You can use UNIX
®-style or Windows
®-style variable
syntax in step commands or environment variables definitions.
Important: Variable
names may contain only alphanumeric characters (a-z, A-Z, 0-9) and the underscore
character ( _ ).
The system translates UNIX-style $VAR or Windows-style %VAR% syntax into
an appropriate format for the server assigned to run the command or process
the environment variable.
During translation each side of the assignment is run against the target
environment to create the final expression to be executed.
- The preparser evaluates the variable assignment. Special characters are
consumed unless escaped by the backslash character ($, %, {, }, ", '). If
preparsing is turned off, all characters are passed.
- Each side of the variable assignment is evaluated by the target environment.
- The evaluated variable assignment is executed.
The parser, the Windows environment, and the various UNIX and Linux shells
interpret special characters differently. Take care when using special characters
and the backslash escape character.
Note: The system cannot change the syntax if the variable is hidden. See
Variable Actions.