Rexx - Variables

In Rexx, all variables are bound with the ‘=’ statement. Variable names are sometimes referred to as symbols. They may be composed of Letters, Digits, and Characters such as ‘. ! ? _’. A variable name you create must not begin with a digit or a period. A simple variable name does not include a period. A variable name that includes a period is called a compound variable and represents an array or table.

The following are the basic types of variables in Rexx which were also explained in the previous chapter −

Integers − This is used to represent an integer or a float. An example for this is 10.

Big integers − This represents a large integer value.

Decimal − A decimal value is a string of numerics that contains a decimal point but no exponent identifier.

Float − A float value is a string that represents a number in the scientific notation.

String − A series of characters defines a string in Rexx.

Different Types of Variable Functions

In this section, we will discuss regarding the various functions a variable can perform.

Variable Declarations

The general syntax of defining a variable is shown as follows −

var-name = var-value 

where

var-name − This is the name of the variable.

var-value − This is the value bound to the variable.

The following program is an example of the variable declaration −

Example

/* Main program */ 
X = 40 
Y = 50 
Result = X + Y 
say Result

90

/* Main program */ 
unassignedvalue 
say unassignedvalue 

UNASSIGNEDVALUE
sh: UNASSIGNEDVALUE: command not found
     2 *-* unassignedvalue 
       >>>   "UNASSIGNEDVALUE"
       +++   "RC(127)"

/* Main program */ 
X = 40 
X = 50 
say X 

50

/* Main program */ 
X = 40 

/* Display an Integer */ 
say X 
Y = 50.5 

/* Display a Float */ 
say Y 
Z = "hello" 

/* Display a string */ 
say Z 

40 
50.5 
hello