Rexx Programming/How to Rexx/backslash

The backslash character (\), an alternative to Not (¬), is a logical operator for a Boolean value. It represents negation. Many other programming languages use either an exclamation mark or the word "not" for the same purpose. It precedes a value of 0 or 1 to produce the other value. Backslash has the advantage that it is an ASCII character and thus not subject to the code page issue of not, e.g., X'AA' versus X'AC'.

/* Boolean values are 0 and 1 */ false = 0 true = 1 /* Backslash means "not" */ say \ false  /* same as: say true; same as: say ¬ false */ say \ true   /* same as: say false */

The backslash can also be combined with loose and strict equality to produce "not equal" operators.

/* Loose unequal says false (0) */ say 'ok ' \= 'ok' /* Strict unequal says true (1) */ say 'ok ' \== 'ok'