A scope is a region of the program and broadly speaking there are three places, where variables can be declared:

• Inside a function or a block which is called local variables,
• In the definition of function parameters which is called formal parameters.
• Outside of all functions which is called global variables.

We will learn what is a function and it’s parameter in subsequent chapters. Here let us explain what are local and global variables.

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

int main ()
{
  // Local variable declaration:
  int a, b;
  int c;

  // actual initialization
  a = 10;
  b = 20;
  c = a + b;

  cout << c;

  return 0;
}

Global Variables:

Global variables are defined outside of all the functions, usually on top of the program. The global variables will hold their value throughout the life-time of your program.

A global variable can be accessed by any function. That is, a global variable is available for use throughout your entire program after its declaration. Following is the example using global and local variables:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

// Global variable declaration:
int g;

int main ()
{
  // Local variable declaration:
  int a, b;

  // actual initialization
  a = 10;
  b = 20;
  g = a + b;

  cout << g;

  return 0;
}

A program can have same name for local and global variables but value of local variable inside a function will take preference. For example:

#include <iostream>
using namespace std;

// Global variable declaration:
int g = 20;

int main ()
{
  // Local variable declaration:
  int g = 10;

  cout << g;

  return 0;
}

When the above code is compiled and executed, it produces the following result:

10

Initializing Local and Global Variables:

When a local variable is defined, it is not initialized by the system, you must initialize it yourself. Global variables are initialized automatically by the system when you define them as follows:

Data Type	Initializer
int	0
char	‘\0’
float	0
double	0
pointer	NULL

It is a good programming practice to initialize variables properly, otherwise sometimes program would produce unexpected result.