Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1
Which syllabuses does this guide apply to?................................................................................. 1
How should teachers use this guide? .......................................................................................... 1
1. Pseudocode in examined components ................................................................................... 2
1.1 Font style and size................................................................................................................. 2
1.2 Indentation ............................................................................................................................ 2
1.3 Case and italics ..................................................................................................................... 2
1.4 Lines and line numbering....................................................................................................... 3
1.5 Comments ............................................................................................................................. 3
2.1 Atomic type names ................................................................................................................ 4
2.2 Literals................................................................................................................................... 4
2.3 Identifiers ............................................................................................................................... 4
2.5 Constants .............................................................................................................................. 5
2.6 Assignments .......................................................................................................................... 5
3. Arrays ........................................................................................................................................ 6
3.1 Declaring arrays .................................................................................................................... 6
3.2 Using arrays .......................................................................................................................... 6
4. Abstract data types ................................................................................................................... 8
4.1 Defining custom types ........................................................................................................... 8
4.2 Using custom types ............................................................................................................... 8
5. Common operations ............................................................................................................... 10
5.1 Input and output .................................................................................................................. 10
5.2 Arithmetic operations ........................................................................................................... 10
5.3 Relational operations ........................................................................................................... 11
5.4 Logic operators.................................................................................................................... 11
5.5 String operations ................................................................................................................. 11
5.6 Random number generation ................................................................................................ 12
6. Selection .................................................................................................................................. 13
6.1 IF statements....................................................................................................................... 13
6.2 CASE statements ................................................................................................................ 14
7. Iteration.................................................................................................................................... 15
7.1 Count-controlled (FOR) loops .............................................................................................. 15
7.3 Pre-condition (WHILE) loops ............................................................................................... 16
9. File handling ............................................................................................................................ 20
9.1 Handling text files ................................................................................................................ 20
9.2 Handling random files.......................................................................................................... 21
10. Index of symbols and keywords .......................................................................................... 23
Pseudocode in examined components

1. Pseudocode in examined components

The following information sets out how pseudocode will appear within the examined components and is
provided to allow you to give learners familiarity before the exam.

1.1 Font style and size

Pseudocode is presented in a monospaced (fixed-width) font such as Courier New. The size of the font
will be consistent throughout.

1.2 Indentation
Lines are indented by four spaces to indicate that they are contained within a statement in a previous line.

Where it is not possible to fit a statement on one line any continuation lines are indented by two spaces. In
cases where line numbering is used, this indentation may be omitted. Every effort will be made to make sure
that code statements are not longer than a line of code, unless this is absolutely necessary.

Note that the THEN and ELSE clauses of an IF statement are indented by only two spaces (see Section 6.1).
Cases in CASE statements are also indented by only two places (see Section 6.2).

1.3 Case and italics

Keywords are in uppercase, e.g. IF, REPEAT, PROCEDURE. (Different keywords are explained in later
sections of this guide.)

Identifiers are in mixed case (sometimes referred to as camelCase or Pascal case) with uppercase letters
indicating the beginning of new words, for example NumberOfPlayers.

Meta-variables – symbols in the pseudocode that should be substituted by other symbols – are enclosed in
angled brackets < > (as in Backus-Naur Form). This is also used in this guide.

Example – meta-variables

REPEAT
<Statements>
UNTIL <condition>

Where the pseudocode contains descriptions rather than code symbols, keywords or literals, these are
written in italics.

Example – descriptions
REPEAT
<Statements>
UNTIL all seats are allocated

2
 Pseudocode in examined components

1.4 Lines and line numbering

Where it is necessary to number the lines of pseudocode so that they can be referred to, line numbers are
presented to the left of the pseudocode with sufficient space to indicate clearly that they are not part of the
pseudocode statements.

Line numbers are consecutive, unless numbers are skipped to indicate that part of the code is missing. This
will also be clearly stated.

Each line representing a statement is numbered. However when a statement runs over one line of text, the
continuation lines are not numbered.

1.5 Comments
Comments are preceded by two forward slashes // . The comment continues until the end of the line. For
multi-line comments, each line is preceded by //.

Normally the comment is on a separate line before, and at the same level of indentation as, the code it refers
to. Occasionally, however, a short comment that refers to a single line may be at the end of the line to which
it refers.

Example – comments

// This procedure swaps

// values of X and Y
PROCEDURE SWAP(BYREF X : INTEGER, Y INTEGER)
Temp  X // temporarily store X
X  Y
Y  Temp
ENDPROCEDURE

3
Variables, constants and data types

2. Variables, constants and data types

2.1 Atomic type names

The following keywords are used to designate atomic data types:

• INTEGER : A whole number

• REAL : A number capable of containing a fractional part
• CHAR : A single character
• STRING : A sequence of zero or more characters
• BOOLEAN: The logical values TRUE and FALSE
• DATE: A valid calendar date

2.2 Literals
Literals of the above data types are written as follows:

• Integers : Written as normal in the denary system, e.g. 5, -3

• Real : Always written with at least one digit on either side of the decimal point, zeros being added if
necessary, e.g. 4.7, 0.3, -4.0, 0.0
• Char: A single character delimited by single quotes e.g. ‘x’, ‘C’, ‘@’
• String: Delimited by double quotes. A string may contain no characters (i.e. the empty string) e.g. “This
is a string”, “”
• Boolean: TRUE, FALSE
• Date: This will normally be written in the format dd/mm/yyyy . However, it is good practice to state
explicitly that this value is of data type DATE and to explain the format (as the convention for
representing dates varies across the world).

2.3 Identifiers
Identifiers (the names given to variables, constants, procedures and functions) are in mix case. They can
only contain letters (A–Z, a–z) and digits (0–9). They must start with a letter and not a digit. Accented letters
and other characters, including the underscore, should not be used.

As in programming, it is good practice to use identifier names that describe the variable, procedure or
function they refer to. Single letters may be used where these are conventional (such as i and j when
dealing with array indices, or X and Y when dealing with coordinates) as these are made clear by the
convention.

Keywords identified elsewhere in this guide should never be used as variables.

Identifiers should be considered case insensitive, for example, Countdown and CountDown should not be
used as separate variables.

4
 Variables, constants and data types

2.4 Variable declarations

It is good practice to declare variables explicitly in pseudocode.

Declarations are made as follows:

DECLARE <identifier> : <data type>

Example – variable declarations

DECLARE Counter : INTEGER

DECLARE TotalToPay : REAL
DECLARE GameOver : BOOLEAN

2.5 Constants
It is good practice to use constants if this makes the pseudocode more readable, as an identifier is more
meaningful in many cases than a literal. It also makes the pseudocode easier to update if the value of the
constant changes.

Constants are normally declared at the beginning of a piece of pseudocode (unless it is desirable to restrict
the scope of the constant).

Constants are declared by stating the identifier and the literal value in the following format:

CONSTANT <identifier> = <value>

Example – CONSTANT declarations

CONSTANT HourlyRate = 6.50

CONSTANT DefaultText = “N/A”

Only literals can be used as the value of a constant. A variable, another constant or an expression must
never be used.

2.6 Assignments
The assignment operator is .

Assignments should be made in the following format:

<identifier>  <value>

The identifier must refer to a variable (this can be an individual element in a data structure such as an array
or an abstract data type). The value may be any expression that evaluates to a value of the same data type
as the variable.

Example – assignments

Counter  0
Counter  Counter + 1
TotalToPay  NumberOfHours * HourlyRate

5
Arrays

3. Arrays

Syllabus requirements
The Cambridge IGCSE syllabus(0478) requires candidates to understand and use one-dimensional
arrays.

The Cambridge International AS & A Level syllabus (9608) requires candidates to understand and use
both one- and two-dimensional arrays.

3.1 Declaring arrays

Arrays are considered to be fixed-length structures of elements of identical data type, accessible by
consecutive index (subscript) numbers. It is good practice to explicitly state what the lower bound of the
array (i.e. the index of the first element) is because this defaults to either 0 or 1 in different systems.
Generally, a lower bound of 1 will be used.
Square brackets are used to indicate the array indices.
One- and two-dimensional arrays are declared as follows (where l, l1, l2 are lower bounds and u, u1, u2 are
upper bounds):

DECLARE <identifier> : ARRAY[<l>:<u>] OF <data type>

DECLARE <identifier> : ARRAY[<l1>:<u1>,<l2>:<u2>] OF <data type>

Example – array declaration

DECLARE StudentNames : ARRAY[1:30] OF STRING

DECLARE NoughtsAndCrosses : ARRAY[1:3,1:3] OF CHAR

3.2 Using arrays

In the main pseudocode statements, only one index value is used for each dimension in the square brackets.

Example – using arrays

StudentNames[1]  “Ali”
NoughtsAndCrosses[2,3]  ‘X’
StudentNames[n+1]  StudentNames[n]

Arrays can be used in assignment statements (provided they have same size and data type). The following
is therefore allowed:

Example – assigning an array

SavedGame  NoughtsAndCrosses

A statement should not, however, refer to a group of array elements individually. For example, the following
construction should not be used.

StudentNames [1 TO 30]  “”

Instead, an appropriate loop structure is used to assign the elements individually. For example:

Example – assigning a group of array elements

FOR Index = 1 TO 30
StudentNames[Index]  “”
6 NEXT Index
Abstract data types

4. Abstract data types

Syllabus requirements
Abstract data types are only required in the AS & A level (9608) syllabus. The AS & A Level syllabus
requires candidates to understand that custom data structures that are not available in a particular
programming language (which we will here call ‘custom types’) need to be constructed from the data
structures that are built-in within the language.

4.1 Defining custom types

A custom type is a collection of data that can consist of different data types, grouped under one identifier.

The custom type should be declared as follows:

TYPE <identifier1>
DECLARE <identifier2> : <data type>
DECLARE <identifier3> : <data type>
...
ENDTYPE

Example – declaration of custom type

This user type holds data about a student.

TYPE Student
DECLARE Surname : STRING
DECLARE FirstName : STRING
DECLARE DateOfBirth : DATE
DECLARE YearGroup : INTEGER
DECLARE FormGroup : CHAR
ENDTYPE

4.2 Using custom types

When a custom type has been defined it can be used in the same way as any other data type in
declarations.

Variables of a custom data type can be assigned to each other. Individual data items are accessed using
dot notation.

8
 Abstract data types

Example – using custom types

This pseudocode uses the custom type Student defined in the previous section.

DECLARE Pupil1 : Student

DECLARE Pupil2 : Student
DECLARE Form : ARRAY[1:30] OF Student

Pupil1.Surname  “Johnson”
Pupil1.Firstname  “Leroy”
Pupil1.DateOfBirth  02/01/2005
Pupil1.YearGroup  6
Pupil1.FormGroup  ‘A’

Pupil2  Pupil1

FOR Index  1 TO 30
Form[Index].YearGroup  Form[Index].YearGroup + 1
NEXT Index

9
Common operations

5. Common operations

5.1 Input and output

Values are input using the INPUT command as follows:

INPUT <identifier>

The identifier should be a variable (that may be an individual element of a data structure such as an array, or
a custom data type).

Values are output using the OUTPUT command as follows:

OUTPUT <value(s)>

Several values, separated by commas, can be output using the same command.

Examples – INPUT and OUTPUT statements

INPUT Answer
OUTPUT Score
OUTPUT “You have ”, Lives, “ lives left”

Note that the syllabus for IGCSE (0478) gives READ and PRINT as examples for INPUT and OUTPUT
respectively.

5.2 Arithmetic operations

Standard arithmetic operator symbols are used:

• + Addition
• - Subtraction
• * Multiplication
• / Division

Care should be taken with the division operation: the resulting value should be of data type REAL, even if the
operands are integers.

The integer division operators MOD and DIV can be used. However, their use should be explained explicitly
and not assumed.

Multiplication and division have higher precedence over addition and subtraction (this is the normal
mathematical convention). However, it is good practice to make the order of operations in complex
expressions explicit by using parentheses.

10
 Common operations
5.3 Relational operations
The following symbols are used for relational operators (also known as comparison operators):

• > Greater than

• < Less than
• >= Greater than or equal to
• <= Less than or equal to
• = Equal to
• <> Not equal to

The result of these operations is always of data type BOOLEAN.

In complex expressions it is advisable to use parentheses to make the order of operations explicit.

5.4 Logic operators

The only logic operators (also called relational operators) used are AND, OR and NOT. The operands and
results of these operations are always of data type BOOLEAN.

In complex expressions it is advisable to use parentheses to make the order of operations explicit.

5.5 String operations

Syllabus requirements
The AS & A Level (9608) syllabus specifically requires candidates to know the string operations in their
chosen programming language.

Candidates on the IGCSE syllabus (0478) are also likely to encounter these operations in the problems
they solve and so should be able to include them in pseudocode.

Where string operations (such as concatenation, searching and splitting) are used, these should be
explained clearly, as they vary considerably between systems.

Where functions are used to format numbers as strings for output, their use should be explained. Such
functions are often built into programming languages but should not be assumed in pseudocode.

5.6 Random number generation

Syllabus requirements
The AS & A Level (9608) syllabus specifically requires candidates to know how to generate random
numbers in their chosen programming language.

Candidates on the IGCSE syllabus (0478) are also likely to need random numbers in the problems they
solve and so should be able to include them in pseudocode.

Any use of a function to generate random numbers must be clearly explained.

The following functions are recommended:

• RANDOMBETWEEN(min,max) : generates a random integer between the integers min and max
• RND() : generates a random real number between 0 and 1.

11
 Selection

6. Selection

6.1 IF statements
IF statements may or may not have an ELSE clause.

IF statements without an else clause are written as follows:

IF <condition>
THEN
<statements>

ENDIF

IF statements with an else clause are written as follows:

IF <condition>
THEN
<statements>
ELSE
<statements>
ENDIF

Note that the THEN and ELSE clauses are only indented by two spaces. (They are, in a sense, a continuation
of the IF statement rather than separate statements ).

When IF statements are nested, the nesting should continue the indentation of two spaces. In particular,
run-on THEN IF and ELSE IF lines should be avoided.

Example – nested IF statements

IF ChallengerScore > ChampionScore

THEN
IF ChallengerScore > HighestScore
THEN
OUTPUT ChallengerName, “ is champion and highest scorer”
ELSE
OUTPUT Player1Name, “ is the new champion”
ENDIF
ELSE
OUTPUT ChampionName, “ is still the champion”
IF ChampionScore > HighestScore
THEN
OUTPUT ChampionName, “ is also the highest scorer”
ENDIF
ENDIF

13
Selection

6.2 CASE statements

CASE statements allow one out of several branches of code to be executed, depending on the value of a
variable.

CASE statements are written as follows:

CASE OF <identifier>
<value 1> : <statement>
<value 2> : <statement>
...
ENDCASE

An OTHERWISE clause can be the last case:

CASE OF <identifier>
<value 1> : <statement>
<value 2> : <statement>
...
OTHERWISE <statement>
ENDCASE

It is best practice to keep the branches to single statements as this makes the pseudocode more readable.
Similarly single values should be used for each case. If the cases are more complex, the use of an IF
statement, rather than a CASE statement, should be considered.

Each case clause is indented by two spaces. They can be seen as continuations of the CASE statement
rather than new statements.

Note that the case clauses are tested in sequence. When a case that applies is found, its statement is
executed and the CASE statement is complete. Control is passed to the statement after the ENDCASE. Any
remaining cases are not tested.

If present, an OTHERWISE clause must be the last case. Its statement will be executed if none of the
preceding cases apply.

Example – formatted CASE statement

INPUT Move
CASE OF Move
‘W’: Position  Position – 10
‘S’: Position  Position + 10
‘A’: Position  Position – 1
‘D’: Position  Position + 1
OTHERWISE : Beep
ENDCASE

14
 Iteration

7. Iteration

7.1 Count-controlled (FOR) loops

Count-controlled loops are written as follows:

FOR <identifier>  <value1> TO <value2>

<statements>
NEXT

The identifier must be a variable of data type INTEGER, and the values should be expressions that evaluate
to integers.

The variable is assigned each of the integer values from value1 to value2 inclusive, running the
statements inside the FOR loop after each assignment. If value1 = value2 the statements will be executed
once, and if value1 > value2 the statements will not be executed.

It is good practice to repeat the identifier after NEXT, particularly with nested FOR loops.

An increment can be specified as follows:

FOR <identifier>  <value1> TO <value2> STEP <increment>

<statements>
NEXT

The increment must be an expression that evaluates to an integer. In this case the identifier will be
assigned the values from value1 in successive increments of increment until it reaches value2. If it goes
past value2, the loop terminates. The increment can be negative.

Example – nested FOR loops

Total = 0
FOR Row = 1 TO MaxRow
RowTotal = 0
FOR Column = 1 TO 10
RowTotal  RowTotal + Amount[Row,Column]
NEXT Column
OUTPUT “Total for Row ”, Row, “ is ”, RowTotal
Total  Total + RowTotal
NEXT Row
OUTPUT “The grand total is ”, Total

7.2 Post-condition (REPEAT UNTIL) loops

Post-condition loops are written as follows:

REPEAT
<Statements>
UNTIL <condition>

The condition must be an expression that evaluates to a Boolean.

15
Iteration

The statements in the loop will be executed at least once. The condition is tested after the statements are
executed and if it evaluates to TRUE the loop terminates, otherwise the statements are executed again.

Example – REPEAT UNTIL statement

REPEAT
OUTPUT “Please enter the password”
INPUT Password
UNTIL Password = “Secret”

7.3 Pre-condition (WHILE) loops

Pre-condition loops are written as follows:

WHILE <condition> DO
<statements>
ENDWHILE

The condition must be an expression that evaluates to a Boolean.

The condition is tested before the statements, and the statements will only be executed if the condition
evaluates to TRUE. After the statements have been executed the condition is tested again. The loop
terminates when the condition evaluates to FALSE.

The statements will not be executed if, on the first test, the condition evaluates to FALSE.

Example – WHILE loop

WHILE Number > 9 DO

Number  Number – 9
ENDWHILE

16
 Procedures and functions

8. Procedures and functions

Syllabus requirements
The definition and use of procedures and functions is explicitly required in the AS & A Level (9608) syllabus.

Procedures and functions are not in the IGCSE (0478) syllabus. However, some IGCSE learners, particularly
the more able ones, may want to use it in their pseudocode.

8.1 Defining and calling procedures

A procedure with no parameters is defined as follows:

PROCEDURE <identifier>
<statements>
ENDPROCEDURE

A procedure with parameters is defined as follows:

PROCEDURE <identifier>(<param1>:<datatype>,<param2>:<datatype>...)
<statements>
ENDPROCEDURE

The <identifier> is the identifier used to call the procedure. Where used, param1, param2 etc. are
identifiers for the parameters of the procedure. These will be used as variables in the statements of the
procedure.

Procedures defined as above should be called as follows, respectively:

CALL <identifier>

CALL <identifier>(Value1,Value2...)

These calls are complete program statements.

When parameters are used, Value1, Value2... must be of the correct data type as in the definition of the
procedure.

Optional parameters and overloaded procedures (where alternative definitions are given for the same
identifier with different sets of parameters) should be avoided in pseudocode.

Unless otherwise stated, it should be assumed that parameters are passed by value. (See section 8.3).

When the procedure is called, control is passed to the procedure. If there are any parameters, these are
substituted by their values, and the statements in the procedure are executed. Control is then returned to the
line that follows the procedure call.

17
Procedures and functions

Example – use of procedures with and without parameters

PROCEDURE DefaultSquare
CALL Square(100)
ENDPROCEDURE

PROCEDURE Square(Size : integer)

FOR Side = 1 TO 4
MoveForward Size
Turn 90
NEXT Side
ENDPROCEDURE

IF Size = Default
THEN
CALL DefaultSquare
ELSE
CALL Square(Size)
ENDIF

8.2 Defining and calling functions

Functions operate in a similar way to procedures, except that in addition they return a single value to the
point at which they are called. Their definition includes the data type of the value returned.

A procedure with no parameters is defined as follows:

FUNCTION <identifier> RETURNS <data type>

<statements>
ENDFUNCTION

A procedure with parameters is defined as follows:

FUNCTION <identifier>(<param1>:<datatype>,<param2>:<datatype>...)
RETURNS <data type>
<statements>
ENDFUNCTION

The keyword RETURN is used as one of the statements within the body of the function to specify the value to
be returned. Normally, this will be the last statement in the function definition.

Because a function returns a value that is used when the function is called, function calls are not complete
program statements. The keyword CALL should not be used when calling a function. Functions should only
be called as part of an expression. When the RETURN statement is executed, the value returned replaces the
function call in the expression and the expression is then evaluated.

18
 Procedures and functions

Example – definition and use of a function

FUNCTION Max(Number1:INTEGER, Number2:INTEGER) RETURNS INTEGER

IF Number1 > Number2
THEN
RETURN Number1
ELSE
RETURN Number2
ENDIF
ENDFUNCTION

OUTPUT “Penalty Fine = ”, Max(10,Distance*2)

8.3 Passing parameters by value or by reference

Syllabus requirements
This is only required in the AS & A Level (9608) syllabus. It is likely to be too advanced for most IGCSE
candidates.

Parameters can be passed either by value or by reference. The difference between these only matters if, in
the statements of the procedure, the value of the parameter is changed, for example if the parameter is the
subject (on the left hand side) of an assignment.

To specify whether a parameter is passed by value or by reference, the keywords BYVALUE and BYREF
precede the parameter in the definition of the procedure. If there are several parameters, they should all be
passed by the same method and the BYVALUE or BYREF keyword need not be repeated.

Example – passing parameters by reference

PROCEDURE SWAP(BYREF X : INTEGER, Y : INTEGER)

Temp  X
X  Y
Y  Temp
ENDPROCEDURE

If the method for passing parameters is not specified, passing by value is assumed. How this should be
called and how it operates has already been explained in Section 8.1.

If parameters are passed by reference (as in the above example), when the procedure is called an identifier
for a variable of the correct data type must be given (rather than any expression which evaluates to a value
of the correct type). A reference (address) to that variable is passed to the procedure when it is called and if
the value is changed in the procedure, this change is reflected in the variable which was passed into it, after
the procedure has terminated.

In principle, parameters can also be passed by value or by reference to functions and will operate in a similar
way. However, it should be considered bad practice to pass parameters by reference to a function and this
should be avoided. Functions should have no other side effect on the program other than to return the
designated value.

19
File handling

9. File handling

Syllabus requirements
File handling is only explicitly required in the AS & A level (9608) syllabus. It may however be of interest to
higher ability Cambridge IGCSE learners.

9.1 Handling text files

Text files consist of lines of text that are read or written consecutively as strings.

It is good practice to explicitly open the files, stating the mode of operation, before reading from or writing to
it. This is written as follows:

OPENFILE <File identifier> FOR <File mode>

The file identifier will usually be the name of the file. The following file modes are used:

• READ : for data to be read from the file

• WRITE : for data to be written to the file. A new file will be created and any existing data in the file
will be lost.
• APPEND : for data to be added to the file, after any existing data.

A file should be opened in only one mode at a time.

Data is read from the file (after the file has been opened in READ mode) using the READFILE command as
follows:

READFILE <File Identifier>, <Variable>

The Variable should be of data type STRING. When the command is executed, the next line of text in the
file is read and assigned to the variable.

It is useful to think of the file as having a pointer which indicates the next line to be read. When the file is
opened, the file pointer points to the first line of the file. After each READFILE command is executed the file
pointer moves to the next line, or to the end of the file if there are no more lines.

The function EOF is used to test whether the file pointer is at the end of the file. It is called as follows:

EOF(<File Identifier>)

This function returns a Boolean value: TRUE if the file pointer is at the end of the file and FALSE otherwise.

Data is written into the file (after the file has been opened in WRITE or APPEND mode) using the WRITEFILE
command as follows:

WRITEFILE <File identifier>, <String>

When the command is executed, the string is written into the file and the file pointer moves to the next line.

Files should be closed when they are no longer needed using the CLOSEFILE command as follows:

CLOSEFILE <File identifier>

20
 File handling

Example – file handling operations

This example uses the operations together, to copy all the lines from FileA.txt to FileB.txt, replacing
any blank lines by a line of dashes.

DECLARE LineOfText : STRING

OPENFILE FileA.txt FOR READ
OPENFILE FileB.txt FOR WRITE
WHILE NOT EOF(FileA.txt) DO
READFILE FileA.txt, LineOfText
IF LineOfText = “”
THEN
WRITEFILE FileB.txt, “-------------------------”
ELSE
WRITEFILE FILEB.txt, LineOfText
ENDIF
ENDWHILE
CLOSEFILE FileA.txt
CLOSEFILE FileB.txt

9.2 Handling random files

Random files (also called binary files) contain a collection of data in their binary representation, normally as
records of fixed length. They can be thought of as having a file pointer which can be moved to any location
or address in the file. The record at that location can then be read or written.

Random files are opened using the RANDOM file mode as follows:

OPENFILE <File identifier> FOR RANDOM

As with text files, the file identifier will normally be the name of the file.

The SEEK command moves the file pointer to a given location:

SEEK <File identifier>, <address>

The address should be an expression that evaluates to an integer which indicates the location of a record to
be read or written. This is usually the number of records from the beginning of the file. It is good practice to
explain how the addresses are computed.

The command GETRECORD should be used to read the record at the file pointer:

GETRECORD <File identifier>, <Variable>

When this command is executed, the variable is assigned to the record that is read, and must be of the
appropriate data type for that record (usually a custom type).

The command PUTRECORD is used to write a record into the file at the file pointer:

PUTRECORD <File identifier>, <Variable>

When this command is executed, the data in the variable is inserted into the record at the file pointer. Any
data that was previously at this location will be replaced.

21
File handling

Example – handling random files

The records from positions 10 to 20 of a file StudentFile.Dat are moved to the next position and a new
record is inserted into position 10. The example uses the custom type Student defined in Section 4.1.

DECLARE Pupil : Student

DECLARE NewPupil : Student
DECLARE Position : INTEGER

NewPupil.Surname  “Johnson”
NewPupil.Firstname  “Leroy”
NewPupil.DateOfBirth  02/01/2005
NewPupil.YearGroup  6
NewPupil.FormGroup  ‘A’

OPEN StudentFile.Dat FOR RANDOM

FOR Position = 20 TO 10 STEP -1
SEEK StudentFile.Dat, Position
GETRECORD StudentFile.Dat, Pupil
SEEK StudentFile.Dat, Position + 1
PUTRECORD StudentFile.Dat, Pupil
NEXT Position

SEEK StudentFile.Dat, 10
PUTRECORD StudentFile.Dat, NewPupil

CLOSE StudentFile.dat

22