Hi there Scratch forum,

I am having some trouble understanding what variables are used for. Would anyone be able to give me a brief explanation or point me to a tutorial?

Thank you very much,

Dirk the daring

Right, so basically variables are used to store values so they can be used later. So, let's say you're making a project that adds two numbers. A bit basic, but oh well. So, you're going to ask the viewer for a number with

when green flag clicked // or whatever you want to do
ask (what is the first number you want to add?) ::sensing

So this stores the user's answer in the reporter block

answer::sensing

But when you ask a new question, it's going to change that value to the next answer. So you want to set that value as a variable.
To do this, you're going to do

set (first number) to (answer::sensing)::variables

Then you're going to do it all again, but with the second number:

ask (what is the second number you want to add?) ::sensing
set (second number) to (answer::sensing)::variables

Then you're going to add them together using the addition block, set that as a variable and slot that in a ‘say…’ block, and you're done.
Now lets say you want to add 1 to that. So you could make a new variable and set that to the previous answer+1, or you could do

change (answer) by (1)::variables 

And then you can say it.
That's about it.
Hope this helped!

https://en.scratch-wiki.info/wiki/Variable
https://en.scratch-wiki.info/wiki/Variables_Tutorial

I had made a short tutorial on variables using the above two links if you would like to see: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/150991939/
(Not advertising, but many people found the tutorial helpful…)

ScratchWiki wrote:

A variable is a changeable value recorded in Scratch's memory. Variables can only hold one value at a time, unlike lists. These values can be either numbers or strings — any text.

To learn more about click the link below

https://en.scratch-wiki.info/wiki/Variable

https://en.scratch-wiki.info/wiki/Variables_Tutorial

You can set them to numbers. Here is an idea:

move (this variable) steps
set [this variable v] to [5]

If the variable is 5, it will move 5 steps.

arvepro3579 wrote:

You can set them to numbers. Here is an idea:

move (this variable) steps
set [this variable v] to [5]

If the variable is 5, it will move 5 steps.

But if you're helping perhaps not showing the blocks in the wrong order would be sensible!

Thank you all very much for your responses to my variables query.

I think I understand them now - and I have some good resources to return to now, so thank you again!

This is a wonderfully helpful community