Name

Synopsis

::tclreadline::readline command [options ]

Description

The advantage of tclreadline is that it uses the callback handler mechanism of the gnu readline while it processes tcl events. This way X events from a wish gui will processed as well as events from the tclreadline line interface.

tclreadline is basically a shared library and a few tcl scripts which are accessed with the tcl package require command. Therefore tclreadline should work with all common extensions like blt, itcl, itk, tix ... .

Commands

The following list will give all commands, which are currently implemented in the shared lib (e.g. libtclreadline0.9.so). Additional commands were introduced in a startup script tclreadlineSetup.tcl , which lives in the tclreadline installation directory. (typically something like /usr/local/lib/tclreadline ..) These commands are primarily for internal use and not documented here. Note that all commands reside in the namespace ::tclreadline:: .

::tclreadline::readline add string

adds a string to the completer. If the string contains white spaces, each of the words will be completed consecutively when hitting <Tab>. Example: ::tclreadline::readline add "button pathName ?options?" typing but<Tab> will complete to button. Hitting <Tab> again will complete to "button pathName". ...

::tclreadline::readline complete string

returns 1 if string is a complete tcl command and 0 otherwise.

::tclreadline::readline customcompleter [string ]

Register the proc string as custom completer. This proc is called with exactly four arguments each time completion takes place: the word to complete ("text"), the "start" and "end" positions of this word in the line entered so far, and this line ("line"). The custom completion script should return an array of strings which is a list of completions for "text". If there are no completions, it should return an empty string "". The first entry in the returned list is the substitution for "text". The remaining entries are the possible completions. If the custom completion script returns an empty string and builtin completion is enabled (see tclreadline::readline builtincompleter ), the builtin completer is called. tclreadline::readline customcompleter simply returns the current custom completer if called w/o string . To turn of custom completion, call tclreadline::readline customcompleter with an empty string . Example: % puts $b<TAB> will call the custom completer with the four arguments "$b" , "5" , "8" and "puts $b" . The custom completer could return a string like "$bl $black $blue", which will complete "$b" to "$bl" (the longest match) and offer a list of two further matches "$black" and "$blue". For further reference, see the proc tclreadline::ScriptCompleter in the file tclreadlineSetup.tcl.

::tclreadline::readline builtincompleter [bool ]

enable or disable the builtin completer. If the builtin completer is enabled, it will be invoked either if there is no custom completer, or the custom completer returned an empty string. The builtin completer is on by default. tclreadline::readline builtincompleter returns the current custom completer (also, if called w/o the bool argument).

::tclreadline::readline eofchar [script ]

set a script which will be called, if readline returns the eof character (this is typically the case if CTRL-D is entered at the very beginning of the line). The default for this script is "puts {}; exit". Setting this to an empty value disables any action on eof. tclreadline::readline eof returns the current eof script.

::tclreadline::readline initialize historyfile

initialize the tclreadline interface and read the history from the historyfile . On succes an empty string is returned. This command has to be called before any other tclreadline commands.

::tclreadline::readline read prompt

prints the prompt to stdout and enters the tclreadline event loop. Both readline and X events are processed. Returns the (eventually history-expanded) input string.

::tclreadline::readline write historyfile

writes the history to the historyfile . This command is called automatically from the internal routine ::tclreadline::Exit.

::tclreadline::Print [yes / no ]

turns on or off the default behavior of tclsh to print the result of every command. This is turned on by default, so it will just behave as the tclsh w/o tclreadline. Turning off might be useful, when reading binary data for example. If ::tclreadline::Print is called w/o arguments, it returns the current setting.

::tclreadline::Loop

enter the tclreadline main loop. This command is typically called from the startup resource file (something .tclshrc, depending on the interpreter you use, see the file `sample.tclshrc'). The main loop sets up some completion characteristics as variable -- try something like "puts $b<TAB>" -- and command completion -- try "puts [in<TAB>". ::tclreadline::Loop will normally not return. If you want to write your own main loop and/or own custom completers, it is probably a good idea to start with tclreadline::Loop (see the file tclreadlineSetup.tcl).

::tclreadline::prompt1

a proc which is called by ::tclreadline::Loop and returns a string which will be displayed as the primary prompt. This prompt will be something like "[info nameofexecutable] [[pwd]]" possibly fancy colored. The default proc is defined on entering the ::tclreadline::Loop, if it is not already defined. So: If you define your own proc ::tclreadline::prompt1 before entering ::tclreadline::Loop, this proc is called each time the prompt is to be displayed. Example:

     package require tclreadline 
     namespace eval tclreadline { 
         proc prompt1 {} { 
             return "[clock format [clock seconds]]> " 
         } 
     } 
     ::tclreadline::Loop 
  

Variables

Files

     if {$tcl_interactive} { 
         package require tclreadline 
         ::tclreadline::Loop 
     } 
  

the .tclsh-history file in the HOME directory. On startup commands will be read from this file. On exit, the readline history is written to this file. Note that if you abort tclsh with <cntrl-c> no history is written. For the future it is planned to set up a signal handler, which will write the history on <ctrl-c> before exiting.

the .inputrc file in the users HOME directory. This file is used normally for all programs which use the gnu readline (e.g. bash). The `global' readline settings there will be valid also for tclreadline . Additionally the .inputrc might hold conditional settings for the implementation name tclreadline . Example of some lines in your .inputrc:

     $if tclreadline 
     "\C-xp": "puts $env(PATH)" 
     $endif 
  

Bugs

See Also

The official tclreadline web site at:

http://www.zellner.org/tclreadline/

Author

Contributions, Suggestions and Patches

Debian Package

Disclaimer

Table of Contents

• Name
• Synopsis
• Description
• Commands
• Variables
• Files
• Bugs
• See Also
• Author
• Contributions, Suggestions and Patches
• Debian Package
• Disclaimer