# apex:variable

A local variable that can be used as a replacement for a specified expression within the body of the component. Use `<apex:variable>` to reduce repetitive and verbose expressions within a page.

Use this component to get user input for a controller method that does not correspond to a field on an sObject. Only `<apex:inputField>` and `<apex:outputField>` can be used with sObject fields.

**Note:** `<apex:variable>` does not support reassignment inside of an iteration component, such as `<apex:dataTable>` or `<apex:repeat>`. The result of doing so, e.g., incrementing the `<apex:variable>` as a counter, is unsupported and undefined.

## Example

```apex
<!-- For this example to render properly, you must associate the Visualforce page 
with a valid contact record in the URL. 
For example, if 001D000000IRt53 is the contact ID, the resulting URL should be: 
https://MyDomain_login_URL/apex/myPage?id=001D000000IRt53
See the Visualforce Developer's Guide Quick Start Tutorial for more information. -->
         
<!-- Page: -->
<apex:page controller="variableCon">
    <apex:variable var="c" value="{!contact}" />
        
    <p>Greetings, {!c.LastName}.</p>
</apex:page>

/*** Controller ***/
public class variableCon {
    Contact contact;

    public Contact getContact() {
        if (contact == null){                      
        contact = [select LastName from Contact where 
            id = :ApexPages.currentPage().getParameters().get('id')];
        }
        return contact;
    }
}
```

## Attributes

| Attribute Name | Attribute Type | Description                                                                                                                  | Required? | API Version | Access |
| -------------- | -------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------- | ----------- | ------ |
| `id`           | String         | An identifier that allows the component to be referenced by other components in the page.                                    |           | 10.0        | global |
| `rendered`     | Boolean        | A Boolean value that specifies whether the component is rendered on the page. If not specified, this value defaults to true. |           | 10.0        | global |
| `value`        | Object         | The expression that can be represented by the variable within the body of the variable component.                            | Yes       | 10.0        | global |
| `var`          | String         | The name of the variable that can be used to represent the value expression within the body of the variable component.       | Yes       | 10.0        | global |