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matherp
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Posted: 06:17pm 08 Mar 2023

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Building strings that need non-printing characters or double quotes requires use of the chr$ function and string addition and is somewhat clunky.

C uses the backslash character to do this

e.g.
char string[]="\"quoted string\"";

and there are variants of this like
\nnn where nnn is the number to be inserted e.g. \034 for a quote

In MMbasic we can't use the backslash as it is used in filesystem pathnames but the

| character (ascii 124) is unused in MMbasic syntax and very unlikely to be used in text strings

I've been playing with this

It can also be used in data statements

Thoughts - do I keep this in for the next beta?
Edited 2023-03-09 04:24 by matherp

toml_12953
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Posted: 06:30pm 08 Mar 2023

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matherp said

Thoughts - do I keep this in for the next beta?

As long as you put it in CMM2 BASIC as well, why not?

matherp
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Posted: 06:31pm 08 Mar 2023

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Quote As long as you put it in CMM2 BASIC as well, why not?

Can't | is already used internally in CMM2 and MMB4W

Mixtel90

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Posted: 06:36pm 08 Mar 2023

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It's interesting - and a good question!
It's not BASIC, but then neither are BITBANG or TILE. :)
Very useful that it works in DATA statements, I suppose...

Mick

Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini
Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs

thwill

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Posted: 06:44pm 08 Mar 2023

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My 2c,

I'd use \ and require everyone to either escape them \\ in paths or use UNIX path separators as God intended

.

Failing that I wouldn't implement anything that can't also be done on the CMM2 and MMB4W - I certainly wouldn't use it - I wonder if the | issue could be worked around, it's just used in the "hidden" comments at the end of each line of code in the program memory isn't it ?

Alternatively what about using the back-tick `, @ or requiring character codes to be within curly-brackets { } ?

I also find it difficult to believe there isn't already a BASIC dialect that supports something equivalent that could be copied ... though BASIC is one of the hardest things to google about :-(

EDIT: If the interest is limited the double-quote then VB6 would escape it with another double-quote, e.g.

Dim str As String = "This is a string with ""quotes"" in it"

Best wishes,

Tom
Edited 2023-03-09 04:52 by thwill

MMBasic for Linux, Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures

robert.rozee
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Joined: 31/12/2012
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Posted: 06:54pm 08 Mar 2023

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hi peter,
how would you distinguish between:
a$=chr$(2)+"345"
and
a$=chr$(23)+"45"

you really need both a 'starting' and an 'ending' marker, which as it happens chr$( and ) already provide for, at an overhead of just one byte each (chr$( being a token).

cheers,
rob :-)
Edited 2023-03-09 04:55 by robert.rozee

matherp
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Posted: 06:57pm 08 Mar 2023

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Quote how would you distinguish between:
a$=chr$(2)+"345"
and
a$=chr$(23)+"45"

Already covered in the first image

chr$ can't be used in DATA statements. Also, concatenating strings will be much slower (factor of 3 in simple test)

Quote > timer=0:for i=1 to 1000: s$="|34Hello World|34":next:print timer
13.684
> timer=0:for i=1 to 1000: s$=chr$(34)+"Hello World"+chr$(34):next:print timer
40.375

Edited 2023-03-09 05:01 by matherp

thwill

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Posted: 07:02pm 08 Mar 2023

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matherp said chr$ can't be used in DATA statements.

How about:

OPTION DATA SANE

Which disables the "unusual" behaviour of the DATA statement so that it can properly support expressions ?

Best wishes,

Tom
Edited 2023-03-09 05:04 by thwill

MMBasic for Linux, Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures

twofingers

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Posted: 07:02pm 08 Mar 2023

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thwill said My 2c, [...]
Failing that I wouldn't implement anything that can't also be done on the CMM2 and MMB4W - I certainly wouldn't use it - [...]

I see it that way too!

causality ≠ correlation ≠ coincidence

Mixtel90

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Posted: 07:22pm 08 Mar 2023

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"OPTION DATA SANE"
You spoilsport..... ;)

I'm coming round to the idea that it's probably better to keep compatibility. Most other things have either alternatives or work-arounds. This is pretty basic functionality.

Mick

Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini
Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs

matherp
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Posted: 07:40pm 08 Mar 2023

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Think I've found a way of using backslash which means it could be implemented in all versions. Does that change things?
Edited 2023-03-09 05:40 by matherp

thwill

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Posted: 07:46pm 08 Mar 2023

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matherp said Think I've found a way of using backslash which means it could be implemented in all versions. Does that change things?

In that case I think it is useful

. Do you want to float how you can use backslash so that the hive-mind can see if you are digging a trap

?

Last year I was considering something similar for MMB4L but in the end abandoned the idea because it wasn't useful if only MMB4L supported it.

Best wishes,

Tom

MMBasic for Linux, Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures

matherp
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Posted: 07:56pm 08 Mar 2023

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In the current code relating to file I/O there are lots of places where I allow slash or backslash but I always eventually convert them to slash.

All I've done is replace getCstring with getFstring for anything file related. The two are identical except that getFstring converts backslash to slash before anything else

I've tested it briefly and all works OK and Microsoft doesn't care if I use all forward slash and linux will be happy

Think I might impose backslash nnn with three digits. That way no termination is ever needed
Edited 2023-03-09 05:58 by matherp

Mixtel90

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Posted: 08:30pm 08 Mar 2023

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That sounds like a good way. The backslash idea is much better.

Mick

Zilog Inside! nascom.info for Nascom & Gemini
Preliminary MMBasic docs & my PCB designs

TassyJim

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Posted: 08:30pm 08 Mar 2023

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I MMEdit I use aa escape sequence similar to C

Procedure.s macroexpand(txt.s)
Protected expanded.s, wasSlash.l, nM.l, ch.s, chs.s
wasSlash=0
nM=1
Repeat
ch=Mid(txt,nM,1)
If wasSlash=1
wasSlash=0
Select ch
Case "c","C"
ch=Chr(3)
Case "b", "B"
ch=Chr(8)
Case "t", "T"
ch=Chr(9)
Case "n", "N"
ch=Chr(10)
Case "v", "V"
ch=Chr(11)
Case "f", "F"
ch=Chr(12)
Case "r", "R"
ch=Chr(13)
Case "e", "E"
ch=Chr(27)
Case "x", "X"
chs=Mid(txt,nM+1,2)
ch=Chr(Val("$"+chs))
nM=nM+2
; case "d", "D"
; chs$=mid$(macroCode$,n+1,3)
; ch$=chr$(val(chs$))
; n=n+3
Case "0","1","2","3","4","5","6","7","8","9"
chs=Mid(txt,nM,3)
ch=Chr(Val(chs))
nM=nM+2
Case "\"
;
Case "q","Q"
ch = Chr(34)
Case "d"; date
ch=FormatDate("%dd/%mm/%yyyy", Date())
Case "h" ; time
ch=FormatDate("%hh:%ii:%ss", Date())
Case "D" ; UTC date
ch = UTCdate()
Case "H" ; UTC time
ch = UTCtime()
Default
;
EndSelect
Else
If ch="\"
wasSlash=1
ch=""
EndIf
EndIf
nM=nM+1
expanded = expanded + ch
Until nM > Len(txt)
ProcedureReturn expanded
EndProcedure

I also chose to require 3 digits if using \nnn

PureBasic has an interesting method or determining if the string requires escaping.
If the string is preceded by tilde character, the string has escape characters, otherwise, treat as is.

a$ = "Hello world" ; standard string
b$ = ~"Escape\nMe !" ; string with escape sequences

Jim

VK7JH
MMedit

CaptainBoing

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Posted: 09:22pm 08 Mar 2023

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One thing that originally attracted me to MMBasic in the first place was its portability.

some way to have "escaped data" (maybe even the cpp exposed) would be nice but I can't help feeling consistency should be paramount. That said, the PicoMite has already gone its own way on a lot of things, so who cares.

thwill

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Posted: 09:38pm 08 Mar 2023

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TassyJim said PureBasic has an interesting method or determining if the string requires escaping.

I like that a lot, the programmer has to clearly "opt in" and at first glance you wouldn't need any special cases.

Best wishes,

Tom

MMBasic for Linux, Game*Mite, CMM2 Welcome Tape, Creaky old text adventures

Turbo46

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Posted: 10:03pm 08 Mar 2023

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For me, one of the attractions of MMBasic is that it is largely compatible with other BASICs (despite Stan's problems). I see that it's faster and more compact but:

MMBasic ain't broke...

Bill

Edit: And it won't be implemented in ALL versions of MMBasic.
Edited 2023-03-09 08:08 by Turbo46

Keep safe. Live long and prosper.

toml_12953
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Posted: 10:23pm 08 Mar 2023

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matherp said In the current code relating to file I/O there are lots of places where I allow slash or backslash but I always eventually convert them to slash.

All I've done is replace getCstring with getFstring for anything file related. The two are identical except that getFstring converts backslash to slash before anything else

I've tested it briefly and all works OK and Microsoft doesn't care if I use all forward slash and linux will be happy

Think I might impose backslash nnn with three digits. That way no termination is ever needed

Since the backslash (\) is used on the CMM2 for integer division, is there a conflict there? If not, then by all means use it!

I'd still like to use \n and such however.

panky

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Posted: 11:09pm 08 Mar 2023

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toml_12953 said

matherp said ......
I've tested it briefly and all works OK and Microsoft doesn't care if I use all forward slash and linux will be happy

Think I might impose backslash nnn with three digits. That way no termination is ever needed

Since the backslash (\) is used on the CMM2 for integer division, is there a conflict there? If not, then by all means use it!

I'd still like to use \n and such however.

Peter, I like the idea and assuming it would only be applicable inside any quoted string, I don't see that it would conflict with integer division.

I do feel however that it needs to be common across ALL versions of MMBasic - there is already some divergence which complicates conversion between different 'mite platforms (other than the obvious hardware differences).
Doug.

... almost all of the Maximites, the MicromMites, the MM Extremes, the ArmMites, the PicoMite and loving it!

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