Undenifed array problem

My script below is suppose to make a long text into little portions, im far from done but please… Why do i get an error here?
The array textMessage is undenifed… why?

[AS]

var textMessage:Array
var textRows:Number = 0;
var textStart:Number = 0;
autoWrite = function (textOut)
{
numberOfDots = 0;
for (i = 0; i < textOut.length; i++)
{
if (textOut.charCodeAt (i) == “46”)
{
numberOfDots++;
if (numberOfDots == 2)
{
textMessage[textRows] = i; //<<<<<<<<<<<<< PROBLEM?
textRows++;
textStart = i;
numberOfDots = 0;
trace (textMessage);
}
}
}
};
autoWrite (“hasdhgahgsdgha.jsghdaghjsdghjhg.ghjagshjdghjasdgjh.adaksdasd.gsfsdfw.asdagherhe.”);
[/AS]