HLSL variable syntax definition

The syntax for declaring variables in HLSL is as follows:

[Storage_Class] [Type_Modifier] Type Name[Index]
    [: Semantic]
    [: Packoffset]
    [: Register];
    [Annotations]
    [= Initial_Value]

Storage_Class: prompts the compiler about the scope and lifecycle of the variable, which can be arranged in any way.

Value	Description
Extern	Mark a global variable as an external input to the shader; this is the default marking for all global variables. Cannot be combinedStatic.
Nointerpolation	Do not interpolate the outputs of a vertex shader before passing them to a pixel shader.
Precise	Prevent the compiler from making IEEE unsafe optimizations that affect this variable. For example, the compiler cannot use fusedMul+AddAs an optimization. Instead, you must explicitly useMadIntrinsic function.PreciseModifier also ensures that the compiler preserves the order of operations and that it must account for the possibility of NaN (not a number) and INF (infinite) values from constants and stream inputs. WithoutPreciseModifier, the compiler can perform optimizations and mathematical operations that do not account for NaN and INF values. These optimizations and mathematical operations are not IEEE safe. When you usePreciseKeyword, these optimizations are prohibited for all calculations that affect the variable. The ability to control optimizations in this way is useful when you write shaders for tessellation to maintain water-tight patch seams.
Shared	Mark a variable for sharing between effects; this is a hint to the compiler.
Groupshared	Mark a variable for thread-group-shared memory for compute shaders. in D3D10 the maximum total size of all variables with the groupshared storage class is 16kb, in D3D11 the maximum size is 32kb. see examples.
Static	Mark a local variable so that it is initialized one time and persists between function CILS. If the declaration does not include an initializer, the value is set to zero. A global variable markedStaticIs not visible to an application.
Uniform	Mark a variable whose data is constant throughout the execution of a shader (such as a material color in a vertex shader); global variables are consideredUniformBy default.
Volatile	Mark a variable that changes frequently; this is a hint to the compiler. This storage class modifier only applies to a local variable. NoteThe HLSL compiler currently ignores this storage class modifier.

Type_Modifier: variable type modifier.

Value	Description
Const	Mark a variable that cannot be changed by a shader, therefore, it must be initialized in the variable declaration. Global variables are consideredConstBy default (suppress this behavior by supplying the/Gec flag to the compiler ).
Row_major	Mark a variable that stores four components in a single row so they can be stored in a single constant register.
Column_major	Mark a variable that stores 4 components in a single column to optimize matrix math.

Note:If no variable type modifier is specified, the compiler usesColumn_majorAs the default value (if the input matrix is row_major, the calculation result will be incorrect .).

Type: Type.

Use This Intrinsic Type	To Define This Shader Variable
Buffer	Buffer, which contains one or more scalars
Scalar	One-component scalar
Vector, Matrix	Multiple-component vector or matrix
Sampler, Shader, Texture	Sampler, shader, or texture object
Struct, User Defined	Custom structure or typedef

Name [Index]: variable Name identified by an ASCII string. It cannot be repeated. Use Index to indicate the size of the array. The Index must be greater than or equal to 1.

Semantic: Optional. Parameter usage information. The compiler is used to set the input and output connections of the shader.

Vertex Shader Semantics

The following Semantic supports both Direct3D 9 and Direct3D 10.

Input	Description	Type
BINORMAL [n]	Binormal	Float4
BLENDINDICES [n]	Blend indices	Uint
BLENDWEIGHT [n]	Blend weights	Float
COLOR [n]	Diffuse and specular color	Float4
NORMAL [n]	Normal vector	Float4
POSITION [n]	Vertex position in object space.	Float4
POSITIONT	Transformed vertex position.	Float4
PSIZE [n]	Point size	Float
TANGENT [n]	Tangent	Float4
TEXCOORD [n]	Texture coordinates	Float4
Output	Description	Type
COLOR [n]	Diffuse or specular color	Float4
FOG	Vertex fog	Float
POSITION [n]	Position of a vertex in homogenous space. Compute position in screen-space by dividing (x, y, z) by w. Every vertex shader must write out a parameter with this semantic.	Float4
PSIZE	Point size	Float
TESSFACTOR [n]	Tessellation factor	Float
TEXCOORD [n]	Texture coordinates	Float4

Pixel Shader Semantics

The following Semantic supports both Direct3D 9 and Direct3D 10.

Input	Description	Type
COLOR [n]	Diffuse or specular color.	Float4
TEXCOORD [n]	Texture coordinates	Float4
VFACE	Floating-point scalar that indicates a back-facing primitive. A negative value faces backwards, while a positive value faces the camera.	Float
VPOS	The pixel location (x, y) in screen space. To convert a Direct3D 9 shader (that uses this semantic) to a Direct3D 10 shader, see Direct3D 9 VPOS and Direct3D 10 SV_Position)	Float2
Output	Description	Type
COLOR [n]	Output color	Float4
DEPTH [n]	Output depth	Float

The following Semantic only supports DX10 or later versions.

System-Value Semantic	Description	Type
SV_ClipDistance [n]	Clip distance data. SV_ClipDistance values are each assumed to be a float32 signed distance to a plane. primitive setup only invokes rasterization on pixels for which the interpolated plane distance (s) are> = 0. multiple clip planes can be implemented simultaneously, by declaring multiple component (s) of one or more vertex elements as the SV_ClipDistance. the combined clip and cull distance values are at most D3D # _ CLIP_OR_CULL_DISTANCE_COUNT components in at most D3D # _ CLIP_OR_CULL_DISTANCE_ELEMENT_COUNT registers. Writable in the Vertex and Geometry shaders.	Float
SV_CullDistance [n]	Cull distance data. when component (s) of vertex Element (s) are given this label, these values are each assumed to be a float32 signed distance to a plane. primitives will be completely discarded if the plane distance (s) for all of the vertices in the primitive are <0. multiple cull planes can be used simultaneously, by declaring multiple component (s) of one or more vertex elements as the SV_CullDistance. the combined clip and cull distance values are at most D3D # _ CLIP_OR_CULL_DISTANCE_COUNT components in at most D3D # _ CLIP_OR_CULL_DISTANCE_ELEMENT_COUNT registers. Writeable in the Vertex and Geometry shaders.	Float
SV_Coverage	Output coverage mask	Bool
SV_Depth	Depth buffer data. Writeable from the pixel shader.	Float
SV_DispatchThreadID	Defines the global thread offset within the Dispatch call, per dimension of the group. Available as input to compute shader. (read only)	Uint3
SV_DomainLocation	Defines the location on the hull of the current domain point being evaluated. Available as input to the domain shader. (read only)	Float2 | 3
SV_GroupID	Defines the group offset within a Dispatch call, per dimension of the dispatch call. Available as input to the compute shader. (read only)	Uint3
SV_GroupIndex	Provides a flattened index for a given thread within a given group. Available as input to the compute shader. (read only)	Uint
SV_GroupThreadID	Defines the thread offset within the group, per dimension of the group. Available as input to the compute shader. (read only)	Uint3
SV_GSInstanceID	Defines the instance of the geometry shader. Available as input to the geometry shader. (read only)	Uint
SV_InsideTessFactor	Defines the tessellation amount within a patch surface. Available in the Hull shader for writing, and available in the Domain shader for reading.	Float | float [2]
SV_IsFrontFace	For lines and points, IsFrontFace has the value true. the exception is lines drawn out of triangles (wireframe mode), which sets IsFrontFace the same way as rasterizing the triangle in solid mode. available as input to the pixel shader. (read only)	Bool
SV_OutputControlPointID	Defines the index of the control point ID being operated on by an invocation of the main entry point of the hull shader. Available for input to the Domain shader. (read only)	Uint
SV_Position	When SV_Position is declared for input to a Pixel Shader, it can have one of two interpolation modes specified: linearNoPerspective or linearNoPerspectiveCentroid, where the latter causes centroid-snapped xyzw values to be provided when multisample antialiasing. when used in a pixel shader, SV_Position describes the pixel location. available for read/write in the vertex shader and geometry shader. the pixel shader can use it as read only to get the pixel center with an a 0.5 offset.	Float4
SV_RenderTargetArrayIndex	Render-target array index. applied to geometry shader output and indicates the render target array slice that the primitive will be drawn to by the pixel shader. SV_RenderTargetArrayIndex is only valid if the render target is an array resource. this semantic applies only to primitives, if a primitive has more than one vertex the value from the leading vertex will be used. This value also indicates which array slice of a depthstencilview is used for read/write purposes. Can be written from the geometry shader and read by the pixel shader.	Uint
SV_SampleIndex	Sample frequency index data	Uint
SV_Target [n], Where 0 <= n <= 7	The output value that will be stored in a render target. the index indicates which of the 8 possibly bound render targets to write. the value is available as output from the pixel shader. (write only)	Float
SV_TessFactor	Defines the tessellation amount on each edge of a patch. Available for writing in the Hull shader and reading in the Domain shader.	Float [2 | 3 | 4]
SV_ViewportArrayIndex	Viewport array index. applied to geometry shader output and indicates which viewport to use for the primitive currently being written out. the primitive will be transformed and clipped against the viewport specified by the index before it is passed to the rasterizer. this semantic applies only to primitives, if a primitive has more than one vertex the value from the leading vertex will be used.	Uint
SV_InstanceID	Per-instance identifier automatically generated by the runtime (see Using System-Generated Values (Direct3D 10 ))	Uint
SV_PrimitiveID	Per-primitive identifier automatically generated by the runtime (see Using System-Generated Values (Direct3D 10 ))	Uint
SV_VertexID	Per-vertex identifier automatically generated by the runtime (see Using System-Generated Values (Direct3D 10 ))	Uint

Packoffset: (optional) registers alignment of variables.

Register: (optional) registers occupied by variables.

Annotation: (optional) Metadata. It is a string and HLSL ignores this information.
Value: (optional) Initial Value of the variable.