Introduction to TCL

TCL Fundamentals
TCL oddities
More TCL syntax
Introduction to Expect
Expect fundamentals
Expect examples
The end

TCL and Expect

William Tracy

Thursday, February 19, 2009

William Tracy

TCL and Expect

Introduction to TCL
TCL Fundamentals
TCL oddities
More TCL syntax
Introduction to Expect
Expect fundamentals
Expect examples
The end

What is TCL?

Unix scripting language

Intended for embedding in applications

Shell-like syntax

Low memory footprint

William Tracy

TCL and Expect

Introduction to TCL
TCL Fundamentals
TCL oddities
More TCL syntax
Introduction to Expect
Expect fundamentals
Expect examples
The end

Input, Output, and Variables

Listing 1: File 0-io
1 #! / u s r / b i n / t c l s h
2
3 s e t l a n g u a g e TCL
4 puts H e l l o , $ l a n g u a g e !
5 puts { H e l l o , $ l a n g u a g e ! }
6
7 puts s t d o u t E n t e r a s t r i n g :
8 gets s t d i n i n p u t
9 puts s t d o u t You s a i d $ i n p u t !
William Tracy

TCL and Expect

Introduction to TCL
TCL Fundamentals
TCL oddities
More TCL syntax
Introduction to Expect
Expect fundamentals
Expect examples
The end

Control flow
Listing 2: File 1-if
1 #! / u s r / b i n / t c l s h
2
3 set f l a g true
4 if { $flag } {
5
puts True !
6 } else {
7
puts F a l s e !
8 }

William Tracy

TCL and Expect

Introduction to TCL
TCL Fundamentals
TCL oddities
More TCL syntax
Introduction to Expect
Expect fundamentals
Expect examples
The end

Loops
Listing 3: File 2-loops
1 #! / u s r / b i n / t c l s h
2
3 set input n
4 w h i l e { $ i n p u t != y } {
5
puts Would you l i k e t o q u i t ? <y /n>
6
gets s t d i n i n p u t
7 }
8
9 f o r { s e t i 0} { $ i < 10} { i n c r i } {
10
puts $ i
11 }
William Tracy

TCL and Expect

Introduction to TCL
TCL Fundamentals
TCL oddities
More TCL syntax
Introduction to Expect
Expect fundamentals
Expect examples
The end

Example
Listing 4: File install
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#! / u s r / b i n / t c l s h
set

fail

true

p u t s I n s t a l l o p t i o n a l components ? <y /n>

gets s t d i n data
i f { $ d a t a != y} {
exit
}
if {$fail} {
p u t s Hardware n o t s u p p o r t e d . I n s t a l l
p u t s c o m b u s t i o n . C o n t i n u e ? <y /n>
gets s t d i n data
i f { $ d a t a != y} {
exit
}
}

w i l l cause spontaneous

p u t s I n s t a l l w i l l t a k e 10 Gb. C o n t i n u e ? <y /n>

gets s t d i n data
William Tracy

TCL and Expect

Introduction to TCL
TCL Fundamentals
TCL oddities
More TCL syntax
Introduction to Expect
Expect fundamentals
Expect examples
The end

Whitespace

Listing 5: File 3-ifbroken

1 #! / u s r / b i n / t c l s h
2
3 set f l a g true
4 if { $flag }
5 {
6
puts Yay !
7 }

William Tracy

TCL and Expect

Introduction to TCL
TCL Fundamentals
TCL oddities
More TCL syntax
Introduction to Expect
Expect fundamentals
Expect examples
The end

Whitespace
Listing 6: File 4-iffixed
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#! / u s r / b i n / t c l s h
set f l a g true
if { $flag } {
puts Yay !
}
if { $flag } \
{
puts Yay !
}
William Tracy

TCL and Expect

Introduction to TCL
TCL Fundamentals
TCL oddities
More TCL syntax
Introduction to Expect
Expect fundamentals
Expect examples
The end

Whitespace

Listing 7: File 5-comments

1 #! / u s r / b i n / t c l s h
2
3 puts B l a b l a # W i t t y comment
4
5 puts B l a b l a ; # W i t t y comment

William Tracy

TCL and Expect

Introduction to TCL
TCL Fundamentals
TCL oddities
More TCL syntax
Introduction to Expect
Expect fundamentals
Expect examples
The end

Grouping

Quotes group arguments

Braces disable substitution in a group

Square brackets are replaced by the execution of that

command
Listing 8: File 6-brackets
puts [ expr 2 + 2 ]

William Tracy

TCL and Expect

Introduction to TCL
TCL Fundamentals
TCL oddities
More TCL syntax
Introduction to Expect
Expect fundamentals
Expect examples
The end

Data Structures
Listing 9: File 7-structures
1 #! / u s r / b i n / t c l s h
2
3 s e t m y l i s t { a b c d}
4 puts $ m y l i s t
5 puts [ l i n d e x $ m y l i s t 0 ]
6 puts [ l l e n g t h $ m y l i s t ]
7
8 set myarray ( foo ) bar
9 s e t m y a r r a y ( b a z z ) bu zz
10 p a r r a y m y a r r a y
11 puts $ m y a r r a y ( f o o )
William Tracy

TCL and Expect

Introduction to TCL
TCL Fundamentals
TCL oddities
More TCL syntax
Introduction to Expect
Expect fundamentals
Expect examples
The end

Procedures

Listing 10: File 8-proc

1 #! / u s r / b i n / t c l s h
2
3 proc sum { a r g 1 a r g 2 } {
4
s e t x [ expr { $ a r g 1 + $ a r g 2 } ]
5
r e t u r n $x
6 }
7 puts The sum o f 2 + 3 i s : [ sum 2 3 ]

William Tracy

TCL and Expect

Introduction to TCL
TCL Fundamentals
TCL oddities
More TCL syntax
Introduction to Expect
Expect fundamentals
Expect examples
The end

What is Expect?

Extension to TCL

Spawns and manages child processes

Handles stdin and stdout of children

William Tracy

TCL and Expect

Introduction to TCL
TCL Fundamentals
TCL oddities
More TCL syntax
Introduction to Expect
Expect fundamentals
Expect examples
The end

Spawn

Listing 11: File 9-spawn

1 #! / u s r / b i n / e x p e c t
2 spawn c a t 9spawn
3 puts $ s p a w n i d

William Tracy

TCL and Expect

Introduction to TCL
TCL Fundamentals
TCL oddities
More TCL syntax
Introduction to Expect
Expect fundamentals
Expect examples
The end

Expect

Listing 12: File 10-expect

1 #! / u s r / b i n / e x p e c t
2 spawn c a t 10 expect
3 expect expect
4 puts $ e x p e c t o u t ( b u f f e r )
5 e x p e c t $spawn id eof

William Tracy

TCL and Expect

Introduction to TCL
TCL Fundamentals
TCL oddities
More TCL syntax
Introduction to Expect
Expect fundamentals
Expect examples
The end

Send

Listing 13: File 11-send

1 #! / u s r / b i n / e x p e c t
2
3 spawn b a n n e r
4 expect Message:
5 s e n d : ) \ n
6 e x p e c t e of

William Tracy

TCL and Expect

Introduction to TCL
TCL Fundamentals
TCL oddities
More TCL syntax
Introduction to Expect
Expect fundamentals
Expect examples
The end

Autoinstall

Listing 14: autoinstall

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#! / u s r / b i n / e x p e c t
spawn . / i n s t a l l
expect I n s t a l l
s e n d y\n

o p t i o n a l components ? <y /n>

e x p e c t c o m b u s t i o n . C o n t i n u e ? <y /n> {
s e n d n\n
} I n s t a l l w i l l t a k e 10 Gb. C o n t i n u e ? <y /n> {
s e n d y\n
}
expect eof

William Tracy

TCL and Expect

Introduction to TCL
TCL Fundamentals
TCL oddities
More TCL syntax
Introduction to Expect
Expect fundamentals
Expect examples
The end

Hunt the Wumpus

William Tracy

TCL and Expect

Introduction to TCL
TCL Fundamentals
TCL oddities
More TCL syntax
Introduction to Expect
Expect fundamentals
Expect examples
The end

The book

William Tracy

TCL and Expect