This command is part of the [TclX] package.

    :   '''lgets''' ''fileid'' ?''varname''?
Reads the next Tcl [list] from the given ''fileid'', returning the list or, if ''varname'' is given, storing the list in the variable and returning the number of characters read (not including the terminating newline) or -1 in an error case (similar to [gets]).

Use [puts] to reverse the operation.

This command differs from the [gets] command, in that it reads Tcl lists rather than lines.  If the list contains newlines or binary data, then the newlines or bytes of zero will be returned as part of the result. Only a newline not quoted as part of the list indicates the end
of the list.

If ''varName'' is specified, then the line is placed in the variable
by that name and the return value is a count of the number of
characters read (not including the newline).  If the end of the
file is reached before reading any characters then -1 is returned
and ''varName'' is set to an empty string.  If ''varName'' is specified
and an error occurs, what ever data was read will be returned in
the variable, however the resulting string may not be a valid
list.

If ''varName'' is not specified, then the return value will be the
list (minus the newline character) or an empty string if the end
of the file is reached before reading any characters.  An empty
string will also be returned if a line contains no characters
except the newline, so [eof] may have to be used to determine what
really happened.

The lgets command may be used to read lists containing
binary data, however translation must be set to '''lf''' or the data
may be corrupted.

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