Is it a special sign or it can be used as anything else? For creating variables for example.
$x=4
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1 Answer
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$ is probably the only non-alphanumeric ascii character without a special meaning in Mathematica and thus the only one you could use as a delimiter for various parts within a variable name.
A warning is due: Because it is so unique, it is also used internally for the same purpose, e.g. Module and Unique will generate variable names ending in $+ an arbitrary integer:
Unique[]
Module[{x},x]
In some cases, also Function will generate variable names ending in $ for its arguments. You can read more about this here. To stay out of potential problems I would not use variables ending in $ or $ + integer.
Another case where $ seems to be used as some kind of internal convention are symbols which serve as global variables like $FrontEnd,$Context, $Path ..., but you can avoid conflicts by using a lowercase letter for the second letter of the variable name.
Other than the mentioned cases, I wouldn't expect problems when using $ within variable names. It should be mentioned that due to the possibility to use non-ascii letters within variable names, people often use such characters for similar purposes, e.g.:
long\[Bullet]name
which will look nicer in the frontend, but won't render nice in the Wolfram Workbench editor.
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$\begingroup$ @Ajasja: thanks for the link, I remember now that I read that once, but couldn't remember... $\endgroup$ Commented May 14, 2013 at 16:38
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1$\begingroup$ You're welcome. You were right. Using
$at the end of a name can cause problems:f = Function[{x}, Function[{y}, x + y]]; o2 = f[2 y$]; o1 = f[2 y]; {o1[a], o2[a]}$\endgroup$– AjasjaCommented May 14, 2013 at 16:47 -
1$\begingroup$ Here's another example of
Functionusing$internally, causing confusion to the user: mathematica.stackexchange.com/q/25563/5 $\endgroup$– rm -rf ♦Commented May 20, 2013 at 21:58
$MachineEpsilon, but you can certainly start your variables with a dollar sign. $\endgroup$