SIMSCRIPT II.5 Programming Language

Programming Language Concepts
write X as /, "The Buffer Contains", I 3, " Characters"
empties the buffer and inserts the characters "The Buffer Contains" in character positions 1
through 19, the value of X in positions 20 through 22, and the characters "Characters" in positions
23 through 33. Assuming a buffer length of 132, the buffer could be edited, for example, so that
blank positions in the text, indicated here by underscores, are replaced by periods, by the statements:
for I = 1 to 131,
until out.f(I)="_" and out.f(I+1)="_"
do
if out.f(I) = "_"
let out.f(I) = "."
always
loop
Wcolumn.v points to the last character written into the buffer, so the loop condition could be written:
for I = 1 to wcolumn.v,
do
If numbers representing dollar amounts are written, dollar signs ($) can be put before the first digit
of each number in a similar way:
for I = 1 to wcolumn.v,
do
if out.f(I) = "_" and out.f(I+1) ne "_"
let out.f(I) = "$"
always
loop
A special internal buffer called the buffer may be used for data editing using read and write
statements. The length of this special buffer is specified by setting a system global variable,
buffer.v, before its first use. If buffer.v is not set, it is assigned a default value of 132. Input
or output operations are directed to use the buffer in the usual way:
and
use the buffer for input
use the buffer for output
or the statements:
and
write variable list as format list using the buffer
read variable list as format list using the buffer
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