Microsoft BASIC Character Set

At a Glance

The Microsoft BASIC Character Set

This character set includes alphabetic characters (A-Z, a-z), numeric characters (0-9 and A-F or a-f for hexadecimal numbers), and special characters. Some characters have special meanings in BASIC, as shown below.

Worth knowing

Useful and cross-version information about the programming environments of QBasic and QuickBasic.

ASCII Code Tables
Keyboard Scan Codes
Syntax Conventions
Screen Modes, Adapters, Displays, Colors
BASIC Character Set
Error Codes

Data Types Suffixes
!	Single-precision	%	Integer
#	Double-precision	&	Long-integer
$	String	@	Currency (Note: in QBX only)
Math Types		Special Meanings

*	Multiplication symbol	'	Denotes a comment line (right single quote or apostrophe)
-	Minus sign
/	Division symbol (slash)	;	Controls output from the PRINT and INPUT statements
=	Relational operator or assignment symbol
>	Greater than	,	Controls output from the PRINT and INPUT statements
+	Plus sign
.	Decimal point	:	Separates multiple statements placed on one line
<	Less than
\	Integer division symbol (backslash)	?	Denotes a prompt for INPUT
^	Exponentiation symbol (up arrow or caret)
		_	Denotes a line continuation (underscore) (Note: Illegal in QBX)