JavaScript Variables

In this tutorial you will learn how to create variables to store data in JavaScript.

What is Variable?

Variables are fundamental to all programming languages. Variables are used to store data, like string of text, numbers, etc. The data or value stored in the variables can be set, updated, and retrieved whenever needed. In general, variables are symbolic names for values.

You can create a variable with the var keyword, whereas the assignment operator (=) is used to assign value to a variable, like this: var varName = value;

var name = "Peter Parker";
var age = 21;
var isMarried = false;

In the above example we have created three variables, first one has assigned with a string value, the second one has assigned with a number, whereas the last one assigned with a boolean value. Variables can hold different types of data, we'll learn about them in later chapter.

In JavaScript, variables can also be declared without having any initial values assigned to them. This is useful for variables which are supposed to hold values like user inputs.

// Declaring Variable
var userName;
 
// Assigning value
userName = "Clark Kent";

Declaring Multiple Variables at Once

In addition, you can also declare multiple variables and set their initial values in a single statement. Each variable are separated by commas, as demonstrated in the following example:

// Declaring multiple Variables
var name = "Peter Parker", age = 21, isMarried = false;
 
/* Longer declarations can be written to span
multiple lines to improve the readability */
var name = "Peter Parker",
age = 21,
isMarried = false;

The let and const Keywords ES6

ES6 introduces two new keywords let and const for declaring variables.

The const keyword works exactly the same as let, except that variables declared using const keyword cannot be reassigned later in the code. Here's an example:

// Declaring variables
let name = "Harry Potter";
let age = 11;
let isStudent = true;

// Declaring constant
const PI = 3.14;
console.log(PI); // 3.14

// Trying to reassign
PI = 10; // error

Unlike var, which declare function-scoped variables, both let and const keywords declare variables, scoped at block-level ({}). Block scoping means that a new scope is created between a pair of curly brackets {}. We'll discuss this in detail later, in JavaScript ES6 features chapter.

Naming Conventions for JavaScript Variables

These are the following rules for naming a JavaScript variable:

• A variable name must start with a letter, underscore (_), or dollar sign ($).
• A variable name cannot start with a number.
• A variable name can only contain alpha-numeric characters (A-z, 0-9) and underscores.
• A variable name cannot contain spaces.
• A variable name cannot be a JavaScript keyword or a JavaScript reserved word.