- Rexx Basics
- A Simple Example
- Built-in and External Functions
- Instructions
- Power Through Simplicity
A Simple Example
Here’s an easy first example program to show what Rexx looks like:
/* GUESSING GAME -- try guessing the randomly-generated number */
do while end_this_game <> ’N’
the_number = random(1,5) /* generate the random number */
say "I’m thinking of a number between 1 and 5, what is it?"
pull your_guess
say "You entered: " your_guess
if your_guess = the_number then
say ’You guessed it! The number was: ’ the_number
else do
say ’Sorry, the number was: ’ the_number
say ’We should have bet on this!’
end
say ’Try again? [Y or N]: ’
pull end_this_game
end
You can see that Rexx requires absolutely minimal syntax. It’s a freeform language, so you can space between language elements and indent lines however you like. Rexx is also not case sensitive, so you can refer to a variable like end_this_game as End_This_Game or END_THIS_GAME. It doesn’t matter; Rexx treats it as the same variable.
Enclose comments between the delimiters (/* and */). Comments can reside on separate lines or appear on lines that contain executable statements. Comments can even span lines.
Variables don’t have to be initialized, as the first do while statement in the example shows. An uninitialized variable defaults to its name in uppercase, so in that first do while, the variable end_this_game contains the value END_THIS_GAME. The first time through the loop, the script continues because the literal value N is not equal to the string value END_THIS_GAME. Rexx features many such quick and convenient coding shortcuts—though, as when using any "power" language, you can always easily override any of those shortcuts.
In larger Rexx programs, you’ll probably want to initialize all variables (unlike the shortcut I took here). This is fine—Rexx is flexible. Rexx provides a mechanism to identify or trap the situation when you unintentionally refer to an uninitialized variable. This is called the novalue exception or condition. Rexx provides a number of exception conditions you can trap, as shown in Table 2.
Table 2 Exception Conditions You Can Trap
|
Exception Condition or Trap |
Use |
|
novalue |
Raised by references to uninitialized variables |
|
error |
Raised when a command issued to an external environment indicates an error upon return |
|
failure |
Raised when a command issued to an external environment fails |
|
halt |
Raised by an external interrupt to the script (such as Ctrl+C) |
|
notready |
Raised by an unready I/O device |
|
syntax |
Raised by a syntax or runtime error in the script |
|
lostdigits |
Raised when an arithmetic operation loses digits |
These exception conditions provide an easy way to divert the script to special routines coded to handle problems. (Rexx has other ways to manage errors too, of course.)
Notice that several of the conditions refer to errors that occur when your script issues commands to external environments (such as the operating system or other programming interfaces). Strong at manipulating strings, Rexx is especially useful for issuing commands to operating systems, and managing their results.