The debugger interprets the expression specified in an EVALUATE
command as a language expression, evaluates it in the syntax of
the current language and in the current radix, and displays its
value as a literal (for example, an integer value) in the current
language.
The current language is the language last established with
the SET LANGUAGE command. If you did not enter a SET LANGUAGE
command, the current language is, by default, the language of the
module containing the main program.
If an expression contains symbols with different compiler-
generated types, the debugger uses the type-conversion rules
of the current language to evaluate the expression.
The debugger can interpret and display integer data in any one
of four radixes: binary, decimal, hexadecimal, and octal. The
current radix is the radix last established with the SET RADIX
command.
If you did not enter a SET RADIX command, the default radix for
both data entry and display is decimal for most languages. The
exceptions are BLISS and MACRO, which have a default radix of
hexadecimal.
You can use a radix qualifier (/BINARY, /OCTAL, and so on) to
display integer data in another radix. These qualifiers do not
affect how the debugger interprets the data you specify; they
override the current output radix, but not the input radix.
The EVALUATE command sets the current value of built-in symbols
%CURVAL and backslash (\) to the value denoted by the specified
expression.
You cannot evaluate a language expression that includes a
function call. For example, if PRODUCT is a function that
multiplies two integers, you cannot use the command EVALUATE
PRODUCT(3,5). If your program assigns the returned value
of a function to a variable, you can examine the resulting
value of that variable. On Alpha processors, the command
EVALUATE procedure-name displays the procedure descriptor address
(not the code address) of a specified routine, entry point, or
Ada package.
For more information about debugger support for language-specific
operators and constructs, see the Language_Support Help topic.
Related commands:
EVALUATE/ADDRESS
MONITOR
(SET,SHOW) LANGUAGE
(SET,SHOW,CANCEL) RADIX
(SET,SHOW) TYPE