# POKE Statement

#### Purpose:

To write (poke) a byte of data into a memory location.

#### Syntax:

    POKE a,b

#### Comments:

a and b are integer expressions.

The integer expression a is the offset address of the memory location to be poked. The DEF SEG statement last executed determines the address. GW-BASIC does not check any offsets that are specified.

The integer expression b is the data to be poked.

b must be within the range of 0 to 255. a must be within the range of 0 to 65535.

The complementary function to POKE is PEEK. The argument to PEEK is an address from which a byte is to be read.

POKE and PEEK are useful for efficient data storage, loading assembly language subroutines, and for passing arguments and results to and from assembly language subroutines.

#### Examples:

    20 POKE &H5A00, &HFF

Places the decimal value 255 (&HFF) into the hex offset location (23040 decimal) See PEEK function example.