WoW API: getglobal

Reference e
AddOns WoW API Widget API XML UI Event API WoW Lua Macro API CVars Battle.net HOWTOs Snippets UI tech Categories

→ WoW API

← WoW API < getglobal

Note: getglobal and setglobal are deprecated and replaced with _G[]. Change all references of getglobal and setglobal:

 var = getglobal(varName)        --getglobal deprecated
 var = _G[varName]               --new syntax to get a global

 setglobal(otherName, otherVar)  --setglobal deprecated
 _G[otherName] = otherVar        --new syntax to set a global

Description

Get a global variable, from a string.

local targetGlobal = getglobal("globalName")

Arguments

("globalName")

globalName

String - Name of the global you want to get.

Returns

The value from the given string, or nil if not found

Details

This function is used to get an object if you generate the name of the object manually in your script:

-- i = some_dynamic_number
local curFrame = getglobal("myFrame"..i)

As of the introduction of getfenv() into the API (as well as direct access to the table _G as a global), setglobal() and getglobal() are somewhat superfluous. You can always do something along the lines of:

 local _G = getfenv()
 local prevval = _G["MyVariable"]   -- "getglobal()"
 _G["MyVariable"] = 1234            -- "setglobal()"

Function calls always cost some overhead, so if a large number of getglobal calls are being made, the global table will be a faster route. Note that for few or infrequent calls the performance gain of this method is negligible (but given the lack of any loss of functionality, recommended).

Note: Accessing the global table through the function getfenv() was common within addons presumably because the global '_G' (the direct global table) was hidden from the WoW environment. It seems to have since been uncovered, and now calling it directly for global access is possible:

 local _G = _G   -- a local speeds up access to _G slightly. negligible for infrequent calls.
 local prevval = _G["MyVariable"]   -- "getglobal()"
 _G["MyVariable"] = 1234            -- "setglobal()"