NAME

       Tcl_TranslateFileName  -  convert  file  name  to  native form and replace tilde with home
       directory

SYNOPSIS

       #include <tcl.h>

       char *
       Tcl_TranslateFileName(interp, name, bufferPtr)

ARGUMENTS

       Tcl_Interp *interp (in)              Interpreter in which to report an error, if any.

       const char *name (in)                File name, which may start with a “~”.

       Tcl_DString *bufferPtr (in/out)      If needed, this dynamic string is used to  store  the
                                            new  file name.  At the time of the call it should be
                                            uninitialized or free.  The  caller  must  eventually
                                            call Tcl_DStringFree to free up anything stored here.
_________________________________________________________________

DESCRIPTION

       This  utility  procedure  translates  a file name to a platform-specific form which, after
       being converted to the  appropriate  encoding,  is  suitable  for  passing  to  the  local
       operating  system.   In  particular,  it  converts network names into native form and does
       tilde substitution.

       However, with the advent of the  newer  Tcl_FSGetNormalizedPath  and  Tcl_FSGetNativePath,
       there  is  no  longer  any need to use this procedure.  In particular, Tcl_FSGetNativePath
       performs all the necessary translation  and  encoding  conversion,  is  virtual-filesystem
       aware,   and   caches   the   native   result   for   faster   repeated   calls.   Finally
       Tcl_FSGetNativePath does not require you to free anything afterwards.

       If Tcl_TranslateFileName has to do tilde substitution or translate the name then  it  uses
       the   dynamic   string  at  *bufferPtr  to  hold  the  new  string  it  generates.   After
       Tcl_TranslateFileName returns  a  non-NULL  result,  the  caller  must  eventually  invoke
       Tcl_DStringFree  to  free  any information placed in *bufferPtr.  The caller need not know
       whether or not Tcl_TranslateFileName  actually  used  the  string;   Tcl_TranslateFileName
       initializes  *bufferPtr even if it does not use it, so the call to Tcl_DStringFree will be
       safe in either case.

       If an error occurs (e.g. because there was no  user  by  the  given  name)  then  NULL  is
       returned  and  an  error  message will be left in the interpreter's result.  When an error
       occurs, Tcl_TranslateFileName frees the dynamic string itself so that the caller need  not
       call Tcl_DStringFree.

       The  caller  is  responsible for making sure that the interpreter's result has its default
       empty value when Tcl_TranslateFileName is invoked.

SEE ALSO

       filename(3tcl)

KEYWORDS

       file name, home directory, tilde, translate, user