Provided by: environment-modules_4.4.1-1_amd64 
NAME
modulefile - files containing Tcl code for the Modules package
DESCRIPTION
modulefiles are written in the Tool Command Language, Tcl(n) and are interpreted by the modulecmd.tcl
program via the module(1) user interface. modulefiles can be loaded, unloaded, or switched on-the-fly
while the user is working; and can be used to implement site policies regarding the access and use of
applications.
A modulefile begins with the magic cookie, '#%Module'. A version number may be placed after this string.
The version number is useful as the modulefile format may change thus it reflects the minimum version of
modulecmd.tcl required to interpret the modulefile. If a version number doesn't exist, then modulecmd.tcl
will assume the modulefile is compatible. Files without the magic cookie or with a version number greater
than the current version of modulecmd.tcl will not be interpreted.
Each modulefile contains the changes to a user's environment needed to access an application. Tcl is a
simple programming language which permits modulefiles to be arbitrarily complex, depending upon the
application's and the modulefile writer's needs. If support for extended tcl (tclX) has been configured
for your installation of the Modules package, you may use all the extended commands provided by tclX,
too.
A typical modulefile is a simple bit of code that set or add entries to the PATH, MANPATH, or other
environment variables. A Modulefile is evaluated against current modulecmd.tcl's mode which leads to
specific evaluation results. For instance if the modulefile sets a value to an environment variable, this
variable is set when modulefile is loaded and unset when modulefile is unloaded.
Tcl has conditional statements that are evaluated when the modulefile is interpreted. This is very
effective for managing path or environment changes due to different OS releases or architectures. The
user environment information is encapsulated into a single modulefile kept in a central location. The
same modulefile is used by every user on any machine. So, from the user's perspective, starting an
application is exactly the same irrespective of the machine or platform they are on.
modulefiles also hide the notion of different types of shells. From the user's perspective, changing the
environment for one shell looks exactly the same as changing the environment for another shell. This is
useful for new or novice users and eliminates the need for statements such as "if you're using the C
Shell do this ..., otherwise if you're using the Bourne shell do this ...". Announcing and accessing new
software is uniform and independent of the user's shell. From the modulefile writer's perspective, this
means one set of information will take care of every type of shell.
MODULES SPECIFIC TCL COMMANDS
The Modules Package uses commands which are extensions to the "standard" Tool Command Language Tcl(n)
package. Unless otherwise specified, the Module commands return the empty string. Some commands behave
differently when a modulefile is loaded or unloaded. The command descriptions assume the modulefile is
being loaded.
break
This is not a Modules-specific command, it's actually part of Tcl, which has been overloaded similar
to the continue and exit commands to have the effect of causing the module not to be listed as loaded
and not affect other modules being loaded concurrently. All non-environment commands within the module
will be performed up to this point and processing will continue on to the next module on the command
line. The break command will only have this effect if not used within a Tcl loop though.
An example: Suppose that a full selection of modulefiles are needed for various different
architectures, but some of the modulefiles are not needed and the user should be alerted. Having the
unnecessary modulefile be a link to the following notavail modulefile will perform the task as
required.
#%Module1.0
## notavail modulefile
##
proc ModulesHelp { } {
puts stderr "This module does nothing but alert the user"
puts stderr "that the [module-info name] module is not available"
}
module-whatis "Notifies user that module is not available."
set curMod [module-info name]
if { [ module-info mode load ] } {
puts stderr "Note: '$curMod' is not available for [uname sysname]."
}
break
chdir directory
Set the current working directory to directory.
continue
This is not a modules specific command but another overloaded Tcl command and is similar to the break
or exit commands except the module will be listed as loaded as well as performing any environment or
Tcl commands up to this point and then continuing on to the next module on the command line. The
continue command will only have this effect if not used within a Tcl loop though.
exit [N]
This is not a modules specific command but another overloaded Tcl command and is similar to the break
or continue commands. However, this command will cause the immediate cessation of this module and any
additional ones on the command line. This module and the subsequent modules will not be listed as
loaded. No environment commands will be performed in the current module.
setenv variable value
Set environment variable to value. The setenv command will also change the process' environment. A
reference using Tcl's env associative array will reference changes made with the setenv command.
Changes made using Tcl's env associative array will NOT change the user's environment variable like
the setenv command. An environment change made this way will only affect the module parsing process.
The setenv command is also useful for changing the environment prior to the exec or system command.
When a modulefile is unloaded, setenv becomes unsetenv. If the environment variable had been defined
it will be overwritten while loading the modulefile. A subsequent unload will unset the environment
variable - the previous value cannot be restored! (Unless you handle it explicitly ... see below.)
unsetenv variable [value]
Unsets environment variable. However, if there is an optional value, then when unloading a module, it
will set variable to value. The unsetenv command changes the process' environment like setenv.
getenv variable [value]
Returns value of environment variable. If variable is not defined value is returned if set _UNDEFINED_
is returned elsewhere. getenv command should be preferred over Tcl global variable env to query
environment variables.
append-path [-d C|--delim C|--delim=C] [--duplicates] variable value...
See prepend-path.
prepend-path [-d C|--delim C|--delim=C] [--duplicates] variable value...
Append or prepend value to environment variable. The variable is a colon, or delimiter, separated list
such as PATH=directory:directory:directory. The default delimiter is a colon ':', but an arbitrary one
can be given by the --delim option. For example a space can be used instead (which will need to be
handled in the Tcl specially by enclosing it in " " or { }). A space, however, can not be specified by
the --delim=C form.
A reference counter environment variable is also set to increase the number of times value has been
added to environment variable. This reference counter environment variable is named by suffixing
variable by _modshare.
When value is already defined in environement variable, it is not added again except if --duplicates
option is set.
If the variable is not set, it is created. When a modulefile is unloaded, append-path and prepend-path
become remove-path.
If value corresponds to the concatenation of multiple elements separated by colon, or delimiter,
character, each element is treated separately.
remove-path [-d C|--delim C|--delim=C] [--index] variable value...
Remove value from the colon, or delimiter, separated list in variable. See prepend-path or append-path
for further explanation of using an arbitrary delimiter. Every string between colons, or delimiters,
in variable is compared to value. If the two match, value is removed from variable if its reference
counter is equal to 1 or unknown.
When --index option is set, value refers to an index in variable list. The string element pointed by
this index is set for removal.
Reference counter of value in variable denotes the number of times value has been added to variable.
This information is stored in environment variable_modshare. When attempting to remove value from
variable, relative reference counter is checked and value is removed only if counter is equal to 1 or
not defined. Elsewhere value is kept in variable and reference counter is decreased by 1.
If value corresponds to the concatenation of multiple elements separated by colon, or delimiter,
character, each element is treated separately.
prereq modulefile...
See conflict.
conflict modulefile...
prereq and conflict control whether or not the modulefile will be loaded. The prereq command lists
modulefiles which must have been previously loaded before the current modulefile will be loaded.
Similarly, the conflict command lists modulefiles which conflict with the current modulefile. If a
list contains more than one modulefile, then each member of the list acts as a Boolean OR operation.
Multiple prereq and conflict commands may be used to create a Boolean AND operation. If one of the
requirements have not been satisfied, an error is reported and the current modulefile makes no changes
to the user's environment.
If an argument for prereq is a directory and any modulefile from the directory has been loaded, then
the prerequisite is met. For example, specifying X11 as a prereq means that any version of X11, X11/R4
or X11/R5, must be loaded before proceeding.
If an argument for conflict is a directory and any other modulefile from that directory has been
loaded, then a conflict will occur. For example, specifying X11 as a conflict will stop X11/R4 and
X11/R5 from being loaded at the same time.
The parameter modulefile may also be a symbolic modulefile name or a modulefile alias. It may also
leverage a specific syntax to finely select module version (see Advanced module version specifiers
section below).
is-loaded [modulefile...]
The is-loaded command returns a true value if any of the listed modulefiles has been loaded or if any
modulefile is loaded in case no argument is provided. If a list contains more than one modulefile,
then each member acts as a boolean OR operation. If an argument for is-loaded is a directory and any
modulefile from the directory has been loaded is-loaded would return a true value.
The parameter modulefile may also be a symbolic modulefile name or a modulefile alias. It may also
leverage a specific syntax to finely select module version (see Advanced module version specifiers
section below).
is-saved [collection...]
The is-saved command returns a true value if any of the listed collections exists or if any collection
exists in case no argument is provided. If a list contains more than one collection, then each member
acts as a boolean OR operation.
If MODULES_COLLECTION_TARGET is set, a suffix equivalent to the value of this variable is appended to
the passed collection name. In case no collection argument is provided, a true value will only be
returned if a collection matching currently set target exists.
is-used [directory...]
The is-used command returns a true value if any of the listed directories has been enabled in
MODULEPATH or if any directory is enabled in case no argument is provided. If a list contains more
than one directory, then each member acts as a boolean OR operation.
is-avail modulefile...
The is-avail command returns a true value if any of the listed modulefiles exists in enabled
MODULEPATH. If a list contains more than one modulefile, then each member acts as a boolean OR
operation. If an argument for is-avail is a directory and a modulefile exists in the directory
is-avail would return a true value.
The parameter modulefile may also be a symbolic modulefile name or a modulefile alias. It may also
leverage a specific syntax to finely select module version (see Advanced module version specifiers
section below).
module [sub-command] [sub-command-args]
Contains the same sub-commands as described in the module(1) man page in the Module Sub-Commands
section. This command permits a modulefile to load or unload other modulefiles. No checks are made to
ensure that the modulefile does not try to load itself. Often it is useful to have a single modulefile
that performs a number of module load commands. For example, if every user on the system requires a
basic set of applications loaded, then a core modulefile would contain the necessary module load
commands.
Command line switches --auto, --no-auto and --force are ignored when passed to a module command set in
a modulefile.
module-info option [info-args]
Provide information about the modulecmd.tcl program's state. Some of the information is specific to
the internals of modulecmd.tcl. option is the type of information to be provided, and info-args are
any arguments needed.
module-info type
Returns either "C" or "Tcl" to indicate which module command is being executed, either the "C"
version or the Tcl-only version, to allow the modulefile writer to handle any differences between
the two.
module-info mode [modetype]
Returns the current modulecmd.tcl's mode as a string if no modetype is given.
Returns 1 if modulecmd.tcl's mode is modetype. modetype can be: load, unload, remove, switch,
display, help, test or whatis.
module-info command [commandname]
Returns the currently running modulecmd.tcl's command as a string if no commandname is given.
Returns 1 if modulecmd.tcl's command is commandname. commandname can be: load, unload, reload,
source, switch, display, avail, aliases, list, whatis, search, purge, restore, help or test.
module-info name
Return the name of the modulefile. This is not the full pathname for modulefile. See the Modules
Variables section for information on the full pathname.
module-info specified
Return the name of the modulefile specified on the command line.
module-info shell [shellname]
Return the current shell under which modulecmd.tcl was invoked if no shellname is given. The
current shell is the first parameter of modulecmd.tcl, which is normally hidden by the module
alias.
If a shellname is given, returns 1 if modulecmd.tcl's current shell is shellname, returns 0
elsewhere. shellname can be: sh, bash, ksh, zsh, csh, tcsh, fish, tcl, perl, python, ruby, lisp,
cmake, r.
module-info shelltype [shelltypename]
Return the family of the shell under which modulefile was invoked if no shelltypename is given. As
of module-info shell this depends on the first parameter of modulecmd.tcl. The output reflects a
shell type determining the shell syntax of the commands produced by modulecmd.tcl.
If a shelltypename is given, returns 1 if modulecmd.tcl's current shell type is shelltypename,
returns 0 elsewhere. shelltypename can be: sh, csh, fish, tcl, perl, python, ruby, lisp, cmake, r.
module-info alias name
Returns the full modulefile name to which the modulefile alias name is assigned
module-info version modulefile
Returns the physical module name and version of the passed symbolic version modulefile. The
parameter modulefile might either be a full qualified modulefile with name and version, another
symbolic modulefile name or a modulefile alias.
module-info symbols modulefile
Returns a list of all symbolic versions assigned to the passed modulefile. The parameter
modulefile might either be a full qualified modulefile with name and version, another symbolic
modulefile name or a modulefile alias.
module-info loaded modulefile
Returns the names of currently loaded modules matching passed modulefile. The parameter
modulefile might either be a fully qualified modulefile with name and version or just a directory
which in case all loaded modulefiles from the directory will be returned. The parameter modulefile
may also be a symbolic modulefile name or a modulefile alias.
module-version modulefile version-name...
Assigns the symbolic version-name to the modulefile. This command should be placed in one of the
modulecmd.tcl rc files in order to provide shorthand invocations of frequently used modulefile names.
The special version-name default specifies the default version to be used for module commands, if no
specific version is given. This replaces the definitions made in the .version file in former
modulecmd.tcl releases.
The parameter modulefile may be either
• a fully or partially qualified modulefile with name / version. If name is '.' then the current
directory name is assumed to be the module name. (Use this for deep modulefile directories.)
• a symbolic modulefile name
• another modulefile alias
module-alias name modulefile
Assigns the modulefile to the alias name. This command should be placed in one of the modulecmd.tcl rc
files in order to provide shorthand invocations of frequently used modulefile names.
The parameter modulefile may be either
• a fully qualified modulefile with name and version
• a symbolic modulefile name
• another modulefile alias
module-virtual name modulefile
Assigns the modulefile to the virtual module name. This command should be placed in rc files in order
to define virtual modules.
A virtual module stands for a module name associated to a modulefile. The modulefile is the script
interpreted when loading or unloading the virtual module which appears or can be found with its
virtual name.
The parameter modulefile corresponds to the relative or absolute file location of a modulefile.
module-whatis string
Defines a string which is displayed in case of the invocation of the module whatis command. There may
be more than one module-whatis line in a modulefile. This command takes no actions in case of load,
display, etc. invocations of modulecmd.tcl.
The string parameter has to be enclosed in double-quotes if there's more than one word specified.
Words are defined to be separated by whitespace characters (space, tab, cr).
set-alias alias-name alias-string
Sets an alias or function with the name alias-name in the user's environment to the string
alias-string. For some shells, aliases are not possible and the command has no effect. When a
modulefile is unloaded, set-alias becomes unset-alias.
unset-alias alias-name
Unsets an alias with the name alias-name in the user's environment.
set-function function-name function-string
Creates a function with the name function-name in the user's environment with the function body
function-string. For some shells, functions are not possible and the command has no effect. When a
modulefile is unloaded, set-function becomes unset-function.
unset-function function-name
Removes a function with the name function-name from the user's environment.
system string
Run string command through shell. On Unix, command is passed to the /bin/sh shell whereas on Windows
it is passed to cmd.exe. modulecmd.tcl redirects stdout to stderr since stdout would be parsed by the
evaluating shell. The exit status of the executed command is returned.
uname field
Provide lookup of system information. Most field information are retrieved from the tcl_platform array
(see tclvars(n) man page). Uname will return the string "unknown" if information is unavailable for
the field.
uname will invoke uname(1) command in order to get the operating system version and domainname(1) to
figure out the name of the domain.
field values are:
• sysname: the operating system name
• nodename: the hostname
• domain: the name of the domain
• release: the operating system release
• version: the operating system version
• machine: a standard name that identifies the system's hardware
x-resource [resource-string|filename]
Merge resources into the X11 resource database. The resources are used to control look and behavior of
X11 applications. The command will attempt to read resources from filename. If the argument isn't a
valid file name, then string will be interpreted as a resource. Either filename or resource-string is
then passed down to be xrdb(1) command.
modulefiles that use this command, should in most cases contain one or more x-resource lines, each
defining one X11 resource. The DISPLAY environment variable should be properly set and the X11 server
should be accessible. If x-resource can't manipulate the X11 resource database, the modulefile will
exit with an error message.
Examples:
x-resource /u2/staff/leif/.xres/Ileaf
The content of the Ileaf file is merged into the X11 resource database.
x-resource [glob ~/.xres/ileaf]
The Tcl glob function is used to have the modulefile read different resource files for different
users.
x-resource {Ileaf.popup.saveUnder: True}
Merge the Ileaf resource into the X11 resource database.
MODULES VARIABLES
The ModulesCurrentModulefile variable contains the full pathname of the modulefile being interpreted.
LOCATING MODULEFILES
Every directory in MODULEPATH is searched to find the modulefile. A directory in MODULEPATH can have an
arbitrary number of sub-directories. If the user names a modulefile to be loaded which is actually a
directory, the directory is opened and a search begins for an actual modulefile. First, modulecmd.tcl
looks for a file with the name .modulerc in the directory. If this file exists, its contents will be
evaluated as if it was a modulefile to be loaded. You may place module-version, module-alias and
module-virtual commands inside this file.
Additionally, before seeking for .modulerc files in the module directory, the global modulerc file and
the .modulerc file found at the root of the modulepath directory are sourced, too. If a named version
default now exists for the modulefile to be loaded, the assigned modulefile now will be sourced.
Otherwise the file .version is looked up in the module directory.
If the .version file exists, it is opened and interpreted as Tcl code and takes precedence over a
.modulerc file in the same directory. If the Tcl variable ModulesVersion is set by the .version file,
modulecmd.tcl will use the name as if it specifies a modulefile in this directory. This will become the
default modulefile in this case. ModulesVersion cannot refer to a modulefile located in a different
directory.
If ModulesVersion is a directory, the search begins anew down that directory. If the name does not match
any files located in the current directory, the search continues through the remaining directories in
MODULEPATH.
Every .version and .modulerc file found is Tcl interpreted. The difference is that .version only applies
to the current directory, and the .modulerc applies to the current directory and all subdirectories.
Changes made in these files will affect the subsequently interpreted modulefile.
If no default version may be figured out, an implicit default is selected when this behavior is enabled
(see MODULES_IMPLICIT_DEFAULT in module(1)). If disabled, module names should be fully qualified when no
explicit default is defined for them, elsewhere no default version is found and an error is returned. If
enabled, then the highest numerically sorted modulefile, virtual module or module alias under the
directory will be used. The dictionary comparison method of the lsort(n) Tcl command is used to achieve
this sort. If highest numerically sorted element is an alias, search continues on its modulefile target.
For example, it is possible for a user to have a directory named X11 which simply contains a .version
file specifying which version of X11 is to be loaded. Such a file would look like:
#%Module1.0
##
## The desired version of X11
##
set ModulesVersion "R4"
The equivalent .modulerc would look like:
#%Module1.0
##
## The desired version of X11
##
module-version "./R4" default
If the extended default mechanism is enabled (see MODULES_EXTENDED_DEFAULT in module(1)) the module
version specified is matched against starting portion of existing module versions, where portion is a
substring separated from the rest of version string by a . character.
If user names a modulefile that cannot be found in the first modulepath directory, modulefile will be
searched in next modulepath directory and so on until a matching modulefile is found. If search goes
through a module alias or a symbolic version, this alias or symbol is resolved by first looking at the
modulefiles in the modulepath where this alias or symbol is defined. If not found, resolution looks at
the other modulepaths in their definition order.
When locating modulefiles, if a .modulerc, a .version, a directory or a modulefile cannot be read during
the search it is simply ignored with no error message produced. Visibility of modulefiles can thus be
adapted to the rights the user has been granted. Exception is made when trying to directly access a
directory or a modulefile. In this case, the access issue is returned as an error message.
A modulefile whose name or element in its name starts with a '.' dot is considered hidden. Hidden
modulefile is not displayed or taken into account except if it is explicitly named. By inheritance, a
symbolic version-name assigned to a hidden modulefile is displayed or taken into account only if
explicitly named. Module alias targeting a hidden modulefile appears like any other module alias.
ADVANCED MODULE VERSION SPECIFIERS
When the advanced module version specifiers mechanism is enabled (see MODULES_ADVANCED_VERSION_SPEC in
module(1)), the specification of modulefile passed on Modules specific Tcl commands changes. After the
module name a version constraint prefixed by the @ character may be added. It could be directly appended
to the module name or separated from it with a space character.
Constraints can be expressed to refine the selection of module version to:
• a single version with the @version syntax, for instance foo@1.2.3 syntax will select module foo/1.2.3
• a list of versions with the @version1,version2,... syntax, for instance foo@1.2.3,1.10 will match
modules foo/1.2.3 and foo/1.10
• a range of versions with the @version1:, @:version2 and @version1:version2 syntaxes, for instance
foo@1.2: will select all versions of module foo greater than or equal to 1.2, foo@:1.3 will select all
versions less than or equal to 1.3 and foo@1.2:1.3 matches all versions between 1.2 and 1.3 including
1.2 and 1.3 versions
Advanced specification of single version or list of versions may benefit from the activation of the
extended default mechanism (see MODULES_EXTENDED_DEFAULT in module(1)) to use an abbreviated notation
like @1 to refer to more precise version numbers like 1.2.3. Range of versions on its side natively
handles abbreviated versions.
In order to be specified in a range of versions or compared to a range of versions, the version major
element should corresponds to a number. For instance 10a, 1.2.3, 1.foo are versions valid for range
comparison whereas default or foo.2 versions are invalid for range comparison.
MODULEFILE SPECIFIC HELP
Users can request help about a specific modulefile through the module(1) command. The modulefile can
print helpful information or start help oriented programs by defining a ModulesHelp subroutine. The
subroutine will be called when the module help modulefile command is used.
MODULEFILE SPECIFIC TEST
Users can request test of a specific modulefile through the module(1) command. The modulefile can perform
some sanity checks on its definition or on its underlying programs by defining a ModulesTest subroutine.
The subroutine will be called when the module test modulefile command is used. The subroutine should
return 1 in case of success. If no or any other value is returned, test is considered failed.
MODULEFILE DISPLAY
The module display modulefile command will detail all changes that will be made to the environment. After
displaying all of the environment changes modulecmd.tcl will call the ModulesDisplay subroutine. The
ModulesDisplay subroutine is a good place to put additional descriptive information about the modulefile.
ENVIRONMENT
MODULEPATH
Path of directories containing modulefiles.
SEE ALSO
module(1), Tcl(n), TclX(n), xrdb(1), exec(n), uname(1), domainname(1), tclvars(n), lsort(n)
NOTES
Tcl was developed by John Ousterhout at the University of California at Berkeley.
TclX was developed by Karl Lehenbauer and Mark Diekhans.
COPYRIGHT
1996-1999 John L. Furlani & Peter W. Osel, 1998-2017 R.K.Owen, 2002-2004 Mark Lakata, 2004-2017 Kent
Mein, 2016-2020 Xavier Delaruelle
4.4.1 2020-01-03 MODULEFILE(4)