**CIGAL Reference Manual, Chapter 3 (Functions): mode**
===== Mode -- Get information about a variable's data and storage type =====
**usage: modevalue = mode(varb)**

MODE returns a value describing the data type of its argument, VARB.
The returned value is a long integer whose low 8 bits indicate the size
and type of each data element within VARB, and the upper 24 bits describe
the storage type of the variable as a whole.  These two bit fields meanings
are described below.  The capitalized words in parentheses indicate modifier
words that would have been specified when this variable was originally
declared (see [[jvs:cigal:manual:chapter2:declare|DECLARE(2)]]).

   WORDSIZE -- low 8 bits of MODEVALUE:
              (octal)
          0      (0)  -  argument unspecified or an unassigned POINTER variable
          1      (1)  -  1 bit integers (BIT)
          2      (2)  -  2 bit integers (CRUMB)
          4      (4)  -  4 bit integers (NIBBLE)
          8     (10)  -  8 bit integers (BYTE) or characters (STRING)
         16     (20)  -  16 bit integers (INTEGER)
         32     (40)  -  32 bit integers (LONG)
         96    (140)  -  32 bit floating point values (REAL)
        136    (210)  -  64 bit graphics vector (VECTOR)
  
   VARBTYPE -- high 24 bits of MODEVALUE:
              (octal)
          0      (0)  -  argument unspecified or an unassigned POINTER variable
         16     (20)  -  single-valued number (NUMBER)
         32     (40)  -  character string (STRING)
         64    (100)  -  1-dimensional array (ARRAY)
        128    (200)  -  2-dimensional array (MATRIX)
        256    (400)  -  graphics vector (VECTOR)
        384    (600)  -  array of graphics vectors (VECTOR LIST)
        512   (1000)  -  2-dimensional array (IMAGE)
       1024   (2000)  -  3-dimensional array (SOLID)
       2080   (4040)  -  table of character strings (STRING LIST)
       4096  (10000)  -  variable is stored on the STACK memory
       8192  (20000)  -  argument is a CIGAL command

**See Also:**\\
[[jvs:cigal:manual:chapter3:address|ADDRESS(3)]], 
[[jvs:cigal:manual:chapter2:declare|DECLARE(2)]], 
[[jvs:cigal:manual:chapter3:pointer|POINTER(3)]], 
[[jvs:cigal:manual:chapter4:stack|STACK(4)]], 
[[jvs:cigal:manual:chapter1:variables|VARIABLES(1)]]

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