String expressions

String expressions in EASI are performed upon arrays of characters with a known, but unlimited, length. The only built-in operation supported for string expressions is the concatenation operation which is denoted with a "+" sign. Concatenation is the act of placing strings together. The result of a string expression is a single string.

A string element can be any of the following:

• A string constant enclosed in double quotes.
• An EASI variable of type string.
• A subscripted EASI variable of type string.
• A subscripted variable of type mstring.
• A string intrinsic function.
• A string user defined function.
• A string parameter

Example:

EASI>print "AB" + "B13" + "?"
"ABB13?"

String constants are enclosed in double quotes. The double-quote(") character may be included within a string by preceding it with a back-slash character (\). String constants can not span lines and do not require a closing quote if they are the last item on a line.

Example:

EASI>local string s
EASI>s = "Hello World"
EASI>s = "Hello" + " " + "World"
EASI>s = "Hello World
EASI>local string message
EASI>message = "Finished processing file \"irvine.pix\"."
EASI>print message
Finished processing file "irvine.pix".