Declared Element Scope
The scope of a declared element is the set of all code that can refer to it without qualifying its name. An element can have scope at one of the following levels:
- Block access — available only within the code block in which it is declared.
- Procedure access — available only within the procedure in which it is declared.
- Program access — available to all code within the program, or class in which it is declared.
- Namespace access — available to all code in the namespace.
These levels of access progress from the narrowest (block) to the widest (namespace), where narrowest scope means the smallest set of code that can refer to the element without qualification.
You specify the scope of an element when you declare it depending on the following factors:
- The region (block, procedure, module, class, or structure) in which you declare the element.
- The namespace containing the element’s declaration.
- The accessibility you declare for the element.
Use care when you define variables with the same name but different access, because doing so can lead to unexpected results.