String Equates

You can define string equates by prefixing a dollar-sign ($) to the equate data name. The value on the right side of the string equate must be a string literal, or an expression made of string literals. A string literal can also be constructed with combinations of the expanded CHR$ function, the STRING$ function, the SPACE$ function, the GUID$ function, and string constants. For example:

$Name = "John Smith"

$Fullname = "John" & " Smith"

$UserName = $First & $Last

$PrintCode = CHR$(27, 34, "E") + SPACE$(10) + CHR$(65 TO 90)

$AppGuid = GUID$("{01234567-89AB-CDEF-FEDC-BA9876543210}")

A string equate can include the double-quote character, simply by doubling the character within the string. For example:

$ABC = "This is a ""string"""

String equates are individually limited to 255 characters. Attempting to create a longer string equate will trigger a compile-time Error 489 ("Invalid string length").

As with numeric equates, PowerBASIC pre-calculates the string equate content during compilation to avoid unnecessary concatenation operations at run-time. Duplicate definitions of both numeric and string equates are permitted by PowerBASIC, provided the actual content is identical. If the content is not identical, a compile-time Error 468 ("Duplicate Equate") will occur.