Provided by: tcl8.5-doc_8.5.19-4_all 
NAME
Tcl_EvalObjEx, Tcl_EvalFile, Tcl_EvalObjv, Tcl_Eval, Tcl_EvalEx, Tcl_GlobalEval,
Tcl_GlobalEvalObj, Tcl_VarEval, Tcl_VarEvalVA - execute Tcl scripts
SYNOPSIS
#include <tcl.h>
int
Tcl_EvalObjEx(interp, objPtr, flags)
int
Tcl_EvalFile(interp, fileName)
int
Tcl_EvalObjv(interp, objc, objv, flags)
int
Tcl_Eval(interp, script)
int
Tcl_EvalEx(interp, script, numBytes, flags)
int
Tcl_GlobalEval(interp, script)
int
Tcl_GlobalEvalObj(interp, objPtr)
int
Tcl_VarEval(interp, part, part, ... (char *) NULL)
int
Tcl_VarEvalVA(interp, argList)
ARGUMENTS
Tcl_Interp *interp (in) Interpreter in which to execute the script. The
interpreter's result is modified to hold the result or
error message from the script.
Tcl_Obj *objPtr (in) A Tcl object containing the script to execute.
int flags (in) ORed combination of flag bits that specify additional
options. TCL_EVAL_GLOBAL and TCL_EVAL_DIRECT are
currently supported.
const char *fileName (in) Name of a file containing a Tcl script.
int objc (in) The number of objects in the array pointed to by
objPtr; this is also the number of words in the
command.
Tcl_Obj **objv (in) Points to an array of pointers to objects; each object
holds the value of a single word in the command to
execute.
int numBytes (in) The number of bytes in script, not including any null
terminating character. If -1, then all characters up
to the first null byte are used.
const char *script (in) Points to first byte of script to execute (null-
terminated and UTF-8).
char *part (in) String forming part of a Tcl script.
va_list argList (in) An argument list which must have been initialized using
va_start, and cleared using va_end.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________
DESCRIPTION
The procedures described here are invoked to execute Tcl scripts in various forms.
Tcl_EvalObjEx is the core procedure and is used by many of the others. It executes the
commands in the script stored in objPtr until either an error occurs or the end of the
script is reached. If this is the first time objPtr has been executed, its commands are
compiled into bytecode instructions which are then executed. The bytecodes are saved in
objPtr so that the compilation step can be skipped if the object is evaluated again in the
future.
The return value from Tcl_EvalObjEx (and all the other procedures described here) is a Tcl
completion code with one of the values TCL_OK, TCL_ERROR, TCL_RETURN, TCL_BREAK, or
TCL_CONTINUE, or possibly some other integer value originating in an extension. In
addition, a result value or error message is left in interp's result; it can be retrieved
using Tcl_GetObjResult.
Tcl_EvalFile reads the file given by fileName and evaluates its contents as a Tcl script.
It returns the same information as Tcl_EvalObjEx. If the file could not be read then a
Tcl error is returned to describe why the file could not be read. The eofchar for files
is “\32” (^Z) for all platforms. If you require a “^Z” in code for string comparison, you
can use “\032” or “\u001a”, which will be safely substituted by the Tcl interpreter into
“^Z”.
Tcl_EvalObjv executes a single pre-parsed command instead of a script. The objc and objv
arguments contain the values of the words for the Tcl command, one word in each object in
objv. Tcl_EvalObjv evaluates the command and returns a completion code and result just
like Tcl_EvalObjEx. The caller of Tcl_EvalObjv has to manage the reference count of the
elements of objv, insuring that the objects are valid until Tcl_EvalObjv returns.
Tcl_Eval is similar to Tcl_EvalObjEx except that the script to be executed is supplied as
a string instead of an object and no compilation occurs. The string should be a proper
UTF-8 string as converted by Tcl_ExternalToUtfDString or Tcl_ExternalToUtf when it is
known to possibly contain upper ASCII characters whose possible combinations might be a
UTF-8 special code. The string is parsed and executed directly (using Tcl_EvalObjv)
instead of compiling it and executing the bytecodes. In situations where it is known that
the script will never be executed again, Tcl_Eval may be faster than Tcl_EvalObjEx.
Tcl_Eval returns a completion code and result just like Tcl_EvalObjEx. Note: for
backward compatibility with versions before Tcl 8.0, Tcl_Eval copies the object result in
interp to interp->result (use is deprecated) where it can be accessed directly.
This makes Tcl_Eval somewhat slower than Tcl_EvalEx, which does not do the copy.
Tcl_EvalEx is an extended version of Tcl_Eval that takes additional arguments numBytes and
flags. For the efficiency reason given above, Tcl_EvalEx is generally preferred over
Tcl_Eval.
Tcl_GlobalEval and Tcl_GlobalEvalObj are older procedures that are now deprecated. They
are similar to Tcl_EvalEx and Tcl_EvalObjEx except that the script is evaluated in the
global namespace and its variable context consists of global variables only (it ignores
any Tcl procedures that are active). These functions are equivalent to using the
TCL_EVAL_GLOBAL flag (see below).
Tcl_VarEval takes any number of string arguments of any length, concatenates them into a
single string, then calls Tcl_Eval to execute that string as a Tcl command. It returns
the result of the command and also modifies interp->result in the same way as Tcl_Eval.
The last argument to Tcl_VarEval must be NULL to indicate the end of arguments.
Tcl_VarEval is now deprecated.
Tcl_VarEvalVA is the same as Tcl_VarEval except that instead of taking a variable number
of arguments it takes an argument list. Like Tcl_VarEval, Tcl_VarEvalVA is deprecated.
FLAG BITS
Any ORed combination of the following values may be used for the flags argument to
procedures such as Tcl_EvalObjEx:
TCL_EVAL_DIRECT This flag is only used by Tcl_EvalObjEx; it is ignored by other
procedures. If this flag bit is set, the script is not compiled to
bytecodes; instead it is executed directly as is done by
Tcl_EvalEx. The TCL_EVAL_DIRECT flag is useful in situations where
the contents of an object are going to change immediately, so the
bytecodes will not be reused in a future execution. In this case,
it is faster to execute the script directly.
TCL_EVAL_GLOBAL If this flag is set, the script is processed at global level. This
means that it is evaluated in the global namespace and its variable
context consists of global variables only (it ignores any Tcl
procedures at are active).
MISCELLANEOUS DETAILS
During the processing of a Tcl command it is legal to make nested calls to evaluate other
commands (this is how procedures and some control structures are implemented). If a code
other than TCL_OK is returned from a nested Tcl_EvalObjEx invocation, then the caller
should normally return immediately, passing that same return code back to its caller, and
so on until the top-level application is reached. A few commands, like for, will check
for certain return codes, like TCL_BREAK and TCL_CONTINUE, and process them specially
without returning.
Tcl_EvalObjEx keeps track of how many nested Tcl_EvalObjEx invocations are in progress for
interp. If a code of TCL_RETURN, TCL_BREAK, or TCL_CONTINUE is about to be returned from
the topmost Tcl_EvalObjEx invocation for interp, it converts the return code to TCL_ERROR
and sets interp's result to an error message indicating that the return, break, or
continue command was invoked in an inappropriate place. This means that top-level
applications should never see a return code from Tcl_EvalObjEx other then TCL_OK or
TCL_ERROR.
KEYWORDS
execute, file, global, object, result, script