14. Multiple Assignments

A range may be assigned using a list of expressions with the following syntax:

  range = { e1, e2, ... }

If the list contains fewer elements than the range being assigned, the list will be traversed more than once. If the list contains too many elements a warning message will be displayed. The list can contain empty elements to skip the associated cell assignments:

% cat expr_list.ss

a0:c2 = { 1, , 3, 4,, 6};
print values;

% ss < expr_list.ss

	A	B	C
0	1.00		3.00
1	4.00		6.00
2	1.00		3.00

Some functions can return more than one value. The syntax for assigning multiple return values uses braces for grouping:

  { r1, r2, ... } = func(...)

where r1, r2, etc. may be symbols, cells, or ranges. For example:

  { f, e} = frexp( a);              // get fraction and exponent

  { a0, s, c0:d0} = stats( g0:g9);  // get avg, stdev, min, and max

  { c0:d0} = stats( g0:g9);         // just get avg and stdev

  {a0} = stats( g0:g9);             // just get avg, formula is in cell a0

   a0  = stats( g0:g9);             // same as above

Formulas which use multiple return values are stored in the symbol table, and are evaluated whenever the symbol table is evaluated. They are automatically named $1, $2, etc.