Version 9 of unless

Updated 2006-01-10 10:22:31

unless is an alternative to if, as seen in Perl.

 proc unless {condition body} {
     uplevel [list if "!($condition)" $body]
 }

example:

    unless {$tcl_version >= 8.4} {
        error "package requires Tcl version 8.4 or greater"
    }

(NEM notes that package versions are not real numbers, you should use [package vcompare] for this)

Lars H: An alternative implementation, which avoids shimmering:

    proc unless {condition body} {
        uplevel 1 [list if $condition then {} else $body]
    }

glennj: additionally, provide an else clause...

    proc unless {cond body args} {
        set else_body {}
        if {([llength $args] == 2) && ([lindex $args 0] eq "else")} {
            set else_body [lindex $args 1]
        } elseif {[llength $args] > 0} {
            error "usage: [lindex [info level 0] 0] expr body1 ?else body2?"
        }
        uplevel 1 [list if $cond then $else_body else $body]
    }

The above implementations don't work if the command is break or continue; here's a more robust solution:

    proc unless {expr command} {
            global errorInfo errorCode

            set code [catch {uplevel [list if $expr {} else $command]} result]
            switch -exact -- $code {
                    0   {return $result}
                    1   {return -code error -errorinfo $errorInfo \
                                 -errorcode $errorCode $result}
                    2   {return -code return $result}
                    3   {return -code break}
                    4   {return -code continue}
                    default     {return -code $code $result}
            }
    }

NEM offers this alternative version:

 set ::TCL_ERROR [catch error]
 proc unless {expr command} {
     global errorInfo errorCode TCL_ERROR

     set code [catch { uplevel 1 [list if $expr {} else $command] } result]
     if {$code == $TCL_ERROR} {
         return -code error -errorinfo $errorInfo \
                -errorcode $errorCode $result
     } else {
         return -code $code $result
     }
 }

i.e., using a global constant instead of hard-coding exception return codes and simplifying the switch (continue, return and break already set appropriate $result values). In 8.5 you can make use of extra options to catch and return:

 package require Tcl 8.5
 set ::TCL_ERROR [catch error]

 proc unless {expr command} {
     global errorCode errorInfo TCL_ERROR

     set code [catch { uplevel 1 [list if $expr {} else $command] } result opts]
     if {[dict get $opts -level] == 0} {
         dict set opts -code $code
     }
     if {$code == $TCL_ERROR} {
         dict set opts -errorcode $errorCode
         dict set opts -errorinfo $errorInfo
     }
     dict incr opts -level
     return {expand}$opts $result
 }

I think that works correctly, but it would be nice if someone more familiar with the new options could verify that that is how they are supposed to be used.


Category Command - Category Control Structure