In RLaB , variables can have names of any length containing most printable
characters including
{a…z, A…Z,}. You will observe
that we have to exclude special characters such as
+, -, *, /
and
the SPACE character. The actual assignment operator symbol is ``=''
and an assignment statement looks like
variable_name = expression_to_evaluate
and an example is
> radius=2 radius = 2 > circumference=2 * pi * radius circumference = 12.6
where a variable radius is created and initialised with the real value 2, and then a variable circumference is created and filled with the result of evaluating the right hand side of the equation. To see the value of either of these variables, just enter their name and RLaB will print their value. For a description of variable names, please read the help on VARIABLES.
As you have probably noticed by now, the result of each expression is
automatically printed to the screen. This feature can be controlled by
using the `;
' character. Terminating an expression with a
`;
' will suppress printing of the result. Likewise, terminating
an expression with the `?
' is an explicit way to force printing.