Example of a Function

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Calculations that functions represent often require many instructions. For instance, the simple calculation for finding the highest number in a group of three numbers, might be written as follows:
Figure 1. Finding a Maximum Number
/***************************** REXX **********************************/
/*  This program receives three numbers as arguments and analyzes    */
/*  which number is the greatest.                                    */
/*********************************************************************/

 PARSE ARG number1, number2, number3 .

 IF number1 > number2 THEN
    IF number1 > number3 THEN
       greatest = number1
    ELSE
       greatest = number3
 ELSE
    IF number2 > number3 THEN
       greatest = number2
    ELSE
       greatest = number3

 RETURN greatest
Rather than writing multiple instructions every time you want to find the maximum of a group of three numbers, you can use a built-in function that does the calculation for you and returns the maximum number. The function is called MAX, and you can use it as follows:
MAX(number1,number2,number3,....)
To find the maximum of 45, -2, number, and 199 and put the maximum into the symbol biggest, write the following instruction:
biggest = MAX(45,-2,number,199)

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Timestamp icon Last updated: Tuesday, 7 January 2014


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