Tcl Library Procedures - Tcl_SetResult manual page

### NAME

Tcl_SetObjResult, Tcl_GetObjResult, Tcl_SetResult, Tcl_GetStringResult, Tcl_AppendResult, Tcl_AppendElement, Tcl_ResetResult - manipulate Tcl result

### SYNOPSIS

#include <tcl.h>
Tcl_SetObjResult(interp, objPtr)
Tcl_Obj *
Tcl_GetObjResult(interp)
Tcl_SetResult(interp, string, freeProc)
char *
Tcl_GetStringResult(interp)
Tcl_AppendResult(interp, string, string, ... , (char *) NULL)
Tcl_AppendElement(interp, string)
Tcl_ResetResult(interp)
Tcl_FreeResult(interp)

### ARGUMENTS

Tcl_Interp *interp (out)
  Interpreter whose result is to be modified or read.

Tcl_Obj *objPtr (in)
  Object value to become result for interp.

char *string (in)
  String value to become result for interp or to be appended to the existing result.

Tcl_FreeProc *freeProc (in)
  Address of procedure to call to release storage at string, or TCL_STATIC, TCL_DYNAMIC, or TCL_VOLATILE.

### DESCRIPTION

The procedures described here are utilities for manipulating the result value in a Tcl interpreter. The interpreter result may be either a Tcl object or a string. For example, Tcl_SetObjResult and Tcl_SetResult set the interpreter result to, respectively, an object and a string. Similarly, Tcl_GetObjResult and Tcl_GetStringResult return the interpreter result as an object and as a string. The procedures always keep the string and object forms of the interpreter result consistent. For example, if Tcl_SetObjResult is called to set the result to an object, then Tcl_GetStringResult is called, it will return the object's string value.

Tcl_SetObjResult arranges for objPtr to be the result for interp, replacing any existing result. The result is left pointing to the object referenced by objPtr. objPtr's reference count is incremented since there is now a new reference to it from interp. The reference count for any old result object is decremented and the old result object is freed if no references to it remain.

Tcl_GetObjResult returns the result for interp as an object. The object's reference count is not incremented; if the caller needs to retain a long-term pointer to the object they should use Tcl_IncrRefCount to increment its reference count in order to keep it from being freed too early or accidently changed.

Tcl_SetResult arranges for string to be the result for the current Tcl command in interp, replacing any existing result. The freeProc argument specifies how to manage the storage for the string argument; it is discussed in the section THE TCL_FREEPROC ARGUMENT TO TCL_SETRESULT below. If string is NULL, then freeProc is ignored and Tcl_SetResult re-initializes interp's result to point to an empty string.

Tcl_GetStringResult returns the result for interp as an string. If the result was set to an object by a Tcl_SetObjResult call, the object form will be converted to a string and returned. If the object's string representation contains null bytes, this conversion will lose information. For this reason, programmers are encouraged to write their code to use the new object API procedures and to call Tcl_GetObjResult instead.

Tcl_ResetResult clears the result for interp and leaves the result in its normal empty initialized state. If the result is an object, its reference count is decremented and the result is left pointing to an unshared object representing an empty string. If the result is a dynamically allocated string, its memory is free*d and the result is left as a empty string. Tcl_ResetResult also clears the error state managed by Tcl_AddErrorInfo, Tcl_AddObjErrorInfo, and Tcl_SetErrorCode.

### OLD STRING PROCEDURES

Use of the following procedures is deprecated since they manipulate the Tcl result as a string. Procedures such as Tcl_SetObjResult that manipulate the result as an object can be significantly more efficient.

Tcl_AppendResult makes it easy to build up Tcl results in pieces. It takes each of its string arguments and appends them in order to the current result associated with interp. If the result is in its initialized empty state (e.g. a command procedure was just invoked or Tcl_ResetResult was just called), then Tcl_AppendResult sets the result to the concatenation of its string arguments. Tcl_AppendResult may be called repeatedly as additional pieces of the result are produced. Tcl_AppendResult takes care of all the storage management issues associated with managing interp's result, such as allocating a larger result area if necessary. It also converts the current interpreter result from an object to a string, if necessary, before appending the argument strings. Any number of string arguments may be passed in a single call; the last argument in the list must be a NULL pointer.

Tcl_AppendElement is similar to Tcl_AppendResult in that it allows results to be built up in pieces. However, Tcl_AppendElement takes only a single string argument and it appends that argument to the current result as a proper Tcl list element. Tcl_AppendElement adds backslashes or braces if necessary to ensure that interp's result can be parsed as a list and that string will be extracted as a single element. Under normal conditions, Tcl_AppendElement will add a space character to interp's result just before adding the new list element, so that the list elements in the result are properly separated. However if the new list element is the first in a list or sub-list (i.e. interp's current result is empty, or consists of the single character ``{'', or ends in the characters `` {'') then no space is added.

Tcl_FreeResult performs part of the work of Tcl_ResetResult. It frees up the memory associated with interp's result. It also sets interp->freeProc to zero, but doesn't change interp->result or clear error state. Tcl_FreeResult is most commonly used when a procedure is about to replace one result value with another.

### DIRECT ACCESS TO INTERP->RESULT IS DEPRECATED

It used to be legal for programs to directly read and write interp->result to manipulate the interpreter result. Direct access to interp->result is now strongly deprecated because it can make the result's string and object forms inconsistent. Programs should always read the result using the procedures Tcl_GetObjResult or Tcl_GetStringResult, and write the result using Tcl_SetObjResult or Tcl_SetResult.

### THE TCL_FREEPROC ARGUMENT TO TCL_SETRESULT

Tcl_SetResult's freeProc argument specifies how the Tcl system is to manage the storage for the string argument. If Tcl_SetResult or Tcl_SetObjResult are called at a time when interp holds a string result, they do whatever is necessary to dispose of the old string result (see the Tcl_Interp manual entry for details on this).

If freeProc is TCL_STATIC it means that string refers to an area of static storage that is guaranteed not to be modified until at least the next call to Tcl_Eval. If freeProc is TCL_DYNAMIC it means that string was allocated with a call to Tcl_Alloc and is now the property of the Tcl system. Tcl_SetResult will arrange for the string's storage to be released by calling Tcl_Free when it is no longer needed. If freeProc is TCL_VOLATILE it means that string points to an area of memory that is likely to be overwritten when Tcl_SetResult returns (e.g. it points to something in a stack frame). In this case Tcl_SetResult will make a copy of the string in dynamically allocated storage and arrange for the copy to be the result for the current Tcl command.

If freeProc isn't one of the values TCL_STATIC, TCL_DYNAMIC, and TCL_VOLATILE, then it is the address of a procedure that Tcl should call to free the string. This allows applications to use non-standard storage allocators. When Tcl no longer needs the storage for the string, it will call freeProc. FreeProc should have arguments and result that match the type Tcl_FreeProc:

    typedef void Tcl_FreeProc(char *blockPtr);

When freeProc is called, its blockPtr will be set to the value of string passed to Tcl_SetResult.

### SEE ALSO

Tcl_AddErrorInfo, Tcl_CreateObjCommand, Tcl_SetErrorCode, Tcl_Interp

### KEYWORDS

append, command, element, list, object, result, return value, interpreter

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    Copyright © 1994-1997 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
    Copyright © 1995-1997 Roger E. Critchlow Jr.