Programming instructions

Understanding CFML elements 19

If you did not include the pound signs around the DateFormat(Now(), "mm/ddyyy")

function, the output for the previous example would display as follows:

For more information about how to use pound signs with functions, see Developing

ColdFusion MX Applications with CFML.

Variables

Variables let you store data in memory on the server. Variables always have a name and a

value. You can assign a value to a variable, or you can instruct ColdFusion to assign

variable values based on data that it retrieves from a data source, such as a database table.

Naming variables

You must use the following rules for naming ColdFusion variables:

• Names are case insensitive (uppercase, lowercase, or mixed case).

• Names can contain only letters, numbers, and underscore characters.

• Each name must begin with a letter.

• Special characters (such as double quotation marks ("), reserved names (such as

functions and tags), and spaces are not allowed.

Ways to use variables

You can use a variable for the following purposes:

• Store data collected from a form.

• Store results of a calculation (such as the number of database records returned).

• Use as input to a function.

Creating variables with the cfset tag

ColdFusion lets you create variables as you need them. You create the variable (name and

value) using the

cfset tag. The syntax for this tag is:

In the following examples, the variables are assigned a string literal value. All string literal

values are surrounded by double quotation marks.