String literals in MAXScript are one or more characters enclosed in double quotes:
"3ds Max" "August 4th, 1997" |
String literals can contain any character except another plain double quote. You can include a double quote in a string literal, as well as some useful control characters, by using a "\" (backslash) escape character sequence.
The valid escape sequences are:
|
ESCAPE SEQUENCE |
MEANING |
|
\" |
a double quote character |
|
\n |
a newline character |
|
\r |
a carriage return character |
|
\t |
a TAB character |
| \* |
an asterisk character |
|
\? |
a question mark character |
|
\\ |
a single "\" character |
|
\% |
a percent character |
|
\x{d} |
a hexadecimal character |
|
EXAMPLE: |
print "foo should be quoted like this: \"foo\" and a new line: \n" |
|
would output: |
"foo should be quoted like this: "foo" and a new line: " |
A "\" character that does not preface one of the specified characters is left as a single backslash.
You can break a string literal into several lines and the line breaks will stay in the string.
|
FOR EXAMPLE: |
"Twas brillig and the slithy tobes did gyre and gimbol in the wabe or something like that..." |
Non-Printing Characters in Strings
You can specify non-printing characters in string literals using the \x hexadecimal escape sequence convention from C/C++. The form is:
\x{<hex_digit>}+ -- <hex_digit> is a hexadecimal digit (0-9,a-f)
|
EXAMPLE: |
str = "Copyright \xa9 1997, FrabWorks, Inc" |
|
would insert a copyright sign ©. Hexadecimal a9 is the code for that symbol. |
Running the following script displays in Listener the characters associated with each hexadecimal code:
|
EXAMPLE: |
char= "0123456789abcdef"
for i=1 to char.count do
for j=1 to char.count do
(
s=execute("\"\\x"+char[i]+char[j]+"\"")
format "%% %\n" char[i] char[j] s
)
|
File Path Name Strings
File path name strings use the backslash character to separate a parent directory from its sub-directory. The backslash is used as an escape character, therefore file path names specified in a string should use the escape character sequence for a single "\" character, i.e., "\\", or specify the string as verbatim using the @ character introduced in 3ds Max 2008 (see further on this page)
|
AN EXAMPLE IS: |
scene_path = "g:\\3dsmax25\\scenes" -- specifies file path g:\3dsmax25\scenes |
For strings that are used as file names or paths, the "/" character can be used instead of the "\\". MAXScript internally interprets the "/" character as a "\" character when used in a file path name string.
|
AN EXAMPLE IS: |
scene_path = "g:/3dsmax25/scenes" -- specifies file path g:\3dsmax25\scenes |
Verbatim String Literals
Verbatim string literals added to MAXScript in 3ds Max 2008 are prefixed by the '@' character and are NOT expanded even if containing backslash escape character sequences like '\t', '\n' or '\r'.
The syntax is
@"{<character>}+"
|
FOR EXAMPLE, |
--the following verbatim string remains unchanged after evaluation: thePath = @"g:\temp\newfolder\render" |
"g:\temp\newfolder\render" |
--while the following results in a --scrambled string with tabs and new lines: thePath = "g:\temp\newfolder\render" |
"g: emp ewfolder ender" |