'\"
'\" Copyright (c) 1993 The Regents of the University of California.
'\" Copyright (c) 1994-1996 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 proc 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
.\"	End of box enclosure.
.\"
.\" .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
proc \- Create a Tcl procedure
.SH SYNOPSIS
\fBproc \fIname args body\fR
.BE
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
The \fBproc\fR command creates a new Tcl procedure named
\fIname\fR, replacing
any existing command or procedure there may have been by that name.
Whenever the new command is invoked, the contents of \fIbody\fR will
be executed by the Tcl interpreter.
Normally, \fIname\fR is unqualified
(does not include the names of any containing namespaces),
and the new procedure is created in the current namespace.
If \fIname\fR includes any namespace qualifiers,
the procedure is created in the specified namespace.
\fIArgs\fR 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 single field in the specifier
then it is the name of the argument; if there are two fields, then
the first is the argument name and the second is its default value.
Arguments with default values that are followed by non-defaulted
arguments become required arguments; enough actual arguments must be
supplied to allow all arguments up to and including the last required
formal argument.
.PP
When \fIname\fR 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.
Actual arguments are assigned to formal arguments strictly in order.
Arguments with default values need not be
specified in a procedure invocation.  However, there must be enough
actual arguments for all the
formal arguments that do not have defaults, and there must not be any extra
actual arguments.
Arguments with default values that are followed by non-defaulted
arguments become de-facto required arguments, though this may change
in a future version of Tcl; portable code should ensure that all
optional arguments come after all required arguments.
.PP
There is one special case to permit procedures with
variable numbers of arguments.  If the last formal argument has the name
.QW \fBargs\fR ,
then a call to the procedure may contain more actual arguments
than the procedure has formal arguments.  In this case, all of the actual arguments
starting at the one that would be assigned to \fBargs\fR are combined into
a list (as if the \fBlist\fR command had been used); this combined value
is assigned to the local variable \fBargs\fR.
.PP
When \fIbody\fR 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.
Other variables can only be accessed by invoking one of the \fBglobal\fR,
\fBvariable\fR, \fBupvar\fR or \fBnamespace upvar\fR commands.
The current namespace when \fIbody\fR is executed will be the
namespace that the procedure's name exists in, which will be the
namespace that it was created in unless it has been changed with
\fBrename\fR.
'\" We may change this! It makes [variable] unstable when renamed and is
'\" frankly pretty crazy, but doing it right is harder than it looks.
.PP
The \fBproc\fR command returns an empty string.  When a procedure is
invoked, the procedure's return value is the value specified in a
\fBreturn\fR command.  If the procedure does not execute an explicit
\fBreturn\fR, then its return value is the value of 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.
.SH EXAMPLES
.PP
This is a procedure that takes two arguments and prints both their sum
and their product. It also returns the string
.QW OK
to the caller as an explicit result.
.PP
.CS
\fBproc\fR printSumProduct {x y} {
    set sum [expr {$x + $y}]
    set prod [expr {$x * $y}]
    puts "sum is $sum, product is $prod"
    return "OK"
}
.CE
.PP
This is a procedure that accepts arbitrarily many arguments and prints
them out, one by one.
.PP
.CS
\fBproc\fR printArguments args {
    foreach arg $args {
        puts $arg
    }
}
.CE
.PP
This procedure is a bit like the \fBincr\fR command, except it
multiplies the contents of the named variable by the value, which
defaults to \fB2\fR:
.PP
.CS
\fBproc\fR mult {varName {multiplier 2}} {
    upvar 1 $varName var
    set var [expr {$var * $multiplier}]
}
.CE
.SH "SEE ALSO"
info(3tcl), unknown(3tcl)
.SH KEYWORDS
argument, procedure
'\" Local Variables:
'\" mode: nroff
'\" End: