'\"
'\" Copyright (c) 1993 The Regents of the University of California.
'\" Copyright (c) 1994-1997 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
'\"
'\" See the file "license.terms" for information on usage and redistribution
'\" of this file, and for a DISCLAIMER OF ALL WARRANTIES.
'\"
.TH uplevel 3tcl "" Tcl "Tcl Built-In Commands"
.\" The -*- nroff -*- definitions below are for supplemental macros used
.\" in Tcl/Tk manual entries.
.\"
.\" .AP type name in/out ?indent?
.\"	Start paragraph describing an argument to a library procedure.
.\"	type is type of argument (int, etc.), in/out is either "in", "out",
.\"	or "in/out" to describe whether procedure reads or modifies arg,
.\"	and indent is equivalent to second arg of .IP (shouldn't ever be
.\"	needed;  use .AS below instead)
.\"
.\" .AS ?type? ?name?
.\"	Give maximum sizes of arguments for setting tab stops.  Type and
.\"	name are examples of largest possible arguments that will be passed
.\"	to .AP later.  If args are omitted, default tab stops are used.
.\"
.\" .BS
.\"	Start box enclosure.  From here until next .BE, everything will be
.\"	enclosed in one large box.
.\"
.\" .BE
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.\"
.\" .CS
.\"	Begin code excerpt.
.\"
.\" .CE
.\"	End code excerpt.
.\"
.\" .VS ?version? ?br?
.\"	Begin vertical sidebar, for use in marking newly-changed parts
.\"	of man pages.  The first argument is ignored and used for recording
.\"	the version when the .VS was added, so that the sidebars can be
.\"	found and removed when they reach a certain age.  If another argument
.\"	is present, then a line break is forced before starting the sidebar.
.\"
.\" .VE
.\"	End of vertical sidebar.
.\"
.\" .DS
.\"	Begin an indented unfilled display.
.\"
.\" .DE
.\"	End of indented unfilled display.
.\"
.\" .SO ?manpage?
.\"	Start of list of standard options for a Tk widget. The manpage
.\"	argument defines where to look up the standard options; if
.\"	omitted, defaults to "options". The options follow on successive
.\"	lines, in three columns separated by tabs.
.\"
.\" .SE
.\"	End of list of standard options for a Tk widget.
.\"
.\" .OP cmdName dbName dbClass
.\"	Start of description of a specific option.  cmdName gives the
.\"	option's name as specified in the class command, dbName gives
.\"	the option's name in the option database, and dbClass gives
.\"	the option's class in the option database.
.\"
.\" .UL arg1 arg2
.\"	Print arg1 underlined, then print arg2 normally.
.\"
.\" .QW arg1 ?arg2?
.\"	Print arg1 in quotes, then arg2 normally (for trailing punctuation).
.\"
.\" .PQ arg1 ?arg2?
.\"	Print an open parenthesis, arg1 in quotes, then arg2 normally
.\"	(for trailing punctuation) and then a closing parenthesis.
.\"
.\"	# Set up traps and other miscellaneous stuff for Tcl/Tk man pages.
.if t .wh -1.3i ^B
.nr ^l \n(.l
.ad b
.\"	# Start an argument description
.de AP
.ie !"\\$4"" .TP \\$4
.el \{\
.   ie !"\\$2"" .TP \\n()Cu
.   el          .TP 15
.\}
.ta \\n()Au \\n()Bu
.ie !"\\$3"" \{\
\&\\$1 \\fI\\$2\\fP (\\$3)
.\".b
.\}
.el \{\
.br
.ie !"\\$2"" \{\
\&\\$1	\\fI\\$2\\fP
.\}
.el \{\
\&\\fI\\$1\\fP
.\}
.\}
..
.\"	# define tabbing values for .AP
.de AS
.nr )A 10n
.if !"\\$1"" .nr )A \\w'\\$1'u+3n
.nr )B \\n()Au+15n
.\"
.if !"\\$2"" .nr )B \\w'\\$2'u+\\n()Au+3n
.nr )C \\n()Bu+\\w'(in/out)'u+2n
..
.AS Tcl_Interp Tcl_CreateInterp in/out
.\"	# BS - start boxed text
.\"	# ^y = starting y location
.\"	# ^b = 1
.de BS
.br
.mk ^y
.nr ^b 1u
.if n .nf
.if n .ti 0
.if n \l'\\n(.lu\(ul'
.if n .fi
..
.\"	# BE - end boxed text (draw box now)
.de BE
.nf
.ti 0
.mk ^t
.ie n \l'\\n(^lu\(ul'
.el \{\
.\"	Draw four-sided box normally, but don't draw top of
.\"	box if the box started on an earlier page.
.ie !\\n(^b-1 \{\
\h'-1.5n'\L'|\\n(^yu-1v'\l'\\n(^lu+3n\(ul'\L'\\n(^tu+1v-\\n(^yu'\l'|0u-1.5n\(ul'
.\}
.el \}\
\h'-1.5n'\L'|\\n(^yu-1v'\h'\\n(^lu+3n'\L'\\n(^tu+1v-\\n(^yu'\l'|0u-1.5n\(ul'
.\}
.\}
.fi
.br
.nr ^b 0
..
.\"	# VS - start vertical sidebar
.\"	# ^Y = starting y location
.\"	# ^v = 1 (for troff;  for nroff this doesn't matter)
.de VS
.if !"\\$2"" .br
.mk ^Y
.ie n 'mc \s12\(br\s0
.el .nr ^v 1u
..
.\"	# VE - end of vertical sidebar
.de VE
.ie n 'mc
.el \{\
.ev 2
.nf
.ti 0
.mk ^t
\h'|\\n(^lu+3n'\L'|\\n(^Yu-1v\(bv'\v'\\n(^tu+1v-\\n(^Yu'\h'-|\\n(^lu+3n'
.sp -1
.fi
.ev
.\}
.nr ^v 0
..
.\"	# Special macro to handle page bottom:  finish off current
.\"	# box/sidebar if in box/sidebar mode, then invoked standard
.\"	# page bottom macro.
.de ^B
.ev 2
'ti 0
'nf
.mk ^t
.if \\n(^b \{\
.\"	Draw three-sided box if this is the box's first page,
.\"	draw two sides but no top otherwise.
.ie !\\n(^b-1 \h'-1.5n'\L'|\\n(^yu-1v'\l'\\n(^lu+3n\(ul'\L'\\n(^tu+1v-\\n(^yu'\h'|0u'\c
.el \h'-1.5n'\L'|\\n(^yu-1v'\h'\\n(^lu+3n'\L'\\n(^tu+1v-\\n(^yu'\h'|0u'\c
.\}
.if \\n(^v \{\
.nr ^x \\n(^tu+1v-\\n(^Yu
\kx\h'-\\nxu'\h'|\\n(^lu+3n'\ky\L'-\\n(^xu'\v'\\n(^xu'\h'|0u'\c
.\}
.bp
'fi
.ev
.if \\n(^b \{\
.mk ^y
.nr ^b 2
.\}
.if \\n(^v \{\
.mk ^Y
.\}
..
.\"	# DS - begin display
.de DS
.RS
.nf
.sp
..
.\"	# DE - end display
.de DE
.fi
.RE
.sp
..
.\"	# SO - start of list of standard options
.de SO
'ie '\\$1'' .ds So \\fBoptions\\fR
'el .ds So \\fB\\$1\\fR
.SH "STANDARD OPTIONS"
.LP
.nf
.ta 5.5c 11c
.ft B
..
.\"	# SE - end of list of standard options
.de SE
.fi
.ft R
.LP
See the \\*(So manual entry for details on the standard options.
..
.\"	# OP - start of full description for a single option
.de OP
.LP
.nf
.ta 4c
Command-Line Name:	\\fB\\$1\\fR
Database Name:	\\fB\\$2\\fR
Database Class:	\\fB\\$3\\fR
.fi
.IP
..
.\"	# CS - begin code excerpt
.de CS
.RS
.nf
.ta .25i .5i .75i 1i
..
.\"	# CE - end code excerpt
.de CE
.fi
.RE
..
.\"	# UL - underline word
.de UL
\\$1\l'|0\(ul'\\$2
..
.\"	# QW - apply quotation marks to word
.de QW
.ie '\\*(lq'"' ``\\$1''\\$2
.\"" fix emacs highlighting
.el \\*(lq\\$1\\*(rq\\$2
..
.\"	# PQ - apply parens and quotation marks to word
.de PQ
.ie '\\*(lq'"' (``\\$1''\\$2)\\$3
.\"" fix emacs highlighting
.el (\\*(lq\\$1\\*(rq\\$2)\\$3
..
.\"	# QR - quoted range
.de QR
.ie '\\*(lq'"' ``\\$1''\\-``\\$2''\\$3
.\"" fix emacs highlighting
.el \\*(lq\\$1\\*(rq\\-\\*(lq\\$2\\*(rq\\$3
..
.\"	# MT - "empty" string
.de MT
.QW ""
..
.BS
'\" Note:  do not modify the .SH NAME line immediately below!
.SH NAME
uplevel \- Execute a script in a different stack frame
.SH SYNOPSIS
\fBuplevel \fR?\fIlevel\fR?\fI arg \fR?\fIarg ...\fR?
.BE
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
All of the \fIarg\fR arguments are concatenated as if they had
been passed to \fBconcat\fR; the result is then evaluated in the
variable context indicated by \fIlevel\fR.  \fBUplevel\fR returns
the result of that evaluation.
.PP
If \fIlevel\fR is an integer then
it gives a distance (up the procedure calling stack) to move before
executing the command.  If \fIlevel\fR consists of \fB#\fR followed by
a number then the number gives an absolute level number.  If \fIlevel\fR
is omitted then it defaults to \fB1\fR.  \fILevel\fR cannot be
defaulted if the first \fIcommand\fR argument starts with a digit or \fB#\fR.
.PP
For example, suppose that procedure \fBa\fR was invoked
from top-level, and that it called \fBb\fR, and that \fBb\fR called \fBc\fR.
Suppose that \fBc\fR invokes the \fBuplevel\fR command.  If \fIlevel\fR
is \fB1\fR or \fB#2\fR  or omitted, then the command will be executed
in the variable context of \fBb\fR.  If \fIlevel\fR is \fB2\fR or \fB#1\fR
then the command will be executed in the variable context of \fBa\fR.
If \fIlevel\fR is \fB3\fR or \fB#0\fR then the command will be executed
at top-level (only global variables will be visible).
.PP
The \fBuplevel\fR command causes the invoking procedure to disappear
from the procedure calling stack while the command is being executed.
In the above example, suppose \fBc\fR invokes the command
.PP
.CS
\fBuplevel\fR 1 {set x 43; d}
.CE
.PP
where \fBd\fR is another Tcl procedure.  The \fBset\fR command will
modify the variable \fBx\fR in \fBb\fR's context, and \fBd\fR will execute
at level 3, as if called from \fBb\fR.  If it in turn executes
the command
.PP
.CS
\fBuplevel\fR {set x 42}
.CE
.PP
then the \fBset\fR command will modify the same variable \fBx\fR in \fBb\fR's
context:  the procedure \fBc\fR does not appear to be on the call stack
when \fBd\fR is executing.  The \fBinfo level\fR command may
be used to obtain the level of the current procedure.
.PP
\fBUplevel\fR makes it possible to implement new control
constructs as Tcl procedures (for example, \fBuplevel\fR could
be used to implement the \fBwhile\fR construct as a Tcl procedure).
.PP
The \fBnamespace eval\fR and \fBapply\fR commands offer other ways
(besides procedure calls) that the Tcl naming context can change.
They add a call frame to the stack to represent the namespace context.
This means each \fBnamespace eval\fR command
counts as another call level for \fBuplevel\fR and \fBupvar\fR commands.
For example, \fBinfo level 1\fR will return a list
describing a command that is either
the outermost procedure call or the outermost \fBnamespace eval\fR command.
Also, \fBuplevel #0\fR evaluates a script
at top-level in the outermost namespace (the global namespace).
.SH EXAMPLE
As stated above, the \fBuplevel\fR command is useful for creating new
control constructs.  This example shows how (without error handling)
it can be used to create a \fBdo\fR command that is the counterpart of
\fBwhile\fR except for always performing the test after running the
loop body:
.PP
.CS
proc do {body while condition} {
    if {$while ne "while"} {
        error "required word missing"
    }
    set conditionCmd [list expr $condition]
    while {1} {
        \fBuplevel\fR 1 $body
        if {![\fBuplevel\fR 1 $conditionCmd]} {
            break
        }
    }
}
.CE
.SH "SEE ALSO"
apply(3tcl), namespace(3tcl), upvar(3tcl)
.SH KEYWORDS
context, level, namespace, stack frame, variable
.\" Local Variables:
.\" mode: nroff
.\" End: