Reading data from a text file but can't use the data outside of the function

I am trying to load a variable from data in a text file.

I can read the text file fine but the variable data seems only to be available with in the function that reads it.

I need to use the variable data outside of the function.

Does anyone have any suggestions to work around this issue?

This is the actionscript code i’m using.

var pathVars= new LoadVars();
pathVars.onLoad=function(ok) {
if(ok)
{
trace(“Loading”);
path_var=pathVars.path;
trace("This is within the function "+path_var);
pathVar0="This is within the function… "+path_var;

          Yet the path_var is available here fine.
}

};
pathVars.load(“mypath.txt”);

This is where the path_var becomes undefined
trace("This is outside the function… "+path_var);
pathVar1="This is outside the function… "+path_var;

This is a download link for the FLA zip file

This is a demo of the script loading the text file