Variables appear as a name surrounded by '%'s, such as %actor% Before a command is processed, the line is scanned and any variables are replaced. First the list of local variables are checked to see if the variable is there. If not, the global variables are checked. A proper global match must have a zero context or the current context of the trigger. (When a trigger starts running, its context is 0. The trigger context command may be used to change context.) If a match is still not found, a list of 'built in' variables (ones not declared by the trigger) are checked. If no match is found, the variable is replaced with an empty string (the variable is removed from the line, and nothing added in its place). There are two types of variables, local and global. All local variables are deleted when a trigger finishes executing, and can only be used by the trigger. Global variables remain until removed with unset, the MUD is rebooted, or the trigger is removed. Global variables also have a context associated with them. By default, the context is 0. Any global being referenced with a context of zero will be seen. Through the 'context <value>' command, a trigger may set its context to any integer; Globals created are always assigned the current trigger context. When a global is referenced, if its context is not 0 or the current context of the trigger, it will not be seen. This technique allows, among other things, arrays of globals to be created by using a series of contexts as indexes. Also, it allows globals to be associated with a specific character, room, or object in the game, by using the id of the target as the context. Variable Fields A field of a variable can also be retrieved, based on their type. To get a field, a notation of %variable.field% is used. The valid fields are listed in the help files below. CHAR-VAR - Variables for characters. TSTAT 27 OBJ-VAR - Variables for objects. TSTAT 28 ROOM-VAR - Variables for rooms. TSTAT 29 TEXT-VAR - Variables for text. TSTAT 30 SPEC-VAR - variables for special stuff. tstat 31 See also:: GLOBAL