Question

I have a question about list in tcl, what is the correct way to assign value to a list?

set employeeList ""
set TYPEID_3456 8
set TYPEID_9876 6
set TYPEID_6578 7

if {$employeeType=="1"} {
    set employeeList "8"
} elseif {$employeeType=="2"} {
    set employeeList "6 7"
} else {
    prints "failed"
}

foreach employee $employeeList {
    if {$employee==$TYPEID_3456} {
        #do something
    } elseif {$employee==$TYPEID_9876} {
            #do something
    } elseif {$employee==$TYPEID_6578} {
        #do something
    }
}

is this a correct way? because it tells me the TYPEID_3456 can not read.

Answer 1

What you wrote is correct: the string values will be interpreted as a list in the foreach command.

However I would write it like this to be clearer about your intentions, and use the switch command to be more concise:

set employeeList [list]
set TYPEID_3456 8
set TYPEID_9876 6
set TYPEID_6578 7

switch -exact -- $employeeType {
    1 {lappend employeeList 8}
    2 {lappend employeeList 6 7}
    default {puts "failed"}
}

foreach employee $employeeList {
    switch -exact -- $employee {
        $TYPEID_3456 {
            #do something
        }
        $TYPEID_9876 {
            #do something
        }
        $TYPEID_6578 {
            #do something
        }
    }
}

Or, create a data structure that combines the employeeList and employeeType:

array set employeeList {
    1 {8}
    2 {6 7}
}

set TYPEID_3456 8
set TYPEID_9876 6
set TYPEID_6578 7

if { ! [info exists employeeList($employeeType)]} {
    puts "no employee list for employee type '$employeeType'"

} else {
    foreach employee $employeeList($employeeType) {
        switch -exact -- $employee {
            $TYPEID_3456 {
                #do something
            }
            $TYPEID_9876 {
                #do something
            }
            $TYPEID_6578 {
                #do something
            }
        }
    }
}