namespace man page on SmartOS

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namespace(n)		     Tcl Built-In Commands		  namespace(n)

______________________________________________________________________________

NAME
       namespace - create and manipulate contexts for commands and variables

SYNOPSIS
       namespace ?subcommand? ?arg ...?
_________________________________________________________________

DESCRIPTION
       The  namespace  command	lets  you create, access, and destroy separate
       contexts for commands and variables.  See the section WHAT IS A	NAMES‐
       PACE?  below  for  a brief overview of namespaces.  The legal values of
       subcommand are listed below.  Note that you can abbreviate the  subcom‐
       mands.

       namespace children ?namespace? ?pattern?
	      Returns a list of all child namespaces that belong to the names‐
	      pace namespace.  If namespace is not specified, then  the	 chil‐
	      dren  are	 returned  for	the  current  namespace.  This command
	      returns fully-qualified names, which start with a	 double	 colon
	      (::).   If  the  optional	 pattern  is  given, then this command
	      returns only the names that match the glob-style	pattern.   The
	      actual  pattern  used  is	 determined as follows: a pattern that
	      starts with double colon (::) is used  directly,	otherwise  the
	      namespace	 namespace (or the fully-qualified name of the current
	      namespace) is prepended onto the pattern.

       namespace code script
	      Captures the current namespace context for  later	 execution  of
	      the  script script.  It returns a new script in which script has
	      been wrapped in a namespace inscope command.  The new script has
	      two  important  properties.   First,  it can be evaluated in any
	      namespace and will cause script to be evaluated in  the  current
	      namespace	  (the	one  where  the	 namespace  code  command  was
	      invoked).	 Second, additional arguments can be appended  to  the
	      resulting script and they will be passed to script as additional
	      arguments.  For example, suppose the command set script  [names‐
	      pace  code {foo bar}] is invoked in namespace ::a::b.  Then eval
	      $script [list x y] can be executed in  any  namespace  (assuming
	      the  value  of script has been passed in properly) and will have
	      the same effect as the command ::namespace eval ::a::b {foo  bar
	      x	 y}.   This  command is needed because extensions like Tk nor‐
	      mally execute callback  scripts  in  the	global	namespace.   A
	      scoped  command  captures	 a command together with its namespace
	      context in a way that allows it to be executed  properly	later.
	      See  the section SCOPED SCRIPTS for some examples of how this is
	      used to create callback scripts.

       namespace current
	      Returns the fully-qualified name for the current namespace.  The
	      actual  name of the global namespace is (i.e., an empty string),
	      but this command returns	::  for	 the  global  namespace	 as  a
	      convenience to programmers.

       namespace delete ?namespace namespace ...?
	      Each   namespace	 namespace   is	 deleted  and  all  variables,
	      procedures, and child namespaces contained in the namespace  are
	      deleted.	 If  a	procedure  is  currently  executing inside the
	      namespace, the namespace will be kept alive until the  procedure
	      returns;	however, the namespace is marked to prevent other code
	      from looking it up by name.  If a namespace does not exist, this
	      command returns an error.	 If no namespace names are given, this
	      command does nothing.

       namespace ensemble subcommand ?arg ...?
	      Creates and manipulates a command	 that  is  formed  out	of  an
	      ensemble	of  subcommands.   See the section ENSEMBLES below for
	      further details.

       namespace eval namespace arg ?arg ...?
	      Activates a namespace called namespace and evaluates  some  code
	      in that context.	If the namespace does not already exist, it is
	      created.	If more	 than  one  arg	 argument  is  specified,  the
	      arguments	 are  concatenated  together with a space between each
	      one in the same fashion as the eval command, and the  result  is
	      evaluated.

	      If  namespace  has  leading namespace qualifiers and any leading
	      namespaces do not exist, they are automatically created.

       namespace exists namespace
	      Returns 1 if namespace is	 a  valid  namespace  in  the  current
	      context, returns 0 otherwise.

       namespace export ?-clear? ?pattern pattern ...?
	      Specifies	 which	commands  are  exported from a namespace.  The
	      exported commands are those that	can  be	 later	imported  into
	      another  namespace  using	 a  namespace  import  command.	  Both
	      commands defined in a namespace and commands the	namespace  has
	      previously  imported  can	 be  exported  by  a  namespace.   The
	      commands do not have to be defined at  the  time	the  namespace
	      export command is executed.  Each pattern may contain glob-style
	      special  characters,  but	 it  may  not  include	any  namespace
	      qualifiers.   That  is, the pattern can only specify commands in
	      the current (exporting) namespace.   Each	 pattern  is  appended
	      onto  the	 namespace's  list  of export patterns.	 If the -clear
	      flag is given, the namespace's export pattern list is  reset  to
	      empty before any pattern arguments are appended.	If no patterns
	      are given and the -clear flag is not given, this command returns
	      the namespace's current export list.

       namespace forget ?pattern pattern ...?
	      Removes  previously  imported  commands  from a namespace.  Each
	      pattern is a simple or qualified	name  such  as	x,  foo::x  or
	      a::b::p*.	  Qualified  names  contain  double  colons  (::)  and
	      qualify a name with the name of one or  more  namespaces.	  Each
	      “qualified  pattern”  is qualified with the name of an exporting
	      namespace and may have  glob-style  special  characters  in  the
	      command  name at the end of the qualified name.  Glob characters
	      may not appear in a namespace name.  For each  “simple  pattern”
	      this  command  deletes  the  matching  commands  of  the current
	      namespace that were imported from a  different  namespace.   For
	      “qualified  patterns”,  this  command  first  finds the matching
	      exported commands.  It then checks whether any of those commands
	      were  previously imported by the current namespace.  If so, this
	      command deletes the corresponding imported commands.  In effect,
	      this un-does the action of a namespace import command.

       namespace import ?-force? ?pattern pattern ...?
	      Imports  commands	 into  a  namespace,  or  queries  the	set of
	      imported	commands  in  a	 namespace.   When  no	arguments  are
	      present,	namespace  import  returns the list of commands in the
	      current namespace that have been imported from other namespaces.
	      The  commands  in	 the returned list are in the format of simple
	      names, with no namespace qualifiers  at  all.   This  format  is
	      suitable	for  composition  with	namespace forget (see EXAMPLES
	      below).

	      When pattern arguments are present, each pattern is a  qualified
	      name  like foo::x or a::p*.  That is, it includes the name of an
	      exporting namespace and may have glob-style  special  characters
	      in  the  command	name  at  the end of the qualified name.  Glob
	      characters may  not  appear  in  a  namespace  name.   When  the
	      namespace name is not fully qualified (i.e., does not start with
	      a namespace separator) it is resolved as a namespace name in the
	      way  described in the NAME RESOLUTION section; it is an error if
	      no namespace with that name can be found.

	      All the commands that match  a  pattern  string  and  which  are
	      currently exported from their namespace are added to the current
	      namespace.  This is done	by  creating  a	 new  command  in  the
	      current  namespace  that	points	to the exported command in its
	      original namespace; when the new imported command is called,  it
	      invokes  the exported command.  This command normally returns an
	      error if an imported command conflicts with an existing command.
	      However,	if  the -force option is given, imported commands will
	      silently	replace	 existing  commands.   The  namespace	import
	      command has snapshot semantics: that is, only requested commands
	      that are	currently  defined  in	the  exporting	namespace  are
	      imported.	 In other words, you can import only the commands that
	      are in a namespace at the time when the namespace import command
	      is executed.  If another command is defined and exported in this
	      namespace later on, it will not be imported.

       namespace inscope namespace script ?arg ...?
	      Executes a script in the context	of  the	 specified  namespace.
	      This command is not expected to be used directly by programmers;
	      calls to it  are	generated  implicitly  when  applications  use
	      namespace	 code  commands	 to  create  callback scripts that the
	      applications  then  register  with,  e.g.,  Tk   widgets.	   The
	      namespace	 inscope  command  is  much  like  the	namespace eval
	      command except  that  the	 namespace  must  already  exist,  and
	      namespace	  inscope  appends  additional	args  as  proper  list
	      elements.

		     namespace inscope ::foo $script $x $y $z

	      is equivalent to

		     namespace eval ::foo [concat $script [list $x $y $z]]

	      thus additional arguments will not undergo  a  second  round  of
	      substitution, as is the case with namespace eval.

       namespace origin command
	      Returns  the  fully-qualified  name  of  the original command to
	      which the imported command command refers.  When	a  command  is
	      imported	into  a	 namespace,  a	new command is created in that
	      namespace that points to the actual  command  in	the  exporting
	      namespace.   If  a  command  is  imported	 into  a  sequence  of
	      namespaces a,  b,...,n  where  each  successive  namespace  just
	      imports  the  command  from the previous namespace, this command
	      returns the fully-qualified name of the original command in  the
	      first  namespace,	 a.   If command does not refer to an imported
	      command, the command's own fully-qualified name is returned.

       namespace parent ?namespace?
	      Returns the fully-qualified name of  the	parent	namespace  for
	      namespace	 namespace.  If namespace is not specified, the fully-
	      qualified name of the current namespace's parent is returned.

       namespace path ?namespaceList?
	      Returns the command resolution path of the current namespace. If
	      namespaceList  is	 specified  as a list of named namespaces, the
	      current namespace's command resolution  path  is	set  to	 those
	      namespaces  and  returns	the  empty  list.  The default command
	      resolution path is always empty. See the section NAME RESOLUTION
	      below for an explanation of the rules regarding name resolution.

       namespace qualifiers string
	      Returns any leading namespace qualifiers for string.  Qualifiers
	      are namespace names separated by double colons  (::).   For  the
	      string  ::foo::bar::x,  this command returns ::foo::bar, and for
	      :: it returns an empty string.  This command is  the  complement
	      of  the  namespace  tail	command.   Note that it does not check
	      whether the namespace names are, in fact, the names of currently
	      defined namespaces.

       namespace tail string
	      Returns  the  simple  name  at  the  end	of a qualified string.
	      Qualifiers are namespace names separated by double colons	 (::).
	      For the string ::foo::bar::x, this command returns x, and for ::
	      it returns an empty string.  This command is the	complement  of
	      the namespace qualifiers command.	 It does not check whether the
	      namespace names are, in fact, the	 names	of  currently  defined
	      namespaces.

       namespace upvar namespace ?otherVar myVar ...?
	      This  command  arranges  for zero or more local variables in the
	      current procedure	 to  refer  to	variables  in  namespace.  The
	      namespace	  name	is  resolved  as  described  in	 section  NAME
	      RESOLUTION.  The command namespace upvar $ns a b	has  the  same
	      behaviour	 as upvar 0 ${ns}::a b, with the sole exception of the
	      resolution rules used for qualified namespace or variable names.
	      namespace upvar returns an empty string.

       namespace unknown ?script?
	      Sets  or	returns	 the  unknown  command handler for the current
	      namespace.  The handler is invoked when a	 command  called  from
	      within  the  namespace cannot be found in the current namespace,
	      the namespace's path nor in the global  namespace.   The	script
	      argument,	 if given, should be a well formed list representing a
	      command  name  and  optional  arguments.	When  the  handler  is
	      invoked, the full invocation line will be appended to the script
	      and the result evaluated in the context of  the  namespace.  The
	      default  handler for all namespaces is ::unknown. If no argument
	      is given, it returns the handler for the current namespace.

       namespace which ?-command? ?-variable? name
	      Looks up name as either a command or variable  and  returns  its
	      fully-qualified  name.   For  example, if name does not exist in
	      the current namespace but does exist in  the  global  namespace,
	      this  command  returns  a	 fully-qualified  name	in  the global
	      namespace.  If the command or  variable  does  not  exist,  this
	      command  returns	an  empty  string.   If	 the variable has been
	      created but not defined, such as with the	 variable  command  or
	      through  a  trace	 on the variable, this command will return the
	      fully-qualified name of the variable.  If no flag is given, name
	      is  treated  as a command name.  See the section NAME RESOLUTION
	      below for an explanation of the rules regarding name resolution.

WHAT IS A NAMESPACE?
       A namespace is a collection of commands and variables.  It encapsulates
       the  commands and variables to ensure that they will not interfere with
       the commands and variables of other namespaces.	Tcl has always had one
       such collection, which we refer to as the global namespace.  The global
       namespace holds all global variables and commands.  The namespace  eval
       command lets you create new namespaces.	For example,

	      namespace eval Counter {
		  namespace export bump
		  variable num 0

		  proc bump {} {
		      variable num
		      incr num
		  }
	      }

       creates	a  new namespace containing the variable num and the procedure
       bump.  The commands and variables in this namespace are	separate  from
       other  commands	and  variables	in  the	 same  program.	 If there is a
       command named bump in the global namespace, for	example,  it  will  be
       different from the command bump in the Counter namespace.

       Namespace  variables  resemble  global  variables  in  Tcl.  They exist
       outside of the procedures in a namespace	 but  can  be  accessed	 in  a
       procedure via the variable command, as shown in the example above.

       Namespaces  are dynamic.	 You can add and delete commands and variables
       at any time, so you can build up the contents of a namespace over  time
       using  a series of namespace eval commands.  For example, the following
       series of commands has the same	effect	as  the	 namespace  definition
       shown above:

	      namespace eval Counter {
		  variable num 0
		  proc bump {} {
		      variable num
		      return [incr num]
		  }
	      }
	      namespace eval Counter {
		  proc test {args} {
		      return $args
		  }
	      }
	      namespace eval Counter {
		   rename test ""
	      }

       Note  that  the	test  procedure is added to the Counter namespace, and
       later removed via the rename command.

       Namespaces  can	have  other  namespaces	 within	 them,	so  they  nest
       hierarchically.	 A  nested namespace is encapsulated inside its parent
       namespace and can not interfere with other namespaces.

QUALIFIED NAMES
       Each namespace has a textual name such as  history  or  ::safe::interp.
       Since  namespaces  may  nest,  qualified	 names	are  used  to refer to
       commands, variables, and child namespaces contained inside  namespaces.
       Qualified  names	 are  similar  to the hierarchical path names for Unix
       files or Tk widgets, except that :: is used as the separator instead of
       /  or  ..  The topmost or global namespace has the name (i.e., an empty
       string),	 although  ::  is  a  synonym.	 As  an	 example,   the	  name
       ::safe::interp::create  refers  to  the command create in the namespace
       interp that is a child of namespace ::safe, which in turn is a child of
       the global namespace, ::.

       If  you	want  to access commands and variables from another namespace,
       you must use some  extra	 syntax.   Names  must	be  qualified  by  the
       namespace  that	contains  them.	  From	the global namespace, we might
       access the Counter procedures like this:

	      Counter::bump 5
	      Counter::Reset

       We could access the current count like this:

	      puts "count = $Counter::num"

       When one namespace  contains  another,  you  may	 need  more  than  one
       qualifier  to  reach  its  elements.   If  we  had a namespace Foo that
       contained the namespace Counter, you could invoke  its  bump  procedure
       from the global namespace like this:

	      Foo::Counter::bump 3

       You  can	 also use qualified names when you create and rename commands.
       For example, you could add a procedure to the Foo namespace like this:

	      proc Foo::Test {args} {return $args}

       And you could move the same procedure to another namespace like this:

	      rename Foo::Test Bar::Test

       There are a few remaining points about qualified names that  we	should
       cover.  Namespaces have nonempty names except for the global namespace.
       :: is disallowed in  simple  command,  variable,	 and  namespace	 names
       except as a namespace separator.	 Extra colons in any separator part of
       a qualified name are ignored; i.e. two or more colons are treated as  a
       namespace  separator.  A trailing :: in a qualified variable or command
       name refers to the variable or command named {}.	 However,  a  trailing
       :: in a qualified namespace name is ignored.

NAME RESOLUTION
       In  general,  all  Tcl  commands	 that  take variable and command names
       support qualified names.	 This means you can give  qualified  names  to
       such commands as set, proc, rename, and interp alias.  If you provide a
       fully-qualified name that starts with a ::, there is no question	 about
       what  command,  variable,  or namespace you mean.  However, if the name
       does not start with a :: (i.e., is relative), Tcl follows  basic	 rules
       for looking it up:

       ·      Variable	names  are  always  resolved  by  looking first in the
	      current namespace, and then in the global namespace.

       ·      Command names are always resolved	 by  looking  in  the  current
	      namespace	 first.	 If  not found there, they are searched for in
	      every namespace on the current namespace's command  path	(which
	      is  empty	 by  default).	If  not found there, command names are
	      looked up	 in  the  global  namespace  (or,  failing  that,  are
	      processed by the appropriate namespace unknown handler.)

       ·      Namespace	 names	are  always  resolved  by  looking in only the
	      current namespace.

       In the following example,

	      set traceLevel 0
	      namespace eval Debug {
		  printTrace $traceLevel
	      }

       Tcl looks for traceLevel in the namespace Debug and then in the	global
       namespace.   It	looks up the command printTrace in the same way.  If a
       variable or command name is not found in either context,	 the  name  is
       undefined.  To make this point absolutely clear, consider the following
       example:

	      set traceLevel 0
	      namespace eval Foo {
		  variable traceLevel 3

		  namespace eval Debug {
		      printTrace $traceLevel
		  }
	      }

       Here Tcl looks for traceLevel first in the namespace Foo::Debug.	 Since
       it  is  not found there, Tcl then looks for it in the global namespace.
       The variable Foo::traceLevel is	completely  ignored  during  the  name
       resolution process.

       You  can use the namespace which command to clear up any question about
       name resolution.	 For example, the command:

	      namespace eval Foo::Debug {namespace which -variable traceLevel}

       returns ::traceLevel.  On the other hand, the command,

	      namespace eval Foo {namespace which -variable traceLevel}

       returns ::Foo::traceLevel.

       As mentioned above, namespace names are looked up differently than  the
       names  of  variables and commands.  Namespace names are always resolved
       in the current namespace.  This means, for example,  that  a  namespace
       eval command that creates a new namespace always creates a child of the
       current namespace unless the new namespace name begins with ::.

       Tcl has no  access  control  to	limit  what  variables,	 commands,  or
       namespaces  you	can  reference.	  If you provide a qualified name that
       resolves to an element by the  name  resolution	rule  above,  you  can
       access the element.

       You  can	 access	 a  namespace  variable	 from  a procedure in the same
       namespace by using the variable command.	 Much like the global command,
       this  creates a local link to the namespace variable.  If necessary, it
       also creates the variable in the current namespace and initializes  it.
       Note  that  the	global	command only creates links to variables in the
       global namespace.  It is not necessary to use a variable command if you
       always  refer  to the namespace variable using an appropriate qualified
       name.

IMPORTING COMMANDS
       Namespaces  are	often  used  to	 represent  libraries.	 Some  library
       commands	 are  used  so	frequently that it is a nuisance to type their
       qualified names.	 For example, suppose that all of the  commands	 in  a
       package	like  BLT  are	contained in a namespace called Blt.  Then you
       might access these commands like this:

	      Blt::graph .g -background red
	      Blt::table . .g 0,0

       If you use the graph and table commands frequently,  you	 may  want  to
       access them without the Blt:: prefix.  You can do this by importing the
       commands into the current namespace, like this:

	      namespace import Blt::*

       This adds all exported commands from the Blt namespace into the current
       namespace context, so you can write code like this:

	      graph .g -background red
	      table . .g 0,0

       The  namespace  import  command	only imports commands from a namespace
       that that namespace exported with a namespace export command.

       Importing every command from a namespace is generally a bad idea	 since
       you  do	not  know  what you will get.  It is better to import just the
       specific commands you need.  For example, the command

	      namespace import Blt::graph Blt::table

       imports only the graph and table commands into the current context.

       If you try to import a command that already exists,  you	 will  get  an
       error.	This  prevents	you  from  importing the same command from two
       different packages.  But from time to time  (perhaps  when  debugging),
       you  may	 want to get around this restriction.  You may want to reissue
       the namespace import command to pick up new commands that have appeared
       in  a  namespace.   In  that  case,  you can use the -force option, and
       existing commands will be silently overwritten:

	      namespace import -force Blt::graph Blt::table

       If for some reason, you want to stop using the imported	commands,  you
       can remove them with a namespace forget command, like this:

	      namespace forget Blt::*

       This searches the current namespace for any commands imported from Blt.
       If it finds any, it removes them.  Otherwise, it does  nothing.	 After
       this, the Blt commands must be accessed with the Blt:: prefix.

       When you delete a command from the exporting namespace like this:

	      rename Blt::graph ""

       the  command  is	 automatically removed from all namespaces that import
       it.

EXPORTING COMMANDS
       You can export commands from a namespace like this:

	      namespace eval Counter {
		  namespace export bump reset
		  variable Num 0
		  variable Max 100

		  proc bump {{by 1}} {
		      variable Num
		      incr Num $by
		      Check
		      return $Num
		  }
		  proc reset {} {
		      variable Num
		      set Num 0
		  }
		  proc Check {} {
		      variable Num
		      variable Max
		      if {$Num > $Max} {
			  error "too high!"
		      }
		  }
	      }

       The procedures bump and reset are exported, so they are	included  when
       you import from the Counter namespace, like this:

	      namespace import Counter::*

       However,	 the  Check procedure is not exported, so it is ignored by the
       import operation.

       The namespace import command only imports commands that	were  declared
       as exported by their namespace.	The namespace export command specifies
       what commands may be imported by	 other	namespaces.   If  a  namespace
       import command specifies a command that is not exported, the command is
       not imported.

SCOPED SCRIPTS
       The namespace code command is the  means	 by  which  a  script  may  be
       packaged	 for  evaluation in a namespace other than the one in which it
       was created.  It is used	 most  often  to  create  event	 handlers,  Tk
       bindings,  and  traces  for  evaluation	in  the	 global	 context.  For
       instance, the following code indicates how to direct a  variable	 trace
       callback into the current namespace:

	      namespace eval a {
		  variable b
		  proc theTraceCallback { n1 n2 op } {
		      upvar 1 $n1 var
		      puts "the value of $n1 has changed to $var"
		      return
		  }
		  trace add variable b write [namespace code theTraceCallback]
	      }
	      set a::b c

       When executed, it prints the message:

	      the value of a::b has changed to c

ENSEMBLES
       The  namespace  ensemble	 is  used  to  create  and manipulate ensemble
       commands, which are commands formed by grouping	subcommands  together.
       The  commands  typically	 come  from  the  current  namespace  when the
       ensemble was created, though this is configurable.  Note that there may
       be  any	number	of  ensembles associated with any namespace (including
       none, which is true of all  namespaces  by  default),  though  all  the
       ensembles  associated  with a namespace are deleted when that namespace
       is deleted.  The link between an ensemble command and its namespace  is
       maintained however the ensemble is renamed.

       Three subcommands of the namespace ensemble command are defined:

       namespace ensemble create ?option value ...?
	      Creates  a new ensemble command linked to the current namespace,
	      returning the fully qualified name of the command created.   The
	      arguments	 to  namespace ensemble create allow the configuration
	      of the command as	 if  with  the	namespace  ensemble  configure
	      command.	 If  not  overridden  with  the	 -command option, this
	      command creates an ensemble with exactly the same	 name  as  the
	      linked  namespace.  See the section ENSEMBLE OPTIONS below for a
	      full list of options supported and their effects.

       namespace ensemble configure command ?option? ?value ...?
	      Retrieves the value of an option associated  with	 the  ensemble
	      command  named  command, or updates some options associated with
	      that ensemble command.  See the section ENSEMBLE	OPTIONS	 below
	      for a full list of options supported and their effects.

       namespace ensemble exists command
	      Returns  a  boolean  value  that	describes  whether the command
	      command exists and is an ensemble command.   This	 command  only
	      ever  returns an error if the number of arguments to the command
	      is wrong.

       When called, an ensemble command takes its first argument and looks  it
       up (according to the rules described below) to discover a list of words
       to replace the ensemble command and  subcommand	with.	The  resulting
       list  of	 words is then evaluated (with no further substitutions) as if
       that was what was typed originally (i.e. by passing the list  of	 words
       through	Tcl_EvalObjv)  and  returning the result of the command.  Note
       that it is legal to make the target of an ensemble rewrite  be  another
       (or  even the same) ensemble command.  The ensemble command will not be
       visible through the use of the uplevel or info level commands.

   ENSEMBLE OPTIONS
       The following options, supported by the namespace ensemble  create  and
       namespace  ensemble configure commands, control how an ensemble command
       behaves:

       -map   When non-empty, this option supplies a dictionary that  provides
	      a	 mapping  from	subcommand  names to a list of prefix words to
	      substitute in place of the ensemble command and subcommand words
	      (in  a manner similar to an alias created with interp alias; the
	      words are not reparsed after substitution); if the first word of
	      any  target is not fully qualified when set, it is assumed to be
	      relative to the current namespace and changed to be exactly that
	      (that  is,  it  is  always fully qualified when read). When this
	      option is empty, the mapping will be from the local name of  the
	      subcommand  to  its  fully-qualified  name.  Note that when this
	      option is non-empty and the -subcommands option  is  empty,  the
	      ensemble	subcommand names will be exactly those words that have
	      mappings in the dictionary.

       -parameters
	      This option gives a list of named	 arguments  (the  names	 being │
	      used during generation of error messages) that are passed by the │
	      caller of the ensemble between the name of the ensemble and  the │
	      subcommand argument. By default, it is the empty list.

       -prefixes
	      This  option  (which is enabled by default) controls whether the
	      ensemble	command	 recognizes  unambiguous   prefixes   of   its
	      subcommands.   When  turned  off,	 the ensemble command requires
	      exact matching of subcommand names.

       -subcommands
	      When non-empty, this option lists exactly what  subcommands  are
	      in the ensemble.	The mapping for each of those commands will be
	      either whatever is defined in the -map option, or to the command
	      with  the same name in the namespace linked to the ensemble.  If
	      this option is empty, the	 subcommands  of  the  namespace  will
	      either  be  the keys of the dictionary listed in the -map option
	      or the exported commands of the linked namespace at the time  of
	      the invocation of the ensemble command.

       -unknown
	      When non-empty, this option provides a partial command (to which
	      all the words  that  are	arguments  to  the  ensemble  command,
	      including	  the	fully-qualified	 name  of  the	ensemble,  are
	      appended) to handle the case where an ensemble subcommand is not
	      recognized  and  would  otherwise generate an error.  When empty
	      (the default) an error (in the style of Tcl_GetIndexFromObj)  is
	      generated	 whenever  the	ensemble is unable to determine how to
	      implement	 a  particular	subcommand.    See   UNKNOWN   HANDLER
	      BEHAVIOUR for more details.

       The following extra option is allowed by namespace ensemble create:

       -command
	      This  write-only	option allows the name of the ensemble created
	      by namespace ensemble create to  be  anything  in	 any  existing
	      namespace.   The	default	 value	for  this option is the fully-
	      qualified name of the namespace in which the namespace  ensemble
	      create command is invoked.

       The following extra option is allowed by namespace ensemble configure:

       -namespace
	      This  read-only  option  allows  the  retrieval  of  the	fully-
	      qualified name of the namespace which the ensemble  was  created
	      within.

   UNKNOWN HANDLER BEHAVIOUR
       If  an  unknown	handler	 is specified for an ensemble, that handler is
       called when the ensemble command would otherwise return an error due to
       it  being  unable  to  decide  which  subcommand	 to  invoke. The exact
       conditions under which that occurs are controlled by the	 -subcommands,
       -map and -prefixes options as described above.

       To  execute  the	 unknown  handler,  the	 ensemble  mechanism takes the
       specified -unknown option and appends each argument  of	the  attempted
       ensemble	 command  invocation  (including  the ensemble command itself,
       expressed as a fully qualified name). It invokes the resulting  command
       in  the	scope  of  the attempted call. If the execution of the unknown
       handler	terminates  normally,  the  ensemble   engine	reparses   the
       subcommand  (as	described below) and tries to dispatch it again, which
       is ideal for when the ensemble's configuration has been updated by  the
       unknown	subcommand  handler.  Any  other  kind	of  termination of the
       unknown handler is treated as an error.

       The result of the unknown handler is expected to be a list  (it	is  an
       error if it is not). If the list is an empty list, the ensemble command
       attempts to look up the original subcommand again and,  if  it  is  not
       found  this  time,  an  error will be generated just as if the -unknown
       handler was not	there  (i.e.  for  any	particular  invocation	of  an
       ensemble,  its unknown handler will be called at most once.) This makes
       it easy for the unknown handler to update the ensemble or  its  backing
       namespace  so as to provide an implementation of the desired subcommand
       and reparse.

       When the result is a non-empty list, the words of that list are used to
       replace	the  ensemble command and subcommand, just as if they had been
       looked up in the -map. It is up to the unknown handler  to  supply  all
       namespace  qualifiers  if  the  implementing  subcommand	 is not in the
       namespace of the caller of the ensemble command. Also  note  that  when
       ensemble	 commands  are	chained	 (e.g. if you make one of the commands
       that implement an ensemble subcommand into an  ensemble,	 in  a	manner
       similar to the text widget's tag and mark subcommands) then the rewrite
       happens in the context of the caller of the outermost ensemble. That is
       to say that ensembles do not in themselves place any namespace contexts
       on the Tcl call stack.

       Where an empty -unknown handler is given (the  default),	 the  ensemble
       command	will  generate	an error message based on the list of commands
       that the ensemble has defined (formatted similarly to the error message
       from  Tcl_GetIndexFromObj).  This is the error that will be thrown when
       the subcommand is still not recognized during reparsing. It is also  an
       error for an -unknown handler to delete its namespace.

EXAMPLES
       Create a namespace containing a variable and an exported command:

	      namespace eval foo {
		  variable bar 0
		  proc grill {} {
		      variable bar
		      puts "called [incr bar] times"
		  }
		  namespace export grill
	      }

       Call the command defined in the previous example in various ways.

	      # Direct call
	      ::foo::grill

	      # Use the command resolution path to find the name
	      namespace eval boo {
		  namespace path ::foo
		  grill
	      }

	      # Import into current namespace, then call local alias
	      namespace import foo::grill
	      grill

	      # Create two ensembles, one with the default name and one with a
	      # specified name.	 Then call through the ensembles.
	      namespace eval foo {
		  namespace ensemble create
		  namespace ensemble create -command ::foobar
	      }
	      foo grill
	      foobar grill

       Look up where the command imported in the previous example came from:

	      puts "grill came from [namespace origin grill]"

       Remove all imported commands from the current namespace:

	      namespace forget {*}[namespace import]

       Create	an  ensemble  for  simple  working  with  numbers,  using  the │
       -parameters option to allow the operator to be put  between  the	 first │
       and second arguments.						       │

	      namespace eval do {					       │
		  namespace export *					       │
		  namespace ensemble create -parameters x		       │
		  proc plus  {x y} {expr { $x + $y }}			       │
		  proc minus {x y} {expr { $x - $y }}			       │
	      }								       │

	      # In use, the ensemble works like this:			       │
	      puts [do 1 plus [do 9 minus 7]]				       │

SEE ALSO
       interp(n), upvar(n), variable(n)

KEYWORDS
       command, ensemble, exported, internal, variable

Tcl				      8.5			  namespace(n)
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