TYPE: BASIC Variable Statement

FORMAT: DATA

Action:

DATA statements store information within a program. The program uses the information by means of the READ statement, which pulls successive constants from the DATA statements.

The DATA statements don't have to be executed by the program, they only have to be present. Therefore, they are usually placed at the end of the program.

All data statements in a program are treated as a continuous list. Data is READ from left to right, from the lowest numbered line to the highest. If the READ statement encounters data that doesn't fit the type requested (if it needs a number and finds a string) an error message occurs.

Any characters can be included as data, but if certain ones are used the data item must be enclosed by quote marks (" "). These include punctuation like comma (,), colon (:), and blank spaces.

Examples:

10 DATA 1,10,5,8
20 DATA JOHN,PAUL,GEORGE,RINGO
30 DATA "DEAR MARY, HOW ARE YOU, LOVE, BILL"
40 DATA -1.7E-9, 3.33