Declared Constants

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Several different language constructions are referred to as 'constants'. There are numeric constants (also called numerals) like 17, and string constants (also called character strings or string literals) like 'Hello world!'. Every enumerated type defines constants that represent the values of that type. There are predefined constants like True, False, and nil. Finally, there are constants that, like variables, are created individually by declaration.

Declared constants are either true constants or typed constants. These two kinds of constant are superficially similar, but they are governed by different rules and used for different purposes.

True Constants

A true constant is a declared identifier whose value cannot change. For example: 

const MaxValue = 237;

declares a constant called MaxValue that returns the integer 237. The syntax for declaring a true constant is: 

const identifier = constantExpression

where identifier is any valid identifier and constantExpression is an expression that the compiler can evaluate without executing your program.

If constantExpression returns an ordinal value, you can specify the type of the declared constant using a value typecast. For example: 

const MyNumber = Int64(17);

declares a constant called MyNumber, of type Int64, that returns the integer 17. Otherwise, the type of the declared constant is the type of the constantExpression.

  • If constantExpression is a character string, the declared constant is compatible with any string type. If the character string is of length 1, it is also compatible with any character type.
  • If constantExpression is a real, its type is Extended. If it is an integer, its type is given by the table below.

Types for integer constants

Range of constant (hexadecimal) Range of constant (decimal) Type Aliases 
0
$FF

0
255

Byte

UInt8 

0
$FFFF

0
65535

Word

UInt16 

0
$FFFFFFFF

0
4294967295

Cardinal

UInt32, FixedUInt 

0
$FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

0
18446744073709551615

UInt64 

-$80
 $7F

-128
 127

ShortInt

Int8 

-$8000
 $7FFF

-32768
 32767

SmallInt

Int16 

-$80000000
 $7FFFFFFF

-2147483648
 2147483647

Integer

Int32, FixedInt 

-$8000000000000000
 $7FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

-9223372036854775808
 9223372036854775807

Int64


32-bit native integer type

Range of constant (hexadecimal) Range of constant (decimal) Type Equivalent type 
-$80000000
 $7FFFFFFF

-2147483648
 2147483647

NativeInt

Integer 

0
$FFFFFFFF

0
4294967295

NativeUInt

Cardinal


64-bit native integer type

Range of constant (hexadecimal) Range of constant (decimal) Type Equivalent type 
-$8000000000000000
 $7FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

-9223372036854775808
 9223372036854775807

NativeInt

Int64 

0
$FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

0
18446744073709551615

NativeUInt

UInt64

32-bit platforms and 64-bit Windows integer type

32-bit platforms include 32-bit Windows and Android.

Range of constant (hexadecimal) Range of constant (decimal) Type Equivalent type 
 -$80000000
 $7FFFFFFF

-2147483648
 2147483647

LongInt

Integer 

0
$FFFFFFFF

0
4294967295

LongWord

Cardinal

64-bit platforms integer type excluding 64-bit Windows

64-bit platforms include 64-bit iOS, 64-bit Android, 64-bit macOS and 64-bit Linux.

Range of constant (hexadecimal) Range of constant (decimal) Type Equivalent type 
-$8000000000000000
 $7FFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

-9223372036854775808
 9223372036854775807

LongInt

Int64 

0
$FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

0
18446744073709551615

LongWord

UInt64

Here are some examples of constant declarations: 

const
  Min = 0;
  Max = 100;
  Center = (Max - Min) div 2;
  Beta = Chr(225);
  NumChars = Ord('Z') - Ord('A') + 1;
  Message = 'Out of memory';
  ErrStr = ' Error: ' + Message + '. ';
  ErrPos = 80 - Length(ErrStr) div 2;
  Ln10 = 2.302585092994045684;
  Ln10R = 1 / Ln10;
  Numeric = ['0'..'9'];
  Alpha = ['A'..'Z', 'a'..'z'];
  AlphaNum = Alpha + Numeric;

Constant Expressions

A constant expression is an expression that the compiler can evaluate without executing the program in which it occurs. Constant expressions include numerals; character strings; true constants; values of enumerated types; the special constants True, False, and nil; and expressions built exclusively from these elements with operators, typecasts, and set constructors. Constant expressions cannot include variables, pointers, or function calls, except calls to the following predefined functions:

Abs

High

Low

Pred

Succ

Chr

Length

Odd

Round

Swap

Hi

Lo

Ord

SizeOf

Trunc


This definition of a constant expression is used in several places in Delphi's syntax specification. Constant expressions are required for initializing global variables, defining subrange types, assigning ordinalities to values in enumerated types, specifying default parameter values, writing case statements, and declaring both true and typed constants.

Examples of constant expressions: 

100
'A'
256 - 1
(2.5 + 1) / (2.5 - 1)
'Embarcadero' + ' ' + 'Developer'
Chr(32)
Ord('Z') - Ord('A') + 1

Resource Strings

Resource strings are stored as resources and linked into the executable or library so that they can be modified without recompiling the program.

Resource strings are declared as other true constants, except that the word const is replaced by resourcestring. The expression to the right of the = symbol must be a constant expression and must return a string value. For example: 

resourcestring
  CreateError = 'Cannot create file %s';
  OpenError = 'Cannot open file %s';
  LineTooLong = 'Line too long';
  ProductName = 'Embarcadero Rocks';
  SomeResourceString = SomeTrueConstant;

Typed Constants

Typed constants, unlike true constants, can hold values of array, record, procedural, and pointer types. Typed constants cannot occur in constant expressions.

Declare a typed constant like this: 

const identifier: type = value

where identifier is any valid identifier, type is any type except files and variants, and value is an expression of type. For example, 

const Max: Integer = 100;

In most cases, value must be a constant expression; but if type is an array, record, procedural, or pointer type, special rules apply.

Array Constants

To declare an array constant, enclose the values of the elements of the array, separated by commas, in parentheses at the end of the declaration. These values must be represented by constant expressions. For example: 

const Digits: array[0..9] of Char =
  ('0', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9');

declares a typed constant called Digits that holds an array of characters.

Zero-based character arrays often represent null-terminated strings, and for this reason string constants can be used to initialize character arrays. So the previous declaration can be more conveniently represented as: 

const Digits: array[0..9] of Char = '0123456789';

To define a multidimensional array constant, enclose the values of each dimension in a separate set of parentheses, separated by commas. For example: 

type TCube = array[0..1, 0..1, 0..1] of Integer;
const Maze: TCube = (((0, 1), (2, 3)), ((4, 5), (6,7)));

creates an array called Maze where: 

Maze[0,0,0] = 0
Maze[0,0,1] = 1
Maze[0,1,0] = 2
Maze[0,1,1] = 3
Maze[1,0,0] = 4
Maze[1,0,1] = 5
Maze[1,1,0] = 6
Maze[1,1,1] = 7

Array constants cannot contain file-type values at any level.

Record Constants

To declare a record constant, specify the value of each field - as fieldName: value, with the field assignments separated by semicolons - in parentheses at the end of the declaration. The values must be represented by constant expressions. The fields must be listed in the order in which they appear in the record type declaration, and the tag field, if there is one, must have a value specified; if the record has a variant part, only the variant selected by the tag field can be assigned values.

Examples: 


type
  TPoint = record
     X, Y: Single;
  end;
  TVector = array[0..1] of TPoint;
  TMonth = (Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec);
  TDate = record
    D: 1..31;
    M: TMonth;
    Y: 1900..1999;
  end;
const
  Origin: TPoint = (X: 0.0; Y: 0.0);
  Line: TVector = ((X: -3.1; Y: 1.5), (X: 5.8; Y: 3.0));
  SomeDay: TDate = (D: 2; M: Dec; Y: 1960);

Record constants cannot contain file-type values at any level.

Procedural Constants

To declare a procedural constant, specify the name of a function or procedure that is compatible with the declared type of the constant. For example, 


function Calc(X, Y: Integer): Integer;
begin
  ...
end;

type TFunction = function(X, Y: Integer): Integer;
const MyFunction: TFunction = Calc;

Given these declarations, you can use the procedural constant MyFunction in a function call: 

I := MyFunction(5, 7)

You can also assign the value nil to a procedural constant.

Pointer Constants

When you declare a pointer constant, you must initialize it to a value that can be resolved at least as a relative address at compile time. There are three ways to do this: with the @ operator, with nil, and (if the constant is of type PChar or PWideChar) with a string literal. For example, if I is a global variable of type Integer, you can declare a constant like: 

const PI: ^Integer = @I;

The compiler can resolve this because global variables are part of the code segment. So are functions and global constants: 

const PF: Pointer = @MyFunction;

Because string literals are allocated as global constants, you can initialize a PChar constant with a string literal: 

const WarningStr: PChar = 'Warning!';

Writeable Typed Constants

Delphi allows typed constants to be modified if you set the compiler directive ($J+} or Writeable typed constants (Delphi) {$WRITEABLECONST ON}.

With $J+ set, you can use assignment statements to change the value of typed constants as if they were initialized variables. For example: 

{$J+}
const
  foo: Integer = 12;
begin
  foo := 14;
end.

Differences between writeable typed constants and initialized variables:

  • Writeable typed constants can occur both globally and locally in procedure, functions and methods.
  • Initialized variables are only available as global declarations.
  • Initialized variables cause a compile-time error when attempted within procedures or methods.

See Also

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