Setting Variables
Variables defined with
The variable name may contain function and variable references, which are
expanded when the line is read to find the actual variable name to use. There is
no limit on the length of the value of a variable except the amount of swapping
space on the computer.
When a variable definition is long, it is a good idea to break it into several
lines by inserting backslash-newline at convenient places in the definition.
This will not affect the functioning of
Most variable names are considered to have the empty string as a value if you
have never set them. Several variables have built-in initial values that are
not empty, but you can set them in the usual ways (see