Attempting to retrieve the value of an uninitialized User Defined (@) variable, or an undefined Prompt ($) or Lookup (#) variable will return the variable name.

For example, if a script references a variable named @VarName@ and this variable has not had a value assigned to it, the value will be "@VarName@".

Note: This behavior only applies to uninitialized User Defined variables or undefined Prompt or Lookup variables. Prompt or Lookup variables which are defined but have not been collected yet return an empty string.

This behavior is by design.