title: SetWidget
created: 201311151827
modified: 20141113212520422
tags: Widgets
caption: set

! Introduction

The set variable widget assigns a value to a specified [[variable|WidgetVariables]]. The new value of the variable is availale to the content within the set variable widget.

! Content and Attributes

The content of the `<$set>` widget is the scope for the value assigned to the variable.

|!Attribute |!Description |
|name |The name of the variable to assign (defaults to "currentTiddler") |
|value |The value to assign to the variable if the filter is missing or not empty |
|filter |An optional filter to be evaluated and assigned to the variable (see below) |
|emptyValue |The value to assign to the variable if the filter is present and evaluates to an empty list (see below) |

!! Simple Variable Assignment

The simplest way of using set variable widget assigns a string to a variable. The following example assigns a literal string

```
<$set name="myVariable" value="Some text">
<$text text=<<myVariable>>/>
</$set>
```

Both the name and value attributes can be transcluded. For example:

```
<$set name=<<anotherVariable>> value={{template!!text}}>
<$text text=<<myVariable>>/>
</$set>
```

!! Conditional Variable Assignment

This form of the set variable widget chooses one of two specified values according to whether a filter evaluates to an empty list. Here's an example that sets a variable according to whether the current tiddler is called "myMagicTitle":

```
<$set name="myVariable" filter="[all[current]field:title[myMagicTitle]]" value="It's magic" emptyValue="It's not magic">
<$text text=<<myVariable>>/>
</$set>
```

!! Filtered List Variable Assignment

This form of the set variable widget evaluates the filter and assigns the result to the variable as a space-separated list (using double square brackets for titles containing spaces).

```
<$set name="myVariable" filter="[tag[Introduction]]">
<$text text=<<myVariable>>/>
</$set>
```