AT

Syntax

AT [#ch,] row, column or

AT [#ch,] column,row (pre AH ROMs only)

Location

QL ROM

This command sets the current print position in the given window (default #1) to the given row and column number. The top left hand corner of any window is always the position (0,0), however, the maximum values of the row and column numbers depends on both the size of the window and the current character size. Anything outside of this will give the error ‘Out of Range’ (-4).

Unlike the PRINT parameter TO, this command does not print any spaces on screen, thus allowing you to place text precisely on screen without deleting any other parts of the screen.

Unfortunately for users who learnt to program on early versions of Sinclair BASIC (on the ZX81 or Spectrum), this command is implemented differently.

Some implementations of BASIC allow you to set the print position from within the PRINT command, for example:

PRINT AT 3,5;’Hello’

On the QL, you would need the line:

AT 3,5: PRINT ‘Hello’

Example

A program which uses the AT command to create an interesting effect on screen. This will not work on pre JS ROMs as it relies upon the WHEN ERRor command:

1000 WHEN ERRor
1010   IF ERR_OR THEN dir1=-dir1: y=y-2: RETRY 1070
1020 END WHEN
1025 :
1030 MODE 4:WINDOW 448,200,32,16:CSIZE 0,0
1040 x=0: dir1=1
1050 FOR y=0 TO 63
1060   AT x,y:PRINT 'Sinclair QL'
1070   x=x+dir1
1080 END FOR y

NOTE

On early QL ROMs (pre AH), the parameters were mixed up meaning that the syntax was AT column,row. This can of course create many problems in uncompiled SuperBASIC, however, there should not be many of these machines left.

If you do have one of these early machines, it is recommended that you do update the ROM.

CROSS-REFERENCE

CSIZE sets the current character size for the given window

WINDOW alters the physical size of a given window.

CURSOR allows you to set the print position more exactly.

PRINT actually prints things on screen at the current print position.

VER$ allows you to check the ROM version.

Also see LEFT.