File Operations

Reference

• file atime filename
  Returns as a decimal number the time that the file was last accessed.

  set access_time [file atime "index.adp"] ==> 916612934 
  

• file dirname filename
  Returns the name of the parent directory of the file.

  set parent_dir [file dirname "~/home/dir/this.adp"] ==> ~/home/dir
  

• file executable filename
  Returns 1 if the file is executable, 0 otherwise.

  chmod 1111 billg-wealth.tcl
  file executable billg-wealth.tcl ==> 1
  

• file exists filename
  Returns 1 if the file exists, 0 otherwise.

  file exists billg-wealth.tc ==> 0
  file exists billg-wealth.tcl ==> 1
  

• file extension filename
  Returns the file extension of the file (i.e. from the last dot to the end)

  file extension billg-wealth.tcl ==> .tcl
  

• file isdirectory filename
  Returns 1 if the file is a directory, 0 otherwise.

  file isdirectory . ==> 1
  file isdirectory billg-wealth.tcl ==> 0
  

• file isfile filename
  Returns 1 if the file is not a directory, symbolic link, or device, 0 otherwise.

  file isfile billg-wealth.tcl ==> 1
  

• file lstat filename variablename
  Puts the results of the stat command on linkname into variablename.

  ln -s billg-wealth.tcl temp.tcl
  file lstat temp.tcl temp ==> (array holding stat info)
  

• file mtime filename
  Returns the modify time of file as a decimal string.

  file modify billg-wealth.tcl ==> 915744902
  

• file owned filename
  Returns 1 if the current user owns the file, else 0.

  file owned billg-wealth.tcl ==> 1
  

• file readable filename
  Returns 1 if the file is readable, else 0.

  file readable billg-wealth.tcl ==> 1
  

• file readlink filename
  Returns the contents of the symbolic link named filename.

  ln -s file.txt file1.txt
  file readlink file1.txt ==> file.txt
  

• file rootname filename
  Returns all but the extension and the last . of the filename.

  file rootname billg-wealth.tcl ==> billg-wealth
  

• file size filename
  Returns the size in bytes of the file.

  file size billg-wealth.tcl ==> 774
  

• file stat filename variablename
  Returns the stat results about the file into the array named variablename. The elements of the variable array are: atime, ctime, dev, gid, ino, mode, mtime, nlink, size, type, and uid.

  file stat billg-wealth.tcl billg_info 
  set $billg_info(ctime) ==> 916615489
  

• file tail filename
  Returns all of the characters after the last / in the filename.

  file tail ~/home/dir/subdir/file.txt ==> file.txt
  

• file type filename
  Returns the type identified of the filename arg, which can be one of the following: file, directory, characterSpecial, blockSpecial, fifo, link, or socket.

  file type billg-wealth.tcl ==> file
  

• file writable filename
  Returns 1 if the file is writable, 0 otherwise.

  file writable billg-wealth.tcl ==> 0
  

Input/Output Commands

• open filename ?access? ?permissions?
  Returns a stream handle to open the file for the access specified with the permissions specified. Defaut values are read for the access required and the permissions are the same as the default permissions on a file. The access value options are r (read from existing file), r+ (read from and write to existing file), w (write over or create and write to file as necessary), w+ (read from and write to or create file as necessary), a (write to existing file; append data to it), a+ (read from and write to existing file; append data to it).

  set this_file_stream [open /tmp/file.txt r]
  

  More: http://www.tcl.tk/man/tcl8.4/TclCmd/open.htm
  
  
• puts ?-nonewline? ?stream? string
  Write the string to the stream. Default is STDOUT.

  puts "Hello, world." ==> Hello, world.
  

  More: http://www.tcl.tk/man/tcl8.4/TclCmd/puts.htm
  
  
• gets stream ?varname?
  Read a line from the stream. If a variable is specified, put the line into that variable.

  gets $thisstream line
  

  More: http://www.tcl.tk/man/tcl8.4/TclCmd/gets.htm
  
  
• read streamname ?numbytes?
  If numbytes is specified, read that many bytes of the stream. If not, read the whole stream.

  set first_ten_bytes [read $this_stream 10]
  

  More: http://www.tcl.tk/man/tcl8.4/TclCmd/read.htm
  
  
• read -nonewline streamname
  Read the whole stream and discard the last newline.

  set this_file_contents [read -nonewline $this_stream]
  

• tell streamname
  Return the "seek offset." (See below for seek.)

  set seek_offset [tell $this_stream]
  

  More: http://www.tcl.tk/man/tcl8.4/TclCmd/tell.htm
  
  
• seek streamname offset ?origin?
  Set the seek offset. Origin is either start, current, or end.

  seek $this_stream offset end
  

  More: http://www.tcl.tk/man/tcl8.4/TclCmd/seek.htm
  
  
• eof stream
  Returns 1 if you have reached the end of the stream; 0 otherwise.

  if {[eof $this_stream]} {
     break
  }
  

  More: http://www.tcl.tk/man/tcl8.4/TclCmd/eof.htm
  
  
• flush streamname
  Write buffers of a stream

  flush $this_stream
  

  More: http://www.tcl.tk/man/tcl8.4/TclCmd/flush.htm
  
  
• close streamname
  Close the stream.

  close $this_stream
  

  More: http://www.tcl.tk/man/tcl8.4/TclCmd/close.htm