equate statement

The equate statement is a compiler directive that declares a constant at compile time or a synonym of another variable or array element.

Syntax

equate symbol to char(constant) {,var to exp...}
equate symbol to var

Synonym(s)

equ

Description

Note: Expressions in an equate statement are limited to constant expressions, variables, and character strings.

The equate statement can also be used to assign meaningful variable names to array elements. Once equate has been used to assign a value to a symbol, the variable cannot be used as a variable and cannot be reassigned a value. equate definitions must be placed before any usage of the equated symbols. Failure to do so can generate compile-time errors.

Example(s)

equ form.feed to char(12)
equ ring.bell to char(7)
equ attribute.mark to char(254)
...
read array from file,ID...
amcmax = dcount(array,attribute.mark)
...
if ctr=pagemax then
print form.feed
crt ring.bell:
end
...