User Guide

576 CFML Language Reference
(Client.MyVariable). Qualifiers are also known as scopes. Thus MyVariable is said to
belong to the Form scope.
In some cases, a variable must have pounds signs around it to allow ColdFusion to
distinguish it from string or HTML text and to insert its value as opposed to its name.
For more information on how to use pound signs in expressions see Pound Signs.
Functions
Because ColdFusion functions return basic objects, such as numbers, strings, Boolean
values, date-and-time objects, lists, arrays, structures, queries, and COM objects, their
results are basic expression terms.
Operators
Operators combine sub-expressions to create more complex expressions. The general
syntax for using operators is:
Expression Operator Expression
ColdFusion has four types of operators:
• Arithmetic operators
• String operators
• Decision, or comparison, operators
• Boolean operators
Arithmetic operators
The arithmetic operators are shown in the following table.
Arithmetic Operators
Operator Description
+, -, *, / The basic arithmetic operators: addition, subtraction,
multiplication, and division. In the case of division, the right
operand cannot be zero.
+, - Unary arithmetic operators for setting the sign of a number either
positive or negative (+ or -).
MOD Returns the remainder (modulus) after a number is divided by a
divisor. The result has the same sign as the divisor. The right
operand cannot be zero. For example, 11 MOD 4 is 3.