'\"
'\" Copyright (c) 1993-1994 The Regents of the University of California.
'\" Copyright (c) 1994-1996 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
'\" Contributions from Don Porter, NIST, 2003.  (not subject to US copyright)
'\"
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'\" of this file, and for a DISCLAIMER OF ALL WARRANTIES.
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.TH catch n "8.5" Tcl "Tcl Built-In Commands"
.so man.macros
.BS
'\" Note:  do not modify the .SH NAME line immediately below!
.SH NAME
catch \- Evaluate script and trap exceptional returns
.SH SYNOPSIS
\fBcatch\fI script \fR?\fIresultVarName\fR? ?\fIoptionsVarName\fR?
.BE
.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
The \fBcatch\fR command may be used to prevent errors from aborting command
interpretation.  The \fBcatch\fR command calls the Tcl interpreter recursively
to execute \fIscript\fR, and always returns without raising an error,
regardless of any errors that might occur while executing \fIscript\fR.
.PP
If \fIscript\fR raises an error, \fBcatch\fR will return a non-zero integer
value corresponding to the exceptional return code returned by evaluation
of \fIscript\fR.  Tcl defines the normal return code from script
evaluation to be zero (0), or \fBTCL_OK\fR.  Tcl also defines four exceptional
return codes: 1 (\fBTCL_ERROR\fR), 2 (\fBTCL_RETURN\fR), 3 (\fBTCL_BREAK\fR),
and 4 (\fBTCL_CONTINUE\fR).  Errors during evaluation of a script are indicated
by a return code of \fBTCL_ERROR\fR.  The other exceptional return codes are
returned by the \fBreturn\fR, \fBbreak\fR, and \fBcontinue\fR commands
and in other special situations as documented.
New commands defined by Tcl packages as well as scripts that make
use of the \fBreturn \-code\fR  command can return other integer
values as the return code. These must however lie outside the range
reserved for Tcl as documented for the \fBreturn\fR command.

.PP
If the \fIresultVarName\fR argument is given, then the variable it names is
set to the result of the script evaluation.  When the return code from the
script is 1 (\fBTCL_ERROR\fR), the value stored in \fIresultVarName\fR is an
error message.  When the return code from the script is 0 (\fBTCL_OK\fR), the
value stored in \fIresultVarName\fR is the value returned from \fIscript\fR.
.PP
If the \fIoptionsVarName\fR argument is given, then the variable it
names is set to a dictionary of return options returned by evaluation
of \fIscript\fR.  Tcl specifies two entries that are always
defined in the dictionary: \fB\-code\fR and \fB\-level\fR.  When
the return code from evaluation of \fIscript\fR is not \fBTCL_RETURN\fR,
the value of the \fB\-level\fR entry will be 0, and the value
of the \fB\-code\fR entry will be the same as the return code.
Only when the return code is \fBTCL_RETURN\fR will the values of
the \fB\-level\fR and \fB\-code\fR entries be something else, as
further described in the documentation for the \fBreturn\fR command.
.PP
When the return code from evaluation of \fIscript\fR is
\fBTCL_ERROR\fR, four additional entries are defined in the dictionary
of return options stored in \fIoptionsVarName\fR: \fB\-errorinfo\fR,
\fB\-errorcode\fR, \fB\-errorline\fR, and
\fB\-errorstack\fR.
The value of the \fB\-errorinfo\fR entry is a formatted stack trace containing
more information about the context in which the error happened.  The formatted
stack trace is meant to be read by a person.  The value of the
\fB\-errorcode\fR entry is additional information about the error stored as a
list.  The \fB\-errorcode\fR value is meant to be further processed by
programs, and may not be particularly readable by people.  The value of the
\fB\-errorline\fR entry is an integer indicating which line of \fIscript\fR
was being evaluated when the error occurred.
The value of the \fB\-errorstack\fR entry is an
even-sized list made of token-parameter pairs accumulated while
unwinding the stack. The token may be
.QW \fBCALL\fR ,
in which case the parameter is a list made of the proc name and arguments at
the corresponding level; or it may be
.QW \fBUP\fR ,
in which case the parameter is
the relative level (as in \fBuplevel\fR) of the previous \fBCALL\fR. The
salient differences with respect to \fB\-errorinfo\fR are that:
.IP [1]
it is a machine-readable form that is amenable to processing with
[\fBforeach\fR {tok prm} ...],
.IP [2]
it contains the true (substituted) values passed to the functions, instead of
the static text of the calling sites, and
.IP [3]
it is coarser-grained, with only one element per stack frame (like procs; no
separate elements for \fBforeach\fR constructs for example).
.PP
The values of the \fB\-errorinfo\fR and \fB\-errorcode\fR entries of
the most recent error are also available as values of the global
variables \fB::errorInfo\fR and \fB::errorCode\fR respectively.
The value of the \fB\-errorstack\fR entry surfaces as \fBinfo errorstack\fR.
.PP
Tcl packages may provide commands that set other entries in the
dictionary of return options, and the \fBreturn\fR command may be
used by scripts to set return options in addition to those defined
above.
.SH EXAMPLES
.PP
The \fBcatch\fR command may be used in an \fBif\fR to branch based on
the success of a script.
.PP
.CS
if { [\fBcatch\fR {open $someFile w} fid] } {
    puts stderr "Could not open $someFile for writing\en$fid"
    exit 1
}
.CE
.PP
There are more complex examples of \fBcatch\fR usage in the
documentation for the \fBreturn\fR command.
.SH "SEE ALSO"
break(n), continue(n), dict(n), error(n), errorCode(n), errorInfo(n), info(n),
return(n)
.SH KEYWORDS
catch, error, exception
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