| Since | 17.5 | 
                
                    
                    
                    
                        string  encode(string str)
                    
                    
                
            
Houdini VEX variable names are only allowed to contain letters, numbers, and
underscores, and must not begin with a number. This function takes any string,
and encodes it into a string that obeys these restrictions. The original
string can be recovered using the decode function.  A string that already
obeys the rules is returned unmodified.
One exception to this rule is that a string starting with xn__ will be
encoded even if it is already a valid variable name. This is because xn__
is the prefix used to identify an encoded string. In this case, an additional
xn__ prefix will be added. This means a string can be encoded any number of
times, then decoded the same number of times to always return to the original
string, regardless of its contents.
| See also | |
| string | 
                
                    
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