DATA
Statement
DATA provides a list of items of data within a program. These items may be values or variables or strings to be displayed, for example. Each item is assigned to a variable by a READ statement.
Assignment is carried out in the order in which items of data appear in the program, but RESTORE can be used to begin assignment at the first DATA item on or following a program line.
How to use DATA
DATA can only be used to form a statement in a program. It is normally followed by a list of numeric or string contants each separated by a comma, for example
50 DATA 31,"JAN",28,"FEB"
Each constant is then assigned to a variable by a READ statement that reads the DATA. The DATA statement may be positioned anywhere in the program. The number, kind (numeric or string) and order of the constants must correspond to the number of times the READ statement is executed and the kind and order of variables in the READ statement. The list of data may be split up into several DATA statements if there are too many items to fit into one statement.
Example
The following program
10 FOR n=1 TO 2
20 READ x,a$
30 PRINT a$,x;" days"
40 NEXT n
50 DATA 31,"JAN",28,"FEB"
displays
JAN 31 days
FEB 28 days
Using DATA with variables
The items of data in a DATA statement may consist of numeric or string variables or expressions provided the variables have previously been assigned values. In the above example, the DATA statement may be changed to
50 DATA d,m$,d-3,"FEB"
If d is previously assigned a value of 31, and m$ a value of "JAN", then the same display is given.
LOAD DATA, SAVE DATA, and VERIFY DATA
DATA may also be used with LOAD, SAVE and VERIFY to store arrays on tape. See LOAD DATA, SAVE DATA and VERIFY for more information.
Format
- DATA num-expr, [num-expr][, string-expr]
- DATA string-expr, [num-expr][, string-expr]
See also