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def<type>   statement



Syntax
defsng  letter1 [-thruLtr1] [,letter2 [-thruLtr2]...]
defdbl  letter1 [-thruLtr1] [,letter2 [-thruLtr2]...]
defstr  letter1 [-thruLtr1] [,letter2 [-thruLtr2]...]
defint  letter1 [-thruLtr1] [,letter2 [-thruLtr2]...]
deflong letter1 [-thruLtr1] [,letter2 [-thruLtr2]...]


Description
A def<type> statement specifies the data type for subsequently occurring variables, arrays and record fields whose names begin with any of a specified set of letters. The def<type> statement only applies to variables, arrays and record fields whose types are not otherwise explicitly declared that means you can override the effect of a def<type> statement by putting a type-identifier suffix (like "%" or "&`") at the end of a name, or by declaring the name in a dim statement using an as clause.
Each of the letter and thruLtr parameters should be a letter of the alphabet. A def<type> statement applies to those simple variables, arrays and record fields whose names begin with letter1, letter2, etc. Whenever a thruLtr parameter is included, the statement also applies to names that start with any letter in the range between letter and thruLtr (inclusive). (For that reason, a thruLtr parameter should always occur later in the alphabet than the letter parameter it's paired with.)
def<type> statements are global in scope (that is, they apply to names declared both inside and outside of local functions). If you use def<type> statements within your program, they should appear near the top of your source code. In particular, if a def<type> statement appears farther down in the source than some variable, array or record field that it applies to, the results could be unpredictable.
def<type> statements are "non-executable," which implies that they should not appear within any kind of "conditional execution" block, such as for...next, if...end if, do...until, etc. (but they may be conditionally included or excluded if you put them inside a #if...#endif block).
The following table indicates the default type applied by each of the def<type> statements.
statement
default type
equivalent suffix
defsng
single precision
!
defdbl
double precision
#
defstr
string
$
defint
integer
%
deflong
long integer
&

See also
defstr long/word/byte; Appendix C - Data Types and Data Representation