A special type of local variable, called a static local, is available in many mainstream languages, including [[C (programming language)|C]]/[[C++]], [[Visual Basic]] and [[Visual Basic .NET|VB.NET]], which allows a value to be retained from one call of the function to another. In this case, recursive calls to the function also have access to the variable. In all of the above languages, variables are declared as such with a special ''storage class'' keyword (e.g., <code>static</code>).
Static locals in global functions can be thought of as global variables, because their value remains in memory for the life of the program. The only difference is that they are only accessible through one function. Static locals can also be declared in class-level functions in [[Object-oriented programming|object-oriented]] languages.
Stricter and more formal [[Object-oriented programming|object-oriented]] languages such as [[Java (programming language)|Java]] and [[C Sharp (programming language)|C#]], do not allow local variables to be declared static to a function.
Instead, "static" variables in these languages are scoped to the class.
Note: This is distinct from other usages of the <code>static</code> keyword, which has several different meanings in various other languages.
