Structured Text Tutorial to Expand Your

PLC Programming Skills

Do you also struggle reading your own and others huge ladder diagrams?

The truth is, that even though ladder diagram (LD) is an easy programming
language for beginners, it can be very hard to read and understand. Thats
why Structured Text is a better PLC programming language, and you can learn it
in this tutorial.

It can be almost impossible to find head and tail in a larger PLC program written in
ladder logic. So, what might seem easy to learn (especially for technicians and
electricians) is not always the best thing to program in. Your ladder diagram will be
hard to understand for others than yourself.

How can I be sure about that? Try it yourself. Take a look at one of these ladder
logic examples, and see how long it takes to understand it. See my point?

Luckily for us theres a better PLC programming language available. Its

called Structured Text.
You can also download the whole tutorial as a PDF file: Structured Text Tutorial
[PDF]

Content of Structured Text Tutorial

What is Structured Text Programming?

The flow of Structured Text

Syntax

o Comments

Statements

Variables and Tags

o Data Types

Expressions

Operators

o Arithmetic Operators

o Relational Operators

o Logical Operators

o Bitwise Operators

Statements and Operators

Conditional Statements

o IF Statements

o CASE Statements

Repeating Loops

o FOR Loops
 o WHILE Loops

o REPEAT Loops

Structured Text Programming Software

o Beckhoff TwinCat 3

o Codesys

Conclusion

What is Structured Text Programming?

Structured Text is PLC programming language defined by PLCOpen in IEC
61131-3. The programming language is text-based, compared to the graphics-based
ladder diagram.

At first, it may seem better to use a graphical programming language for PLC
programming. But in my opinion, that is only true for smaller PLC programs. By
using a text-based PLC programming language, your program will take up much
smaller space, and the flow/logic will be easier to read and understand.

Another advantage is that you can combine the different programming languages.
You can even have function blocks containing functions written in Structured Text.
The fact that this is a standardized programming language also gives us the option
to program different PLC brands with Structured Text. Probably the most common
PLC (in Europe at least) is the Siemens S7 PLCs. They can be programmed with
Structured Text and you can start already now with the Siemens S7-1200 Starter
Kit, which is also a great kit to get you introduced to the Siemens PLC
environment.

High-level Programming Languages

If you are already familiar with high-level programming languages like PHP,
Python and C, Structured Text will seem familiar to you. The syntax of Structured
Text is developed to look like the syntax of a high-level programming language
with loops, variables, conditions and operators.

But on the other hand, if you have never seen a high-level programming language,
Structured Text can be a great introduction to those languages and the syntax used.
Before you read this tutorial I recommend that you take a brief look at this PLC
program written in Structured Text. Try to see if you can understand the function of
this program. Does Structured Text look familiar to you?
PROGRAM stexample
VAR
x : BOOL;
END_VAR
x := TRUE;
REPEAT
x := FALSE;
UNTIL x := FALSE;
END_REPEAT;
END_PROGRAM;

The Flow of Structured Text

The first thing you should learn is the structure or the syntax of Structured Text.
When you understand the structure, you will understand how the flow of your
program works.

Starting with the example above, you can see that the whole program begins
with PROGRAM and ends with END_PROGRAM. Everything in between is
your PLC program. These two words are the delimiting keywords for program
declarations. More on keywords later.

Dont be confused about the END_PROGRAM, because your program wont end
completely here. When the PLC reaches the END_PROGRAM the PLC scan
cycle will start over again, and your program will repeat itself.
Structured Text Program Flow.

This is just like ladder logic or any other PLC programming language it will run
over and over again. And if you are used to programming microcontrollers, the
PROGRAM/END_PROGRAM will be similar to the infinite loop in C.

NOTE:
One thing to add here is that, when you are programming in Structured Text, you
will often not use the PROGRAM/END_PROGRAM construct. It will already be
done by the PLC programming software, and the code you have to write, is what
you want inside that construct.

The flow control of PLC programs written in Structured Text is the same as in
ladder logic: execute one line at a time.

Starting with the Syntax of Structured Text

The syntax of a programming language is the definition of how it is written. To be
more precise, what symbols is used to give the language its form and meaning.

As you can see in the example, Structured Text is full of colons, semicolons and
other symbols. All these symbols has a meaning and is used to represent something.
Some of them are operators, some are functions, statements or variables.

All the details of the syntax will be explained as you move through this tutorial.
But there are some general rules for the syntax of Structured Text you should know
about. You dont have to memorize all the syntax rules for now, as you will when
you get your hands into the programming:

All statements are divided by semicolons

Structured Text consists of statements and semicolons to separate them.

The language is not case-sensitive

Even though it is good practice to use upper- and lowercase for readability,
its not necessary.

Spaces have no function

But they should be used for readability.
Whats really important to understand here is that, when you write a PLC program
in Structured Text, your computer will translate that to a language the PLC can
understand.

When you upload the Structured Text PLC program to your PLC, the programming
software you use will compile your program. This means that it will translate the
code to a sort of machine code which can be executed by the PLC.

The compiler uses the syntax of the programming language to understand your
program.

For example: Each time the compiler sees a semicolon, it will know that the end of
the current statement is reached. The compiler will read everything until it
reaches a semicolon, and then execute that statement.

Comment Syntax

In textual programming languages you have the ability to write text that doesnt get
executed. This feature is used to make comments in your code.

Comments are good, and as a beginner you should always comment your code. It
makes it easier to understand your code later.

In Structured Text you can make either one line comments or multiple line
comments.

Single line comment:

// comment

Comment after end of ST line:

<expression>; /* comment */

or
<statement>; (* comment *)

Multiple line comment:

/* start comment
...
end comment */

or
(* start comment
...
end comment *)

Should You Comment Every Detail?

As you gradually get better and better, you should make fewer and fewer comments
about the functionality. The reason for this is The Tao of Programming, which is a
book about programming inspired by the old Chinese Tao Te Ching. Or actually the
principle behind the book is the reason.

Take this little story in chapter 2.4:

A novice asked the Master: Here is a programmer that never designs, documents
or tests his programs. Yet all who know him consider him one of the best
programmers in the world. Why is this?

The Master replied: That programmer has mastered the Tao. He has gone beyond
the need for design; he does not become angry when the system crashes, but
accepts the universe without concern. He has gone beyond the need for
documentation; he no longer cares if anyone else sees his code. He has gone
beyond the need for testing; each of his programs are perfect within themselves,
serene and elegant, their purpose self-evident. Truly, he has entered the mystery of
Tao.

Although this might be put on the edge, you should always write your code so it is
as easy as possible to understand. Even without comments. You start doing this by
simply making the code easy to read with spaces.

But for now, you should not worry about comments. Make as many as you want
while you are still a beginner.

Making Statements with Structured Text

So, Structured Text consists of statements. But what is statements?

You probably know statements as something coming from humans. You can make a
statement, a president or even a company can make a statement. And in PLC
programming, statements are almost the same.
A statement is you telling the PLC what to do.

Lets take the first statement as an example:

X : BOOL;

The compiler will read this as one statement, because when it reaches the
semicolon, it knows that this is the end of that statement. Remember, statements are
separated by semicolons. Thats the main syntax rule of this language.

In this statement you are telling the PLC to create a variable called X and that
variable should be a BOOL type.

Using Variables in Structured Text

Before we dig deeper into the statement, let me get back to the keywords i
mentioned before. As you can see, the variable X is defined in between two other
keywords VAR and END_VAR.

Both the PROGRAM/END_PROGRAM and VAR/END_VAR are constructs,

meaning that they delimit a certain area in your program for something specific.
The PROGRAM construct is where all your PLC program is, and the VAR
construct is where you define variables.

All the four are called keywords, because they are reserved words. You cant use
those words for anything else when you are programming in Structured Text. The
name of your program cannot be PROGRAM or even program (STL is not case
sensitive), because that word can only be used to make a construct to delimit your
PLC program.

Back to variables

If you know other programming languages, chances are that you know about
variables already.

But if you dont, heres an introduction to variables you probably will like:

A variable is a place where you can store data.

Depending on what type of data you want to store, there are several data
types available. The different kinds of data are called data types. For example, if
you have a variable where you want to store eitherTRUE or FALSE, you can
declare it as a BOOL type.

The BOOL type is a boolean data type which means that it can contain a boolean
value (TRUE or FALSE).

Now, that was two thing about variables. They have a certain data type, and they
contain a value of that data type. But theres one more thing you can control in your
variables. The name of the variable.

To make it easy for you to use your variables throughout your PLC program, they
all have names. When you define a variable in the VAR construct, you start by
giving the varible its name:
X : BOOL;

This statement will create a variable called X, with a BOOL data type.

Be aware, that when you are programming with some PLC software like Siemens
STEP 7 or Rockwell you wont use the VAR/END_VAR til declare variables.
Instead variables are often called tags or symbols, and even though you are
programming in Structured Text, you declare them visually (like in the image
below) or in a function block.

Variables, Tags or Symbols?

One last thing to add here is that variables are often called tags in PLC
programming. In the PLC programming software Studio 5000 Logix Designer for
Allen Bradley PLCs, variables are called tags. But if you are programming in older
versions of SIMATIC STEP 7 Programming Software for Siemens PLCs, variables
are called symbols. In the newer versions of STEP 7 (from TIA Portal version 11)
variables are called tags.
SIMATIC STEP 7 TIA Portal Variables called PLC tags.

But no matter what variables are called, they always have the same function. And
with IEC 61131-3 Programming software like STEP 7, Codesys or Studio 5000, the
standard data types will always be available.

Data Types in Structured Text

Depending on what PLC brand you are using, you will have some different data
types available. In a Siemens PLC you have data types in STEP 7 available that are
similar to the standard ones in IEC 61131-3. But you will also have other data types
only used in SIEMENS PLCs like the S5TIME.

All the standard data types are defined by the PLCOpen Organization and they are
part of the PLC programming languages. Every PLC programming software with
Structured Text has these data types included. In the IEC standard the data types are
divided into two categories: Elementary data types and derived data types.

Elementary data types

Integers
 Floating points

Time

Strings

Bit strings

Under each elementary data types there are several IEC data types available.
These are the data types defined in IEC 61131-3:

Integers:

IEC Data Type Format Range

SINT Short Integer -128 127
INT Integer -32768 32767
DINT Double Integer -2^31 2^31-1
LINT Long Integer -2^63 2^63-1
USINT Unsigned Short Integer 0 255
UINT Unsigned Integer 0 2^16-1
LDINT Long Double Integer 0 2^32-1
ULINT Unsigned Long Integer 0 2^64-1

Floating points:

IEC Data Type Format Range

REAL Real Numbers 10^38
LREAL Long Real Numbers 10^308

Time:

IEC Data Type Format Use

Duration of time after an T#10d4h38m57s12ms
TIME
event TIME#10d4h38m
D#1989-05-22
DATE Calendar date
DATE#1989-05-22
TOD#14:32:07
TIME_OF_DAY Time of day
TIME_OF_DAY#14:32:07.77
DATE_AND_TIME Date and time of day DT#1989-06-15-13:56:14.77
DATE_AND_TIME#1989-06-15-
 13:56:14.77

Strings:

IEC Data Type Format Range

STRING Character String My string

Bit strings:

IEC Data Type Format Range

BOOL Boolean 1 bit
BYTE Byte 8 bits
WORD Word 16 bits
DWORD Double Word 32 bits
LWORD Long Word 64 bits

Derived data types

Structured data types

Enumerated data types

Sub-ranges data types

Array data types

The derived data types are your own custom data types. All the derived data types
are built by making a construction of the keywords TYPE and END_TYPE. In
between the keywords is the kind of derived data type you want to declare.

All these different data types might seem a little overwhelming for now. Especially
if you havent used a textual programming language before. But theres no need to
worry.

For now, you only have to remember a few of them to get started programming
with Structured Text. As you get better and your programs more complicated, you
will gradually learn about more data types as you use them. Whats important here
is that you dont move ahead too fast. You want to get the basics right.
As you can see the different data types can hold different data formats and thereby
different values.

But how do you put the values in the variables? And how do you use the variables?

With statements and operators.

Operators and Expressions in STL

The next thing you should know about is operators. Operators are used
to manipulate data and is a part of almost any programming language. This leads
us to the second thing you should know about expressions.

Just like operators, expressions are a crucial part of programming languages.

An expression is a construct that, when evaluated, yields a value.

This means that when the compiler compiles an expression, it will evaluate the
expression and replace the statement with the result. Take this example with the
two variables A and B.

A contains the value 10 and B contains 8.

A+B

The result of this expression is 18. So instead of A+B, the compiler will put in the
value 18.

An expression are composed of operators and operands.

So what are operators and operands?

Since, you just saw an example of an expression, you just saw both an operator and
two operands. A and B are both operands and the + is an operator.
Programming language expressions with operands and operators.

Remember that operators are used to manipulate data. That is exactly what the + is
doing. It is taking the value of the variable A and adding it to the value in B.

The + is also called the addition operator because the operation is addition.

Operators
There are several operators available in Structured Text. Again, IEC 61131-3
describes all the standard operators in the Structured Text language:

Precedenc
Operation Symbol
e
Parenthesizatio (expression
Highest
n )
Function
MAX(A,B)
Evaluation
Negation
Complement NOT
Exponentiation **
Multiply *
Divide /
Modulo MOD
Add +
Subtract
<, >, <=,
Comparison
>=
Equality =
Inequality <>
Boolean AND &
Boolean AND AND
Boolean
XOR
Exclusive OR
Boolean OR OR Lowest

All the operators in the table above are sorted after precedence. This is also
called order of operations, and you may know about if from mathematics.

The order of operations is the order in which the operations are executed or
calculated. Just take a look at this expression:
A + B * MAX(C, D)

How will this expression be evaluated by the compiler?

As you can see in the table of operators the operator with the highest precedence is
parenthesis. This means that the first thing, that will be evaluated, is everything in
parenthesizes in this example: (C, D).

But since MAX(C, D) is actually a function, we can jump one row down in the
table to function evaluation.

So, in the above expression, the first thing that will be evaluated is the function:
MAX(C, D). The function will yield (replace the function) with the answer. Which
in this case is the highest of the two variables C and D.

Lets image C is the result. The expression will now look like this:
A + B * C

Now, you can go down through the table, until you reach a row with the next
operator used in this expression.

There are two operations left: multiply and addition. But since multiply has a
higher precedence, that will be the first to be evaluated.
B * C comes first and then the result is added to A.

Every time an expression is evaluated, the evaluation follows the order of

precedence as in the table above.

4 Types of Operators, 4 Types of Expressions

The operators used for expressions in Structured Text can be divided into four
groups. Each group of operators will have its specific function and will yield a
specific data type.

1. Arithmetic Operators

2. Relational Operators

3. Logical Operators

4. Bitwise Operators

Arithmetic Operators

All the arithmetic operators are often just called mathematical operators because
they represent math. The result will always be the mathematical result of the
expression.

+ (add)

(subtract/negate)

* (multiply)

** (exponent)

/ (divide)

MOD (modulo divide)

Example:
15 MOD 4
Result:

Relational Operators

To compare or find a relation between two values you can use one of the relational
operators. They are used for comparison and the result will be a boolean value
(BOOL type), either TRUE or FALSE.

= (equal)

< (less than)

<= (less than or equal)

> (greater than)

>= (greater than or equal)

<> (not equal)

Example:
TEMPERATURE := 93.9;
TEMPERATURE >= 100.0

Result:

FALSE

Logical Operators

If you want to compare boolean values (BOOL) and make some logic out of it, you
have to use logical operators. These operators also yields a boolean value of
TRUE or FALSE as a result of the expression.

& or AND

OR
 XOR

NOT

Example:
LIMIT_SWITCH1 := TRUE;
LIMIT_SWITCH2 := FALSE;
LIMIT_SWITCH1 OR LIMIT_SWITCH2

Result:

TRUE

Bitwise Operators

The last group of operators are called bitwise operators because the operations are
performed bitwise. It simply means that a logic operation is performed for each bit
of two numbers. The result is a new number the total result of the bitwise
operations.

& or AND

OR

XOR

NOT

Example:
15 AND 8

Result:

15

Since this operation is bitwise the calculation will be per bit. So to understand
whats going on here, you have to convert the numbers to binary values:
15 = 1111
8 = 1000

Now each bit in the number 1111 (15) can be used in a logical operation with the
other number 1000 (8):
1111 AND 1000
Bit number 1111 (15) 1000 (8) Result
0 1 1 1
1 1 0 0
2 1 0 0
3 1 0 0

Operators and Statements

So, in the previous section you learned that expressions evaluate. Meaning that all
expressions will yield the result and the compiler will replace the expression with
the result.

But what if you want the PLC (compiler) not to evaluate something, but
to DO something?

Statements are the answer.

As I mentioned previously in this article, statements are you telling the PLC what
to do. Its the instruction you give the PLC to take action.

If you make an expression that yields a result, that wont do much. Expressions are
all the calculations and if you dont use the results of those expressions in some
actions (statements), it will be like buying groceries but not cooking.

Lets take a look at the actions or statements that you can make in Structured Text.

Assignment Statement and Operator

There are several statements available in Structured Text. All of them represent
an action or a condition.

Beginning with actions, the most fundamental statement in Structured Text is

the assignment statement. Statements are also described in the IEC standard
developed by PLCOpen, and the first one they list is the assignment statement.
Heres how an assignment statement looks like:
A := B;

What does this statement tell the compiler to do?

To take the value of the variable B and put it in the variable A.

The PLC is assigning a value to a variable. Heres an even simpler example:

A := 10;

This statement will take the value 10 and put it into the variable A. Or said in
another way the variable A will be assigned the value 10.

Since the value of A is now 10, we can make another statement, but this time with
an expression:
B := A + 2;

When this line of code is compiled, the expression A + 2 will be evaluated to 12.
The compiler will replace the expression with the result 12. The statement will now
look like this to the compiler:
B := 12;

What will happen now, is that the compiler will assign the value 12 to the variable
B.

How an assignment statement with an expression will be evaluated by the compiler.

The last thing is that the := symbol is called the assignment operator. Yes, it is an
operator just like the operators used in expressions. Often those two types of
operators are mistaken for each other and used wrong.

A common mistake is to use the equality operator (=) instead of the assignment
operator (:=). But even though they look like each other theres a huge difference.
Take these two examples:
A = B
A := B;

The first line is an expression. Since this is an expression, the operator will be used
to evaluate the line. The equality operator evaluates in the following way:

If the right side and the left side is equal it evaluates to TRUE or 1. If not, it will
evaluate to FALSE or 0.

With some other operators, the equality operator is a relational operator. All the
relational operators will evaluate to either TRUE or FALSE.

On the second line youll see a statement. This time the operator will be used for an
action instead of an evaluation. Assignment is the action, and here the value of A
will be given the value of B.

At last, you can always identify a statement by the semicolon. Once again, the
semicolon is how the compiler knows when the end of a statement is reached.

You can have all sorts of expressions in your assignment statements, from simple
values like numbers to variables and functions. Because all expressions will be
evaluated first, and then, the result of that evaluation will be used in the assignment
statement.

Conditional Statements
Well, the assignment statement was pretty simple: Take the value of the right side
and store it in whats on the left side.

But lets zoom out a bit and think about PLC programs. A PLC program is a piece
of logic (I call it PLC logic) and therefore has to make some decisions. Thats why
we use a PLC or any other controller. To decide and act on the current state.
Simplified: The PLC will look at the states of all the inputs and use your PLC
program to decide what outputs to set.

So in your PLC program you need a way to make decisions. This brings us to
conditional statements.

Conditional statements are used for exactly that: To make decisions.

There are two ways of doing conditional statements in Structured Text: IF

statements and CASE statements.

IF Statements

I think Bill Gates is better at explaining the IF statement than I am. At least he can
explain it in just over 1 minute in this great video from code.org. You can skip the
video if you are familiar with IF statements, although I would recommend that you
watch it.

IF statements are decisions with conditions.

But even though IF-statements are quite simple to understand, you still have to
know how to give the PLC the conditional statements. This brings us back to the
syntax.

Theres a special syntax for IF statements. This means, that you have to write it in a
certain way for the compiler to understand it. Because just like semicolons are used
to end statements, there are special keywords to make an IF statement.

Heres how the syntax for IF statements looks like in STL:

IF [boolean expression] THEN
<statement>;
ELSIF [boolean expression] THEN
<statement>;
ELSE
<statement>;
END_IF ;

Notice that the syntax for IF statements looks very similar to plain English. The
first line contains two keywords: IF and THEN. Between those two keywords are
the condition, which is an expression. But not just any expression. A boolean
expression.
Boolean and Numeric Expressions

You can divide expressions into two groups depending on what they yield.

Boolean expressions evaluates to a BOOL type value, TRUE or FALSE.

Heres an example of a boolean expression:

1 = 1

This expression will evaluate to or yield TRUE. A boolean expression could also
look like this:
1 > 2

But this time the boolean expression will evaluate to FALSE, since 1 is not larger
than 2.

Numeric expressions evaluates to an integer or a floating point number.

A numeric expression could look as simple as this one:

13.2 + 19.8

This expression will evaluate to the floating point number 33.0, and therefore is a
numeric expression.

Boolean expressions are used in IF statements as conditions.

IF the boolean expression evaluates to TRUE, THEN the following statements will
be executed.

The PLC will only execute the statements after the keyword THEN, if the
expression evaluates to TRUE. This is illustrated by the following example:
A := 0;
IF A = 0 THEN
B := 0;
END_IF ;

Line number 3 will only be executed if A is equal to 0. In this case it will. A 0 is

assigned to the variable A in a statement right before the IF statement.

See what I just did here?

In the example above a decision was made depending on the value of a variable.
Now, even though this was a fairly simple decision, we can already translate that
into real PLC programming.

Lets say you want to make a program that sets a PLC output depending on the state
of an input. With a simple IF statement you can do that in Structured Text:
IF INPUT1=TRUE THEN
OUTPUT1 := TRUE;
END_IF;

Although this example is just a piece of a bigger program (the variable INPUT1
represents an input and OUTPUT1 an output) it illustrates how the decision for a
PLC output can be made. The OUTPUT1 variable will only be set to TRUE IF the
INPUT1 variable is TRUE.

Since, both the INPUT1 and OUTPUT1 variables are of the type BOOL, the first
line in the statement could also look like this:
IF INPUT1 THEN

Just writing the expression as INPUT1 will still evaluate as TRUE, when the
variable is TRUE.

What ELSE IF not?

For now, youve seen a simple IF statement, where statements are only executed if
an expression is TRUE. If that expression evaluates to FALSE the statements will
simply not be executed.

But what if your PLC program requires multiple conditions?

Of course you could write this as multiple individual IF statements. But Structured
Text has more options to the IF statements.

Just like most other programming languages you can use

the ELSIF and ELSE keywords for multiple conditions in the same IF statement.

Both ELSIF and ELSE are optional in IF statements, but this is how the syntax
looks like:
IF [boolean expression] THEN
<statement>;
ELSIF [boolean expression] THEN
<statement>;
ELSE
<statement>;
END_IF ;

If the boolean expression on line 1 is FALSE, the statements below will simply not
be executed. Instead the compiler will check the boolean expression after the
ELSIF keyword.

Here it works just like with the IF keyword: If the boolean expression after the
keyword is true, the following statements will be executed.

At last is the ELSE keyword. It works as a default option for your IF statement. If
all the IF and ELSIF boolean expressions are evaluated to FALSE, the statements
after the ELSE keyword will be executed.

How the PLC will execute IF statements in Structured Text.

Combining Operators for Advanced Conditions

Beside making multiple conditions you can also expand your conditions to include
multiple variables. You can combine multiple expressions, typically done with a
logical operator, to get a larger expression.

What if you want not just 1 but 2 inputs to be TRUE before an output is set. The
expression would look like this:
IF (INPUT1) AND (INPUT2) THEN
OUTPUT1 := TRUE;
END_IF;

Now the expression will evaluate to TRUE, only if INPUT1 and INPUT2 is TRUE.

CASE Statements

The second way of making decisions in Structured Text is with CASE statements.

Essentially, CASE statements and IF statements are the same. But CASE
statements use numeric expressions instead of boolean expressions. CASE
statements also have a slightly different syntax, that makes it more suitable for
certain purposes.

This is how the syntax for CASE statements looks like in Structured Text:
CASE [numeric expression] OF
result1: <statement>;
resultN: <statemtent>;
ELSE
<statement>;
END_CASE;

In CASE statements there are only 1 expression. The result of that expression is
then used to decide which statements that are executed.

As a default option, CASE statements also have an ELSE keyword. The statements
after that keyword are executed only if none of the results (or cases) matches the
result of the numeric expression.

Heres a very simple example:

PROGRAM_STEP := 3;
CASE PROGRAM_STEP OF
1: PROGRAM_STEP := PROGRAM_STEP+1;
2: PROGRAM_STEP := PROGRAM_STEP+2;
3: PROGRAM_STEP := PROGRAM_STEP+3;
ELSE
PROGRAM_STEP := PROGRAM_STEP+10;
END_CASE;
Although this is a very simple example (the variable has a fixed value) the example
shows you how to make a decision depending on the result of a numeric
expression. In this example the numeric expression is simply just the value of the
variable, 3. If could be any expression that evaluates to an integer or a floating
point value.

Iteration with Repeating Loops

Probably one of the most powerful features in Structured Text is the ability to make
loops that repeat lines of code.

Once again, Code.org has made one of the best introductions to repeating loops.
This time, Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg uses a little more than a minute to
explain repeating loops.

In relation to PLC programming loops can be used for many different purposes.
You might have a function or a set of statements that you want to execute a certain
amount of times or until something stops the loop.

In Structured Text you will find 3 different types of repeating loops:

1. FOR

2. WHILE

3. REPEAT

Common for all the types of loops is that they have a condition for either repeating
or stopping the loop. The condition in FOR and WHILE loops decides whether the
loop should repeat or not. But for theREPEAT loop the condition is an UNTIL
condition, and it will decide whether the loop should stop or not.

FOR Loops

The first loop is the FOR loop and is used to repeat a specific number of times.
FOR loops has some other keywords. TO, BY, DO and END_FOR.

This is the syntax of FOR loops in Structured Text:

FOR count := initial_value TO final_value BY increment DO
<statement>;
END_FOR;

At first sight the first line looks a bit complicated, but it isnt if you divide it in
chunks:

FOR
Keyword that starts the FOR loop statement.

count := initial_value
This assignment operation is where you set the initial value you want to count
from. Count is the variable name and initial_value is the value you want to start
counting from.

TO
Keyword before the value to count up to.

final_value
This is the value you want to count to. Place 100 here and your loop will count up
to 100.

BY
Keyword to use custom incremental value.

increment
The value of which you want to increase the count for every time the loop runs. If
you set the increment to 10 and the count to 100, the loop will run 10 times.

DO
<statement>;
END_FOR;
This last part between the keyword DO and END_FOR is the statements you want
to execute each time your loop runs. These statements will be executed as many
times as the loops repeats.

Since FOR loops can only have a preset amount of time they will repeat, that is
what they are used for. In PLC programming this could be something as simple as
an item that has to be painted/dried four times. A FOR loop that counts to four will
work just fine here.

At last you can use an IF statement with the keyword EXIT to stop the loop before
the count. You can add a boolean condition that if TRUE stops the loop.
IF [boolean expression] THEN
EXIT;
END_IF;
WHILE Loops

The while loop is a little different from the FOR loop, because it is used to repeat
the loop as long as some conditions are TRUE. A WHILE loop will repeat as long
as a boolean expression evaluates to TRUE.

Heres the syntax of WHILE loops:

WHILE [boolean expression] DO
<statement>;
END_WHILE;

Between the WHILE and DO keywords are the boolean expression. If that boolean
expression evaluates to TRUE, all the statements until the END_WHILE keyword
will be executed.

When END_WHILE is reached, the boolean expression will be evaluated again.

This will happen over and over again until the expression doesnt evaluate to
TRUE. But to make the loop stop at one point, you have to change a value in the
boolean expression. Only in that way can the boolean expression go from TRUE to
FALSE.

Heres an example of a WHILE loop in Structured Text:

counter := 0;
WHILE counter < 10 DO
counter := counter + 1;
machine_status := counter * 10;
END_WHILE;

If you look at the third line you will see how the loop will eventually stop
repeating. The boolean expression uses the counter variable and checks if its value
is less than or equal to 10. But since the value of counter is set to 0 right before the
WHILE loop, the boolean expression will be TRUE unless counter is changed.

That is whats happening in line 3. This is the first statement in the WHILE loop,
and with the other statements, are executed each time the loop repeats. In the third
line the value of the counter variable is increased by 1. You can say that the
incremental value is 1.

In the example above, the loop will repeat 10 times. When the value of count
reaches 10, the boolean expression will be evaluated to FALSE (because 10 is not
less than 10) and the loop will stop.
You can also use the EXIT keyword in the WHILE loop to stop repeating the loop
before the boolean expression is FALSE. The syntax is an IF statement with the
EXIT keyword in. Place it anywhere between DO and END_WHILE keywords.
IF [boolean expression] THEN
EXIT;
END_IF;

REPEAT Loops

The last type of repeating loop in Structured Text is the REPEAT loop. It works the
opposite way of the WHILE loop. This loop will stop repeating when a boolean
expression is TRUE.

In ST, the syntax for REPEAT loops looks like this:

REPEAT
<statement>;
UNTIL [boolean expression]
END_REPEAT;

Notice here that since the boolean expression in this type of loop is after the
statements, the statements will always be executed at least one time. This is useful
if you want an action to happen one time and then, with a condition, decide if that
action should happen again.

Just as with the WHILE loops you have to change a value in the boolean expression
along the way, to make the loop stop repeating. This can be done be incrementing
the value of a variable (to count), or it can be done with a conditional statement like
an IF statement inside the loop.

Structured Text Programming Software

Now, even if you have read this article in detail, youve only started learning
Structured Text. What you should do now is get your hands in the dirt and start
using Structured Text.

You should write some PLC programs. Because that is the way to really learn
Structured Text and master the programming language.

Beckhoff TwinCat 3
One of the best pieces of PLC programming software when you want to learn
Structured Text is Beckhoff TwinCat 3. The programming software from Beckhoff
is fully compatible with all the IEC 61131-3 PLC programming languages
including Ladder Diagram (LD) and Structured Text (ST).

For learners, the biggest advantage of TwinCat 3 is that it has a simulator included.
You dont need to buy a PLC, you just use the soft PLC.

On YouTube there is a free series of videos from SquishyBrained. You should

follow him! He even made a video series about his DIY 3D Printer. Its a great
video tutorial to get you started with Structured Text PLC programming in TwinCat
3.

Codesys

You may have heard of Codesys before. It is an open source software environment
for IEC 61131-3 PLC programming. Open source just means that it is free for
download, which makes it perfect for students.

Although there are not many great resources on how to use Codesys for
beginners, Brian Hobby has made some amazing tutorial videos.

The first video shows you how to create a new project in Codesys. A little Ladder
Logic is also included in the video.

The second video helps you program in Structured Text with Codesys.

Conclusion
Learning a new programming language can be quite a challenge. But for beginners
there are some very basic things you should always keep in mind:

Learning takes time

You just started out. Give yourself some time to learn the language (syntax,
functions, )
 Practice as much as possible
Try to make as many PLC programs and solutions in Structured Text as
possible.

Learn from your failures

Every time you make a mistake, dont get sad. Learn from it, and become a
better programmer.

Keep learning
Never stop reading, watching tutorials and other learning materials.

Talk to other PLC programmers

The last but not least is discussing in forums and asking questions. Get
involved and learn from other PLC programmers.