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In computer science, a literal is a textual representation (notation) of a value as it is written in source code. [1] [2] Almost all programming languages have notations for atomic values such as integers, floating-point numbers, and strings, and usually for Booleans and characters; some also have notations for elements of enumerated types and compound values such as arrays, records, and objects.
A string literal or anonymous string is a literal for a string value in the source code of a computer program. Modern programming languages commonly use a quoted sequence of characters, formally "bracketed delimiters", as in x = "foo", where , "foo" is a string literal with value foo. Methods such as escape sequences can be used to avoid the ...
var x1 = 0; // A global variable, because it is not in any function let x2 = 0; // Also global, this time because it is not in any block function f {var z = 'foxes', r = 'birds'; // 2 local variables m = 'fish'; // global, because it wasn't declared anywhere before function child {var r = 'monkeys'; // This variable is local and does not affect the "birds" r of the parent function. z ...
COBOL uses the STRING statement to concatenate string variables. MATLAB and Octave use the syntax "[x y]" to concatenate x and y. Visual Basic and Visual Basic .NET can also use the "+" sign but at the risk of ambiguity if a string representing a number and a number are together. Microsoft Excel allows both "&" and the function "=CONCATENATE(X,Y)".
In the program's source code, this message would likely appear as a string literal. User-entered text, like "I got a new job today" as a status update on a social media service. Instead of a string literal, the software would likely store this string in a database. Alphabetical data, like "AGATGCCGT" representing nucleic acid sequences of DNA. [3]
[3] Dynamically valued constants originated as a language feature with ALGOL 68. [3] Studies of Ada and C++ code have shown that dynamically valued constants are used infrequently, typically for 1% or less of objects, when they could be used much more, as some 40–50% of local, non-class objects are actually invariant once created.
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Two types of literal expression are usually offered: one with interpolation enabled, the other without. Non-interpolated strings may also escape sequences, in which case they are termed a raw string, though in other cases this is separate, yielding three classes of raw string, non-interpolated (but escaped) string, interpolated (and escaped) string.