Assignment Statements

The assignment statement is the most basic type of statement in PeopleCode. It consists of an equal sign with a variable name on the left and an expression on the right:

variableName = expression;

The expression on the right is evaluated, and the result is placed in the variable named on the left. Depending on the data types involved, the assignment is passed either by value or by reference.

Assignment by Value

In most types of assignments, the result of the right-hand expression is assigned to the variable as a newly created value, in the variable's own allocated memory area. Subsequent changes to the value of that variable have no effect on any other data.

Assignment by Reference

When both sides of an assignment statement are object variables, the result of the assignment is not to create a copy of the object in a unique memory location and assign it to the variable. Instead, the variable points to the object's memory location. Additional variables can point to the same object location.

For example, both &AN and &AN2 are arrays of type Number. Assigning &AN2 to &AN does not assign a copy of &AN2 to &AN. Both array objects point to the same information in memory.

Local array of number &AN, &AN2; 
Local number &NUM; 
&AN = CreateArray(100, 200, 300); 
&AN2 = &AN; 
&NUM = &AN[1];

In the code example, &AN2 and &AN point to the same object: an array of three numbers. If you were to change the value of &AN[2] to 500 and then reference the value of &AN2[2], you would get 500, not 300. On the other hand, assigning &NUM to the first element in &AN (100) is not an object assignment. It is an assignment by value. If you changed &AN[1] to 500, then &NUM remains 200.

Note:

In PeopleCode, the equal sign can function as either an assignment operator or a comparison operator, depending on context.