Note:
Most modern interpreters have relaxed this rule, and do not require that your REXX script start with a comment. For example, Reginald does not require this.A comment can span any number of lines, and have any amount of text inside of it. REXX simply ignores everything inbetween the /* and */.
Here's an example of a comment:
/* REXX ignores all of this text. */
You may nest comments (ie, put a comment inside of another comment). But you need to make certain that for every /* there is a matching */ afterward.
Here's an example of a comment inside of another comment:
/* Here's some text...
/* Here's a comment inside of another comment. */
... that the interpreter ignores. */
Note: Some very old interpreters may not support nested comments, and will either misinterpret part of the comment as other REXX statements, or raise a SYNTAX error.
You can place a comment anywhere you'd like, but be careful of doing something like trying to put a comment inbetween some variable's name. (We'll get to variables soon). For example, assume that you have the compound variable MyVar.MyTail and you try to put a comment as so:
MyVar./* My Comment */MyTail
Above, you've effectively split the variable name into two separate variable names, although the above REXX statement is legal.
A good, and generally safe, place to put a comment is at the end of a line, to comment that particular line. Alternately, you can put a comment on its own lines (although this may cause REXX to use a little more memory than the preceding suggestion).