Introduction › Built-in Functions

Built-in Functions

Built-in functions are special-purpose verbs that operate on one or more parameters to give a result in a target variable; therefore, built-in functions must be specified on the right of an assignment statement.

The following shows the general syntax for statements with built-in functions:

&target = &built-in &parm ... &parm

&target

Specifies the name of a variable that receives the result.

&built-in

Specifies the name of the built-in function invoked.

&parm

Represents one or more variables or values used as input parameters to the function.

Note: The precise syntax for the function is discussed for each function, if required.

Example: Built-in Functions

The following example shows the variable &C is the target of the &CONCAT built-in function, which concatenates the values of the two variables &A and &B, then puts result, ABCDEF, into &C.

&A = ABC 
&B = DEF 
&C = &CONCAT &A &B