Variable and Property Assignments and Declarations

Table A-12 summarizes the syntax for assigning values to variables and script properties and declaring local and global variables. For information about variables and script properties, see Values and Constants For detailed information about the scope of script variables and properties, see Scope of Script Variables and Properties.

Table A-12 Assignments and declarations

Assignment or declaration	Syntax
Variable assignment (and declaration if variable has not previously been declared)	`copy expression to variable`
	`copy reference to variable`
	`set variable to expression`
	`set variable to reference`
Global variable declaration	`global variable [, variable ]...`
Local variable declaration	`local variable [, variable ]...`
Script property declaration and assignment	`property propertyLabel : expression`
	`prop propertyLabel : expression`

The Text Item Delimiters property, which is the only property you can get and set using the global variable AppleScript , consists of a list of the delimiters used by AppleScript when coercing lists to strings and when getting text items from strings. This property is declared by AppleScript and is available from any script. You can get and set this property with statements such as the following:



 
set savedDelimiters to AppleScript's text item delimiters

set AppleScript's text item delimiters to {":"}

get last text item of "Hard Disk:CD Contents:Release Notes"

--result: "Release Notes"

set AppleScript's text item delimiters to savedDelimiters

Currently, only the first delimiter in the list is used by AppleScript. For more information, see AppleScript Properties.