General Rules

Comments

Comments are marked by ;. All text entered after ; is ignored by the compiler.

Example:

  If a = 10 ; This is a comment to indicate something.

Keywords

All keywords are used for general things inside PureBasic, like creating arrays (Dim) or lists (NewList), or controlling the program flow (If : Else : EndIf). They are not followed by the brackets '()', which are typically for PureBasic functions.

Example:

    If a = 1      ; If, Else and EndIf are keywords; while 'a = 1'
      ...         ; is a variable used inside an expression.
    Else
      ...
    EndIf

Keywords are regularly described in the chapters on the left side of the index page in the reference manual.

Functions

All functions must be followed by a ( or else it will not be considered as a function, (even for null parameter functions).

Example:

    EventWindow() ; it is a function.
    EventWindow   ; it is a variable.

Functions are regularly included in the PureBasic "Command libraries", described on the right side of the index page in the reference manual.

Constants

All constants are preceded by #. They can only be declared once in the source and always keep their predefined values. (The compiler replaces all constant names with their corresponding values when compiling the executable.)

Example:

  #Hello = 10 ; it is a constant.
  Hello  = 10 ; it is a variable.

Labels

All labels must be followed by a : (colon). Label names may not contain any operators (+,-,...) as well special characters (ß,ä,ö,ü,...).

Example:

  I_am_a_label:

Expressions

An expression is something which can be evaluated. An expression can mix any variables, constants, or functions, of the same type. When you use numbers in an expression, you can add the Keyword $ sign in front of it to mean a hexadecimal number, or a Keyword % sign sign to mean a binary number. Without either of those, the number will be treated as decimal. Strings must be enclosed by inverted commas.

Example:

  a = a + 1 + (12 * 3)

  a = a + WindowHeight(#Window) + b/2 + #MyConstant

  If a <> 12 + 2
    b + 2 >= c + 3
  EndIf

  a$ = b$ + "this is a string value" + c$

  Foo = Foo + $69 / %1001  ; Hexadecimal and binary number usage

Concatenation of commands

Any number of commands can be added to the same line by using the : option.

Example:

  If IsCrazy = 0 : MessageRequester("Info", "Not Crazy") : Else : MessageRequester("Info", "Crazy") : EndIf

Typical words in this manual

Words used in this manual:

<variable> : a basic variable.
<expression> : an expression as explained above.
<constant> : a numeric constant.
<label> : a program label.
<type> : any type, (standard or structured).

Others

- In this guide, all topics are listed in alphabetical order to decrease any search time.

- Return values of commands are always Integer if no other type is specified in the Syntax line of the command description.