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Pseudo Variables

There are a number of pseudo-variables you can specify within the GLOBAL_SECTION and SUB_SECTION definitions.

Pseudo-variables act as placeholders that are replaced at translation time with the appropriate values, as described in the following table. Pseudo-variable names are always enclosed within exclamation marks.

Pseudo-variables are used to customize the behavior of the FME Engine for the following purposes:

to assist with creating files and directories
to incorporate specific information in response messages

The pseudo-variables that you can specify are described in the following table.

Pseudo-Variable Name	Replacement Value Description
!FME_AUTO_FILE_NAME!	A file path value with an auto-generated filename component whose name is guaranteed to be unique.1 When you include a filename extension with this pseudo-variable, it matters where you place the extension. Different behavior happens depending on where the extension is included – on the inside or on the outside of the exclamation point delimiters of the !FME_AUTO_FILE_NAME! pseudo-variable. The default FME Engine configuration uses extensions that are inside the exclamation points, such as: !FME_AUTO_FILE_NAME.log! and !FME_AUTO_FILE_NAME.zip!. When extensions are inside the exclamation points, different filenames are generated for each occurrence of the same pseudo-variable name. This behavior is by design and guarantees that multiple occurrences of !FME_AUTO_FILE_NAME.<name>! (if they existed) produce unique, non-conflicting filenames. When extensions are outside the exclamation points, the same filename is generated for each occurrence of the same pseudo-variable name. This example gives the same name for both the .log and the .zip files: !FME_AUTO_FILE_NAME!.log and !FME_AUTO_FILE_NAME!.zip The file path represented by this pseudo-variable is the path specified by the FME_WORKING_DIR global directive plus the unique filename appended to it. The filename itself is generated before the translation so that multiple references to !FME_AUTO_FILE_NAME! will identify the same file throughout a single translation.
!FME_AUTO_FILE_NAME_SIMPLE!	The unique filename component in the !FME_AUTO_FILE_NAME! file path.
!FME_AUTO_DIR_NAME!	A directory path value with an auto-generated final directory component whose name is guaranteed to be unique. The directory path represented by this pseudo-variable is the path specified by the FME_WORKING_DIR global directive plus the final unique directory name appended to it. The final directory name itself is generated before the translation so that multiple references to !FME_AUTO_DIR_NAME! identify the same directory throughout a single translation.
!FME_AUTO_DIR_NAME_SIMPLE!	The name of the unique final directory component in the !FME_AUTO_DIR_NAME! directory path.
!FME_ERROR_MSG!	The contents of the error message that contains the reason the translation failed. This value isn’t available to the PRE_COMMANDS.
!FME_ERROR_NUMBER!	The FME Engine internal error number associated with the error message that’s returned.
!FME_INSTANCE_NAME!	The name of the FME Engine instance as configured with a given fmeEngineConfig.txt file. FME Engine instance names are usually assigned in the Engine startup commands, which are defined in the processMonitorConfigEngines.txt file. The user-definable names typically reflect site-specific usage aspects of the FME Engine that’s started.
!FME_NUM_FEATURES_OUTPUT!	The number of features in the translation output.
!FME_RESULT_LIFETIME!	The value assigned to the FME_RESULT_LIFETIME global directive.
!fmeMacroName!	The value assigned to the named FME macro. A pseudo-variable with the same name as the macro name can access the value of any macro defined to the FME Engine during translation. Macros are defined to the FME Engine for a translation in one of the following three ways: as parameters in the translation request as defined in an FME workspace as defined in the FME Engine configuration file