You can create Rexx programs using any editor that can create simple ASCII files without hidden format controls. EPM or PMFTE on OS/2, Windows Notepad or Gnome gedit (on Linux) are a couple widely available editors.
Rexx is a free-format programming language. You can indent lines and insert blank lines for readability if you wish. But even free-format languages have some rules about how language elements are used. Rexx's rules center around its basic language element: the clause.
Usually, there is one clause on each line of the program, but you can put several and separate each clause with a semicolon (;):
| say "Hello"; say "Goodbye" /* Two clauses on one line */ |
To continue a clause on a second line, put a comma (,) or hypen (-) at the end of the line:
| say - /* Continuation */ |
| "It isn't so" |
or
| say , /* Continuation */ |
| "It isn't so" |
If you need to continue a literal string, do it like this:
| say - /* Continuation of literal strings */ |
| "This is a long string that we want to continue" - |
| "on another line." |
Rexx automatically adds a blank after continue. If you need to split a string, but do not want to have a blank inserted when Rexx puts the string back together, use the Rexx concatenation operator (¦¦):
| say "I do not want Rexx to in" ¦¦ - /* Continuation with concatenation */ |
| "sert a blank!" |