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+'\"
+'\" Copyright (c) 1996-1997 Sun Microsystems, Inc.
+'\"
+'\" See the file "license.terms" for information on usage and redistribution
+'\" of this file, and for a DISCLAIMER OF ALL WARRANTIES.
+'\"
+.TH Tcl_OpenFileChannel 3 8.3 Tcl "Tcl Library Procedures"
+.so man.macros
+.BS
+'\" Note: do not modify the .SH NAME line immediately below!
+.SH NAME
+Tcl_OpenFileChannel, Tcl_OpenCommandChannel, Tcl_MakeFileChannel, Tcl_GetChannel, Tcl_GetChannelNames, Tcl_GetChannelNamesEx, Tcl_RegisterChannel, Tcl_UnregisterChannel, Tcl_DetachChannel, Tcl_IsStandardChannel, Tcl_Close, Tcl_ReadChars, Tcl_Read, Tcl_GetsObj, Tcl_Gets, Tcl_WriteObj, Tcl_WriteChars, Tcl_Write, Tcl_Flush, Tcl_Seek, Tcl_Tell, Tcl_TruncateChannel, Tcl_GetChannelOption, Tcl_SetChannelOption, Tcl_Eof, Tcl_InputBlocked, Tcl_InputBuffered, Tcl_OutputBuffered, Tcl_Ungets, Tcl_ReadRaw, Tcl_WriteRaw \- buffered I/O facilities using channels
+.SH SYNOPSIS
+.nf
+\fB#include <tcl.h>\fR
+.sp
+Tcl_Channel
+\fBTcl_OpenFileChannel\fR(\fIinterp, fileName, mode, permissions\fR)
+.sp
+Tcl_Channel
+\fBTcl_OpenCommandChannel\fR(\fIinterp, argc, argv, flags\fR)
+.sp
+Tcl_Channel
+\fBTcl_MakeFileChannel\fR(\fIhandle, readOrWrite\fR)
+.sp
+Tcl_Channel
+\fBTcl_GetChannel\fR(\fIinterp, channelName, modePtr\fR)
+.sp
+int
+\fBTcl_GetChannelNames\fR(\fIinterp\fR)
+.sp
+int
+\fBTcl_GetChannelNamesEx\fR(\fIinterp, pattern\fR)
+.sp
+void
+\fBTcl_RegisterChannel\fR(\fIinterp, channel\fR)
+.sp
+int
+\fBTcl_UnregisterChannel\fR(\fIinterp, channel\fR)
+.sp
+int
+\fBTcl_DetachChannel\fR(\fIinterp, channel\fR)
+.sp
+int
+\fBTcl_IsStandardChannel\fR(\fIchannel\fR)
+.sp
+int
+\fBTcl_Close\fR(\fIinterp, channel\fR)
+.sp
+int
+\fBTcl_ReadChars\fR(\fIchannel, readObjPtr, charsToRead, appendFlag\fR)
+.sp
+int
+\fBTcl_Read\fR(\fIchannel, readBuf, bytesToRead\fR)
+.sp
+int
+\fBTcl_GetsObj\fR(\fIchannel, lineObjPtr\fR)
+.sp
+int
+\fBTcl_Gets\fR(\fIchannel, lineRead\fR)
+.sp
+int
+\fBTcl_Ungets\fR(\fIchannel, input, inputLen, addAtEnd\fR)
+.sp
+int
+\fBTcl_WriteObj\fR(\fIchannel, writeObjPtr\fR)
+.sp
+int
+\fBTcl_WriteChars\fR(\fIchannel, charBuf, bytesToWrite\fR)
+.sp
+int
+\fBTcl_Write\fR(\fIchannel, byteBuf, bytesToWrite\fR)
+.sp
+int
+\fBTcl_ReadRaw\fR(\fIchannel, readBuf, bytesToRead\fR)
+.sp
+int
+\fBTcl_WriteRaw\fR(\fIchannel, byteBuf, bytesToWrite\fR)
+.sp
+int
+\fBTcl_Eof\fR(\fIchannel\fR)
+.sp
+int
+\fBTcl_Flush\fR(\fIchannel\fR)
+.sp
+int
+\fBTcl_InputBlocked\fR(\fIchannel\fR)
+.sp
+int
+\fBTcl_InputBuffered\fR(\fIchannel\fR)
+.sp
+int
+\fBTcl_OutputBuffered\fR(\fIchannel\fR)
+.sp
+Tcl_WideInt
+\fBTcl_Seek\fR(\fIchannel, offset, seekMode\fR)
+.sp
+Tcl_WideInt
+\fBTcl_Tell\fR(\fIchannel\fR)
+.sp
+int
+\fBTcl_TruncateChannel\fR(\fIchannel, length\fR)
+.sp
+int
+\fBTcl_GetChannelOption\fR(\fIinterp, channel, optionName, optionValue\fR)
+.sp
+int
+\fBTcl_SetChannelOption\fR(\fIinterp, channel, optionName, newValue\fR)
+.sp
+.SH ARGUMENTS
+.AS Tcl_DString *channelName in/out
+.AP Tcl_Interp *interp in
+Used for error reporting and to look up a channel registered in it.
+.AP "const char" *fileName in
+The name of a local or network file.
+.AP "const char" *mode in
+Specifies how the file is to be accessed. May have any of the values
+allowed for the \fImode\fR argument to the Tcl \fBopen\fR command.
+.AP int permissions in
+POSIX-style permission flags such as 0644. If a new file is created, these
+permissions will be set on the created file.
+.AP int argc in
+The number of elements in \fIargv\fR.
+.AP "const char" **argv in
+Arguments for constructing a command pipeline. These values have the same
+meaning as the non-switch arguments to the Tcl \fBexec\fR command.
+.AP int flags in
+Specifies the disposition of the stdio handles in pipeline: OR-ed
+combination of \fBTCL_STDIN\fR, \fBTCL_STDOUT\fR, \fBTCL_STDERR\fR, and
+\fBTCL_ENFORCE_MODE\fR. If \fBTCL_STDIN\fR is set, stdin for the first child
+in the pipe is the pipe channel, otherwise it is the same as the standard
+input of the invoking process; likewise for \fBTCL_STDOUT\fR and
+\fBTCL_STDERR\fR. If \fBTCL_ENFORCE_MODE\fR is not set, then the pipe can
+redirect stdio handles to override the stdio handles for which
+\fBTCL_STDIN\fR, \fBTCL_STDOUT\fR and \fBTCL_STDERR\fR have been set. If it
+is set, then such redirections cause an error.
+.AP ClientData handle in
+Operating system specific handle for I/O to a file. For Unix this is a
+file descriptor, for Windows it is a HANDLE.
+.AP int readOrWrite in
+OR-ed combination of \fBTCL_READABLE\fR and \fBTCL_WRITABLE\fR to indicate
+what operations are valid on \fIhandle\fR.
+.AP "const char" *channelName in
+The name of the channel.
+.AP int *modePtr out
+Points at an integer variable that will receive an OR-ed combination of
+\fBTCL_READABLE\fR and \fBTCL_WRITABLE\fR denoting whether the channel is
+open for reading and writing.
+.AP "const char" *pattern in
+The pattern to match on, passed to Tcl_StringMatch, or NULL.
+.AP Tcl_Channel channel in
+A Tcl channel for input or output. Must have been the return value
+from a procedure such as \fBTcl_OpenFileChannel\fR.
+.AP Tcl_Obj *readObjPtr in/out
+A pointer to a Tcl value in which to store the characters read from the
+channel.
+.AP int charsToRead in
+The number of characters to read from the channel. If the channel's encoding
+is \fBbinary\fR, this is equivalent to the number of bytes to read from the
+channel.
+.AP int appendFlag in
+If non-zero, data read from the channel will be appended to the value.
+Otherwise, the data will replace the existing contents of the value.
+.AP char *readBuf out
+A buffer in which to store the bytes read from the channel.
+.AP int bytesToRead in
+The number of bytes to read from the channel. The buffer \fIreadBuf\fR must
+be large enough to hold this many bytes.
+.AP Tcl_Obj *lineObjPtr in/out
+A pointer to a Tcl value in which to store the line read from the
+channel. The line read will be appended to the current value of the
+value.
+.AP Tcl_DString *lineRead in/out
+A pointer to a Tcl dynamic string in which to store the line read from the
+channel. Must have been initialized by the caller. The line read will be
+appended to any data already in the dynamic string.
+.AP "const char" *input in
+The input to add to a channel buffer.
+.AP int inputLen in
+Length of the input
+.AP int addAtEnd in
+Flag indicating whether the input should be added to the end or
+beginning of the channel buffer.
+.AP Tcl_Obj *writeObjPtr in
+A pointer to a Tcl value whose contents will be output to the channel.
+.AP "const char" *charBuf in
+A buffer containing the characters to output to the channel.
+.AP "const char" *byteBuf in
+A buffer containing the bytes to output to the channel.
+.AP int bytesToWrite in
+The number of bytes to consume from \fIcharBuf\fR or \fIbyteBuf\fR and
+output to the channel.
+.AP Tcl_WideInt offset in
+How far to move the access point in the channel at which the next input or
+output operation will be applied, measured in bytes from the position
+given by \fIseekMode\fR. May be either positive or negative.
+.AP int seekMode in
+Relative to which point to seek; used with \fIoffset\fR to calculate the new
+access point for the channel. Legal values are \fBSEEK_SET\fR,
+\fBSEEK_CUR\fR, and \fBSEEK_END\fR.
+.AP Tcl_WideInt length in
+The (non-negative) length to truncate the channel the channel to.
+.AP "const char" *optionName in
+The name of an option applicable to this channel, such as \fB\-blocking\fR.
+May have any of the values accepted by the \fBfconfigure\fR command.
+.AP Tcl_DString *optionValue in
+Where to store the value of an option or a list of all options and their
+values. Must have been initialized by the caller.
+.AP "const char" *newValue in
+New value for the option given by \fIoptionName\fR.
+.BE
+.SH DESCRIPTION
+.PP
+The Tcl channel mechanism provides a device-independent and
+platform-independent mechanism for performing buffered input
+and output operations on a variety of file, socket, and device
+types.
+The channel mechanism is extensible to new channel types, by
+providing a low-level channel driver for the new type; the channel driver
+interface is described in the manual entry for \fBTcl_CreateChannel\fR. The
+channel mechanism provides a buffering scheme modeled after
+Unix's standard I/O, and it also allows for nonblocking I/O on
+channels.
+.PP
+The procedures described in this manual entry comprise the C APIs of the
+generic layer of the channel architecture. For a description of the channel
+driver architecture and how to implement channel drivers for new types of
+channels, see the manual entry for \fBTcl_CreateChannel\fR.
+.SH TCL_OPENFILECHANNEL
+.PP
+\fBTcl_OpenFileChannel\fR opens a file specified by \fIfileName\fR and
+returns a channel handle that can be used to perform input and output on
+the file. This API is modeled after the \fBfopen\fR procedure of
+the Unix standard I/O library.
+The syntax and meaning of all arguments is similar to those
+given in the Tcl \fBopen\fR command when opening a file.
+If an error occurs while opening the channel, \fBTcl_OpenFileChannel\fR
+returns NULL and records a POSIX error code that can be
+retrieved with \fBTcl_GetErrno\fR.
+In addition, if \fIinterp\fR is non-NULL, \fBTcl_OpenFileChannel\fR
+leaves an error message in \fIinterp\fR's result after any error.
+As of Tcl 8.4, the value-based API \fBTcl_FSOpenFileChannel\fR should
+be used in preference to \fBTcl_OpenFileChannel\fR wherever possible.
+.PP
+The newly created channel is not registered in the supplied interpreter; to
+register it, use \fBTcl_RegisterChannel\fR, described below.
+If one of the standard channels, \fBstdin\fR, \fBstdout\fR or \fBstderr\fR was
+previously closed, the act of creating the new channel also assigns it as a
+replacement for the standard channel.
+.SH TCL_OPENCOMMANDCHANNEL
+.PP
+\fBTcl_OpenCommandChannel\fR provides a C-level interface to the
+functions of the \fBexec\fR and \fBopen\fR commands.
+It creates a sequence of subprocesses specified
+by the \fIargv\fR and \fIargc\fR arguments and returns a channel that can
+be used to communicate with these subprocesses.
+The \fIflags\fR argument indicates what sort of communication will
+exist with the command pipeline.
+.PP
+If the \fBTCL_STDIN\fR flag is set then the standard input for the
+first subprocess will be tied to the channel: writing to the channel
+will provide input to the subprocess. If \fBTCL_STDIN\fR is not set,
+then standard input for the first subprocess will be the same as this
+application's standard input. If \fBTCL_STDOUT\fR is set then
+standard output from the last subprocess can be read from the channel;
+otherwise it goes to this application's standard output. If
+\fBTCL_STDERR\fR is set, standard error output for all subprocesses is
+returned to the channel and results in an error when the channel is
+closed; otherwise it goes to this application's standard error. If
+\fBTCL_ENFORCE_MODE\fR is not set, then \fIargc\fR and \fIargv\fR can
+redirect the stdio handles to override \fBTCL_STDIN\fR,
+\fBTCL_STDOUT\fR, and \fBTCL_STDERR\fR; if it is set, then it is an
+error for argc and argv to override stdio channels for which
+\fBTCL_STDIN\fR, \fBTCL_STDOUT\fR, and \fBTCL_STDERR\fR have been set.
+.PP
+If an error occurs while opening the channel, \fBTcl_OpenCommandChannel\fR
+returns NULL and records a POSIX error code that can be retrieved with
+\fBTcl_GetErrno\fR.
+In addition, \fBTcl_OpenCommandChannel\fR leaves an error message in
+the interpreter's result if \fIinterp\fR is not NULL.
+.PP
+The newly created channel is not registered in the supplied interpreter; to
+register it, use \fBTcl_RegisterChannel\fR, described below.
+If one of the standard channels, \fBstdin\fR, \fBstdout\fR or \fBstderr\fR was
+previously closed, the act of creating the new channel also assigns it as a
+replacement for the standard channel.
+.SH TCL_MAKEFILECHANNEL
+.PP
+\fBTcl_MakeFileChannel\fR makes a \fBTcl_Channel\fR from an existing,
+platform-specific, file handle.
+The newly created channel is not registered in the supplied interpreter; to
+register it, use \fBTcl_RegisterChannel\fR, described below.
+If one of the standard channels, \fBstdin\fR, \fBstdout\fR or \fBstderr\fR was
+previously closed, the act of creating the new channel also assigns it as a
+replacement for the standard channel.
+.SH TCL_GETCHANNEL
+.PP
+\fBTcl_GetChannel\fR returns a channel given the \fIchannelName\fR used to
+create it with \fBTcl_CreateChannel\fR and a pointer to a Tcl interpreter in
+\fIinterp\fR. If a channel by that name is not registered in that interpreter,
+the procedure returns NULL. If the \fImodePtr\fR argument is not NULL, it
+points at an integer variable that will receive an OR-ed combination of
+\fBTCL_READABLE\fR and \fBTCL_WRITABLE\fR describing whether the channel is
+open for reading and writing.
+.PP
+\fBTcl_GetChannelNames\fR and \fBTcl_GetChannelNamesEx\fR write the
+names of the registered channels to the interpreter's result as a
+list value. \fBTcl_GetChannelNamesEx\fR will filter these names
+according to the \fIpattern\fR. If \fIpattern\fR is NULL, then it
+will not do any filtering. The return value is \fBTCL_OK\fR if no
+errors occurred writing to the result, otherwise it is \fBTCL_ERROR\fR,
+and the error message is left in the interpreter's result.
+.SH TCL_REGISTERCHANNEL
+.PP
+\fBTcl_RegisterChannel\fR adds a channel to the set of channels accessible
+in \fIinterp\fR. After this call, Tcl programs executing in that
+interpreter can refer to the channel in input or output operations using
+the name given in the call to \fBTcl_CreateChannel\fR. After this call,
+the channel becomes the property of the interpreter, and the caller should
+not call \fBTcl_Close\fR for the channel; the channel will be closed
+automatically when it is unregistered from the interpreter.
+.PP
+Code executing outside of any Tcl interpreter can call
+\fBTcl_RegisterChannel\fR with \fIinterp\fR as NULL, to indicate that it
+wishes to hold a reference to this channel. Subsequently, the channel can
+be registered in a Tcl interpreter and it will only be closed when the
+matching number of calls to \fBTcl_UnregisterChannel\fR have been made.
+This allows code executing outside of any interpreter to safely hold a
+reference to a channel that is also registered in a Tcl interpreter.
+.PP
+This procedure interacts with the code managing the standard
+channels. If no standard channels were initialized before the first
+call to \fBTcl_RegisterChannel\fR, they will get initialized by that
+call. See \fBTcl_StandardChannels\fR for a general treatise about
+standard channels and the behavior of the Tcl library with regard to
+them.
+.SH TCL_UNREGISTERCHANNEL
+.PP
+\fBTcl_UnregisterChannel\fR removes a channel from the set of channels
+accessible in \fIinterp\fR. After this call, Tcl programs will no longer be
+able to use the channel's name to refer to the channel in that interpreter.
+If this operation removed the last registration of the channel in any
+interpreter, the channel is also closed and destroyed.
+.PP
+Code not associated with a Tcl interpreter can call
+\fBTcl_UnregisterChannel\fR with \fIinterp\fR as NULL, to indicate to Tcl
+that it no longer holds a reference to that channel. If this is the last
+reference to the channel, it will now be closed. \fBTcl_UnregisterChannel\fR
+is very similar to \fBTcl_DetachChannel\fR except that it will also
+close the channel if no further references to it exist.
+.SH TCL_DETACHCHANNEL
+.PP
+\fBTcl_DetachChannel\fR removes a channel from the set of channels
+accessible in \fIinterp\fR. After this call, Tcl programs will no longer be
+able to use the channel's name to refer to the channel in that interpreter.
+Beyond that, this command has no further effect. It cannot be used on
+the standard channels (\fBstdout\fR, \fBstderr\fR, \fBstdin\fR), and will return
+\fBTCL_ERROR\fR if passed one of those channels.
+.PP
+Code not associated with a Tcl interpreter can call
+\fBTcl_DetachChannel\fR with \fIinterp\fR as NULL, to indicate to Tcl
+that it no longer holds a reference to that channel. If this is the last
+reference to the channel, unlike \fBTcl_UnregisterChannel\fR,
+it will not be closed.
+.SH TCL_ISSTANDARDCHANNEL
+.PP
+\fBTcl_IsStandardChannel\fR tests whether a channel is one of the
+three standard channels, \fBstdin\fR, \fBstdout\fR or \fBstderr\fR.
+If so, it returns 1, otherwise 0.
+.PP
+No attempt is made to check whether the given channel or the standard
+channels are initialized or otherwise valid.
+.SH TCL_CLOSE
+.PP
+\fBTcl_Close\fR destroys the channel \fIchannel\fR, which must denote a
+currently open channel. The channel should not be registered in any
+interpreter when \fBTcl_Close\fR is called. Buffered output is flushed to
+the channel's output device prior to destroying the channel, and any
+buffered input is discarded. If this is a blocking channel, the call does
+not return until all buffered data is successfully sent to the channel's
+output device. If this is a nonblocking channel and there is buffered
+output that cannot be written without blocking, the call returns
+immediately; output is flushed in the background and the channel will be
+closed once all of the buffered data has been output. In this case errors
+during flushing are not reported.
+.PP
+If the channel was closed successfully, \fBTcl_Close\fR returns \fBTCL_OK\fR.
+If an error occurs, \fBTcl_Close\fR returns \fBTCL_ERROR\fR and records a
+POSIX error code that can be retrieved with \fBTcl_GetErrno\fR.
+If the channel is being closed synchronously and an error occurs during
+closing of the channel and \fIinterp\fR is not NULL, an error message is
+left in the interpreter's result.
+.PP
+Note: it is not safe to call \fBTcl_Close\fR on a channel that has been
+registered using \fBTcl_RegisterChannel\fR; see the documentation for
+\fBTcl_RegisterChannel\fR, above, for details. If the channel has ever
+been given as the \fBchan\fR argument in a call to
+\fBTcl_RegisterChannel\fR, you should instead use
+\fBTcl_UnregisterChannel\fR, which will internally call \fBTcl_Close\fR
+when all calls to \fBTcl_RegisterChannel\fR have been matched by
+corresponding calls to \fBTcl_UnregisterChannel\fR.
+.SH "TCL_READCHARS AND TCL_READ"
+.PP
+\fBTcl_ReadChars\fR consumes bytes from \fIchannel\fR, converting the bytes
+to UTF-8 based on the channel's encoding and storing the produced data in
+\fIreadObjPtr\fR's string representation. The return value of
+\fBTcl_ReadChars\fR is the number of characters, up to \fIcharsToRead\fR,
+that were stored in \fIreadObjPtr\fR. If an error occurs while reading, the
+return value is \-1 and \fBTcl_ReadChars\fR records a POSIX error code that
+can be retrieved with \fBTcl_GetErrno\fR.
+.PP
+Setting \fIcharsToRead\fR to \fB\-1\fR will cause the command to read
+all characters currently available (non-blocking) or everything until
+eof (blocking mode).
+.PP
+The return value may be smaller than the value to read, indicating that less
+data than requested was available. This is called a \fIshort read\fR. In
+blocking mode, this can only happen on an end-of-file. In nonblocking mode,
+a short read can also occur if there is not enough input currently
+available: \fBTcl_ReadChars\fR returns a short count rather than waiting
+for more data.
+.PP
+If the channel is in blocking mode, a return value of zero indicates an
+end-of-file condition. If the channel is in nonblocking mode, a return
+value of zero indicates either that no input is currently available or an
+end-of-file condition. Use \fBTcl_Eof\fR and \fBTcl_InputBlocked\fR to tell
+which of these conditions actually occurred.
+.PP
+\fBTcl_ReadChars\fR translates the various end-of-line representations into
+the canonical \fB\en\fR internal representation according to the current
+end-of-line recognition mode. End-of-line recognition and the various
+platform-specific modes are described in the manual entry for the Tcl
+\fBfconfigure\fR command.
+.PP
+As a performance optimization, when reading from a channel with the encoding
+\fBbinary\fR, the bytes are not converted to UTF-8 as they are read.
+Instead, they are stored in \fIreadObjPtr\fR's internal representation as a
+byte-array value. The string representation of this value will only be
+constructed if it is needed (e.g., because of a call to
+\fBTcl_GetStringFromObj\fR). In this way, byte-oriented data can be read
+from a channel, manipulated by calling \fBTcl_GetByteArrayFromObj\fR and
+related functions, and then written to a channel without the expense of ever
+converting to or from UTF-8.
+.PP
+\fBTcl_Read\fR is similar to \fBTcl_ReadChars\fR, except that it does not do
+encoding conversions, regardless of the channel's encoding. It is deprecated
+and exists for backwards compatibility with non-internationalized Tcl
+extensions. It consumes bytes from \fIchannel\fR and stores them in
+\fIreadBuf\fR, performing end-of-line translations on the way. The return value
+of \fBTcl_Read\fR is the number of bytes, up to \fIbytesToRead\fR, written in
+\fIreadBuf\fR. The buffer produced by \fBTcl_Read\fR is not null-terminated.
+Its contents are valid from the zeroth position up to and excluding the
+position indicated by the return value.
+.PP
+\fBTcl_ReadRaw\fR is the same as \fBTcl_Read\fR but does not
+compensate for stacking. While \fBTcl_Read\fR (and the other functions
+in the API) always get their data from the topmost channel in the
+stack the supplied channel is part of, \fBTcl_ReadRaw\fR does
+not. Thus this function is \fBonly\fR usable for transformational
+channel drivers, i.e. drivers used in the middle of a stack of
+channels, to move data from the channel below into the transformation.
+.SH "TCL_GETSOBJ AND TCL_GETS"
+.PP
+\fBTcl_GetsObj\fR consumes bytes from \fIchannel\fR, converting the bytes to
+UTF-8 based on the channel's encoding, until a full line of input has been
+seen. If the channel's encoding is \fBbinary\fR, each byte read from the
+channel is treated as an individual Unicode character. All of the
+characters of the line except for the terminating end-of-line character(s)
+are appended to \fIlineObjPtr\fR's string representation. The end-of-line
+character(s) are read and discarded.
+.PP
+If a line was successfully read, the return value is greater than or equal
+to zero and indicates the number of bytes stored in \fIlineObjPtr\fR. If an
+error occurs, \fBTcl_GetsObj\fR returns \-1 and records a POSIX error code
+that can be retrieved with \fBTcl_GetErrno\fR. \fBTcl_GetsObj\fR also
+returns \-1 if the end of the file is reached; the \fBTcl_Eof\fR procedure
+can be used to distinguish an error from an end-of-file condition.
+.PP
+If the channel is in nonblocking mode, the return value can also be \-1 if
+no data was available or the data that was available did not contain an
+end-of-line character. When \-1 is returned, the \fBTcl_InputBlocked\fR
+procedure may be invoked to determine if the channel is blocked because
+of input unavailability.
+.PP
+\fBTcl_Gets\fR is the same as \fBTcl_GetsObj\fR except the resulting
+characters are appended to the dynamic string given by
+\fIlineRead\fR rather than a Tcl value.
+.SH "TCL_UNGETS"
+.PP
+\fBTcl_Ungets\fR is used to add data to the input queue of a channel,
+at either the head or tail of the queue. The pointer \fIinput\fR points
+to the data that is to be added. The length of the input to add is given
+by \fIinputLen\fR. A non-zero value of \fIaddAtEnd\fR indicates that the
+data is to be added at the end of queue; otherwise it will be added at the
+head of the queue. If \fIchannel\fR has a
+.QW sticky
+EOF set, no data will be
+added to the input queue. \fBTcl_Ungets\fR returns \fIinputLen\fR or
+\-1 if an error occurs.
+.SH "TCL_WRITECHARS, TCL_WRITEOBJ, AND TCL_WRITE"
+.PP
+\fBTcl_WriteChars\fR accepts \fIbytesToWrite\fR bytes of character data at
+\fIcharBuf\fR. The UTF-8 characters in the buffer are converted to the
+channel's encoding and queued for output to \fIchannel\fR. If
+\fIbytesToWrite\fR is negative, \fBTcl_WriteChars\fR expects \fIcharBuf\fR
+to be null-terminated and it outputs everything up to the null.
+.PP
+Data queued for output may not appear on the output device immediately, due
+to internal buffering. If the data should appear immediately, call
+\fBTcl_Flush\fR after the call to \fBTcl_WriteChars\fR, or set the
+\fB\-buffering\fR option on the channel to \fBnone\fR. If you wish the data
+to appear as soon as a complete line is accepted for output, set the
+\fB\-buffering\fR option on the channel to \fBline\fR mode.
+.PP
+The return value of \fBTcl_WriteChars\fR is a count of how many bytes were
+accepted for output to the channel. This is either greater than zero to
+indicate success or \-1 to indicate that an error occurred. If an error
+occurs, \fBTcl_WriteChars\fR records a POSIX error code that may be
+retrieved with \fBTcl_GetErrno\fR.
+.PP
+Newline characters in the output data are translated to platform-specific
+end-of-line sequences according to the \fB\-translation\fR option for the
+channel. This is done even if the channel has no encoding.
+.PP
+\fBTcl_WriteObj\fR is similar to \fBTcl_WriteChars\fR except it
+accepts a Tcl value whose contents will be output to the channel. The
+UTF-8 characters in \fIwriteObjPtr\fR's string representation are converted
+to the channel's encoding and queued for output to \fIchannel\fR.
+As a performance optimization, when writing to a channel with the encoding
+\fBbinary\fR, UTF-8 characters are not converted as they are written.
+Instead, the bytes in \fIwriteObjPtr\fR's internal representation as a
+byte-array value are written to the channel. The byte-array representation
+of the value will be constructed if it is needed. In this way,
+byte-oriented data can be read from a channel, manipulated by calling
+\fBTcl_GetByteArrayFromObj\fR and related functions, and then written to a
+channel without the expense of ever converting to or from UTF-8.
+.PP
+\fBTcl_Write\fR is similar to \fBTcl_WriteChars\fR except that it does not do
+encoding conversions, regardless of the channel's encoding. It is
+deprecated and exists for backwards compatibility with non-internationalized
+Tcl extensions. It accepts \fIbytesToWrite\fR bytes of data at
+\fIbyteBuf\fR and queues them for output to \fIchannel\fR. If
+\fIbytesToWrite\fR is negative, \fBTcl_Write\fR expects \fIbyteBuf\fR to be
+null-terminated and it outputs everything up to the null.
+.PP
+\fBTcl_WriteRaw\fR is the same as \fBTcl_Write\fR but does not
+compensate for stacking. While \fBTcl_Write\fR (and the other
+functions in the API) always feed their input to the topmost channel
+in the stack the supplied channel is part of, \fBTcl_WriteRaw\fR does
+not. Thus this function is \fBonly\fR usable for transformational
+channel drivers, i.e. drivers used in the middle of a stack of
+channels, to move data from the transformation into the channel below
+it.
+.SH TCL_FLUSH
+.PP
+\fBTcl_Flush\fR causes all of the buffered output data for \fIchannel\fR
+to be written to its underlying file or device as soon as possible.
+If the channel is in blocking mode, the call does not return until
+all the buffered data has been sent to the channel or some error occurred.
+The call returns immediately if the channel is nonblocking; it starts
+a background flush that will write the buffered data to the channel
+eventually, as fast as the channel is able to absorb it.
+.PP
+The return value is normally \fBTCL_OK\fR.
+If an error occurs, \fBTcl_Flush\fR returns \fBTCL_ERROR\fR and
+records a POSIX error code that can be retrieved with \fBTcl_GetErrno\fR.
+.SH TCL_SEEK
+.PP
+\fBTcl_Seek\fR moves the access point in \fIchannel\fR where subsequent
+data will be read or written. Buffered output is flushed to the channel and
+buffered input is discarded, prior to the seek operation.
+.PP
+\fBTcl_Seek\fR normally returns the new access point.
+If an error occurs, \fBTcl_Seek\fR returns \-1 and records a POSIX error
+code that can be retrieved with \fBTcl_GetErrno\fR.
+After an error, the access point may or may not have been moved.
+.SH TCL_TELL
+.PP
+\fBTcl_Tell\fR returns the current access point for a channel. The returned
+value is \-1 if the channel does not support seeking.
+.SH TCL_TRUNCATECHANNEL
+.PP
+\fBTcl_TruncateChannel\fR truncates the file underlying \fIchannel\fR
+to a given \fIlength\fR of bytes. It returns \fBTCL_OK\fR if the
+operation succeeded, and \fBTCL_ERROR\fR otherwise.
+.SH TCL_GETCHANNELOPTION
+.PP
+\fBTcl_GetChannelOption\fR retrieves, in \fIoptionValue\fR, the value of one of
+the options currently in effect for a channel, or a list of all options and
+their values. The \fIchannel\fR argument identifies the channel for which
+to query an option or retrieve all options and their values.
+If \fIoptionName\fR is not NULL, it is the name of the
+option to query; the option's value is copied to the Tcl dynamic string
+denoted by \fIoptionValue\fR. If
+\fIoptionName\fR is NULL, the function stores an alternating list of option
+names and their values in \fIoptionValue\fR, using a series of calls to
+\fBTcl_DStringAppendElement\fR. The various preexisting options and
+their possible values are described in the manual entry for the Tcl
+\fBfconfigure\fR command. Other options can be added by each channel type.
+These channel type specific options are described in the manual entry for
+the Tcl command that creates a channel of that type; for example, the
+additional options for TCP based channels are described in the manual entry
+for the Tcl \fBsocket\fR command.
+The procedure normally returns \fBTCL_OK\fR. If an error occurs, it returns
+\fBTCL_ERROR\fR and calls \fBTcl_SetErrno\fR to store an appropriate POSIX
+error code.
+.SH TCL_SETCHANNELOPTION
+.PP
+\fBTcl_SetChannelOption\fR sets a new value \fInewValue\fR
+for an option \fIoptionName\fR on \fIchannel\fR.
+The procedure normally returns \fBTCL_OK\fR. If an error occurs,
+it returns \fBTCL_ERROR\fR; in addition, if \fIinterp\fR is non-NULL,
+\fBTcl_SetChannelOption\fR leaves an error message in the interpreter's result.
+.SH TCL_EOF
+.PP
+\fBTcl_Eof\fR returns a nonzero value if \fIchannel\fR encountered
+an end of file during the last input operation.
+.SH TCL_INPUTBLOCKED
+.PP
+\fBTcl_InputBlocked\fR returns a nonzero value if \fIchannel\fR is in
+nonblocking mode and the last input operation returned less data than
+requested because there was insufficient data available.
+The call always returns zero if the channel is in blocking mode.
+.SH TCL_INPUTBUFFERED
+.PP
+\fBTcl_InputBuffered\fR returns the number of bytes of input currently
+buffered in the internal buffers for a channel. If the channel is not open
+for reading, this function always returns zero.
+.SH TCL_OUTPUTBUFFERED
+.PP
+\fBTcl_OutputBuffered\fR returns the number of bytes of output
+currently buffered in the internal buffers for a channel. If the
+channel is not open for writing, this function always returns zero.
+.SH "PLATFORM ISSUES"
+.PP
+The handles returned from \fBTcl_GetChannelHandle\fR depend on the
+platform and the channel type. On Unix platforms, the handle is
+always a Unix file descriptor as returned from the \fBopen\fR system
+call. On Windows platforms, the handle is a file \fBHANDLE\fR when
+the channel was created with \fBTcl_OpenFileChannel\fR,
+\fBTcl_OpenCommandChannel\fR, or \fBTcl_MakeFileChannel\fR. Other
+channel types may return a different type of handle on Windows
+platforms.
+.SH "SEE ALSO"
+DString(3), fconfigure(n), filename(n), fopen(3), Tcl_CreateChannel(3)
+.SH KEYWORDS
+access point, blocking, buffered I/O, channel, channel driver, end of file,
+flush, input, nonblocking, output, read, seek, write