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Assigning and using variables |
  
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Assigning and using variables |
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To set the value of a variable, you use its name. For example:
$var_def myname "Steve Hersee"
$set_var count +1 ; increment value of count variable
To use the value of a variable, you normally precede its name with an @ symbol. For example:
$play_var @count amount ; speak value of count
In e-mail applications, the @ character is frequently part of the data. So to use a variable on an e-mail command (one starting $email_), you should normally precede its name with a ` symbol (grave accent, ASCII 96). For example:
$email_from `myaddress
The prefix used to expand variable names can be used on CopiaFacts commands where appropriate, as well as in ASCII cover sheet templates and $make_image templates. See the description of the $image_desc command for special notes on the expansion of variables. On the $next_box and $error_exit commands the expansion must be of a single variable: you cannot embed an @ in the middle of a text string as you can in most other places. On the $type command the expansion only occurs in the directory-name part of the command, when applicable. Assigning a value to a variable named USERINFO_EMAIL is special: in this case an embedded @ in the value is not treated as a prefix introducing a variable name.
The $macro_char configuration command sets a special character to be used instead of '@' (or instead of '`' for e-mail commands) in all places where a variable is to be expanded. You may wish to use this if your text files frequently contain such elements as e-mail addresses. Use this command with great caution as it can cause existing command files to be processed incorrectly.
A variable expansion may be followed by a width enclosed in curly brackets. For example the expansion @ROUTETO{30} will be truncated if the value is longer than 30 characters and blank-expanded on the right if the value is shorter. This feature is useful on fax header lines where width may be limited. Adding a '+' to the length (as in @ROUTETO{30+} will pad out values shorter than 30 characters but will not truncate longer ones.
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