String concatenation
The concatenation operators combine two strings to form one string by appending the second string to the right-hand
end of the first string. The concatenation might occur with or without
an intervening blank. The concatenation operators are:
- (blank)
- Concatenate terms with one blank in between
- ||
- Concatenate without an intervening blank
- (abuttal)
- Concatenate without an intervening blank
You can force concatenation without a blank by using the ||
operator.
The abuttal operator is assumed between two terms that are not separated by another operator. This can occur when two terms are syntactically distinct, such as a literal string and a symbol, or when they are separated only by a comment.
Examples:
An example of syntactically distinct
terms is: if Fred
has the value 37.4
, then Fred'%'
evaluates to 37.4%
.
If the variable PETER
has the value 1
, then (Fred)(Peter)
evaluates to 37.41
.
In EBCDIC, the two adjoining strings, one hexadecimal
and one literal,
'c1 c2'x'CDE'
evaluate to ABCDE
.In the case of:
Fred/* The NOT operator precedes Peter. */¬Peter
there is no abuttal operator implied, and the expression is not
valid. However, (Fred)/* The NOT operator precedes Peter. */(¬Peter)
results in an abuttal, and evaluates to 37.40
.