Variables

Variables

> Tutorial

Variables are a fundamental concept in every programming language. They are storage locations that keep values in memory so you can reuse them.

Variables can hold several types of values:

• Number: 12, 5.59
• String: "hello"
• Boolean (true or false): true, false
• List, Table (we will come back to these a bit later)
• null: the absence of a value

Declaring a variable

To use a variable, you first need to declare it. You declare it with the var keyword, like this:

You can also give your variable a value at the same time, like this:

Using a variable

To use the value stored in a variable, simply write its name:

In this first AI, line 5 declares the variable enemy, which is initialized with the value getNearestEnemy(), that is, the nearest enemy.

This enemy variable is then used on lines 8* and *11, where its value is passed to the moveToward and useWeapon functions.

Global variables

Variables declared with the var keyword last for your leek's turn. There is a second type of variable that keeps its value for the whole fight: global variables. To declare a global variable, simply use the global keyword instead of var:

Variables and global variables are used the same way in your code. In the rest of the tutorial, we will mostly use normal variables (sometimes called local variables).

❓ Quiz

What is a variable?

A value that changes often A location to store a value

Which code declares a variable foo?

var foo = 12 var foo foo variable foo

Complete AI