VMS Help PASCAL, Declaration Section, Variable Declaration  *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

  A VAR section declares variables and  associates  each  variable
  with an identifier, a type, and optionally an initial value.

  Syntax:

     VAR
        {{variable-identifier},... : [[attribute-list]] type-denoter
             [[ {:= | VALUE} initial-state-specifier]]};...

  The 'variable-identifier' is  the  identifier  of  the  variable
  being declared.

  The 'attribute-list' is one or more  optional  identifiers  that
  provide additional information about the variable.

  The 'type-denoter' is any legal Pascal type syntax.

  The 'initial-state-specifier' is any constant expression that is
  assignment   compatible   with  the  variable  identifier.   The
  variable is initialized to this  expression.   See  the  "Compaq
  Pascal  Language  Reference  Manual" for the rules that apply to
  the use of initial-state specifiers on variables.

  You can use either the assignment operator (:=) or the  reserved
  word  VALUE.   However, if you require portable code, you should
  use VALUE.

  Example:

     TYPE
        Hours_worked = ARRAY [1..10] OF INTEGER;

     VAR
        Answer, Rumor : Boolean;
        Temp : INTEGER VALUE 60;
        Grade : 'A'..'D';
        Weekly_hours : Hours_worked VALUE [1..3 : 7; OTHERWISE 5];

  This  VAR  section  declares  five  variables.   The   variables
  'Answer'  and  'Rumor'  are both Boolean variables; 'Temp' is an
  integer variable initialized with the value 60; 'Grade' is of  a
  character   subrange   type   consisting   of   the   characters
  'A','B','C', and 'D'; 'Weekly_hours' is declared to  be  of  the
  user-defined array type 'Hours_worked' and is initialized with a
  constructor of integers.