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abs()

Syntax

    abs (numericExpression)

Description

Math function; calculates the absolute value of a numerical expression. If `numericExpression` is an integer, its absolute value is also an integer. If `numericExpression` is a floating-point number, its absolute value is also a floating-point number.

The `abs` function has several uses. It can simplify the tracking of mouse and sprite movement by converting coordinate differences (which can be either positive or negative numbers) into distances (which are always positive numbers). The `abs` function is also useful for handling mathematical functions, such as `sqrt` and `log`.

Example

This statement determines whether the absolute value of the difference between the current mouse position and the value of the variable `startV` is greater than 30 (since you wouldn't want to use a negative number for distance). If it is, the foreground color of sprite 6 is changed.

    if (the mouseV - startV).abs > 30 then sprite(6).forecolor = 95