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<h4 class="subsection">13.1.5 Trace State Variables</h4>

<p><a name="index-trace-state-variables-706"></a>
A <dfn>trace state variable</dfn> is a special type of variable that is
created and managed by target-side code.  The syntax is the same as
that for GDB's convenience variables (a string prefixed with &ldquo;$&rdquo;),
but they are stored on the target.  They must be created explicitly,
using a <code>tvariable</code> command.  They are always 64-bit signed
integers.

   <p>Trace state variables are remembered by <span class="sc">gdb</span>, and downloaded
to the target along with tracepoint information when the trace
experiment starts.  There are no intrinsic limits on the number of
trace state variables, beyond memory limitations of the target.

   <p><a name="index-convenience-variables_002c-and-trace-state-variables-707"></a>Although trace state variables are managed by the target, you can use
them in print commands and expressions as if they were convenience
variables; <span class="sc">gdb</span> will get the current value from the target
while the trace experiment is running.  Trace state variables share
the same namespace as other &ldquo;$&rdquo; variables, which means that you
cannot have trace state variables with names like <code>$23</code> or
<code>$pc</code>, nor can you have a trace state variable and a convenience
variable with the same name.

     <dl>
<dt><code>tvariable $</code><var>name</var><code> [ = </code><var>expression</var><code> ]</code><dd><a name="index-tvariable-708"></a>The <code>tvariable</code> command creates a new trace state variable named
<code>$</code><var>name</var>, and optionally gives it an initial value of
<var>expression</var>.  <var>expression</var> is evaluated when this command is
entered; the result will be converted to an integer if possible,
otherwise <span class="sc">gdb</span> will report an error. A subsequent
<code>tvariable</code> command specifying the same name does not create a
variable, but instead assigns the supplied initial value to the
existing variable of that name, overwriting any previous initial
value. The default initial value is 0.

     <br><dt><code>info tvariables</code><dd><a name="index-info-tvariables-709"></a>List all the trace state variables along with their initial values. 
Their current values may also be displayed, if the trace experiment is
currently running.

     <br><dt><code>delete tvariable </code><span class="roman">[</span><code> $</code><var>name</var><code> ... </code><span class="roman">]</span><dd><a name="index-delete-tvariable-710"></a>Delete the given trace state variables, or all of them if no arguments
are specified.

   </dl>

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