1.10.4.6. Operator Characters

The characters + - \ / % * | & = ¬ > < and the sequences

>=  <=  \>  \<  \=  ><  <>  ==  \==  //  &&
||  ** ¬>  ¬<  ¬=  ¬==  >>  <<  >>=  \<<
¬<<  \>> ¬>>  <<=

indicate operations (see Section 1.11.2, “Operators”). A few of these are also used in parsing templates, and the equal sign and the sequences += -= *= /= %= //= ||= &= |= &&= **= are also used to indicate assignment. Whitespace characters and standard Rexx comments adjacent to operator characters and within operator character sequences are ignored. Therefore, the following are identical in meaning:

Example 1.14. White space and numbers

345>=123
345 >=123
345 >= 123
345 > = 123
345 >/*not smaller*/ = 123

Some of these characters (and some special characters—see the next section) might not be available in all character sets. In this case, appropriate translations can be used. In particular, the vertical bar (|) is often shown as a split vertical bar (¦).

Note

The Rexx interpreter uses ASCII character 124 in the concatenation operator and as the logical OR operator. Depending on the code page or keyboard for your particular country, ASCII 124 can be shown as a solid vertical bar ( | ) or a split vertical bar ( ¦ ). The character on the screen might not match the character engraved on the key. If you receive error 13, Invalid character in program, on an instruction including a vertical bar character, make sure this character is ASCII 124.

Throughout the language, the NOT (¬) character is synonymous with the backslash (\). You can use the two characters interchangeably according to availability and personal preference.

The Rexx interpreter recognizes both ASCII character 170 ('AA'x) and ASCII character 172 ('AC'x) for the logical NOT operator. Depending on your country, the ¬ might not appear on your keyboard. If the character is not available, you can use the backslash (\) in place of ¬.