info exists varName
Returns 1 if the variable named varName exists in the current context (either as a global or local variable) and has been defined by being given a value, returns 0 otherwise.
See also:
Called with a variable or array element name (no $ in front!), returns 1 if the variable or array element exists, else 0.
info exists a 0 set a 1 1 info exists a 1 info exists b 0 set b(2) 2 2 info exists b 1 info exists b(1) 0 info exists b(2) 1 info exists $a 0
Notice the last one - if the user thought they were testing to see if the a variable exists, they used the wrong syntax - saying $a means read the contents of the a variable, and see if there is a varible by that name.
-- It doesn't have to be wrong syntax, actually: it's often useful to have one variable reference others, like this:
foreach var {a b c} {
if {[info exists $var]} {
puts "$var does indeed exist"
} else {
puts "$var sadly does not exist"
}
}Then again -
set a b b info exists $a 1
Unintentionally setting a to a value that equals the name of an existing variable yields a false positive when erroneously (in this case) checking the value of a.
huck. Shouldn't this be 0, since variable b does not exist?
KPV Another thing to keep in mind is that linking variable with upvar can do funny things with the existence of variables.
% set a 1 1 % upvar #0 a b % info exists b 1 % unset a % info exists b 0 % set a 1 1 % info exists b 1
2003-12-21 VI I remember reading that info exists is slow on some versions of Tcl on large arrays. Anybody have more info on that?