• Assigns a value to a specific element or multiple elements of a table
• If the table does not already exist, it is brought into being, with the dimensions specified.
• If the table DOES exist but its dimensions do not match those in the ASSIGN statement, an error is raised.
• A table may hold any kind of value, e.g. numbers, strings, even other tables.
• A table may have any number of dimensions, each defined by one item in the list of indices.
• Each item in the list of indices must follow one of the forms below:
  • integer - Specifies an element in a numeric dimension (array) to which the value will be assigned
  • single index - Specifies an element in a enumerated or general dimension (hash) to which the value will be assigned
  • (integer1 TO integer2) - Specifies the given range of indices of a numeric dimension (array) to which the value will be assigned [not yet implemented]
  • * (lone index) - Specifies that all elements of the table will be assigned the value
  • * (one of multiple indices) - Specifies that all current indices for the given dimension will be assigned the value [not yet implemented]
  • (list) - Specifies a group of indices to which the value will be assigned [not yet implemented]
• The assigned value is returned and displayed, unless DISPLAY is set to OFF.

Examples (see DEFINE for explanations regarding definition of tables):

  (FOR-EACH gene IN (GENES-OF A7120)
         AS length = (LENGTH-OF gene)
         DO (ASSIGN gene-length (length) = (REPLICON-OF gene))

The statement defines a table, gene-info, with two enumerated dimensions. The legal indices for the first dimension are the gene names of all4312 orthologs. The legal indices for the second dimension are gene-name, organism, etc.

  (DEFINE gene-lengths (number-of-genes)
  (ASSIGN gene-lengths (3) = (LENGTH-OF (THIRD gene-list))

Presuming that the variable number-of-genes holds an integer, the statement defines a table, gene-lengths, with a single numeric dimension. The legal indices for the table are from 1 to the value of the variable number-of-genes.

  (DEFINE mutations (seq-length (A C G T)) AS 0)
  (INCREMENT mutations (position C))

Presuming that seq-length is an integer, the statement defines a table, mutations, with one numeric dimension and a second enumerated dimension. The legal indices for the second dimension are the letters A, C, G, and T. All the elements of the table (seq-length times 4) are initialized to 0.

  (DEFINE gene-info ((ORTHOLOGS-OF all4312) (gene-name organism replicon start stop)))
  (FOR-EACH gene IN (ORTHOLOGS-OF all4312)
         DO (ASSIGN gene-info (gene replicon) = (REPLICON-OF gene))

The statement defines a table, gene-info, with two enumerated dimensions. The legal indices for the first dimension are the gene names of all4312 orthologs. The legal indices for the second dimension are gene-name, organism, etc.

  (DEFINE log-ratio-bin ((-10 TO +10)) AS 0 ADJUSTABLE false)
  (FOR-EACH log-ratio IN log-ratio-set
         AS bin = (APPROX log-ratio)
         DO (INCREMENT log-ratio-bin (bin))

The statement defines a table, log-ratio-bin, with one numeric dimension. The legal indices for the dimension are the integers from -10 to +10. Since the table is set as nonadjustable, if any future statement tries to use an index outside this range, an error will be raised. All 21 of the elements of the table are initialized to 0.

  (DEFINE telephone-directory (* (work home cell)))
  (ASSIGN telephone-directory (Turing cell) = 1-234-567-8900)

The statement defines a table, telephone-directory, with one general dimension and a second enumerated dimension. The legal indices for the second dimension are work, home, and cell.