DATAD.

A program object which must precede all lists of data for use by the READ statement.

As for INPUT, string values may be quoted or unquoted. However, quotes need to be used if the string contains commas or leading spaces.

Numeric values may include calculation so long as there are no keywords.

Data items in the list should be separated by a comma.

DATA 10.7,2,HELLO," THIS IS A COMMA,",1/3,PRINT
DATA " This is a string with leading spaces."

You can use DATA in conjunction with READ to include data in your program which you may need to change from time to time, but which does not need to be different every time you run the program.

The following example program segment reads through a list of names looking for the name in 'name$'. If the name is found, the name and age are printed. If not, an error message is printed.

DATA FRED,17,BILL,21,ALLISON,21,NOEL,32
DATA JOAN,26,JOHN,19,WENDY,35,ZZZZ,0
REPEAT
READ list$,age
IF list$=name$ THEN PRINT name$,age
UNTIL list$=name$ OR list$="ZZZZ"
IF list$="ZZZZ" PRINT "Name not in list"

Syntax

DATA <s-const>|<n-const>{,<s-const>|<n-const>}

Associated Keywords