User:The Transhumanist/Workshop boilerplate/var

var

This is the reserved word var, which is used to declare variables. A variable is a container you can put a value in. To declare the variable portletlink, write this:

var portletlink

A declared variable has no value, until you assign it one, such as like this:

portletlink = "yo mama";

You can combine declaration and assignment in the same statement, like this:

var portletlink = mw.util.addPortletLink('p-tb', '#', 'Remove red links');

Caveat: if you assign a value to a variable that does not exist, the variable will be created automatically. If it is created outside of a function, it will have global scope. For user scripts used on Wikipedia, having a variable of global scope means the variable may affect other scripts that are running, as the scripts are technically part of the same program, being called via import from a .js page (.js pages are programs). So, be careful. Here are some scope-related resources: