8.10 The flavor Function

The flavor function is unlike most other functions (and like origin function) in that it does not operate on the values of variables; it tells you something about a variable. Specifically, it tells you the flavor of a variable (see The Two Flavors of Variables).

The syntax of the flavor function is:

     $(flavor variable)

Note that variable is the name of a variable to inquire about; not a reference to that variable. Therefore you would not normally use a ‘$’ or parentheses when writing it. (You can, however, use a variable reference in the name if you want the name not to be a constant.)

The result of this function is a string that identifies the flavor of the variable variable:

‘undefined’

if variable was never defined.

‘recursive’

if variable is a recursively expanded variable.

‘simple’

if variable is a simply expanded variable.