Reserved words and acceptable names

Reserved words cannot be used as:

• Bare word strings—to use these words as strings, you must enclose them in quotes.
• Names for custom functions.
• Names for classes.
• Names for custom resource types or defined resource types.

In addition, do not:

• Use the name of any existing resource type or function as the name of a function.
• Use the name of any existing resource type as the name of a defined type.
• Use the name of any existing data type (such as integer) as the name of a defined type.

Table 1.

Reserved word	Description
and	Expression operator
application	Language keyword
attr	Reserved for future use
case	Language keyword
component	Reserved
consumes	Language keyword
default	Language keyword
define	Language keyword
elsif	Language keyword
environment	Reserved for symbolic namespace use
false	Boolean value
function	Language keyword
if	Language keyword
import	Former language keyword
in	Expression operator
inherits	Language keyword
node	Language keyword
or	Expression operator
private	Reserved for future use
produces	Language keyword
regexp	Reserved
site	Language keyword
true	Boolean value
type	Language keyword
undef	Special value
unit	Reserved
unless	Language keyword

Puppet automatically creates two names that must not be used as class names elsewhere:

• main: Puppet creates a main class, which contains any resources not contained by any other class.
• settings: Puppet creates a settings namespace, which contains variables with the settings available to the master.

Additionally, the names of data types can't be used as class names:

• any, Any
• array, Array
• boolean, Boolean
• catalogentry, catalogEntry, CatalogEntry
• class, Class
• collection, Collection
• callable, Callable
• data, Data
• default, Default
• enum, Enum
• float, Float
• hash, Hash
• integer, Integer
• numeric, Numeric
• optional, Optional
• pattern, Pattern
• resource, Resource
• runtime, Runtime
• scalar, Scalar
• string, String
• struct, Struct
• tuple, Tuple
• type, Type
• undef, Undef
• variant, Variant

The following variable names are reserved. Unless otherwise noted, you can't assign values to them or use them as parameters in classes or defined types.

Table 2.

Reserved variable name	Description
$0, $1, and every other variable name consisting only of digits	These are regex capture variables automatically set by regular expression used in conditional statements. Their values do not persist oustide their associated code block or selector value. Assigning these variables causes an error.
Top-scope Puppet built-in variables and facts	Built-in variables and facts are reserved at top scope, but you can safely reuse them at node or local scope. See built-in variables and facts for a list of these variables and facts.
$facts	Reserved for facts and cannot be reassigned at local scopes.
$trusted	Reserved for facts and cannot be reassigned at local scopes.
$server_facts	If enabled, this variable is reserved for trusted server facts and cannot be reassigned at local scopes.
title	Reserved for the title of a class or defined type.
name	Reserved for the name of a class or defined type.

The names of classes and defined resource types can consist of one or more namespace segments. Each namespace segment:

• Must begin with a lowercase letter.
• Can include lowercase letters.
• Can include digits.
• Can include underscores.

When you follow these rules, each namespace segment matches the following regular expression:

\A[a-z][a-z0-9_]*\Z

The one exception is the top namespace, whose name is the empty string.

Multiple namespace segments are joined together in a class or defined type name with the double colon namespace separator: ::. Class names with multiple namespaces must match the following regular expression:

\A([a-z][a-z0-9_]*)?(::[a-z][a-z0-9_]*)*\Z

Some words and class names are reserved and cannot be used as class or defined type names. Additionally, the filename init.pp is reserved for the class named after any given module, so you cannot use the name <MODULE NAME>::init for a class or defined type.

Variable names can include:

• Uppercase and lowercase letters

• Numbers

• Underscores ( _ ). If the first character is an underscore, access that variable only from its own local scope.

You can also use a regular expression for variable names. Short variable names match the following regular expression:

\A\$[a-z0-9_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*\Z

Qualified variable names match the following regular expression:

\A\$([a-z][a-z0-9_]*)?(::[a-z][a-z0-9_]*)*::[a-z0-9_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*\Z

Module names obey the same rules as individual namespace segments, just as in a class or defined type name. That is, each namespace segment:

• Must begin with a lowercase letter.
• Can include lowercase letters.
• Can include digits.
• Can include underscores.

When you follow these rules, each namespace segment matches the following regular expression:

\A[a-z][a-z0-9_]*\Z

Parameter names begin with a dollar sign prefix ($). The parameter name after the prefix:

• Must begin with a lowercase letter.
• Can include lowercase letters.
• Can include digits.
• Can include underscores.

When you follow these rules, a parameter name matches the following regular expression:

\A\$[a-z][a-z0-9_]*\Z

Tag names must begin with:

• A lowercase letter, or

• An number, or

• An underscore.

Tag names can include:

• Lowercase letters

• Uppercase letters

• Digits

• Underscores

• Colons

• Periods

• Hyphens

When you follow these rules, a tag name matches the following regular expression:

\A[[:alnum:]_][[:alnum:]_:.-]*\Z

Node names can contain:

• Letters
• Digits
• Periods
• Underscores
• Dashes

That is, node names match the regular expression:

 /\A[a-z0-9._-]+\Z/

Environment names can contain:

• Lowercase letters
• Numbers
• Underscores

That is, environment names match the regular expression:

\A[a-z0-9_]+\Z