Variables store values that can be used later.
Most notably, a variable assignment of main is required for all Sentinel policies. This is the main rule that is executed to determine the result of a policy. The main rule may use other variables that are assigned in the policy.
Example:
In this example, two variables are assigned: a and b. a is given the value of "1" and b uses the a to calculate its own value.
The syntax for assigning a variable is:
On the left of the equal sign is an identifier. This is a name for your variable and will be how you reference it later. An identifier is any combination of letters and digits, but must start with a letter. An underscore _ is also a valid letter.
On the right is any valid Sentinel value or expression. A value is a literal value such as a number or string. An expression is some computed value such as doing math, calling a function, etc.
A variable is assigned when it is given a value. You can also reassign variables at any time by setting it to a new value. The new value takes effect for any subsequent use of that variable. A variable can be reassigned to a different type.
For example:
a = 1 // a = 1
b = a // b = 1
a = "value" // a = "value", b = 1
c = a // c = "value", b = 1
In the above example you can see that the variables are set and reassigned. Notice that the value of a variable is the current value, and that reassigning a variable only affects future uses of that variable. You can see this with c and b being different values.
Using a variable that is unassigned is an error.
In the example below, the first line would result in the policy erroring. Sentinel is executed top-down and the value of c is not available yet on the first line.
While a topic more related to values, variables can be assigned (or-reassigned) a different value type via type conversion.
s = "1.1"
a = int(s) // a = 1
a = float(s) // a = 1.1
a = 1
s = string(a) // s = "1"
For more details, see the type conversion sections in the values page, or the Sentinel Language Specification.
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