Unruly Variable Names

[armsys]

I'm stunned to discover that Macro Scheduler in fact imposes no rule on variable naming.
The following code shows "xy*! 2" is legally allowed as a variable name!
But it's useless as it isn't recognized subsequently by other commands.

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Let>xy*!  2=123
Let>y=xy*!  2
MDL>xy*!  2=123

[PepsiHog]

Yeah, I know. It's AWESOME, isn't it?

Marcus,

Please, please, please, please, do not add rules to variable naming. It allows so MANY possibilities.

Thanks,
PepsiHog

[Edit] - Ok, he's right. I can't get any results either. But that's why we debug. Start adding rules and next thing we know, we can't do things like:

let>ase=1
let>Creative_%ase%=Some crazy
-or-
let>%MyVar%=Twisted

and many more! (Yes, these examples work, given they are defined.)

This is one of my most favorite things about MS. You can be SOOOOO creative!

[armsys]

Yeah, I know. It's AWESOME, isn't it?

Hi PepsiHog,
It's fantastic to see you back here.
Could you entertain us with your samples of AWESOME unruly variable names?

[PepsiHog]

Just did. Thanks. Nice to see you.

You must be the type that follows rules. I have known about this stuff since v10. Maybe you should do more test drives.

PepsiHog

Below is wrong, I am running v14. Just haven't changed it yet. And Windows 7.....newer laptop. You get the idea.

[JRL]

Let>xy*! 2=123

Take out the spaces and the variable will work.

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Let>xy*!2=123
mdl>xy*!2

Spaces can cause variables to fail so don't use them. This fails and has no quirky characters

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Let>mm mm=2
mdl>%mm mm%

I don't know any other character that is on the keyboard that shouldn't be used... wait... no... don't use tabs either as part of a variable name. And though they will work it could be detrimental to use numbers as variables. For example.

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Let>1234=2
mdl>1234

Let>kk=1
Add>kk,1234
MDL>kk

I like using descriptive variables and I also like to start variable names with a lower case "v".

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ReadFile>%temp_dir%myTextFile.txt,vData

[armsys]

Hi JRL & PepsiHog,
Thank you for sharing your insight on unruly variable naming.
I didn't know the naughty space is a showstopper.
JRL's variable is certainly a delightful entrapment:

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Let>1234=2
mdl>1234
Let>kk=1
Add>kk,1234
MDL>kk

Everyone will be stunned to find out that KK results in 3, not 1235.
Thank you again.

[Marcus Tettmar]

This has been the case since, wait, 1997. But if you want a more "traditional" approach use VAREXPLICIT. It's in the manual, under, of all places, "Using Variables". So if you do this:

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Let>VAREXPLICIT=1
Let>1234=2
mdl>1234
Let>kk=1
Add>kk,1234
MDL>kk

You will be stunned to know that kk now equals 1235

[PepsiHog]

Ha! LOL! In your face! You go Marcus!