The set statement allows defining an extra variable/template when parsed. the DIML entry that is generated shares the same dataspace and has is semantically the same as if it were declared as a template, but will only exist from the statement execution time on.

The first syntax affects a textual string in which DIML calls can be embedded in an escaped form (HTML tags could be either). Characters < and > must appear as their respective SGML entities (resp. &lt; and &gt;.

The second syntax is provided to transfer an existing variable to another, just as other programming languages do with the "affectation" operator.

In case the target variable already exists (from a template declaration or an older "set" invocation), the old content of the variable is lost.

See also the eval statement.