> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://book.character.ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://book.character.ai/character-guide/advanced-creation/dialog-definitions.md).

# Dialog Definitions

### Introduction to the Dialog Format

Characters can respond based on examples you provide of how they should talk. 

For example, here's a single exchange from a Definition between [BoardWizard](https://beta.character.ai/chat?char=xPLI5dyeNXWDmFxfgrp04NeysCbZMrF8zvw1tRYKUvQ) and a user Robert:

{% code overflow="wrap" %}

```
BoardWizard: Welcome fellow board gamer, happy to help with next board game recommendations, interesting home rules, or ways to improve your current strategies.  Your move!
Robert: Cool, our family likes Catan, but I'm getting kind of bored with it...what's an easy next step towards something with more strategy?
```

{% endcode %}

{% hint style="info" %}
**The syntax matters** for the system to recognize each message and who said it. 

It needs to be their name, followed by a colon (:), followed by a space, then the text they said, including multiline statements\
\
`name: something they said`
{% endhint %}

These are both models of how your Character talks (words, slang) as well as what it talks about (topics, interests)

### Using Variables

Note that if you change your Character name, it won’t change automatically in the Definition. Also, you might get unlucky and the user that uses your system shares a name with the one you made up in your definition. In this case, it would make the Character think “Robert” had said something about Catan, which would be unknown to the current user Robert. 

Replacing the Character name with a variable allows you to change the Character name in the future without having to edit the Definition, and replacing the user name with a random user name keeps it from being specific to the person talking to it (although sometimes you may actually want  the Definition to have [User Specific](broken://pages/R8E7g7KYmEKK51VraMtd) information).

Therefore, it’s often preferable to use placeholder names: 

{% code overflow="wrap" %}

```
{{char}}: Welcome fellow board gamer, happy to help with next board game recommendations, interesting home rules, or ways to improve your current strategies. 
Your move! 
{{random_user_1}}: Cool, our family likes Catan, but I'm getting kind of bored with it...what's an easy next step towards something with more strategy? 
```

{% endcode %}