NAME
    protect - read or set protect status for a variable or named block

SYNOPSIS
    protect(var [, sts])
    protect(nblk [, sts])

TYPES
    var		lvalue
    nblk	named block
    sts		integer, 0 <= sts < 512

    return	null value

DESCRIPTION
    With one argument, protect(var) or protect(nblk) returns the current
    protection status for var or nblk.

    With two arguments, protect(var, sts) or protect(nblk, sts) sets the
    protection status for var or nblk to the value sts.  Each nonzero bit
    of sts corresponds to one kind of protection as follows:

		sts	protection

		  1	no assign to var
		  2	no change of value of var
		  4	no change of type of var
		  8	no error value for var
		 16	no copy to var or nblk
		 32	no relocation of var or nblk
		 64	no assign from var
		128	no copy from var or nblk
		256	protect recursively all components of var


    Here "assign" refers to use of '=' as in A = expr to assign the value
    of expr to A, and in A = {..., expr, ...} to assign the value of expr
    to some component of A, and to the assignments implicit in swap(A, B),
    quomod(x, y, A, B), and pre or post ++ or --.

    For example, if A is a global variable, then after

		protect(A, 1);

    an error state is established if  A = expr  is attempted.  It does
    not imply constancy if, for example, the current value of A is a list
    or matrix; such a value may be changed by assignments to the elements
    of A, or by push or copy commands.

    If the current value of A is val, protect(A, 2) will prevent any
    assignment to A other than

		A = expr

    where expr evaluates to val.

    Any such protection of A is cancelled by protect(A, 0).

    If A has components as in a matrix or list, components may be
    protected independently from each other and from A by stateents like:

		protect(A[0], 1);
		protect(A[1], 2);

    "Copy" refers to the use of copy(A, B, ...) or blkcpy(B, A, ...) to
    copy A to B.  For example if B is a block, then after

		protect(B, 16);

    attempts to copy to B will fail.

    The protection status of var refers to var as a variable, not to its
    current value: if an operation like var = value is executed it may
    change the value of var but not protect(var).

    A named block may be referred to by using the blocks() or blk()
    functions, or by assigning it to a variable A and then using either
    A or *A.  In the latter cases, protect(A, sts) sets the status for
    the variable A; protect(*A, sts) assigns the status for the named
    block.  For example, protect(*A,16) will prevent any copying to the
    named block; protect(A,16) will prevent any copying to the named block
    only when it is referred to by A.

    The protection provided by sts = 32 prevents relocation of the memory
    used by a block, the freeing of a named block, and addition or removal
    of one or more elements from a list.  For example, if a block B has
    maxsize 256, then after

		protect(B, 32);

    copy(A, B) will fail if the copying would cause size(B) to equal or
    exceed 256; if B is a named block, blkfree(B) will not be permitted.
    If the current value of L is a list, protect(L, 32) prevents the
    execution of push, pop, append, remove, insert, and delete with first
    argument L.

    With bit 8 of sts set, as with

		protect(A, 257);

    the protection provided by the lower order bits extends to any
    elements A may have, and recursively to any elements of these elements,
    etc.

    All protection of A as described above is removed by

		protect(A, 0).


EXAMPLE
	> A = 27
	> protect(A,1)
	> protect(A)
		1
	> A = 99
	No-assign-to destination for assign

	> protect(A,2)
	> A = 45
	Change of value in assign not permitted

	> A = 27

	> protect(A,4)
	> A = 2 + 3i
	Change of type in assign not permitted

	> protect(A,8)
	> A = 1/0
	Error value in assign not permitted

	> A = mat[4] = {1,2,3,4}
	> B = list(5,6,7,8)
	> protect(A,16)
	> copy(B,A)
		Error 10226
	> strerror()
		"No-copy-to destination variable"

	> A = blk(0,5)
	> protect(A,32)
	> copy("abc", A)
	> copy("de",A)
	Error 10229
	> strerror()
	"No-relocation destination variable"

	> A = list(1,2,3)
	> append(A, 4)
	No-relocate list for push

	> protect(A, 64)
	> X = A
	No-assign-from source for assign

	> protect(A,128)
	> copy(A,B)
	Error 10225
	> strerror()
	"No-copy-from source variable"

	> mat A[2] = {1, list(2, mat[2])}
	> protect(A,257)
	> A[1][[1]][1] = 4
	No-assign-to destination for assign
	> protect(A,256)
	> A[1][[1]][1] = 4
	> A[1][[1]]

	mat [2] (2 elements, 1 nonzero):
	    [0] = 0
 	    [1] = 4

	> A = blk("alpha") = {1,2,3,4}
	> protect(A, 0)
	> protect(*A, 16)
	copy("abc", A)
	Error 10228
	No-copy-to destination named block

LIMITS
    none

LIBRARY
    none

SEE ALSO
    assign, copy, blk