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The STATIC statement makes simple variables or arrays local to a DEF FN
function, a FUNCTION procedure, or a SUB procedure, and preserves values
between calls.
 
STATIC variable[()] [AS type] [,variable[()] [AS type]]...
    ■ AS type declares the type of the variable. The type may be INTEGER,
      LONG, SINGLE, DOUBLE, STRING (for variable-length strings),
      STRING * length (for fixed-length strings), CURRENCY, or a user-
      defined type.
 
Usage Notes
    ■ STATIC is a BASIC declaration that makes simple variables or
      arrays local to a procedure (or a DEF FN function) and preserves
      the variable values between procedure calls
    ■ The STATIC statement can appear only in a SUB procedure, FUNCTION
      procedure, or DEF FN function.
    ■ Earlier versions of BASIC required the number of dimensions in
      parentheses after an array name. The number of dimensions in BASIC
      is now optional.
    ■ Variables declared in a STATIC statement override variables of the
      same name shared by DIM or COMMON statements in the module-level
      code. Variables in a STATIC statement also override global
      constants of the same name.
    ■ Usually, variables used in DEF FN functions are global to the
      module; however, you can use the STATIC statement inside a DEF FN
      statement to declare a variable as local to only that function.
    ■ The differences between the STATIC statement, the STATIC attribute,
      and the $STATIC metacommand are:
 
        Statement/Attribute        Differences
        ═══════════════════════    ════════════════════════════════════════
        STATIC attribute on SUB    Declares the default for variables to be
        and FUNCTION statements    static. Variables having the same name
                                   as variables shared by the module-level
                                   code are still shared.
 
        STATIC statement           Makes specific variables static and
                                   overrides any variables shared by the
                                   module-level code.
 
        $STATIC metacommand        Affects how memory is allocated for
                                   arrays.