Any VHDL item is identified by its name.

Syntax:

identifier             -- simple name
\extended_identifier\
"operator"
attribute_name
name.name. ...         -- selected name
name(range)            -- slice name
name(expression, ...)  -- indexed name 

Description:

Any declaration that introduces a named item defines an identifier which enables reference to such an item by using this identifier. However, it is not always possible to refer to an item or part of it by using just its identifier. More general form of reference to items is by a name. Names can also indicate objects of the access type, elements of the composite type, parts of the composite object or unit attributes which have an identifier in their declaration. The name can have any of the following forms:

• simple name         -- The simple name consists only of the identifier, which is assigned to a given unit in its declaration
• operator symbol    -- The operator symbol is a string literal, which indicates the function declared for such an operator symbol
• attribute name       -- The combination of the identifier and its attribute
• selected name      -- A selected name is commonly used to pick an item out of a library or package
• slice name             -- A slice name is used to pick out a part of an one-dimensional array
• indexed name       -- An indexed name is used to pick an individual item out of an array

A name consists of letters, digits and underscores. The extended_identifier has to be used when the first character is not a letter, the last character is an underscore, or when the identifier has two adjacent underscores.

Examples:

ABC_66                      -- simple name
\4A*@_\                     -- extended identifier
"+"                         -- operator 
Clk'Event                   -- attribute name
IEEE.std_logic_1164."nor"   -- selected name 
SignalSlice(12 to 15)       -- slice name
DataSignal(5)               -- indexed name

Note:

• None of the VHDL reserved words may be used as a name for other items.

See also:

Array, Attributes (predefined), Expression, Operator, Range, Record