Print statements do nothing when there are no active expressions

[jodavies]

The following program prints nothing:

#-
*Local test = 1;
Print "hello";
.end

If one uncomments the expression, FORM prints hello as I would expect.

Similarly, this also prints nothing:

#-
Local test = 1;
.sort
Hide test;
Print "hello";
.end

Thanks, Josh

[benruijl]

The print statement is executed for every term, so if there are none, nothing happens.

You could use #write instead.

[tueda]

It is a bit tricky point that Print has two meanings: (1) print for every terms as an executable statement and (2) print expressions at the end of the module as a kind of module control statement/declaration. So the manual says the type of the Print statement is "Print statement". In your case Print has a "..." string and acts as an executable statement.

[jodavies]

Ah, yes, of course. Usually I use #message for such things, but for some reason I was using a print like this somewhere, and it took me a while to track down why nothing was happening... Thanks!