Typedef Statements

By using the typedef keyword, you can give a custom name to any existing type.

Here are some example typedef statements that are part of the standard library:

typedef const int define;
typedef const int DEFINE;
typedef const float DEFINEF;
typedef const long DEFINEL;
typedef const bool DEFINEB;
typedef const untyped DEFINEU;

typedef const int CONFIG;
typedef const float CONFIGF;
typedef const long CONFIGL;
typedef const bool CONFIGB;
typedef const untyped CONFIGU;

This means that declaring a variable with the type DEFINE acts exactly identical to declaring it as const int.

Tip

In this example, these typedefs allow headers to communicate to end users which constants are things they should change/configure for their quest (CONFIGs), and which constants are things that should not be touched for the script to keep working (DEFINEs) - simply by having a different type name on the constant, which does the same exact thing for the compiler.

Script Typedef

typedef may also be used to create custom names for script types. (Ex: script typedef itemdata item;) This example is from /include/bindings/itemdata.zh, and is automatically included in every compile- as itemdata scripts were formerly named item scripts in versions before 2.55, so this typedef allows those old scripts to still compile.

You can use this yourself to create any custom name for a script type you like- for instance, maybe you like enemy script better than npc script, or your player character is a villian rather than a hero, so you want a villain script instead of hero script.

script typedef npc enemy;
script typedef hero villain;