How to Read Syntax Diagrams and Statements

Office Basic statements use syntax diagrams and textual conventions that follow these typographical rules:

• Office Basic keywords or functions use proper casing: Call, DimArray, InputBox, Property.
• Lowercase characters indicate information to supply: end, expression, start, variable.

The syntax of a Office Basic one line statement is illustrated herewith:

Diagram example

• Basic statement diagrams start and end with double vertical bars,
• Loops indicate a possible repetition, an optional separator may be present,
• Rectangles denote subsequent diagram fragments,
• Diagram fragments extremities exhibit single vertical bars.

A set of Office Basic statements - with optional labels - is using a colon : sign to separate them, it can be terminated with an optional comment. REM or an apostrophe sign introduce a comment.

Textual example

• [opt1|opt2|opt3] Items inside brackets are optional, alternatives are indicated with a vertical bar,
• case[[sep]…] An ellipsis indicates a possible repetition, an optional separator may be specified,
• {choice1|choice2} Items inside curly braces are compulsory, alternatives are indicated with a vertical bar.

[ [label:] statement [: …] ] [{REM|'} text]

A set of Office Basic statements - with optional labels - is using a colon : sign to separate them, it can be terminated with an optional comment. REM or an apostrophe sign introduce a comment.

Example:

       Sub Main
           GoTo there ' skip first statement
           here: Print 1, : there: Print 2 REM explanatory text here
       End Sub
    

Related Topics

• GoTo Statement
• Print# Statement
• Rem Statement
• Sub Statement