---
name: "source"
section: "n"
platform: "macos"
package: "tcl"
version: "152"
release: "macOS 26.5"
platforms: ["linux", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/source/n"
---

# source(n)

Evaluate a file or resource as a Tcl script

## NAME

source - Evaluate a file or resource as a Tcl script

## SYNOPSIS

**source** *fileName*

**source** **-encoding** *encodingName fileName*

## DESCRIPTION

This command takes the contents of the specified file or resource and passes it to the Tcl interpreter as a text script.  The return value from **source** is the return value of the last command executed in the script.  If an error occurs in evaluating the contents of the script then the **source** command will return that error. If a **return** command is invoked from within the script then the remainder of the file will be skipped and the **source** command will return normally with the result from the **return** command.

The end-of-file character for files is (^Z) for all platforms. The source command will read files up to this character.  This restriction does not exist for the **read** or **gets** commands, allowing for files containing code and data segments (scripted documents). If you require a in code for string comparison, you can use or which will be safely substituted by the Tcl interpreter into

The **-encoding** option is used to specify the encoding of the data stored in *fileName*.  When the **-encoding** option is omitted, the system encoding is assumed.

## EXAMPLE

Run the script in the file **foo.tcl** and then the script in the file **bar.tcl**: **source** foo.tcl **source** bar.tcl Alternatively: foreach scriptFile {foo.tcl bar.tcl} {\
    **source** $scriptFile }

## SEE ALSO

[file(n)](/file/n.md), [cd(n)](/cd/n.md), [encoding(n)](/encoding/n.md), [info(n)](/info/n.md)

## KEYWORDS

file, script