The Symbol syntax element returns the alphabetical ordinal number of the current symbol in the currently loaded DataFile.

The main use of this number is to compare it to a specific symbol.

For this purpose, every symbol in the current data set can be referenced as a constant beginning with a dollar sign, e.g. $MSFT.

Symbol constants simply return the ordinal number of the specified symbol if it exists in the current data, or 0 if not.

The most common use of symbol constants is when constraining a strategy to only trade a specific symbol, as in this example:

Note that if a symbol already begins with a dollar sign, e.g. $SPX, then it must be stated with a double dollar sign, i.e. $$SPX, when used as a symbol constant. The first $ tells RealTest that you're looking for a symbol, and the second $ is literally part of the symbol.

See also:

•?Symbol - returns the current symbol as a string (without the leading $)

•SymRef - looks up a symbol string (without the leading $) and returns the Symbol number

If the current symbol is MSFT, then any of the following will return its symbol number:

•$MSFT

•Symbol

•SymRef(Symbol)

•SymRef(?Symbol)

•SymRef("MSFT")

The special symbol $CalSym can be used to reference the CalendarSym of the current strategy.

See also: Extern.

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