Tcl_TranslateFileName(3) Tcl Library Procedures Tcl_TranslateFileName(3)______________________________________________________________________________NAMETcl_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 any‐
thing stored here.
_________________________________________________________________DESCRIPTION
This utility procedure translates a file name to a platform-specific
form which, after being converted to the appropriate encoding, is suit‐
able for passing to the local operating system. In particular, it con‐
verts network names into native form and does tilde substitution.
However, with the advent of the newer Tcl_FSGetNormalizedPath and
Tcl_GetNativePath, there is no longer any need to use this procedure.
In particular, Tcl_GetNativePath performs all the necessary translation
and encoding conversion, is virtual-filesystem aware, and caches the
native result for faster repeated calls. Finally Tcl_GetNativePath
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_TranslateFile‐
Name 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 inter‐
preter'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
KEYWORDS
file name, home directory, tilde, translate, user
Tcl 8.1 Tcl_TranslateFileName(3)
