copying files in tcl

Question

I have a query in "file copy" tcl command. I tried storing all my files to a list and used it in my command. But tcl is not recognizing those files.

for example:

    Files are abc.log , foo.log , bar.log

if these files are appended to a list say list_file and If I substitute the list_file in my command

    lappend list_file abc.log foo.log bar.log
    file mkdir ../../abc
    file copy -- $list_file ../../abc

I am getting an error message " error copying , no file or directory". If I try the same by directly specifying the file names (instead of list) it works. Please guide me with this

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Dec 18 '12 at 19:25

To elaborate on @evil-otto's answer...

{*} is only available since Tcl 8.5; for earlier versions either eval or multiple invocations could be used.

Constructing a command using eval:

set cmd [list file copy --]
lappend cmd abc.log foo.log bar.log ../../abc
eval $cmd

(Read this to learn why using lists is a must when creating commands to be evaluated.)

Multiple invocation (a no-brainer):

foreach fname $list_file {
    file copy -- $fname ../../abc
}

thanks! how to copy a directory? it says "can't overwrite file" — Nathan Pk, Dec 19 '12 at 23:41

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Dec 18 '12 at 18:43

1

The list passed to file copy must be expanded.

file copy -- {*}$list_file ../../abc

answered Dec 18 '12 at 18:43

evil otto

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copying files in tcl

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