Literals

Literals in VectorScript are data values that appear directly within the script code. Literals can be numbers, text strings, the Boolean values TRUE and FALSE, or the special value NIL. The following subsections describe each literal type.

Integer Literals

Integer values in VectorScript are represented as a sequence of digits with an optional minus sign prepending the sequence (for negative values).

 

3

-255

1000000

Floating-point Literals

Floating-point values may be represented using either the traditional decimal point notation or by using exponential (scientific) notation.

A floating-point value in decimal format is represented as:

An optional plus or minus sign, followed by

The integral part of the value, followed by

A decimal point and the fractional part of the number.

A floating-point value in exponential notation is represented as:

An optional plus or minus sign, followed by

The integral part of the value, followed by

A decimal point and the fractional part of the number, followed by

The letter e or E, followed by

An optional plus or minus sign, followed by

A one, two, or three digit integral exponent value. The preceding integral and fractional parts of the value are multiplied by the exponent.

 

3.1415927	6.02e23	.333333333
-3.267E-04	-0.004568	1.1414e-15

VectorScript also allows you to use dimensional notation with numeric literals and values, and will recognize common dimensional symbols for units such as feet, inches, or meters. See Units and Numeric Values in Scripts for details on how to use numeric literals with dimensional notation.

String Literals

Strings literals are any sequence of zero or more characters enclosed within single quotes. They are represented using the following rules:

Each literal must be enclosed in single quotes.

Constants may be written on multiple lines, but return characters will be converted to spaces.

Blanks, tabs, and carriage returns count as valid characters within literals.

The maximum length of a string literal is 255 characters.

A string literal with nothing between the quotes is assumed to be the null string.

To write a single quote within a string literal, use two consecutive single quotes in the literal statement.

 

'VectorScript'	'Nemetschek North America'
'Section A-A'	'Provide approx. 3’’ clearance'

Boolean Literals

Boolean literals in VectorScript represent a “truth value” (whether something is true or false). Most comparison operations in VectorScript yield a Boolean value that indicates whether the operation succeeded or failed. Since there are two possible truth states, there are two Boolean literals in VectorScript: the keywords TRUE and FALSE.

The NIL Literal

The last literal type in VectorScript is a specialized literal, the NIL literal. Other literals in VectorScript represent a particular type of data. The NIL literal is different—it represents a lack of value. In a sense, NIL is like zero for data types other than numbers. NIL is usually associated with the HANDLE data type, where its use indicates that no handle exists.