LOCAL
 Declare and initialize local variables and arrays
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 Syntax

     LOCAL <identifier> [[:= <initializer>], ... ]

 Arguments

     <identifier> is the name of a variable or array to declare local.
     If the <identifier> is followed by square brackets ([ ]), it is created
     as an array.  If the <identifier> is an array, the syntax for specifying
     the number of elements for each dimension can be array[<nElements>,
     <nElements2>,...] or array[<nElements>][<nElements2>]...  The maximum
     number of elements per dimension is 4096.  The maximum number of
     dimensions per array is limited only by available memory.

     <initializer> is the optional assignment of a value to a new local
     variable.  Array identifiers, however, cannot be given values with an
     <initializer>.  An <initializer> for a local variable consists of the
     inline assignment operator (:=) followed by any valid Clipper
     expression including a literal array.  If no explicit <initializer> is
     specified, the variable is given an initial value of NIL.  In the case
     of an array, each element is NIL.

     Note:  The macro operator (&) cannot be used in a LOCAL declaration
     statement.

 Description

     LOCAL is a declaration statement that declares one or more variables or
     arrays local to the current procedure or user-defined function, and must
     occur before any executable statement including PRIVATE, PUBLIC, and
     PARAMETERS.  Local variable declarations hide all inherited private
     variables and visible public variables with the same name.  A LOCAL
     statement, however, that declares a variable name which is already
     declared causes a fatal compiler error and no object file (.OBJ) is
     generated.  This error can happen as a result of two declarations for
     the same variable name in the same routine, or as the result of
     redeclaring a variable with filewide scope.  Declaration statements
     include FIELD, MEMVAR, and STATIC.

     Local variables are visible only within the current procedure or user-
     defined function and, unlike private variables, are not visible within
     invoked routines.  Local variables are created automatically each time
     the procedure in which they were declared begins executing.  They
     continue to exist and retain their values until the declaring procedure
     or user-defined function returns control to the code that invoked it.
     If a procedure or user-defined function is invoked recursively (calls
     itself), each recursive activation creates a new set of local variables.

     The initial value of local variables and array elements is NIL if not
     explicitly initialized, either in the initializer list or by assignment.
     The initializer expression can be any valid Clipper expression,
     including function calls.  Note that an array declaration cannot have an
     initializer.

     The maximum number of local variables in a program is limited only by
     available memory.  Arrays, however, assigned to a local variable are
     still limited to 4096 elements per dimension.

     For more information on variable declarations and scoping, refer to the
     Variables section in the "Basic Concepts" chapter of the Programming and
     Utilities Guide.

 Notes

     .  Inspecting local variables within the debugger: To access
        local variable names within the Clipper DOS-level debugger, you
        must compile program (.prg) files using the /B option so that local
        variable information is included in the object file.

     .  Local parameters: Declare a list of local parameters as a part
        of a FUNCTION or PROCEDURE declaration by enclosing the list of
        parameters in parentheses following the <idFunction>:

        FUNCTION <idFunction>(<idParam list>)

        Declaration of local parameters supersedes creation of private
        parameters with the PARAMETERS statement.

     .  Macro expressions: You cannot refer to local variables within
        macro variables and expressions.  If you refer to a local variable
        within a macro variable, a private or public variable with the same
        name will be referenced instead.  If no such variable exists, a
        runtime error will be generated.

     .  Memory files: Local variables cannot be SAVED to or RESTOREd
        from memory (.mem) files.

     .  Type of a local variable: Since TYPE() uses the macro operator
        (&) to evaluate its argument, it cannot be used to determine the type
        of a local or static variable or an expression containing a local or
        static variable reference.  The VALTYPE() function provides this
        facility.  VALTYPE() evaluates its argument and returns the type of
        the return value.

 Examples

     .  This example declares two local arrays and two local
        variables:

        LOCAL aArray1[20, 10], aArray2[20][10], var1, var2

     .  This example declares two local variables with initializers.
        The first is initialized to a date value and the second to a literal
        array:

        LOCAL dWhen := DATE()
        LOCAL aVegies := {"Tomato", "Chickadee", "Butterbean"}

See Also: FUNCTION PARAMETERS PRIVATE PROCEDURE PUBLIC STATIC