There are many special named variables which are read or written by various action statements. This table presents a list of all the special named variables. Remember, named variables are case insensitive and may easily be inserted into any action field via its context menu's Insert Special Named Variable menu. On the context menu, the named variables are divided into various submenus. The containing submenu for each named variable is described in the table.
| Named Variable | Submenu | Description |
|---|---|---|
| AcoustID Duration Override | Data Sources, Runtime Override | The AcoustID matching algorithms can take a file's duration into consideration. If for any reason you are not matching a selected audio file, the AcoustID Import Track Metadata and Get Data from AcoustID statements can override the effective file's duration by placing a value in this named variable. The value is specified in ms. |
| Action Error Text | Error Conditions | Various statements put descriptive text into this named variable when an error occurs. To see a full list of statements do a Help>Search Yate Help searching for Action Error Text. |
| Artwork to Folder Index Pad | Miscellaneous | An optional pad value for indexes appended by the Artwork to Folder statement. Values other than 2, 3 or 4 are treated as 1. |
| Auto Save Database Window Size | Database Information | Many resource actions use discardable databases. If you wish to keep state as to the user's resized window you can use this named variable. Additional information and the encoding can be found in the Open Database statement's documentation. |
| Auto Search Status | Miscellaneous | The result of an Auto Search for Artwork statement is encoded into this named variable. |
| Batch Auto-Save | Batch Processing | Set to 1 if the Batch Processor Wizard's Auto save files option was selected, otherwise 0. |
| Batch Data File | Batch Processing | When running the Batch Processor in the special Data File Processing mode, the fu ll path to the file being processed will be in this named variable. |
| Batch Data File Contents | Batch Processing | When running the Batch Processor in the special Data File Processing mode, the contents of the file being processed will be in this named variable. |
| Batch Phase | Batch Processing | When running the Batch Processor this named variable describes the phase of the process in which execution is occurring. There are three values:
|
| Batch Query Database | Batch Processing | When running the Batch Processor in the special Query Database Processing mode, the full path to the plist associated with the database being processed will be in this named variable. |
| Batch Root Folder | Batch Processing | When not running the Batch Processor in a special mode, the named variable will contain the folders passed to the Batch Processor as a list with folders separated by the default list delimiter (\~). |
| Batch Verbose | Batch Processing | Set to 1 if the Batch Processor Wizard's Verbose log option was selected, otherwise 0. |
| Binary Data Next Offset | Binary Data | Contains the index of the first byte after extracting data with the Binary Date statement's Extract function. Set to -1 on a failed match. |
| Binary Data Search Index | Binary Data | Contains the index of a successful match by the Binary Date statement's Search function. Set to -1 on a failed match. |
| Binary Data Search Length | Binary Data | Contains the length of the matched data on a successful match by the Binary Date statement's Search function. Set to the source length (which should be the same) on a failed match. |
| Build Component List Runtime Field | Runtime Override | The Build Component List statement can specify an associated list as Runtime. When set to Runtime the named variable should contain the name of a field. |
| Character Length | Miscellaneous | Strings containing Unicode characters do not always have a one to one correspondence between the number of characters and the string's length. Various statements use this named variable to return the length. To see a full list of statements do a Help>Search Yate Help searching for Character Length. |
| Combined Credits Functions Results | Credits | The encoded results of a Combined Credits Functions statement. |
| Container Error | Error Conditions | Various container statements put descriptive text into this named variable when an error occurs. To see a full list of statements do a Help>Search Yate Help searching for Container Error. |
| Container Secondary Delimiter | Miscellaneous | The Extract Data from Container statement uses the List Secondary Delimiter (\:) for various modes. You can force a different delimiter by specifying it in this named variable. |
| Custom Field Display Name | Is Custom Field Defined | The Is Custom Field Defined statement returns the actual name of a custom field in this named variable. This only occurs if a raw for of Custom # was specified. |
| Custom Field is a Credit | Is Custom Field Defined | The Is Custom Field Defined statement returns 1 in this named variable if the speced name is defined and is a credit. |
| Custom Field is Yes/No | Is Custom Field Defined | The Is Custom Field Defined statement returns the 1 in this named variable if the speced name is defined and is a Yes/No item. |
| Data Source Access Error | Error Conditions | Various data source statements put numeric or descriptive text into this named variable when an error occurs. To see a full list of statements do a Help>Search Yate Help searching for Data Source Access Error. |
| Database Help-dbname | Database Information | The Open Database statement can supply a named variable which contains alternate help for the database viewer. Note this alternate help is only displayed when the database was opened by an action. If alternate help is not supplied or the named variable is empty, this named variable is subsequently examined. dbname is the default title of the database. ie. the last path component without the filename extension. This is useful when a database is being opened automatically when a batch process finishes. (A database created via a Create Album Database or Create Track Database statement). Setting this variable before the Batch End action is executed, will have the desired effect. For that reason, it may pay to define the variable in the Batch Start action. |
| Database Status | ipmc track override>Database Information | The Is Database Open statement returns its results in this named variable. |
| Database Title | Database Information | The Open Database statement can specify an alternate title in this named variable. Warning: the named variable must be set before executing the Open Database statement. The named variable is cleared when the database is opened. |
| Date Function Scan Offset | Date Functions | The Date Function statement returns the offset of the character which terminates date parsing in this named variable. |
| Date Function Two Digit 1900 Start | Date Functions | When the Date Function statement is parsing a date, a year of 0 through 99 is interpreted dependent on the contents of this named variable. If the named variable is empty, a value of 50 is assumed, otherwise it is interpreted as an integer value. If a two digit year value is greater than or equal to the value, the year is interpreted as 19xx, otherwise 20xx. |
| Droplet Files | Droplets | If an action was started from a droplet created with the Run Action With a List of Dropped Files mode, the named variable will a list of the dropped items delimited by the default list delimiter (\~). |
| Droplet Name | Droplets | If an action was started from a droplet, the named variable will contain the name of the droplet. |
| External Script Result Code | External Script | When executing the Run External Script statement, the termination status code from the script is saved to the named variable. The value may be meaningless when running stepwise if the Run Once option is not set. |
| External Script stderr Output | External Script | When executing the Run External Script statement, out to stderr may be saved to the named variable, dependant on options. The value may be meaningless when running stepwise if the Run Once option is not set. |
| File Auto Selected | Action File Selection | When set to 1, the action was started without any selected files, but files were loaded. A single file was automatically selected. Note that this can only happen if the action has Always enabled in the Action Manager. |
| File to Tag from Content Results | Miscellaneous | The File to Tag from Content statement can save the layout of a template to this named variable. |
| Fuzzy % | Fuzzy | Whenever a fuzzy comparison is performed, the score in the range of 0-100, to the named variable |
| Fuzzy Threshold | Fuzzy | Whenever a fuzzy comparison is performed, you can change the threshold of the test by setting the named variable to an integer value in the range of 1-100. A fuzzy test can be further configured to ignore the position of words when comparing. To force non positional testing, set the named variable to a negative number in the range of -1 to -100. The actual threshold used is the absolute value of the specified number. Using a negative threshold will result in a comparison of "John and Bill" being a 100% match to "Bill and John". If the named variable is set to a value less than -100, 0, or greater than 100, the default of 80 will be used. |
| Indirect Application List | Runtime Override | Various statements allow you to specify the name of an application list in this named variable to defer the specification until runtime. To see a full list of statements do a Help>Search Yate Help searching for Indirect Application List. Note that earlier versions of Yate used Indirect Preference List which is now an alias for Indirect Application List. |
| Indirect Preference List | deprecated | A deprecated earlier usage named variable. Treated as an alias of Indirect Application List. |
| Integer to Insert | Miscellaneous | The \1 escape sequence is used to insert a sequential integer into text. See the Inserting Sequential Integers topic for additional information. |
| IPMC Runtime Override | Runtime Override | You can override certain settings in the Involved People/Musician Credits Functions and Format Credits statements at runtime by configuring this named variable. |
| IPMC Track Override | Runtime Override | You can override which active files are processed by the Involved People/Musician Credits Functions statement at runtime by configuring this named variable. |
| List of Open Databases | Database Information | The Open Database Information statement returns a list of full paths to open (non query) databases in this named variable. The default list delimiter (\~) is used. The named variable will have a one to one relationship with the items in the Status of Open Databases named variable. |
| List of Open Query Databases | Database Information | The Open Database Information statement returns a list of named variable prefixes associated with open query databases in this named variable. The default list delimiter (\~) is used. The named variable will have a one to one relationship with the items in the Status of Open Query Databases named variable. |
| List of Playlists | Miscellaneous | The List of Apple App Playlists statement returns the list of playlists in this named variable. |
| Log | Miscellaneous | The Log statement returns its content in this named variable. |
| Lookup Credit Alias | Credits | When the Credit Database Functions statement's lookup mode has a known credit and it is an alias of another, it will be specified here. The named variable will be cleared otherwise. |
| Lookup Credit Name | Credits | Set by the Credit Database Functions statement's lookup mode. Credit names are case insensitive. This named variable will contain the credit's name as specified in the known credits list. |
| Lookup Credit Status | Credits | Set by the Credit Database Functions statement's loopup mode. Information on a known credit is returned in this named variable. |
| m3u Analysis Results | Miscellaneous | The results of teh Analyze m3u Files statement are saved to this named variable. |
| Manipulate Artwork Fill Colour | Miscellaneous | The Manipulate Artwork statement can read a field colour encoded in this named variable. |
| Map Metadata to Files Override | Data Sources, Runtime Override | You can override the Map Metadata to Files statement's criteria by putting the following names in the named variable as a list separated by the default list delimiter (\~), newline characters (\n) or commas: Title, Artist, Track, Disc and Length (used for duration). If at least one of the fields is present in the list, it will be used to define the criteria. Otherwise, the criteria specified in the statement will be used. |
| Multi Item Transfer Rules | Runtime Override | The Copy Metadata Between Files and Transfer Metadata statements can override the copy/transfer of all Comments, User Defined Text Info and User Defined URL items. See Multi Item Transfer Rules for additional information. |
| MusicBrainz Unavailable | Error Conditions | Various statements which access MusicBrainz put numeric information into this named variable when an error occurs. To see a full list of statements do a Help>Search Yate Help searching for MusicBrainz Unavailable. |
| MusicBrainz Earliest Recording Results | Data Sources | When mapping metadata from named variables in the MusicBrainz Earliest Recording statement, the results are placed in this named variable as a key-value list. |
| Open Query Database Prefix | Query Database | The Is Query Database Open statement returns the open database's prefix (id) in this named variable. |
| Open URL Callback Data | Open URL | When the Open URL statement returns data it is stored in this named variable or to the file whose full file path is in named variable Open URL Data File. |
| Open URL Data File | Open URL | When the Open URL statement is configured to extract data from a URL it can be saved to a file whose full file path is in this named variable or to named variable Open URL Callback Data. |
| Open URL Headers | Open URL | When the Open URL statement is configured to extract data from a URL you can set HTTP headers as a key value list in this named variable. |
| Open URL HTTP Data | Open URL | When the Open URL statement is configured to extract data from a URL and you are doing a PUT, POST or DELETE, you place the HTTP data in this named variable. |
| Open URL HTTP Content Type | Open URL | When the Open URL statement is configured to extract data from a URL you can set the content type in this named variable. |
| Open URL Redirect Suffix | Open URL | When the Open URL statement is configured to process a callback, The callback URI can be configured by using this named variable. |
| Override Move to Copy | Runtime Override | The Move and Move Non Audio Files statements can be changed at runtime to be copies by setting this named variable to 1 or true. |
| Play Sound Path | Miscellaneous | The Play System Sound statement can be set to play a system sound specified in this named variable. |
| Pre Droplet Open Mode | Droplets | If an action was started from a droplet created with the Load Dropped Files and Run Action mode, the named variable will contain a symbolic representation of the Open Mode prior to being modified by the droplet's forced Open Mode. The following characters are used:
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| Prompt Button 1 Menu Prompt Button 2 Menu Prompt Button 3 Menu Prompt Button 4 Menu | Prompt (setup) | A menu associated with a prompt button. See Prompt Menu Formatting for additional information. |
| Prompt Cancel Warning Prompt Default Button | Prompt (configurable) | Named variables used to control the configuration of buttons on prompt statement panels. The named variables can be automatically set by configuring from the UI. See Configuring Buttons on Prompt Statements for more information. |
| Prompt Checkbox Exits Prompt Checkbox Mixed Prompt Checkbox Text Prompt for Fields Constraints Prompt for Path Filename Prompt for Path Button Prompt for Path Folder Prompt Placeholder Prompt Title | Prompt (configurable) | Named variables used to control the display and functionality of prompt statement panels. The named variables can be automatically set by configuring from the UI. See Advanced Prompt Statement Functionality for more information. |
| Prompt Checkbox Value | Prompt (configurable) Prompt (results) | Used to set and read the resultant value of a prompt statement's panel checkbox. See Advanced Prompt Statement Functionality for more information. |
| Prompt Chosen Button | Prompt (results) | A named variable describing the reason a prompt panel was closed. See Prompt Chosen Button Values for additional information. |
| Prompt DB Status | Prompt (setup) | A full path to an open database viewer. Used by the Prompt statement's DB Status mode. |
| Prompt for Fields Exclusions | Prompt (setup) | A list of fields to be ignored (not displayed) by the Prompt for Fields statement. |
| Prompt for Fields Initially Selected | Prompt (setup) | A list of fields to be initially selected by the Prompt for Fields statement. |
| Prompt for Fields Results | Prompt (results) | The named variable contains a list of fields selected by the Prompt for Fields statement. |
| Prompt for Text Append Delimiter | Prompt (setup) | When a menu item is appended in a Prompt for Text statement, this named variable contains the sequence be be used as a delimiter. When empty, a comma is assumed. |
| Prompt for Text List | Prompt (setup) | The text based menu for the Prompt for Text statement, or a reference to a container based menu. See Prompt Menu Formatting for formatting information. |
| Prompt for Text List Selection | deprecated | A deprecated earlier usage named variable. Treated as an alias of Prompt Menu Item Reference. |
| Prompt for Text Formatting | Prompt (configurable) | UI configurable namde variable used to control the formatting of text fields. See Prompt Text Format Codes for additional information. |
| Prompt for Text R/O Menu Reference | Prompt (results) | When a Prompt for Text statement has a read only text field and a menu picker, this named variable will be set as a reference to the last menu item which was clicked. The reference will be an index for a text based menu or a directed path for a container based menu. The reference will be empty if not appropriate. |
| Prompt Help Button URL | Prompt (setup) | Provides access to the help displayed by a prompt panel's help button. See Configuring Buttons on Prompt Statements for additional information. |
| Prompt Menu Item Reference | Prompt (results) | When a prompt panel exits by a menu item, the named variable will either be an index into a text based menu or a directed path to a container based menu. See Prompt Menu Formatting and Prompt Chosen Button Values for additional information. Earlier versions of Yate used Prompt for Text List Selection which is now an alias of Prompt Menu Item Reference. |
| Prompt Menu Use Last Loc | Prompt (configurable) | The Prompt statement's Menu mode typically displays the popup menu at the cursor position. If you are redisplaying a menu, it may be desirable to have it displayed at the previous display location. Set this named variable to true to reuse the last display position. |
| Prompt UI Access | Prompt (configurable) | Typically the main window UI components are not accessible when an action is running. When a Prompt statement is issued you can override the accessibility level by setting this named variable to an integer value. When 0 (the default), no access is allowed. When less than 0, you can drag a single artwork item or image file to the main window's file list area. When > 0, you can also modify information on the editing panels. This named variable is reset to empty whenever a Prompt is dismissed. |
| Prompt User Log Path | Prompt (setup) | The path to a log file when the Prompt statement is in User Log mode. |
| Prompt Window Size | Prompt (setup) | This named variable can be used to set or read the size of the Prompt from Container statement's panel size. See the statement's About Window Sizing topic for additional information. |
| Query Database Grabbed Close Filter Query Database Grabbed Close Format Query Database Grabbed Close Selection | Query Database | These named variables are used by the Close/Save Query Database statement to modify the display of a grabbed database when closed. |
| Query Database Insert Row | Query Database | When inserting a new row by the Add Item to Query Database statement, this named variable contains the number of the insert row preceded by a #. Note if the statement is appending, this named variable is not set. |
| Query Database Modified | Query Database | The Is Query Database Open statement returns the is modified status in this named variable. When the named variable is empty the query database is not open. When set to 0 the query database has not been modified. When set to 1 the query database has been modified. |
| Query Database-DB Type Query Database-Encoding Query Database-Grabbing Query Database-Names Query Database-Qualifiers Query Database-Key Column Query Database-Last Row Query Database-Path Query Database-Row Count Query Database-Selected Rows Query Database-UID | Query Database | The Open Database for Querying statement sets these named variables after opening the query database. Query Database is replaced with the query database's identifying prefix. |
| Read Text File Encoding | Text File Encoding | The Read Text File and Read/Write Plist File statements set this named variable to describe the encoding of the read file. |
| Rename Template Settings Override | Runtime Override | The Rename Files statement can specify an alternate rename template to be used for the rename settings, in this named variable. All settings are taken from the specified rename template while only the list of rename tokens are taken from the template specified on the Rename Files statement. It is a good idea to clear the named variable immediately after the rename is performed. |
| Run from Function Button | Action File Selection | The action was started from a field function button's Multi Field Editor Actions context menu. The named variable contains the name of the field. When the named variable is not empty, the Run from Multi Field Editor named variable will be set to 1. |
| Run from Multi Field Editor | Action File Selection | When set to 1, the action was run from the Multi Field Editor or from a field function button's Multi Field Editor Actions context menu item. If named variable Run from Function Button is empty, the action was directly started from the Multi Field Editor, otherwise it was started from the specified function button. |
| Runtime Case Transformation | Runtime Override | The Case statement can specify a transformation in this named variable. |
| Runtime Field List | Runtime Override | The Copy Metadata Between Files and Transfer Metadata statements can specify a list of files to be copied in this named variable when Runtime Overide is specified. |
| Runtime Import Set | Data Sources | The Access Discogs and Access MusicBrainz statements allow you to specify that an import set defined at runtime is to be used. When that mode is enabled, this named variable contains the name of the import set. |
| Search Discogs/MusicBrainz Limit | Data Sources | The Search Discogs and Search MusicBrainz statements you can override the maximum number of results to return. The named variable contains your preferred value. The number is adjusted to be one of 25, 50, 75 or 100. |
| Set Open Mode Runtime Override | Runtime Override | The Set Open Mode statement can specify an open mode encoded in this named variable. |
| Status Bar Message Suffix | Miscellaneous | Various statements can display addition information from this named variable on the main window's status bar while progress is being displayed. To see a full list of statements do a Help>Search Yate Help searching for Status Bar Message Suffix. |
| Status of Open Databases | Database Information | The Open Database Information statement returns a list of status codes for all open (non query) databases in this named variable. The default list delimiter (\~) is used. The named variable will have a one to one relationship with the items in the List of Open Databases named variable. |
| Status of Open Query Databases | Database Information | The Open Database Information statement returns a list of status codes for all open query databases in this named variable. The default list delimiter (\~) is used. The named variable will have a one to one relationship with the items in the List of Open Query Databases named variable. |
| Suppress Error Display | Error Conditions | Various statements which use this named variable when set to 1 to suppress the posting of errors in the UI. To see a full list of statements do a Help>Search Yate Help searching for Suppress Error Display. |
| Temporary File Supplied | Action File Selection | When set to 1, the action was started without any loaded files. A temporary file was supplied. Note that this can only happen if the action has Always enabled in the Action Manager. |
| Test if File Exists Creation Date Test if File Exists File Size Test if File Exists is Folder Test if File Exists is Hidden Test if File Exists Modification Date | Test if File Exists | The Test if File Exists statement sets these named variables as results. |
| Transfer UDTI Exclusions | deprecated | A deprecated earlier usage named variable replaced with Multi Item Transfer Rules. Transfer UDTI Exclusions supported commas as delimiters. Multi Item Transfer Rules does not support commas. For this reason all functionality which uses Multi Item Transfer Rules will test for empty. If empty Transfer UDTI Exclusions will be used with commas replaced by newline characters. |
| Transform for Multi Value Delimiter | Miscellaneous | Various statements suport transformations on how multi value delimiter sequences are treated. One option is to specify the transformation in this named variable. See Statement Transformations fr additional information. |
| Transient Database Path | Database Information | When the Transient option is set in the Open Database statement, you can force the database viewer's title bar icon to display the path in this named variable. |
| Trim Custom Character Set | Miscellaneous | Extra characters to be processed by the Trim statement can be specified in this named variable. |
| UI-Clicked Column UI-Clicked Row | UI-Clicked | When an action is run from an open database's context menu, these named variables will describe the name of the clicked column and number of the clicked row. See Syncing a Query Database with an Open Database Viewer for additional information. |
| URL Custom Encode Set | Miscellaneous | When re-encoding text and you have specified a Re-encode as URL Custom function, this named variable is read to determine a list of characters to be percent escaped. |
| Was Inverted | Miscellaneous | The Prompt for Fields statement and the Get Info statement's Named Tag Set function, set this named variable to 1 if the source was inverted, otherwise the named variable is cleared. |
| Write Text File Encoding | Text File Encoding | The Write Text File statement set reads an encoding from this named variable when Runtime is specified. |