Note the Abbreviation is literaly a question mark (?).

 

PRINT [ { , | ; } ] ... [ { expression | TAB(n) | SPC(n) } [ { , | ; } [ { expression | TAB(n) | SPC(n) } ] ] ... ]

 

 

Print an expression(s) to the current output device.

 

PRINT is pretty versatile; it will accept any number or type of expressions. The number of expressions is limited only by the length of a BASIC program line; you may have zero expressions.  Each expression may be of numeric or string type; each may be a literal value (e.g., the number 7 or the string "hello"), a variable, a simple function (such as ABS(X) or STR$(X)), or a "BASIC forumula" (which includes actual mathematical forumulas, such as 2*X+1, and so-called "string formulas" like A$+CHR$(X)).

 

Besides printing an expression, you may also "print" spaces (code 32) with the SPC(n) preposition or "cursor right"(s) (code 29) with the TAB(n) preposition.  If the value of n is not legal (see above) then an ILLEGAL QUANTITY ERROR is generated.  The SPC preposition will add n spaces after the last expression (if any).  The TAB preposition will add enough "cursor rights" so that the resulting column equals (0-based) column n; if the output has already exceeded column n then no "cursror rights" are output.  Note the TAB preposition works well with the screen (because the system always knows the on-screen cursor position) but is unreliable when sending to another device...

 

By default, PRINT sends its output to the active display screen (the C128 has two display screens and one is active; all other CBMs only have one screen which is always active).  Output may be redirected to other devices; see CMD.

 

The optional comma (,) will seperate surrounding expressions by a "virtual tab stop" which occurs once every 10 columns.  Note most CBM machines do not have Tab stops on the display screen; the C128 does have Tab stops (which may be defined anywhere) but they are ignored by PRINT (it always uses the 10-column rule).  If a PRINT statement ends with a comma, the output is set to the next "virtual tab stop" and no "new line" (see below) is sent to the output device.

 

The optional semicolon (;) will not separate surrounding expressions; the will "run together".  This is obvious with strings (see examples), but most numerical expressions will appear separated because PRINT will include a trailing space behind each number, and positive numbers (which are very common) will have a leading space.  (See STR$ for details about how BASIC formats numeric values.)  I hate to complicate things, but (contrary to the Syntax shown above) BASIC will often allow you to omit a semicolon with the same effect as including one between two expressions; this is possible when there is no ambiguity between two expressions.  To be nagative, this makes for hard-to-read (sloppy) code, but on the positive side this feature allows programs to be more compact (thus less memory use and faster execution).  Anyway, if a PRINT statement ends with a semicolon, the output position is not changed; that is, no "new line" (see below) is sent to the output device.

 

If the statement does not end with one of the two optional punctuation marks (a comma or semicolon), then PRINT will end by sending a "new line" to the output device.  By default, this is a terminating carriage return (code 13).  Under some cases (see OPEN) it may also send a terminating line feed (code 10).

 

Some versions of BASIC (those > 2) allow a USING clause which allows for further customization of how each expression is generated.

 

PRINT itself cannot generate an error, however any invalid expression will generate an error (for example SYNTAX ERROR, or TYPE MISMATCH ERROR); this also applies to the n parameter of the SPC and TAB prepositions.

 

When printing to the screen (the default case), a huge number of secret variables may be changed by "printing" control codes; see the ASCII-X or PETSCII page for a list of many of those codes.

  

Examples:

?29+35
 64  

READY.
10 PRINT "HELLO",
20 PRINT "WORLD"
RUN
HELLO     WORLD

READY.
NEW

READY.
10 PRINT "HELLO";
20 PRINT "WORLD"
RUN
HELLOWORLD

READY.
NEW

READY.
10 PRINT "HELLO"
20 PRINT "WORLD"
RUN
HELLO
WORLD

READY.
NEW

READY.
10 PRINT "HELLO" TAB(8);  :REM no punctuation (implied ;) between HELLO & TAB
20 PRINT "WORLD"
RUN
HELLO   WORLD           note HELLO at column 0, WORLD at column 8

READY.

 

CHAR, CMD, PRINT#