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Variable Syntax

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.
  1. 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.
  2. Each side of the variable assignment is evaluated by the target environment.
  3. 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.