gets(n) Tcl (7.5) gets(n)
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NAME
gets - Read a line from a channel
SYNOPSIS
gets channelId ?varName?
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DESCRIPTION
This command reads the next line from channelId, returns
everything in the line up to (but not including) the end-
of-line character(s), and discards the end-of-line
character(s). If varName is omitted the line is returned as
the result of the command. If varName is specified then the
line is placed in the variable by that name and the return
value is a count of the number of characters returned.
If end of file occurs while scanning for an end of line, the
command returns whatever input is available up to the end of
file. If channelId is in nonblocking mode and there is not
a full line of input available, the command returns an empty
string and does not consume any input. If varName is
specified and an empty string is returned in varName because
of end-of-file or because of insufficient data in
nonblocking mode, then the return count is -1. Note that if
varName is not specified then the end-of-file and no-full-
line-available cases can produce the same results as if
there were an input line consisting only of the end-of-line
character(s). The eof and fblocked commands can be used to
distinguish these three cases.
SEE ALSO
eof(n), fblocked(n)
KEYWORDS
blocking, channel, end of file, end of line, line,
nonblocking, read
Page 1 (printed 2/19/99)
