Tcl Braces, Quotes and Brackets
Braces, quotes, and square brackets control when variables and commands are processed. They are also used to group parameters.
The example below illustrates that HyperMesh will not
recognize arguments if they are not distinguished
somehow:
set var1 HyperWorks uses Tcl and Tk;
rong # args: should be "set varName ?newValue?"
In order to distinguish the arguments in a command string, you must use quotes or braces as
shown in these
examples:
set var1 "HyperWorks uses Tcl and Tk";
set var1 {HyperWorks uses Tcl and Tk};
Variables contained within quotes are always
evaluated.
set var1 HyperWorks;
puts "$var1 uses Tcl and Tk";
HyperWorks uses Tcl and Tk
Since quotes do not have a right and a left, it is not possible to embed quotes within
quotes directly. In the example below, HyperMesh interprets the
quotes between "uses" and "tcl" as being the end quotes:
set var1 HyperWorks;
puts "$ HyperWorks uses "Tcl and Tk"";
extra characters after close-quote
Variables contained within braces are not
evaluated.
set var1 HyperWorks;
puts {$var1 uses Tcl and Tk};
$var1 uses Tcl and Tk
Braces are very handy for program control. For example, you define a Tcl/Tk button that calls the command puts $var1 to return the most recent value of var1 when the button is pressed. The parameter for the button command will be {puts $var1} because you don’t want Tcl to evaluate $var1 when the button is defined, but instead when the button is pressed.
Square brackets run the commands contained within
them.
set var1 HyperWorks;
set var2 [set var1];
puts $var2;
HyperWorks