Tcl\_FindExecutable(3) Tcl Library Procedures Tcl\_FindExecutable(3)

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# [NAME](#NAME)

Tcl\_FindExecutable, Tcl\_GetNameOfExecutable - identify or return the name of the binary file containing the application

# [SYNOPSIS](#SYNOPSIS)

```
#include <tcl.h>

const char *
Tcl_FindExecutable(argv0)

const char *
Tcl_GetNameOfExecutable()
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# [ARGUMENTS](#ARGUMENTS)

char *\*argv0* (in)

The first command-line argument to the program, which gives the application's name.

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# [DESCRIPTION](#DESCRIPTION)

**Tcl\_FindExecutable** is one of two functions, **TclZipfs\_AppHook** being the other, that must be called by an application to initialize Tcl prior to any other calls into Tcl. Applications that wish to use ZipFS-based builds should call **TclZipfs\_AppHook** in preference to this function.

On UNIX platforms, the function should be passed *argv\[0]* as its argument. It is important not to change the working directory before this invocation. **Tcl\_FindExecutable** uses *argv0* together with the **PATH** environment variable to locate the application's executable, if possible. If it fails to find the binary, subsequent calls to **info nameofexecutable** will return an empty string.

On Windows platforms, the *argv\[0]* argument is used only to indicate whether the executable has a standard error channel (any non-null value) or not (the value null). If **Tcl\_SetPanicProc** is never called and no debugger is running, this setting determines whether a panic message is sent to standard error or displayed in a system dialog.

As part of its initialization sequence, **Tcl\_FindExecutable** computes the full path name of the executable file from which the application was invoked. This result is saved for Tcl's internal use and is returned by the **info nameofexecutable** command.

The result of **Tcl\_FindExecutable** is the full Tcl version string, including build information (for example, **9.0.0+abcdef...abcdef.gcc-1002**).

**Tcl\_GetNameOfExecutable** simply returns a pointer to the internal full path name of the executable file as computed by **Tcl\_FindExecutable**. This procedure call is the C API equivalent to the **info nameofexecutable** command. NULL is returned if the internal full path name has not been computed or unknown.

**Tcl\_FindExecutable** can not be used in stub-enabled extensions.

# [KEYWORDS](#KEYWORDS)

binary, executable file

9.1 Tcl

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Document: Tcl_GetNameOfExecutable(3) from tcl 9.1.0-r2 (Chainguard OS)
Source: https://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/tcl/Tcl/9.1.0/tcl9.1.0-src.tar.gz