Punctuation symbol

The GenStat punctuation symbols are:

colon (:)

indicates the end of a statement;

comma (,)

separates items;

double quote (")

is used to show the beginning and end of a comment;

equals (=)

separates an option name or parameter name from its setting;

newline

is synonymous with colon, by default, but directive SET can request that it be ignored;

semi-colon (;)

separates lists;

single quote (')

is used to show the beginning and end of a string (left single quote (`) is synonymous with single quote);

space

can appear between items or can be omitted altogether if the items are already separated by another punctuation symbol, a bracket, an operator, or an ampersand;

tab

the tab character is treated as a synonym of space everywhere except within texts and comments or if reading in fixed format (when it is treated as a fault).