HP C/iX Reference Manual (31506-90011)

Chapter 2 29
Lexical Elements
Punctuators
Punctuators
A punctuator is a symbol that is necessary for the syntax of the C language, but performs
no runtime operation on data and produces no runtime result.
Syntax
punctuator := One selected from:
[](){}*,:=;#...
Description
Some punctuators are the same characters as operators. They are distinguished through
the context of their use.
Example
#include <stdio.h> /* # marks the processing directive "include" */
main() /* ( and ) mark the beginning and end of
argument list */
{ /* { marks the beginning of a block */
printf("\nHello world\n"); /* ; marks the end of a statement */
} /* } marks the end of a block */