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NAME

       tkcon - Tk console replacement

SYNOPSIS

       tkcon [{option value | tcl_script} ...]

DESCRIPTION

       TkCon  is a replacement for the standard console that comes with Tk (on
       Windows/Mac, but also works on Unix).  The console itself provides many
       more  features than the standard console.  TkCon works on all platforms
       where Tcl/Tk is available.  It is  meant  primarily  to  aid  one  when
       working  with  the  little details inside Tcl and Tk, giving Unix users
       the GUI console provided by default in the Mac and Windows Tk.

       tkcon [{option value | tcl_script} ...]

OPTIONS

       Except for -rcfile, command line arguments are handled after the  TkCon
       resource file is sourced, but before the slave interpreter or the TkCon
       user interface is initialized.

       -rcfile is handled right before it would be sourced,  allowing  you  to
       specify  any alternate file.  Command line arguments are passed to each
       new console and will be  evaluated  by  each.   To  prevent  this  from
       happening, you have to say

       tkcon main set argv {}; tkcon main set argc 0

       For these options, any unique substring is allowed.

       -argv (also --)
              Causes  TkCon to stop evaluating arguments and set the remaining
              args to be argv/argc (with -- prepended).  This carries over for
              any  further  consoles.   This  is meant only for wrapping TkCon
              around programs that require their own arguments.

       -color-<color> color
              Sets the requested color type to the specified color for  tkcon.
              See tkconrc(5) for the recognized <color> names.

       -eval tcl_script (also -main or -e)
              A  Tcl  script  to  eval  in  each  main  interpreter.   This is
              evaluated after the  resource  file  is  loaded  and  the  slave
              interpreter   is  created.   Multiple  -eval  switches  will  be
              recognized (in order).

       -exec slavename
              Sets the named slave that tkcon operates in.  In  general,  this
              is  only  useful  to  set  to "" (empty), indicating to tkcon to
              avoid the  multi-interpreter  model  and  operate  in  the  main
              environment.   When this is empty, any further arguments will be
              only used in the first tkcon console and not passed onto further
              new  consoles.  This is useful when using tkcon as a console for
              extended wish executables that don’t load  there  commands  into
              slave interpreters.

       -font font
              Sets  the  font  that  tkcon uses for its text windows.  If this
              isn’t a fixed width font, tkcon will override it.

       -nontcl TCL_BOOLEAN
              Sets  ::tkcon::OPT(nontcl)  to  TCL_BOOLEAN  (see   tkconrc(5)).
              Needed when attaching to non-Tcl interpreters.

       -package package_name (also -load)
              Packages to automatically load into the slave interpreters (i.e.
              "Tk").

       -rcfile filename
              Specify an alternate tkcon resource file name.

       -root widgetname
              Makes the named widget the  root  name  of  all  consoles  (i.e.
              .tkcon).

       -slave tcl_script
              A  Tcl  script  to  eval  in  each slave interpreter.  This will
              append the one specified in the tkcon resource file, if any.

KEY BINDINGS

       Most of the bindings are the same as for the text  widget.   Some  have
       been  modified  to  make  sure  that  the  integrity  of the console is
       maintained.  Others have been added to enhance the  usefulness  of  the
       console.  Only the modified or new bindings are listed here.

       Control-x or Cut (on Sparc5 keyboards)
              Cut.

       Control-c or Copy (on Sparc5 keyboards)
              Copy.

       Control-v or Paste (on Sparc5 keyboards)
              Paste.

       Insert Insert (duh).

       Up     Goes up one level in the commands line history when cursor is on
              the prompt line, otherwise it moves through the buffer.

       Down   Goes down one level in the commands line history when cursor  is
              on  the  last line of the buffer, otherwise it moves through the
              buffer.

       Control-p
              Goes up one level in the commands line history.

       Control-n
              Goes down one level in the commands line history.

       Tab    Tries to expand file path names, then variable names, then  proc
              names.

       Escape Tries to expand file path names.

       Control-P
              Tries  to  expand  procedure names.  The procedure names will be
              those that are actually  in  the  attached  interpreter  (unless
              nontcl  is specified, in which case it always does the lookup in
              the default slave interpreter).

       Control-V
              Tries to expand variable names (those returned by [info  vars]).
              It’s search behavior is like that for procedure names.

       Return or Enter
              Evaluates  the current command line if it is a complete command,
              otherwise it just goes to a new line.

       Control-a
              Go to the beginning of the current command line.

       Control-l
              Clear the entire console buffer.

       Control-r
              Searches backwards in the history for any command that  contains
              the  string  in  the current command line.  Repeatable to search
              farther back.  The matching substring off the found command will
              blink.

       Control-s
              As  above, but searches forward (only useful if you searched too
              far back).

       Control-t
              Transposes characters.

       Control-u
              Clears the current command line.

       Control-z
              Saves current command line in a buffer  that  can  be  retrieved
              with  another  Control-z.  If the current command line is empty,
              then any saved command is retrieved without  being  overwritten,
              otherwise  the  current  contents get swapped with what’s in the
              saved command buffer.

       Control-Key-1
              Attaches console to the console’s slave interpreter.

       Control-Key-2
              Attaches console to the console’s master interpreter.

       Control-Key-3
              Attaches console to main TkCon interpreter.

       Control-A
              Pops up the "About" dialog.

       Control-N
              Creates  a  new  console.  Each  console  has  separate   state,
              including  it’s own widget hierarchy (it’s a slave interpreter).

       Control-q
              Close the current console OR Quit the program  (depends  on  the
              value of ::tkcon::TKCON(slaveexit)).

       Control-w
              Closes  the current console.  Closing the main console will exit
              the program (something has to control all the slaves...).

       TkCon also has electric bracing (similar to that in  emacs).   It  will
       highlight  matching  pairs of {}’s, []’s, ()’s and ""’s.  For the first
       three, if there is no matching left element  for  the  right,  then  it
       blinks the entire current command line.  For the double quote, if there
       is no proper match  then  it  just  blinks  the  current  double  quote
       character.   It  does  properly recognize most escaping (except escaped
       escapes), but does not look for commenting (why would you interactively
       put comments in?).

COMMANDS

       There  are  several  new  procedures  introduced  in  TkCon  to improve
       productivity  and/or  account  for  lost  functionality  in   the   Tcl
       environment  that  users are used to in native environments.  There are
       also some redefined procedures.  Here is a non-comprehensive list:

       alias ?sourceCmd targetCmd ?arg arg ...??
              Simple alias mechanism.  It will  overwrite  existing  commands.
              When called without args, it returns current aliases.  Note that
              TkCon makes some aliases for  you  (in  slaves).   Don’t  delete
              those.

       clear ?percentage?
              Clears the text widget.  Same as the <Control-l> binding, except
              this will accept a percentage of the buffer to clear (1-100, 100
              default).

       dir ?-all? ?-full? ?-long? ?pattern pattern ...?
              Cheap  way  to  get directory listings.  Uses glob style pattern
              matching.

       dump type ?-nocomplain? ?-filter pattern? ?--? pattern ?pattern ...?
              The dump command provides a way for the user to spit  out  state
              information  about  the interpreter in a Tcl readable (and human
              readable) form.  See dump(3tk) for details.

       echo ?arg arg ...?
              Concatenates the args  and  spits  the  result  to  the  console
              (stdout).

       edit ?-type type? ?-find str? ?-attach interp? arg
              Opens  an  editor  with  the  data  from arg.  The optional type
              argument can be one of: proc, var or file.  For proc or var, the
              arg may be a pattern.

       idebug command ?args?
              Interactive debugging command.  See idebug(3tk) for details.

       lremove ?-all? ?-regexp -glob? list items
              Removes  one or more items from a list and returns the new list.
              If -all is specified, it removes all instances of each  item  in
              the  list.  If -regexp or -glob is specified, it interprets each
              item in the items list as a regexp  or  glob  pattern  to  match
              against.

       less   Aliased to edit.

       ls     Aliased to dir -full.

       more   Aliased to edit.

       observe type ?args?
              This  command  provides  passive  runtime  debugging  output for
              variables and commands.  See observe(3tk) for details.

       puts (same options as always)
              Redefined to put the output into TkCon.

       tkcon method ?args?
              Multi-purpose command.  See tkcon(3tk) for details.

       tclindex  ?-extensions  patternlist?  ?-index  TCL_BOOLEAN?   ?-package
       TCL_BOOLEAN? ?dir1 dir2 ...?
              Convenience proc to update the "tclIndex" (controlled by  -index
              switch)  and/or  "pkgIndex.tcl"  (controlled by -package switch)
              file in the named directories based on  the  given  pattern  for
              files.   It  defaults  to  creating  the  "tclIndex" but not the
              "pkgIndex.tcl" file, with the  directory  defaulting  to  [pwd].
              The extension defaults to *.tcl, with *.[info sharelibextension]
              added when -package is true.

       unalias cmd
              unaliases command.

       what string
              The what command will identify the word given in string  in  the
              Tcl  environment  and  return  a  list  of  types  that  it  was
              recognized as.  Possible types are: alias,  procedure,  command,
              array  variable,  scalar  variable, directory, file, widget, and
              executable.  Used by procedures dump and which.

       which command
              Like the which command of Unix shells, this will tell you  if  a
              particular  command  is known, and if so, whether it is internal
              or external to the interpreter.  If it is  an  internal  command
              and  there is a slot in auto_index for it, it tells you the file
              that auto_index would load.  This does not necessarily mean that
              that  is  where  the  file  came from, but if it were not in the
              interpreter previously, then  that  is  where  the  command  was
              found.

       There  are  several procedures that I use as helpers that some may find
       helpful in there coding (i.e. expanding pathnames). Feel free  to  lift
       them from the code (but do assign proper attribution).

EXAMLPES

       Some examples of tkcon command line startup situations:

       megawish /usr/bin/tkcon -exec "" -root .tkcon mainfile.tcl

       Use  tkcon  as  a console for your megawish application.  You can avoid
       starting the line with megawish if that is the default wish that  TkCon
       would  use.   The  -root  ensures that tkcon will not conflict with the
       application root window.

       tkcon -font "Courier 12" -load Tk

       Use the courier font for TkCon and always load Tk in slave interpreters
       at startup.

       tkcon -rcfile ~/.wishrc -color-bg white

       Use the ~/.wishrc file as the resource file, and a white background for
       TkCon’s text widgets.

FILES

       TkCon will search for a resource file  in  "~/.tkconrc".   TkCon  never
       sources the "~/.wishrc" file.  The resource file is sourced by each new
       instance of the console.  An  example  resource  file  is  provided  in
       tkconrc(5).

SEE ALSO

       dump(3tk), idebug(3tk), observe(3tk), text(3tk), tkcon(3tk), tkconrc(5)

KEYWORDS

       Tk, console

COPYRIGHT

       Copyright (c) Jeffrey Hobbs (jeff at hobbs.org)