GOTO

See also: goto, göto, go to, and go-to

English

Etymology

From go to, a keyword for this purpose in many programming languages.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɡəʊ.tuː/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɡoʊ.tu/, /ˈɡoʊ.ɾu/

Noun

GOTO (plural GOTOs)

1. (programming) Any construct which produces an unstructured jump in the flow of execution.

   The setjmp/longjmp facility in C is essentially a GOTO.

Derived terms

• GOTO-less

Verb

GOTO (third-person singular simple present GOTOs, present participle GOTOing, simple past and past participle GOTOed)

1. (programming) To reach (a point in a program) by means of a GOTO instruction.
   • 1983, Charles Seiter, Robert Weiss, Pascal for BASIC Programmers, Addison Wesley Publishing Company:

     If we were GOTOed from 310 we GOTO 320.

   • 1983, C. Regena, Programmer's reference guide to the TI-99/4A, page 18:

     You can create loops by telling the computer to GOTO an earlier line.

   • 1984, Microcomputing:

     Cross reference programs show program structure by displaying line numbers that are GOTOed or GOSUBed to from other lines in the program, and listing the line numbers in which different variables appear.

   • 1987, Douglas S. Stivison, Introduction to Turbo Pascal, Sybex, →ISBN:

     There is no way of falling into or GOTOing a procedure. The procedure can only be invoked by name as a subroutine.

   • 1990, Computer Languages, Time-Life Books, →ISBN, page 44:

     She and her hosts could not understand one another until Hopper remembered some COBOL commands. "MOVE," she said, pointing to herself. "GOTO Osaka Hotel." The Japanese immediately understood and delivered her to her lodging.

   • 1991, Gerald C. Cohen, Structured Representation for Requirements and Specifications, NASA, page 25:

     Next - goto the next entity defined in the module

   • 2010, Martin Peston, A User's Guide to the Meade LXD55 and LXD75 Telescopes, page 103:

     4. Goto the Targets option.

Anagrams

• Togo, goot, to go, togo