The SPACE$ function returns a STRING consisting of a number of space characters.
Syntax
result$ = SPACE$(count&)
Parameter(s)
- count& is the number of space characters to repeat. Cannot use negative values!
Usage
- Semicolons can be used to combine spaces with text STRING or numerical values.
- Concatenation using + can be used to combine STRING text values only.
- Spaces are often used to erase previous text PRINTs from the screen.
- The function result can also be used to GET and PUT a number of bytes as zero characters: bytes$ = SPACE$(numbytes)
- Spaces can also be made using SPC, CHR$(32) or STRING$(n%, 32).
Differences between QB64 and QB 4.5:
- QB64 can use LONG values for count up to 2,147,483,647 while QB 4.5 could only use INTEGER values up to 32,767.
Example(s)
How to space text in a PRINT statement using SPACE$ with string concatenation.
FOR count% = 0 TO 3
PRINT "abc" + SPACE$( count% ) + "def"
NEXT count%
abcdef
abc def
abc def
abc def
In SCREEN 0 SPACE$ can be used to change the background color to make an American flag.
USA flag centered on screen with thin horizontal red & white stripes
' blue corner field with randomly twinkling stars
CLS
LOCATE 25, 1
PRINT "Press any key to stop twinkling";
COLOR , 4
z = 15
FOR x = 5 TO 19 '13 red & white stripes (x =5 to 21 for 15 stripes)
IF z = 15 THEN z = 4 ELSE z = 15
COLOR , z
LOCATE x, 15
PRINT SPACE$(55)
NEXT x
FOR x = 5 TO 11 'blue field in upper left quadrant (x = 5 to 13 to hold all 50 stars)
COLOR 15, 1 'sits above 4th white stripe
LOCATE x, 15
PRINT SPACE$(23)
NEXT x
DO
stop$ = INKEY$
FOR x = 5 TO 10 STEP 2 '39 stars staggered across blue field (50 stars if x = 5 to 12)
w = 16
FOR y = 1 TO 6 '5 rows of 6 stars
r = INT(RND * 6)
IF r = 0 THEN z = 31 ELSE z = 15
IF stop$ = "" THEN COLOR z ELSE COLOR 15
LOCATE x, w
w = w + 4
PRINT "*";
NEXT y
w = 18
FOR y = 1 TO 5 '5 rows of 5 stars
r = INT(RND * 6)
IF r = 0 THEN z = 31 ELSE z = 15
IF stop$ = "" THEN COLOR z ELSE COLOR 15
LOCATE x + 1, w
w = w + 4
PRINT "*";
NEXT y
NEXT x
w = 16
FOR y = 1 TO 6 '1 row of 6 stars
r = INT(RND * 6)
IF r = 0 THEN z = 31 ELSE z = 15
IF stop$ = "" THEN COLOR z ELSE COLOR 15
LOCATE x, w
w = w + 4
PRINT "*";
NEXT y
t = TIMER
DO WHILE t + .2 >= TIMER: LOOP
LOOP WHILE stop$ = ""
COLOR 7, 0
END
Explanation: In SCREEN 0, the background color is only placed with the the printed text and spaces. CLS can color the entire screen.