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+'\"
+'\" Copyright (c) 1993-1997 Bell Labs Innovations for Lucent Technologies
+'\" Copyright (c) 1997 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
+'\"
+'\" See the file "license.terms" for information on usage and redistribution
+'\" of this file, and for a DISCLAIMER OF ALL WARRANTIES.
+'\" 
+'\" SCCS: @(#) variable.n 1.4 97/08/13 16:57:57
+'\" 
+.so man.macros
+.TH variable n 8.0 Tcl "Tcl Built-In Commands"
+.BS
+'\" Note:  do not modify the .SH NAME line immediately below!
+.SH NAME
+variable \- create and initialize a namespace variable
+.SH SYNOPSIS
+\fBvariable \fR?\fIname value...\fR? \fIname \fR?\fIvalue\fR?
+.BE
+
+.SH DESCRIPTION
+.PP
+This command is normally used within a
+\fBnamespace eval\fR command to create one or more variables
+within a namespace.
+Each variable \fIname\fR is initialized with \fIvalue\fR.
+The \fIvalue\fR for the last variable is optional.
+.PP
+If a variable \fIname\fR does not exist, it is created.
+In this case, if \fIvalue\fR is specified,
+it is assigned to the newly created variable.
+If no \fIvalue\fR is specified, the new variable is left undefined.
+If the variable already exists,
+it is set to \fIvalue\fR if \fIvalue\fR is specified
+or left unchanged if no \fIvalue\fR is given.
+Normally, \fIname\fR is unqualified
+(does not include the names of any containing namespaces),
+and the variable is created in the current namespace.
+If \fIname\fR includes any namespace qualifiers,
+the variable is created in the specified namespace.
+.PP
+If the \fBvariable\fR command is executed inside a Tcl procedure,
+it creates local variables
+linked to the corresponding namespace variables.
+In this way the \fBvariable\fR command resembles the \fBglobal\fR command,
+although the \fBglobal\fR command
+only links to variables in the global namespace.
+If any \fIvalue\fRs are given,
+they are used to modify the values of the associated namespace variables.
+If a namespace variable does not exist,
+it is created and optionally initialized.
+.PP
+A \fIname\fR argument cannot reference an element within an array.
+Instead, \fIname\fR should reference the entire array,
+and the initialization \fIvalue\fR should be left off.
+After the variable has been declared,
+elements within the array can be set using ordinary
+\fBset\fR or \fBarray\fR commands.
+
+.SH "SEE ALSO"
+global(n), namespace(n)
+
+.SH KEYWORDS
+global, namespace, procedure, variable