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Variables

Variables in Minilux start with a $ sign and can hold integers, strings, or arrays. The language uses dynamic typing, so variables can change types at runtime.

Variable Declaration and Assignment​

Variables are declared simply by assigning a value to them:

$name = "Alexia"
$age = 42
$pi = 3
$isActive = 1

Data Types​

Integers​

Minilux supports integer values:

$count = 100
$negative = -50
$zero = 0

Strings​

Strings are enclosed in double quotes " or single quotes ':

$greeting = "Hello, World!"
$name = 'Alexia'
$message = "Line 1\nLine 2\tTabbed"

String Interpolation​

Minilux supports variable interpolation inside double-quoted strings:

$name = "Alexia"
$age = 42
printf("My name is ", $name, " and I am ", $age, " years old")

Escape Sequences​

Supported escape sequences:

  • \n - newline
  • \t - tab
  • \\ - backslash
  • \" - double quote
  • \' - single quote

Arrays​

Arrays can hold multiple values of any type:

$numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
$mixed = [1, "hello", 42]
$empty = []

String Indexing​

Access individual characters in a string using array-like syntax:

$text = "Hello"
printf("First character: ", $text[0])   # prints "H"
printf("Third character: ", $text[2])   # prints "l"

Array Indexing​

Access array elements by index (0-based):

$fruits = ["apple", "banana", "orange"]
printf("First fruit: ", $fruits[0])     # prints "apple"
printf("Second fruit: ", $fruits[1])    # prints "banana"

# Assign to array elements
$fruits[0] = "mango"
printf("New first fruit: ", $fruits[0]) # prints "mango"

Variable Reassignment​

Variables can be reassigned to different types:

$x = 10
printf("x is: ", $x)  # prints "x is: 10"

$x = "now a string"
printf("x is: ", $x)  # prints "x is: now a string"

$x = [1, 2, 3]
printf("x is now an array with ", len($x), " elements")

Naming Rules​

Variable names:

  • Must start with $
  • Can contain letters, numbers, and underscores
  • Are case-sensitive

Valid variable names:

$myVar
$my_var
$myVar123
$_private
$CONSTANT_VALUE

Scope​

All variables in Minilux currently share global scope. Variables declared inside functions or control structures are accessible everywhere in the program.

if (1 == 1) {
    $x = 100
}

printf("x = ", $x)  # x is accessible here