Please type your name and hit Enter
? 
Your name is:

Simplified String Input

Input with string variables can get complicated. To keep things simple:

• Use only one string variable with each INPUT statement.
• The user should not type quote marks in the input string.
• The user should not type commas in the input string.

If these rules are followed, then:

• All the characters the user types on one line will be copied into the string variable, except--
• Spaces at the start of a line will not be copied into the string variable.
• Spaces at the end of a line will not be copied into the string variable.

The complete set of rules for string input in QBasic are much more complicated. If you follow the three simple rules you will avoid much of the confusion but still be able to write reasonable programs.

Here is the program again:

' Input with Strings
'
PRINT "Please type your name and hit Enter"
INPUT NAME$
PRINT "Your name is:", NAME$
END

Here is a run of the program:

Please type your name and hit Enter
?          Smoky the Bear
Your name is: Smoky the Bear

The user typed in some spaces before the "S" but they did not go into the string variable. (There are ways to input a string that starts with spaces, but you won't need to do that in this course.)

?       Attila    the    Hun