Home
CBM
  ASCII-X
  BASIC
    Disk Commands
    Enter RUN mode
    Program Format
    Secret Variables
    Variable Format
    Expressions
    Keywords
      (divide)
      (equal)
      (less)
      (minus)
      (more)
      (multiply)
      (plus)
      (power)
      Abs
      And
      Append
      Asc
      Atn
      Auto
      Backup
      Bank
      Begin
      Bend
      Bload
      Boot
      Box
      Bsave
      Bump
      Catalog
      Char
      Chr
      Circle
      Close
      Clr
      Cmd
      Collect
      Collision
      Color
      Concat
      Cont
      Copy
      Cos
      Data
      Dclear
      Dclose
      Dec
      Def
      Delete
      Dim
      Directory
      Dispose
      Dload
      Do
      Dopen
      Draw
      Ds
      Ds string
      Dsave
      Dverify
      El
      Else
      End
      Envelope
      Er
      Err
      Exit
      Exp
      Fast
      Fetch
      Filter
      Fn
      For
      Fre
      Get
      Get num
      Getkey
      Go
      Gosub
      Goto
      Graphic
      Gshape
      Header
      Help
      Hex
      If
      Input
      Input num
      Instr
      Int
      Joy
      Key
      Left
      Len
      Let
      List
      Load
      Locate
      Log
      Loop
      Mid
      Monitor
      Movspr
      New
      Next
      Not
      Off
      On
      Open
      Or
      Paint
      Peek
      Pen
      Pi
      Play
      Pointer
      Poke
      Pos
      Pot
      Print
      Print num
      Pudef
      Quit
      Rclr
      Rdot
      Read
      Record
      Rem
      Rename
      Renumber
      Restore
      Resume
      Return
      Rgr
      Right
      Rlum
      Rnd
      Rreg
      Rspcolor
      Rsppos
      Rsprite
      Run
      Rwindow
      Save
      Scale
      Scnclr
      Scratch
      Sgn
      Sin
      Sleep
      Slow
      Sound
      Spc
      Sprcolor
      Sprdef
      Sprite
      Sprsav
      Sqr
      Sshape
      St
      Stash
      Step
      Stop
      Str
      Swap
      Sys
      Tab
      Tan
      Tempo
      Then
      Ti
      Ti string
      To
      Trap
      Troff
      Tron
      Until
      Using
      Usr
      Val
      Verify
      Vol
      Wait
      While
      Width
      Window
      Xor
    Syntax
    Tokens
  C128
  D64plus
  Disk
  Escape Codes
  Hardware
  PCxface
  PETSCII
  Pet2asc
Futurama
IBM PC-AT
Contact
Games
Glossary
Hall of fame
Hall of shame
Miscellaneous
Privacy policy
Programming
Twisty puzzles
KeywordAbbreviationToken (hex)Version(s)Classification
BENDBE{Shift+N}FE 197.0Command**, Preposition, and Statement**

 Syntax 
IF condition GOTO lineNumTrue THEN [ lineNumTrue | BEGIN ] } [ statementT ] [ : statementT ] ...
[ statementT : ] ... BEND junk1 ] [ : ELSE lineNumFalse BEGIN ] [ statementF ] [ : statementF ] ...
[ statementF : ] ... BEND junk2 ] ]
 
ParametersTypeLegal Value(s)Default ValueNote(s)
conditionBoolean  all numeric 
lineNumTrue
Unsigned integer
0 ~ 63999
Must be a literal number
Branched to when condition is true (not 0)
statementT
Command or Statementall*
Must be valid in current direct/RUN mode
Executed when condition is true (not 0)
junk1
Literal character(s)
any but colon (:)
ignored; similar to DATA
lineNumFalse
Unsigned integer
0 ~ 63999
Only valid in v3.5, 4.7, and 7.0
Must be a literal number.
Branched to when condition is false (0)
statementF
Command or Statement
all* 
Only valid in v3.5, 4.7, and 7.0
Must be valid in current direct/RUN mode
Executed when condition is false (0)
junk2
Literal character(s)
all
ignored; just like REM

 
 Purpose 
Program formatting.  Allow conditional clause(s) to span multiple program lines.

 
 Remarks 
Although the syntax shown above is rather complex, BEND is very simple.  It should appear at the end of any conditional clause (the statment(s) after THEN or ELSE) which started with the BEGIN keyword.  So it is very similar to RETURN which ends a subroutine (but the stack isn't normally used).  The BEGIN/BEND surround the clause(s) to allow conditional statements to span multiple lines.  Without BEGIN/BEND, the entire IF/THEN/ELSE construct must fit on a single line. 
 
In BASIC versions prior to 7.0 (i.e., with no BEGIN/BEND), there were two (or three) alternatives when a clause had too many statements to fit on a single line: 
  1. use GOTO statements to branch over the "wrong" case,
  2. or use GOSUB to call the block of statments,
  3. or a combination of the two.
Failure to include BEND will silently succeed when IF happens to be processing the clause that includes a lonely BEGIN; but when IF processes the opposite case, you will generate a BEND NOT FOUND ERROR.  Err, kind of hard to explain in words, so see the examples below!
 
* The selected command/statement must be valid for the current Interpreter mode (Direct Mode or Run Mode, per the current state of the BASIC Interpreter).
 
The BEND at the end of the THEN clause (i.e., before an ELSE, if any) may be followed by any junk characters except a colon (:).  This is because BEND is implemented using the code of DATA (although no values following BEND can be READ), in otherwords, BEND acts like REM, but another statment may appear on the line (REM does not allow that).  Anyway, at the end of a THEN clause, BASIC will check what (if anything) follows the colon after BEND (it is looking for ELSE).
 
The BEND at the end of an ELSE clause is effectively just like REM because BASIC will not search for another colon (:), but in general simply continue with the next line in the program.  Thus junk2 may be any sequence of characters, in general.  Note however that with nested IF/THEN/ELSE, BASIC may still be searching for a BEND after this one is found.  In which case junk2 should not include the keywords BEGIN/BEND.
 
BEGIN/BEND allows real nesting of IF/THEN/ELSE statments (it is broken otherwise, see ELSE).  Beware that BASIC does not impose any limits on the depth of nesting which can cause the system to mysteriously crash. In detail, when BEGIN is found while BEND is being sought, BASIC will recursively call "find BEND" which uses 2 bytes of the CPU stack but no test is ever made to see if space is available on the CPU stack.
 
** Using BEND like a command or statement (instead of an IF/THEN/ELSE preposition) will act like REM.  This serves little purpose other than making lame jokes or code obfusication.
  
Example 1:
NEW

READY.
10 X=1 : IF X=1 THEN BEGIN
20 : PRINT "TRUE" : X = 2 : BEND : ELSE PRINT "FALSE" : X = 0
30 PRINT X
RUN
TRUE 2

READY.
NEW : REM demonstrate 'safe' omission of BEND (line 20)

READY.
10 X=1 : IF X=1 THEN BEGIN
20 : PRINT "TRUE" : X = 2 : ELSE PRINT "FALSE" : X = 0
30 PRINT X
RUN
TRUE 2

READY.
NEW : REM demonstrate 'bad' omission of BEND (line 20)

READY.
10 X=99 : IF X=1 THEN BEGIN
20 : PRINT "TRUE" : X = 2 : ELSE PRINT "FALSE" : X = 0
30 PRINT X
RUN
?BEND NOT FOUND ERROR IN 30

READY.
REM demonstrate BEND as REM

READY.
BENDER IS A 6502-BASED ANDROID Y3K

READY.
  
Example 2 is for BASIC v1.0 and v2.x which lack ELSE and BEING/BEND:
NEW

READY.
10 X=1 : IF X=1 THEN PRINT "TRUE" : X=2 : GOTO 30 :REM THEN clause + GOTO to skip ELSE clause
20 PRINT "FALSE" : X = 0 : REM the ELSE clause
30 PRINT X
RUN
TRUE 2

READY.
NEW

READY.
10 X=1 : IF X=1 THEN GOSUB 100 : GOTO 30 :REM call THEN clause + Skip ELSE clause
20 PRINT "FALSE" : X = 0 : REM the ELSE clause
30 PRINT X : END
100 PRINT "TRUE" : X=2 : RETURN
RUN
TRUE 2

READY.
 
 See Also 
 
 Compare With 

© H2Obsession, 2014