1proc(n) Tcl Built-In Commands proc(n)
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8 proc - Create a Tcl procedure
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11 proc name args body
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15 The proc command creates a new Tcl procedure named name, replacing any
16 existing command or procedure there may have been by that name. When‐
17 ever the new command is invoked, the contents of body will be executed
18 by the Tcl interpreter. Normally, name is unqualified (does not
19 include the names of any containing namespaces), and the new procedure
20 is created in the current namespace. If name includes any namespace
21 qualifiers, the procedure is created in the specified namespace. Args
22 specifies the formal arguments to the procedure. It consists of a
23 list, possibly empty, each of whose elements specifies one argument.
24 Each argument specifier is also a list with either one or two fields.
25 If there is only a single field in the specifier then it is the name of
26 the argument; if there are two fields, then the first is the argument
27 name and the second is its default value. Arguments with default val‐
28 ues that are followed by non-defaulted arguments become required argu‐
29 ments; enough actual arguments must be supplied to allow all arguments
30 up to and including the last required formal argument.
31 When name is invoked a local variable will be created for each of the
33 formal arguments to the procedure; its value will be the value of cor‐
34 responding argument in the invoking command or the argument's default
35 value. Actual arguments are assigned to formal arguments strictly in
36 order. Arguments with default values need not be specified in a proce‐
37 dure invocation. However, there must be enough actual arguments for
38 all the formal arguments that do not have defaults, and there must not
39 be any extra actual arguments. Arguments with default values that are
40 followed by non-defaulted arguments become de-facto required arguments,
41 though this may change in a future version of Tcl; portable code should
42 ensure that all optional arguments come after all required arguments.
43 There is one special case to permit procedures with variable numbers of
45 arguments. If the last formal argument has the name “args”, then a
46 call to the procedure may contain more actual arguments than the proce‐
47 dure has formal arguments. In this case, all of the actual arguments
48 starting at the one that would be assigned to args are combined into a
49 list (as if the list command had been used); this combined value is
50 assigned to the local variable args.
51 When body is being executed, variable names normally refer to local
53 variables, which are created automatically when referenced and deleted
54 when the procedure returns. One local variable is automatically cre‐
55 ated for each of the procedure's arguments. Other variables can only
56 be accessed by invoking one of the global, variable, upvar or namespace
57 upvar commands. The current namespace when body is executed will be
58 the namespace that the procedure's name exists in, which will be the
59 namespace that it was created in unless it has been changed with
60 rename.
61 The proc command returns an empty string. When a procedure is invoked,
63 the procedure's return value is the value specified in a return com‐
64 mand. If the procedure does not execute an explicit return, then its
65 return value is the value of the last command executed in the proce‐
66 dure's body. If an error occurs while executing the procedure body,
67 then the procedure-as-a-whole will return that same error.
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70 This is a procedure that takes two arguments and prints both their sum
71 and their product. It also returns the string “OK” to the caller as an
72 explicit result.
73 proc printSumProduct {x y} {
75 set sum [expr {$x + $y}]
76 set prod [expr {$x * $y}]
77 puts "sum is $sum, product is $prod"
78 return "OK"
79 }
80 This is a procedure that accepts arbitrarily many arguments and prints
82 them out, one by one.
83 proc printArguments args {
85 foreach arg $args {
86 puts $arg
87 }
88 }
89 This procedure is a bit like the incr command, except it multiplies the
91 contents of the named variable by the value, which defaults to 2:
92 proc mult {varName {multiplier 2}} {
94 upvar 1 $varName var
95 set var [expr {$var * $multiplier}]
96 }
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99 info(n), unknown(n)
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102 argument, procedure
103Tcl proc(n)