Literals#

Literals are a way of directly putting raw data in your code.

Primitive Literals#

Primitive literals hold simple data of primitive data types.

Boolean#

Booleans only have 2 values, each of which has its own literal: true and false.

Numbers#

Name	Data Type	Prefix/Suffix	Range
Decimal Number	`int`/`float`		`-214748.3648` to `214748.3647`
Hexadecimal Number	`int`/`float`	`0x` prefix	`-0x346DC` to `0x346DC`
Binary Number	`int`/`float`	`0b` prefix or `b` suffix	`0b0` to `0b111111111111111111`
Octal Number	`int`/`float`	`0o` prefix or `o` suffix	`-0o643334` to `0o643334`
Long Decimal Number	`long`	`L` suffix	`-2147483648L` to `2147483647L`
Long Hexadecimal Number	`long`	`0x` prefix AND `L` suffix	`-0x80000000L` to `0x7FFFFFFFL`
Long Binary Number	`long`	`0b` prefix + `L` suffix OR `Lb`/`bL` suffix	`0b0L` to `0b11111111111111111111111111111111L`
Long Octal Number	`long`	`0o` prefix + `L` suffix OR `Lo`/`oL` suffix	`-0o20000000000L` to `0o17777777777L`

Note

If the integer portion of a number is 0, the leading 0 can be omitted (ex. .9 == 0.9). It can be easier to read if you put the 0 there, though.

Number Spacers#

Added in version 2.55.9.

You may place spacers _ between any 2 digits, which have no effect, but can help make the number more readable. Example:

150_000 == 150000
150_200_500L == 150200500L
0x10_FF == 0x10FF
0b1000_1000 == 0b10001000

Character Literals#

A character literal represents a single character value. It is represented as a single character, between two single-quotes (ex. 'a').

Additionally, escape characters can be used to insert special characters, including ' and \.

Complex Literals#

These literals represent more complex data. They may not be considered ‘compile-time constant’ in all circumstances.

String / Array Literals#

See string literals, array literals

Difference between String/Array ‘Literals’ and ‘Initializers’#

There is a distinction between an array with an initializer (which looks and acts effectively identical to a string literal), and a loose string/array literal that is not an initializer. Notably, a loose literal creates a temporary array, which will stop existing almost immediately. (These are useful, for example, in function call parameters, where they would stop existing after the whole call).

Escape Characters#

Some special characters must be escaped with a backwards slash followed by an escape character.

Character	Meaning
`\a`	Alert (Beep, Bell)
`\b`	Backspace
`\f`	Formfeed Page Break
`\n`	Newline (Line Feed)
`\r`	Carriage Return
`\t`	Horizontal Tab
`\v`	Vertical Tab
`\\` `\`	Backslash
`\'`	Single-quote
`\"`	Double-quote
`\?`	Question Mark
`\x00` to `\xFF`	Insert arbitrary hex character code