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ABL Reference
ABL Syntax Reference : . Punctuation
 

. Punctuation

The period (.) symbol ends all statements, including block header statements. The DO, FOR, and REPEAT statements can end with a period or a colon.
It is also serves as a separator between:
*A filename and a filename extension (suffix) in most operating system platforms, for example, Letter.txt
*The elements of a qualified database table or buffer field name, for example, Customer.CustNum or Sports2000.Customer or Sports2000.Customer.CustNum
*The elements of an ABL package name or .NET namespace, for example, Progress.Lang, Progress.Windows, or System.Collections
*An ABL package or .NET namespace and the name of a class or interface defined in that package or namespace, for example, Progress.Lang.Error, Progress.Windows.Form, or System.Collections.SortedList
See : Punctuation for rules to help you decide whether to use period, colon, or double colon syntax.

See also

: Punctuation, :: Punctuation, Type-name syntax