Literals

Symbols

Symbols are strings of Unicode characters, except for the prohibited characters described below.

Before they are used, symbols are normalized to the Unicode Normalization Form Canonical Composition (NFC). They are stored internally and compared using the NFC.

These 6 expressions represent the same symbol: once the escape sequences are resolved and after applying the Unicode NFC, the symbol name is the single Unicode character U+00C5 LATIN CAPITAL LETTER A WITH RING ABOVE.

`Å`
`\u00c5`
`\u212b`
`A\u030a`
`\u0041\u030a`

Prohibited Symbol Characters

The name of a symbol cannot contain any of the following characters:

  • U+0000 to U+0020
  • U+0022 QUOTATION MARK: "
  • U+0060 GRAVE ACCENT backtick : `
  • U+2028 LINE SEPARATOR
  • U+2029 PARAGRAPH SEPARATOR
  • U+FEFF BYTE ORDER MARK
  • U+FFFE Invalid Byte Order Mark

In addition, the first character of a symbol cannot be:

  • U+0021 EXCLAMATION MARK : !
  • U+0023 NUMBER SIGN : #
  • U+0024 DOLLAR SIGN : $
  • U+0025 PERCENT : %
  • U+0026 AMPERSAND : &
  • U+0027 APOSTROPHE : '
  • U+0028 LEFT PARENTHESIS : (
  • U+0029 RIGHT PARENTHESIS : )
  • U+002E FULL STOP : '
  • U+003A COLON : :
  • U+003C LESS THAN SIGN : :
  • U+003F QUESTION MARK : ?
  • U+0040 COMMERCIAL AT : @
  • U+005B LEFT SQUARE BRACKET : [
  • U+005D RIGHT SQUARE BRACKET : ]
  • U+005E CIRCUMFLEX ACCENT : ^
  • U+007B LEFT CURLY BRACKET : {
  • U+007D RIGHT CURLY BRACKET : }
  • U+007E TILDE : ~

Verbatim Form

The Verbatim Form must be used if:

  • the first character of the symbol name is a decimal digit: U+0030 to U+0039 (0-9) or U+FF10 to U+FF19 (FULLWIDTH DIGIT ZERO to FULLWIDTH DIGIT NINE)

  • the symbol name includes a character with the White_Space or the Pattern_Syntax Unicode property

    Characters with the White_Space property include:

    • U+0020 SPACE
    • U+0009 HORIZONTAL TABULATION
    • U+000D CARRIAGE RETURN
    • U+000A LINE FEED

    Characters with the Pattern_Syntax property include: !"#$%&'()*+,-./:;>=<?@[\\]^|{}~.

    See the Unicode Character Database for a complete list of the characters with the White_Space or Pattern_Syntax property.

  • the symbol name is a reserved word

    Reserved words are: abstract, at, and, as, assert, await, begin, break, case, catch,class, const, continue,debugger, default, delete, dynamic, do, each, else, end, export, extern, finally, for, from, function, get, global, goto, if, in, inline, interface, internal, import, label, lazy, local, loop, match, module, namespace, native, new, not, of, on, optional, or, package, private, protected, protocol, public, repeat, return, self, set, static, super, switch, this, throw, to, try, until, using, var, warn, when, where, while, with, xor, yield.

To write a symbol with the Verbatim Form , put a backtick ` (U+0060 GRAVE ACCENT) before and after its name.

The string between the two backticks can be a reserved word or it can include characters with the Pattern_Syntax property or the White_Space property, except for prohibited symbol characters.

The string between the two ticks can include the same escape character sequences as in a string.

The following characters must be escaped: U+000A LINE FEED, U+000D CARRIAGE RETURN, U+2028 LINE SEPARATOR, U+2029 PARAGRAPH SEPARATOR.

`Hello World`
`new`
`\u{2135}0`  // same as `ℵ0` (Alef symbol)
`\u21350`  // same as `ℵ0` (Alef symbol)

Numbers

Numbers can be written as:

  • A decimal number, with no prefix
  • A binary number, with a 0b prefix
  • A hexadecimal number, with a 0x prefix

Decimal digits include U+0030 to U+0039 (0-9) and U+FF10 to U+FF19 (FULLWIDTH DIGIT ZERO to FULLWIDTH DIGIT NINE).

Hexadecimal digits include decimal digits and a to f and A to F.

Decimal floating point numbers can include an exponent indicated by an uppercase or lowercase letter e. This exponent is a power of 10. The value of the exponent is a decimal integer.

Hexadecimal floats must have an exponent, indicated by an uppercase or lowercase p. This exponent is a power of 2. The value of the exponent is a decimal integer.

  • 1.25e2 means $$1.25 \times 10^2$$, or $$125.0$$.
  • 1.25e-2 means $$1.25 \times 10^{-2}$$, or $$0.0125$$.
  • 0xFp2 means $$15 \times 2^2$$, or $$60.0$$.
  • 0xFp-2 means $$15 \times 2^{-2}$$, or $$3.75$$.

The hexadecimal float format is documented in the C99 standard (p.57-58).

Numeric literals can contain extra formatting to make them easier to read. Both integers and floats can be padded with extra zeros and can contain underscores to help with readability. Neither type of formatting affects the underlying value of the literal.

+03.14_15_92_65

Strings

Single Line String

A single-line string is delimited by a " character (U+0022 QUOTATION MARK).

A single-line string cannot include an unescaped " (U+0022 QUOTATION MARK), an unescaped backslash \ (U+005C REVERSE SOLIDUS), or an unescaped new line character (U+00A LINE FEED, U+00D CARRIAGE RETURN, U+2028 LINE SEPARATOR or U+2029 PARAGRAPH SEPARATOR).

Escape Sequence

Inside a string, backslash \ (U+005C REVERSE SOLIDUS) is the escape character:

  • \0 is the NULL character (U+0000)
  • \\ is a backslash character
  • \' is a single quote character
  • \" is a quotation mark
  • \t is a tab character
  • \n is a line feed character
  • \r is a carriage return character
  • \u0061 is the Unicode character U+0061 LATIN SMALL LETTER A. In this form, the \u must be followed by exactly 4 hex-digits.
  • \u{61} is the Unicode character U+0061 LATIN SMALL LETTER A. In this form, a string of 0 to 8 hex-digits must be included between \u{ and `}.

Multi-line String Literals

A multiline string is delimited by """ (three quotation marks).

cortex = """
      ,ad8888ba,
    d8"'    `"8b                             ,d
    d8'                                       88
    88              ,adPPYba,   8b,dPPYba,  MM88MMM   ,adPPYba,  8b,     ,d8
    88             a8"     "8a  88P'   "Y8    88     a8P_____88   `Y8, ,8P'
    Y8,            8b       d8  88            88     8PP"""""""     )888(
    Y8a.    .a8P  "8a,   ,a8"  88            88,    "8b,   ,aa   ,d8" "8b,
      `"Y8888Y"'    `"YbbdP"'   88            "Y888   `"Ybbd8"'  8P'     `Y8
    """

A multiline string can contain " or new line characters. It can’t contain an unescaped sequence of """.

Anything after the """ that begins the multiline string literal and before the end of the line is ignored. The line break after the """ isn’t part of the string.

The line break before the """ that ends the literal is also not part of the string. To make a multiline string literal that begins or ends with a line feed, write a blank line as its first or last line.

A multiline string literal can be indented using any combination of spaces and tabs; this indentation isn’t included in the string. The """ that ends the literal determines the indentation: Every nonblank line in the literal must begin with exactly the same indentation that appears before the closing """; there’s no conversion between tabs and spaces. You can include additional spaces and tabs after that indentation; those spaces and tabs appear in the string.

Line breaks in a multiline string literal are normalized to use the line feed character. Even if your source file has a mix of carriage returns and line feeds, all of the line breaks in the string will be the same.

If a line of a multiline string ends with a \ character, the next line is considered a continuation and the string will include neither the \ nor the new line characters. Any whitespace between the backslash and the line break is also omitted.This can come in handy when using a very long string.

hello = "Hello \
World"  // Same as "Hello World"

hello2 = """
Hello
World
""" // Same as "Hello\nWorld"

hello3 = """
    Hello
    World
    """ // Same as "Hello\nWorld"

If there is some whitespace before the final """, this whitespace will be excluded from all the lines before it.

Interpolated Strings

A single-line string or a multiline string can include interpolated expressions that are indicated by an expression in parentheses after a backslash (U+005C REVERSE SOLIDUS). The interpolated expression can contain a string literal, but can’t contain an unescaped backslash, or a new line character (U+000A LINE FEED, U+000D CARRIAGE RETURN, U+2028 LINE SEPARATOR, U+2029 PARAGRAPH SEPARATOR)

"1 2 3"
"1 2 \("3")"
"1 2 \(3)"
"1 2 \(1 + 2)"

Extended String Literal

A string literal which contains no escape sequences is delimited by one or more ‘#’ and a quotation mark.

#"There is no escaping now"#
#"Using "quotation marks" and \ without escaping"#
##"As many # as one needs"##

These string as useful for string containing characters such as quotation mark or backslash that would otherwise need to be escaped, leading to the Leaning Tootpick Syndrome.