Variables

Enemy 1 of 5

A variable is a name that holds a value, like a labeled box you can look inside later. Instead of retyping a value every time you need it, you give it a name once and let the name do the work. This matters more than it sounds: real programs juggle dozens or hundreds of values — a player's score, a user's name, a running total — and referring to them by name instead of by their raw value is what keeps code readable and correct.

You create a variable with an equals sign: the name goes on the left, the value goes on the right. It helps to read = out loud as "gets set to" rather than "equals" — in math, equals means both sides are the same forever, but in code, = is an action: take the value on the right and store it under the name on the left, replacing whatever was there before.

Once a value is stored, you can use the name anywhere instead of repeating the value. Run this to see Python remember the name and print it back.