info

info , a built-in command, provides information about the state of a Tcl interpreter.

Synopsis

info option ?arg arg ...?
info args procname
info body procname
info class subcommand class …
info cmdcount
info commands ?pattern?
info complete script
info coroutine
info default procname arg varname
info errorstack
info exists varName
info frame ?number?
info functions pattern
info globals ?pattern?
info hostname
info level ?number?
info library
info loaded ?interp?
info locals ?pattern?
info nameofexecutable
info object subcommand object …
info patchlevel
info procs ?pattern?
info script ?filename?
info sharedlibextension
info tclversion
info vars ?pattern?

Documentation

official reference

Description

With info, you can find out about your Tcl environment. For example

proc ls {{ns ::} {all no}} {
    puts [list namespace $ns]
    foreach child [namespace children $ns] {
        if {{all} eq $all} {
            list $child all
        } {
            puts [list namespace $child]
        }
    }
    set pat [set ns]::*
    foreach proc [info procs $pat] {
        puts [list proc $proc]
    }
    foreach var [info vars $pat] {
        if {[array exists $var]} {
            puts [list array $var]
        } {
            puts [list variable $var]
        }
    }
}

now what would be a good way of extending that to list the significant symbols in interps?

See tkinspect


In How can I tell where a proc was called , comp.lang.tcl, 2001-05-30, in response to a question about finding a way to tell who called a particular proc, Bruce Hartweg wrote (modified):

# quick tester:

proc who_called {} {
    puts [list {I was called from} [
        lindex [info level -1] 0] {but first call was to} [
        lindex [info level 1] 0]]
}

proc a {} who_called
proc b {} who_called
proc c {} who_called
proc d {} a
proc e n {$n}

# end

Output:

% a
{I was called from} a {but first call was to} a
% b
{I was called from} b {but first call was to} b
% c
{I was called from} c {but first call was to} c
% e a
{I was called from} a {but first call was to} e
% e b
{I was called from} b {but first call was to} e
% e c
{I was called from} c {but first call was to} e
% e d
{I was called from} a {but first call was to} e

Will Taylor writes:

I find a backtrace useful -- putting these two stmts in the proc in question:

set backtrace {}
getBackTrace backtrace
puts stderr [list [info level 0] [join $backtrace { => }]]

Here is the backtrace proc:

proc getBackTrace backTraceRef {
    upvar $backTraceRef backTrace

    set startLevel [expr {[info level] - 2}]
    for {set level 1} {$level <= $startLevel} {incr level} {
        lappend backTrace [lindex [info level $level] 0]
    }
}

The Bag of algorithms makes a couple of mentions of backtracing, and even has other uses of info ... .


AM: A common idiom that I use:

set scriptdir [file dirname [info script]]

so that I know where my other scripts or data files that need to be sourced/read are located.

Another use: detect the difference between running the script on its own or as a package:

if {[file tail [info script]] eq [file tail $::argv0]} {
    # The script is running on its own!
}

There is one particular caveat: the command will return an empty string when it is called in an event handler - then there is no script being "sourced" anymore! So, save the result when you need it later on (that is: later on in the process, not later in the source file).

See Also

Determining the Applications Root Directory
Making a Path Absolute