How to Read On-line Help Syntax Notation in Q(uick)Basic and VB-DOS.
Shows how to read the syntax information that is displayed in the on-line help for BASIC language keywords.
Useful and cross-version information about the programming environments of QBasic, QuickBasic and Visual Basic for DOS.
| KEYWORDS | Items in capital letters indicate BASIC keywords. Keywords are a required part of the statement syntax, unless they are enclosed in brackets. You must spell keywords correctly. |
| placeholders | Items in lowercase are placeholders for information you must supply in the statement, such as a filename. |
| [optional item] | Items inside square brackets do not need to be used in the statement. |
| {choice1 | choice2} | Braces and a vertical bar indicate a choice between two or more items. You must use one of the items in the statement unless the braces are enclosed in square brackets. |
| IMPORTANT: | The uppercase and lowercase syntax notation conventions are used to help you read the syntax rules for a statement, and are NOT capitalization rules you must type in. |
| One other notation convention that is used is the three-dot ellipsis: | |
| item, item, . . . | Means more of the preceding items can be used in a single-line statement. |
| beginning KEYWORD . . . ending KEYWORD | used to describe multi-line statements (or block-structured statements). Means that other statements can be used between the beginning and the end of the block. |