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Elastic Docs ›Painless Scripting Language [8.8] ›Painless Language Specification

Variables

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Variables

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A variable loads and stores a value for evaluation during operations.

Declaration

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Declare a variable before use with the format of type followed by identifier. Declare an array type variable using an opening [ token and a closing ] token for each dimension directly after the identifier. Specify a comma-separated list of identifiers following the type to declare multiple variables in a single statement. Use an assignment operator combined with a declaration to immediately assign a value to a variable. A variable not immediately assigned a value will have a default value assigned implicitly based on the type.

Errors

  • If a variable is used prior to or without declaration.

Grammar

declaration : type ID assignment? (',' ID assignment?)*;
type: ID ('.' ID)* ('[' ']')*;
assignment: '=' expression;

Examples

  • Different variations of variable declaration.

    int x;           
List y;          
int x, y = 5, z; 
def d;           
int i = 10;      
float[] f;       
Map[][] m;

    declare int x; store default null to x

    declare List y; store default null to y

    declare int x; store default int 0 to x; declare int y; store int 5 to y; declare int z; store default int 0 to z;

    declare def d; store default null to d

    declare int i; store int 10 to i

    declare float[] f; store default null to f

    declare Map[][] m; store default null to m

Assignment

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Use the assignment operator '=' to store a value in a variable for use in subsequent operations. Any operation that produces a value can be assigned to any variable as long as the types are the same or the resultant type can be implicitly cast to the variable type.

Errors

  • If the type of value is unable to match the type of variable.

Grammar

assignment: ID '=' expression

Examples

  • Variable assignment with an integer literal.

    int i;  
i = 10;

    declare int i; store default int 0 to i

    store int 10 to i

  • Declaration combined with immediate assignment.

    int i = 10;     
double j = 2.0;

    declare int i; store int 10 to i

    declare double j; store double 2.0 to j

  • Assignment of one variable to another using primitive type values.

    int i = 10; 
int j = i;

    declare int i; store int 10 to i

    declare int j; load from i → int 10; store int 10 to j

  • Assignment with reference types using the new instance operator.

    ArrayList l = new ArrayList(); 
Map m = new HashMap();

    declare ArrayList l; allocate ArrayList instance → ArrayList reference; store ArrayList reference to l

    declare Map m; allocate HashMap instance → HashMap reference; implicit cast HashMap reference to Map reference → Map reference; store Map reference to m

  • Assignment of one variable to another using reference type values.

    List l = new ArrayList(); 
List k = l;               
List m;                   
m = k;

    declare List l; allocate ArrayList instance → ArrayList reference; implicit cast ArrayList reference to List reference → List reference; store List reference to l

    declare List k; load from l → List reference; store List reference to k; (note l and k refer to the same instance known as a shallow-copy)

    declare List m; store default null to m

    load from k → List reference; store List reference to m; (note l, k, and m refer to the same instance)

  • Assignment with array type variables using the new array operator.

    int[] ia1;                   
ia1 = new int[2];            
ia1[0] = 1;                  
int[] ib1 = ia1;             
int[][] ic2 = new int[2][5]; 
ic2[1][3] = 2;               
ic2[0] = ia1;

    declare int[] ia1; store default null to ia1

    allocate 1-d int array instance with length [2] → 1-d int array reference; store 1-d int array reference to ia1

    load from ia1 → 1-d int array reference; store int 1 to index [0] of 1-d int array reference

    declare int[] ib1; load from ia1 → 1-d int array reference; store 1-d int array reference to ib1; (note ia1 and ib1 refer to the same instance known as a shallow copy)

    declare int[][] ic2; allocate 2-d int array instance with length [2, 5] → 2-d int array reference; store 2-d int array reference to ic2

    load from ic2 → 2-d int array reference; store int 2 to index [1, 3] of 2-d int array reference

    load from ia1 → 1-d int array reference; load from ic2 → 2-d int array reference; store 1-d int array reference to index [0] of 2-d int array reference; (note ia1, ib1, and index [0] of ia2 refer to the same instance)
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