SYNOPSIS
proc name args body
DESCRIPTION
The proc command creates a new Tcl procedure named name, replacing any existing command or procedure there may have been by that name. Whenever the new command is invoked, the contents of body will be executed by the Tcl interpreter. Normally, name is unqualified (does not include the names of any containing namespaces), and the new procedure is created in the current namespace. If name includes any namespace qualifiers, the procedure is created in the specified namespace. Args specifies the formal arguments to the procedure. It consists of a list, possibly empty, each of whose elements specifies one argument. Each argument specifier is also a list with either one or two fields. If there is only a single field in the specifier then it is the name of the argument; if there are two fields, then the first is the argument name and the second is its default value.
When name is invoked a local variable will be created for each of the formal arguments to the procedure; its value will be the value of corresponding argument in the invoking command or the argument's default value. Arguments with default values need not be specified in a procedure invocation. However, there must be enough actual arguments for all the formal arguments that don't have defaults, and there must not be any extra actual arguments. There is one special case to permit procedures with variable numbers of arguments. If the last formal argument has the name args, then a call to the procedure may contain more actual arguments than the procedure has formals. In this case, all of the actual arguments starting at the one that would be assigned to args are combined into a list (as if the list command had been used); this combined value is assigned to the local variable args.
When body is being executed, variable names normally refer to local variables, which are created automatically when referenced and deleted when the procedure returns. One local variable is automatically created for each of the procedure's arguments. 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 proc command returns an empty string. When a procedure is invoked, the procedure's return value is the value specified in a return command. If the procedure doesn't execute an explicit return, then its return value is the value of the last command executed in the procedure's body. If an error occurs while executing the procedure body, then the procedure-as-a-whole will return that same error.
PORTABILITY
Windows 10. Windows Server 2016. Windows Server 2019. Windows 11. Windows Server 2022. Windows Server 2025.
AVAILABILITY
PTC MKS Toolkit for Power Users
PTC MKS Toolkit for System Administrators
PTC MKS Toolkit for Developers
PTC MKS Toolkit for Interoperability
PTC MKS Toolkit for Professional Developers
PTC MKS Toolkit for Enterprise Developers
PTC MKS Toolkit for Enterprise Developers 64-Bit Edition
PTC MKS Toolkit 10.5 Documentation Build 40.