Why do I get a MissingPropertyException in the GroovyConsole?

Question

When I execute the following script in the GroovyConsole it gives me a MissingPropertyException but I do not understand why:

def a = 'A'
def b() {
    println a
}
b()

The following exception is thrown:

groovy.lang.MissingPropertyException: No such property: 
    a for class: ConsoleScript18
at ConsoleScript18.b(ConsoleScript18:3)
at ConsoleScript18.run(ConsoleScript18:5)

Answer 1

The reason behind that is when you write any thing outside function without declaring any class in groovy it is moved to main function.

So the scope of variable a is limited to function main() which you are trying to access in another function b() of same class. But as there is no property a for class it throws MissingPropertyException.

Answer 2

You need to add a Field annotation to make it work:

import groovy.transform.Field

@Field
def a = 'A'
def b() {
    println a
}
b()