$var Array Reference

✅ Validated against Unraid 7.2.3 - All properties verified against /var/local/emhttp/var.ini on live systems.

See the DocTest validation plugin for a working example that displays $var array values.

Overview

The $var array contains system state and configuration variables. It’s one of the most important globals for plugin development, providing access to array status, disk information, system identity, and security tokens.

Accessing $var 

<?
// In page files, $var is usually pre-loaded
global $var;

// In standalone scripts, load it manually
$var = parse_ini_file('/var/local/emhttp/var.ini');

// Example usage
$serverName = $var['NAME'];
$arrayState = $var['fsState'];
?>

Source File

The $var array is populated from:

/var/local/emhttp/var.ini

This file is continuously updated by the Unraid system to reflect current state.

Complete Property Reference

System Identity

Property Type Description Example
NAME string Server name "Tower"
COMMENT string Server description "Unraid Server"
localMaster string Local master browser setting "yes"
timeZone string Configured timezone "America/New_York"
USE_NTP string NTP enabled "yes", "no"
NTP_SERVER1 string Primary NTP server "pool.ntp.org"
NTP_SERVER2 string Secondary NTP server ""

Unraid Version

Property Type Description Example
version string Unraid OS version "6.12.6"
regTy string Registration type "Basic", "Plus", "Pro", "Trial"
regTo string Registered to name "John Doe"
regTm string Registration timestamp Unix timestamp
regGen string Registration generation "1"
flashGUID string Flash drive GUID "XXXX-XXXX-..."

Array State

Property Type Description Example
fsState string Array filesystem state "Started", "Stopped"
mdState string MD device state "STARTED", "STOPPED", "RESYNCING"
mdResync string Resync position (if active) Block number
mdResyncSize string Total resync size Block count
mdResyncAction string Resync action type "check", "rebuild", "sync"
md_num_stripes string Number of stripes "1280"
mdNumDisks string Number of array disks "4"
mdNumDisabled string Number of disabled disks "0"
mdNumMissing string Number of missing disks "0"
mdNumInvalid string Number of invalid disks "0"
mdNumNew string Number of new disks "0"

Parity Information

Property Type Description Example
parity.idx string Parity disk index "0"
parity.id string Parity disk ID "WDC_WD40EFRX..."
parity.device string Parity device "sda"
parity.size string Parity disk size (KB) "3907029168"
parity.status string Parity disk status "DISK_OK"
parity.temp string Temperature (C) "35"

Cache/Pool Information

Property Type Description Example
cacheSbName string Cache pool name "cache"
cacheSbNumDisks string Number of cache disks "2"
cachePoolState string Cache pool state "STARTED"
cacheNumDevices string Cache device count "2"

Security

Property Type Description Example
csrf_token string CSRF token for forms "abc123..."
USE_SSL string SSL enabled "yes", "no", "auto"
portssl string HTTPS port "443"
port string HTTP port "80"

Network

Property Type Description Example
USE_TELNET string Telnet enabled "yes", "no"
USE_SSH string SSH enabled "yes", "no"
LOCAL_TLD string Local TLD "local"

Display/UI

Property Type Description Example
display string Display settings reference Various
locale string Current locale "en_US"

Spin Settings

Property Type Description Example
spindownDelay string Spin-down delay (min) "30"
spinupGroups string Spin-up groups config Various

UPS

Property Type Description Example
USE_UPS string UPS monitoring enabled "yes", "no"
UPS_DRIVER string UPS driver "usbhid-ups"

Common Usage Patterns

Check Array State 

<?
global $var;

if ($var['fsState'] === 'Started') {
    // Array is running, safe to access shares
    $shares = parse_ini_file('/var/local/emhttp/shares.ini', true);
} else {
    echo "Array is not started";
}
?>

Check if Parity Check Running 

<?
global $var;

$isResyncing = !empty($var['mdResync']) && $var['mdResync'] != '0';
if ($isResyncing) {
    $progress = round(($var['mdResync'] / $var['mdResyncSize']) * 100, 2);
    echo "Parity operation in progress: {$progress}%";
}
?>

Get Server Information 

<?
global $var;

$serverInfo = [
    'name' => $var['NAME'],
    'version' => $var['version'],
    'registration' => $var['regTy'],
    'timezone' => $var['timeZone']
];
?>

CSRF Token in Forms 

<?
global $var;
?>
<form method="POST" action="/update.php">
    <input type="hidden" name="csrf_token" value="<?=$var['csrf_token']?>">
    <!-- form fields -->
</form>

Check SSL Status 

<?
global $var;

$useSSL = $var['USE_SSL'] ?? 'no';
$isSecure = ($useSSL === 'yes' || $useSSL === 'auto');
$protocol = $isSecure ? 'https' : 'http';
$port = $isSecure ? $var['portssl'] : $var['port'];
?>

The $var array is one of several state files:

File Content Load With
var.ini System state parse_ini_file(..., false)
disks.ini Disk information parse_ini_file(..., true)
shares.ini Share information parse_ini_file(..., true)
users.ini User information parse_ini_file(..., true)
network.ini Network configuration parse_ini_file(..., true) 
<?
// Load all state data
$var = parse_ini_file('/var/local/emhttp/var.ini');
$disks = parse_ini_file('/var/local/emhttp/disks.ini', true);
$shares = parse_ini_file('/var/local/emhttp/shares.ini', true);
$users = parse_ini_file('/var/local/emhttp/users.ini', true);
?>

Disk Information ($disks)

When you need disk details, use disks.ini:

<?
$disks = parse_ini_file('/var/local/emhttp/disks.ini', true);

foreach ($disks as $name => $disk) {
    // $name is 'parity', 'disk1', 'disk2', 'cache', etc.
    echo "{$name}: {$disk['device']} - {$disk['status']}\n";
    
    // Available properties per disk:
    // $disk['id']        - Disk identifier
    // $disk['device']    - Device name (sda, sdb, etc.)
    // $disk['status']    - DISK_OK, DISK_DSBL, etc.
    // $disk['temp']      - Temperature
    // $disk['size']      - Size in KB
    // $disk['fsSize']    - Filesystem size
    // $disk['fsFree']    - Free space
    // $disk['fsType']    - Filesystem type
}
?>

Share Information ($shares) 

<?
$shares = parse_ini_file('/var/local/emhttp/shares.ini', true);

foreach ($shares as $name => $share) {
    echo "{$name}: {$share['free']} free of {$share['size']}\n";
    
    // Available properties:
    // $share['name']     - Share name
    // $share['free']     - Free space
    // $share['size']     - Total size
    // $share['fsType']   - Filesystem type
    // $share['include']  - Included disks
    // $share['exclude']  - Excluded disks
}
?>

Notes

The $var array reflects point-in-time state. For rapidly changing values (like resync progress), re-read the file to get current values.

Some properties may not exist depending on system configuration. Always use null coalescing or isset() checks.