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proc.n
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proc(n) Tcl Built-In Commands
_________________________________________________________________
NAME
proc - Create a Tcl procedure
SYNOPSIS
proc _n_a_m_e _a_r_g_s _b_o_d_y
_________________________________________________________________
DESCRIPTION
The proc command creates a new Tcl procedure named _n_a_m_e,
replacing any existing command or procedure there may have
been by that name. Whenever the new command is invoked, the
contents of _b_o_d_y will be executed by the Tcl interpreter.
_A_r_g_s specifies the formal arguments to the procedure. It
consists of a list, possibly empty, each of whose elements
specifies one argument. Each argument specifier is also a
list with either one or two fields. If there is only a sin-
gle field in the specifier then it is the name of the argu-
ment; if there are two fields, then the first is the argu-
ment name and the second is its default value.
When _n_a_m_e is invoked a local variable will be created for
each of the formal arguments to the procedure; its value
will be the value of corresponding argument in the invoking
command or the argument's default value. Arguments with
default values need not be specified in a procedure invoca-
tion. However, there must be enough actual arguments for
all the formal arguments that don't have defaults, and there
must not be any extra actual arguments. There is one spe-
cial case to permit procedures with variable numbers of
arguments. If the last formal argument has the name args,
then a call to the procedure may contain more actual argu-
ments than the procedure has formals. In this case, all of
the actual arguments starting at the one that would be
assigned to args are combined into a list (as if the list
command had been used); this combined value is assigned to
the local variable args.
When _b_o_d_y is being executed, variable names normally refer
to local variables, which are created automatically when
referenced and deleted when the procedure returns. One
local variable is automatically created for each of the
procedure's arguments. Global variables can only be
accessed by invoking the global command or the upvar com-
mand.
The proc command returns an empty string. When a procedure
is invoked, the procedure's return value is the value speci-
fied in a return command. If the procedure doesn't execute
an explicit return, then its return value is the value of
Tcl 1
proc(n) Tcl Built-In Commands
the last command executed in the procedure's body. If an
error occurs while executing the procedure body, then the
procedure-as-a-whole will return that same error.
KEYWORDS
argument, procedure
Tcl 2