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man pages section 3: Extended Library Functions, Volume 1

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Updated: Wednesday, July 27, 2022
 
 

Tcl_DStringInit (3tcl)

Name

Tcl_DStringInit - Tcl_DStringInit, Tcl_DStringAppend, Tcl_DStringAppendElement, Tcl_DStringStartSublist, Tcl_DStringEndSublist, Tcl_DStringLength, Tcl_DStringValue, Tcl_DStringSetLength, Tcl_DStringTrunc, manipulate dynamic strings

Synopsis

#include <tcl.h>

Tcl_DStringInit(dsPtr)

char *
Tcl_DStringAppend(dsPtr, bytes, length)

char *
Tcl_DStringAppendElement(dsPtr, element)

Tcl_DStringStartSublist(dsPtr)

Tcl_DStringEndSublist(dsPtr)

int
Tcl_DStringLength(dsPtr)

char *
Tcl_DStringValue(dsPtr)

Tcl_DStringSetLength(dsPtr, newLength)

Tcl_DStringTrunc(dsPtr, newLength)

Tcl_DStringFree(dsPtr)

Tcl_DStringResult(interp, dsPtr)

Tcl_DStringGetResult(interp, dsPtr)

Description

Tcl_DString(3tcl)           Tcl Library Procedures           Tcl_DString(3tcl)



______________________________________________________________________________

NAME
       Tcl_DStringInit,      Tcl_DStringAppend,      Tcl_DStringAppendElement,
       Tcl_DStringStartSublist,   Tcl_DStringEndSublist,    Tcl_DStringLength,
       Tcl_DStringValue,        Tcl_DStringSetLength,        Tcl_DStringTrunc,
       Tcl_DStringFree, Tcl_DStringResult, Tcl_DStringGetResult  -  manipulate
       dynamic strings

SYNOPSIS
       #include <tcl.h>

       Tcl_DStringInit(dsPtr)

       char *
       Tcl_DStringAppend(dsPtr, bytes, length)

       char *
       Tcl_DStringAppendElement(dsPtr, element)

       Tcl_DStringStartSublist(dsPtr)

       Tcl_DStringEndSublist(dsPtr)

       int
       Tcl_DStringLength(dsPtr)

       char *
       Tcl_DStringValue(dsPtr)

       Tcl_DStringSetLength(dsPtr, newLength)

       Tcl_DStringTrunc(dsPtr, newLength)

       Tcl_DStringFree(dsPtr)

       Tcl_DStringResult(interp, dsPtr)

       Tcl_DStringGetResult(interp, dsPtr)

ARGUMENTS
       Tcl_DString *dsPtr (in/out)         Pointer  to  structure that is used
                                           to manage a dynamic string.

       const char *bytes (in)              Pointer to characters to append  to
                                           dynamic string.

       const char *element (in)            Pointer  to characters to append as
                                           list element to dynamic string.

       int length (in)                     Number of bytes from bytes  to  add
                                           to  dynamic string.  If -1, add all
                                           characters up to  null  terminating
                                           character.

       int newLength (in)                  New  length for dynamic string, not
                                           including null terminating  charac-
                                           ter.

       Tcl_Interp *interp (in/out)         Interpreter  whose  result is to be
                                           set from or moved  to  the  dynamic
                                           string.
______________________________________________________________________________


DESCRIPTION
       Dynamic  strings  provide  a mechanism for building up arbitrarily long
       strings by gradually appending information.  If the dynamic  string  is
       short  then there will be no memory allocation overhead;  as the string
       gets larger, additional space will be allocated as needed.

       Tcl_DStringInit initializes a  dynamic  string  to  zero  length.   The
       Tcl_DString  structure  must  have  been  allocated  by the caller.  No
       assumptions are made about the current state of the structure; anything
       already in it is discarded.  If the structure has been used previously,
       Tcl_DStringFree should be called first to free up any memory  allocated
       for the old string.

       Tcl_DStringAppend  adds new information to a dynamic string, allocating
       more memory for the string if needed.  If length is less than zero then
       everything  in  bytes  is  appended  to  the dynamic string;  otherwise
       length specifies the number  of  bytes  to  append.   Tcl_DStringAppend
       returns  a pointer to the characters of the new string.  The string can
       also be retrieved from the string field of the Tcl_DString structure.

       Tcl_DStringAppendElement is similar to Tcl_DStringAppend except that it
       does not take a length argument (it appends all of element) and it con-
       verts  the  string  to  a  proper  list   element   before   appending.
       Tcl_DStringAppendElement  adds  a  separator  space before the new list
       element unless the new list element is the first in a list or  sub-list
       (i.e.  either  the  current  string is empty, or it contains the single
       character "{", or the last two characters of the current string  are  "
       {").   Tcl_DStringAppendElement  returns a pointer to the characters of
       the new string.

       Tcl_DStringStartSublist and Tcl_DStringEndSublist can be used to create
       nested lists.  To append a list element that is itself a sublist, first
       call Tcl_DStringStartSublist, then  call  Tcl_DStringAppendElement  for
       each of the elements in the sublist, then call Tcl_DStringEndSublist to
       end the sublist.  Tcl_DStringStartSublist appends a space character  if
       needed,  followed  by  an  open brace;  Tcl_DStringEndSublist appends a
       close brace.  Lists can be nested to any depth.

       Tcl_DStringLength is a macro that  returns  the  current  length  of  a
       dynamic   string   (not  including  the  terminating  null  character).
       Tcl_DStringValue is a  macro that returns a pointer to the current con-
       tents of a dynamic string.

       Tcl_DStringSetLength  changes  the  length  of  a  dynamic  string.  If
       newLength is less than the string's current length, then the string  is
       truncated.   If  newLength is greater than the string's current length,
       then the string will become longer and new space will be allocated  for
       the  string if needed.  However, Tcl_DStringSetLength will not initial-
       ize the new space except to provide a terminating null  character;   it
       is  up  to  the  caller to fill in the new space.  Tcl_DStringSetLength
       does not free up the string's storage space even if the string is trun-
       cated to zero length, so Tcl_DStringFree will still need to be called.

       Tcl_DStringTrunc  changes  the length of a dynamic string.  This proce-
       dure is now deprecated.  Tcl_DStringSetLength  should be used instead.

       Tcl_DStringFree should be  called  when  you  are  finished  using  the
       string.   It  frees up any memory that was allocated for the string and
       reinitializes the string's value to an empty string.

       Tcl_DStringResult sets the result of interp to the value of the dynamic
       string  given by dsPtr.  It does this by moving a pointer from dsPtr to
       the interpreter's result.  This saves the cost of allocating new memory
       and  copying  the  string.   Tcl_DStringResult  also  reinitializes the
       dynamic string to an empty string.

       Tcl_DStringGetResult does the opposite of Tcl_DStringResult.   It  sets
       the  value  of  dsPtr  to  the  result of interp and it clears interp's
       result.  If possible it does this by moving a pointer  rather  than  by
       copying the string.


KEYWORDS
       append, dynamic string, free, result



ATTRIBUTES
       See attributes(7) for descriptions of the following attributes:


       +---------------+------------------+
       |ATTRIBUTE TYPE | ATTRIBUTE VALUE  |
       +---------------+------------------+
       |Availability   | runtime/tcl-8    |
       +---------------+------------------+
       |Stability      | Uncommitted      |
       +---------------+------------------+

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                                   7.4                    Tcl_DString(3tcl)