Terminator
An EQUEL/C statement does not need a statement terminator. It is conventional not to use a statement terminator in EQUEL statements. However, you can use the C statement terminator, the semicolon (;), at the end of EQUEL statements because the preprocessor ignores it.
For example, the preprocessor considers the following two statements as the same:
## sleep 1
and
## sleep 1;
EQUEL statements that are made up of a few other statements, such as a display loop, only allow a semicolon after the last statement. For example:
## display empform /* No semicolon here */
## initialize /* No semicolon here */
## activate menuitem "Help" /* No semicolon here */
## {
## message "No help yet"; /* Semicolon allowed */
## sleep 2; /* Semicolon allowed */
## }
## finalize; /* Semicolon allowed on last statement */
When using a retrieve loop, place a semicolon after the retrieve statement to disassociate the loop code inside the braces from the retrieve statement itself. Variable declarations made visible to EQUEL follow the normal C declaration syntax. Thus, you must terminate variable declarations in the normal way for C, with a semicolon.
Last modified date: 08/28/2024