☕ Tclsh-Wrapper

Tclsh-Wrapper is a tiny wrapper for tclsh ( Shell/interpretor application for Tcl programming language )

🍵 Motivation

Most shell applications (Bash, Python, etc) have command history navigation feature (mostly invoked by pressing UP key). However, tclsh offers no such basic functionality. It doesn't even understand UP/DOWN key press!!!

That is not a big problem since Tcl/Tk package ships with an alternative shell application tkcon. It's a GUI shell, and much better.

But still, if tclsh can offer command history navigation, I'll prefer it to tkcon since it's much more productive and convenient to terminal geeks anyway.

After a bit of research, I found this code which offers what I needed. I changed some code in it and added a few new convenient features and that is Tclsh-Wrapper.

🍵 What have been changed

• Removed a dependency to some 3rd party package
  • I guess the original intent was supporting cross platform compatibility, but when you use tclsh only in Unix like systems, that 3rd party package was a complete overkill.
• Added convenient cursor movement from word to word
• Added convenient glob search for command history
• Colorized the prompt, error messages, etc.
• Changed some (seemingly) inefficient code

☕ How To Use It

Assume you copy the package to ~/lib/tcl. (Of course, you can copy it anywhere you like)

1. Clone the package

   • git clone https://github.com/suewonjp/tclsh-wrapper.git ~/lib/tcl/tclsh-wrapper

2. Create a launcher script like so:

    touch tcl; chmod a+x tcl; echo "
    #!/bin/sh
    exec tclsh ~/lib/tcl/tclsh-wrapper/TclReadLine/TclReadLine.tcl
    " > tcl
   

3. Copy the generated tcl script somewhere in the system path.

4. Now execute tcl instead of tclsh

   • Notice that the tcl script above is intended for interactive uses only and not a complete replacement for tclsh.
   • You still need to use tclsh for executing Tcl scripts.
   • See the sample launcher script

Alternatively, create a ~/.tclshrc file and append the code as follows:

    lappend auto_path "~/lib/tcl/tclsh-wrapper"

    if {$::tcl_interactive} {
        package require TclReadLine
        TclReadLine::interact
    }

In this case, you can run tclsh directly, then it will read ~/.tclshrc at startup and eventually load Tclsh-Wrapper.

Once Tclsh-Wrapper invoked, Type help to print out all key bindings and additional help messages.

☕ Key Bindings

• CONTROL + a / HOME
  • Move the cursor to the start of the line
• CONTROL + b / LEFT
  • Move the cursor to the previous character
• CONTROL + d
  • Terminate the shell. Same as executing exit command.
• CONTROL + e / END
  • Move the cursor to the end of the line
• CONTROL + f / RIGHT
  • Move the cursor to the next character
• CONTROL + g
  • Clear the entire line
• CONTROL + k
  • Clear everything from the cursor to the end of the line
  • And the cleared text will be YANKED (remembered)
• CONTROL + y
  • Paste the text previously yanked
• CONTROL + n / DOWN
  • Retrieve an older command line from the command history
• CONTROL + p / UP
  • Retrieve a newer command line from the command history
• CONTROL + u
  • Clear everything from the start of the line to the cursor
  • And the cleared text will be YANKED (remembered)
• CONTROL + w
  • Delete the previous word
• CONTROL + h / Backspace
  • Delete the previous character
• TAB
  • Keyword completion for commands, variable, file path, etc.

Depending on terminals you're using, Tclsh-Wrapper may not recognize ALT key press. Read the topic of ALT key limitation below for more detail

• ALT + 0
  • Move the cursor to the start of the line. Same as CONTROL + a
• ALT + b
  • Move to the start of the word
• ALT + d
  • Delete the next word
• ALT + e
  • Move to the end of the word
• ALT + f / ALT + w
  • Move to the start of the next word
• ALT + /
  • Clear the entire line and insert ? at the start of the line.
  • This will quickly let you search commands with glob patterns through the command history
  • Read History Search Mode below for more detail
• ALT + k
  • Retrieve an older command line from the command history
  • Same as CONTROL + p or UP
• ALT + j
  • Retrieve a newer command line from the command history
  • Same as CONTROL + n or DOWN
• ALT + h
  • Move the cursor to the previous character
  • Same as CONTROL + b or LEFT
• ALT + l
  • Move the cursor to the next character
  • Same as CONTROL + f or RIGHT
• ALT + x / DELETE
  • Delete the next character
• Shift + LEFT
  • Move the cursor to the previous blank
• Shift + RIGHT
  • Move the cursor to the next blank

☕ Commands

• exit
  • Exit Tclsh-Wrapper
• quit
  • Same as exit
• help
  • Print out help messages
• clear
  • Clear the screen
• keyword
  • Add an arbitrary user keyword which will be expanded on keyword completion
  • See Keyword Completion section below
• alias
  • Define an alias for an arbitrary command
  • See Command Aliases section below
• unalias
  • Undefine an aliase previously defined

☕ History Search Mode

You can navigate the command history one by one by typing UP/CONTROL+p/ALT+k (retrieving older command lines) or DOWN/CONTROL+n/ALT+j (retrieving newer command lines).

But sometimes this may be so tedious. When you know some word contained in your target command line, you can quickly retrieve it by using that word.

For example, type ?foo(question mark + [your search word]) and press ENTER. Tclsh-Wrapper will quickly retrieve the most recent command line containing foo. Also this will let you in a special mode called History Search Mode. Remember, in History Search Mode, UP/CONTROL+p/ALT+k and DOWN/CONTROL+n/ALT+j behave a little bit differently. When you press UP in the previous example, Tclsh-Wrapper will retrieve one step older command line containing foo if any.

In History Search Mode, navigation will be restricted to only command lines containing the search word.

The History Search Mode will end as soon as you execute some command. To manually end the History Search Mode without executing any command, type CONTROL+g and ENTER. ( Alternatively, type ALT+/ and ENTER )

☕ How to Customize it

Most of these features were already there at the base code and quite useful.

🍵 Configuration File

Tclsh-Wrapper reads a configuration file if it discovers one at startup and executes arbitrary Tcl commands in that file.

The path to the file is ~/.tcllinerc by default, but you can change the path by assigning a new path to TCLLINERC environment variable.

🍵 Command Aliases

If you find yourself typing same command lines over and over, then aliases may help you.

    > TclReadLine::alias p puts
    > p {hello}
    hello

Aliases defined inside an interactive session will be valid only in that session. You can write aliases in your configuration file (~/.tclshrc) and make them persistent.

Also there is a TclReadLine::unalias command so you can remove them.

You should use command aliases at the start of command line. Aliases in anywhere else won't be recognized

Also when the aliased command has whitespaces in them, you should quote it with braces (See examples below)

Useful Aliases:

    ### Print a long horizontal line in magenta color
    TclReadLine::alias l {puts "\\033\\[35m===========================================\\033\\[0m"}

    ### I'm kind of lazy so I'd like to type `p` instead of `puts`
    TclReadLine::alias p puts

    ### Alias on the fly (e.g., %a iii {info globals})
    TclReadLine::alias %a {TclReadLine::alias}

    ### Unalias on the fly (e.g., %u iii)
    TclReadLine::alias %u {TclReadLine::unalias}

🍵 Keyword Completion

Simple keyword completion is provided. For example, fore<TAB> will expand to foreach.

By default, you can expand patterns if that matches either of the following:

• Variables
• Tcl/Tk commands
• Executables in the system path
• File path

Understand that you may not match every Tcl/Tk command. ( It seems like a limitation of Tcl interpretor rather than Tclsh-Wrapper ).

You can match Ensemble commands such as string, array, etc. (Since version 1.4)

Also, you can extend the list of match candidates using TclReadLine::keyword API. For example, inserting the line TclReadLine::keyword {TclReadLine::} in the configuration file will let you type just TclR<TAB> for TclReadLine::.

For another example, inserting the following lines into the configuration file will let you just type s*tol<TAB> for string tolower.

    TclReadLine::keyword {string tolower}
    TclReadLine::keyword {string totitle}
    TclReadLine::keyword {string toupper}
    TclReadLine::keyword {string trim}
    TclReadLine::keyword {string trimleft}
    TclReadLine::keyword {string trimright}

However, s*trim<TAB> will print out 3 candidates (string trim, string trimleft, string trimright). If your target were string trimleft, then what you do is just appending l and type <TAB>. What if your target were string trim? Then, type s*trim$<TAB>. $ notation at the end will match words ending with the character before that $.

See the sample .tcllinerc file

🍵 History File Path

Tclsh-Wrapper persists the command history records to a file. (~/tclline_history by default)

You can change the path by assigning a new path to TCLLINE_HISTORY environment variable.

This may be useful when you want to maintain separate command history for tclsh and wish. In my opinion, sharing the same command history for both shells is not a good idea since tclsh doesn't understand Tk commands by default and when using tclsh after using wish, the command history would be polluted with a bunch of commands that tclsh can't even execute.

For example, you can change the launcher script (named tcl) introduced earlier like so:

    #!/bin/sh

    if [ "$1" = "w" ]; then
        TCLLINE_HISTORY=~/.tclline_history_w exec wish ~/test/trysomething/tclsh-wrapper/TclReadLine/TclReadLine.tcl
    else
        TCLLINE_HISTORY=~/.tclline_history exec tclsh ~/test/trysomething/tclsh-wrapper/TclReadLine/TclReadLine.tcl
    fi

You can invoke tclsh as before by running tcl, and invoke wish by running tcl w. Notice that ~/.tclline_history will be used for tclsh sessions, and ~/.tclline_history_w will be used for wish sessions.

☕ Issues

• This package will work for most of Unix like systems (Linux, Mac OS X, Cygwin, etc), but it doesn't support Windows for now.
  • I mean tclsh.exe, the Windows executable, not tclsh on Cygwin
• You may notice that the command line cursor flickers at times when it moves fast. But it's not a problem in terms of functionalities and you can safely ignore it.
• ALT key limitation
  • Tclsh-Wrapper assumes your terminal handles ALT keys in a ESC prefixed way
  • When you're not sure, execute cat -v and type ALT+a (Press ALT and a together)
  • When the terminal prints something like ^[a, then you're OK.
  • If your terminal prints something different, Tclsh-Wrapper may not recognize key bindings with ALT key press.
    • Many terminals offer an option for you to switch how it handles ALT key press. Consult the help or manual of your terminal.
• Support for file path containing spaces
  • Since version 1.4
  • File path containing spaces can be recognized only when you prepend a backslash in front of the space like ~/Google\ Drive.
  • As a limitation, no other method is supported
    • Tclsh-Wrapper can't recognize quoted path with single/double quotation marks.
    • Thus, don't expect quoting path containing spaces would work. Only prepending backslash will work.

©️ COPYRIGHT/LICENSE/DISCLAIMER

Copyright (c) 2018 Suewon Bahng, [email protected]

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.

👥 CONTRIBUTORS

Suewon Bahng

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Updated by Suewon Bahng ( Jan 2018 )