info - Return information about the state of the Tcl interpreter
info option ?arg arg ...?
info(1t) Tcl Built-In Commands info(1t)
______________________________________________________________________________
NAME
info - Return information about the state of the Tcl interpreter
SYNOPSIS
info option ?arg arg ...?
______________________________________________________________________________
DESCRIPTION
This command provides information about various internals of the Tcl
interpreter. The legal options (which may be abbreviated) are:
info args procname
Returns a list containing the names of the arguments to proce-
dure procname, in order. Procname must be the name of a Tcl
command procedure.
info body procname
Returns the body of procedure procname. Procname must be the
name of a Tcl command procedure.
info class subcommand class ?arg ...
Returns information about the class, class. The subcommands are |
described in CLASS INTROSPECTION below.
info cmdcount
Returns a count of the total number of commands that have been
invoked in this interpreter.
info commands ?pattern?
If pattern is not specified, returns a list of names of all the
Tcl commands visible (i.e. executable without using a qualified
name) to the current namespace, including both the built-in com-
mands written in C and the command procedures defined using the
proc command. If pattern is specified, only those names match-
ing pattern are returned. Matching is determined using the same
rules as for string match. pattern can be a qualified name like
Foo::print*. That is, it may specify a particular namespace
using a sequence of namespace names separated by double colons
(::), and may have pattern matching special characters at the
end to specify a set of commands in that namespace. If pattern
is a qualified name, the resulting list of command names has
each one qualified with the name of the specified namespace, and
only the commands defined in the named namespace are returned.
info complete command
Returns 1 if command is a complete Tcl command in the sense of
having no unclosed quotes, braces, brackets or array element
names. If the command does not appear to be complete then 0 is
returned. This command is typically used in line-oriented input
environments to allow users to type in commands that span multi-
ple lines; if the command is not complete, the script can delay
evaluating it until additional lines have been typed to complete
the command.
info coroutine
Returns the name of the currently executing coroutine, or the |
empty string if either no coroutine is currently executing, or |
the current coroutine has been deleted (but has not yet returned |
or yielded since deletion).
info default procname arg varname
Procname must be the name of a Tcl command procedure and arg
must be the name of an argument to that procedure. If arg does
not have a default value then the command returns 0. Otherwise
it returns 1 and places the default value of arg into variable
varname.
info errorstack ?interp?
Returns, in a form that is programmatically easy to parse, the |
function names and arguments at each level from the call stack |
of the last error in the given interp, or in the current one if |
not specified. |
This form is an even-sized list alternating tokens and parame- |
ters. Tokens are currently either CALL, UP, or INNER, but other |
values may be introduced in the future. CALL indicates a proce- |
dure call, and its parameter is the corresponding info level 0. |
UP indicates a shift in variable frames generated by uplevel or |
similar, and applies to the previous CALL item. Its parameter is |
the level offset. INNER identifies the "inner context", which is |
the innermost atomic command or bytecode instruction that raised |
the error, along with its arguments when available. While CALL |
and UP allow to follow complex call paths, INNER homes in on the |
offending operation in the innermost procedure call, even going |
to sub-expression granularity. |
This information is also present in the -errorstack entry of the |
options dictionary returned by 3-argument catch; info errorstack |
is a convenient way of retrieving it for uncaught errors at top- |
level in an interactive tclsh. |
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.
info frame ?number?
This command provides access to all frames on the stack, even
those hidden from info level. If number is not specified, this
command returns a number giving the frame level of the command.
This is 1 if the command is invoked at top-level. If number is
specified, then the result is a dictionary containing the loca-
tion information for the command at the numbered level on the
stack.
If number is positive (> 0) then it selects a particular stack
level (1 refers to the outer-most active command, 2 to the com-
mand it called, and so on, up to the current frame level which
refers to info frame itself); otherwise it gives a level rela-
tive to the current command (0 refers to the current command,
i.e., info frame itself, -1 to its caller, and so on).
This is similar to how info level works, except that this sub-
command reports all frames, like sourced scripts, evals,
uplevels, etc.
Note that for nested commands, like "foo [bar [x]]", only "x"
will be seen by an info frame invoked within "x". This is the
same as for info level and error stack traces.
The result dictionary may contain the keys listed below, with
the specified meanings for their values:
type This entry is always present and describes the nature of
the location for the command. The recognized values are
source, proc, eval, and precompiled.
source
means that the command is found in a script loaded
by the source command.
proc
means that the command is found in dynamically
created procedure body.
eval
means that the command is executed by eval or
uplevel.
precompiled
means that the command is found in a pre-compiled
script (loadable by the package tbcload), and no
further information will be available.
line This entry provides the number of the line the command is
at inside of the script it is a part of. This information
is not present for type precompiled. For type source this
information is counted relative to the beginning of the
file, whereas for the last two types the line is counted
relative to the start of the script.
file This entry is present only for type source. It provides
the normalized path of the file the command is in.
cmd This entry provides the string representation of the com-
mand. This is usually the unsubstituted form, however for
commands which are a canonically-constructed list (e.g.,
as produced by the list command) executed by eval it is
the substituted form as they have no other string repre-
sentation. Care is taken that the canonicality property
of the latter is not spoiled.
proc This entry is present only if the command is found in the
body of a regular Tcl procedure. It then provides the
name of that procedure.
lambda This entry is present only if the command is found in the
body of an anonymous Tcl procedure, i.e. a lambda. It
then provides the entire definition of the lambda in
question.
level This entry is present only if the queried frame has a
corresponding frame returned by info level. It provides
the index of this frame, relative to the current level (0
and negative numbers).
A thing of note is that for procedures statically defined in
files the locations of commands in their bodies will be reported
with type source and absolute line numbers, and not as type
proc. The same is true for procedures nested in statically
defined procedures, and literal eval scripts in files or stati-
cally defined procedures.
In contrast, procedure definitions and eval within a dynamically
evaluated environment count line numbers relative to the start
of their script, even if they would be able to count relative to
the start of the outer dynamic script. That type of number usu-
ally makes more sense.
A different way of describing this behaviour is that file based
locations are tracked as deeply as possible, and where this is
not possible the lines are counted based on the smallest possi-
ble eval or procedure body, as that scope is usually easier to
find than any dynamic outer scope.
The syntactic form {*} is handled like eval. I.e. if it is given
a literal list argument the system tracks the line number within
the list words as well, and otherwise all line numbers are
counted relative to the start of each word (smallest scope)
info functions ?pattern?
If pattern is not specified, returns a list of all the math
functions currently defined. If pattern is specified, only
those functions whose name matches pattern are returned. Match-
ing is determined using the same rules as for string match.
info globals ?pattern?
If pattern is not specified, returns a list of all the names of
currently-defined global variables. Global variables are vari-
ables in the global namespace. If pattern is specified, only
those names matching pattern are returned. Matching is deter-
mined using the same rules as for string match.
info hostname
Returns the name of the computer on which this invocation is
being executed. Note that this name is not guaranteed to be the
fully qualified domain name of the host. Where machines have
several different names (as is common on systems with both
TCP/IP (DNS) and NetBIOS-based networking installed,) it is the
name that is suitable for TCP/IP networking that is returned.
info level ?number?
If number is not specified, this command returns a number giving
the stack level of the invoking procedure, or 0 if the command
is invoked at top-level. If number is specified, then the
result is a list consisting of the name and arguments for the
procedure call at level number on the stack. If number is posi-
tive then it selects a particular stack level (1 refers to the
top-most active procedure, 2 to the procedure it called, and so
on); otherwise it gives a level relative to the current level (0
refers to the current procedure, -1 to its caller, and so on).
See the uplevel command for more information on what stack lev-
els mean.
info library
Returns the name of the library directory in which standard Tcl
scripts are stored. This is actually the value of the
tcl_library variable and may be changed by setting tcl_library.
info loaded ?interp?
Returns a list describing all of the packages that have been
loaded into interp with the load command. Each list element is
a sub-list with two elements consisting of the name of the file
from which the package was loaded and the name of the package.
For statically-loaded packages the file name will be an empty
string. If interp is omitted then information is returned for
all packages loaded in any interpreter in the process. To get a
list of just the packages in the current interpreter, specify an
empty string for the interp argument.
info locals ?pattern?
If pattern is not specified, returns a list of all the names of
currently-defined local variables, including arguments to the
current procedure, if any. Variables defined with the global,
upvar and variable commands will not be returned. If pattern
is specified, only those names matching pattern are returned.
Matching is determined using the same rules as for string match.
info nameofexecutable
Returns the full path name of the binary file from which the
application was invoked. If Tcl was unable to identify the
file, then an empty string is returned.
info object subcommand object ?arg ...
Returns information about the object, object. The subcommands |
are described in OBJECT INTROSPECTION below.
info patchlevel
Returns the value of the global variable tcl_patchLevel, which
holds the exact version of the Tcl library by default.
info procs ?pattern?
If pattern is not specified, returns a list of all the names of
Tcl command procedures in the current namespace. If pattern is
specified, only those procedure names in the current namespace
matching pattern are returned. Matching is determined using the
same rules as for string match. If pattern contains any names-
pace separators, they are used to select a namespace relative to
the current namespace (or relative to the global namespace if
pattern starts with ::) to match within; the matching pattern is
taken to be the part after the last namespace separator.
info script ?filename?
If a Tcl script file is currently being evaluated (i.e. there is
a call to Tcl_EvalFile active or there is an active invocation
of the source command), then this command returns the name of
the innermost file being processed. If filename is specified,
then the return value of this command will be modified for the
duration of the active invocation to return that name. This is
useful in virtual file system applications. Otherwise the com-
mand returns an empty string.
info sharedlibextension
Returns the extension used on this platform for the names of
files containing shared libraries (for example, .so under
Solaris). If shared libraries are not supported on this plat-
form then an empty string is returned.
info tclversion
Returns the value of the global variable tcl_version, which
holds the major and minor version of the Tcl library by default.
info vars ?pattern?
If pattern is not specified, returns a list of all the names of
currently-visible variables. This includes locals and cur-
rently-visible globals. If pattern is specified, only those
names matching pattern are returned. Matching is determined
using the same rules as for string match. pattern can be a
qualified name like Foo::option*. That is, it may specify a
particular namespace using a sequence of namespace names sepa-
rated by double colons (::), and may have pattern matching spe-
cial characters at the end to specify a set of variables in that
namespace. If pattern is a qualified name, the resulting list
of variable names has each matching namespace variable qualified
with the name of its namespace. Note that a currently-visible
variable may not yet "exist" if it has not been set (e.g. a
variable declared but not set by variable).
CLASS INTROSPECTION
The following subcommand values are supported by info class: |
info class call class method
Returns a description of the method implementations that are |
used to provide a stereotypical instance of class's implementa- |
tion of method (stereotypical instances being objects instanti- |
ated by a class without having any object-specific definitions |
added). This consists of a list of lists of four elements, where |
each sublist consists of a word that describes the general type |
of method implementation (being one of method for an ordinary |
method, filter for an applied filter, and unknown for a method |
that is invoked as part of unknown method handling), a word giv- |
ing the name of the particular method invoked (which is always |
the same as method for the method type, and "unknown" for the |
unknown type), a word giving the fully qualified name of the |
class that defined the method, and a word describing the type of |
method implementation (see info class methodtype). |
Note that there is no inspection of whether the method implemen- |
tations actually use next to transfer control along the call |
chain. |
info class constructor class
This subcommand returns a description of the definition of the |
constructor of class class. The definition is described as a two |
element list; the first element is the list of arguments to the |
constructor in a form suitable for passing to another call to |
proc or a method definition, and the second element is the body |
of the constructor. If no constructor is present, this returns |
the empty list.
info class definition class method
This subcommand returns a description of the definition of the |
method named method of class class. The definition is described |
as a two element list; the first element is the list of argu- |
ments to the method in a form suitable for passing to another |
call to proc or a method definition, and the second element is |
the body of the method.
info class destructor class
This subcommand returns the body of the destructor of class |
class. If no destructor is present, this returns the empty |
string.
info class filters class
This subcommand returns the list of filter methods set on the |
class.
info class forward class method
This subcommand returns the argument list for the method for- |
warding called method that is set on the class called class.
info class instances class ?pattern?
This subcommand returns a list of instances of class class. If |
the optional pattern argument is present, it constrains the list |
of returned instances to those that match it according to the |
rules of string match.
info class methods class ?options...?
This subcommand returns a list of all public (i.e. exported) |
methods of the class called class. Any of the following options |
may be specified, controlling exactly which method names are |
returned: |
-all If the -all flag is given, the list of methods will |
include those methods defined not just by the class, but |
also by the class's superclasses and mixins.
-private
If the -private flag is given, the list of methods will |
also include the private (i.e. non-exported) methods of |
the class (and superclasses and mixins, if -all is also |
given). |
info class methodtype class method
This subcommand returns a description of the type of implementa- |
tion used for the method named method of class class. When the |
result is method, further information can be discovered with |
info class definition, and when the result is forward, further |
information can be discovered with info class forward.
info class mixins class
This subcommand returns a list of all classes that have been |
mixed into the class named class.
info class subclasses class ?pattern?
This subcommand returns a list of direct subclasses of class |
class. If the optional pattern argument is present, it con- |
strains the list of returned classes to those that match it |
according to the rules of string match.
info class superclasses class
This subcommand returns a list of direct superclasses of class |
class in inheritance precedence order.
info class variables class
This subcommand returns a list of all variables that have been |
declared for the class named class (i.e. that are automatically |
present in the class's methods, constructor and destructor). |
OBJECT INTROSPECTION |
The following subcommand values are supported by info object:
info object call object method
Returns a description of the method implementations that are |
used to provide object's implementation of method. This con- |
sists of a list of lists of four elements, where each sublist |
consists of a word that describes the general type of method |
implementation (being one of method for an ordinary method, fil- |
ter for an applied filter, and unknown for a method that is |
invoked as part of unknown method handling), a word giving the |
name of the particular method invoked (which is always the same |
as method for the method type, and "unknown" for the unknown |
type), a word giving what defined the method (the fully quali- |
fied name of the class, or the literal string object if the |
method implementation is on an instance), and a word describing |
the type of method implementation (see info object methodtype). |
Note that there is no inspection of whether the method implemen- |
tations actually use next to transfer control along the call |
chain. |
info object class object ?className?
If className is unspecified, this subcommand returns class of |
the object object. If className is present, this subcommand |
returns a boolean value indicating whether the object is of that |
class.
info object definition object method
This subcommand returns a description of the definition of the |
method named method of object object. The definition is |
described as a two element list; the first element is the list |
of arguments to the method in a form suitable for passing to |
another call to proc or a method definition, and the second ele- |
ment is the body of the method.
info object filters object
This subcommand returns the list of filter methods set on the |
object.
info object forward object method
This subcommand returns the argument list for the method for- |
warding called method that is set on the object called object.
info object isa category object ?arg?
This subcommand tests whether an object belongs to a particular |
category, returning a boolean value that indicates whether the |
object argument meets the criteria for the category. The sup- |
ported categories are:
info object isa class object
This returns whether object is a class (i.e. an instance |
of oo::class or one of its subclasses).
info object isa metaclass object
This returns whether object is a class that can manufac- |
ture classes (i.e. is oo::class or a subclass of it).
info object isa mixin object class
This returns whether class is directly mixed into object. |
info object isa object object
This returns whether object really is an object. |
info object isa typeof object class
This returns whether class is the type of object (i.e. |
whether object is an instance of class or one of its sub- |
classes, whether direct or indirect). |
info object methods object ?option...?
This subcommand returns a list of all public (i.e. exported) |
methods of the object called object. Any of the following |
options may be specified, controlling exactly which method names |
are returned: |
-all If the -all flag is given, the list of methods will |
include those methods defined not just by the object, but |
also by the object's class and mixins, plus the super- |
classes of those classes.
-private
If the -private flag is given, the list of methods will |
also include the private (i.e. non-exported) methods of |
the object (and classes, if -all is also given). |
info object methodtype object method
This subcommand returns a description of the type of implementa- |
tion used for the method named method of object object. When the |
result is method, further information can be discovered with |
info object definition, and when the result is forward, further |
information can be discovered with info object forward.
info object mixins object
This subcommand returns a list of all classes that have been |
mixed into the object named object.
info object namespace object
This subcommand returns the name of the internal namespace of |
the object named object.
info object variables object
This subcommand returns a list of all variables that have been |
declared for the object named object (i.e. that are automati- |
cally present in the object's methods).
info object vars object ?pattern?
This subcommand returns a list of all variables in the private |
namespace of the object named object. If the optional pattern |
argument is given, it is a filter (in the syntax of a string |
match glob pattern) that constrains the list of variables |
returned. Note that this is different from the list returned by |
info object variables; that can include variables that are cur- |
rently unset, whereas this can include variables that are not |
automatically included by any of object's methods (or those of |
its class, superclasses or mixins).
EXAMPLES
This command prints out a procedure suitable for saving in a Tcl
script:
proc printProc {procName} {
set result [list proc $procName]
set formals {}
foreach var [info args $procName] {
if {[info default $procName $var def]} {
lappend formals [list $var $def]
} else {
# Still need the list-quoting because variable
# names may properly contain spaces.
lappend formals [list $var]
}
}
puts [lappend result $formals [info body $procName]]
}
EXAMPLES WITH OBJECTS
Every object necessarily knows what its class is; this information is |
trivially extractable through introspection: |
oo::class create c |
c create o |
puts [info object class o] |
-> prints "::c" |
puts [info object class c] |
-> prints "::oo::class" |
The introspection capabilities can be used to discover what class |
implements a method and get how it is defined. This procedure illus- |
trates how: |
proc getDef {obj method} { |
foreach inf [info object call $obj $method] { |
lassign $inf calltype name locus methodtype |
# Assume no forwards or filters, and hence no $calltype |
# or $methodtype checks... |
if {$locus eq "object"} { |
return [info object definition $obj $name] |
} else { |
return [info class definition $locus $name] |
} |
} |
error "no definition for $method" |
} |
This is an alternate way of looking up the definition; it is imple- |
mented by manually scanning the list of methods up the inheritance |
tree. This code assumes that only single inheritance is in use, and |
that there is no complex use of mixed-in classes (in such cases, using |
info object call as above is the simplest way of doing this by far): |
proc getDef {obj method} { |
if {$method in [info object methods $obj]} { |
# Assume no forwards |
return [info object definition $obj $method] |
} |
set cls [info object class $obj] |
while {$method ni [info class methods $cls]} { |
# Assume the simple case |
set cls [lindex [info class superclass $cls] 0] |
if {$cls eq ""} { |
error "no definition for $method" |
} |
} |
# Assume no forwards |
return [info class definition $cls $method] |
} |
ATTRIBUTES
See attributes(7) for descriptions of the following attributes:
+---------------+------------------+
|ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE |
+---------------+------------------+
|Availability | runtime/tcl-8 |
+---------------+------------------+
|Stability | Uncommitted |
+---------------+------------------+
SEE ALSO
global(n), oo::class(n), oo::define(n), oo::object(n), proc(n), |
self(n), tcl_library(n), tcl_patchLevel(n), tcl_version(n)
KEYWORDS
command, information, interpreter, introspection, level, namespace, |
object, procedure, variable
NOTES
Source code for open source software components in Oracle Solaris can
be found at https://www.oracle.com/downloads/opensource/solaris-source-
code-downloads.html.
This software was built from source available at
https://github.com/oracle/solaris-userland. The original community
source was downloaded from http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/tcl/tcl-
core8.6.7-src.tar.gz.
Further information about this software can be found on the open source
community website at https://www.tcl.tk/.
Tcl 8.4 info(1t)