Additional Topics > External Development Guide > IDLInternals - Variables > Looking Up Variables in Current Scope

# Looking Up Variables in Current Scope

The IDL_FindNamedVariable() function returns the address of a variable in the current execution scope given its name:

IDL_VPTR IDL_FindNamedVariable(char *name, int ienter)

### name

Name of the variable to find.

### ienter

Set this parameter to TRUE to create the variable if it does not already exist.

If the variable is found (or created if ienter is TRUE), its IDL_VPTR is returned. Otherwise, NULL is returned.

Note: Even if ienter is TRUE, this routine can return NULL if creating the variable is not possible due to memory constraints.