30 PRINT TAB(5);"An";TAB(10) ;"example";TAB(15) ;"of";TAB(20);"TAB."

gives:

0123456789

An example

of TAB.

The computer is already at character position 17 when it comes to the TAB(15)

command, and so it starts a new line.

By also giving the line number, you can use PRINT TAB to place text

anywhere on the screen, for example:

10 MODE 135

20 PRINT TAB(8,24) "It can go at the bottom"

30 PRINT TAB(14,0) "Or the top"

40 PRINT TAB(1,11) "Or the Left" ;TAB(27) ;"Or the right"

Line 30 should remind you that although mode 135 has 25 lines these are

numbered from 0 to 24. Line 40 shows that once you are on a line you can use

TAB as before without referring to the line number.

Printing text in colour

The computer lets you change the colours used in printing text with the

COLOUR command. Type:

MODE 129 RETURN

COLOUR 1 RETURN

The number after COLOUR indicates red in mode 129, and tells the computer

that the new text foreground colour is to be red. Anything you type from now

on will be printed in red. Type:

COLOUR 2 RETURN

COLOUR 129 RETURN

The first COLOUR command changes the text colour to yellow, and the second

changes the background colour to red. All text from now on will be printed as

yellow on red. You can change the entire screen to the new background colour

by typing:

CLS RETURN

The COLOUR commands apply in all modes except modes 7 and 135. As with

GCOL, the numbers used to indicate a particular colour vary from mode to

mode. Consult Appendix I for a full list of the numeric colour references for

each mode.

C 22