So if I have a recursive function with a global variable var_: int var_; void foo() { if(var_ == 3) return; else var_++; foo(); } and then I have a function that calls foo() so: void bar() { foo(); return; } what is the best way to set var_ =0 everytime foo is called thats not from within itself. I know I could just do: void bar() { var_ =0; foo(); return; } but I'm using the recursive function a lot and I don't want to call foo and forget to set var_=0 at a later date. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to solve this? Thanks, Josh