yabasic

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Table of Contents

Chapter 1. Introduction

About this document
About yabasic

Chapter 2. The yabasic-program under Windows

Starting yabasic
Options
The context Menu

Chapter 3. The yabasic-program under Unix

Starting yabasic
Options
The context Menu

Chapter 4. Some features of yabasic, explained by topic

print, input and others
Control statements: loops, if and switch
Drawing and painting
Reading from and writing to files
Subroutines and Libraries
String processing
Arithmetic
Data and such
Other interesting commands

Chapter 5. All commands and functions of yabasic listed by topic

Number processing and conversion
Conditions and control structures
Data keeping and processing
String processing
File operations and printing
Subroutines and libraries
Other commands
Graphics and printing

Chapter 6. All commands and functions of yabasic grouped alphabetically

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
L
M
N
O
P
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Special characters

Chapter 7. A grab-bag of some general concepts and terms

Logical shortcuts
Conditions and expressions
References on arrays
Specifying Filenames under Windows
Escape-sequences
Creating a standalone program from your yabasic-program

Chapter 8. A few example programs

A very simple program
A part of the demo of yabasic

Chapter 9. The Copyright of yabasic

Chapter 1. Introduction

About this document
About yabasic

About this document

This document describes yabasic. You will find information about the yabasic interpreter (the program yabasic under Unix or yabasic.exe under Windows) as well as the language itself.

This document applies to version 2.750 of yabasic

However, this document does not contain the latest news about yabasic or a FAQ. As such information tends to change rapidly, it is presented online only at www.yabasic.de.

Although basic has its reputation as a language for beginning programmers, this is not an introduction to programming at large. Rather this text assumes, that the reader has some (moderate) experience with writing and starting computer programs.

Back to Chapter 1

About yabasic

yabasic is a traditional basic interpreter. It understands most of the typical basic-constructs, like goto, gosub, line numbers, read, data or string-variables with a trailing '$'. But on the other hand, yabasic implements some more advanced programming-constructs like subroutines or libraries (but not objects). yabasic works much the same under Unix and Windows.

yabasic puts emphasis on giving results quickly and easily; therefore simple commands are provided to open a graphic window, print the graphics or control the console screen and get keyboard or mouse information. The example below opens a window, draws a circle and prints the graphic:

open window 100,100
open printer
circle 50,50,40
text 10,50,"Press any key to get a printout"
clear screen
inkey$
close printer
close window

Back to Chapter 1
back to Table of Contents

Chapter 2. The yabasic-program under Windows

Starting yabasic
Options
The context Menu

Starting yabasic

Once, yabasic has been set up correctly, there are three ways to start it:

Rightclick on your desktop: The desktop menu appears with a submenu named new. From this submenu choose yabasic. This will create a new icon on your desktop. If you rightclick on this icon, its context menu will appear; choose Execute to execute the program.

As a variant of the way described above, you may simply create a file with the ending .yab (e.g. with your favorite editor). Everything else then works as described above.

From the start-menu: Choose yabasic from your start-menu. A console-window will open and you will be asked to type in your program. Once you are finished, you need to type return twice, and yabasic will parse and execute your program.

This is not the preferred way of starting yabasic ! Simply because the program, that you have typed, can not be saved and will be lost inevitably ! There is no such thing as a save-command and therefore no way to conserve the program, that you have typed. This mode is only intended for quick hacks, and short programs.

Back to Chapter 2

Options

Under Windows yabasic will mostly be invoked by double-clicking on an appropriate icon; this way you do not have a chance to specify any of the commandline options below. However, advanced users may add some of those options to the appropriate entries in the registry.

All the options below may be abbreviated, as long as the abbreviation does not become ambigous. For example, you may write -e instead of -execute.

help or -?

Prints a short help message, which itself describes two further help-options.

-version

Prints the version of yabasic.

-geometry +X-POSITION+Y-POSITION

Sets the position of the graphic window, that is opened by open window (the size of this window, of course, is specified within the

open window

-command). An example would be -geometry +20+10, which would place the graphic window 10 pixels below the upper border and 20 pixels right of the left border of the screen. This value cannot be changed, once yabasic has been started.

-font NAME-OF-FONT

Name of the font, which will be used for graphic-text; can be any of decorative, dontcare, modern, roman, script, swiss. You may append a fontsize (measured in pixels) to any of those fontnames; for example -font swiss30 chooses a swiss-type font with a size of 30 pixels.

-bind NAME-OF-STANDALONE-PROGRAM

Create a standalone program (whose name is specified by NAME-OF-STANDALONE-PROGRAM) from the yabasic-program, that is specified on the commandline. See the section about

creating a standalone-program

for details.

-execute A-PROGRAM-AS-A-SINGLE-STRING

With this option you may specify some yabasic-code to be executed rigth away.This is useful for very short programs, which you do not want to save within a file. If this option is given, yabasic will not read any code from a file. Let's say, you have forgotten some of the square numbers between 1 and 10; in this case the command yabasic -e 'for a=1 to 10:print a*a:next a' will give you the answer immediately.

-infolevel INFOLEVEL

Change the infolevel of yabasic, where INFOLEVEL can be one of debug, note, warning, error and fatal (the default is warning). This option changes the amount of debugging-information yabasic produces. However, normally only the author of yabasic (me !) would want to change this.

-doc NAME-OF-A-PROGRAM

Print the embedded documentation of the named program. The embedded documentation of a program consists of all the comments within the program, which start with the special keyword

doc

. This documentation can also be seen by choosing the corresponding entry from the context-menu of any yabasic-program.

-librarypath DIRECTORY-WITH-LIBRARIES

Change the directory, wherein libraries will be searched and imported (with the

impor

t-command). See also this entry for more information about the way, libraries are searched.

The context Menu

Like every other icon under Windows, the icon of every yabasic-program has a context menu offering the most frequent operations, that may be applied to a yabasic-program.

Execute

This will invoke yabasic to execute your program. The same happens, if you

doubleclick

on the icon.

Edit

notepad will be invoked, allowing you to edit your program.

View docu

This will present the embedded documentation of your program. Embedded documentation is created with the special comment

doc

Back to Chapter 2
back to Table of Contents

Chapter 3. The yabasic-program under Unix

Starting yabasic
Options
Setting defaults

Starting yabasic

If your system administrator (vulgo root) has installed yabasic correctly, there are three ways to start it:

You may use your favorite editor (emacs, vi ?) to put your program into a file (e.g. foo). Make sure that the very first line starts with the characters '#!' followed by the full pathname of yabasic (e.g. '#!/usr/local/bin/yabasic'). This she-bang-line ensures, that your Unix will invoke yabasic to execute your program (see also the entry for the hash-character). Moreover, you will need to change the permissions of your yabasic-program foo, e.g. chmod u+x foo. After that you may invoke yabasic to invoke your program by simply typing foo (without even mentioning yabasic). However, if your PATH-variable does not contain a single dot ('.') you will have to type the full pathname of your program: e.g. /home/ihm/foo (or at least ./foo).

Save your program into a file (e.g. foo) and type yabasic foo. This assumes, that the directory, where yabasic resides, is contained within your PATH-variable.

Finally your may simply type yabasic (maybe it will be necessary to include its full pathname). This will make yabasic come up and you will be asked to type in your program. Once you are finished, you need to type return twice, and yabasic will parse and execute your program.

Back to Chapter 3

Options

yabasic accepts a number of options on the commandline. All these options below may be abbreviated, as long as the abbreviation does not become ambigous. For example you may write -e instead of -execute.

-help or -?

Prints a short help message, which itself describes two further help-options.

-version

Prints the version of yabasic.

-fg FOREGROUND-COLOR or -foreground FOREGROUND-COLOR

Define the foreground color for the graphics-window (that will be opened with

open window

). The usual X11 colornames, like

red

green

, ... are accepted. This value cannot be changed, once yabasic has been started.

-bg BACKGROUND-COLOR or -background BACKGROUND-COLOR

Define the background color for the graphics-window. The usual X11 colornames are accepted. This value cannot be changed, once yabasic has been started.

-geometry +X-POSITION+Y-POSITION

Sets the position of the graphic window, that is opened by open window (the

size

of this window, of course, is specified with the

open window

-command). An example would be +20+10, which would place the graphic window 10 pixels below the upper border and 20 pixels right of the left border of the screen. Note, that the size of the window may not be specified here (well it may, but it will be ignored anyway). This value cannot be changed, once yabasic has been started.

-display BACKGROUND-COLOR

Specify the

display

, where the graphics window of yabasic should appear. Normally, however this value will be already present within the environment variable DISPLAY.

-font NAME-OF-FONT

Name of the font, which will be used for text within the graphics window.

-execute A-PROGRAM-AS-A-SINGLE-STRING

With this option you may specify some yabasic-code to be executed rigth away.This is useful for very short programs, which you do not want to save to a file. If this option is given, yabasic will not read any code from a file. E.g

yabasic -e 'for a=1 to 10:print a*a:next a'

prints the square numbers from 1 to 10.

-bind NAME-OF-STANDALONE-PROGRAM

Create a standalone program (whose name is specified by

NAME-OF-STANDALONE-PROGRAM

) from the yabasic-program, that is specified on the commandline. See the section about

creating a standalone-program

for details.

-infolevel INFOLEVEL

Change the infolevel of yabasic where

INFOLEVEL

can be one of debug, note, warning, error and fatal (the default is warning). This option changes the amount of debugging-information yabasic produces. However, normally only the author of yabasic (

!) would want to change this.

-doc NAME-OF-A-PROGRAM

Print the

embedded documentation

of the named program. The embedded documentation of a program consists of all the comments within the program, which start with the special keyword

doc

-librarypath DIRECTORY-WITH-LIBRARIES

Change the directory from which libraries will be imported (with the

import

-command). See also this entry for more information about the way, libraries will be searched.

Back to Chapter 3

Setting defaults

If you want to set some options once for all, you may put them into your X-Windows resource file. This is usually the file .Xresources or some such within your home directory (type man X for details).

Here is a sample section, which may appear within this file:

yabasic*foreground: blue
yabasic*background: gold
yabasic*geometry: +10+10
yabasic*font: 9x15

This will set the foreground color of the graphic-window to blue and the background color to gold. The window will appear at position 10,10 and the text font will be 9x15.

Back to Chapter 3
back to Table of Contents

Chapter 4. Some features of yabasic, explained by topic

print, input and others
Control statements: loops, if and switch
Drawing and painting
Reading from and writing to files
Subroutines and Libraries
String processing
Arithmetic
Data and such
Other interesting commands

print, input and others

The print-command is used to put text on the text screen. Here, the term text screen stands for your terminal (under Unix) or the console window (under Windows).

At the bottom line, print simply outputs its argument to the text window. However, once you have called clear screen you may use advanced features like printing colors or copying areas of text with called getscreen$ or putscreen.

You may ask the user for input with the input-command; use inkey$ to get each key as soon as it is pressed.

Back to Chapter 4

Control statements: loops, if and switch

Of course, yabasic has the goto- and gosub-statements; you may go to a label or a line number (which is just a special kind of label). goto, despite its bad reputation ([goto considered harmful]), has still its good uses; however in many cases you are probably better off with loops like repeat-until, while-wendwend or do-loop; you may leave any of these loops with the break-statement or start the next iteration immediately with continue.

Decisions can be made with the if-statement, which comes either in a short and a long form. The short form has no then-keyword and extends up to the end of the line. The long form extends up to the final endif and may use some of the keywords then (which introduces the long form), else or elsif.

If you want to test the result of an expression against many different values, you should probably use the switch-statement.

Back to Chapter 4

Drawing and painting

You need to call open window before you may draw anything with either line, circle or rectangle; all of these statements may be decorated with clear or fill. Note however, that all graphics in yabasic is monochrome ("black on white"). Moreover, there can only be a single window open at any given moment in time.

Evyerything you have drawn can be send to your printer too, if you use the open printer command.

To allow for some (very) limited version of animated graphics, yabasic offers the commands getbit$ and putbitputbit, which retrieve rectangular regions from the graphics-window into a string or vice versa.

If you want to sense mouse-clicks, you may use the inkey$-function.

Back to Chapter 4

Reading from and writing to files

Before you may read or write a file, you need to open it; once you are done, you should close it. Each open file is designated by a simple number, which might be stored within a variable and must be supplied if you want to access the file. This is simply done by putting a hash ('#') followd by the number of the file after the keyword input (for reading from) or print (for writing to a file) respectively.

If you need more control, you may consider reading and writing one byte at a time, using the multi-purpose commands peek and poke.

Back to Chapter 4

Subroutines and Libraries

The best way to break any yabasic-program into smaller, more manageable chunks are subroutines and libraries. They are yabasic's most advanced means of structuring a program.

Subroutines are created with the command sub. They accept parameters and may return a value. Subroutines can be called much like any builtin function of yabasic; therefore they allow to extend the language itself.

Once you have created a set of related subroutines and you feel that they could be useful in other programs too, you may collect them into a library. Such a library is contained within a separate file and may be included in any of your programs, using the keyword import.

Back to Chapter 4

String processing

yabasic has the usual functions to extract parts from a string: left$, mid$ and right$. Note, that all of them can be assigned to, i.e. they may change part of a string.

If you want to split a string into tokens you should use the functions token or split.

There is quite a bunch of other string-processing functions like upper$ (converting to upper case), instr (finding one string within the other), chr$ (converting an ascii-code into a character), glob (testing a string against a pattern) and more. Just follow the links.

Back to Chapter 4

Arithmetic

Yabasic handles numbers and arithmetic: You may calculate trigonometric functions like sin or atan, or logarithms (with log). Bitwise operations, like and or or are available as well min or max (calculate the minimum or maximum of its argument) or mod or int (reminder of a division or integer part or a number).

Back to Chapter 4

Data and such

You may store data within your program within data-statements; during execution you will probably want to read it into arrays, which must have been dimed before.

Back to Chapter 4

Other interesting commands

Yabasic programs may start other programs with the commands system and system$.
peek and poke allow to get and set internal information; either for the operating system (i.e. Unix or Windows) or yabasic itself.
The current time or date can be retrieved with (guess what !) time$ and date$.

Back to Chapter 4
back to Table of Contents

Chapter 5. All commands and functions of yabasic listed by topic

Number processing and conversion
Conditions and control structures
Data keeping and processing
String processing
File operations and printing
Subroutines and libraries
Other commands
Graphics and printing

Number processing and conversion

abs()	returns the absolute value of its numeric argument
acos()	returns the arcus cosine of its numeric argument
and()	the bitwise arithmetic and
asin()	returns the arcus sine of its numeric argument
atan()	returns the arcus tangens of its numeric argument
bin$()	converts a number into a sequence of binary digits
cos()	return the cosine of its single argument
dec()	convert a base 2 or base 16 number into decimal form
eor()	compute the bitwise exclusive or of its two arguments
euler	another name for the constant 2.71828182864
exp()	compute the exponential function of its single argument
frac()	return the fractional part of its numeric argument
int()	return the integer part of its single numeric argument
log()	compute the natural logarithm
max()	return the larger of its two arguments
min()	return the smaller of its two arguments
mod()	compute the remainder of a division
or()	arithmetic or, used for bit-operations
pi	a constant with the value 3.14159
ran()	return a random number
sig()	return the sign of its argument
sin()	return the sine of its single argument
sqr()	compute the square of its argument
sqrt()	compute the square root of its argument
tan()	return the tangens of its argument
xor()	compute the exclusive or
** or ^	raise its first argument to the power of its second

Back to Chapter 5

Conditions and control structures

and	logical and, used in conditions
break	breaks out of a switch statement or a loop
case	mark the different cases within a switch-statement
continue	start the next iteration of a for-, do-, repeat- or while-loop
default	mark the default-branch within a switch-statement
do	start a (conditionless) do-loop
else	mark an alternative within an if-statement
elsif	starts an alternate condition within an if-statement
end	terminate your program
endif	ends an if-statement
false	a constant with the value of 0
fi	another name for endif
for	starts a for-loop
gosub	continue execution at another point within your program (and return later)
goto	continue execution at another point within your program (and never come back)
if	evaluate a condition and execute statements or not, depending on the result
label	mark a specific location within your program for goto, gosub or restore
loop	marks the end of an infinite loop
next	mark the end of a for loop
not	negate an expression; can be written as!
on gosub	jump to one of multiple gosub-targets
on goto	jump to one of many goto-targets
on interrupt	change reaction on keyboard interrupts
logical or	logical or, used in conditions
pause	pause, sleep, wait for the specified number of seconds
repeat	start a repeat-loop
return	return from a subroutine or a gosub
sleep	pause, sleep, wait for the specified number of seconds
switch	select one of many alternatives depending on a value
then	tell the long from the short form of the if-statement
true	a constant with the value of 1
until	end a repeat-loop
wait	pause, sleep, wait for the specified number of seconds
wend	end a while-loop
while	start a while-loop
:	separate commands from each other

Back to Chapter 5

Data keeping and processing

arraydim()	returns the dimension of the array, which is passed as an array reference
arraysize()	returns the size of a dimension of an array
data	introduces a list of data-items
dim	create an array prior to its first use
read	read data from data-statements
redim	create an array prior to its first use. A synonym for dim
restore	reposition the data-pointer

Back to Chapter 5

String processing

asc()	accepts a string and returns the position of its first character within the ascii charset
chr$()	accepts a number and returns the character at this position within the ascii charset
glob()	check if a string matches a simple pattern
hex$()	convert a number into hexadecimal
instr()	searches its second argument within the first; returns its position if found
left$()	return (or change) left end of a string
len()	return the length of a string
lower$()	convert a string to lower case
ltrim$()	trim spaces at the left end of a string
mid$()	return (or change) characters from within a string
right$()	return (or change) the right end of a string
split()	split a string into many strings
str$()	convert a number into a string
token()	split a string into multiple strings
trim$()	remove leading and trailing spaces from its argument
upper$()	convert a string to upper case
val()	converts a string to a number

Back to Chapter 5

File operations and printing

at()	can be used in the print-command to place the output at a specified position
beep	ring the bell within your computer; a synonym for bell
bell	ring the bell within your computer (just as beep)
clear screen	erases the text window
close	close a file, which has been opened before
close printer	stops printing of graphics
color	print with color
colour	see color
eof	check, if an open file contains data
getscreen$()	returns a string representing a rectangular section of the text terminal
inkey$	wait, until a key is pressed
input	read input from the user (or from a file) and assign it to a variable
line input	read in a whole line of text and assign it to a variable
open	open a file
open printer	open printer for printing graphics
print	Write to terminal or file
putscreen	draw a rectangle of characters into the text terminal
reverse	print reverse (background and foreground colors exchanged)
screen	as clear screen clears the text window
seek()	change the position within an open file
tell	get the current position within an open file
using	Specify the format for printing a number
#	either a comment or a marker for a file-number
@	synonymous to at
;	suppress the implicit newline after a print-statement

Back to Chapter 5

Subroutines and libraries

end sub	ends a subroutine definition
export	mark a function as globally visible
import	import a library
local	mark a variable as local to a subroutine
numparams	return the number of parameters, that have been passed to a subroutine
return	return from a subroutine or a gosub
static	preserves the value of a variable between calls to a subroutine
step	specifies the increment step in a for-loop
sub	declare a user defined subroutine

Back to Chapter 5

Other commands

bind()	Binds a yabasic-program and the yabasic-interpreter together into a standalone program.
compile	compile a string with yabasic-code on the fly
date$	returns a string with various components of the current date
doc	special comment, which might be retrieved by the program itself
docu$	special array, containing the contents of all docu-statement within the program
error	raise an error and terminate your program
execute$()	execute a user defined subroutine, which must return a string
execute()	execute a user defined subroutine, which must return a number
exit	terminate your program
pause	pause, sleep, wait for the specified number of seconds
peek	retrieve various internal informations
peek$	retrieve various internal string-informations
poke	change selected internals of yabasic
rem	start a comment
sleep	pause, sleep, wait for the specified number of seconds
system$()	hand a statement over to your operating system and return its output
system()	hand a statement over to your operating system and return its exitcode
time$	return a string containing the current time
to	this keyword appears as part of other statements
wait	pause, sleep, wait for the specified number of seconds
//	pause, sleep, wait for the specified number of seconds
:	separate commands from each other

Back to Chapter 5

Graphics and printing

box	draw a rectancle. A synonym for rectangle
circle	draws a circle in the graphic-window
clear	Erase circles or rectangles
clear window	clear the graphic window and begin a new page, if prining is under way
close curve	close a curve, that has been drawn by the line-command
close window	close the graphics-window
dot	draw a dot in the graphic-window
fill	draw a filled circles or rectangles
getbit$()	return a string representing the bit pattern of a rectangle within the graphic window
line	draw a line
mouseb	extract the state of the mousebuttons from a string returned by inkey$
mousemod	return the state of the modifier keys during a mouseclick
mousex	return the x-position of a mouseclick
mousey	return the y-position of a mouseclick
new curve	start a new curve, that will be drawn with the line-command
open window	open a graphic window
putbit	draw a rectangle of pixels into the graphic window
rectangle	draw a rectangle
text	write text into your graphic-window
window origin	move the origin of a window

Back to Chapter 5
back to Table of Contents

Chapter 6. All commands and functions of yabasic grouped alphabetically

A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
L
M
N
O
P
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Special characters

A

Table of Contents

abs()	returns the absolute value of its numeric argument
acos()	returns the arcus cosine of its numeric argument
and	logical and, used in conditions
and()	the bitwise arithmetic and
arraydim()	returns the dimension of the array, which is passed as an array reference
arraysize()	returns the size of a dimension of an array
asc()	accepts a string and returns the position of its first character within the ascii charset
asin()	returns the arcus sine of its numeric argument
at()	can be used in the print-command to place the output at a specified position
atan()	returns the arcus tangens of its numeric argument

abs()

Name

abs()

returns the absolute value of its numeric argument

Synopsis

y=abs(x)

Description

If the argument of the abs-function is positive (e.g. 2) it is returned unchanged, if the argument is negative (e.g. -1) it is returned as a positive value (e.g. 1).

Example

print abs(-2),abs(2)

This example will print 2 2

See also

sig

acos()

Name

acos()

returns the arcus cosine of its numeric argument

Synopsis

x=acos(angle)

Description

The acos is the arcus cosine-function, i.e. the inverse of the cos -function. Or, more elaborate: It Returns the angle (in radian, not degree !), which, fed to the cosine-function will produce the argument passed to the acos-function.

Example

print acos(0.5),acos(cos(pi))

This example will print 1.0472 3.14159 which are p/3 and p respectively.

See also

cos
asin

and

Name

and	logical and, used in conditions

Synopsis

if (a and b) ...
while (a and b) ...

Description

Used in conditions (e.g within if, while or until) to join two expressions. Returns true, if and only if its left and right argument are both true and false otherwise.

Note, that logical shortcuts may take place.

Example

input "Please enter a number" a
if (a>=1 and a<=9) print "your input is between 1 and 9"

See also

or
not

and()

Name

and()

the bitwise arithmetic and

Synopsis

x=and(a,b)

Description

Used to compute the bitwise and of both its argument. Both arguments are treated as binary numbers (i.e. a series of 0 and 1); a bit of the resulting value will then be 1, if both arguments have a 1 at this position in their binary representation.

Note, that both arguments are silently converted to integer values and that negative numbers have their own binary representation and may lead to unexpected results when passed to and.

Example

print and(6,3)

This will print 2. This result is clear, if you note, that the binary representation of 6 and 3 are 110 and 011 respectively; this will yield 010 in binary representaion or 2 as decimal.

See also

or
eor
not

arraydim()

Name

arraydim()

returns the dimension of the array, which is passed as an array reference

Synopsis

a=arraydim(b())

Description

If you apply the arraydim()-function on a one-dimensional array (i.e. a vector) it will return 1, on a two-dimensional array (i.e. a matrix) it will return 2, and so on.

This is mostly used within subroutines, which expect an array among their parameters. Such subroutines tend to use the arraydim-funtion to check, if the array which has been passed, has the right dimension. E.g. a subroutine to multiply two matrices may want to check, if it really is invoked with two 2-dimensional arrays.

Example

dim a(10,10),b(10)
print arraydim(a()),arraydim(b())

This will print 2 1, which are the dimension of the arrays a() and b(). You may check out the function arraysize for a full-fledged example

See also

arraysize
dim

arraysize()

Name

arraysize()

returns the size of a dimension of an array

Synopsis

x=arraysize(a(),b)

Description

The arraysize-function computes the size of a specified dimension of a specified array. Here, size stands for the maximum number, that may be used as an index for this array. The first argument to this function must be an reference to an array, the second one specifies, which of the multiple dimensions of the array should be taken to calculate the size.

An Example involving subroutines: Let's say, an array has been declared as dim a(10,20) (that is a two-dimensional array or a matrix). If this array is passed as an reference to an array to a subroutine, this sub will not know, what sort of array has been passed. With the arraydim-function the sub will be able to find the dimension of the array, with the arraysize-function it will be able to find out the size of this array in its two dimensions, which will be 10 and 20 respectively.

Our sample array is two dimensional; if you envision it as a matrix this matrix has 10 lines and 20 columns (see the dim-statement above. To state it more formally: The first dimension (lines) has a size of 10, the second dimension (columns) has a size of 20; these mumbers are those returned by arraysize(a(),1) and arraysize(a(),2) respectively. Refer to the example below for a typical usage.

Example

rem
rem This program adds two matrices elementwise.
rem

dim a(10,20),b(10,20),c(10,20)

rem initialization of the arrays a() and b()
for y=1 to 10:for x=1 to 20
    a(y,x)=int(ran(4)):b(y,x)=int(ran(4))
next x:next y

matadd(a(),b(),c())

print "Result:"
for x=1 to 20
    for y=10 to 1 step -1
        print c(y,x)," ";
    next y
    print
next x

sub matadd(m1(),m2(),r())

    rem This sub will add the matrices m1() and m2()
    rem elementwise and store the result within r()
    rem This is not very useful but easy to implement.
    rem However, this sub excels in checking its arguments
    rem with arraydim() and arraysize()

    local x:local y

    if (arraydim(m1())<>2 or arraydim(m2())<>2 or arraydim(r())<>2) then
        error "Need two dimensional arrays as input"
    endif

    y=arraysize(m1(),1):x=arraysize(m1(),2)
    if (arraysize(m2(),1)<>y or arraysize(m2(),2)<>x) then
        error "The two matrices cannot be added elementwise"
    endif

    if (arraysize(r(),1)<>y or arraysize(r(),2)<>x) then
        error "The result cannot be stored in the third argument"
    endif

    local xx:local yy
    for xx=1 to x
        for yy=1 to y
            r(yy,xx)=m1(yy,xx)+m2(yy,xx)
        next yy
    next xx
end sub

See also

arraydim
dim

asc()

Name

asc()

accepts a string and returns the position of its first character within the ascii charset

Synopsis

a=asc(char$)

Description

The asc-function accepts a string, takes its first character and looks it up within the ascii-charset; this position will be returned. The asc-function is the opposite of the chr$-function. There are valid uses for asc, however, comparing strings (i.e. to bring them into alphabetical sequence) is not among them; in such many cases you might consider to compare strings directly with <, = and > (rather than converting a string to a number and comparing this number).

Example

input "Please enter a letter between 'a' and 'y': " a$
if (a$<"a" or a$>"y") print a$," is not in the proper range":end
print "The letter after ",a$," is ",chr$(asc(a$)+1)

See also

chr$

asin()

Name

asin()

returns the arcus sine of its numeric argument

Synopsis

angle=asin(x)

Description

The acos is the arcus sine-function, i.e. the inverse of the sin-function. Or, more elaborate: It Returns the angle (in radian, not degree !), which, fed to the sine-function will produce the argument passed to the asin-function.

Example

print asin(0.5),asin(sin(pi))

This will print 0.523599 -2.06823e-13 which is p and almost 0 respectively.

See also

sin
acos

at()

Name

at()	can be used in the print-command to place the output at a specified position

Synopsis

clear screen
...
print at(a,b)
print @(a,b)

Description

The at-clause takes two numeric arguments (e.g. at(2,3)) and can be inserted after the print-keyword. at() can be used only if clear screen has been executed at least once within the program (otherwise you will get an error).

The two numeric arguments of the at-function may range from 0 to the width of your terminal minus 1, and from 0 to the height of your terminal minus 1; if any argument exceeds these values, it will be truncated accordingly. However, yabasic has no influence on the size of your terminal (80x25 is a common, but not mandatory), the size of your terminal and the maximum values acceptable within the at-clause may vary. To get the size of your terminal you may use the peek-function: peek("screenwidth") returns the width of your terminal and peek("screenheight") its height.

Example

clear screen
maxx=peek("screenwidth")-1:maxy=peek("screenheight")-1
for x=0 to maxx
print at(x,maxy*(0.5+sin(2*pi*x/maxx)/2)) "*"
next x

This example plots a full period of the sine-function across the screen.

See also

print
clear screen
color

atan()

Name

atan()

can be used in the print-returns the arcus tangens of its numeric argument

Synopsis

angle=atan(a,b)
angle=atan(a)

Description

The atan is the arcus-tangens-function, i.e. the inverse of the tan-function. Or, more elaborate: It Returns the angle (in radian, not degree !), which, fed to the tan-function will produce the argument passed to the atan-function.

The atan-function has a second form, which accepts two arguments: atan(a,b) which is (mostly) equivilantly to atan(a/b) except for the fact, that the two-argument-form returns an angle in the range -p to p, whereas the one-argument-form returns an angle in the range -p/2 to p/2. To understand this you have to be good at math.

Example

print atan(1),atan(tan(pi)),atan(-0,-1),atan(-0,1)

This will print 0.463648 2.06823e-13 -3.14159 3.14159 which is p/4, almost 0, -p and p respectively.

See also

tan
sin

Back to Chapter 6

B

Table of Contents

beep	ring the bell within your computer; a synonym for bell
bell	ring the bell within your computer (just as beep)
bin$()	converts a number into a sequence of binary digits
bind()	Binds a yabasic-program and the yabasic-interpreter together into a standalone program
box	draw a rectancle. A synonym for rectangle
break	breaks out of a switch statement or a loop

beep

Name

beep	ring the bell within your computer; a synonym for bell

Synopsis

beep

Description

The beep-command rings the bell within your computer once. This command is not a sound-interface, so you can neither vary the length or the height of the sound (technically, it just prints \a). bell is exactly the same as bell.

Example

beep:print "This is a problem ..."

See also

bell

bell

Name

bell	ring the bell within your computer (just as beep)

Synopsis

bell

Description

The bell-command rings the bell within your computer once. bell is a synonym for beep.

Example

print "This is a problem ...":bell

See also

beep

bell

bin$()

Name

bin$()

converts a number into a sequence of binary digits

Synopsis

hexadecimal$=bin$(decimal)

Description

The bin$-function takes a single numeric argument an converts it into a string of binary digits (i.e. zeroes and ones). If you pass a negative number to bin$, the resulting string will be preceeded by a '-'.

If you want to convert the other way around (i.e. from binary to decimal) you may use the dec-function.

See also

hex$
dec

bind()

Name

bind()

Binds a yabasic-program and the yabasic-interpreter together into a standalone program.

Synopsis

bind("foo.exe")

Description

The bind-command combines your own yabasic-program (plus all the libraries it does import) and the interpreter by copying them into a new file, whose name is passed as an argument. This new program may then be executed on any computer, even if it does not have yabasic installed.

Please see the section about creating a standalone-program for details.

Example

if (!peek("isbound")) then
     bind "foo"
     print "Successfully created the standalone executable 'foo' !"
     exit
endif

print "Hello World !"

This example creates a standalone program foo from itself.

See also

The section about creating a standalone-program, the peek-function and the commandline options for Unix and Windows.

box

Name

box	draw a rectancle. A synonym for rectangle

Synopsis

See the rectangle-command.

Description

The box-command does exactly the same as the rectangle-command; it is just a synonym. Therefore you should refer to the entry for the rectangle-command for further information.

break

Name

break

breaks out of a switch statement or a loop

Synopsis

break

Description

break transfers control immediately outside the enclosing loop or switch statement. This is the preferred way of leaving a such a statement (rather than goto, which is still possible in most cases).

Example

for a=1 to 10
     break
     print "Hi"
next a

while(1)
     break
     print "Hi"
wend

repeat
     break
     print "Hi"
until(0)

switch 1
case 1:break
case 2:case 3:print "Hi"
end switch

This example prints nothing at all, because each of the loops (and the switch-statement) does an immediate break (before it could print any "Hi").

See also

for
while
repeat
switch

Back to Chapter 6

C

Table of Contents

case	mark the different cases within a switch-statement
chr$()	accepts a number and returns the character at this position within the ascii charset
circle	draws a circle in the graphic-window
clear	Erase circles or rectangles
clear screen	erases the text window
clear window	clear the graphic window and begin a new page, if prining is under way
close	close a file, which has been opened before
close curve	close a curve, that has been drawn by the line-command
close printer	stops printing of graphics
close window	close the graphics-window
color	print with color
colour	see color
compile	compile a string with yabasic-code on the fly
continue	start the next iteration of a for-, do-, repeat- or while-loop
cos()	return the cosine of its single argument

case

Name

case	mark the different cases within a switch-statement

Synopsis

switch a
     case 1
     case 2
     ...
end switch

...

switch a$
     case "a"
     case "b"
     ...
end switch

Description

Please see the switch-statement.

Example

input a
switch(a)
     case 1:print "one":break
     case 2:print "two":break
     default:print "more"
end switch

Depending on your input (a number is expected) this code will print one or two or otherwise more.

See also

switch

chr$()

Name

chr$()

accepts a number and returns the character at this position within the ascii charset

Synopsis

character$=chr$(ascii)

Description

The chr$-function is the opposite of the asc-function. It looks up and returns the character at the given position within the ascii-charset. It's typical use is to construct nonprintable characters which do not occur on your keyboard.

Nevertheless you won't use chr$ as often as you might think, because the most important nonprintable characters can be constructed using escape-sequences using the \-character (e.g. you might use \n instead of chr$(10) wherever you want to use the newline-character).

Example

print "a",chr$(10),"b"

This will print the letters 'a' and 'b' in different lines because of the intervening newline-character, which is returned by chr$(10).

See also

asc

circle

Name

circle

draws a circle in the graphic-window

Synopsis

circle x,y,r
clear circle x,y,r
fill circle x,y,r
clear fill circle x,y,r

Description

The circle-command accepts three parameters: The x- and y-coordinates of the center and the radius of the circle.

Some more observations related with the circle-command:

The graphic-window must have been opened already.
The circle may well extend over the boundaries of the window.
If you have issued open printer before, the circle will finally appear in the printed hardcopy of the window.
fill circle will draw a filled (with black ink) circle.
clear circle will erase (or clear) the outline of the circle.
clear fill circle or fill clear circle will erase the full area of the circle.

Example

open window 200,200

for n=1 to 2000
     x=ran(200)
     y=ran(200)
     fill circle x,y,10
     clear fill circle x,y,8
next n

This code will open a window and draw 2000 overlapping circles within. Each circle is drawn in two steps: First it is filled with black ink (fill circle x,y,10), then most of this circle is erased again (clear fill circle x,y,8). As a result each circle is drawn with an opaque white interior and a 2-pixel outline (2-pixel, because the radii differ by two).

See also

open window
open printer
line
rectangle

clear

Name

clear

Erase circles or rectangles

Synopsis

clear rectangle 10,10,90,90
clear fill circle 50,50,20

Description

May be used within the circle or rectangle command and causes these shapes to be erased (i.e. be drawn in the colour of the background).

fill can be used in conjunction with and whereever the fill-clause may appear. Used alone, clear will erase the outline (not the interior) of the shape (circle or rectangle); together with fill the whole shape (including its interior) is erased.

Example

open window 200,200
fill circle 100,100,50
clear fill rectangle 10,10,90,90

This opens a window and draws a pacman-like figure.

See also

clear
circle
rectangle

clear screen

Name

clear screen

erases the text window

Synopsis

clear screen

Description

clear screen erases the text window (the window where the output of print appears).

It must be issued at least once, before some advanced screen-commands (e.g. print at or inkey$) may be called; this requirement is due to some limititations of the curses-library, which is used by yabasic under Unix for some commands.

Example

clear screen
print "Please press a key : ";
a$=inkey$
print a$

The clear screen command is essential here; if it would be omitted, yabasic would issue an error ("need to call 'clear screen' first") while trying to execute the inkey$-function.

See also

inkey$

clear window

Name

clear window

clear the graphic window and begin a new page, if prining is under way

Synopsis

clear window

Description

clear window clears the graphic window. If you have started prining the graphic via open printer, the clear window-command starts a new page as well.

Example

open window 200,200
open printer "t.ps"

for a=1 to 10
if (a>1) clear window
text 100,100,"Hallo "+str$(a)
next a

close printer
close window

This example prints 10 pages, with the text "Hello 1", "Hello 2", ... and so on. The clear screen-command clears the graphics window and starts a new page.

See also

open window
open printer

Name

colour

see color

Synopsis

print colour(fore$) text$
print colour(fore$,back$) text$

See also

color

compile

Name

compile

compile a string with yabasic-code on the fly

Synopsis

compile(code$)

Description

This is an advanced command (closely related with the execute-command). It allows you to compile a string of yabasic-code (which is the only argument). Afterwards the compiled code is a normal part of your program.

Note, that there is no way to remove the compiled code.

Example

compile("sub mysub(a):print a:end sub")
mysub(2)

This example creates a function named mysub, which simply prints its single argument.

See also

execute

continue

Name

continue

start the next iteration of a for-, do-, repeat- or while-loop

Synopsis

continue

Description

You may use continue within any loop to start the next iteration immediately. Depending on the type of the loop, the loop-condition will or will not be checked. Especially: for- and while-loops will evaluate their respective conditions, do- and repeat-loops will not.

Remark: Another way to change the flow of execution within a loop, is the break-command.

Example

for a=1 to 100
if mod(a,2)=0 continue
print a
next a

This example will print all odd numbers between 1 and 100.

See also

for
do
repeat
while
break

cos()

Name

cos()

return the cosine of its single argument

Synopsis

x=cos(angle)

Description

The cos-function expects an angle (in radian) and returns its cosine.

Example

print cos(pi)

This example will print -1.

See also

acos
sin

Back to Chapter 6

D

Table of Contents

data	introduces a list of data-items
date$	returns a string with various components of the current date
dec()	convert a base 2 or base 16 number into decimal form
default	mark the default-branch within a switch-statement
dim	create an array prior to its first use
do	start a (conditionless) do-loop
doc	special comment, which might be retrieved by the program itself
docu$	special array, containing the contents of all docu-statement within the program
dot	draw a dot in the graphic-window

data

Name

data	introduces a list of data-items

Synopsis

data 9,"world"
...
read b,a$

Description

The data-keyword introduces a list of comma-seperated list of strings or numbers, which may be retrieved with the read-command.

The data-command itself does nothing; it just stores data. A single data-command may precede an arbitrarily long list of values, in which strings or numbers may be mixed at will.

yabasic internally uses a data-pointer to keep track of the current location within the data-list; this pointer may be reset with the restore-command.

Example

do
     restore
     for a=1 to 4
          read num$,num
          print num$,"=",num
     next a
loop
data "eleven",11,"twelve",12,"thirteen",13,"fourteen",14

This example just prints a series of lines eleven=11 up to fourteen=14 and so on without end.

The restore-command ensures that the list of data-items is read from the start with every iteration.

See also

read
restore

date$

Name

date$

returns a string with various components of the current date

Synopsis

a$=date$

Description

The date$-function (which must be called without parantheses; i.e. date$() would be an error) returns a string containing various components of a date; an example would be 4-05-27-2004-Thu-May. This string consists of various fields seperated by hyphens ("-"):

The day within the week as a number in the range 0 (=sunday) to 6 (=saturday) (in the example above: 4, i.e. thursday).
The month as a number in the range 1 (=january) to 12 (=december) (in the example: 5 which stands for may).
The day within the month as a number in the range 1 to 31 (in the example: 27).
The full, 4-digit year (in the example: 2004, which reminds me that I should adjust the clock within my computer ...).
The abbreviated name of the day within the week (Mon to Sun).
The abbreviated name of the month (Jan to Dec).

Therefore the whole example above (4-05-27-2004-Thu-May) would read: day 4 in the week (counting from 0), May 27 in the year 2004, which is a thursday in May.

Note, that all fields within the string returned by date$ have a fixed with (numbers are padded with zeroes); therefore it is easy to extract the various fields of a date format with mid$.

Example

rem Two ways to print the same ...

print mid$(date$,3,10)

dim fields$(6)
a=split(date$,fields$(),"-")
print fields$(2),"-",fields$(3),"-",fields$(4)

This example shows two different techniques to extract components from the value returned by date$. The mid$-function is the preferred way, but you could just as well split the return-value of date$ at every "-" and store the result within an array of strings.

See also

time$

dec()

Name

dec()

convert a base 2 or base 16 number into decimal form

Synopsis

a=dec(number$)
a=dec(number$,base)

Description

The dec-function takes the string-representation of a base-2 or base-16 (which is the default) number and converts it into a decimal number. The optional second argument (base) might be used to specify a base other than 16. However, currently only base 2 or base 16 are supported.

Example

input "Please enter a binary number: " a$
print a$," is ",dec(a$)

See also

bin$
hex$

default

Name

default

mark the default-branch within a switch-statement

Synopsis

switch a+3
case 1
     ...
case 2
     ...
default
     ...
end switch

Description

The default-clause is an optional part of the switch-statement (see there for more information). It introduces a series of statements, that should be executed, if none of the casese matches, that have been specified before (each with its own case-clause).

So default specifies a default to be executed, if none of the explicitly named cases matches; hence its name.

Example

print "Please enter a number between 0 and 6,"
print "specifying a day in the week."
input d
switch d
case 0:print "Monday":break
case 1:print "Tuesday":break
case 2:print "Wednesday":break
case 3:print "Thursday":break
case 4:print "Friday":break
case 5:print "Saturday":break
case 6:print "Sunday":break
default:print "Hey you entered something invalid !"
end switch

This program translates a number between 0 and 6 into the name of a weekday; the default-case is used to detect (and complain about) invalid input.

See also

sub
case

dim

Name

dim	create an array prior to its first use

Synopsis

dim array(x,y)
dim array$(x,y)

Description

The dim-command prepares one or more arrays (of either strings or numbers) for later use. This command can also be used to enlarges an existing array.

When an array is created with the dim-statement, memory is allocated and all elements are initialized with either 0 (for numerical arrays) or "" (for string arrays).

If the array already existed, and the dim-statement specifies a larger size than the current size, the array is enlarged and any old content is preserved.

Note, that dim cannot be used to shrink an array: If you specify a size, that is smaller than the current size, the dim-command does nothing.

Finally: To create an array, that is only known within a single subroutine, you should use the command local, which creates local variables as well as local arrays.

Example

dim a(5,5)
for x=1 to 5:for y=1 to 5
     a(x,y)=int(ran(100))
next y:next x
printmatrix(a())
dim a(7,7)
printmatrix(a())

sub printmatrix(ar())
     local x,y,p,q
     x=arraysize(ar(),1)
     y=arraysize(ar(),2)
     for q=1 to y
          for p=1 to y
               print ar(p,q),"\t";
          next p
          print
     next q
end sub

This example creates a 2-dimenional array (i.e. a matrix) with the dim-statement and fills it with random numbers. The second dim-statement enlarges the array, all new elements are filled with 0.

The subroutine printmatrix just does, what its name says.

See also

arraysize
arraydim
local

do

Name

do	start a (conditionless) do-loop

Synopsis

do
...
loop

Description

Starts a loop, which is terminated by loop; everything between do and loop will be repeated forever. This loop has no condition, so it is an infinite loop; note however, that a break - or goto-statement might be used to leave this loop anytime.

Example

do
     a=a+1
     print a
     if (a>100) break
loop

This example prints the numbers between 1 and 101. The break-statement is used to leave the loop.

See also

loop
repeat
while
break

doc

Name

doc	special comment, which might be retrieved by the program itself

Synopsis

doc This is a comment
docu This is another comment

Description

Introduces a comment, which spans up to the end of the line. But other than the rem-comment, any docu-comment is collected within the special docu$-array and might be retrieved later on. Moreover you might invoke yabasic -docu foo.yab on the commandline to retrieve the embedded documentation within the program foo.yab.

Instead of doc you may just as well write docu or even documentation.

Example

rem Hi, this has been written by me
rem
doc This program asks for a number and
doc prints this number multiplied with 2
rem
rem Print out rhe above message
for a=1 to arraysize(docu$()):print docu$(a):next a

rem Read and print the number
input "Please input a number: " x
print x*2

This program uses the comments within its code to print out a help message for the user.

The contents of the doc-lines are retrieved from the docu$-array; if you do not want a comment to be collected within this array, use the rem-statement instead.

See also

docu$
rem

docu$

Name

docu$

special array, containing the contents of all docu-statement within the program

Synopsis

a$=docu$(1)

Description

Before your program is executed, yabasic collects the content of all the doc-statements within your program within this 1-dimensional array (well only those within the main-program, libraries are skipped).

You may use the arraysize function to find out, how many lines it contains.

Example

docu
docu This program reads two numbers
docu and adds them.
docu

rem retrieve and print the embedded documentation
for a=1 to arraysize(docu$(),1)
print docu$(a)
next a

input "First number: " b
input "Second number: " c

print "The sum of ",b," and ",c," is ",b+c

This program uses the embedded documentation to issue a usage-message.

See also

arraydim
rem

dot

Name

dot	draw a dot in the graphic-window

Synopsis

dot x,y
clear dot x,y

Description

Draws a dot at the specified coordinates within your graphic-window. If printing is in effect, the dot appears on your printout too.

Use the functions peek("winheight") or peek("winwidth") to get the size of your window and hence the boundaries of the coordinates specified for the dot-command.

Example

open window 200,200
circle 100,100,100
do
     x=ran(200):y=ran(200)
     dot x,y
     total=total+1
     if (sqrt((x-100)^2+(y-100)^2)<100) in=in+1
     print 4*in/total
loop

This program uses a well known algorithm to compute p.

See also

line
open window

back to Table of Contents

Back to Chapter 6

E

Table of Contents

else	terminate your program
elsif	starts an alternate condition within an if-statement
end	terminate your program
endif	ends an if-statement
end sub	ends a subroutine definition
eof	check, if an open file contains data
eor()	compute the bitwise exclusive or of its two arguments
error	raise an error and terminate your program
euler	another name for the constant 2.71828182864
execute$()	execute a user defined subroutine, which must return a string
execute()	execute a user defined subroutine, which must return a number
exit	terminate your program
exp()	compute the exponential function of its single argument
export	mark a function as globally visible

else

Name

else	mark an alternative within an if-statement

Synopsis

if (...) then
...
else
...
endif

Description

The else-statement introduces the alternate branch of an if-statement. I.e. it starts the sequence of statements, which is executed, if the condition of the if-statement is not true.

Example

input "Please enter a number: " a
if (mod(a,2)=1) then
print a," is odd."
else
print a," is even."
endif

This program detects, if the number you have entered is even or odd.

See also

if

elsif

Name

elsif

starts an alternate condition within an if-statement

Synopsis

if (...) then
     ...
elseif (...)
     ...
elsif (...) then
     ...
else
     ...
endif

Description

The elsif-statement is used to select a single alternative among a series of choices.

With each elsif-statement you may specify a condition, which is tested, if the main condition (specified with the if-statement) has failed.

Note that elsif might be just as well written as elseif.

Within the example below, two variables a and b are tested against a range of values. The variable a is tested with the elsif-statement. The very same tests are performed for the variable b too; but here an involved series of if-else-statements is employed, making the tests much more obscure.

input "Please enter a number: " a
if (a<0) then
     print "less than 0"
elseif (a<=10) then
     print "between 0 and 10"
elsif (a<=20)
     print "between 11 and 20"
else
     print "over 20"
endif

input "Please enter another number: " b
if (b<0) then
      print "less than 0"
else
     if (b<=10) then
          print "between 0 and 10"
     else
          if (b<=20) then
               print "between 11 and 20"
          else
               print "over 20"
          endif
     endif
endif

Note, that the very same tests are performed for the variables a and b, but can be stated much more clearly with the elsif-statement.

Note, that elsif might be written as elseif too, and that the keyword then is optional.

See also

if
else

end

Name

end	terminate your program

Synopsis

end

Description

Terminate your program. Much (but not exactly) like the exit command.

Note, that end may not end your program immediately; if you have opened a window or called clear screen, yabasic assumes, that your user wants to study the output of your program after it has ended; therfore it issues the line ---Program done, press RETURN--- and waits for a key to be pressed. If you do not like this behaviour, consider using exit.

Example

print "Do you want to continue ?"
input "Please answer y(es) or n(o): " a$
if (lower$(left$(a$,1))="n") then
print "bye"
end
fi

See also

exit

endif

Name

endif

ends an if-statement

Synopsis

if (...) then ...
endif

Description

The endif-statement closes (or ends) an if-statement.

Note, that endif may be written in a variety of other ways: end if, end-if or even fi.

The endif-statement must be omitted, if the if-statement does not contain the keyword then (see the example below). Such an if-statement without endif extends only over a single line.

Example

input "A number please: " a
if (a<10) then
print "Your number is less than 10."
endif

REM and now without endif

input "A number please: " a
if (a<10) print "Your number is less than 10."

See also

if

end sub

Name

end sub

ends a subroutine definition

Synopsis

sub foo(...)
...
end sub

Description

Marks the end of a subroutine-definition (which starts with the sub-keyword). The whole concept of subroutines is explained within the entry for sub.

Example

print foo(3)

sub foo(a)
return a*2
end sub

See also

sub

eof

Name

eof	check, if an open file contains data

Synopsis

open 1,"foo.bar"
if (eof(1)) then
...
end if

Description

The eof-function checks, if there is still data left within an open file. As an argument it expects the file-number as returned by (or used within) the open-function (or statement)..

Example

a=open("foo.bar")
while(not eof(a))
input #a,a$
print a$
end while

See also

open

eor()

Name

eor()

compute the bitwise exclusive or of its two arguments

Synopsis

print eor(a,b)

Description

The eor-function takes two arguments and computes their bitwise exclusive or. See your favorite introductory text on informatics for an explanation of this function.

The xor-function is the same as the eor function; both are synonymous; however they have each their own description, so you may check out the entry of xor for a slightly different view.

Example

for a=0 to 3
     for b=0 to 3
          print fill$(bin$(a))," eor ",fill$(bin$(b))," = ",fill$(bin$(eor(a,b)))
     next b
next a

sub fill$(a$)
     return right$("0"+a$,2)
end sub

This example prints a table, from which you may figure, how the eor-function is computed.

See also

and
or

error

Name

error

raise an error and terminate your program

Synopsis

error "Wrong, wrong, wrong !!"

Description

Produces the same kind or error messages, that yabasic itself produces (e.g. in case of a syntax-error). The single argument is issued along with the current line-number.

Example

input "Please enter a number between 1 and 10: " a
if (a10) error "Oh no ..."

This program is very harsh in checking the users input; instead of just asking again, the program terminates with an error, if the user enters something wrong.

The error message would look like this:

---Error in t.yab, line 2: Oh no ...
---Error: Program stopped due to an error

See also

Well, there should be a corresponding called warning; unfortunately ther is none yet.

euler

Name

euler

another name for the constant 2.71828182864

Synopsis

foo=euler

Description

euler is the well known constant named after Leonard Euler; its value is 2.71828182864. euler is not a function, so parens are not allowed (i.e. euler() will produce an error). Finally, you may not assign to euler; it wouldn't sense anyway, because it is a constant.

Example

print euler

See also

pi

execute$()

Name

execute$()

execute a user defined subroutine, which must return a string

Synopsis

print execute$("foo$","arg1","arg2")

Description

execute$ can be used to execute a user defined subroutine, whose name may be specified as a string expression.

This feature is the only way to execute a subroutine, whose name is not known by the time you write your program. This might happen, if you want to execute a subroutine, which is compiled (using the compile command) during the course of execution of your program.

Note however, that the execute$-function is not the preferred method to execute a user defined subroutine; almost all cases you should just execute a subroutine by writing down its name within your yabasic program (see the example). .

print execute$("foo$","Hello","world !")
sub foo$(a$,b$)
return a$+" "+b$
end sub

The example simply prints Hello world !, which is the return value of the user defined subroutine foo$. The same could be achieved by executing:

print foo$(a$,b$)

See also

compile
execute

execute()

Name

execute()

execute a user defined subroutine, which must return a number

Synopsis

print execute("bar","arg1","arg2")

Description

The execute-function is the counterpart of the execute$-function (please see there for some caveats). execute executes subroutines, which returns a number.

Example

print execute("bar",2,3)
sub bar(a,b)
return a+b
end sub

See also

compile
execute$

exit

Name

exit	terminate your program

Synopsis

exit
exit 1

Description

Terminate your program and return any given value to the operating system. exit is similar to end, but it will terminate your program immediately, no matter what.

Example

Name

fi	another name for endif

Synopsis

if (...)
...
fi

Description

fi marks the end of an if-statement and is exactly equivilent to endif, please see there for further information.

Example

input "A number please: " a
if (a<10) then
print "Your number is less than 10."
fi

See also

endif

fill

Name

fill	draw a filled circles or rectangles

Synopsis

fill rectangle 10,10,90,90
fill circle 50,50,20

Description

The keyword fill may be used within the circle or rectangle command and causes these shapes to be filled.

fill can be used in conjunction with and whereever the clear-clause may appear. Used alone, fill will fill the interior of the shape (circle or rectangle); together with clear the whole shape (including its interior) is erased.

Exqample

open window 200,200
fill circle 100,100,50
clear fill rectangle 10,10,90,90

This opens a window and draws a pacman-like figure.

See also

clear
circle
rectangle

for

Name

for	starts a for-loop

Synopsis

for a=1 to 100 step 2
...
next a

Description

The for-loop lets its numerical variable (a in the synopsis) assume all values within the given range. The optional step-clause may specify a value (default: 1) by which the variable will be incremented (or decremented, if step is negative).

Any for-statement can be replaced by a set of ifs and gotos; as you may infer from the example below this is normally not feasable. However if you want to know in detail how the for-statement works, you should study this example, which presents a for-statement and an exactly equivilant series of ifs and gotos.

Example

for a=1 to 10 step 2:print a:next

a=1
label check
if (a>10) goto done
print a
a=a+2
goto check
label done

This example simply prints the numbers 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9. It does this twice: First with a simple for-statment and then with ifs and gotos.

See also

step
next

frac()

Name

frac()

return the fractional part of its numeric argument

Synopsis

x=frac(y)

Description

The frac-function takes its argument, removes all the digits to the left of the comma and just returns the digits right of the comma, i.e. the fractional part.

Refer to the example to learn how to rewrite frac by employing the int-function.

Example

for a=1 to 10
print frac(sqr(a))
print sqr(a)-int(sqr(a))
next a

The example prints the fractional part of the square root of the numbers between 1 and 10. Each result is computed (and printed) twice: Once by employing the frac-function and once by employing the int-function.

See also

int

Back to Chapter 6

G

Table of Contents

getbit&()	return a string representing the bit pattern of a rectangle within the graphic window
getscreen&()	returns a string representing a rectangular section of the text terminal
glob()	check if a string matches a simple pattern
gosub	continue execution at another point within your program (and return later)
goto	continue execution at another point within your program (and never come back)

getbit$()

Name

frac()

return the fractional part of its numeric argument

Synopsis

a$=getbit$(10,10,20,20)
a$=getbit$(10,10 to 20,20)

Description

The function getbit returns a string, which contains the encoded bit-pattern of a rectangle within graphic window; the four arguments represent the borders of the rectangle. The string returned might later be fed to the putbit-command.<

The getbit$-function might be used for simple animations (as in the example below).

Example

open window 40,40
fill circle 20,20,18
circle$=getbit$(0,0,40,40)
close window

open window 200,200
for x=1 to 200
putbit circle$,x,80
next x

This example features a circle moving from left to right over the window.

See also

putbit

getscreen$()

Name

getscreen$()

returns a string representing a rectangular section of the text terminal

Synopsis

a$=getscreen$(2,2,20,20)

Description

The getscreen$ function returns a string representing the area of the screen as specified by its four arguments (which specify two corners). I.e. everything you have printed within this rectangle will be encoded in the string returned (including any colour-information).

Like most other commands dealing with advanced text output, getscreen$ requires, that you have called clear screen before.

Example

clear screen

for a=1 to 1000:
      print color("red") "1";
     print color("green") "2";
     print color("blue") "3";
next a
screen$=getscreen$(10,10,40,10)
print at(10,10) " Please Press 'y' or 'n' ! "
a$=inkey$
putscreen screen$,10,10

This program fills the screen with coloured digits and afterwards asks the user for a choice ( Please press 'y' or 'n' ! ). Afterwards the area of the screen, which has been overwritten by the question will be restored with its previous contents, whhch had been saved via getscreen$.

See also

putscreen

glob()

Name

glob()

check if a string matches a simple pattern

Synopsis

if (glob(string$,pattern$)) ...

Description

The glob-function takes two arguments, a string and a (glob-) pattern, and checks if the string matches the pattern. However glob does not employ the powerful rules of regular expressions; rather it has only two special characters: * (which matches any number (even zero) of characters) and ? (which matches exactly a single character).

Example

for a=1 to 10
     read string$,pattern$
     if (glob(string$,pattern$)) then
          print string$," matches ",pattern$
     else
          print string$," does not match ",pattern$
     endif
next a

data "abc","a*"
data "abc","a?"
data "abc","a??"
data "abc","*b*"
data "abc","*"
data "abc","???"
data "abc","?"
data "abc","*c"
data "abc","A*"
data "abc","????"

This program checks the string abc against various patterns and prints the result. The output is:

abc matches a*
abc does not match a?
abc matches a??
abc matches *b*
abc matches *
abc matches ???
abc does not match ?
abc matches *c
abc does not match A*
abc does not match ????

See also

There are no related commands.

gosub

Name

gosub

continue execution at another point within your program (and return later)

Synopsis

gosub foo

...

label foo
...
return

Description

gosub remembers the current position within your program and then passes the flow of execution to another point (which is normally marked with a label). Later, when a return-statement is encountered, the execution is resumed at the previous location.

gosub is the traditional command for calling code, which needs to be executed from various places within your program. However, with subroutines yabasic offers a much more flexible way to achieve this (and more). Therefore gosub must to be considered obsolete.

Example

print "Do you want to exit ? "
gosub ask
if (r$="y") exit

label ask
input "Please answer yes or no, by typing 'y' or 'n': ",r$
return

See also

return
goto
sub
label
on gosub

goto

Name

goto	continue execution at another point within your program (and never come back)

Synopsis

goto foo

...

label foo

Description

The goto-statement passes the flow of execution to another point within your program (which is normally marked with a label).

goto is normally considered obsolete and harmful, however in yabasic it may be put to the good use of leaving loops (e.g. while or for) prematurely. Note however, that subroutines may not be left with the goto -statement.

Example

print "Please press any key to continue."
print "(program will continue by itself within 10 seconds)"
for a=1 to 10
if (inkey$(1)<>"") then goto done
next a
label done
print "Hello World !"

Here the goto-statment is used to leave the for-loop prematurely.

See also

gosub
on gosub

back to Table of Contents

H

Table of Contents

hex&()

convert a number into hexadecimal

hex$()

Name

hex$()

convert a number into hexadecimal

Synopsis

print hex$(foo)

Description

The hex$-function converts a number into a string with its hexadecimal representation. hex$ is the inverse of the dec-function.

Example

open 1,"foo"
while(!eof(1))
     print right$("0"+hex$(peek(1)),2)," ";
     i=i+1
     if (mod(i,10)=0) print
end while
print

This program reads the file foo and prints its output as a hex-dump using the hex-function.

See also

decbin

Back to Chapter 6

I

Table of Contents

if	evaluate a condition and execute statements or not, depending on the result
import	import a library
inkey$	wait, until a key is pressed
input	read input from the user (or from a file) and assign it to a variable
instr()	searches its second argument within the first; returns its position if found
int()	return the integer part of its single numeric argument

if

Name

if	evaluate a condition and execute statements or not, depending on the result

Synopsis

print hex$(foo)

Description

if (...) then
     ...
endif

if (...) ...

if (...) then
     ...
else
     ...
endif

if (...) then
     ...
elsif (...)
     ...
elsif (...) then
     ...
else
     ...
endif

Description

The if-statement is used to evaluate a conditions and take actions accordingly. (As an aside, please note that there is no real difference between conditions and expressions.)

There are two major forms of the if-statement:

The one-line-form without the keyword then:

if (...) ...

This form evaluates the condition and if the result is true executes all commands (seperated by colons) upt to the end of the line. There is neither an endif keyword nor an else-branch.
The multi-line-form with the keyword then:

if (...) then ... elsif (...) ... else ... endif

(where elsif and else are optional, whereas endif is not.

According to the requirements of your program, you may specify:
- elsif(…), which specifies a condition, that will be evaluated only if the condition(s) whithin if or any preceeding elsif did not match.
- else, which introduces a sequence of commands, that will be executed, if none of the conditions above did match.
- endif is required and ends the if-statement.

Example

input "Please enter a number between 1 and 4: " a
if (a<=1 or a>=4) error "Wrong, wrong !"
if (a=1) then
     print "one"
elsif (a=2)
     print "two"
elsif (a=3)
     print "three"
else
     print "four"
endif

The input-number between 1 and 4 is simply echoed as text (one, two, ...). The example demonstrates both forms (short and long) of the if-statement (Note however, that the same thing can be done, probably somewhat more elegant, with the switch-statement).

See also

else
elsif
endif
conditions and expressions

import

Name

import

import a library

Synopsis

import foo

Description

The import-statment imports a library. It expects a single argument, which must be the name of a library (without the trailing .yab). This library will then be read and parsed and its subroutines (and variables) will be made available within the main program.

Libraries will first be searched within the current directory (i.e. the directory within which you have invoked yabasic), then within a special directory, whose exact location depends on your system. Typical values would be /usr/lib under Unix or C:\yabasic\lib under Windows. However only yabasic -help-usage may tell the truth. The location of this second directory may be changed with the option -library (either under Windows or Unix).

Example

Lets say you have a yabasic-program foo.yab, which imports a library lib.yab. foo.yab reads:

import lib

rem This works ...
lib.x(0)

rem This works too ..
x(1)

rem And this.
lib.y(2)

rem But this not !
y(3)

Now the library lib.yab reads:

rem Make the subroutine x easily available outside this library
export sub x(a)
     print a
     return
end sub

rem sub y must be referenced by its full name
rem outside this library
sub y(a)
     print a
     return
end sub

This program produces an error:

0
1
2
---Error in foo.yab, line 13: can't find subroutine 'y'
---Dump: sub y() called in foo.yab,13
---Error: Program stopped due to an error

As you may see from the error message, yabasic is unable to find the subroutine y without specifying the name of the library (i.e. lib.y). The reason for this is, that y, other than x, is not exported from the library lib.yab (using the export-statement).

See also

export
sub

inkey$

Name

inkey$

wait, until a key is pressed

Synopsis

clear screen
foo$=inkey$
inkey$
foo$=inkey$(bar)
inkey$(bar)

Description

The inkeys$-function waits, until the user presses a key on the keyboard or a button of his mouse, and returns this very key. An optional argument specifies the number of seconds to wait; if omitted, inkey$ will wait indefinitely.

inkey$ may only be used, if clear screen has been called at least once.

For normal keys, yabasic simply returns the key, e.g. a, 1 or !. For function keys you will get f1, f2 and so on. Other special keys will return these strings respectively: enter, backspace, del, esc, scrnup (for screen up), scrndown and . Modifier keys (e.g. ctrl, alt or shift) by themself can not be detected (however, if you press shift and e.g. a simultaniously, inkey$ will return the letter A instead of a of course).

If a graphical window has been opened (via open window) any mouseclick within this window will be returned by inkey$ too. The string returned (e.g. MB1d+0:0028,0061, MB2u+0:0028,0061 or MB1d+1:0028,0061) is constructed as follows:

Every string associated with a mouseclick will start with the fixed string MB
The next digit (1, 2 or 3) specifies the mousebutton pressed.
A single letter, a or u, specifies, if the mousebutton has been pressed or released: d stands for down, i.e. the mousebutton has been pressed; u means up, i.e. the mousebutton has been released.
The plus-sign ('+'), which follows is always fixed.
The next digit (in the range 0 to 7) encodes the modifier keys pressed, where 1 stands for shift, 2 stands for alt and 4 stands for ctrl.
The next four digits (e.g. 0028) contain the x-position, where the mousebutton has been pressed.
The comma to follow is always fixed.
The last four digits (e.g. 0061) contain the y-position, where the mousebutton has been pressed.

All those fields are of fixed length, so you may use functions like mid$ to extract certain fields. However, note that with mousex, mousey, mouseb and mousemod there are specialized functions to return detailed information about the mouseclick. Finally it should be noted, that inkey$ will only register mouseclicks within the graphic-window; mouseclicks in the text-window cannot be detected.

inkey$ accepts an optional argument, specifying a timeout in seconds; if no key has been pressed within this span of time, an empty string is returned. If the timeout-argument is omitted, inkey$ will wait for ever.

Example

clear screen
open window 100,100
print "Press any key or press 'q' to stop."
repeat
a$=inkey$
print a$
until(a$="q")

This program simply returns the key pressed. You may use it, to learn, which strings are returned for the special keys on your keyboard (e.g. function-keys).

See also

clear screen
mousex
mousey
mouseb"
mousemod

input

Name

input

read input from the user (or from a file) and assign it to a variable

Synopsis

input a
input a,b,c
input a$
input "Hello" a
input #1 a$

Description

input reads the new contents of one or many (numeric- or string-) variables, either from the keyboard (i.e. from you) or from a file. An optional first string-argument specifies a prompt, which will be issued before reading any contents.

If you want to read from an open file, you need to specify a hash ('#'), followed by the number, under which the file has been opened.

Note, that the input is split at spaces, i.e. if you enter a whole line consisting of many space-seperated word, the first input-statement will only return the first word; the other words will only be returned on subsequent calls to input; the same applies, if a single input reads multiple variables: The first variable gets only the first word, the second one the second word, and so on. If you don't like this behaviour, you may use line input, which returns a whole line (including embedded spaces) at once.

Example

input "Please enter the name of a file to read: " a$
open 1,a$
while(!eof(1))
input #1 b$
print b$
wend

If this program is stored within a file test.yab and you enter this name when prompted for a file to read, you will see this output:

Please enter the name of a file to read: t.yab
input
"Please
enter
the
name
of
a
file
to
read:
"
a$
open
1,a$
while(!eof(1))
input
#1
b$
print
b$
wend

See also

line input

instr()

Name

instr()

searches its second argument within the first; returns its position if found

Synopsis

print instr(a$,b$)
if (instr(a$,b$)) ...
pos=instr(a$,b$,x)

Description

The instr-functions requires two string arguments and searches the second argument within the first. If the second argument can be found within the first, the position is returned (counting from one). If it can not be found, the instr-function returns 0; this makes this function usable within the condition of an if-statement (see the example below).

If you supply a third, numeric argument to the instr-function, it will be used as a starting point for the search. Therefore instr("abcdeabcdeabcde","e",8) will return 10, because the search for an "e" starts at position 8 and finds the "e" at position 10 (and not the one at position 5).

Example

input "Please enter a text containing the string 'bumf': " a$
if (instr(a$,"bumf")) then
print "Well done !"
else
print "not so well ..."
endif

See also

rinstr

int()

Name

int()

return the integer part of its single numeric argument

Synopsis

print int(a)

Description

The int-function returns only the digits before the comma; int(2.5) returns 2 and int(-2.3) returns -2.

Example

input "Please enter a whole number between 1 and 10: " a
if (a=int(a) and a>=1 and a<=10) then
print "Thanx !"
else
print "Never mind ..."
endif

L

Table of Contents

label	mark a specific location within your program for goto, gosub or restore
left$()	return (or change) left end of a string
len()	return the length of a string
line	draw a line
line input	read in a whole line of text and assign it to a variable
local	mark a variable as local to a subroutine
log()	compute the natural logarithm
loop	marks the end of an infinite loop
lower$()	convert a string to lower case
ltrim$()	trim spaces at the left end of a string

label

Name

label

mark a specific location within your program for goto, gosub or restore

Synopsis

label foo

...

goto foo

Description

The label-command can be used to give a name to a specific location within your program. Such a position might be referred from one of three commands: goto, gosub and restore.

You may use labels safely within libraries, because a label (e.g. foo) does not collide with a label with the same name within the main program or within another library; yabasic will not mix them up.

As an aside, please note, that line numbers are a special (however deprecated) case of labels; see the second example below.

Example

for a=1 to 100
if (rand(10)>5) goto done
next a
label done

10 for a=1 to 100
20 if (rand(10)>5) goto 40
30 next a
40

Within this example, the for-loop will probably be left prematurely with a goto-statement. This task is done twice: First with labels and then again with line numbers.

See also

gosub
goto

left$()

Name

left$()

return (or change) left end of a string

Synopsis

print left$(a$,2)
left$(b$,3)="foobar"

Description

The left$-function accepts two arguments (a string and a number) and returns the part from the left end of the string, whose length is specified by its second argument. Loosely spoken, it simply returns the requested number of chars from the left end of the given string.

Note, that the left$-function can be assigned to, i.e. it may appear on the left hand side of an assignment. In this way it is possible to change a part of the variable used within the left$-function. Note, that that way the length of the string cannot be changed, i.e. characters might be overwritten, but not added. For an example see below.

Example

input "Please answer yes or no: " a$
l=len(a$):a$=lower$(a$):print "Your answer is ";
if (left$("yes",l)=a$ and l>=1) then
     print "yes"
elsif (left$("no",l)=a$ and l>=1) then
     print "no"
else
     print "?"
endif

This example asks a simple yes/no question and goes some way to accept even incomplete input, while still beeing able to reject invalid input.

This second example demonstrates the capability to assign to the left$-function.

a$="Heiho World !"
print a$
left$(a$,5)="Hello"
print a$

See also

right$
mid$

len()

Name

len()

return the length of a string

Synopsis

x=len(a$)

Description

The len-function returns the length of its single string argument.

Example

input "Please enter a password: " a$
if (len(a$)<6) error "Password too short !"

This example checks the length of the password, that the user has entered.

See also

left$
right$
mid$

line

Name

line	draw a line

Synopsis

open window 100,100
line 0,0,100,100
line 0,0 to 100,100
new curve
line 100,100
line to 100,100

open window 100,100
clear line 0,0,100,100
clear line 0,0 to 100,100
new curve
clear line 100,100
clear line to 100,100

Description

The line-command draws a line. Simple as this is, the line-command has a large variety of forms as they are listed in the synopsis above. Lets look at them a little closer:

A line has a starting and an end point; therefore the line-command (normally) needs four numbers as arguments, representing these two points. This is the first form appearing within the synopsis.
You may seperate the two points with either ',' or to, which accounts for the second form of the line-command.
The line-command may be used to draw a connected sequence of lines with a sequence of commands like line x,y; Each command will draw a line from the point where the last line-command left off, to the point specified in the arguments.

Note, that you need to use the command new curve before you may issue such a line-command. See the example below.
You may insert the word to for beauty: line to x,y, which does exactly the same as line x,y
Finally, you may choose not to draw, but to erase the lines; this can be done by prepending the phrase clear. This account for all the other forms of the line-command.

Example

open window 200,200
line 10,10 to 10,190
line 10,190 to 190,190
new curve
for a=0 to 360
line to 10+a*180/360,100+60*sin(a*pi/180)
next a

This example draws a sine-curve (with an offset in x- and y-direction).

Note, that the first line-command after new curve does not draw anything. Only the coordinates will be stored.

The second iteration of the loop then uses these coordinates as a starting point for the first line.

See also

new curve
close curve
open window

line input

Name

line input

read in a whole line of text and assign it to a variable

Synopsis

line input a
line input a$
line input "Hello" a
line input #1 a$

Description

In most respects line input is like the input -command: It reads the new contents of a variable, either from keyboard or from a file. However, line input always reads a complete line and assigns it to its variable. line input does not stop reading at spaces and is therefore the best way to read in a string which might contain whitespace.

Note, that the final newline is stripped of.

Example

line input "Please enter your name (e.g. Frodo Beutelin): " a$
print "Hello ",a$

Note that the usage of line input is essential in this example; a simple input-statement would only return the string up to the first space, e.g. Frodo.

See also

input

local

Name

local

mark a variable as local to a subroutine

Synopsis

sub foo()
local a,b,c$,d(10),e$(5,5)
...
end sub

Description

The local-command can (and should be) used to mark a variable (or array) as local to the containing subroutine. This means, that a local variable in your subroutine is totally different from a variable with the same name within your main program. Variables which are known everywhere within your program are called global in contrast.

Declaring variables within the subroutine as local helps to avoid hard to find bugs; therefore local variables should be used whenever possible.

Note, that the parameters of your subroutines are always local.

As you may see from the example, local arrays may be created without using the keyword dim (which is required only for global arrays).

Example

a=1
b=1
print a,b
foo()
print a,b

sub foo()
     local a
     a=2
     b=2
end sub

This example demonstrates the difference between local and global variables; it produces this output:

1 1
1 2

As you may see, the content of the global variable a is unchanged after the subroutine foo; this is because the assignment a=2 within the subroutine affects the local variable a only and not the global one. However, the variable b is never declared local and therefore the subroutine changes the global variable, which is reflected in the output of the second print-statement.

See also

sub
static
dim

log()

Name

log()

compute the natural logarithm

Synopsis

a=log(x)
a=log(x,base)

Description

The log-function computes the logarithm of its first argument. The optional second argument gives the base for the logarithm; if this second argument is omitted, the euler-constant 2.71828... will be taken as the base.

Example

open window 200,200
for x=10 to 190 step 10:for y=10 to 190 step 10
     r=3*log(1+x,1+y)
     if (r>10) r=10
     if (r<1) r=1
     fill circle x,y,r
next y:next x

This draws another nice plot.

See also

exp

loop

Name

loop	marks the end of an infinite loop

Synopsis

do
...
loop

Description

The loop-command marks the ends of a loop (which is started by do), wherein all statements within the loop are repeated forever. In this respect the do loop-loop is infinite, however, you may leave it anytime via break or goto.

Example

print "Hello, I will throw dice, until I get a 2 ..."
do
     r=int(rand(6))+1
     print r
     if (r=2) break
loop

See also

do
for
repeat
while
break

lower$()

Name

lower$()

convert a string to lower case

Synopsis

l$=lower$(a$)

Description

The lower$-function accepts a single string-argument and converts it to all lower case.

Example

Name

min()

return the smaller of its two arguments

Synopsis

print min(a,b)

Description

Return the minimum of its two argument.

Example

dim m(10)
for a=1 to 1000
     m=min(ran(10),ran(10))
     m(m)=m(m)+1
next a

for a=1 to 9
     print a,": ",m(a)
next a

Table of Contents

new curve	start a new curve, that will be drawn with the line-command
next	mark the end of a for loop
not	negate an expression; can be written as !
numparams	return the number of parameters, that have been passed to a subroutine

new curve

Name

new curve

start a new curve, that will be drawn with the line-command

Synopsis

new curve
line to x,y

Description

The new curve-function starts a new sequence of lines, that will be drawn by repeated line to-commands.

Example

open window 200,200
ellipse(100,50,30,60)
ellipse(150,100,60,30)
sub ellipse(x,y,xr,yr)
    new curve
    for a=0 to 2*pi step 0.2
        line to x+xr*cos(a),y+yr*sin(a)
    next a
    close curve
end sub

This example defines a subroutine ellipse that draws an ellipse. Within this subroutine, the ellipse is drawn as a sequence of lines started with the new curve command and closed with close curve.

See also

line
close curve

Name

next	mark the end of a for loop

Synopsis

for a=1 to 10
next a

Description

The next-keyword marks the end of a for-loop. All statements up to the next-keyword will be repeated as specified with the for-clause.

Note, that the name of the variable is optional; so instead of next a you may write next.

Example

for a=1 to 300000
    for b=1 to 21+20*sin(pi*a/20)
        print "*";
    next b
    print
    sleep 0.1
next a

This example simply plots a sine-curve until you fall asleep..

See also

for

not

Name

not	negate an expression; can be written as !

Synopsis

if (not a<b) then ...
bad=!okay

Description

The keyword not (or ! for short) is mostly used within conditions (e.g. within if- or while-statements). There it is employed to negate the condition or expression (i.e. turn TRUE into FALSE and vice versa)

However not can be used within arithmetic calculations too., simply because there is no difference between arithmetic and logical expressions.

Example

input "Please enter three ascending numbers: " a,b,c
if (not (a

This example simply plots a sine-curve until you fall asleep..

See also

and

or

numparams

Name

numparams

return the number of parameters, that have been passed to a subroutine

Synopsis

sub foo(a,b,c)
if (numparams=1) ...
...
end sub

Description

Within a subroutine the local variable numparam or numparams contains the number of parameters, that have been passed to the subroutine. This information can be useful, because the subroutine may have been called with fewer parameters than actually declared. The number of values that actually have been passed while calling the subroutine, can be found in numparams.

Note, that arguments which are used in the definition of a subroutine but are left out during a call to it (thereby reducing the value of numparams) receive a value of 0 or "" (empty string) respectively.

Example

a$="123456789"
print part$(a$,4)
print part$(a$,3,7)

sub part$(a$,f,t)
    if (numparams=2) then
        return mid$(a$,f)
    else
        return mid$(a$,f,t-f+1)
    end if
end sub

When you run this example, it will print 456789 and 34567. Take a look at the subroutine part$, which returns part of the string which has been passed as an argument. If (besides the string) two numbers are passed, they define the starting and end position of the substring, that will be returned. However, if only one number is passed, the rest of the string, starting from this position will be returned. Each of these cases is recognized with the help of the numparams variable.

See also

sub

O

Table of Contents

new curve	start a new curve, that will be drawn with the line-command
next	mark the end of a for loop
not	negate an expression; can be written as !
numparams	return the number of parameters, that have been passed to a subroutine

new curve

Name

new curve

start a new curve, that will be drawn with the line-command

Synopsis

new curve
line to x,y

Description

The new curve-function starts a new sequence of lines, that will be drawn by repeated line to-commands.

Example

O

Table of Contents

on gosub	jump to one of multiple gosub-targets
on goto	jump to one of many goto-targets
on interrupt	change reaction on keyboard interrupts
open	open a file
open printer	open printer for printing graphics
open window	open a graphic window
logical or	logical or, used in conditions
or()	arithmetic or, used for bit-operations

on gosub

Name

on gosub

jump to one of multiple gosub-targets

Synopsis

on a gosub foo,bar,baz
    ... label foo
    ...
return

label bar
    ...
return

label baz
    ...
return

Description

The on gosub statement uses its numeric argument (the one between on and gosub) to select an element from the list of labels, which follows after the gosub-keyword: If the number is 1, the program does a gosub to the first label; if the number is 2, to the second and, so on. if the number is zero or less, the program continues at the position of the first label; if the number is larger than the total count of labels, the execution continues at the position of the last label; i.e. the first and last label in the list constitute some kind of fallback-slot.

Example

do
    print "Please enter a number between 1 and 3: "
    print
    input "Your choice " a
    on a gosub bad,one,two,three,bad
loop

label bad
    print "No. Please between 1 and 3"
return

label one
    print "one"
return

label two
    print "two"
return

label three
    print "three"
return

Note, how invalid input (a number less than 1, or larger than 3) is automatically detected.

See also

goto
on goto

on goto

Name

on goto

jump to one of many goto-targets

Synopsis

on a goto foo,bar,baz
    ... label foo
    ...
return

label bar
    ...
return

label baz
    ...
return

Description

The on goto statement uses its numeric argument (the one between on and goto to select an element from the list of labels, which follows after the goto-keyword: If the number is 1, the execution continues at the first label; if the number is 2, at the second, and so on. if the number is zero or less, the program continues at the position of the first label; if the number is larger than the total count of labels, the execution continues at the position of the last label; i.e. the first and last label in the list constitute some kind of fallback-slot.

Example

label over
    print "Please Select one of these choices: "
    print
    print " 1 -- show time"
    print " 2 -- show date"
    print " 3 -- exit"
print
input "Your choice " a
on a goto over,show_time,show_date,terminate,over

label show_time
    print time$()
goto over

label show_date
    print date$()
goto over

label terminate
exit

Note, how invalid input (a number less than 1, or larger than 3) is automatically detected; in such a case the question is simply issued again.

See also

goto
on gosub

on interrupt

Name

on interrupt

change reaction on keyboard interrupts

Synopsis

on interrupt break
...
on interrupt continue

Description

With the on interrupt-command you may change the way, how yabasic reacts on a keyboard interrupt; it comes in two variants: on interrupt break and on interrupt continue. A keyboard interrupt is produced, if you press ctrl-C on your keyboard; normally (and certainly after you have called on interrupt break), yabasic will terminate with an error message. However after the command on interrupt continue yabasic ignores any keyboard interrupt. This may be useful, if you do not want your program beeing interruptible during certain critical operations (e.g. updating of files).

Example

print "Please stand by while writing a file with random data ..."
on interrupt continue
open "random.data" for writing as #1
for a=1 to 100
    print #1 ran(100)
    print a," percent done."
    sleep 1
next a
close #1
on interrupt continue

This program writes a file with 100 random numbers. The on interrupt continue command insures, that the program will not be terminated on a keyboard interrupt and the file will be written entirely in any case. The sleep-command just stretches the process arificially to give you a chance to try a ctrl-C.

See also

There is no related command.

open

Name

open	open a file

Synopsis

open a,"file","r"
open #a,"file","w"
open #a,printer
open "file" for reading as a
open "file" for writing as #a
a=open("file")
a=open("file","r")
if (open(a,"file")) ...
if (open(a,"file","w")) ...

Description

The open-command opens a file for reading or writing or a printer for printing text. open comes in a wide variety of ways; it requires these arguments:

filenumber

In the synopsis this is

. In yabasic each file is associated with a number between 1 and a maximum value, which depends on the operating system. For historical reasons the filenumber can be preceded by a hash ('

').

Note, that specifying a filenumber is optional; if it is omitted, the open-function will return a filenumber, which should then be stored in a variable for later reference. This filenumber can be a simple number or an arbitrary complex arithmetic expression, in which case braces might be necessary to save yabasic from getting confused.

filename

In the synopsis above this is "

file

". This string specifies the name of the file to open (note the important

caveat

on specifying these filenames).

accessmode

In the synopsis this is "

", "

", for reading or for writing. This string or clause specifies the mode in which the file is opened; it may be one of:

"r"

Open the file

for reading

(may also be written as for reading). If the file does not exist, the command will fail. This mode is the default, i.e. if no mode is specified with the

open

-command, the file will be opened with this mode.

"w"

Open the file

for writing

(may also be written as for writing). If the file does not exist, it will be created.

"a"

Open the file for appending, i.e. what you write to the file will be appended after its initial contents. If the file does not exist, it will be created.

"b"

This letter may not appear alone, but may be combined with the other letters (e.g. "

") to open a file in binary mode (as opposed to text mode).

As you may see from the synopsis, the open-command may either be called as a command (without braces) or as a function (with braces). If called as a function, it will return the filenumber or zero if the operation fails. Therefore the open-function may be used within the condition of an if-statement.

If the open-command fails, you may use peek("error") to retrieve the exact nature of the error.

Furthermore note, that there is another, somewhat separate usage of the open-command; if you specify the bareword printer instead of a filename, the command opens a printer for printing text. Every text (and only text) you print to this file will appear on your printer.

Note, that this is very different from printing graphics, as can be done with open Printer.

Finally you may read the description for peek("error") to learn which errors may have happened during an open-call.

Example

open "foo.bar" for writing as #1
print #1 "Hallo !"
close #1
if (not open(1,"foo.bar")) error "Could not open 'foo.bar' for reading"
while(not eof(1))
line input #1 a$
print a$
wend

This example simply opens the file foo.bar, writes a single line, reopens it and reads its contents again.

See also

close
print
peek
peek("error")
open printer

open printer

Name

open printer

open printer for printing graphics

Synopsis

open printer
open printer "file"...

Description

The open printer-command opens a printer for printing graphics. The command requires, that a graphic window has been opened before. Everything that is drawn into this window will then be sent to the printer too.

A new piece of paper may be started with the clear window-command; the final (or only) page will appear after the close printer-command.

Note, that you may specify a filename with open printer; in that case the printout will be sent to a filename instead to a printer. Your program or the user will be responsible for sending this file to the printer afterwards.

If you use yabasic under Unix, you will need a postscript printer (because yabasic produces postscript output). Alternatively you may use ghostscript to transfrom the postscript file into a form suitable for your printer; but that is beyond the responsibility of yabasic.

Example

open window 200,200
open printer
line 0,0 to 200,200
text 100,100,"Hallo"
close window
close printer

This example will open a window, draw a line and print some text within; everything will appear on your printer too.

See also

close printer

open window

Name

open window

open a graphic window

Synopsis

open window x,y
open window x,y,"font"

Description

The open window-command opens a window of the specified size. Only one window can be opened at any given moment of time.

An optional third argument specifies a font to be used for any text within the window.

Please note, that if you open a window several times with varying font-arguments, only the first one will take effect, all others will be ignored; that means that you may onle use a single font for all windows in your program.

Example

for a=200 to 400 step 10
    open window a,a
    for b=0 to a
        line 0,b to a,b
        line b,0 to b,a
        sleep 0.1
    close window
next a

See also

close window
text

logical or

Name

or	logical or, used in conditions

Synopsis

if (a or b) ...
while (a or b) ...

Description

Used in conditions (e.g within if or while) to join two expressions. Returns true, if either its left or its right or both arguments are true; returns false otherwise.

Example

input "Please enter a number"
if (a>9 or a<1) print "a is not between 1 and 9"

See also

and
not

or()

Name

or()	arithmetic or, used for bit-operations

Synopsis

x=or(a,b)

Description

Used to compute the bitwise or of both its argument. Both arguments are treated as binary numbers (i.e. a series of 0 and 1); a bit of the resulting value will then be 1, if any of its arguments has 1 at this position in their binary representation.

Note, that both arguments are silently converted to integer values and that negative numbers have their own binary representation and may lead to unexpected results when passed to or.

Example

print or(14,3)

See also

and
eor
not

Back to Chapter 6

O

Table of Contents

pause	pause, sleep, wait for the specified number of seconds
peek	retrieve various internal informations
peek$	retrieve various internal string-informations
pi	a constant with the value 3.14159
poke	change selected internals of yabasic
print	Write to terminal or file
putbit	draw a rectangle of pixels into the graphic window
putscreen	draw a rectangle of characters into the text terminal

pause

Name

pause

pause, sleep, wait for the specified number of seconds

Synopsis

pause 5

Description

The pause-command has many different names: You may write pause, sleep or wait interchangable; whatever you write, yabasic will always do exactly the same.

The pause-command will simply wait for the specified number of seconds. This may be a fractional number, so you may well wait less than a second. However, if you try to pause for a smaller and smaller interval (e.g. 0.1 seconds, 0.01 seconds, 0.001 seconds and so on) you will find that at some point yabasic will not wait at all. The minimal interval that can be waited depends on the system (Unix, Windows) you are using.

The pause-command cannot be interrupted. However, sometimes you may want the wait to be interuptible by simply pressing a key on the keyboard. In such cases you should consider using the inkey$-function, with a number of seconds as an argument).

Example

deg=0
do
    maxx=44+40*sin(deg)
    for x=1 to maxx
        print "*";
    next x
    pause 0.1+(maxx*maxx/(4*84*84))
    print
    deg=deg+0.1
loop

This example draws a sine-curve; due to the pause-statement the speed of drawing varies in the same way as the speed of a ball might vary, if it would roll along this curve under the influence of gravity.

See also

sleep
wait

peek

Name

peek	retrieve various internal informations

Synopsis

print peek("foo")
a=peek(#1)

Description

The peek-function has many different and mostly unrelated uses. It is a kind of grabbag for retrieving all kinds of numerical information, internal to yabasic. The meaning of the numbers returned be the peek-function depends on the string or number passed as an argument.

peek always returns a number, however the closely related peek$-function exists, which may be used to retrieve string information from among the internals of yabasic.

Finally note, that some of the values which are retrieved with peek may even be changed, using the poke-function.

There are two variants of the peek-function: One expects an integer, positive number and is described within the first entry of the list below. The other variant expects one of a well defined set of strings as described in the second and all the following entries of the list below.

peek(a), peek(#a)

Read a single character from the file a (which must be open of course).

peek("winheight")

Return the height of the graphic-window in pixels. If none is open, this

peek

will return the height of the last window opened or 100, if none has been opened yet.

peek("winwidth")

Return the width of the graphic-window in pixels. If none is open, this peek will return the width of the last window opened or 100, if none has been opened yet.

peek("fontheight")

Return the height of the font used within the graphic window. If none is open, this

peek

will return the height of the last font used or 10, if no window has been opened yet.

peek("screenheight")

Return the height in characters of the window, wherein yabasic runs. If you have not called

clear screen

yet, this peekwill return 0, regardless of the size of your terminal.

peek("screenwidth")

Return the width in characters of the window, wherein yabasic runs. If you have not called

clear screen

yet, this peekwill return 0, regardless of the size of your terminal.

peek("argument")

Return the number of arguments, that have been passed to yabasic at invocation time. E.g. if yabasic has been called like this:

yabasic foo.yab bar baz

, then

peek("argument")

will return 2. This is because

foo.yab

is treated as the name of the program to run, whereas

bar

and

baz

are considered arguments to the program, which are passed on the commandline.

Note, that for windows-users, who tend to click on the icon (as opposed to starting yabasic on the command line), this peekwill mostly return 0.

The function

peek("argument")

can be written as

peek("arguments")

too.

You will want to check out the corresponding function

peek$("argument")

to actually retrieve the arguments.

Note, that each call to peek$("argument") reduces the number returned by peek("argument").

peek("isbound")

Return

true

, if the executing yabasic-program is part of a standalone program; see the section about

creating a standalone-program

for details.

peek("version")

Return the version number of yabasic (e.g. 2.72).

peek("error")

Return a number specifying the nature of the last error in an

open

- or

seek

-statement. Normally an error within an

open

-statement immediately terminates your program with an appropriate

error

-message, so there is no chance and no need to learn more about the nature of the error. However, if you use

open

as a condition (e.g. if (

open

(#1,"

foo

")) ...) the outcome (success or failure) of the open-operation will determine, if the condition evaluates to

true

false

. If now such an operation fails, your program will not be terminated and you might want to learn the reason for failure. This reason will be returned by

peek("error")

(as a number) or by

peek$("error")

(as a string)

The table below shows the various error codes; the value returned by

peek$("error")

explains the nature of the error.

Note, that the codes 10,11 and 12 refer to the seek-command.

Table 6.1. Error codes

peek("error")	peek$("error")	Explanation
2	Stream already in use	Do not try to open one and the same filenumber twice; rather close it first.
3	'x' is not a valid filemode	The optional filemode argument, which may be passed to the open-function, has an invalid value
4	could not open 'foo'	The open-call did not work, no further explanation is available.
5	reached maximum number of open files	You have opened more files than your operating system permits.
6	cannot open printer: already printing graphics	The commands open printer and open #1,printer both open a printer (refer to their description for the difference). However, only one can be active at a time; if you try to do both at the same time, you will receive this error.
7	could not open line printer	Well, it simply did not work.
9	invalid stream number	An attempt to use an invalid (e.g. negative) stream number; example: open(-1,"foo")
10	could not position stream x to byte y	seek did not work.
11	stream x not open	You have tried to seek within a stream, that has not been opened yet.
12	seek mode 'x' is none of begin,end,here	The argument, which has been passed to seek is invalid.

Example

open "foo" for reading as #1
open "bar" for writing as #2
while(not eof(#1))
poke #2,chr$(peek(#1));
wend

This program will copy the file foo byte by byte to bar.

Note, that each peek does something entirely different, and only one has been demonstrated above. Therefore you need to make up examples yourself for all the other peeks.

See also

peek$
poke
open

peek$

Name

peek$

retrieve various internal string-informations

Synopsis

print peek$("foo")

Description

The peek$-function has many different and unrelated uses. It is a kind of grabbag for retrieving all kinds of string information, internal to yabasic; the exact nature of the strings returned be the peek$-function depends on the string passed as an argument.

peek$ always returns a string, however the closely related peek -function exists, which may be used to retrieve numerical information from among the internals of yabasic.

Finally note, that some of the values which are retrieved with peek$ may even be changed, using the poke -function.

The following list shows all possible arguments to peek$:

peek$("infolevel")

Returns either "

debug

", "

note

", "

warning

", "

error

" or "

fatal

", depending on the current infolevel. This value can be specified with an option (either under

windows

unix

) on the commandline or changed during the execution of the program with the corresponding

poke

; however, normally only the author of yabasic (me !) would want to change this from its default value "warning".

peek$("textalign")

Returns one of nine possible strings, specifying the default alignment of text within the graphics-window. The alignment-string returned by this

peek

describes, how the

text

-command aligns its string-argument with respect to the coordinates supplied. However, this value does not apply, if the

text

-command explicitly specifies an alignment. Each of these strings is two characters long. The first character specifies the horizontal alignment and can be either

, which stand for

left

right

center

. The second character specifies the vertical alignment and can be one of

, which stand for

top

bottom

center

respectively.

You may change this value with the corresponding command

poke "textalign",...;

the initial value is

, which means the top of the left and the top edge if the text will be aligned with the coordinates, that are specified within the

text

-command.

peek$("windoworigin")

This

peek

returns a two character string, which specifies the position of the

origin

of the coordinate system of the window; this string might be changed with the corresponding command

poke "windoworigin",x,y

or specified as the argument of the origin command; see there for a detailed description of the string, which might be returned by this

peek

peek$("error")

Return a string describing the nature of the last error in an

open

- or

seek

-statement. See the corresponding

peek("error")

for a detailed description.

peek$("library")

Return the name of the library, this statement is contained in. See the

import

-command for a detailed description or for more about libraries.

peek$("os")

This

peek

returns the name of the operating system, where your program executes. This can be either

windows

unix

peek$("font")

Return the name of the font, which is used for text within the graphic window; this value can be specified as the third argument to the

open window

-command.

peek$("env","NAME")

Return the environment variable specified by

NAME

(which may be any string expression). Which kind of environment variables are available on your system depends, as well as their meaning, on your system; however typing

env

on the commandline will produce a list (for Windows and Unix alike).

Note, that peek$("env",...) can be written as peek$("environment",...) too.

peek$("argument")

Return one of the arguments, that have been passed to yabasic at invocation time (the next call will return the the second argument, and so on). E.g. if yabasic has been called like this:

yabasic foo.yab bar baz

, then the first call to

peek$("argument")

will return

bar

. This is because

foo.yab

is treated as the name of the program to run, whereas

bar

and

baz

are considered arguments to this program, which are passed on the commandline. The second call to

peek$("argument")

will return

baz

Note, that for windows-users, who tend to click on the icon (as opposed to starting yabasic on the command line), this peekwill mostly return the empty string.

Note, that peek$("argument") can be written as peek$("arguments").

Finally you will want to check out the corresponding function

peek("argument")

Example

print "You have supplied these arguments: "
while(peek("argument"))
print peek("argument"),peek$("argument")
wend

If you save this program in a file foo.yab and execute it via yabasic t.yab a b c (for windows users: please use the commandline for this), your will get this output:

3a
2b
1c

See also

peek
poke
open

pi

Name

pi	a constant with the value 3.14159

Synopsis

print pi

Description

pi is 3.14159265359 (well at least for yabasic); do not try to assign to pi (e.g. pi=22/7) this would not only be mathematically dubious, but would also result in a syntax error.

Example

for a=0 to 180
print "The sine of ",a," degrees is ",sin(a*pi/180)
next a

This program uses pi to transform an angle from degrees into radians.

See also

euler

poke

Name

poke	change selected internals of yabasic

Synopsis

poke "foo","bar"
poke "foo",baz
poke #a,"bar"
poke #a,baz

Description

The poke-command may be used to change details of yabasics behaviour. Like the related function peek, poke does many different things, depending on the arguments supplied.

Here are the different things you can do with poke:

poke "textalign","cc"

This

poke

changes the

default

alignment of text with respect to the coordinates supplied within the

text

-command. However, this value does not

apply

, if the

text

-command explicitly specifies an alignment. The second argument ("

" in the example) must always be two characters long; the first character can be one of

l (left)

r (right)

c (center)

; the second character can be either

t (top)

b (bottom)

c (center)

; see the corresponding

peek$("textalign")

for a detailed description of this argument.

poke "windoworigin","lt"

This

poke

moves the origin of the coordinate system of the window to the specified position. The second argument ("

" in the example) must always be two characters long; the first character can be one of

l (left)

r (right)

c (center)

; the second character can be either

t (top)

b (bottom)

c (center)

. Together those two characters specify the new position of the

coordinate-origin

. See the corresponding

peek$("windoworigin")

for a more in depth description of this argument.

poke "infolevel","debug"

Change the amount of internal information, that yabasic outputs during execution.

The second argument can be either "

debug

", "

note

", "

warning

", "

error

" or "

fatal

". However, normally you will not want to change this from its default value "

warning

print

Name

Write to terminal or file

Synopsis

print "foo",a$,b
print "foo","a$,b;
print #a "foo",a$
print #a "foo",a$;
print foo using "##.###"
print reverse "foo"
print at(10,10) a$,b
print @(10,10) a$,b
print color("red","blue") a$,b
print color("magenta") a$,b
print color("green","yellow") at(5,5) a$,b

Description

The print-statement outputs strings or characters, either to your terminal (also known as console) or to an open file.

To understand all those uses of the print-statement, let's go throught the various lines in the synopsis above:

print "foo",a$,b

Print the string

foo

as well as the contents of the variables

and

onto the screen, silently adding a

newline

print "foo",a$,b;

Note the trailing semicolon !.

This statement does the same as the one above; only the implicit

newline

is skipped, which means that the next

print

-statement will append seamlessly.

print #a "foo",a$

This is the way to write to files. The file with the number

must be open already, an implicit

newline

is added.

Note the file-number #a, which starts with a hash ('#') amd is separated from the rest of the statement by a space only. The file-number (contained in the variable a) must have been returned by a previous open-statement (e.g. a=open("bar")).

print #a "foo",a$;

The same as above, but without the implicit

newline

print foo using "##.###"

Print the number

foo

with as many digits before and after the decimal dot as given by the number of '

'-signs. See the entries for

using

and

str$

for a detailed description of this format.

print reverse "foo"

As all the

print

-variants to follow, this form of the

print

-statement can only be issued after

clear screen

has been called. The strings and numbers after the

reverse

-clause are simply printed inverse (compared to the normal

print

-statement).

print at(10,10) a$,b

Print at the specified (

x,y

)-position. This is only allowed after

clear screen

has been called. You may want to query

peek$("screenwidth")

peek$("screenheight")

to learn the actual size of your screen. You may add a semicolon to suppress the implicit

newline

print @(10,10) a$,b

This is exactly the same as above, however, at may be written as

print color("red","blue") at(5,5) a$,b

Print with the specified fore- ("

red

") and background ("

blue

") color (or colour). The possible values are "

black

", "

white

", "

red

", "

blue

", "

green

", "

yellow

", "

cyan

" or "

magenta

". Again, you need to call

clear screen

first and add a

semicolon

if you want to suppress the implicit

newline

print color("magenta") a$,b

You may specify the foreground color only.

print color("green","yellow") a$,b

A color and a position (in this sequence, not the other way around) may be specified at once.

Example

clear screen
columns=peek("screenwidth")
lines=peek("screenheight")
dim col$(7)
    for a=0 to 7:read col$(a):next a
    data "black","white","red","blue","green","yellow","cyan","magenta"

for a=0 to 2*pi step 0.1
    print colour(col$(mod(i,8))) at(columns*(0.8*sin(a)+0.9)/2,lines*(0.8*cos(a)+0.9)/2) "*"
    i=i+1
next a

This example draws a cloured ellipse within the text window.

See also

at
color (colour)
input
clear screen
using
;

putbit

Name

putbit

draw a rectangle of pixels into the graphic window

Synopsis

open window 200,200
...
a$=getbit(20,20,50,50)
...
putbit a$,30,30
putbit a$ to 30,30
putbit a$,30,30,"or"

Description

The putbit-command is the counterpart of the ;getbit-function. putbit requires a string as returned by the getbit-function. Such a string contains a rectangle from the graphic window; the putbit-function puts such a rectangular region back into the graphic-window.

Note, that the putbit-command currently accepts a third argument. However only the string value "or" is supported here. The effect is, that only those pixel, which are set in the string will be set in the graphic window. Those pixels, which are not set in the string, will not change in the window (as opposed to beeing cleared).

Note, that the format of the string returned by this function is due to change as soon as yabasic will learn, how to deal with colors.

Example

c$="41,41:0000000000000000000000000400000000cff1000000ffff100000ffff700008fffff30008ffffff0008ffffff3008fffffff000fffffff100fffffff700ffffffff10efffffff30cfffffff70cffffffff18ffffffff30ffffffff70effffffff0cffffffff1cffffffff30ffffffff70effffffff0cffffffff18ffffffff30ffffffff70cfffffff708ffffffff00ffffffff10cfffffff100fffffff100effffff3008ffffff3000efffff30008fffff30000cffff100000ffff1000000ff700000000000000000000000000000000000"

open window 200,200
do
    x=ran(200)
    y=ran(200)
    putbit c$,x,y,"or"
loop

This program uses a precanned string (containing the image of a circle) and draws it repeatedly into the graphic-window. The mode "or" ensures, that no pixels will be cleared.

See also

getbit$
open window

putscreen

Name

putscreen

draw a rectangle of characters into the text terminal

Synopsis

clear screen
...
a$=getscreen$(5,5,10,10)
...
putscreen a$,7,7

Description

The putscreen-command is the counterpart of the getscreen$-function. putscreen requires a string as returned by the getscreen-function. Such a string contains a rectangular detail from the terminal; the putscreen-function puts such a region back into the terminal-window.

Note, that clear screen must have been called before.

Example

clear screen
for a=1 to 200
    print color("red") "Hello !";
    print color("blue") "World !";
next a
r$=getscreen$(0,0,20,20)
for x=0 to 60
    putscreen r$,x,0
    sleep 0.1
next x

This example prints the string "Hello !World !" all over the screen and then moves a rectangle from one side to the other.

See also

getscreen$
clear screen

Back to Chapter 6

R

Table of Contents

ran()	return a random number
read	read data from data-statements
rectangle	draw a rectangle
rdim	create an array prior to its first use. A synonym for dim
rem	start a comment
repeat	start a repeat-loop
restore	reposition the data-pointer
return	return from a subroutine or a gosub
reverse	print reverse (background and foreground colors exchanged)
right$()	return (or change) the right end of a string
rinstr()	find the rightmost occurence of one string within the other
rtrim$()	trim spaces at the right end of a string

ran()

Name

ran()

return a random number

Synopsis

print ran()
x=ran(y)

Description

The ran-function returns a random number. If no argument is given, the number returned is in the range from 0 to 1; where only 0 is a possible value; 1 will never be returned. If an argument is supplied, the number returned will be in the range from 0 up to this argument, whereas this argument itself is not a possible return value.

Example

clear screen
c=peek("screenwidth")-1
l=peek("screenheight")

dim col$(8)
for a=0 to 7:read col$(a):next a
data "black","white","red","blue","green","yellow","cyan","magenta"

do
    x=ran(c)
    y=l-ran(l*exp(-32*((x/c-1/2)**2)))
    i=i+1
    print color(col$(mod(i,8))) at(x,y) "*";
loop

This example will print a cloured bell-curve.

See also

int

read

Name

read	read data from data-statements

Synopsis

read a$,a
...
data "Hello !",7

Description

The read-statement retrieves literal data, which is stored within data-statements elsewhere in your program.

Example

read num
dim col$(num)
for a=1 to num:read col$(a):next a
clear screen
print "These are the colours known to yabasic:\n"
for a=1 to num
print colour(col$(a)) col$(a)
next a

data 8,"black","white","red","blue"
data "green","yellow","cyan","magenta"

This program prints the names of the colors known to yabasic in those very colors.

See also

data
restore

rectangle

Name

rectangle

draw a rectangle

Synopsis

open window 100,100
rectangle 10,10 to 90,90
rectangle 20,20,80,80
rect 20,20,80,80
box 30,30,70,70
clear rectangle 30,30,70,70
fill rectangle 40,40,60,60
clear fill rectangle 60,60,40,40

Description

The rectangle-command (also known as box or rect, for short) draws a recatangle; it accepts four parameters: The x- and y-coordinates of two facing cornerpoints of the rectangle. With the optional clauses clear and fill (which may appear both and in any sequence) the rectangle can be cleared and filled respectively.

Example

open window 200,200
c=1
do
    for phi=0 to pi step 0.1
        if (c) then
            rectangle 100+100*sin(phi),100+100*cos(phi) to 100-100*sin(phi),100-100*cos(phi)
        else
            clear rectangle 100+100*sin(phi),100+100*cos(phi) to 100-100*sin(phi),100-100*cos(phi)
        endif
        sleep 0.1
    next phi
    c=not c
loop

This example draws a nice animated pattern; watch it for a couple of hours, to see how it develops.

See also

open window
open printer
line
circle

redim

Name

redim

create an array prior to its first use. A synonym for dim

Synopsis

See the dim-command.

Description

The redim-command does exactly the same as the dim-command; it is just a synonym. redim has been around in older versions of basic (not even yabasic) for many years; therefore it is supported in yabasic for compatibility reasons.

Please refer to the entry for the dim-command for further information.

See also

dim

rem

Name

rem	start a comment

print "Please enter a length either in inch or centimeter"
print "please add 'in' or 'cm' to mark the unit."
input "Length: " a$
if (right$(a$,2)="in") then
    length=val(a$)*2.56
elsif (right$(a$,2)="cm") then
    length=val(a$)
else
    error "Invalid input: "+a$
endif

This program allows the user to enter a length qulified with a unit (either inch or centimeter).

This second example demonstrates the capability to assign to the right$-function.

See also

right$
mid$

rinstr()

Name

rinstr()

find the rightmost occurence of one string within the other

Synopsis

pos=rinstr("Thequickbrownfox","equi")
pos=rinstr(a$,b$,x)

Description

The rinstr-function accepts two string-arguments and tries to find the second within the first. However, unlike the instr, the rinstr-function finds the rightmost (or last) occurence of the string; whereas the instr-function finds the leftmost (or first) occurence. In any case however, the position is counted from the left.

If you supply a third, numeric argument to the rinstr-function, it will be used as a starting point for the search. Therefore rinstr("abcdeabcdeabcde","e",8) will return 5, because the search for an "e" starts at position 8 and finds the first one at position 5.

Example

print rinstr("foofoofoobar","foo")

This simple example will print 7, because it finds the rightmost among the three occurences of foo within the string.

Note, that

print instr("foofoofoobar","foo")

would have printed 1.

See also

instr

rtrim$()

Name

rtrim$()

trim spaces at the right end of a string

Synopsis

a$=rtrim$(b$)

Description

The rtrim$-function removes all wthitespace from the right end of a string and returns the result.

Example

open 1,"foo"
dim lines$(100)
l=1
while(not eof(1))
    input #1 a$
    a$=rtrim$(a$)
    if (right$(line$,1)="\\") then
        line$=line$+" "+a$
    else
        lines$(l)=line$
        l=l+1
        line$=a$
    endif
end while
print "Read ",l," lines"

This example reads the file foo allowing for continuation lines, which are marked by a \, which appears as the last character on a line. For convenience whitespace at the right end of a line is trimmed with rtrim.

See also

ltrim$
trim$

Back to Chapter 6

S

Table of Contents

screen	as clear screen clears the text window
seek()	change the position within an open file
sig()	return the sign of its argument
sin()	return the sine of its single argument
sleep	pause, sleep, wait for the specified number of seconds
split()	split a string into many strings
sqr()	compute the square of its argument
sqrt()	compute the square root of its argument
static	preserves the value of a variable between calls to a subroutine
step	specifies the increment step in a for-loop
str$()	convert a number into a string
sub	declare a user defined subroutine
switch	select one of many alternatives depending on a value
system$()	hand a statement over to your operating system and return its output
system()	hand a statement over to your operating system and return its exitcode

screen

Name

screen

as clear screen clears the text window

Synopsis

clear screen

Description

The keyword screen appears only within the sequence clear screen; please see there for a description.

See also

clear screen

seek()

Name

seek()

change the position within an open file

Synopsis

open 1,"foo"
seek #1,q
seek #1,x,"begin"
seek #1,y,"end"
seek #1,z,"here"

Description

The seek-command changes the position, where the next input (or peek) statement will read from an open file. Usually files are read from the beginning to the end sequentially; however sometimes you may want to depart from this simple scheme. This can be done with the seek-command, allowing you to change the position, where the next piece of data will be read from the file.

seek accepts two or three arguments: The first one is the number of an already open file. The second one is the position where the next read from the file will start. The third argument is optional and specifies the the point from where the position (the second argument) will count. It can be one of:

begin

Count from the beginning of the file.

end

Count from the end of the file.

here

Count from the current position within the file.

Example

open #1,"count.dat","w"
for a=1 to 10
    print #1,"00000000";
    if (a<10) print #1,";";
next a

dim count(10)
do
    x=int(ran(10))
    i=i+1
    if (mod(i,1000)=0) print ".";
    count(x)=count(x)+1
    curr$=right$("00000000"+str$(count(x)),8)
    seek #1,9*x,"begin"
    print #1,curr$;
loop

This example increments randomly one of ten counters (in the array count()); however, the result is always kept and updated within the file count.dat, so even in case of an unexpected interrupt, the result will not be lost.

See also

tell
open
print
peek

sig()

Name

sig()

return the sign of its argument

Synopsis

a=sig(b)

Description

Return +1, -1 or 0, if the single argument is positive, negative or zero.

Example

clear screen
dim c$(3):c$(1)="red":c$(2)="white":c$(3)="green"
do
num=ran(100)-50
print color(c$(2+sig(num))) num
loop

This program prints an infinite sequence of random number; positive numbers are printed in green, negative numbers are printed red (an exact zero would be printed white). (With a little extra work, this program could be easily extended into a brogerage system)

See also

abs
int
frac

sin()

Name

sin()

return the sine of its single argument

Synopsis

y=sin(angle)

Description

The sin-function expects an angle (in radian, not degree) and returns its sine.

Example

open window 200,200
new curve
for phi=0 to 2*pi step 0.1
line to 100+90*sin(phi),100+90*cos(phi)
next phi
close curve

This program draws a circle (ignoring the existence of the circle-command).

See also

asin
cos

sleep

Name

sleep

pause, sleep, wait for the specified number of seconds

Synopsis

sleep 4

Description

The sleep-command has many different names: You may write pause, sleep or wait interchangable; whatever you write, yabasic will always do exactly the same.

Therefore you should refer to the entry for the pause-function for further information.

See also

pause
wait

split()

Name

split()

split a string into many strings

Synopsis

dim w$(10)
...
num=split(a$,w$())
num=split(a$,w$(),s$)

Description

The split-function requires a string (containing the text to be split), a reference to a string-array (which will receive the resulting strings, i.e. the tokens) and an optional string (with a set of characters, at which to split, i.e. the delimiters).

The split-function regards its first argument (a string) as a list of tokens separated by delimiters and it will store the list of tokens within the array-reference you have supplied.

Note, that the array, which is passed as a reference (w$() in the synopsis), will be resized accordingly, so that you don't have to figure out the number of tokens in advance. The element at position zero (i.e. w$(0)) will not be used.

Normally (i.e. if you omit the third, which is the delimiter-argument) the function will regard space or tab as delimiters for tokens; however by supplying a third argument, you may split at any single of the characters within this string. E.g. if you supply ":;" as the third argument, then colon (:) or semicolon (;) will delimit tokens.

Note, that a sequence of separator-characters will produce a sequence of empty tokens; that way, the number of tokens returned will always be one plus the number of separator characters contained within the string. Refer to the closely related token-function, if you do not like this behaviour. In some way, the split-function focuses on the separators (other than the token-function, which focuses on the tokens), hence its name.

The second argument is a reference on a string-array, where the tokens will be stored; this array will be expanded (or shrinked) to have room for all tokens, if necessary.

The first argument finally contains the text, that will be split into tokens. The split-function returns the number of tokens that have been found.

Please see the examples below for some hints on the exact behaviour of the split-function and how it differs from the token-function:

Example

print "This program will help you to understand, how the"
print "split()-function exactly works and how it behaves"
print "in certain special cases."
print
print "Please enter a line containing tokens separated"
print "by either '=' or '-'"
dim t$(10)
do
    print
    input "Please enter a line: " l$
    num=split(l$,t$(),"=-")
    print num," Tokens: ";
    for a=1 to num
        if (t$(a)="") then
            print "(EMPTY)";
        else
            print t$(a);
        endif
        if (a<num) print ",";
    next a
    print
loop

This program prints the following output:

Please enter a line: a
1 Tokens: a

Please enter a line:
0 Tokens:

Please enter a line: ab
1 Tokens: ab

Please enter a line: a=b
2 Tokens: a,b

Please enter a line: a-
2 Tokens: a,(EMPTY)

Please enter a line: a-=
3 Tokens: a,(EMPTY),(EMPTY)

Please enter a line: =a-
3 Tokens: (EMPTY),a,(EMPTY)

Please enter a line: a=-b
3 Tokens: a,(EMPTY),b

Please enter a line: a--b-
4 Tokens: a,(EMPTY),b,(EMPTY)

Please enter a line: -a==b-c==
7 Tokens: (EMPTY),a,(EMPTY),b,c,(EMPTY),(EMPTY)

See also

token

sqr()

Name

sqr()

compute the square of its argument

Synopsis

a=sqr(b)

Description

The sqr-function computes the square of its numerical argument (i.e. it multiplies its argument with itself).

Example

for a=1 to 10
print a,sqr(a),a**2
next a

As you may see from the output, sqr can be written as **2 (or ^2) too.

See also

sqrt
**
^

sqrt()

Name

sqrt()

compute the square root of its argument

Synopsis

to be written

Description

The sqrt-function computes the square root of its numerical argument.

Example

for a=1 to 5
print a,sqrt(a),a**(1/2)
next a

As you may see from the output, sqrt can be written as **(1/2) (or ^(1/2)) too.

See also

sqr
**
^

static

Name

static

preserves the value of a variable between calls to a subroutine

Synopsis

sub foo()

static a

...

end sub

Description

The static keyword can be used within subroutines to mark variables as static. This has two effects: First, the variable is local to the subroutine, i.e. its value is not know outside the subroutine (this is the effect of the local keyword). Second, the static-keyword arranges things, so that the variable keeps its value between invocations of the subroutine (this is different from the local-keyword).

Example

foo()
foo()
foo()

sub foo()
    static a
    local b
    a=a+1
    b=b+1
    print a,b
end sub

This program shows the difference between static and local variables within a subroutine; it produces this output:

1 1
2 1
3 1

The output shows, that the static variable a keeps its value between subroutine calls, whereas b is initialized with the value 0 at every call to the subroutine foo.

See also

sub
local

step

Name

step	specifies the increment step in a for-loop

Synopsis

for a=1 to 10 step 3
...
next a

Description

Specify, by which amount the loop-variable of a for-loop will be incremented at each step.

The step (as well as the lower and upper bound) are computed anew in each step; this is not common, but possible, as the example below demonstrates.

Example

for x=1 to 1000 step y
y=x+y
print x," ",y," ";
next x
print

This program computes the fibonacci numbers between 1 and 1000.

See also

for

str$()

Name

str$()

convert a number into a string

Synopsis

a$=str$(a)
b$=str$(x,"##.###")
b$=str$(x,"###,###.##")
b$=str$(x,"###,###.##","_.")

Description

The str$-function accepts a numeric argument and returns it as a string. This conversion between number and string can be controlled with the optional third argument (the format argument). See the following table of examples to learn about valid values of this argument. Note, that those examples fall in one of two categories: C-style and basic-style; the first 4 examples in the table below are C-style, the rest of the examples are basic-style. For more information on the C-style formats, you may refer to your favorite documentation on the C programming language. The basic-style formats are much simpler, they just depict the desired output, marking digits with '#'; groups of (usually three) digits may be separated with colons (','), the decimal dot must be marked by a literal dot ('.'). Moreover these characters (colons and dot) may be replaced by other characters to satisfy the needs of non-english (e.g. german) languages; see the examples below.

Note, that for clarity, each space in the result has been replaced by the letter 'x', because it would be hard to figure out, how many spaces are produced exactly otherwise.

Table 6.2. Examples for the format argument

Example string	*Result for converting 1000pi**	Description
%2.5f	3141.59265	The '2' determines the minimum length of the output; but if needed (as in the example) the output can be longer. The '5' is the number of digits after the decimal point.
%12.5f	xx3141.59265	Two spaces (which appear as 'x') are added to pad the output to the requested length of 12 characters.
%012.5g	0000003141.6	The 'g' requests, that the precision ('5') specifies the overall number of digits (before and after the decimal point).
%-12.5f	3141.59265xx	The '-' requests the output to be left-centered (therefor the filling space appears at thi right).
#####.##	x3141.59	Each '#' specifies a digit (either before or after the dot), the '.' specifies the position of the dot. As 1000*pi does not have enough digits, the 5 requested digits before the dot are filled up with a space (which shows up as an 'x').
##,###.##	x3,141.59	Nearly the same as above, but the colon from the format shows up within the result.
##,###.## and an addtional argument of ".,"	x3.141,59	Similar to the example above, but colon and dot are replaced with dot and colon respectivly.
##,###.## and an addtional argument of "_,"	x3_141,59	Similar to the example above, but colon and dot are replaced with underscore and colon respectivly.
#####	x3142	The format string does not contain a dot, and therefore the result does not have any fractional digits.
##.###	##.###	As 1000*pi has 4 digits infront of the decimal dot and the format only specifies 2, yabasic does not know what to do; therefore it chooses just to reproduce the format string.

Example

do
    input "Please enter a format string: " f$
    a$=str$(1000*pi,f$)
    for a=1 to len(a$)
        if (mid$(a$,a,1)=" ") mid$(a$,a,1)="x"
    next a
    print a$
loop

This is the program, that has been used to get the results shown in the table above.

See also

print
using

sub

Name

sub	declare a user defined subroutine

Synopsis

foo(2,"hello")

...

sub foo(bar,baz$)
    ...
    return qux
    ...
end sub

Description

The sub-keyword starts the definition of a user defined subroutine. With user defined subroutines you are able to somewhat extend yabasic with your own commands or functions. A subroutine accepts arguments (numbers or strings) and returns a number or a string (however, you are not required to assign the value returned to a variable).

The name of the subroutine follows after the keyword sub. If the name (in the synopsis: foo) ends on a '$', the subroutine should return a string (with the return-statement), otherwise a number.

After the name of the subroutine yabasic requires a pair of braces; within those braces you may specify a list of parameters, for which values can (but need not) be included when calling the subroutine. If you omit one of those parameters when calling such a subroutine, it assumes the value zero (for numeric parameters) or the empty string (for string-parameters). However with peek("argument") you may find out, how many arguments have really been passed while calling the subroutine.

Parameters of a subroutine are always local variables (see the keyword local for more explanation).

From within the subroutine you may return any time with the keyword return; along with the return-keyword you may specify the return value.

Note that more than one return is allowed within a single subroutine.

Finally, the keyword end sub ends the subroutine Definition.

Note, that the definition of a subroutine need not appear within the program before the first call to this Sub.

As braces have two uses in yabasic (i.e. for supplying arguments to a subroutine as well as to list the indices of an array). yabasic can not tell apart an array from a subroutine with the same name. Therefore you cannot define a subroutine with the same name as an array!

Example

p=2
do
    if (is_prime(p)) print p
    p=p+1
loop

sub is_prime(a)
    local b
    for b=2 to sqrt(a)
        if (frac(a/b)=0) return false
    next b
    return true
end sub

This example is not the recommended way to compute prime numbers. However it gives a nice demonstration of using a subroutine.

See also

local
static
peek

switch

Name

switch

select one of many alternatives depending on a value

Synopsis

switch a
    case 1
    case 2
    ...
end switch

...

switch a$
    case "a"
    case "b"
end switch

Description

The switch-statment selects one of many codepaths depending on a numerical or string expression. I.e. it takes an expression (either numeric or string) and compares it with a series of values, each wrapped within a case-clause. If the expression equals the value given in a case-clause, the subsequent statements are executed.

The default-clause allows to specify commands, which should be executed, if none of case-clauses matches.

Note, that many case-clauses might be clustered (e.g. case "a":case "b":case "c"). Or put another way: You need a break-statement at the end of a case-branch, if you do not want to run into the next case.

Example

input "Please enter a single digit: " n
switch n
    case 0:print "zero":break
    case 1:print "one":break
    case 2:print "two":break
    case 3:print "three":break
    case 4:print "four":break
    case 5:case 6: case 7:case 8:case 9
        print "Much !":break
    default:print "Hey ! That was more than a single digit !"
end switch

This example translates a single digit into a string; note, how the cases 5 to 7 are clustered.

See also

switch
case
break

system$()

Name

system$()

hand a statement over to your operating system and return its output

Synopsis

print system$("dir")

Description

The system$-command accepts a single string argument, specifying a command, that can be found and executed by your operating system. It returns the output of this command as one big string.

Example

input "Please enter the name of a directory: " d$
print
print "This is the contents of the '"+d$+"':"
print system$("dir "+d$)

This example lists the contents of a directory, employing the dir-command (which is about the only program, that is known under Unix as well as Windows).

See also

system()

system()

Name

system()

hand a statement over to your operating system and return its exitcode

Synopsis

ret=system("foo")
system("bar")

Description

The system-command accepts a single string argument, which specifies a command to be executed. The function will return the exitcode of the command; its output (if any) will be lost.

Example

print "Please enter the name of the file, that should be deleted."
input f$
if (system("rm "+f$+" >/dev/null 2>&1")) then
print "Error !"
else
print "okay."
endif

This program is Unix-specific: It uses the Unix-command rm to remove a file.

See also

system$()

Back to Chapter 6

T

Table of Contents

tan()	return the tangens of its argument
tell	get the current position within an open file
text	write text into your graphic-window
then	tell the long from the short form of the if-statement
time$	return a string containing the current time
to	this keyword appears as part of other statements
token()	split a string into multiple strings
trim$()	remove leading and trailing spaces from its argument
true	a constant with the value of 1

tan()

Name

tan()

return the tangens of its argument

Synopsis

foo=tan(bar)

Description

The tan-function computes the tangens of its arguments (which should be specified in radian).

Example

for a=0 to 45
print tan(a*pi/180)
next a

This example simply prints the tangens of all angles between 0 and 45 degree.

See also

atan
sin

tell

Name

tell	get the current position within an open file

Synopsis

open #1,"foo"
...
position=tell(#1)

Description

The tell-function requires the number of an open file as an argument. It returns the position (counted in bytes, starting from the beginning of the file) where the next read will start.

Example

open #1,"foo","w"
print #1 "Hello World !"
close #1

open #1,"foo"
seek #1,0,"end"
print tell(#1)
close 1

This example (mis)uses tell to get the size of the file. The seek positions the file pointer at the end of the file, therefor the call to tell returns the total length of the file.

See also

tell
open

text

Name

text	write text into your graphic-window

Synopsis

text x,y,"foo"
text x,y,"foo","l"

Description

The text-function displays a text-string (the third argument) at the given position (the first two arguments) within an already opened window. There is no way to specify a font for the text, that will be written (this font can only be specified once, as an argument to the open window-statement).

The fourth, optional argument can be used to specify the alignment of the text with respect to the specified position. This argument is always two characters long: The first character specifies the horizontal alignment and can be either l, r or c, which stand for left, right or center. The second character specifies the vertical alignment and can be one of t, b or c, which stand for top, bottom or center respectively. If you omit this alignment argument, the default "lb" applies; however this default may be changed with poke "textalign","xx".

Example

open window 500,200
clear screen
data "lt","lc","lb","ct","cc","cb","rt","rc","rb"
for a=1 to 9
    read align$
    print "Alignment: ",align$
    line 50*a-15,100,50*a+15,100
    line 50*a,85,50*a,115
    text 50*a,100,"Test",align$
    inkey$
next a

This program draws nine crosses and writes the same text at each; however it goes through all possible nine alignment strings, showing their effect.

See also

open window
peek
poke

then

Name

then	tell the long from the short form of the if-statement

Synopsis

if (a<b) then
...
endif

Description

The keyword then is part of the if-statement; please see there for further explanations. However, not every if-statement requires the keyword then: If the keyword then is present, the if-clause may extend over more than one line, and the keyword endif is required to end it. If the keyword then is not present, the if-statement extends up to the end of the line, and any endif would be an error.

Example

if (1<2) then
print "Hello ";
endif

if (2<3) print "world"
if (2<1)
print "!"

This example prints Hello world.

Note, that no exclamation mark (!) is printed, which might come as a surprise and may be changed in future versions of yabasic.

See also

if

time$

Name

time$

return a string containing the current time

Synopsis

print time$
print time$()

Description

The time$ function returns the current time in four fields separated by hyphens '-'. The fields are:

The current hour in the range from 0 to 23, padded with zeroes (e.g. 00 or 04) to a length of two characters.
The number of minutes, padded with zeroes.
The number of seconds, padded with zeroes.
The number of seconds, that have elapsed since the program has been started. This value encreases as long as your program runs and is therefore unbound and not padded with zeroes.

At the time of writing this documentation, time$ returns 22-58-53-0. Note, that the first three of the four fields returned by time$ have a fixed width; therefore it is easy to extract some fields with the usual string-functions mid$ (and others).

Example

print "Hello it is ",time$
print "An empty for-loop with ten million iterations takes ";
s=val(mid$(time$,10))
for a=1 to 10000000:next a
e=val(mid$(time$,10))
print e-s," seconds"

This program benchmarks the for-loop and uses the fourth field of the string returned by time$.
See also

date

to

Name

to	this keyword appears as part of other statements

Synopsis

for a=1 to 100 step 2
...
next a

line x,y to a,b

Description

The to-keyword serves two purposes (which are not related at all):

within for-statements, to specify the upper bound of the loop.
Within any graphical command (e.g. line), that requires two points (i.e. four numbers) as arguments, a comma ',' might be replaced with the keyword to. I.e. instead of 100,100,200,200 you may write 100,100 to 200,200 in such commands.

Example

Pleas see the command listed under "See also" for examples.

See also

for
line
rectangle

token()

Name

token()

split a string into multiple strings

Synopsis

dim w$(10)
...
num=token(a$,w$())
num=token(a$,w$(),s$)

Description

The token-function accepts a string (containing the text to be split), a reference to a string-array (which will receive the resulting strings, i.e. the tokens) and an optional string (with a set of characters, at which to split, i.e. the delimiters).

The token-function regards its first argument as a list of tokens separated by delimiters and it will store the list of tokens within the array-reference that has been supplied.

Normally (i.e. if you omit the third, the delimiter-argument) the function will regard space or tab as delimiters for tokens; however by supplying a third argument, you may split at any single of the characters within this string. E.g. if you supply ":;" as the third argument, then colon (:) or semicolon (;) will delimit tokens.

Note, that token will never produce empty tokens, even if two or more separators follow in sequence. Refer to the closely related split-function, if you do not like this behaviour. In some way, the token-function focuses on the tokens and not on the separators (other than the split-function, which focuses on the separators).

The second argument is a reference on a string-array, where the tokens will be stored; this array will be expanded (or shrinked) as necessary to have room for all tokens.

The first argument finally contains the text, that will be split into tokens. The token-function returns the number of tokens, that have been found.

Please see the examples below for some hints on the exact behaviour of the token-function and how it differs from the split-function:

Example

print "This program will help you to understand, how the"
print "token()-function exactly works and how it behaves"
print "in certain special cases."
print
print "Please enter a line containing tokens separated"
print "by either '=' or '-'"
dim t$(10)
do
    print
    input "Please enter a line: " l$
    num=token(l$,t$(),"=-")
    print num," Tokens: ";
    for a=1 to num
        if (t$(a)="") then
            print "(EMPTY)";
        else
            print t$(a);
        endif
        if (a<num) print ",";
    next a
    print
loop

This program prints the following output:

Please enter a line: a
1 Tokens: a

Please enter a line:
0 Tokens:

Please enter a line: ab
1 Tokens: ab

Please enter a line: a=b
2 Tokens: a,b

Please enter a line: a-
1 Tokens: a

Please enter a line: a-=
1 Tokens: a

Please enter a line: =a-
1 Tokens: a

Please enter a line: a=-b
2 Tokens: a,b

Please enter a line: a--b-
2 Tokens: a,b

Please enter a line: -a==b-c==
3 Tokens: a,b,c

See also

split

trim$()

Name

trim$()

remove leading and trailing spaces from its argument

Synopsis

a$=trim$(b$)

Description

The trim$-function removes all whitespaces from the left and from the right end of a string and returns the result. Calling trim$ is equivalent to calling rtrim$(ltrim$()).

Example

do
    input "Continue ? Please answer yes or no: " a$
    a$=lower$(trim$(a$))
    if (len(a$)>0 and a$=left$("no",len(a$)) exit
loop

This example asks for an answer (yes or no) and removes spaces with trim$ to make the comparison with the string "no" more bulletproof.

See also

ltrim$
rtrim$

true

Name

true	a constant with the value of 1

Synopsis

okay=true

Description

The constant true can be assigned to variables which will later appear in conditions (e.g. an if-statement.

true may also be written as TRUE or even TrUe.

Example

input "Please enter a string of all upper letters: " a$
if (is_upper(a$)) print "Okay"

sub is_upper(a$)
if (a$=upper$(a$)) return true
return false
end sub

See also

false

Back to Chapter 6

U

Table of Contents

until	end a repeat-loop
upper$()	convert a string to upper case
using	Specify the format for printing a number

until

Name

until

end a repeat-loop

Synopsis

repeat
...
until (...)

Description

The until-keyword ends a loop, which has been introduced by the repeat-keyword. until requires a condition in braces (or an expression, see here for details) as an argument; the loop will continue until this condition evaluates to true.

Example

c=1
s=1
repeat
    l=c
    s=-(s+sig(s))
    c=c+1/s
    print c
until(abs(l-c)<0.000001)

This program calculates the sequence 1/1-1/2+1/3-1/4+1/5-1/6+1/7-1/8+ ... ; please let me know, if you know against which value this converges. See also

repeat

upper$()

Name

upper$()

convert a string to upper case

Synopsis

u$=upper$(a$)

Description

The upper$-function accepts a single string argument and converts it to all upper case.

Example

line input "Please enter a sentence without the letter 'e': " l$
p=instr(upper$(l$),"E")
if (p) then
    l$=lower$(l$)
    mid$(l$,p,1)="E"
    print "Hey, you are wrong, see here!"
    print l$
else
    print "Thanks."
endif

This program asks for a sentence and marks the first (if any) occurence of the letter 'e' by coverting it to upper case (in contrast to the rest of the sentence, which is converted to lower case).

See also

lower$

using

Name

using

Specify the format for printing a number

Synopsis

print a using "##.###"
print a using("##.###",",.")

Description

The using-keyword may appear as part of the print-statement and specifies the format (e.g. the number of digits before and after the decimal dot), which should be used to print the number.

The possible values for the format argument ("##.###" in the synopsis above) are described within the entry for the str$-function; especially the second line in the synopsis (print a using("##.###",",.")) will become clear after referring to str$. In fact the using clause is closely related to the str$-function; the former can always be rewritten using the latter; i.e. print foo using bar$ is always equivalent to print str$(foo,bar$). Therefore you should check out str$ to learn more.

Example

for a=1 to 10
print sqrt(ran(10000*a)) using "#########.#####"
next a

This example prints a column of square roots of random number, nicely aligned at the decimal dot.

See also

print
str$

Back to Chapter 6

V

Table of Contents

val()

converts a string to a number

val()

Name

val89

converts a string to a number

Synopsis

x=val(x$)

Description

The val-function checks, if the start of its string argument forms a floating point number and then returns this number. The string therefore has to start with digits (only whitespace infront is allowed), otherwise the val-function returns zero.

Example

input "Please enter a length, either in inches (in) or centimeters (cm) " l$
if (right$(l$,2)="in") then
l=val(l$)*2.51
else
l=val(l$)
print "You have entered ",l,"cm."

See also

str$

Back to Chapter 6

W

Table of Contents

wait	pause, sleep, wait for the specified number of seconds
wend	end a while-loop
while	start a while-loop
window origin	move the origin of a window

wait

Name

wait	pause, sleep, wait for the specified number of seconds

Synopsis

wait 4

Description

The wait-command has many different names: You may write pause, sleep or wait interchangeable; whatever you write, yabasic will always do exactly the same.

Therefore you should refer to the entry for the pause-function for further information.

See also

pause
sleep

wend

Name

wend	end a while-loop

Synopsis

while(a<b)
...
wend

Description

The wend-keyword marks the end of a while-loop. Please see the while-keyword for more details.

wend can be written as end while or even end-while.

Example

line input "Please enter a sentence: " a$
p=instr(a$,"e")
while(p)
mid$(a$,p,1)="E"
p=instr(a$,"e")
wend
print a$

This example reads a sentence and converts every occurence of the letter e into uppercase (E).

See also

while (which is just the following entry).

while

Name

while

start a while-loop

Synopsis

while(...)
...
wend

Description

The while-keyword starts a while-loop, i.e. a loop that is excuted as long as the condition (which is specified in braces after the keyword while) evaluates to true.

Note, that the body of such a while-loop will not be executed at all, if the condition following the while-keyword is not true initially.

If you want to leave the loop prematurely, you may use the break-statement.

Example

open #1,"foo"
while(!eof(1))
line input #1 a$
print a$
wend

This program reads the file foo and prints it line by line.

See also

until
break
wend
do

window origin

Name

origin

move the origin of a window

Synopsis

open window 200,200
origin "cc"

Description

The origin-command applies to graphic windows and moves the origin of the coordinate system to one of nine point within the window. The normal position of the origin is in the upper left corner of the window; however in some cases this is inconvenient and moving the origin may save you from substracting a constant offset from all of your coordinates.

However, you may not move the origin to an arbitrary position; in horizontal possition there are only three positions: left, center and right, which are decoded by the letters l, c and r. In vertical position the allowed positions are top, center and bottom; encoded by the letters t, c and b. Taking the letters together, you arrive at a string, which might be passed as an argument to the command; e.g. "cc" or "rt".

Example

100,100

open window 200,200
window origin "cc"
circle 0,0,60

This example draws a circle, centered at the center of the window.

See also

open window

X

Table of Contents

xor()

compute the exclusive or

xor()

Name

xor()

compute the exclusive or

Synopsis

x=xor(a,b)

Description

The xor computes the bitwise exclusive or of its two numeric arguments. To understand the result, both arguments should be viewed as binary numbers (i.e. a series of 0 and 1); a bit of the result will then be 1, if exactly one argument has a 1 and the other has a 0 at this position in their binary representation.

Note, that both arguments are silently converted to integer values and that negative numbers have their own binary representation and may lead to unexpected results when passed to and.

Example

print xor(7,4)

This will print 3. This result is obvious, if you note, that the binary representation of 7 and 4 are 111 and 100 respectively; this will yield 011 in binary representaion or 2 as decimal.

The eor-function is the same as the xor function; both are synonymous; however they have each their own description, so you may check out the entry of eor for a slightly different view.

See also

and
or
eor
not

Back to Chapter 6

Special characters

Table of Contents

#	either a comment or a marker for a file-number
//	starts a comment
@	synonymous to at
:	separate commands from each other
;	suppress the implicit newline after a print-statement
** or ^	raise its first argument to the power of its second

#

Name

#	either a comment or a marker for a file-number

Synopsis

# This is a comment, but the line below not !
open #1,"foo"

Description

The hash ('#') has two totally unrelated uses:

A hash might appear in commands related with file-io. yabasic uses simple numbers to refer to open files (within input, print, peek or eof). In those commands the hash may precede the number, which species the file. Please see those commands for further information and examples; the rest of this entry is about the second use (as a comment).
As the very first character within a line, a hash introduces comments (similar to rem).

'#' as a comment is common in most scripting languages and has a special use under Unix: If the very first line of any Unix-program begins with the character sequence '#!' ("she-bang", no spaces allowed), the rest of the line is taken as the program that should be used to execute the script. I.e. if your yabasic-program starts with '#!/usr/local/bin/yabasic', the program /usr/local/bin/yabasic will be invoked to execute the rest of the program. As a remark for windows-users: This mechanism ensures, that yabasic will be invoked to execute your program; the ending of the file (e.g. .yab) will be ignored by Unix.

Example

# This line is a valid comment
print "Hello " : # But this is a syntax error, because
print "World!" : # the hash is not the first character !

Note, that this example will produce a syntax error and is not a valid program !

See also

input
print
peek
or
eof
//
rem

//

Name

//	starts a comment

Synopsis

// This is a comment !

Description

The double-slash ('//') is (besides REM and '#') the third way to start a comment. '//' is the latest and greatest in the field of commenting and allows yabasic to catch up with such cool languages like C++ and Java.

Example

// Another comment.
print "Hello world !" // Another comment

Unlike the example given for '# ' this example is syntactically correct and will not produce an error.

See also

#
rem

@

Name

@	synonymous to at

Synopsis

clear screen
...
print @(a,b)

Description

As '@' is simply a synonym for at, please see at for further information.

See also

at

:

Name

:	separate commands from each other

Synopsis

print "Hello ":print "World"

Description

The colon (':') separates multiple commands on a single line.

The colon and the newline-character have mostly the same effect, only that the latter, well, starts a new line too. The only other difference is their effect within the (so-called) short if, which is an if-statement without the keyword then. Please see the entry for if for more details.

Example

if (a<10) print "Hello ":print "World !"

This example demonstrates the difference between colon and newline as described above.

See also

if

;

Name

;	suppress the implicit newline after a print-statement

Synopsis

print "foo",bar;

Description

The semicolon (';') may only appear at the last position within a print-statement. It supresses the implicit newline, which yabasic normally adds after each print-statement.

Put another way: Normally the output of each print-statement appears on a line by itself. If you rather want the output of many print-statements to appear on a single line, you should end the print-statement with a semicolon.

Example

print "Hello ";:print "World !"

This example prints Hello World ! in a single line.

See also

print

** or ^

Name

** or ^

raise its first argument to the power of its second

Synopsis

print 2**b
print 3^4

Description

** (or ^, which is an exact synonym), is the arithmetic operator of exponentiation; it requires one number to its left and a second one to its right; ** then raises the first argument to the power of the second and returns the result. The result will only be computed if it yields a real number (as opposed to a complex number); this means, that the power can not be computed, if the first argument is negative and the second one is fractional. On the other hand, the second argument can be fractional, if the first one ist positive; this means, that ** may be used to compute arbitrary roots: e.g. x**0.5 computes the square root of x.

Example

print 2**0.5

Chapter 7. A grab-bag of some general concepts and terms

Logical shortcuts
Conditions and expressions
References on arrays
Specifying Filenames under Windows
Escape-sequences
Creating a standalone program from your yabasic-program

Logical shortcuts

Logical shortcuts are no special language construct and there is no keyword for them; they are just a way to evaluate logical expressions. Logical expressions (i.e. a series of conditions or comparisons joined by and or or) are only evaluated until the final result of the expression can be determined. An example:

if (a<>0 and b/a>2) print "b is at least twice as big as a"

The logical expression a<>0 and b/a>2 consists of two comparisons, both of which must be true, if the print statement should be executed. Now, if the first comparison (a<>0) is false, the whole logical expression can never be true and the second comparison (b/a>2) need not be evaluated.

This is exactly, how yabasic behaves: The evaluation of a composed logical expressions is terminated immediately, as soon as the final result can be deduced from the already evaluated parts.

In practice, this has the following consequences:

If two or more comparisons are joined with and and one comparison results in false, the logical expression is evaluated no further and the overall result is false.
If two or more comparisons are joined with or and one comparison results in true, the logical expression is evaluated no further and the result is true.

"Nice, but whats this good for ?", I hear you say. Well, just have another look at the example, especially the second comparison (b/a>2); deviding b by a is potentially hazardous: If a equals zero, the expression will cause an error and your program will terminate. To avoid this, the first part of the comparison (a<>0) checks, if the second one can be evaluated without risk. This pre-checking is the most common usage and primary motivation for logical shortcuts (and the reason why most programming languages implement them).

Back to Chapter 7

Conditions and expressions

Well, bottomline there is no difference or distinction between conditions and expressions, at least as yabasic is concerned. So you may assign the result of comparisons to variables or use an arithmetic expression or a simple variable within a condition (e.g. within an if-statement). So the constructs shown in the example below are all totally valid:

input "Please enter a number between 1 and 10: " a

rem Assigning the result of a comparison to a variable
okay=a>=1 and a<=10

rem Use a variable within an if-statement
if (not okay) error "Wrong, wrong !"

So conditions and expressions are really the same thing (at least as long as yabasic is concerned). Therefore the terms conditions and expression can really be used interchangeably, at least in theory. In reality the term condition is used in connection with if or while whereas the term expression tends to be used more often within arithmetic context.

Back to Chapter 7

References on arrays

References on arrays are the only way to refer to an array as a whole and to pass it to subroutines or functions like arraydim or arraysize. Whereas (for example) a(2) designates the second element of the array a, a() (with empty braces) refers to the array a itself. a() is called an array reference.

If you pass an array reference to one of your own subroutines, you need to be aware, that the subroutine will be able to modify the array you have passed in. So passing an array reference does not create a copy of the array; this has some interesting consequences:

Speed and space: Creating a copy of an array would be a time- and resourceconsuming operation; passing just a reference is cheap and fast.
Returning many values: A subroutine, that wants to give back more than one value, may require an array reference among its arguments and then store its many return values within this array. This is the only way to return more than one value from a subroutine.

Back to Chapter 7

Specifying Filenames under Windows

As you probably know, windows uses the character '\' to separate the directories within a pathname; an example would be C:\yabasic\yabasic.exe (the usual location of the yabasic executable). However, the very same character '\' is used to contstruct escape sequences, not only in yabasic but in most other programming languages.

Therefore the string "C:\t.dat" does not specify the file t.dat within the directory C:; this is because the sequence '\t' is translated into the tab-character. To specify this filename, you need to use the string "C:\\t.dat" (note the double slash '\\').

Back to Chapter 7

Escape-sequences

Escape-sequences are the preferred way of specifying 'special' characters. They ar intoduced by the '\'-character and followed by one of a few regular letters, e.g. '\n' or '\r' (see the table below).

Escape-sequences may occur within any string at any position; they are replaced at parsetime (opposed to runtime), i.e. as soon as yabasic discovers the string, with their corresponding special character. As a consequence of this len("\a") returns 1, because yabasic replaces "\a" with the matching special character just before the program executes.

Table 7.1. Escape sequences

Escape Seqence	Matching special character
\n	newline
\t	tabulator
\v	vertical tabulator
\b	backspace
\r	carriage return
\f	formfeed
\a	alert (i.e. a beeping sound)
\\	backslash
\'	single quote
\"	double quote
\xHEX	chr$(HEX) (see below)

Note, that an escape sequences of the form \xHEX allows to encode arbitrary characters as long as you know their position (as a hex-number) within the ascii-charset: For example \x012 is transformed into the character chr$(18) (or chr$(dec("12",16)).

Note that \x requires a hexa-decimal number (and the hexa-decimal string "12" corresponds to the decimal number 18).

Back to Chapter 7

Creating a standalone program from your yabasic-program

The bind-feature, which is described below, is at an experimental stage right now. It works (at least for me !) under Windows and Linux, but I cannot even promise it for other variants of Unix. However, if it does not work for your Unix, I will at least try to make it work, if you give me sufficient information of your system.

Sometimes you may want to give one of your yabasic-programs to other people. However, what if those other people do not have yabasic installed ? In that case you may create a standalone-program from your yabasic-program, i.e. an executable, that may be executed on its own, standalone, even (and especially !) on computers, that do not have yabasic installed. Having created a standalone program, you may pass it around like any other program (e.g. one written in C) and you can be sure that your program will execute right away.

Such a standalone-program is simply created by copying the full yabasic-interpreter and your yabasic-program (plus all the libraries it does import) together into a single, new program, whose name might be chosen at will (under windows of course it should have the ending .exe). If you decide to create a standalone-program, there are three bits in yabasic, that you may use:

The bind-command, which does the actual job of creating the standalone program from the yabasic-interpreter and your program.
The command-line Option -bind (available under Windows and Unix), which does the same from the command-line.
The special peek("isbound"), which may be used to check, if the yabasic-program containing this peek is bound to the interpreter as part of a standalone program.

With these bits you know enough to create a standalone-program. Actually there are two ways to do this: on the commandline and from within your program.

Back to Chapter 7
Creating a standalone-program from the commandline

Let's say you have the following very simple program within the file foo.yab:

print "Hello World !"

Normally you would start this yabasic-program by typing yabasic foo.yab and as a result the string Hello World ! would appear on your screen. However, to create a standalone-program from foo.yab you would type:

yabasic -bind foo.exe foo.yab

This command does not execute your program foo.yab but rather create a standalone-program foo.exe.

Note: under Unix you would probably name the standalone program foo or such, omitting the windows-specific ending .exe.

Yabasic will confirm by printing something like: ---Info: Successfully bound 'yabasic' and 'foo.yab' into 'foo.exe'.

After that you will find a program foo.exe (which must be made executable with the chmod-command under Unix first). Now, executing this program foo.exe (or foo under Unix) will produce the output Hello World !.

This newly created program foo.exe might be passed around to anyone, even if he does not have yabasic installed.

Creating a standalone-program from within your program

It is possible to write a yabasic-program, that binds itself to the yabasic-interpreter. Here is an example:

if (!peek("isbound")) then
    bind "foo"
    print "Successfully created the standalone executable 'foo' !"
    exit
endif

print "Hello World !"

If you run this program (which may be saved in the file foo.yab) via yabasic foo.yab, the peek("isbound") in the first line will check, if the program is already part of a standalone-program. If not (i.e. if the yabasic-interpreter and the yabasic-program are seperate files) the bind-command will create a standalone program foo containing both. As a result you would see the output Successfully created the standalone executable 'foo' !.

Note: Under Windows you would probably choose the filename foo.exe.

Now, if you run this standalone executable foo (or foo.exe), the very same yabasic-program that is shown above will be executed again. However, this time the peek("isbound") will return TRUE and therefore the condition of the if-statement is false and the three lines after then are not executed. Rather the last print-statement will run, and you will see the output Hello World !.

That way a yabasic-program may turn itself into a standalone-program.

Downsides of creating a standalone program

Now, before you go out and turn all your yabasic-programs into standalone programs, please take a second to consider the downsides of doing so:

The new standalone program will be at least as big as the interpreter itself, so you need to pass a few hundred kilobytes around, just to save people from having to install yabasic themselves.
There is no easy way to extract your yabasic-program from within the standalone program: If you ever want to change it, you need to have it around seperately.
If a new version of yabasic becomes available, again you need to recreate all of your standalone programs to take advantage of bugfixes and improvements.

So, beeing able to create a standalone program is certainly a good thin, but certainly not a silver bullet.

See also

The bind-command, the peek-function and the commandline options for Unix and Windows.

Back to Chapter 7
back to Table of Contents

Chapter 8. A few example programs

A very simple program
A part of the demo of yabasic

A very simple program

The program below is a very simple program:

repeat
    input "Please enter the first number, to add " a
    input "Please enter the second number, to add " b
    print a+b
until(a=0 and b=0)

This program requests two numbers, which it than adds. The process is repeated until you enter zero (or nothing) twice.

Back to Chapter 8

A part of the demo of yabasic

The listing below is an abbreviated and slightly refreshed version of the demo of yabasic. However this demo has been written before some of the more advanced features of yabasic have been implemented. For example subroutines have only been retrofitted on the original version of this demo. So please do not take this as a particular good example of yabasic-code. On the other hand: This is no beauty contest. However you could make it one, if you send me some better code (which should do nice and simple things with less than 200 lines).

//
// This program demoes yabasic
//

// Check, if screen is large enough
clear screen
sw=peek("screenwidth"):sh=peek("screenheight")
if (sw     print
    print " Sorry, but your screen is to small to run this demo !"
    print
    end
endif
sw=78:sh=24

// Initialize everything
restore mmdata
read mmnum:dim mmtext$(mmnum)
for a=1 to mmnum:read mmtext$(a):next a

// Main loop selection of demo
ysel=1
label mainloop
clear screen
print colour("cyan","magenta") at(7,2) "################################"
print colour("cyan","magenta") at(7,3) "################################"
print colour("cyan","magenta") at(7,4) "################################"
print colour("yellow","blue") at(8,3) " This is the demo for yabasic "
yoff=7
for a=1 to mmnum
    if (a=mmnum) then ydisp=1:else ydisp=0:fi
    if (a=ysel) then
        print colour("blue","green") at(5,yoff+ydisp+a) mmtext$(a);
    else
        print at(5,yoff+ydisp+a) mmtext$(a);
    endif
next a
print at(3,sh-3) "Move selection with CURSOR KEYS (or u and d),"
print at(3,sh-2) "Press RETURN or SPACE to choose, ESC to quit."

do // loop for keys pressed
    rev=1
    do // loop for blinking
        k$=inkey$(0.4)
        if (k$="") then
            if (ysel=mmnum) then
                if (rev=1) then
                    print colour("blue","green") at(5,yoff+mmnum+1) mmtext$(mmnum);
                    rev=0
                else
                    print colour("yellow","red") at(5,yoff+mmnum+1) mmtext$(mmnum);
                    rev=1
                endif
            endif
        else // key has been pressed, leave loop
            break
        endif
    loop // loop for blinking

    yalt=ysel
    if (k$="up" or k$="u") then
        if (ysel=1) then ysel=mmnum else ysel=ysel-1 fi
        redraw():heal():continue
    fi
    if (k$="down" or k$="d") then
        if (ysel=mmnum) then ysel=1 else ysel=ysel+1 fi
        redraw():heal():continue
    fi
    if (k$=" " or k$="enter" or k$="right") then
        on ysel gosub overview,bitmap,endit,notyet
        goto mainloop
    fi
    if (k$="esc") then
        endit()
    fi
    beep
    print at(3,sh-5) "Invalid key: ",k$," "
loop // loop for keys pressed

// redraw line
sub redraw()
    if (yalt=mmnum) then ydisp=1:else ydisp=0:fi
    print at(5,yoff+yalt+ydisp) mmtext$(yalt);
    if (ysel=mmnum) then ydisp=1:else ydisp=0:fi
    print colour("blue","green") at(5,yoff+ysel+ydisp) mmtext$(ysel);
    return
end sub

// erase a line
sub heal()
    print at(3,sh-5) " "
    return
end sub

// Go here to exit
label endit
    print at(3,sh-8) "Hope you liked it ...\n ";
    exit
return

// Present a short overview
label overview
    clear screen
    print "\n Yabasic is a quite traditional basic: It comes with"
    print " print, input, for-next-loops, goto, gosub, while and"
    print " repeat and even user defined procedures and libraries."
    print "\n Yabasic has the usual functions, from sin(), int() to mid$();"
    print " more advanced functions are date$ (is ",date$,"),"
    print " or token$(), system$(), ran() and glob$()."
    print "\n Yabasic makes it easy to open a window, draw lines"
    print " and print the resulting picture."
    print "\n Yabasic programs are interpreted and run under Unix"
    print " and Windows. Yabasic is small (around 200k) and"
    print " free, i.e. subject to the GNU copyleft."
    print "\n Finally, this demo itself is written in yabasic and"
    print " gives an idea of what can be done with the language."
    print "\n\n\n While you read this, I am calculating prime numbers,"
    print " Press any key to return to main menu ..."
    can=1
    print at(6,19) "This is a prime number: "
    label nextcan
    can=can+2
    for i=2 to sqrt(can):if (frac(can/i)=0) then goto notprime:fi:next i
    print at(32,19) can;
    label notprime
    if (lower$(inkey$(0))<>"") then return:fi
goto nextcan

// Show some animated bitmaps
label bitmap
    clear screen
    print at(5,5) "Yabasic offers limited support for bitmapped graphics."
    print at(5,6) "You can retrieve and alter rectangular regions of"
    print at(5,7) "the graphics window with a single command."
    print reverse at(5,12) " Press any key to return to main menu ... "
    n=20
    open window 400,400
    if (picsinitialized=0) then
        picsinitialized=1
        dim pics(n,4)
        dim pics$(5)
        restore pics
        for a=1 to 5:read pics$(a):next a
    endif
    tick=1
    for a=1 to n:pics(a,4)=0:next a
    cx=ran(370):cy=ran(370):vx=10-ran(20):vy=10-ran(20)
    label picloop
        for a=1 to n
            if (pics(a,4)<=tick) then
                if (pics(a,4)=tick) then
                    bitblit pics$(pics(a,3)) to pics(a,1),pics(a,2),"xor"
                endif
                x=cx+50-ran(100):y=cy+50-ran(100)
                if (ran(10)>3) then
                    pics(a,1)=x:pics(a,2)=y:pics(a,3)=ran(5)+1
                    pics(a,4)=tick+4+int(ran(4))
                    bitblit pics$(pics(a,3)) to pics(a,1),pics(a,2),"xor"
                endif
            endif
        next a
        tick=tick+1
        cx=cx+vx:cy=cy+vy
        if (cx400) then cx=cx-vx:vx=-vx fi
        if (cy400) then cy=cy-vy:vy=-vy fi
    if (inkey$(0.1)="") then goto picloop fi
    close window
return

// data for bitmaps
label pics
data "24,24:00000000000000000000000008f1000eff000fff308f9f30cf0c70e30870e30070e00070e07070e07870e0fc70e1ff30e1ff3ec1cf1ec3000fc700cf8f3cf78ffff30efff000ff00"
data "24,24:00c10000e10000f10000f10008f30008f30008f700fff700ffff30ffffffefffffefffff0ffff70eff700eff000cff100eff300fff70cfff70ef7ef1ef1cf3e700e3e100c3000000"
data "24,24:0000000000700e00700e00700e00700e10700e38700c38700c7c30087c3000fe1000ff1000ef0000e70000c70000c30000c30000e10000f10000f0000c70000c70000c3000000000"
data "24,24:000000000000008700008f30008f7000cf7000c37000e97000f97000f83008f8300878300cf8300ef8300efb300eef700fcf700f0f708700f0c700f1c300e1c100e1000000000000"
data "24,24:0000000000000cf1000cff000cff300cbf300c3c700838700c30700cff700cff700cff700c9f700c1c700e10700e10700f38708fff708fff7083ff10000000000000000000000000"

// Go here for a feature not yet implemented
label notyet
    clear screen
    print "\n\n Sorry this section is not yet implemented !"
    print " Press any key to return to main menu ..."
    inkey$
return

// Data section ...
label mmdata
// Data for main menu: Number and text of entries in main menu
data 3
data " Yabasic in a nutshell "
data " Animated Bitmaps "
data " Exit this demo "

Back to Chapter 8
back to Table of Contents

Chapter 9. The Copyright of yabasic

yabasic may be copied only under the terms of the Artistic License or the GNU General Public License (GPL), both of which are distributed with yabasic.

[Can't you make up your mind ?!], I hear you say. Umm, well yes. In fact I do not want to read or try to understand them both, so I have put the burden on you (grin). However, I think that the Artistic License is more liberal and gives you more rights and you should choose it; on the other hand the GPL is more widely known and a lot of software is distributed under its terms.

Here is a list of things that are possible under the terms of the Artistic License:

Put yabasic on your own homepage or CD and even charge for the service of distributing yabasic.
Write your own yabasic-programs, pack your program and yabasic into a package and sell the whole thing.
Modify yabasic and add or remove features, sell the modified version.

Back to Chapter 9
back to Table of Contents

Tutorial converted from the yabasic website by Christian Albrecht (lelldorin), April 2015
Made available by BeSly, the Haiku knowledge base.

How to help us?

Chapter 1.

Introduction

About this document

About yabasic

Chapter 2.

The yabasic-program under Windows

Starting yabasic

Options

The context Menu

Chapter 3.

The yabasic-program under Unix

Starting yabasic

Options

Setting defaults

Chapter 4.

Some features of yabasic, explained by topic

print, input and others

Control statements: loops, if and switch

Drawing and painting

Reading from and writing to files

Subroutines and Libraries

String processing

Arithmetic

Data and such

Other interesting commands

Chapter 5.

All commands and functions of yabasic listed by topic

Number processing and conversion

Conditions and control structures

Data keeping and processing

String processing

File operations and printing

Subroutines and libraries

Other commands

Graphics and printing

Chapter 6.

All commands and functions of yabasic grouped alphabetically

A

abs()

acos()

and

and()

arraydim()

arraysize()

asc()

asin()

at()

atan()

B

beep

bell

bin$()

bind()

box

break

C

case

chr$()

circle

clear

clear screen

clear window

close

clear curve

close printer

close window

color

colour

compile

continue

cos()

D

data

date$

dec()

default

dim

do