caption: importvariables
created: 20140612142500000
modified: 20180928150043777
tags: Widgets
title: ImportVariablesWidget
type: text/vnd.tiddlywiki

! Introduction

The ImportVariablesWidget imports macro and variable definitions from a list of other tiddlers and makes them available to its children. For example:

```
<$importvariables filter="[tag[mySpecialMacros]]">
All the macros defined in tiddlers with the tag "mySpecialMacros" are available here
</$importvariables>
```

! Attributes and Content

The content of the importvariables widget is the scope within which the imported variable definitions are available.

|!Attribute |!Description |
|filter |[[Tiddler filter|Filters]] defining the tiddlers from which macro definitions will be imported |

! Global Macros

So-called global macros are implemented within the main page template ([[$:/core/ui/PageTemplate]]) by wrapping the page content in the following importvariables widget:

```
<$importvariables filter="[[$:/core/ui/PageMacros]] [all[shadows+tiddlers]tag[$:/tags/Macro]!has[draft.of]]">
...
</$importvariables>
```

! `\import` Pragma

<<.from-version "5.1.18">> The `\import` [[pragma|Pragma]] is an alternative syntax for using the ImportVariablesWidget. For example, the previous example could be expressed as:

```
\import [[$:/core/ui/PageMacros]] [all[shadows+tiddlers]tag[$:/tags/Macro]!has[draft.of]]
```