Zugg Software :: View topic - How do I use local variables in a function?

Wanderer Joined: 03 Aug 2005 Posts: 84

I have the following code:

Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 12:21 am

For one thing, using #LOCAL makes it quicker and less messy to define localvars.

Also, what sets the $colString variable? If I add it to the #local, the script compiles fine so I'm not sure how it's going wrong. I also created a test alias that looked like this:

Wanderer Joined: 03 Aug 2005 Posts: 84

I never had a problem compiling it as an alias, I wanted to compile it as a function so that it could be used somehwhere other than the beginning of a line...

ex:

Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2007 2:42 am

Oh, sorry, I misread your post, I didn't realise you were talking about functions. I'm not an expert on custom functions, but my interpretation is that functions won't actually run commands inside them, because if you wanted to do that you'd use an alias - custom functions are basically a shorthand for a long series of other functions that you'd use in conjunction with another command, but is too complicated or too time-consuming to type out every time.

In short, functions won't run commands like #loop without them being inside an %exec function - I tried creating an %exec to do this, but it wouldn't compile because the commands inside the %exec function can't see the $colString parameter properly.

Wanderer Joined: 03 Aug 2005 Posts: 84

Hmm... Maybe zugg should think about adding away to do this, mayhaps a special char or function that will allow an alias to be called midline.

Wizard Joined: 11 Jul 2002 Posts: 1265 Location: USA

Here is how I would do this.

Create your alias that you have above, and at the end of the alias set a regular variable to the value of $result.

Then on the line before you would have called the function call the alias and place the regular variable in place of the function.

I played with this a lot a couple months ago and this was the best solution I could find at the time.

When Zugg changes the way #function works we will be able to more easily use commands within them.

Wizard Joined: 25 Mar 2003 Posts: 1113 Location: USA

Zugg is going to be implementing a true function command for CMUD, as he's said in his development blog. We'll one day be able to execute code (as an alias) and return a value (which aliases cannot do). This type of function should be far more readable and also far faster than the current "expanded string variable" version of a function. I'm really looking forward to it, as it'll help simplify logic in my scripts and speed things up a bit!