This tutorial explains how to declare a variable in F# language

What is a variable in F#?

variables are basic blocks of a programming language

Variables are memory locations to store a value temporarily. It has a datatype that tells the amount of memory required for storage. Variables are immutable, which means once a variable is assigned, can not be changed

What are the types of variables in F#?

Two types of variables - mutable and immutable

  • A mutable variable can change its values once the initial value is assigned, Variables are declared using the mutable keyword
  • Immutable variables: These values can not be changed once the variable is assigned with an initialized value. By default variables are immutable

How to Declare a variable in F#?

Variables are declared using the type and let keywords. Variables by default are immutable variables. immutable variable values can not be changed during program execution once the value is assigned.

Use the mutable keyword to change the variable to mutable.

Syntax:

//Immutable Variables
let variablename: datatype;
//Immutable Variables declared with literal values
let variablename =  value;

//Mutable Variables
let mutable variablename: datatype;
//Mutable Variables declared with literal values
let mutable variablename =  value;

let variablename = value; , here no declared, type is inferred from the value assigned.

Let’s see examples

  • Immutable variables examples
//int  variables
let number1 = 11
let number2: int32 = 125
let result= number1*number2
printfn "result: %d " result

//string variables
let str = "hello"
printfn "%s " str

//float variables
let price: float = 12.11
printfn "%g " price

Compiled and output is

result: 1375
hello
12.11

Next, Change the declared variable value with the assignment, The Variable print the old value only. immutable variables are not assigned with new values.

//int  variables
let number1 = 20
printfn "number1: %d " number1 // Prints 20

number1=25
printfn "number1: %d " number1 // Prints 20
  • Mutable variables examples

Variables declared with the mutable keyword.

Mutable variables change their value using the <- operator, It does not change its value if you assign it with the = operator.

Mutable variables are assigned its initial value and change its value multiple times during program execution

let mutable number1 = 11
printfn "number1: %d " number1 // prints 11

number1=25
printfn "number1: %d " number1 // prints 11


number1<-35
printfn "number1: %d " number1// prints 11

How to declare multiple variables in F

The let keyword declares a variable, and assigns its value during the declaration

let number: int32=100
let number1 =101

multiple variables can be declared by a comma-separated with values enclosed in (), separated by a comma.

//multiple variables declaration

let n1, n2, n3 = (11, 12, 13)

printfn "number1: %d " n1
printfn "number2: %d " n2
printfn "number3: %d " n3

How to declare and assign function to a variable in F

F# allows you to assign functions to a variable.

Here is a syntax

let declares a function with arguments.

let functionaname arguments= function body

Here is a function assignment variable

increment is a function that contains one argument number. The function body increments its value by 1 and returns it.

The function is called with an argument and prints the value.

let increment number =
    number + 1

let result=increment(12)

printfn "Result: %d " result

If Function contains more than one argument, you can enclose in () with arguments separated by a comma.

let add (number1,number2) =
    number1 + number2

let result=add(12,23)

printfn "Result: %d " result

Another feature, add argument types and return types in functions. It is also called type annotations.

let add (number1: int,number2: int): int =
    number1 + number2

let result=add(12,23)

printfn "Result: %d " result

F# Variable Names

Variable names are human-readable strings that contain alphanumeric strings. It does not start with a number. reserved and keywords are not used as variable names