defining 1 byte variables

[kelvin.taylor]

I believe the Qbasic integer (num%) is a 2 byte value. How can I define a variable and be sure it is no larger than one byte.

[LooseCaboose]

Code:

dim byte as string * 1

[Zack]

QBASIC is really quite evil for not giving an intrinsic one-byte datatype (instead we have to masquerade it as a string-var).
However, this is what I use when I want access to single bytes.
You're right to say that the INTEGER data type is two bytes.
So, we access single bytes by directly accessing memory.

Code:

DIM Byte AS INTEGER
'Just make sure that Byte never exceeds 255.
'To put a value into the byte:
Value% = 10   'Make sure that never exceeds 255
DEF SEG=VARSEG(Byte)
POKE VARPTR(Byte),Value%
'To retrieve the byte:
WhatIsInTheByte% = PEEK(VARPTR(Byte))

I recomment functions for this - GetByte and StoreByte.