Home > Articles

An Overview of Tcl and Tk

This chapter introduces Tcl and Tk with a series of scripts illustrating their main features.
This chapter is from the book

This chapter is from the book

Although you should be able to start writing simple scripts after reading this chapter, the explanations here are not complete. The purpose of this chapter is to show you the overall structure of Tcl and Tk and the kinds of things they can do, so that when individual features are discussed in detail you'll be able to see why they are useful. All of the information in this chapter is revisited in more detail in later chapters, and several important aspects, such as the Tcl C interfaces, are not discussed at all in this chapter.

1.1 Getting Started

To invoke Tcl scripts, you must run a Tcl application. If Tcl is installed on your system, there should exist a simple Tcl shell application called tclsh, which you can use to try out some of the examples in this chapter. If Tcl has not been installed on your system, refer to Appendix A for information on how to obtain and install it.

You can start the tclsh application by opening a terminal window on a Macintosh or Unix system, or a command prompt window on a Windows system, and then entering the command

    tclsh

This causes tclsh to start in interactive mode, reading Tcl commands from the keyboard and passing them to the Tcl interpreter for evaluation. For starters, enter the following command at the tclsh prompt:

    expr 2 + 2

tclsh prints the result (4) and then prompts you for another command.

This example illustrates several features of Tcl. Each command consists of one or more words separated by spaces or tabs (referred to as whitespace characters). In the example there are four words: expr, 2, +, and 2. The first word of each command is the name of the command to execute. The other words are arguments that are passed to the command for processing. expr is one of the core commands provided by the Tcl library, so it exists in every Tcl application. It concatenates its arguments into a single string and evaluates the string as an arithmetic expression.

Each Tcl command returns a result. If a command has no meaningful result, it returns an empty string. For the expr command the result is the value of the expression.

All values in Tcl have a string representation and may also have a more efficient internal representation. In this example, expr's result is a numerical value that would have a binary integer or floating-point internal representation. The internal representation allows faster and more efficient processing of information. If the value simply is assigned to a variable or if it is used by another command expecting a numerical value, this is done very efficiently as no string conversion is required. Tcl automatically generates a string representation of a value on an as-needed basis—for example, when the value is displayed on the console.

From now on, we will use notation such as the following to describe examples:

    expr 2 + 2
  ⇒ 4

The first line is the command you enter and the second line is the result returned by the command. The ⇒ symbol indicates that the line contains a return value; the ⇒ is not actually printed out by tclsh. We will omit return values in cases where they aren't important, such as sequences of commands where only the last command's result matters.

Commands are normally terminated by newlines (typically the Enter or Return key on your keyboard), so each line that you enter in tclsh normally becomes a separate command. Semicolons also act as command separators, in case you wish to enter multiple commands on a single line. It is also possible for a single command to span multiple lines; you'll see how to do this later.

The expr command supports an expression syntax similar to that of expressions in ANSI C, including the same precedence rules and most of the C operators. Here are a few examples that you could enter in tclsh:

    expr 2 * 10 - 1
  ⇒ 19
    expr 14.1*6
  ⇒ 84.6
    expr sin(.2)
  ⇒ 0.19866933079506122
    expr rand()
  ⇒ 0.62130973004797
    expr rand()
  ⇒ 0.35263291623100307
    expr (3 > 4) || (6 <= 7)
  ⇒ 1

The first example shows the multiplication operator and how it has a higher precedence than subtraction. The second shows that expressions can contain real values as well as integer values. The next examples show some of the built-in functions supported by expr, including the rand() function for generating random numbers between 0 and 1. The last example shows the use of the relational operators > and <= and the logical OR operator ||. As in C, Boolean results are represented numerically with 1 for true and 0 for false.

To leave tclsh, invoke the exit command:

    exit

This command terminates the application and returns you to your shell.

InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020