Data Types

There are six data types -- based on database field types. These are strings, integers, decimals, dates, booleans, and fields. A string literal is a sequence of characters delimited by double quotes. The double quote can be included in the string by using a \" sequence, and the backslash can be included in a string by using a \\ sequence. An integer literal is a sequence of digits optionally starting with the minus sign. A decimal literal is like an integer literal but can include a decimal point. Note that negative number syntax is handled at the parsing stage for literals and so there is no unary minus operator. Date and boolean literals can only be created from a database field of that type. A field literal is the name of a field rather than its contents. It is created using the %% field operator. The example program fragment below shows the way to create each data type.

"Hello World"
12345
0.25
%START_DATE
%IS_TRUE
%%SURNAME

Note that START_DATE is a date field, getting its value with the % operator creates a data type of date. Similarly the IS_TRUE field is a boolean field.

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