Getting the Tcl object type

For some reason one might need to know the type name of a Tcl object. The type name is stored in Tcl_Obj's typePtr->name. Below is the small C extension typeof to get the type name.

DKF: Be aware that Tcl makes no guarantee about the type of any value; basing any semantic decision on this information is strongly discouraged, which is why Tcl does not provide this operation itself.

ASV: Development of idea http://reddog.s35.xrea.com/wiki/Typeinfo.html .


/*
 * typeof
 * BSD License
 */
#include <tcl.h>

#ifdef WIN32
#ifdef typeof_EXPORTS
#define typeof_EXPORT __declspec(dllexport)
#else
#define typeof_EXPORT __declspec(dllimport)
#endif
#else
#define typeof_EXPORT 
#endif

static int Typeof_Cmd(ClientData clientData, Tcl_Interp *interp, int argc, Tcl_Obj *const argv[]) {
        if (argc != 2) {
                Tcl_WrongNumArgs(interp, 1, argv, "object");
                return TCL_ERROR;
        }
        
        if (argv[1]->typePtr) {
                Tcl_SetObjResult(interp, Tcl_NewStringObj(argv[1]->typePtr->name, -1));
        } else {
                Tcl_SetObjResult(interp, Tcl_NewStringObj("string", -1));
        }
        return TCL_OK;
}

int typeof_EXPORT Typeof_Init(Tcl_Interp *interp) {
        /*
         * This may work with 8.0, but we are using strictly stubs here,
         * which requires 8.1.
         */
        if (Tcl_InitStubs(interp, "8.1", 0) == NULL
                        || Tcl_PkgProvide(interp, "typeof", "0.1.1") != TCL_OK) {
                return TCL_ERROR;
        }

        Tcl_CreateObjCommand(interp, "typeof", Typeof_Cmd, NULL, NULL);
        return TCL_OK;
}

Usage:

 typeof object