SQR Syntax Conventions

The following table describes the SQR syntax conventions:

Syntax Convention	Description
{ }	Braces enclose required items.
[ ]	Square brackets enclose optional items.
...	Ellipses indicate that the preceding parameter can be repeated.
|	A vertical bar separates alternatives inside brackets, braces, or parentheses.
!	An exclamation point begins a single-line comment that extends to the end of the line. Each comment line must begin with an exclamation point.
'	A single quote starts and ends a literal text constant or any argument with more than one word. Important: If you are copying code directly from the sample programs, change the slanted quotes to regular quotes as shown here, otherwise you will receive an error message.
,	A comma separates multiple arguments.
( )	Parentheses must enclose an argument or element.
UPPERCASE	SQR commands and arguments are uppercase within the text, but lowercase in the sample programs. (Note that these commands are not case-sensitive.)
Variable	Information and values that you must supply appear in variable style.
hyphen versus underscore	Many SQR commands, such as BEGIN-PROGRAM, contain a hyphen, whereas procedure and variable names contain an underscore. Procedure and variable names can contain either hyphens or underscores, but you should use underscores in procedure and variable names to distinguish them from SQR commands. This practice also prevents confusion when you mix variable names and numbers in an expression in which hyphens could be mistaken for minus signs.