Document Templates : Principles of DGL : DGL Syntax Rules

DGL Syntax Rules

DGL, like most programming languages, has a particular syntax that must be obeyed. The full syntax of each DGL statement is given in DGL Statement Reference. A more formal DGL syntax, written in BNF, is provided in BNF Syntax.

The following is a list of general syntax rules that apply to all DGL statements:

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DGL is not case sensitive. The exception to this rule is literal strings (inside apostrophe marks). These are utilized exactly as they appear in the template.
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DGL has a set of reserved words and syntactical constructs. Each of these has a special meaning and can be used only in the context for which it has been designed. The DGL reserved words are listed in DGL Reserved Words.
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An identifier (a name you assign to an object for identification purposes) can be any string, beginning with a letter and consisting of any of the following characters: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, _. Reserved words may not be used as identifiers.
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Literal strings may be assigned by enclosing them within apostrophe marks (). Any character sequence can be used inside literal strings.
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Comments are preceded by a double dash (--) symbol. This symbol can be placed anywhere in the line except within a literal string. After the comment symbol, all other characters on the line are ignored.
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