programming The scope of an identifier is the region of a

program source within which it represents a certain thing.

This usually extends from the place where it is declared to

the end of the smallest enclosing block (begin/end or

procedure/function body). An inner block may contain a

redeclaration of the same identifier in which case the scope

of the outer declaration does not include (is "shadowed" or

"occluded" by) the scope of the inner.