Special Character $

PML Customisation User Guide

General Features of PML : Special Character $

The $ character has a special meaning in PML. It is an escape character, which means that together with the character which follows it are treated as a special instruction to PML.

The pair of characters beginning with $ is known as an escape sequence. $P is a commonly encountered example, which is used to output a message to the screen:

$P This text will be output to the screen

A number of other escape sequences will be described later in this manual. The important point to note here that if you need the dollar character itself as part of a command, you will need to double it:

As the last character on a line, $ means that the next line is a continuation line.

For example:

$P This is an example of a much longer message that will be $

output to the screen

The PML variable following the ! (or !!) is expanded as a string by using its own .STRING() method.

Note:

Real values are automatically expanded with any unit qualifier appended if the value is a physical quantity. This is useful on $P lines or converting real values to strings in commands.

Note:

In PML 2 code it is rarely necessary to use $! to convert a variable to a string value. There are string methods that can be used to convert a value to a string. Debugging PML 2 code is easier if $! is avoided.

$newline

command continues on next line without being automatically closed.

$M/filename

execute a text file as a sequence of commands or an input macro. Named using its filename or pathname.