HotDocs Scripting Language Keywords

A keyword is a word that has a specific meaning in the HotDocs scripting language, one that causes HotDocs to perform a task or calculate a value. The most notable keywords include instructions, system functions, system local variables, and operators. For example, the keyword ASK is an instruction that causes HotDocs to present whichever dialog or variable you place directly after the ASK keyword.

Common Tasks

Among others, keywords enables you to perform the following common tasks:

All the HotDocs Author Keywords

Learning and understanding the uses of the keywords in the HotDocs scripting language helps you to more easily write a script. The majority of the keywords in the HotDocs scripting language appear in the full list of instructions, functions and operators. The rest appear in the table below:

Keyword Type	What it Does
Supplementary instructions	In addition, to regular instruction keywords, there are other keywords that act like supplementary instructions, since they do nothing on their own. These include: TO – supplements SET ex: SET NumVar1 TO 7 ALL – supplements HIDE, SHOW, GRAY, UNGRAY REQUIRE, ex: SHOW ALL ASCEND – supplements REPEAT DESCEND – supplements REPEAT
Date literals	English language month name abbreviations form part of a date literal. Month abbreviations remove ambiguity between U.S. and international date differences and tell HotDocs to set the value of the data to a date in the pertinent month: JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEPT OCT NOV DEC
True/false literals	Similar to date literals, a true/false literal also uses keywords that tell HotDocs to set the value of the data in your literal to true or false: TRUE FALSE
Marker	Marker fields contain a dot that also acts as a keyword, though it is not properly a "word". The dot or period tells HotDocs to apply formatting or punctuation to the text you surround with the field containing the marker. The marker appears as a dot: .