Atari XL

Programming
27
numbers or letters to be given to a program while it
is running. The first of these is INPUrr.
When the computer finds an INIlUl' statement in
a program, a question mark is displayed on the
screen. The computer waits for you to type in a
number or letter string, which it will then store as
a variable before continuing with the rest of the
program. Type NE W (RETURN) to delete any
program currently in the computer's memory and
then try this example:
10 INPUT NUMBER
20 PRINT NUMBER
When you RUN this program you will see a
question mark on the screen. Type a number and
press RETURN: the number is printed.
The INPUT instruction can handle strings too, if
you specify a string variable in the INPUT
command:
10 DIM NAME$(20)
20 INPUT NAME$
30 PRINT NAME$
This program will accept both numbers and letters
and store them as a string variable. Pressing
RETURN enters a null string but this time nothing
is displayed.
It is possible to use one INPUT command to input
two or more numbers or strings.
10 DIM NAME$(20)
20 INPUT NAME$, AGE
30 PRINT NAME$
40 PRINT AGE