# Just an observation: dotted variables

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/just-an-observation-dotted-variables/22998>\
**Category:** New to Julia\
**Tags:** windows\
**Created:** [April 10, 2019, 1:33pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/just-an-observation-dotted-variables/22998 "2019-04-10T13:33:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 8\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![RogerP](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/rogerp/32/17496_2.png) [@RogerP](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/RogerP)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 1:33pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/just-an-observation-dotted-variables/22998/1 "2019-04-10T13:33:44Z")

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I only just noticed that although `\dot[tab]v` and `v\dot[tab]` look identical in the REPL and in JUNO, they are of course not the same. In LaTeX one typically writes `\dot{v}`, which has got me into the habit of writing `\dot[tab]v` instead of `v\dot[tab]`. The latter is correct as everyone but me knows.

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**Author:** ![mauro3](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mauro3/32/292_2.png) [@mauro3](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mauro3)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 1:38pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/just-an-observation-dotted-variables/22998/2 "2019-04-10T13:38:29Z")

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Hmm, on my repl they look different: `julia>˙a vs ȧ` (Linux). And the former is not a valid variable name in my repl either.

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**Author:** ![RogerP](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/rogerp/32/17496_2.png) [@RogerP](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/RogerP)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 4:27pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/just-an-observation-dotted-variables/22998/3 "2019-04-10T16:27:02Z")

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The first one is typed wrongly, the second is typed correctly:  
 ![wrongdot](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/9/0/9064e7342a4a08d7182e82b696f6ce75b9735775.png)

![rightdot](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/4/d/4d53a8d8c72ab48b229d1883f49622fc4adf7e72.png)

Or look at…

 ![bothTypesOfDot](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/4/e/4e5f5186e039d25167c08b9f69b972dd7f498b2a.png)

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**Author:** ![mbauman](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/mbauman/32/31082_2.png) [@mbauman](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mbauman)\
**Post date:** [April 10, 2019, 4:33pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/just-an-observation-dotted-variables/22998/4 "2019-04-10T16:33:12Z")

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Funny. Looks like the behavior depends on what character precedes the `\dot`. I wonder if your terminal is displaying it incorrectly because it doesn’t support `.̇` (that’s a `\dot`-ed `.` and should look like a wonky colon). I’m guessing you’re on Windows?

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**Author:** ![RogerP](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/rogerp/32/17496_2.png) [@RogerP](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/RogerP)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 7:21am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/just-an-observation-dotted-variables/22998/5 "2019-04-11T07:21:18Z")

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Aagh! No, please! I find it difficult to put in words how much I dislike Windows. My go to platform is Arch Linux but at work I use Ubuntu. When DEC went belly up and the software engineers were poached by Microsoft we got:

```julia
for c in "VMS"
    print(Char(Int(c+1)))
end

```

Which wasn’t bad in itself but an increasingly fatty abomination from then on.

If I do `\dot[tab]v` at the Julia prompt I just get a green dot:  
 ![greenDot](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/original/3X/f/e/fe4975b9a44f65104f4f4e2bb12b04d71c03d3d0.png)

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**Author:** ![Tamas\_Papp](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/tamas_papp/32/25949_2.png) [@Tamas\_Papp](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Tamas_Papp)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 7:27am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/just-an-observation-dotted-variables/22998/6 "2019-04-11T07:27:32Z")

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> [@RogerP](#):
>
> If I do `\dot[tab]v` at the Julia prompt I just get a green dot:

Put the `v` before the `\dot` TAB.

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**Author:** ![RogerP](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/rogerp/32/17496_2.png) [@RogerP](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/RogerP)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 7:31am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/just-an-observation-dotted-variables/22998/7 "2019-04-11T07:31:14Z")

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I know! That’s the point of this thread! 😉

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**Author:** ![sairus7](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/sairus7/32/10816_2.png) [@sairus7](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/sairus7)\
**Post date:** [April 11, 2019, 9:52am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/just-an-observation-dotted-variables/22998/8 "2019-04-11T09:52:30Z")

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Wow, you just found a good candidate for object-dot-method syntax! 😀