This command arranges for one or more local variables in the current procedure to refer to variables in
an enclosing procedure call or to global variables. Level may have any of the forms permitted for the
uplevel command, and may be omitted (it defaults to 1). For each otherVar argument, upvar makes the
variable by that name in the procedure frame given by level (or at global level, if level is #0)
accessible in the current procedure by the name given in the corresponding myVar argument. The variable
named by otherVar need not exist at the time of the call; it will be created the first time myVar is
referenced, just like an ordinary variable. There must not exist a variable by the name myVar at the
time upvar is invoked. MyVar is always treated as the name of a variable, not an array element. An
error is returned if the name looks like an array element, such as a(b). OtherVar may refer to a scalar
variable, an array, or an array element. Upvar returns an empty string.
The upvar command simplifies the implementation of call-by-name procedure calling and also makes it
easier to build new control constructs as Tcl procedures. For example, consider the following procedure:
proc add2 name {
upvar $name x
set x [expr {$x + 2}]
}
If add2 is invoked with an argument giving the name of a variable, it adds two to the value of that
variable. Although add2 could have been implemented using uplevel instead of upvar, upvar makes it
simpler for add2 to access the variable in the caller's procedure frame.
namespaceeval is another way (besides procedure calls) that the Tcl naming context can change. It adds
a call frame to the stack to represent the namespace context. This means each namespaceeval command
counts as another call level for uplevel and upvar commands. For example, infolevel1 will return a
list describing a command that is either the outermost procedure call or the outermost namespaceeval
command. Also, uplevel#0 evaluates a script at top-level in the outermost namespace (the global
namespace).
If an upvar variable is unset (e.g. x in add2 above), the unset operation affects the variable it is
linked to, not the upvar variable. There is no way to unset an upvar variable except by exiting the
procedure in which it is defined. However, it is possible to retarget an upvar variable by executing
another upvar command.