How to use ">" when creating maps. Help please

So I am able to set up a bg map with data as opposed to sc saving which I don't care much for. But it only seems to read numbers. I can do it like this:

DATA "  111                      "
DATA "  121                      "
DATA "  121                      "
DATA "                            "

But how do I get the code to read any symbol such as >?

DATA "  111                      "
DATA "  121>                     "
DATA "  121@                    "
DATA "                            "

The character code for > is 62 but I don't know how to get the code to read it in the data so it turns it into any bgtile I want Like this?

M=64

DIM MAP[M]

FOR I=0 TO M-1
  READ MAP[I]
NEXT
DA=0
D=VAL(A$[I])
BGPUT 1,I,DA,MAP[D]
NEXT
INC DA
WEND


DATA "111                          "
DATA "121>                         "
DATA "111@                         "
DATA ""

I think you're going to need to post your code for reading the data if you want helpful help

VAL(A$[I])

You're trying to convert the text character into a numerical value ( VAL() ) here, so yeah, your system currently only works with numbers If you wanted the character code of the characters in your data, try ASC()

I thought of that, but I don't know how to use it for this purpose.

Don’t you just want to use numbers?

VAL(A$[I])

You're trying to convert the text character into a numerical value ( VAL() ) here, so yeah, your system currently only works with numbers If you wanted the character code of the characters in your data, try ASC()

I thought of that, but I don't know how to use it for this purpose.

IF VAL(A$[I])==62 THEN 'choose your tile

just have a check for if there is a certain symbol

VAL(A$[I])

You're trying to convert the text character into a numerical value ( VAL() ) here, so yeah, your system currently only works with numbers If you wanted the character code of the characters in your data, try ASC()

I thought of that, but I don't know how to use it for this purpose.

IF VAL(A$[I])==62 THEN 'choose your tile

just have a check for if there is a certain symbol

That should be ASC

VAL(A$[I])

You're trying to convert the text character into a numerical value ( VAL() ) here, so yeah, your system currently only works with numbers If you wanted the character code of the characters in your data, try ASC()

I thought of that, but I don't know how to use it for this purpose.

IF VAL(A$[I])==62 THEN 'choose your tile

just have a check for if there is a certain symbol

That should be ASC

Thanks for your help. I happened to figure it out while I was offline. But now I have another question. Using the data the way did above, how can the maps be as long as I want? The bgscreen only goes so far.