Data types

Data Types

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All placeholders, variables, commands and filters return data of a given type.

The supported types are given in the following table. Each type has a default string representation.

Type	Description	Default string
Text	Plain text strings	The text itself
Int	32 bit integer value	Integer as a base 10 string
Float	Floating point number	Floating point value rendered to full precision. Very large or small values may use scientific notation.
DateTime	Representation of a date and time	The ISO standard date string
File	Represents a file in the file system	Full path to the file
Directory	Represents a directory in the file system	Full path to the directory
URL	Represents a URL	Complete URL
OS	Object describing the underlying operating system	OS version
Config	Object giving access to program configuration	Empty string (there's no one sensible default)
Any	Wraps any of the other data types.	The default string of the wrapped data type.
Null	A null object. Has no value or attributes.	Empty string.

The pseudo type Number is used in the documentation. It is used to mean either an Int or a Float.

A placeholder itself has type Text when rendered. Variables always return type Text. The return type of @ commands varies according to the command. See the command reference for details. The input and output types of filters depend on the filter. See the filter reference for details.

Various cast filters are provided for converting from some types to others. In the absence of any conversion filter the last command, variable or filter in a placeholder is converted to Text by its default text converter.