Creating new variables

You can create new dialog variables, but you cannot create two variables with the same name in the same variable pool.

To create a new variable, you can do one of two things:

Use the I line command to insert a new row, and then type the variable name, pool, and value on the new line. For each field, move the cursor to the start of the field and type new information. The underscores are pad characters; you do not need to blank them out.
Type over the name of an existing variable, its pool indicator, or both. This creates a new variable and resets the old variable's value to nulls.
If you change a truncated value, the portion that is not displayed is lost. The new variable value consists only of the visible portion on the screen.

New function pool variables are given an I (implicit) attribute and a CHAR format. If you type F in the attribute field, ISPF changes it to I.

By using the second method, you can interchange the values of two or more variables by simply changing their names. For example, you can interchange the values for variables A and B by changing the variable name A to B and name B to A, and then pressing the Enter key.