.. highlightlang:: us

.. index:: alias

.. _alias:

alias
=====

.. us.tag  alias ENGLISH Programming.Symboltable Changed5700

:ref:`alias` gives a meaningful name to a constant in the
program.

.. function::  bool = alias(ssSymbol, ssValue)
               ssValue = alias(ssSymbol)

.. us.return

**Return Value**

If the function succeeds, the return value is TRUE (1);
otherwise it is FALSE (0).

.. us.params

**Parameters**

.. uparam:: ssSymbol

   *ssSymbol* is a scalar string which follows the following convention: The
   string must start win an underscore (``"_"``) or a letter followed by any
   number of letters, underscores and numbers.

.. uparam:: ssValue

   *ssValue* is the replacement text. This text can be any string. An empty
   string removes the alias from the symbol table.

.. us.example

**Example**

Replacement text can contain characters other than numbers and letters through
the definition of the following 5 symbols::

   alias ("when", "if");
   alias ("then", "{");
   alias ("end", "}");
   alias ("smaller", "<");
   alias ("print");

Instead of the command,

::

   if (a < b) {
       print "a is smaller than b"
   }

the command can be written in this form::

   when (a smaller b) then
       print "a is smaller b"
   end

.. us.history

**History**

.. list-table::
   :header-rows: 1

   * - Version
     - Description
   * - R2015
     - Call as ``ssValue = alias(ssSymbol)``.

.. seealso::
   :ref:`overview-programming`

:sub:`id-293653`