Addition Operator (+)
Synopsis
result = expression1 + expression2
Arguments
The + operator syntax has these parts:
| result | Any numeric variable. |
| expression1 | Any expression. |
| expression2 | Any expression. |
Description
Although you can also use the + operator to concatenate two character strings, you should use the & operator for concatenation to eliminate ambiguity and provide self-documenting code.
When you use the + operator, you may not be able to determine whether addition or string concatenation will occur.
The underlying subtype of the expressions determines the behavior of the + operator in the following way:
| If | Then |
|---|---|
| Both expressions are numeric | Add. |
| Both expressions are strings | Concatenate. |
| One expression is numeric and the other is a string | Add. |
Notes
If both expressions are Empty, result is an Integer subtype. However, if only one expression is Empty, the other expression is returned unchanged as result.