Introduction
In B4P, plain text is any kind of text which is specified without quotation marks. Such text contents are limited to one line and all characters are allowed except B4P specific symbols such as operators and various forms of parentheses / brackets.
Spaces
Plain text may contains spaces, however multiple consecutive spaces and tabs are interpreted as single spaces.
Hello World is the same as Hello World. Leading and trailing spaces are ignored.
Uses
Plain text can be used for
- String values
- Variable names
- Table names
- Procedure names and function names
- Reserved keywords (true, false, else, tab, escape, new line)
These reserved keywords must always be formulated with lower-case characters, otherwise they are treated as plain text.
Rules
Following rules apply for plain text:
- Choice of characters
- Alphabetic letters, including foreign letters and characters used around the world
- All characters which do not interfere with B4P code elements and symbols such as mathematical operators, parentheses, brackets, etc..
- The text may contain white white spaces (space bar, tab, etc.)
- A single point (.) is OK as long not used as decimal point in numbers. But 2 consecutive points (..) are not OK as they are ranges.
- The text must be on the same line.
- Multiple consecutive white spaces inside the text are interpreted as one single space character.
- A lone point (.) specified without quotation marks is also interpreted as a string containing this one character as long it is not a decimal point in a numeral.
- Reserved keywords are automatically interpreted as part of the B4P syntax, e.g. true as Boolean true, and else is also part of the B4P language.
- If the text is assigned to B4P variables or used inside expressions, then the variable assumes the type string and subtype softquoted string.
| Good Examples | Interpretation | Bad Examples | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hello World | Text | Baden-Baden | Minus sign: Text subtraction. Returns blank. |
| 555 1212 | Text and not number | 1.2 | This is a number |
| 1.234.567 | Text (multiple points) | 1,234.567 | Comma is a B4P specifc symbol |
| _1 | Text | -1 | This is a number |
| 10 Main St. | Text | 10..12 Main St. | '..' describes ranges |
| 25.12.2024 | Text (not a B4P date) | 25-12-2024 | Two subtractions, results in 2011 |
| true | Boolean value | ||
| True | Text |
Examples
echo( Hello World );
echo( Hello World ); // Same as above (Spaces outside the strings are ignored, so are multiple spaces inside)
echo( One + One ); // + sign is an operator, result is 'OneOne'
echo( 'One + One' ); // This one is OK.
echo( Baden-Baden ); // Empty string. Hyphen is treated as minus sign (subtraction of strings)
echo( 'Baden-Baden' ); // This one is OK.
echo( 1. 23 ); // This is a string because a space is inside.
echo( 1 200 ); // Same here. Use function 'clean numeral' to extract 1200 as a number from here
echo( Dial 555 1212 );
echo( this is on, new line, the next line ); // new line is a reserved keyword
echo( Café in Zürich ); // Foreign characters inside
echo( . ); // Lone point
echo( . . . ); // A string containing 3 lone points (. . .), also showing how spaces are collapsing
// echo( .. ); // Would cause an error because .. is a b4p language symbol.
echo( '..' ); // This one is OK
echo( new line, Line 1, new line, Line 2 ); Hello World
Hello World
OneOne
One + One
Baden-Baden
1. 23
1 200
Dial 555 1212
this is on
the next line
Café in Zürich
.
. . .
..
Line 1
Line 2
See also
Text inside single quotation marks
Text inside double quotation marks