In Tcl, everything may be represented as a string, although internally it may be represented as a list, integer, double, or some other type, in order to make the language fast.
The assignment command in Tcl is set.
When set is called with two arguments, as in:
set fruit Cauliflower
it assigns the value Cauliflower (the second argument) to the variable fruit (the first argument). set always returns the contents of the variable named in the first argument. Thus, when set is called with two arguments, it assigns the second argument to the variable named in the first argument and then returns the second argument. In the above example, for instance, it would return Cauliflower.
The first argument to a set command can be either a single word, like fruit or pi , or it can be a member of an array, like course(first), an element called first in the array course. Technically speaking, arrays in Tcl are associative arrays. Arrays will be discussed in greater detail later.
set can also be invoked with only one argument. When called with just one argument, it will return the contents of that argument.
Here's a summary of the set command.
If you look at the example code below, you'll notice that in the set command the first argument is typed with only its name, but in the puts statement the argument is preceded with a dollar sign ($).
The dollar sign tells Tcl to use the value of the variable -- in this case, X or Y.
Tcl passes data to subroutines either by name or by value. Commands that don't change the contents of a variable usually have their arguments passed by value. Commands that do change the value of the data must have the data passed by name.
set X "This is a string" set Y 1.24 puts $X puts $Y puts "..............................." set label "The value in Y is: " puts "$label $Y"
This is a string 1.24 ............................... The value in Y is: 1.24