Textual data is enclosed in double quotes and can be a string up to 140 characters long. You may continue a string on a new line by typing a backslash, \, at the end of the line.
To use the value of a string variable, type the variable along with the text. Place double quotes around the entire string.
For example:
_s = "how to use"
ECHO "This is _s a variable in a string."
displays:
This is how to use a variable in a string.
Variables within strings are replaced by their values, converting integers to text. The # operator, along with a variable, is replaced by the number of answers in the answer set and is converted to text.
If you want a variable within a string to be immediately followed by non-blank text, separate the variable name and text with a period.
For example:
_variable = "con"
ECHO "This example string includes
_variable.catenated text"
displays:
This example string includes concatenated text
Special characters and escape characters within strings are:
[CR] |
Carriage return |
[TAB] |
Move to next tab position |
| [BS] | Backspace |
| [ESC] | Escape |
[BELL] |
STN file environment on entry to the script |
[CRTL-A]...[CTRL-Z] |
Unprintable control characters |
[FF] |
Formfeed |
Note that many networks and STN use control characters in normal operations. As a result, indiscriminate use of control characters may result in lost data, locked sessions, or terminated processes.
The characters _, \, ", [, and # have special use within the script language and must be doubled if they are to be used within a string. In other words, to include a [ in a string, use two in a row:
ECHO "Here is a string with a left bracket (i.e., [[) in it."
displays:
Here is a string with a left bracket (i.e., [) in it.
A distinction between upper- and lowercase is made when the characters are within a string, and the number of spaces between words and letters is not ignored.