Appending data to a variable

[jim0203]

Is it possible to append data to a variable in a script?

e.g., $variable = "abcdefg"

{Run script appending "hijklmnop" to $variable}

$variable = "abcdefghijklmnop"

Also, is it possible to insert a line break character in this way?

[dansmith65]

$variable = "abcdefg"

$variable = $variable & "hijklmnop"

($variable now equals "abcdefghijklmnop")

$variable = "abcdefg"

$variable = $variable & "¶" & "hijklmnop"

($variable now equals "abcdefg

hijklmnop")

¶ = line break ( press Alt + 20 on windows, not sure about Mac, or use the ¶ button in the "Specify Calculation" window )

[jim0203]

Thank you, that's perfect.

You don't happen to know the maximum length of a text variable in Filemaker, do you? Now that I know how to concatenate variables I'll probably go crazy with it!

[dansmith65]

not off-hand, I know it's pretty big though. you should be able to find it on filemaker.com

[comment]

I don't know of a limitation other than available memory.

Note that a script can modify local variables only if they were created during the runtime of the script. Your original example cannot work as stated, unless the (pre-existing) variable is a global one.

[dansmith65]

I knew I had seen field size limits somewhere... http://www.filemaker.com.au/products/7/fm/new_features.html

"Fields can store up to 4 gigabytes. Text fields can now store up to 2 gigabytes."

That was for version 7 though - does anybody know if these limits are the same for version 10?

[comment]

Fields are not variables.

[dansmith65]

oops!