Chapter 1: Language Basics

Special ASCII characters

Description

You can include special ASCII characters in strings. For example, you might want to include a tab in a string to ensure proper spacing or a bullet to indicate a list item. The tilde character (~) introduces special characters. The tab is one of the common ASCII characters that can be entered by typing a tilde followed by a single keystroke. The bullet must be entered by typing a tilde followed by the decimal, hexadecimal, or octal ASCII value that represents it.

Syntax

Follow the guidelines in the following table.

**Table 1-2: Using special ASCII characters in strings**
In this category	To specify this	Enter this	More information
Common ASCII characters	Newline	~n
	Tab	~t
	Vertical tab	~v
	Carriage return	~r
	Form feed	~f
	Backspace	~b
	Double quote	~`"`
	Single quote	~`'`
	Tilde	~~
Any ASCII character	Decimal	~###	### = a 3-digit number from 000 to 255
	Hexadecimal	~h##	## = a 2-digit hexadecimal number from 01 to FF
	Octal	~o###	### = a 3-digit octal number from 000 to 377

Examples

Entering ASCII characters Here is how to use special characters in strings:

String	Description
"dog~n"	A string containing the word dog followed by a newline character
"dog~tcat~ttiger"	A string containing the word dog, a tab character, the word cat, another tab character, and the word tiger

Using decimal, hexadecimal, and octal values Here is how to indicate a bullet (•) in a string by using the decimal, hexadecimal, and octal ASCII values:

Value	Description
"~249"	The ASCII character with decimal value 249
"~hF9"	The ASCII character with hexadecimal value F9
"~o371"	The ASCII character with octal value 371

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