global-variable-exists is triggering errors in Sass

Question

I\'m using a ternary-like statement to initialize a variable in Sass. This allows me to set some of my default variables to the same thing that Zurb Foundation is using, but

Answer 1

The "problem" persists because you're using the function incorrectly. The docs paint a very clear picture as to how this function is intended to be used:

$a-false-value: false;
// global-variable-exists(a-false-value) => true

.foo {
  $some-var: false;
  @if global-variable-exists(some-var) { /* false, doesn't run */ }
}

See how there are no variables being passed to the function? That's because it expects a string that contains the name of the variable, not the variable itself. Passing in the variable itself would defeat the purpose of the function: you can't pass variables that don't exist to functions or mixins.

So... just drop the $:

$nav-link-icon-color: if( global-variable-exists(topbar-link-color), $topbar-link-color, #fff) !default;