Variable expressions are used to perform arithmetic, string and boolean operations. Their syntax is similar to the syntax of most computer languages, and is modelled on C syntax. A simple example of this, is that when ${A + 2} is used, and the assigned variable A has the value '3', the result is 5.
Brackets can be used in these expressions, so (A+2)*3 would give a value of (3+2)*3 == 15, whereas A+2*3 would give a value of 9, because multiplication is performed before addition.
Note that there is no consitency in the associatity of ircII expressions, complex expressions MUST use brackets to force the correct evaluation. Even a simple "5 - 2 - 1" does not work as expected, as this is evaluated as "5 - (2 - 1)". This is a bug and may one day be fixed but don't count on it.
The common arithmetic operations (+, -, *, /) are all available. Additionally, there is a string concatenation operator (##). This treats both sides as strings and pastes them together. Thus if A is 3 and B is 7, "A##B" becomes "37", but "A+B" becomes 10.
The C-like increment (++) and decrement (--) operators are available. The expression "A++" is like "@A = A + 1".
You can also assign values to a variable in these expressions using the '=' operator. Thus if you have the expression "C = A+B", it will assign the value 10 to C. This has a number of affects. The most common case is the @ command, where you can enter this expression literally:
@ C = A + B
The '=' operator returns the value assigned. Thus you can extend this to:
@ D = C = A + B
Which will assign the value 10 to both C and D. In a $ expression, you might want to assign a value to a variable, and display it at the same time. Thus you might do the following:
echo The value of C is now ${C = A+B}
which would set C to 10 and display "The value of C is now 10".
Comparison operations also exist. These return 1 if the comparison is valid (true) and 0 if it is invalid (false). The comparison operations available are:
== (equal to)
> (greater than)
>= (greater than or equal to)
< (less than)
<= (less than or equal to)
!= (not equal to)
Thus, the following expressions would result in the following results: ( recall A = 3 and B = 7 )
A == B FALSE 0
A == 3 TRUE 1
A > 3 FALSE 0
A >= 3 TRUE 1
A != 3 TRUE 1
These expressions can be combined with || (OR), && (AND) and ^^ (XOR). So (A == 3) || (B==3) would be TRUE, and (A == 2) && (B == 7) would be FALSE. You can also negate expressions with ! (NOT), so !(A == 3) would be FALSE. These boolean expressions are used primarily in IF and WHILE.
A string expression is considered to be true if it is non empty. So if E has the value "word", then E || (A > 3) is true, because E has a non empty value, and !E is false.
Functions can also appear in expressions. The arguments to functions are evaluated as normal $ type expressions. Thus the following alias:
alias test echo ${ MID(3 2 $0) + 5) }
is executed with /test 123456, would give 34 (Two digits from position 3 in $0) + 5, giving 39. If the function returns another function name, that function name can be called with another set of brackets. Thus if you have the following set of aliases:
alias fptr
{
if ( [$0] )
{ @ function_return = func1 }
{ @ function_return = func2 }
}
alias func1 @ function_return = this is $0
alias func2 @ function_return = that is $0
alias check echo ${ fptr($0)($1) }
then /check 0 1 would print "that is 1", and /check 1 0 would print "this is 0".
Array expressions can also be used in this way. For example:
assign A.1.1 One One was a racehorse
assign A.1.2 Two Two was one too
assign A.2.1 One One won one race
assign A.2.2 Two Two won one too
alias rhyme echo ${ A[$0][$1] }
would cause /rhyme 2 1 to print "One One won one race".
Function and array expressions can be combined to give a form of pointer arithmetic like that seen in C. If a function RhymeNum exists as follows:
alias RhymeNum @ function_return = [A]
and rhyme is changed to:
alias rhyme echo ${ RhymeNum()[$0][$1] }
/rhyme 2 1 still prints "One One won one race". This is because RhymeNum returns A, and the expression then becomes A[$0][$1]. The $0 is expanded to 2, so it becomes A.2[$1], and the $1 is expanded to 1, so it becomes A.2.1, which is then substituted as a variable for "One One won one race". The reverse is also possible. For example, a robot might have the following:
alias thing.0 @ function_return = laughs his silly head off
alias thing.1 @ function_return = growls menacingly
alias thing.2 @ function_return = smiles like a crocodile
alias thing.3 @ function_return = wails uncontrollably
alias something SAY WereBot ${ thing[$RANDOM(4)]() }
Will cause WereBot to say that it's laughing itself silly, growling menacingly, smiling like a crocodile or wailing uncontrollably. Assuming RANDOM(4) results in a value of 2, This expands to thing.2(), which is then considered to be a function and substituted to "smiles like a crocodile", the end result being that WereBot will say "WereBot smiles like a crocodile".
Finally, there are occasions when you need to get back to the $ substitution level. This can be done by enclosing text to be used at this level in [..]. For example, [A] substitutes to a literal 'A', whereas A on its own substitutes to 3, and [$0] is needed to get argument 0, because 0 on its own is taken to be the number 0. Example:
alias something SAY WereBot ${ [$0][$RANDOM(4)]() }
will case /something thing to first expand [$0] to thing, giving thing[$RANDOM(4)](), and if $RANDOM(4) returns 1, this becomes thing.1(), which expands to "growls menacingly", and causes WereBot to say "WereBot growls menacingly".
The following is the parse tree for expressions such as those
NU_EXPR = NU_CONJ
NU_CONJ = NU_CONJ && NU_CONJ |
NU_CONJ || NU_CONJ |
NU_CONJ ^^ NU_CONJ |
NU_ASSN
NU_ASSN = varexp = NU_ASSN |
NU_COMP
NU_COMP = NU_COMP == NU_COMP |
NU_COMP != NU_COMP |
NU_COMP > NU_COMP |
NU_COMP >= NU_COMP |
NU_COMP < NU_COMP |
NU_COMP <= NU_COMP |
NU_ADD
NU_ADD = NU_ADD + NU_ADD |
NU_ADD - NU_ADD |
NU_ADD ## NU_ADD |
NU_MULT
NU_MULT = NU_MULT * NU_MULT |
NU_MULT / NU_MULT |
NU_UNIT
NU_UNIT = token NUX_MODIF |
unaryop token |
( NU_EXPR ) |
[ expression ] NUX_MODIF
NUX_MODIF = ( expression ) NUX_MODIF |
[ expression ] NUX_MODIF
Special cases: If a (...) or {...} construct is quoted with \(...\) or \{...\} then variable expansion will take place on the first available parse run. However, after parsed, the \'s are eaten. e.g.
alias bonk echo ($0) will return "($*)" regardless of
the argument to the alias. No expansion takes place. However, in
alias bonk echo \($0\)
expansion takes place as the special meaning of the () is taken
away by \. This will return "(arguments to bonk)".