Punctuators   mikroPascal PRO for PIC Language Reference > Lexical Elements > Tokens >

Punctuators

The mikroPascal PRO for PIC punctuators (also known as separators) are:

• [ ] – Brackets
• ( ) – Parentheses
• , – Comma
• ; – Semicolon
• : – Colon
• . – Dot

Brackets

Brackets [ ] indicate single and multidimensional array subscripts:

var alphabet : array[1..30] of byte;
// ...
alphabet[3] := 'c';

For more information, refer to Arrays.

Parentheses

Parentheses ( ) are used to group expressions, isolate conditional expressions and indicate function calls and function declarations:

d := c * (a + b);          // Override normal precedence
if (d = z) then ...        // Useful with conditional statements
func();                    // Function call, no arguments
function func2(n : word);  // Function declaration with parameters

For more information, refer to Operators Precedence and Associativity, Expressions and Functions and Procedures.

Comma

Comma (,) separates the arguments in function calls:

LCD_Out(1, 1, txt);

Furthermore, the comma separates identifiers in declarations:

var i, j, k : byte;

The comma also separates elements of array in initialization lists:

const MONTHS : array[1..12] of byte = (31,28,31,30,31,30,31,31,30,31,30,31);

Semicolon

Semicolon (;) is a statement terminator. Every statement in Pascal must be terminated with a semicolon. The exceptions are: the last (outer most) end statement in the program which is terminated with a dot and the last statement before end which doesn't need to be terminated with a semicolon.

For more information, see Statements.

Colon

Colon (:) is used in declarations to separate identifier list from type identifier. For example:

var
  i, j : byte;
  k    : word;

In the program, use the colon to indicate a labeled statement:

start:  nop;
  ...
goto start;

For more information, refer to Labels.

Dot

Dot (.) indicates an access to a field of a record. For example:

person.surname := 'Smith';

For more information, refer to Records.

Dot is a necessary part of floating point literals. Also, dot can be used for accessing individual bits of registers in mikroPascal.