Rails controllers and "protected" variables involving inheritance
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I would like to declare a variable in my `application_controller.rb` controller that is accessible to all controllers that inherit from it.  if possible I would like the variable only accessible in the child classes, nowhere else, including the views (unless specifically passed into the view).

I am new to Ruby and Rails and am unsure if the "protected" scope exists for variables, I have seen that it does for functions.  I have not been able to find a simple answer and I have been experimenting a little in my app with different ways to declare variables and where they can be accessed. That has provided me with no information about how I can accomplish this.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.