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metasyntactic variable

Definition

metasyntactic variable

Part of the Computing fundamentals glossary:

In programming, a metasyntactic (which derives from meta and syntax ) variable is a variable (a changeable value) that is used to temporarily represent a function . Examples of metasyntactic variables include (but are by no means limited to) ack, bar , baz, blarg, wibble, foo , fum, and qux. Metasyntactic variables are sometimes used in developing a conceptual version of a program or examples of programming code written for illustrative purposes.

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bar
In programming, bar is a metasyntactic variable...
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foo
Just as economists sometimes use the term "...
(SearchCIO-Midmarket.com)

Any filename beginning with a metasyntactic variable denotes a scratch file. This means the file can be deleted at any time without affecting the program.

Also see foo and bar .

This was last updated in September 2005

Posted by: Margaret Rouse

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