HP C/iX Reference Manual (31506-90011)

10 Chapter2
Lexical Elements
Description
Description
The compiler combines input characters together to form the longest token possible when
collecting characters into tokens. For example, the sequence integer is interpreted as a
single identifier rather than the reserved keyword int followed by the identifier eger.
A token cannot exceed 509 characters in length. Consecutive source code lines can be
concatenated together using the backslash (\) character at the end of the line to be
continued. The total number of characters in the concatenated source lines cannot exceed
509.
The term white space refers to the set of characters that includes spaces, horizontal tabs,
newline characters, vertical tabs, form feeds, and comments. You can use white space
freely between tokens, and extra spaces are ignored in your programs. But note that at
least one space may be required to separate tokens. So, a character such as a hyphen (-)
can take on different meanings depending upon the white space around it.
For example:
a- -1
is different from
a1