PRIVATE Command
Hides specified variables or arrays that were defined in a calling program from the current program. There are two versions of the syntax.
PRIVATE VarList
PRIVATE ALL[LIKE Skeleton | EXCEPT Skeleton]
Parameters
VarList
Specifies the variables or arrays to be declared private.The single letters A through J and M are reserved and cannot be used as variable names.
ALL LIKE Skeleton
Causes PRIVATE to hide all variables and arrays whose names match Skeleton, which can contain the question mark (?) and asterisk (*) wildcards.ALL EXCEPT Skeleton
Causes PRIVATE to hide all variables or arrays unless their names match Skeleton, which can contain the question mark (?) and asterisk (*) wildcards.
Remarks
Items within VarList are separated by commas. The hiding of variables created in higher-level programs enables variables of the same name as the private variables to be manipulated in the current program without affecting the values of the hidden variables. Once the program containing PRIVATE has completed execution, all variables and arrays that were declared private are again available.
PRIVATE doesn't create variables; it simply hides variables declared in higher-level programs from the current program.
Example
** Program example demonstrating PRIVATE ** SET TALK OFF val1 = 10 val2 = 15
DO down
? val1, val2 && Displays 10, 100
PROCEDURE down
PRIVATE val1
val1 = 50
val2 = 100
? ' Val1 Val2'
? val1, val2 && Displays 50, 100
RETURN