A gotcha is an unexpected side effect, behavior, consequence, requirement, etc.
As with any language, the syntax and semantics of Tcl can catch a programmer off-guard. This page is describes patterns and behaviours that can be considered as gotchas, and is somewhat arranged by prominence and severity.
Twylite 2012-12-12 PYK 2019-12-09: set might set a global variable rather than a variable in the current namespace. See Dangers of Creative Writing.
set foo 10
namespace eval bar { set foo 20 ; set bar 30 }
puts $foo ;# puts: 20
puts $bar ;# error: can't read "bar": no such variableThe following script will never end:
while [llength $args] {
lassign args arg
}It should instead be:
while {[llength $args]} {
lassign args arg
}See while and also Brace Your Expressions.
In the following example the fact that $dict is not a dictionary does not trigger an error:
set dict hello dict exists $dict Bob ;# -> 0
Another Tcl gotcha is to hand arbitrary strings, read from the user or a file/command, directly into a list operation without first ensuring that the contents is, in actuality, a list.
DKF: The best way to deal with such user input, where users aren't expecting to write a Tcl list in the first place, is to use a sanitizing command to convert the input into a proper list. Examples of sanitizing commands can include split, splitx and (my favorite) this:
set elements [regexp -all -inline {\S+} $line]Using array unset on a variable that isn't array does nothing, and does not trigger an error:
set array 5 array unset array set array ;# -> 5
Forgetting to use -exact when that's what is intended can lead to surprises.
RS One possible gotcha is switch -- always use -- before the switch variable, since if the value of the switch variable starts with -, you'll get a syntax error.
AMG: This isn't required by Tcl 8.5 onward.
KPV Also, comments within switch, while possible, are tricky.
RS 2010-05-10: A similar gotcha is in the text search subcommand - although the misunderstanding could be avoided by counting non-optional arguments from the end,
set whatever -this $t search $whatever 1.0
raises an error that -this is an undefined switch. For robustness, use
$t search -- $whatever 1.0
if the slightest possibility exists that $whatever might start with a dash.
PYK 2017-05-19: scripted lists makes comments within a switch possible, but it needs to move into the Tcl implementation level to be performant.
RS 2010-02-24: Yet another gotcha we ran into last night: Consider a function
proc f x {
if {$x == 00000000} {
puts "$x is NULL"
}
}which reported:
0E123456 is NULL
How so? Bug? No -- feature. With the == comparison operator, the operands are tried to match as integers, floats, or then as strings. And $x in this case, though meant as a pointer in hex, could be parsed as float - with the numeric value of 0, which is numerically equivalent to 00000000. The solution of course was to use the eq operator instead.
AMG: Another issue with expr interpreting stuff happens when said stuff was already interpreted by Tcl. This creates performance, security, and correctness problems. Always brace your expr-essions!
Another example:
expr {{} < 0} ;# -> 1
expr {{} > 0} ;# -> 0
expr {{} == 0} ;# -> 0For the < and > operators, {} is interpreted as an integer, 0. For the == operator, 0 is interpreted as a string.
string is always returns 1 for the empty string. To avoid this, use -strict
The string is commands accept all the numeric notations that expr does (see The Octabug, so they aren't up to the job by themselves. Here is one way to do it:
set mynumber 0x11
expr {[string is entier -strict $mynumber] && [scan $mynumber %d mynumber] > 0}The open command has special handling when its filename argument begins with |. The exec command has special handling when any argument begins with | or < or > or 2> or when the final argument is &. Normally this is fine, but if one of these arguments is not under the programmer's control, unexpected behavior can result.
One may work around open by adjusting the filename if it begins with |.
set tmpf $filename
if {[string match |* $tmpf]} {set tmpf [file join . $tmpf]}
set channel [open $tmpf]There is a proposal (TIP 424) for changes to exec, but as of this writing (May 2020), it has not been implemented in the core language.
namespace eval table {
namespace export *
namespace ensemble create
}
proc {table::spoon fork} x {
return $x
}Even though there is no spoon, there is:
% puts [table spoon huh?] huh?
To change this behavior:
namespace ensemble configure table -prefixes no
See Avoiding Conflicting vwait's on the vwait page
See after x after idle on the after page
If the encoding of the two channels matches, the given size is in bytes, otherwise it is in characters.
Larry Smith: I was expecting a new control construct of some sort.
gotcha {
...
} now {...}