In what circumstances can initial-value needs to be (or can be) as a character value?

[Nietzsche]

Hi, I am reading page 148 of the official specialist prep guide, in it, it states that initial value can be character in the RETAIN statement, which is used for initialising a sum variable. But how can a character value be added together? How can A + A or A+1?

What circumstances can initial value be a character variable/value?

thanks

[PaigeMiller · Accepted solution]

I am reading page 148 of the official specialist prep guide, in it, it states that initial value can be character in the RETAIN statement, which is used for initialising a sum variable.

RETAIN does not have to be used for a sum variable. It can be used for many other purposes, such as retaining a character value from a previous observation. So, initialising a character variable with a character value makes perfect sense.

[Nietzsche]

oh okay, thanks.