Scripts can "create" up to 500 user-defined global variables. The set command or its shortcut is used to create and/or assign a value to global user variables.

For example:

To set NEXTOBJECT to "M31":

NEXTOBJECT= M31

To set MESSAGE to "the sky is now cloudy":

MESSAGE= "the sky is now cloudy"        ; this is a comment

Global variables remained defined even after a script has stopped running - they only disappear when ARAP terminates or the eraseuservariables command is used.

Global variable names:

  • can contain any reasonable combination of numbers, letters, and symbols provided they don't have special meaning (such as ":", "=", ";", etc.)
  • cannot conflict with one of the pre-defined variables
  • are not case-sensitive, but it is good convention to use all CAPITAL LETTERS so as to make them easily identifiable.