FAQ: What does the dollar sign notation ($.company) mean in field mapping?

Q. In my Integration App, I see references to elements within a $ object in the import mapping for the flow BigCommerce Customer to NetSuite Customer Add/Update, like the following:

{{#if $.company}} {{$.company}} {{else}} {{$.first_name}} {{$.last_name}}{{/if}} 

What does $ mean here? I looked for a transform and elsewhere to identify it, but it doesn’t seem to appear before the import.

A. NetSuite uses $ as the equivalent of the familiar JavaScript keyword this, in referring to a global object in the current context. So, in plain English, you could read the handlebars statement above,

If the company is present in this record, then use the company’s name. Otherwise, map the first and last names to the destination value.