dwww Home | Manual pages | Find package

apply(3tcl)                  Tcl Built-In Commands                 apply(3tcl)

______________________________________________________________________________

NAME
       apply - Apply an anonymous function

SYNOPSIS
       apply func ?arg1 arg2 ...?
______________________________________________________________________________

DESCRIPTION
       The  command apply applies the function func to the arguments arg1 arg2
       ... and returns the result.

       The function func is a two element list {args body} or a three  element
       list {args body namespace} (as if the list command had been used).  The
       first element args specifies the formal arguments to func. The specifi-
       cation  of  the  formal arguments args is shared with the proc command,
       and is described in detail in the corresponding manual page.

       The contents of body are executed by the Tcl interpreter after the  lo-
       cal  variables corresponding to the formal arguments are given the val-
       ues of the actual parameters arg1 arg2 ....  When body  is  being  exe-
       cuted, variable names normally refer to local variables, which are cre-
       ated automatically when referenced and deleted when apply returns.  One
       local  variable is automatically created for each of the function's ar-
       guments.  Global variables can only be accessed by invoking the  global
       command or the upvar command.  Namespace variables can only be accessed
       by invoking the variable command or the upvar command.

       The invocation of apply adds a call frame  to  Tcl's  evaluation  stack
       (the  stack of frames accessed via uplevel). The execution of body pro-
       ceeds in this call frame, in the namespace given by namespace or in the
       global  namespace  if none was specified. If given, namespace is inter-
       preted relative to the global namespace even if its name does not start
       with “::”.

       The semantics of apply can also be described by:

              proc apply {fun args} {
                  set len [llength $fun]
                  if {($len < 2) || ($len > 3)} {
                       error "can't interpret \"$fun\" as anonymous function"
                  }
                  lassign $fun argList body ns
                  set name ::$ns::[getGloballyUniqueName]
                  set body0 {
                       rename [lindex [info level 0] 0] {}
                  }
                  proc $name $argList ${body0}$body
                  set code [catch {uplevel 1 $name $args} res opt]
                  return -options $opt $res
              }

EXAMPLES
       This  shows  how to make a simple general command that applies a trans-
       formation to each element of a list.

              proc map {lambda list} {
                  set result {}
                  foreach item $list {
                      lappend result [apply $lambda $item]
                  }
                  return $result
              }
              map {x {return [string length $x]:$x}} {a bb ccc dddd}
                     1:a 2:bb 3:ccc 4:dddd
              map {x {expr {$x**2 + 3*$x - 2}}} {-4 -3 -2 -1 0 1 2 3 4}
                     2 -2 -4 -4 -2 2 8 16 26

       The apply command is also useful for defining callbacks for use in  the
       trace command:

              set vbl "123abc"
              trace add variable vbl write {apply {{v1 v2 op} {
                  upvar 1 $v1 v
                  puts "updated variable to \"$v\""
              }}}
              set vbl 123
              set vbl abc

SEE ALSO
       proc(3tcl), uplevel(3tcl)

KEYWORDS
       anonymous function, argument, lambda, procedure,

Tcl                                                                apply(3tcl)

Generated by dwww version 1.14 on Sat Aug 31 18:00:52 CEST 2024.