12.2.4.2 Variable Assignments

An assignment stores a new value into a variable. It's syntax is quite straightforward:

variable = expression

As a result of the assignment, the expression is evaluated and its value is assigned to variable. If variable did not exist before the assignment, it is created. Otherwise, whatever old value it had before the assignment is forgotten.

It is important to notice that variables do not have permanent types. The type of a variable is the type of whatever value it currently holds. For example:

foo = 1
print $foo ⇒ 1
foo = "bar"
print $foo ⇒ bar
foo = ( User-Name = "antonius" NAS-IP-Address = 127.0.0.1 )
print $foo ⇒ ( User-Name = "antonius" NAS-IP-Address = 127.0.0.1 )

Another important point is that in radtest, assignment is not an expression, as it is in many other programming languages. So C programmers should resist temptation to use assignments in expressions. The following is not correct:

x = y = 1

Finally, if the variable name coincides with one of radtest keywords, it must be enclosed in single quotes:

'case' = 1

This document was generated by Sergey Poznyakoff on December, 6 2008 using texi2html 1.78.