling of indices.