Each function description in this book contains a section called Syntax, which shows the name of the function, the order of its arguments, and which arguments are required. Function names appear in uppercase letters without an equal sign (=). Required arguments are shown in bold and optional arguments are in plain text (not bold). Where functions and arguments are discussed in the text, all arguments are shown in plain text (not bold), whether they are required or optional.
Argument names use underline characters to separate the parts of the argument name. For example, num_chars is the name of an argument specifying the number of characters (letters) in a word or phrase.
In addition to the Syntax section, each function description might also include other information, such as: