'\"
'\" Copyright (c) 1993 The Regents of the University of California.
'\" All rights reserved.
'\"
'\" Permission is hereby granted, without written agreement and without
'\" license or royalty fees, to use, copy, modify, and distribute this
'\" documentation for any purpose, provided that the above copyright
'\" notice and the following two paragraphs appear in all copies.
'\"
'\" IN NO EVENT SHALL THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BE LIABLE TO ANY PARTY
'\" FOR DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
'\" ARISING OUT OF THE USE OF THIS DOCUMENTATION, EVEN IF THE UNIVERSITY OF
'\" CALIFORNIA HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
'\"
'\" THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS ANY WARRANTIES,
'\" INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY
'\" AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  THE SOFTWARE PROVIDED HEREUNDER IS
'\" ON AN "AS IS" BASIS, AND THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA HAS NO OBLIGATION TO
'\" PROVIDE MAINTENANCE, SUPPORT, UPDATES, ENHANCEMENTS, OR MODIFICATIONS.
'\" 
'\" $Header: /user6/ouster/tcl/man/RCS/set.n,v 1.1 93/06/07 16:48:27 ouster Exp $ SPRITE (Berkeley)
'\" 
.so man.macros
.HS set tcl
.BS
'\" Note:  do not modify the .SH NAME line immediately below!
.SH NAME
set \- Read and write variables
.SH SYNOPSIS
\fBset \fIvarName \fR?\fIvalue\fR?
.BE

.SH DESCRIPTION
.PP
Returns the value of variable \fIvarName\fR.
If \fIvalue\fR is specified, then set
the value of \fIvarName\fR to \fIvalue\fR, creating a new variable
if one doesn't already exist, and return its value.
If \fIvarName\fR contains an open parenthesis and ends with a
close parenthesis, then it refers to an array element:  the characters
before the first open parenthesis are the name of the array, and the characters
between the parentheses are the index within the array.
Otherwise \fIvarName\fR refers to a scalar variable.
If no procedure is active, then \fIvarName\fR refers to a global
variable.
If a procedure is active, then \fIvarName\fR refers to a parameter
or local variable of the procedure unless the \fIglobal\fR command
has been invoked to declare \fIvarName\fR to be global.

.SH KEYWORDS
read, write, variable