READ Statement
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------


 Action

 Reads values from a  DATA statement and assigns the values to variables.


 Syntax


  READ  variablelist

 Remarks


 The argument  variablelist is a series of BASIC variables that receive the
 data from a  DATA statement. The variables are separated by commas and can
 be string or numeric. Only individual elements of a record variable can
 appear in a  READ statement.

 The following table describes what happens when you try to read data of one
 data type into a variable with a different data type.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 If you try to read       Into this.               The result is.
 If you try to read       Into this.               The result is.
 this.
 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 String value             Numeric variable         A run-time error.

 Numeric value            String variable          The value is stored as a
                                                   string of numerals (no
                                                   error is produced).

 Any numeric value        Integer variables        The value is rounded
                                                   before it is assigned to
                                                   the variable.

 Numeric value            A variable not large     A run-time error.
                          enough to handle the
                          numeric variable.

 String value             Fixed-length string      Truncated if the string
                          variables                is too long;
                                                   left-justified and
                                                   padded with blanks if
 If you try to read       Into this.               The result is.
 this.
                                                   padded with blanks if
                                                   the string is shorter
                                                   than the variable.





 Each variable in a  READ statement receives its value from some  DATA
 statement. Which value the variable receives depends on how many values have
 previously been read. The values of all  DATA statements in a module can be
 considered as a single list of values. Each value in this list is assigned
 in turn to the variables specified in  READ statements. It doesn't matter
 how many values are specified in a given  DATA statement or how many
 variables are specified in a  READ statement. If you attempt to read more
 values than are specified in all of the statements combined, BASIC generates
 the error message Out of data.

 Use the  RESTORE statement to reread  DATA statements.


 See Also

  DATA,  RESTORE


 Example


 The following example shows how you can use a  READ statement to assign
 values to the user-defined type Employee.

 TYPE Employee

    EmpName AS STRING * 35

    SocSec AS STRING * 11

    JobClass AS INTEGER

 END TYPE



 CLS                ' Clear screen.

 DIM ThisEmp AS Employee

 DATA "Julia Magruder","300-32-3403",3

 DATA "Amelie Reeves Troubetzkoy","777-29-3206",7



 ' Read first data input line and verify by printing data.

 READ ThisEmp.EmpName, ThisEmp.SocSec, ThisEmp.JobClass

 PRINT "Employee is "; ThisEmp.EmpName

 PRINT "Employee's social security number is "; ThisEmp.SocSec

 PRINT "Employee's job class is"; ThisEmp.JobClass

 PRINT' Print blank line



 ' Read second data input line and verify.

 READ ThisEmp.EmpName, ThisEmp.SocSec, ThisEmp.JobClass

 PRINT "Employee is "; ThisEmp.EmpName

 PRINT "Employee's social security number is "; ThisEmp.SocSec

 PRINT "Employee's job class is"; ThisEmp.JobClass



 Output





 Employee is Julia Magruder
 Employee's social security number is 300-32-3403
 Employee's job class is 3

 Employee is Amelie Reeves Troubetzkoy
 Employee's social security number is 777-29-3206
 Employee's job class is 7