**fScan Reference Manual, Chapter 4 (Variables): Contents **

===== fScan internal variables =====

fScan supports several different types of internal variables. Values of some variables are global -- they do not change when you move from one active window to another.  Other variables are workspace or data set specific -- their values will change depending on which window is currently active.

  * [[jvs:fscan:manual:chapter4:global|Global variables]]
  * [[jvs:fscan:manual:chapter4:uservarbs|User-defined variables]]
  * [[jvs:fscan:manual:chapter4:datasetvarbs|Data-set variables]]
  * [[jvs:fscan:manual:chapter4:datasetstrings|Data-set string variables]]
  * [[jvs:fscan:manual:chapter4:datasetarrays|Data-set array variables]]

==== Accessing data variables ====
In general, data variable values can be accessed by specifying the name of the variable, preceded by the '$' character (or '_' character to make command-line scripting easier).  To get the status of a variable, substitute '?' for '$'; the status is -1 if the named variable is not defined, it is 0 if it is defined but empty, and it is a positive value (the size of the variable) if it is defined and not empty.

Variable operators:               
  * $varbname - the value of the named variable (_varbname works the same)
  * ?varbname - the status of the named variable (0=undefined, 1=defined)

For example:\\
  * -echo Window: $thiswin WorkSpace $wsnum         ; display name and workspace of current active window
  * -echo Varb: ?curdir ?thiswin ?myvarb            ; test whether these variables are defined

The '$' character is also used to identify fScan special functions of the form: $funcname(). Examples are:
  * $exists(filename) - does the named file exist (0=no, 1=regular file, 2=directory)?
  * $filepath(filename) - return the full path to the named file
  * $relpath(filename) - return the relative path (from $curdir)
  * $date(filename) - return a string containing the file modification date (yyyymmddhhmmss)
  * $age(filename) - return the age of the named file in seconds

  * tables
    * listitem
    * listflag



**See Also:**\\
[[jvs:fscan:manual:chapter2:set|Set]], [[jvs:fscan:manual:chapter2:if|If]], and [[jvs:fscan:manual:chapter2:echo|Echo]] commands.\\
[[jvs:fscan|fScan Home]],
[[jvs:fscan:manual|fScan Manual]],
[[jvs:fscan:manual:help|Manual Help]]