man s variable

variable(n)                  Tcl Built-In Commands                 variable(n)

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NAME
       variable - create and initialize a namespace variable

SYNOPSIS
       variable ?name value...? name ?value?
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DESCRIPTION
       This command is normally used within a namespace eval command to create
       one or more variables within a namespace.  Each variable name  is  ini-
       tialized with value.  The value for the last variable is optional.

       If  a  variable  name  does not exist, it is created.  In this case, if
       value is specified, it is assigned to the newly created  variable.   If
       no  value  is  specified,  the  new variable is left undefined.  If the
       variable already exists, it is set to value if value  is  specified  or
       left  unchanged  if  no  value is given.  Normally, name is unqualified
       (does not include the names of  any  containing  namespaces),  and  the
       variable  is  created  in  the current namespace.  If name includes any
       namespace qualifiers, the variable is created in  the  specified  name-
       space.

       If  the variable command is executed inside a Tcl procedure, it creates
       local variables linked to the corresponding  namespace  variables.   In
       this  way  the  variable command resembles the global command, although
       the global command only links to variables in the global namespace.  If
       any values are given, they are used to modify the values of the associ-
       ated namespace variables.  If a namespace variable does not  exist,  it
       is created and optionally initialized.

       A  name argument cannot reference an element within an array.  Instead,
       name should reference the entire array, and  the  initialization  value
       should  be  left  off.   After the variable has been declared, elements
       within the array can be set using ordinary set or array commands.

SEE ALSO
       global(n), namespace(n)

KEYWORDS
       global, namespace, procedure, variable

Tcl                                   8.0                          variable(n)