Question Default Variable Names

The default format for question variable names is:

`Q_x`

where **x** represents the question's running index within the survey.

Example 1:

If a question is created at index 10, its default variable name will be:

`Q_10`

One important characteristic of this default naming convention is that it automatically updates whenever the question index changes.

Example 2:

Suppose a question originally exists at index **10** with the default variable name:

`Q_10`

If you later insert a new question before it, causing the original question to move to index 11, its default variable name will automatically change to:

`Q_11`

This behavior ensures that default variable names remain synchronized with the survey structure.

Topic and Answer Default Variable Names

The default naming format for **Topics** and **Answers** is determined by the settings configured in the survey's **Advanced** tab.

These formats can be customized at the survey level and are used whenever new topics or answers are created using the default naming convention.

What is shown above is the default settings that will show up once the script itself is created. The format is combined with several parts, and each one can be changed if needed.

In the above screenshot, the default variable name format is "<Question variable name>_<Answer/Topic Coding>". 

When using the default naming convention, Topic variable names will always begin with the letter T, while Answer variable names will always begin with the letter A.

The remainder of the variable name is determined by the naming format configured in the survey's Advanced tab.

For example, using the default formats shown in the previous screenshot, a question's answer options would automatically receive answer variable names that begin with A, following the predefined naming pattern.

Similarly, any topics created in the survey would automatically receive variable names beginning with T, based on the configured topic naming format.

These default variable names are generated automatically by the system, ensuring a consistent and predictable naming structure throughout the survey.

"A" - The default answer prefix

"Q_2" - the question's variable name

"x" (the last number in each variable name above): The code of the answer. 

 

For Topics / Answers variable names settings, you can change the default format defined, through those bars in the Advanced tab of the survey. For example, I can decide to have the default format like this:

In this case, the default variable name of answers in the following question would be this:

"A" - The default answer prefix

"qu_002" - the question's short ID

"2" - the question's internal system ID

"x" (the last number in each variable name above): The index of the answer. 

NOTE: when changing the format settings and clicking "Apply", you'll get this message:

Choose "Yes" to have all the default variables names that already exist in the script, to follow the new default format you've set.

Non-Default variable names

While variable names are generated by default once the item is created, they can also be changed manually to something else, other than the default format defined. If you change a default variable name, the variable name will then be considered as "non-default", and will be displayed in blue:

 

NOTE: It is recommended to rename the questions' variable names to be different than the default format as it make those stay constant and also makes those readable and with easy references when you export and analyze your data.

For topics / answers, you can manually change those also. 

Issues with the Default / Non-default names behavior:

Certain actions during survey development can create a confusing situation where a variable name follows the **default naming format** but is treated as a **Non-Default** variable by the system.

In these cases, the variable is displayed in **blue** instead of **green**, even though its name appears to be a default one.

This distinction matters because **green** variables are managed automatically by SurveyToGo and update when the survey structure changes, while **blue** variables are treated as manually assigned and do not update automatically.

The following example demonstrates how this situation can occur.

In this example, the question's variable name is **`Q_2`**.

Although it follows the default question naming convention, it is displayed in blue which means SurveyToGo treats it as a Non-Default variable name.

As a result:

* The variable name will not change automatically if the question index changes.
* It is considered a manually assigned variable name, even though it appears to be a default one.
* If you later insert a new question that becomes question index 2, the new question will receive the true default variable name`Q_2'.

This can lead to variable names that appear to be duplicates and cause confusion during scripting, since one `Q_2` is a fixed, non-default variable, while the other is a system-managed default variable.

The variable name of the original "Q_2" question (shown in "blue" previously above) stays the same, and now we have a situation where we have two different questions with the same variable name "Q_2":

Since each variable name in the script must be unique, this scenario will cause problems moving between questions and prevent the saving of the script.  You may see the following error: 

Causes: 

1) Script was created in an older studio version that didn't yet support in the Default / Non-default variable names feature.

2) A variable name was manually changed to a format that matches the default one (and so ended up with a default format but is considered as Non-default as it was manually changed).

Solutions: 

Click on the search in Survey icon 

Click on Search and find the 2 questions that have the same variable name. Change one of the values so there is no longer a duplicate.