Comparison of programming languages (syntax)

Expressions

Programming language expressions

Expression (programming)

An expression in a programming language is a combination of explicit values, constants, variables, operators, and functions that are interpreted according to the particular rules of precedence and of association for a particular programming language, which computes and then produces another value...

can be broadly classified
in three classes:

prefix notation

Lisp (* (+ 2 3) (expt 4 5))

infix notation

Fortran
Fortran
Fortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing...

(2 + 3) * (4 ** 5)
TUTOR (2 + 3)(4⁵) $$ note implicit multiply operator

suffix, postfix, or Reverse Polish notation

Reverse Polish notation

Reverse Polish notation is a mathematical notation wherein every operator follows all of its operands, in contrast to Polish notation, which puts the operator in the prefix position. It is also known as Postfix notation and is parenthesis-free as long as operator arities are fixed...

Forth 2 3 + 4 5 ** *

Statements

Programming language statement

Statement (programming)

In computer programming a statement can be thought of as the smallest standalone element of an imperative programming language. A program written in such a language is formed by a sequence of one or more statements. A statement will have internal components .Many languages In computer programming...

s typically have conventions for:

statement separators;
statement terminators; and
line continuation

A statement separator is used to demarcate boundaries between two separate statements.
A statement terminator is used to demarcate the end of an individual statement.
Line continuation is a convention in languages where the newline

Newline

In computing, a newline, also known as a line break or end-of-line marker, is a special character or sequence of characters signifying the end of a line of text. The name comes from the fact that the next character after the newline will appear on a new line—that is, on the next line below the...

character could potentially be misinterpreted as a statement terminator. In such languages, it allows a single statement to span more than just one line.

Language	Statement separator/terminator	Secondary separator
ABAP ABAP ABAP , is a high-level programming language created by the German software company SAP...	period separated
Ada Ada (programming language) Ada is a structured, statically typed, imperative, wide-spectrum, and object-oriented high-level computer programming language, extended from Pascal and other languages...	semicolon separated
ALGOL ALGOL ALGOL is a family of imperative computer programming languages originally developed in the mid 1950s which greatly influenced many other languages and became the de facto way algorithms were described in textbooks and academic works for almost the next 30 years...	semicolon separated
ALGOL 68 ALGOL 68 ALGOL 68 isan imperative computerprogramming language that was conceived as a successor to theALGOL 60 programming language, designed with the goal of a...	semicolon and comma separated
AppleScript AppleScript AppleScript is a scripting language created by Apple Inc. and built into Macintosh operating systems since System 7. The term "AppleScript" may refer to the scripting system itself, or to particular scripts that are written in the AppleScript language....	newline terminated
AutoHotkey AutoHotkey AutoHotkey is a free, open source macro-creation and automation software utility which allows users to automate repetitive tasks. Any application user interface can be modified by AutoHotkey...	newline terminated
BASIC BASIC BASIC is a family of general-purpose, high-level programming languages whose design philosophy emphasizes ease of use - the name is an acronym from Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code....	newline terminated	colon
Boo	newline terminated
C C (programming language) C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....	semicolon terminates statements	comma separates expressions
C++ C++ C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...	semicolon terminates statements	comma separates expressions
C#	semicolon terminated
COBOL COBOL COBOL is one of the oldest programming languages. Its name is an acronym for COmmon Business-Oriented Language, defining its primary domain in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments....	period separated
Cobra Cobra (programming language from Cobra Language LLC) Cobra is an object-oriented programming language produced by Cobra Language LLC. Cobra is designed by Chuck Esterbrook, and runs on the Microsoft .NET and Mono platforms. It is strongly influenced by Python, C#, Eiffel, Objective-C, and other programming languages. It supports both static and...	newline terminated
D	semicolon terminated
Eiffel Eiffel (programming language) Eiffel is an ISO-standardized, object-oriented programming language designed by Bertrand Meyer and Eiffel Software. The design of the language is closely connected with the Eiffel programming method...	newline terminated	semicolon
Erlang	colon separated, period terminated
Fortran Fortran Fortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing...	newline terminated	semicolon
Forth	?	whitespace
GFA BASIC GFA BASIC GFA BASIC is a dialect of the BASIC programming language, by Frank Ostrowski. The first version was finished in 1986. In the mid and late 80s, it became very popular for the Atari ST homecomputer range . Later, ports for the Commodore Amiga, DOS and Windows were marketed...	newline terminated
Go Go (programming language) Go is a compiled, garbage-collected, concurrent programming language developed by Google Inc.The initial design of Go was started in September 2007 by Robert Griesemer, Rob Pike, and Ken Thompson. Go was officially announced in November 2009. In May 2010, Rob Pike publicly stated that Go was being...	semicolon separated (inserted by compiler)
Haskell Haskell (programming language) Haskell is a standardized, general-purpose purely functional programming language, with non-strict semantics and strong static typing. It is named after logician Haskell Curry. In Haskell, "a function is a first-class citizen" of the programming language. As a functional programming language, the... (in do-notation)	semicolon separated
Haskell Haskell (programming language) Haskell is a standardized, general-purpose purely functional programming language, with non-strict semantics and strong static typing. It is named after logician Haskell Curry. In Haskell, "a function is a first-class citizen" of the programming language. As a functional programming language, the... (in do-notation, when braces are omitted)	newline separated
Java Java (programming language) Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...	semicolon terminated
JavaScript JavaScript JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....	semicolon separated (but sometimes implicitly inserted on newlines)
Lua	whitespace separated (semicolon optional)
MATLAB MATLAB MATLAB is a numerical computing environment and fourth-generation programming language. Developed by MathWorks, MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation of algorithms, creation of user interfaces, and interfacing with programs written in other languages,...	newline terminated	semicolon or comma
Object Pascal (Delphi) Object Pascal Object Pascal refers to a branch of object-oriented derivatives of Pascal, mostly known as the primary programming language of Embarcadero Delphi.-Early history at Apple:...	semicolon separated
Objective-C Objective-C Objective-C is a reflective, object-oriented programming language that adds Smalltalk-style messaging to the C programming language.Today, it is used primarily on Apple's Mac OS X and iOS: two environments derived from the OpenStep standard, though not compliant with it...	semicolon terminated
OCaml	semicolon separated
Pascal Pascal (programming language) Pascal is an influential imperative and procedural programming language, designed in 1968/9 and published in 1970 by Niklaus Wirth as a small and efficient language intended to encourage good programming practices using structured programming and data structuring.A derivative known as Object Pascal...	semicolon separated
Perl Perl Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...	semicolon separated
PHP PHP PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...	semicolon terminated
Prolog Prolog Prolog is a general purpose logic programming language associated with artificial intelligence and computational linguistics.Prolog has its roots in first-order logic, a formal logic, and unlike many other programming languages, Prolog is declarative: the program logic is expressed in terms of...	period terminated
Python Python (programming language) Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...	newline terminated	semicolon
Ruby Ruby (programming language) Ruby is a dynamic, reflective, general-purpose object-oriented programming language that combines syntax inspired by Perl with Smalltalk-like features. Ruby originated in Japan during the mid-1990s and was first developed and designed by Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto...	newline terminated	semicolon
Scala	newline terminated (semicolon optional)	semicolon
Simula Simula Simula is a name for two programming languages, Simula I and Simula 67, developed in the 1960s at the Norwegian Computing Center in Oslo, by Ole-Johan Dahl and Kristen Nygaard...	semicolon separated
S-Lang	semicolon separated
Smalltalk Smalltalk Smalltalk is an object-oriented, dynamically typed, reflective programming language. Smalltalk was created as the language to underpin the "new world" of computing exemplified by "human–computer symbiosis." It was designed and created in part for educational use, more so for constructionist...	period separated
Standard ML Standard ML Standard ML is a general-purpose, modular, functional programming language with compile-time type checking and type inference. It is popular among compiler writers and programming language researchers, as well as in the development of theorem provers.SML is a modern descendant of the ML...	semicolon separated
Visual Basic Visual Basic Visual Basic is the third-generation event-driven programming language and integrated development environment from Microsoft for its COM programming model...	newline terminated
Visual Basic .NET Visual Basic .NET Visual Basic .NET , is an object-oriented computer programming language that can be viewed as an evolution of the classic Visual Basic , which is implemented on the .NET Framework...	newline terminated
Windows PowerShell Windows PowerShell Windows PowerShell is Microsoft's task automation framework, consisting of a command-line shell and associated scripting language built on top of, and integrated with the .NET Framework...	newline terminated	semicolon separated
Language	Statement separator/terminator	Secondary separator

Line continuation

Whitespace - Languages that do not need continuations

Ada
Ada (programming language)
Ada is a structured, statically typed, imperative, wide-spectrum, and object-oriented high-level computer programming language, extended from Pascal and other languages...

Lines terminate with semicolon
C# Lines terminate with semicolon
Lua

Ampersand

An ampersand is a logogram representing the conjunction word "and". The symbol is a ligature of the letters in et, Latin for "and".-Etymology:...

as last character of line

Fortran 90/Fortran 95/Fortran 2003/Fortran 2008

Backslash

The backslash is a typographical mark used mainly in computing. It was first introduced to computers in 1960 by Bob Bemer. Sometimes called a reverse solidus or a slosh, it is the mirror image of the common slash....

as last character of line

C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....

and C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...

preprocessor
Python
Ruby

Backtick as last character of line

Windows PowerShell
Windows PowerShell
Windows PowerShell is Microsoft's task automation framework, consisting of a command-line shell and associated scripting language built on top of, and integrated with the .NET Framework...

Hyphen

The hyphen is a punctuation mark used to join words and to separate syllables of a single word. The use of hyphens is called hyphenation. The hyphen should not be confused with dashes , which are longer and have different uses, or with the minus sign which is also longer...

as last character of line

SQL*Plus

Left parenthesis

Bracket

Brackets are tall punctuation marks used in matched pairs within text, to set apart or interject other text. In the United States, "bracket" usually refers specifically to the "square" or "box" type.-List of types:...

as last character of line

COMMAND.COM
COMMAND.COM
COMMAND.COM is the filename of the default operating system shell for DOS operating systems and the default command line interpreter on Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows Me...

, cmd.exe
Cmd.exe
Command Prompt is the Microsoft-supplied command-line interpreter on OS/2, Windows CE and on Windows NT-based operating systems...

: starting a parenthetical block can allow line continuation.

Underscore

The underscore [ _ ] is a character that originally appeared on the typewriter and was primarily used to underline words...

as last character of line

Autoit
AutoIt
AutoIt is a freeware automation language for Microsoft Windows. In its earliest release, the software was primarily intended to create automation scripts for Microsoft Windows programs but has since grown to include enhancements in both programming language design and overall functionality.With...
Cobra
Cobra (programming language from Cobra Language LLC)
Cobra is an object-oriented programming language produced by Cobra Language LLC. Cobra is designed by Chuck Esterbrook, and runs on the Microsoft .NET and Mono platforms. It is strongly influenced by Python, C#, Eiffel, Objective-C, and other programming languages. It supports both static and...
Visual Basic
Visual Basic
Visual Basic is the third-generation event-driven programming language and integrated development environment from Microsoft for its COM programming model...

Ellipsis

Ellipsis is a series of marks that usually indicate an intentional omission of a word, sentence or whole section from the original text being quoted. An ellipsis can also be used to indicate an unfinished thought or, at the end of a sentence, a trailing off into silence...

(as three periods–not one special character)

MATLAB
MATLAB
MATLAB is a numerical computing environment and fourth-generation programming language. Developed by MathWorks, MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation of algorithms, creation of user interfaces, and interfacing with programs written in other languages,...

: The ellipsis token need not be the last characters on the line, but any following it will be ignored. (In essence, it begins a comment that extends through (i.e. including) the first subsequent newline character. Contrast this with an inline comment, which extends until the first subsequent newline.)

Some form of inline comment serves as line continuation

Turbo Assembler
Turbo Assembler
Turbo Assembler is an assembler package developed by Borland which runs on and produces code for 16- or 32-bit x86 MS-DOS or Microsoft Windows. It can be used with Borland's high-level language compilers, such as Turbo Pascal, Turbo Basic and Turbo C. The Turbo Assembler package is bundled with...

: \
m4
M4 (computer language)
m4 is a general purpose macro processor designed by Brian Kernighan and Dennis Ritchie. m4 is an extension of an earlier macro processor m3, written by Ritchie for the AP-3 minicomputer.-Use:...

: dnl
TeX
TeX
TeX is a typesetting system designed and mostly written by Donald Knuth and released in 1978. Within the typesetting system, its name is formatted as ....

: %

Character position

Fortran 77: A non-comment line is a continuation of the previous non-comment line if any non-space character appears in column 6. Comment lines cannot be continued.
Cobol
COBOL
COBOL is one of the oldest programming languages. Its name is an acronym for COmmon Business-Oriented Language, defining its primary domain in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments....

: String constants may be continued by not ending the original string in a PICTURE clause with ', then inserting a - in column 7 (same position as the * for comment is used.)
TUTOR: Lines starting with a tab (after any indentation required by the context) continue the previous command.

[End and Begin] using normal quotes

C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....

and C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...

preprocessor: The string is ended normally and continues by starting with a quote on the next line.

Libraries

To import a library is a way to read external, possibly compiled, routines, programs or packages. Imports can be classified by level (module, package, class, procedure,...) and by syntax (directive name, attributes,...)

File import

ASP
Active Server Pages
Active Server Pages , also known as Classic ASP or ASP Classic, was Microsoft's first server-side script engine for dynamically-generated Web pages. Initially released as an add-on to Internet Information Services via the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack Active Server Pages (ASP), also known as Classic...

: #include file="filename"
AutoIt
AutoIt
AutoIt is a freeware automation language for Microsoft Windows. In its earliest release, the software was primarily intended to create automation scripts for Microsoft Windows programs but has since grown to include enhancements in both programming language design and overall functionality.With...

, C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....

, C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...

: #include "filename", #include
Lua: require("filename")
MATLAB
MATLAB
MATLAB is a numerical computing environment and fourth-generation programming language. Developed by MathWorks, MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation of algorithms, creation of user interfaces, and interfacing with programs written in other languages,...

: addpath(directory)
Perl
Perl
Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...

: require "filename";, PHP
PHP
PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...

include filename

Package import

Ada
Ada (programming language)
Ada is a structured, statically typed, imperative, wide-spectrum, and object-oriented high-level computer programming language, extended from Pascal and other languages...

: with package
C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....

, C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...

: #include filename
Cobra
Cobra (programming language from Cobra Language LLC)
Cobra is an object-oriented programming language produced by Cobra Language LLC. Cobra is designed by Chuck Esterbrook, and runs on the Microsoft .NET and Mono platforms. It is strongly influenced by Python, C#, Eiffel, Objective-C, and other programming languages. It supports both static and...

: use Package.Name
D
D (programming language)
The D programming language is an object-oriented, imperative, multi-paradigm, system programming language created by Walter Bright of Digital Mars. It originated as a re-engineering of C++, but even though it is mainly influenced by that language, it is not a variant of C++...

: import package.module;, import altname = package.module;
Go
Go (programming language)
Go is a compiled, garbage-collected, concurrent programming language developed by Google Inc.The initial design of Go was started in September 2007 by Robert Griesemer, Rob Pike, and Ken Thompson. Go was officially announced in November 2009. In May 2010, Rob Pike publicly stated that Go was being...

: import altname "package/name"
Haskell
Haskell (programming language)
Haskell is a standardized, general-purpose purely functional programming language, with non-strict semantics and strong static typing. It is named after logician Haskell Curry. In Haskell, "a function is a first-class citizen" of the programming language. As a functional programming language, the...

: import Module, import qualified Module as M
Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...

, MATLAB
MATLAB
MATLAB is a numerical computing environment and fourth-generation programming language. Developed by MathWorks, MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation of algorithms, creation of user interfaces, and interfacing with programs written in other languages,...

: import package.*
Lua: require("modname")
Oberon
Oberon (programming language)
Oberon is a programming language created in 1986 by Professor Niklaus Wirth and his associates at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. It was developed as part of the implementation of the Oberon operating system...

: IMPORT module
Pascal
Pascal (programming language)
Pascal is an influential imperative and procedural programming language, designed in 1968/9 and published in 1970 by Niklaus Wirth as a small and efficient language intended to encourage good programming practices using structured programming and data structuring.A derivative known as Object Pascal...

: uses unit
Perl
Perl
Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...

: use Module;
Python
Python (programming language)
Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...

: import module, from module import *
Scala: import package._, import package

Class import

Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...

, MATLAB
MATLAB
MATLAB is a numerical computing environment and fourth-generation programming language. Developed by MathWorks, MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation of algorithms, creation of user interfaces, and interfacing with programs written in other languages,...

: import package.class
Python
Python (programming language)
Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...

: from module import class
Scala: import package.class, import package.{ class1 => alternativeName, 'class2 }, import package._

Procedure/function import

D
D (programming language)
The D programming language is an object-oriented, imperative, multi-paradigm, system programming language created by Walter Bright of Digital Mars. It originated as a re-engineering of C++, but even though it is mainly influenced by that language, it is not a variant of C++...

: import package.module : symbol;, import package.module : altsymbolname = symbol;
Haskell
Haskell (programming language)
Haskell is a standardized, general-purpose purely functional programming language, with non-strict semantics and strong static typing. It is named after logician Haskell Curry. In Haskell, "a function is a first-class citizen" of the programming language. As a functional programming language, the...

: import Module (function)
MATLAB
MATLAB
MATLAB is a numerical computing environment and fourth-generation programming language. Developed by MathWorks, MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation of algorithms, creation of user interfaces, and interfacing with programs written in other languages,...

: import package.function, Perl
Perl
Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...

: use Module ('symbol');
Python
Python (programming language)
Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...

: from module import function
Scala: import package.class.function, import package.class.{ function => alternativeName, otherFunction }

The above statements can also be classified by whether they are a syntactic convenience (allowing things to be referred to by a shorter name, but they can still be referred to by some fully qualified name without import), or whether they are actually required to access the code (without which it is impossible to access the code, even with fully qualified names).

Syntactic convenience

Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...

: import package.*, import package.class
OCaml: open module

Required to access code

Go
Go (programming language)
Go is a compiled, garbage-collected, concurrent programming language developed by Google Inc.The initial design of Go was started in September 2007 by Robert Griesemer, Rob Pike, and Ken Thompson. Go was officially announced in November 2009. In May 2010, Rob Pike publicly stated that Go was being...

: import altname "package/name"
Python
Python (programming language)
Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...

: import module

Blocks

A block is a notation for a group of two or more statements, expressions or other units of code that are related in such a way as to comprise a whole.

Braces (aka Curly brackets) { }:

Curly bracket programming languages: C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....

, C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...

, Objective-C
Objective-C
Objective-C is a reflective, object-oriented programming language that adds Smalltalk-style messaging to the C programming language.Today, it is used primarily on Apple's Mac OS X and iOS: two environments derived from the OpenStep standard, though not compliant with it...

, Go
Go (programming language)
Go is a compiled, garbage-collected, concurrent programming language developed by Google Inc.The initial design of Go was started in September 2007 by Robert Griesemer, Rob Pike, and Ken Thompson. Go was officially announced in November 2009. In May 2010, Rob Pike publicly stated that Go was being...

, Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...

, JavaScript
JavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....

, ECMAScript
ECMAScript
ECMAScript is the scripting language standardized by Ecma International in the ECMA-262 specification and ISO/IEC 16262. The language is widely used for client-side scripting on the web, in the form of several well-known dialects such as JavaScript, JScript, and ActionScript.- History :JavaScript...

, C#, D
D (programming language)
The D programming language is an object-oriented, imperative, multi-paradigm, system programming language created by Walter Bright of Digital Mars. It originated as a re-engineering of C++, but even though it is mainly influenced by that language, it is not a variant of C++...

, Perl
Perl
Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular...

, PHP
PHP
PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...

(for & loop loops, or pass a block as argument), Scala, S-Lang, Windows PowerShell
Windows PowerShell
Windows PowerShell is Microsoft's task automation framework, consisting of a command-line shell and associated scripting language built on top of, and integrated with the .NET Framework...

, Haskell
Haskell (programming language)
Haskell is a standardized, general-purpose purely functional programming language, with non-strict semantics and strong static typing. It is named after logician Haskell Curry. In Haskell, "a function is a first-class citizen" of the programming language. As a functional programming language, the...

(in do-notation)

Parentheses

OCaml, Standard ML
Standard ML
Standard ML is a general-purpose, modular, functional programming language with compile-time type checking and type inference. It is popular among compiler writers and programming language researchers, as well as in the development of theorem provers.SML is a modern descendant of the ML...

begin ... end:

Ada
Ada (programming language)
Ada is a structured, statically typed, imperative, wide-spectrum, and object-oriented high-level computer programming language, extended from Pascal and other languages...

, ALGOL
ALGOL
ALGOL is a family of imperative computer programming languages originally developed in the mid 1950s which greatly influenced many other languages and became the de facto way algorithms were described in textbooks and academic works for almost the next 30 years...

, Pascal
Pascal (programming language)
Pascal is an influential imperative and procedural programming language, designed in 1968/9 and published in 1970 by Niklaus Wirth as a small and efficient language intended to encourage good programming practices using structured programming and data structuring.A derivative known as Object Pascal...

, Ruby
Ruby (programming language)
Ruby is a dynamic, reflective, general-purpose object-oriented programming language that combines syntax inspired by Perl with Smalltalk-like features. Ruby originated in Japan during the mid-1990s and was first developed and designed by Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto...

(for, do/while & do/until loops), OCaml, Simula
Simula
Simula is a name for two programming languages, Simula I and Simula 67, developed in the 1960s at the Norwegian Computing Center in Oslo, by Ole-Johan Dahl and Kristen Nygaard...

, Erlang
Erlang
Erlang may refer to:* Agner Krarup Erlang , a mathematician and engineer after whom several concepts are named** Erlang , a unit to measure traffic in telecommunications or other domains...

.

do ... done:

Visual Basic
Visual Basic
Visual Basic is the third-generation event-driven programming language and integrated development environment from Microsoft for its COM programming model...

, Fortran
Fortran
Fortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing...

, TUTOR (with mandatory indenting of block body), Visual Prolog
Visual Prolog
Visual Prolog, also formerly known as PDC Prolog and Turbo Prolog, is a strongly typed object-oriented extension of Prolog. As Turbo Prolog it was marketed by Borland, but it is now developed and marketed by the Danish firm Prolog Development Center that originally developed it...

do ... end

Lua, Ruby
Ruby (programming language)
Ruby is a dynamic, reflective, general-purpose object-oriented programming language that combines syntax inspired by Perl with Smalltalk-like features. Ruby originated in Japan during the mid-1990s and was first developed and designed by Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto...

(pass blocks as arguments, for loop)

X ... end (e.g. if ... end):

Bash (for & while loops), Ruby
Ruby (programming language)
Ruby is a dynamic, reflective, general-purpose object-oriented programming language that combines syntax inspired by Perl with Smalltalk-like features. Ruby originated in Japan during the mid-1990s and was first developed and designed by Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto...

(if, while, until, def, class, module statements), OCaml (for & while loops), MATLAB
MATLAB
MATLAB is a numerical computing environment and fourth-generation programming language. Developed by MathWorks, MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation of algorithms, creation of user interfaces, and interfacing with programs written in other languages,...

(if & switch conditionals, for & while loops, try clause, package, classdef, properties, methods, events, & function blocks), Lua (then / else & function)

(begin ...):

Scheme

(progn ...):

Lisp

(do ...):

Clojure
Clojure
Clojure |closure]]") is a recent dialect of the Lisp programming language created by Rich Hickey. It is a general-purpose language supporting interactive development that encourages a functional programming style, and simplifies multithreaded programming....

Indentation

Off-side rule
Off-side rule
A computer programming language is said to adhere to the off-side rule if the scope of declarations in that language is expressed by their indentation. The term and the idea are attributed to Peter J. Landin, and the term can be seen as a pun on the offside law of football .- Definition :Peter J...

languages: Cobra
Cobra (programming language from Cobra Language LLC)
Cobra is an object-oriented programming language produced by Cobra Language LLC. Cobra is designed by Chuck Esterbrook, and runs on the Microsoft .NET and Mono platforms. It is strongly influenced by Python, C#, Eiffel, Objective-C, and other programming languages. It supports both static and...

, Haskell
Haskell (programming language)
Haskell is a standardized, general-purpose purely functional programming language, with non-strict semantics and strong static typing. It is named after logician Haskell Curry. In Haskell, "a function is a first-class citizen" of the programming language. As a functional programming language, the...

(in do-notation when braces are omitted), occam
Occam (programming language)
occam is a concurrent programming language that builds on the Communicating Sequential Processes process algebra, and shares many of its features. It is named after William of Ockham of Occam's Razor fame....

, Python
Python (programming language)
Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...

Others

Bash: if ~ fi, do ~ done, case ~ esac;
ALGOL 68
ALGOL 68
ALGOL 68 isan imperative computerprogramming language that was conceived as a successor to theALGOL 60 programming language, designed with the goal of a...

: begin ~ end, ( ~ ), if ~ fi, do ~ od
Lua: repeat ~ until

Comments

Comment

Comment (computer programming)

In computer programming, a comment is a programming language construct used to embed programmer-readable annotations in the source code of a computer program. Those annotations are potentially significant to programmers but typically ignorable to compilers and interpreters. Comments are usually...

s can be classified by:

style (inline/block)
parse rules (ignored/interpolated/stored in memory)
recursivity (nestable/non-nestable)
uses (docstring
Docstring
In programming, a docstring is a string literal specified in source code that is used, like a comment, to document a specific segment of code. Unlike conventional source code comments, or even specifically formatted comments like Javadoc documentation, docstrings are not stripped from the source...

s/throwaway comments/other)

Inline comments

Inline comments are generally those that use a newline

Newline

character to indicate the end of a comment, and an arbitrary delimiter

Delimiter

A delimiter is a sequence of one or more characters used to specify the boundary between separate, independent regions in plain text or other data streams. An example of a delimiter is the comma character, which acts as a field delimiter in a sequence of comma-separated values.Delimiters represent...

or sequence of tokens to indicate the beginning of a comment.

Examples:

Symbol	Languages
C	Fortran 77 Fortran Fortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing... and earlier; the 'C' must be in column 1 of a line to indicate a comment.
REM	BASIC, COMMAND.COM COMMAND.COM COMMAND.COM is the filename of the default operating system shell for DOS operating systems and the default command line interpreter on Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows Me... , cmd.exe Cmd.exe Command Prompt is the Microsoft-supplied command-line interpreter on OS/2, Windows CE and on Windows NT-based operating systems...
NB.	J J (programming language) The J programming language, developed in the early 1990s by Kenneth E. Iverson and Roger Hui, is a synthesis of APL and the FP and FL function-level languages created by John Backus.... ; from the (historically) common abbreviation Nota bene Nota Bene Nota bene is an Italian and Latin phrase meaning "note well". The phrase first appeared in writing circa 1721.Often abbreviated as "N. B.", nota bene comes from the Latin roots notāre and bene . It is in the singular imperative mood, instructing one individual to note well the matter at hand... , the Latin for "note well".
⍝	APL; the mnemonic is the glyph (jot overstruck with shoe-down) resembles a desk lamp, and hence "illuminates" the foregoing.
#	bash, Cobra Cobra (programming language from Cobra Language LLC) Cobra is an object-oriented programming language produced by Cobra Language LLC. Cobra is designed by Chuck Esterbrook, and runs on the Microsoft .NET and Mono platforms. It is strongly influenced by Python, C#, Eiffel, Objective-C, and other programming languages. It supports both static and... , Perl Perl Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular... , Python Python (programming language) Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive... , Ruby Ruby (programming language) Ruby is a dynamic, reflective, general-purpose object-oriented programming language that combines syntax inspired by Perl with Smalltalk-like features. Ruby originated in Japan during the mid-1990s and was first developed and designed by Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto... , Windows PowerShell Windows PowerShell Windows PowerShell is Microsoft's task automation framework, consisting of a command-line shell and associated scripting language built on top of, and integrated with the .NET Framework... , PHP PHP PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document... , Maple Maple (software) Maple is a general-purpose commercial computer algebra system. It was first developed in 1980 by the Symbolic Computation Group at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.... , httpd.conf Httpd.conf httpd.conf is a configuration file which is used by the Apache HTTP Server. It stores information on various functions of the server, which can be edited by removing or adding a number sign "#" at the beginning of the line, thus setting values for each directive.The httpd.conf file can be located...
%	TeX TeX TeX is a typesetting system designed and mostly written by Donald Knuth and released in 1978. Within the typesetting system, its name is formatted as .... , Prolog Prolog Prolog is a general purpose logic programming language associated with artificial intelligence and computational linguistics.Prolog has its roots in first-order logic, a formal logic, and unlike many other programming languages, Prolog is declarative: the program logic is expressed in terms of... , MATLAB MATLAB MATLAB is a numerical computing environment and fourth-generation programming language. Developed by MathWorks, MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation of algorithms, creation of user interfaces, and interfacing with programs written in other languages,... , Erlang, S-Lang, Visual Prolog Visual Prolog Visual Prolog, also formerly known as PDC Prolog and Turbo Prolog, is a strongly typed object-oriented extension of Prolog. As Turbo Prolog it was marketed by Borland, but it is now developed and marketed by the Danish firm Prolog Development Center that originally developed it...
//	ActionScript ActionScript ActionScript is an object-oriented language originally developed by Macromedia Inc. . It is a dialect of ECMAScript , and is used primarily for the development of websites and software targeting the Adobe Flash Player platform, used on Web pages in the form of... , C (C99) C (programming language) C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system.... , C++ C++ C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell... , C#, D D (programming language) The D programming language is an object-oriented, imperative, multi-paradigm, system programming language created by Walter Bright of Digital Mars. It originated as a re-engineering of C++, but even though it is mainly influenced by that language, it is not a variant of C++... , Go Go (programming language) Go is a compiled, garbage-collected, concurrent programming language developed by Google Inc.The initial design of Go was started in September 2007 by Robert Griesemer, Rob Pike, and Ken Thompson. Go was officially announced in November 2009. In May 2010, Rob Pike publicly stated that Go was being... , Object Pascal Object Pascal Object Pascal refers to a branch of object-oriented derivatives of Pascal, mostly known as the primary programming language of Embarcadero Delphi.-Early history at Apple:... (Delphi), Java Java (programming language) Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities... , JavaScript JavaScript JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles.... , PHP PHP PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document... , Scala
'	Visual Basic Visual Basic Visual Basic is the third-generation event-driven programming language and integrated development environment from Microsoft for its COM programming model... , VBScript VBScript VBScript is an Active Scripting language developed by Microsoft that is modeled on Visual Basic. It is designed as a “lightweight” language with a fast interpreter for use in a wide variety of Microsoft environments... , RealBasic REALbasic Realbasic is the object-oriented dialect of the BASIC programming language used in Real Studio, a programming environment, developed and commercially marketed by Real Software, Inc of Austin, Texas for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, 32-bit x86 Linux and the web.- Language features :RB is a strongly...
!	Fortran Fortran Fortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing... , Basic Plus, Inform
;	AutoHotkey AutoHotkey AutoHotkey is a free, open source macro-creation and automation software utility which allows users to automate repetitive tasks. Any application user interface can be modified by AutoHotkey... , AutoIt AutoIt AutoIt is a freeware automation language for Microsoft Windows. In its earliest release, the software was primarily intended to create automation scripts for Microsoft Windows programs but has since grown to include enhancements in both programming language design and overall functionality.With... , Lisp, Common Lisp Common Lisp Common Lisp, commonly abbreviated CL, is a dialect of the Lisp programming language, published in ANSI standard document ANSI INCITS 226-1994 , . From the ANSI Common Lisp standard the Common Lisp HyperSpec has been derived for use with web browsers... , Clojure Clojure Clojure \|closure]]") is a recent dialect of the Lisp programming language created by Rich Hickey. It is a general-purpose language supporting interactive development that encourages a functional programming style, and simplifies multithreaded programming.... , Rebol REBOL REBOL is a cross-platform data exchange language and a multi-paradigm dynamic programming language originally designed by Carl Sassenrath for network communications and distributed computing. The language and its official implementation, which is a proprietary freely redistributable software are... , Scheme, many assemblers, Windows .ini and .reg files
--	Euphoria, Haskell Haskell (programming language) Haskell is a standardized, general-purpose purely functional programming language, with non-strict semantics and strong static typing. It is named after logician Haskell Curry. In Haskell, "a function is a first-class citizen" of the programming language. As a functional programming language, the... , SQL SQL SQL is a programming language designed for managing data in relational database management systems .... , Ada Ada (programming language) Ada is a structured, statically typed, imperative, wide-spectrum, and object-oriented high-level computer programming language, extended from Pascal and other languages... , AppleScript AppleScript AppleScript is a scripting language created by Apple Inc. and built into Macintosh operating systems since System 7. The term "AppleScript" may refer to the scripting system itself, or to particular scripts that are written in the AppleScript language.... , Eiffel Eiffel (programming language) Eiffel is an ISO-standardized, object-oriented programming language designed by Bertrand Meyer and Eiffel Software. The design of the language is closely connected with the Eiffel programming method... , Lua, VHDL
*	COBOL COBOL COBOL is one of the oldest programming languages. Its name is an acronym for COmmon Business-Oriented Language, defining its primary domain in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments.... , PAW Physics Analysis Workstation The Physics Analysis Workstation is an interactive, scriptable computer software tool for data analysis and graphical presentation in high energy physics. Developed at CERN since 1986, it is optimized for processing very large amounts of data... , many assemblers
		Curl
"	Vimscript Vimscript Vimscript, also Vim script, is the scripting language built into Vim. Based on the ex editor language of the original vi editor, early versions of Vim added commands for control flow and function definitions. Since version 7, Vimscript also supports more advanced data types such as Lists and...
\	Forth
::	Batch file Batch file In DOS, OS/2, and Microsoft Windows, batch file is the name given to a type of script file, a text file containing a series of commands to be executed by the command interpreter....

Block comments

Block comments are generally those that use a delimiter to indicate the beginning of a comment, and another delimiter to indicate the end of a comment. In this context, whitespace and newline

Newline

characters are not counted as delimiters.

Examples:

Symbol	Languages
¢ ~ ¢, # ~ #, co ~ co, comment ~ comment	ALGOL 68 ALGOL 68 ALGOL 68 isan imperative computerprogramming language that was conceived as a successor to theALGOL 60 programming language, designed with the goal of a...
/* */	ActionScript, AutoHotkey, C, C++, C#, D, Go, Java, JavaScript, PHP, PL/I, Scala (can be nested), SQL, Visual Prolog Visual Prolog Visual Prolog, also formerly known as PDC Prolog and Turbo Prolog, is a strongly typed object-oriented extension of Prolog. As Turbo Prolog it was marketed by Borland, but it is now developed and marketed by the Danish firm Prolog Development Center that originally developed it... , CSS CSS -Computing:Cascading Style Sheets, a language used to describe the style of document presentations in web developmentCentral Structure Store in the PHIGS 3D API*Closed source software, software that is not distributed with source code...
/+ +/	D (can be nested)
/# #/	Cobra Cobra (programming language from Cobra Language LLC) Cobra is an object-oriented programming language produced by Cobra Language LLC. Cobra is designed by Chuck Esterbrook, and runs on the Microsoft .NET and Mono platforms. It is strongly influenced by Python, C#, Eiffel, Objective-C, and other programming languages. It supports both static and... (can be nested)
<# #>	Powershell
=begin =cut	Perl
=begin =end	Ruby
# #	S-Lang
{- -}	Haskell
(* *)	Object Pascal (Delphi), ML, Mathematica, Pascal, Applescript, OCaml (can be nested), Standard ML (can be nested), Maple
{ }	Object Pascal (Delphi), Pascal
># #\|	Curl
%{ %}	MATLAB MATLAB MATLAB is a numerical computing environment and fourth-generation programming language. Developed by MathWorks, MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation of algorithms, creation of user interfaces, and interfacing with programs written in other languages,...
#> \|#	Lisp
--	Lua
" "	Smalltalk Smalltalk Smalltalk is an object-oriented, dynamically typed, reflective programming language. Smalltalk was created as the language to underpin the "new world" of computing exemplified by "human–computer symbiosis." It was designed and created in part for educational use, more so for constructionist...
(comment ...)	Clojure Clojure Clojure \|closure]]") is a recent dialect of the Lisp programming language created by Rich Hickey. It is a general-purpose language supporting interactive development that encourages a functional programming style, and simplifies multithreaded programming....

Fortran

The indentation of lines in FORTRAN
Fortran
Fortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing...

66/77 is significant. The actual statement is in columns 7 through 72 of a line. Any non-space character in column 6 indicates that this line is a continuation of the previous line. A 'C' in column 1 indicates that this entire line is a comment. Columns 1 though 5 may contain a number which serves as a label. Columns 73 though 80 are ignored and may be used for comments; in the days of punched cards, these columns often contained a sequence number so that the deck of cards could be sorted into the correct order if someone accidentally dropped the cards. Fortran 90 removed the need for the indentation rule and added inline comments, using the ! character as the comment delimiter.

Cobra

Cobra supports block comments with "/# ... #/" which is like the "/* ... */" often found in C-based languages, but with two differences. The # character is reused from the single-line comment form "# ...", and the block comments can be nested which is convenient for commenting out large blocks of code.

Lua

Like raw strings, there can be any number of equals signs between the square brackets, provided both the opening and closing tags have a matching number of equals signs; this allows nesting as long as nested block comments/raw strings use a different number of equals signs than their enclosing comment: --comment --[=[ nested comment ]=] . Lua discards the first newline (if present) that directly follows the opening tag.

Perl

Block comments in Perl are considered part of the documentation, and are given the name Plain Old Documentation
Plain Old Documentation
Plain Old Documentation, abbreviated pod, is a lightweight markup language used to document the Perl programming language.-Design:pod is designed to be a simple, clean language with just enough syntax to be useful. It purposefully does not include mechanisms for fonts, images, colors or tables...

(POD). Technically, Perl does not have a convention for including block comments in source code, but POD is routinely used as a workaround.

Python

The use of the triple-(double)quotes although sometimes used to comment-out lines of source, does not actually form a comment. The enclosed text becomes a string, usually a string statement. Python usually ignores a lone string as a statement (except when a string is the first statement in the body of a module, class or function; see docstring
Docstring
In programming, a docstring is a string literal specified in source code that is used, like a comment, to document a specific segment of code. Unlike conventional source code comments, or even specifically formatted comments like Javadoc documentation, docstrings are not stripped from the source...

).

Ruby

As with Python and Perl, Ruby has no specific block-comment syntax. However, like Perl, documentation blocks can be used as block comments as they are ignored by the interpreter.

S-Lang

The region of lines enclosed by the # and # delimiters are ignored by the interpreter. The tag name can be any sequence of alphanumeric characters that may be used to indicate how the enclosed block is to be deciphered. For example, # could indicate the start of a block of LaTeX formatted documentation.

Haskell

Haskell's comments can be stacked as brackets: {- some {-comments-} here -},

Esoteric languages

Many esoteric programming language
Esoteric programming language
An esoteric programming language is a programming language designed as a test of the boundaries of computer programming language design, as a proof of concept, or as a joke...

s follow the convention that any text not executed by the instruction pointer (e.g., Befunge
Befunge
Befunge is a stack-based, reflective, esoteric programming language. It differs from conventional languages in that programs are arranged on a two-dimensional grid...

) or otherwise assigned a meaning (e.g., Brainfuck
Brainfuck
The brainfuck programming language is an esoteric programming language noted for its extreme minimalism. It is a Turing tarpit, designed to challenge and amuse programmers, and is not suitable for practical use...

, ETA) is considered a "comment".

Comment comparison

There is a wide variety of syntax styles for declaring comments in source code.
BlockComment in italics is used here to indicate block comment style.
InlineComment in italics is used here to indicate inline comment style.

Language	In-line comment	Block comment
Ada Ada (programming language) Ada is a structured, statically typed, imperative, wide-spectrum, and object-oriented high-level computer programming language, extended from Pascal and other languages... , Eiffel Eiffel (programming language) Eiffel is an ISO-standardized, object-oriented programming language designed by Bertrand Meyer and Eiffel Software. The design of the language is closely connected with the Eiffel programming method... , Euphoria, Occam Occam (programming language) occam is a concurrent programming language that builds on the Communicating Sequential Processes process algebra, and shares many of its features. It is named after William of Ockham of Occam's Razor fame.... , SPARK, ANSI SQL SQL SQL is a programming language designed for managing data in relational database management systems .... , ToolBook OpenScript, and VHDL	`-- InlineComment`
ALGOL 60 ALGOL 60 ALGOL 60 is a member of the ALGOL family of computer programming languages. It gave rise to many other programming languages, including BCPL, B, Pascal, Simula, C, and many others. ALGOL 58 introduced code blocks and the begin and end pairs for delimiting them...		`comment BlockComment;`
ALGOL 68 ALGOL 68 ALGOL 68 isan imperative computerprogramming language that was conceived as a successor to theALGOL 60 programming language, designed with the goal of a...		`¢ BlockComment ¢` `comment BlockComment comment` `co BlockComment co` `# BlockComment #` `£ BlockComment £`
AppleScript AppleScript AppleScript is a scripting language created by Apple Inc. and built into Macintosh operating systems since System 7. The term "AppleScript" may refer to the scripting system itself, or to particular scripts that are written in the AppleScript language....	`-- InlineComment`	`(* BlockComment *)`
Assembly language Assembly language An assembly language is a low-level programming language for computers, microprocessors, microcontrollers, and other programmable devices. It implements a symbolic representation of the machine codes and other constants needed to program a given CPU architecture... (varies)	`; InlineComment` one example (most assembly languages use line comments only)
AutoHotkey AutoHotkey AutoHotkey is a free, open source macro-creation and automation software utility which allows users to automate repetitive tasks. Any application user interface can be modified by AutoHotkey...	`; InlineComment`	`/* BlockComment */`
AWK AWK (programming language) The AWK utility is a data extraction and reporting tool that uses a data-driven scripting language consisting of a set of actions to be taken against textual data for the purpose of producing formatted reports... , Bash, Bourne shell Bourne shell The Bourne shell, or sh, was the default Unix shell of Unix Version 7 and most Unix-like systems continue to have /bin/sh - which will be the Bourne shell, or a symbolic link or hard link to a compatible shell - even when more modern shells are used by most users.Developed by Stephen Bourne at AT&T... , C shell C shell The C shell is a Unix shell that was created by Bill Joy while a graduate student at University of California, Berkeley in the late 1970s. It has been distributed widely, beginning with the 2BSD release of the BSD Unix system that Joy began distributing in 1978... , Maple, Python Python (programming language) Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive... , R R (programming language) R is a programming language and software environment for statistical computing and graphics. The R language is widely used among statisticians for developing statistical software, and R is widely used for statistical software development and data analysis.... , Tcl Tcl Tcl is a scripting language created by John Ousterhout. Originally "born out of frustration", according to the author, with programmers devising their own languages intended to be embedded into applications, Tcl gained acceptance on its own... , and Windows PowerShell Windows PowerShell Windows PowerShell is Microsoft's task automation framework, consisting of a command-line shell and associated scripting language built on top of, and integrated with the .NET Framework...	`# InlineComment`	`<# BlockComment #>`
BASIC (various dialects):	`'InlineComment` (not all dialects) `REM InlineComment`
C C (programming language) C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system.... (K&R, ANSI/C89/C90), CHILL, CSS Cascading Style Sheets Cascading Style Sheets is a style sheet language used to describe the presentation semantics of a document written in a markup language... , PL/I PL/I PL/I is a procedural, imperative computer programming language designed for scientific, engineering, business and systems programming applications... , and REXX REXX REXX is an interpreted programming language that was developed at IBM. It is a structured high-level programming language that was designed to be both easy to learn and easy to read...		`/* BlockComment */`
C (C99), C++ C++ C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell... , Go Go (programming language) Go is a compiled, garbage-collected, concurrent programming language developed by Google Inc.The initial design of Go was started in September 2007 by Robert Griesemer, Rob Pike, and Ken Thompson. Go was officially announced in November 2009. In May 2010, Rob Pike publicly stated that Go was being... , and JavaScript JavaScript JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....	`// InlineComment`	`/* BlockComment */`
C#	`// InlineComment` `/// InlineComment` (XML documentation comment)	`/* BlockComment /` `/* BlockComment */` (XML documentation comment)
Cobol COBOL COBOL is one of the oldest programming languages. Its name is an acronym for COmmon Business-Oriented Language, defining its primary domain in business, finance, and administrative systems for companies and governments....	`InlineComment` (when * is in column 7)
Curl Curl programming language Curl is a reflective object-oriented programming language for interactive web applications whose goal is to provide a smoother transition between formatting and programming...	`\|\| InlineComment`	`\|# BlockComment #\|` `\|foo# BlockComment #\|`
Cobra Cobra (programming language from Cobra Language LLC) Cobra is an object-oriented programming language produced by Cobra Language LLC. Cobra is designed by Chuck Esterbrook, and runs on the Microsoft .NET and Mono platforms. It is strongly influenced by Python, C#, Eiffel, Objective-C, and other programming languages. It supports both static and...	`# InlineComment`	`/# BlockComment #/` (nestable)
D	`// InlineComment` `/// Documentation InlineComment`, (ddoc Ddoc Ddoc is the embedded documentation generator for the D programming language designed by Walter Bright. Its emphasis is on being able to write documentation in code comments in a natural style, minimizing the need for embedded markup and thus improving the legibility of the code comments... comments)	`/* BlockComment /` `/* Documentation BlockComment */`, (ddoc Ddoc Ddoc is the embedded documentation generator for the D programming language designed by Walter Bright. Its emphasis is on being able to write documentation in code comments in a natural style, minimizing the need for embedded markup and thus improving the legibility of the code comments... comments) `/+ BlockComment +/` (nestable) `/++ Documentation BlockComment +/` (nestable, ddoc Ddoc Ddoc is the embedded documentation generator for the D programming language designed by Walter Bright. Its emphasis is on being able to write documentation in code comments in a natural style, minimizing the need for embedded markup and thus improving the legibility of the code comments... comments)
DCL DIGITAL Command Language DCL, the DIGITAL Command Language, is the standard command languageadopted by most of the operating systems that were sold by the former Digital Equipment Corporation...	`$! InlineComment`
ECMAScript ECMAScript ECMAScript is the scripting language standardized by Ecma International in the ECMA-262 specification and ISO/IEC 16262. The language is widely used for client-side scripting on the web, in the form of several well-known dialects such as JavaScript, JScript, and ActionScript.- History :JavaScript... (JavaScript JavaScript JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles.... , ActionScript ActionScript ActionScript is an object-oriented language originally developed by Macromedia Inc. . It is a dialect of ECMAScript , and is used primarily for the development of websites and software targeting the Adobe Flash Player platform, used on Web pages in the form of... , etc.)	`// InlineComment`	`/* BlockComment */`
Forth	`\ InlineComment`	`( BlockComment )` (single line only) `( before -- after )` stack comment convention
FORTRAN Fortran Fortran is a general-purpose, procedural, imperative programming language that is especially suited to numeric computation and scientific computing... 66/77	`C InlineComment` (the letter 'C' in the first column makes the entire line a comment).
Fortran 90	`! InlineComment` (all characters on the line, from the exclamation mark onwards, are comments)
HTML HTML HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages.... (see SGML below)
Java Java (programming language) Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities... :	`// InlineComment`	`/* BlockComment /` `/* BlockComment */` (Javadoc Javadoc Javadoc is a documentation generator from Sun Microsystems for generating API documentation in HTML format from Java source code.The "doc comments" format used by Javadoc is the de facto industry standard for documenting Java classes. Some IDEs, such as Netbeans and Eclipse automatically generate... documentation comment)
Lisp and Scheme	`; InlineComment`	`#\| BlockComment \|#`
Lua	`-- InlineComment`	`--[[ BlockComment] ]` (variable number of = signs)
Maple Maple (software) Maple is a general-purpose commercial computer algebra system. It was first developed in 1980 by the Symbolic Computation Group at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada....	`# InlineComment`	`(* BlockComment *)`
Mathematica Mathematica Mathematica is a computational software program used in scientific, engineering, and mathematical fields and other areas of technical computing...		`% (* BlockComment *)`
Matlab MATLAB MATLAB is a numerical computing environment and fourth-generation programming language. Developed by MathWorks, MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation of algorithms, creation of user interfaces, and interfacing with programs written in other languages,...	`% InlineComment`	`%{ BlockComment (nestable) %}` Note: Both percent–bracket symbols must be the only non-whitespace characters on their respective lines.
Object Pascal (Delphi) Object Pascal Object Pascal refers to a branch of object-oriented derivatives of Pascal, mostly known as the primary programming language of Embarcadero Delphi.-Early history at Apple:...	`// InlineComment`	`(* BlockComment *)` `{ BlockComment }`
Ocaml		`(* BlockComment (* nestable ) )`
Pascal Pascal (programming language) Pascal is an influential imperative and procedural programming language, designed in 1968/9 and published in 1970 by Niklaus Wirth as a small and efficient language intended to encourage good programming practices using structured programming and data structuring.A derivative known as Object Pascal... , Modula-2 Modula-2 Modula-2 is a computer programming language designed and developed between 1977 and 1980 by Niklaus Wirth at ETH Zurich as a revision of Pascal to serve as the sole programming language for the operating system and application software for the personal workstation Lilith... , Modula-3 Modula-3 In computer science, Modula-3 is a programming language conceived as a successor to an upgraded version of Modula-2 known as Modula-2+. While it has been influential in research circles it has not been adopted widely in industry... , Oberon Oberon (programming language) Oberon is a programming language created in 1986 by Professor Niklaus Wirth and his associates at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. It was developed as part of the implementation of the Oberon operating system... , and ML:		`(* BlockComment *)` (OCaml comments are nestable)
Perl Perl Perl is a high-level, general-purpose, interpreted, dynamic programming language. Perl was originally developed by Larry Wall in 1987 as a general-purpose Unix scripting language to make report processing easier. Since then, it has undergone many changes and revisions and become widely popular... and Ruby Ruby (programming language) Ruby is a dynamic, reflective, general-purpose object-oriented programming language that combines syntax inspired by Perl with Smalltalk-like features. Ruby originated in Japan during the mid-1990s and was first developed and designed by Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto...	`# InlineComment`	`=begin BlockComment =cut` (POD Plain Old Documentation Plain Old Documentation, abbreviated pod, is a lightweight markup language used to document the Perl programming language.-Design:pod is designed to be a simple, clean language with just enough syntax to be useful. It purposefully does not include mechanisms for fonts, images, colors or tables... documentation comment) `__END__ Comments after end of code`
PHP PHP PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...	`# InlineComment` `// InlineComment`	`/* BlockComment */`
PILOT PILOT Programmed Instruction, Learning, Or Teaching is a simle historic programming language developed in the 1960s.Like its younger sibling LOGO programming language, it was an early foray into the technology of computer assisted instruction ....	`R:InlineComment`
PL/SQL PL/SQL PL/SQL is Oracle Corporation's procedural extension language for SQL and the Oracle relational database... and TSQL	`-- InlineComment`	`/* BlockComment */`
REALbasic REALbasic Realbasic is the object-oriented dialect of the BASIC programming language used in Real Studio, a programming environment, developed and commercially marketed by Real Software, Inc of Austin, Texas for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, 32-bit x86 Linux and the web.- Language features :RB is a strongly...	`' InlineComment` `// InlineComment` `rem InlineComment`
SAS SAS System SAS is an integrated system of software products provided by SAS Institute Inc. that enables programmers to perform:* retrieval, management, and mining* report writing and graphics* statistical analysis...		`* BlockComment;` `/* BlockComment */`
Seed7	`# InlineComment`	`(* BlockComment *)`
Simula Simula Simula is a name for two programming languages, Simula I and Simula 67, developed in the 1960s at the Norwegian Computing Center in Oslo, by Ole-Johan Dahl and Kristen Nygaard...		`comment BlockComment;` `! BlockComment;`
SGML, including HTML HTML HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....		:A comment declaration starts with `<!`, followed by zero or more comments, followed by `>`. A comment starts and ends with `--`, and does not contain any occurrence of `--`. Valid examples are: `<!-- BlockComment -- -- BlockComment -->`, `<!------ BlockComment -->`, or `<!>`.
Smalltalk Smalltalk Smalltalk is an object-oriented, dynamically typed, reflective programming language. Smalltalk was created as the language to underpin the "new world" of computing exemplified by "human–computer symbiosis." It was designed and created in part for educational use, more so for constructionist...		`"BlockComment"`
Smarty Smarty Smarty is a web template system written in PHP. Smarty is primarily promoted as a tool for separation of concerns.Smarty is intended to simplify compartmentalization, allowing the presentation of a web page to change separately from the back-end...		`{* BlockComment *}`
Standard ML Standard ML Standard ML is a general-purpose, modular, functional programming language with compile-time type checking and type inference. It is popular among compiler writers and programming language researchers, as well as in the development of theorem provers.SML is a modern descendant of the ML...		`(* BlockComment *)`
TeX TeX TeX is a typesetting system designed and mostly written by Donald Knuth and released in 1978. Within the typesetting system, its name is formatted as .... , LaTeX LaTeX LaTeX is a document markup language and document preparation system for the TeX typesetting program. Within the typesetting system, its name is styled as . The term LaTeX refers only to the language in which documents are written, not to the editor used to write those documents. In order to... , PostScript PostScript PostScript is a dynamically typed concatenative programming language created by John Warnock and Charles Geschke in 1982. It is best known for its use as a page description language in the electronic and desktop publishing areas. Adobe PostScript 3 is also the worldwide printing and imaging... , Erlang, and S-Lang	`% InlineComment`
Texinfo Texinfo Texinfo is a typesetting syntax used for generating documentation in both on-line and printed form with a single source file...	`@c InlineComment` `@comment InlineComment`
TUTOR	`* InlineComment` `command $$ InlineComment`
Visual Basic Visual Basic Visual Basic is the third-generation event-driven programming language and integrated development environment from Microsoft for its COM programming model...	`' InlineComment` `Rem InlineComment`
Visual Basic .NET Visual Basic .NET Visual Basic .NET , is an object-oriented computer programming language that can be viewed as an evolution of the classic Visual Basic , which is implemented on the .NET Framework...	`' InlineComment` `InlineComment` (XML documentation comment) `Rem InlineComment`
Visual Prolog Visual Prolog Visual Prolog, also formerly known as PDC Prolog and Turbo Prolog, is a strongly typed object-oriented extension of Prolog. As Turbo Prolog it was marketed by Borland, but it is now developed and marketed by the Danish firm Prolog Development Center that originally developed it...	`% InlineComment`	`/* BlockComment */`
XML XML Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards.... , including XHTML XHTML XHTML is a family of XML markup languages that mirror or extend versions of the widely-used Hypertext Markup Language , the language in which web pages are written....		`<!--BlockComment-->` (comment must not contain `--` and must not start or end with single `-`)

Expressions

Statements

Line continuation

Libraries

Blocks

Comments

Inline comments

Block comments

Fortran

Cobra

Lua

Perl

Python

Ruby

S-Lang

Haskell

Esoteric languages

Comment comparison

[ BlockComment]

See also