bwish [_script_ [_arg_ ...]]BWISH(1)
NAME
bwish - BRL-CAD's Tcl/Tk windowing shell
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SYNOPSIS
DESCRIPTION
bwish is a Tcl/Tk windowing shell, analogous to the standard Tk wish(1) interpreter, but preloaded with BRL-CAD’s Tcl/Tk extensions (libtclcad, Itcl/Itk, and the associated BRL-CAD libraries). It is the graphical counterpart to btclsh(1) and provides the scripting and GUI foundation used by BRL-CAD tools such as mged(1) and archer(1).
If the first argument does not begin with a -, it is taken as the name
of a Tcl/Tk script to evaluate; bwish runs the script and then enters
the event loop. Any remaining arg values are made available to the
script through the Tcl global variables argv and argc, with argv0
set to the script name.
If no script is given (or the first argument begins with a -),
bwish runs interactively. It reads commands from standard input with
emacs-style command-line editing and history (for example, Ctrl-A,
Ctrl-E, Ctrl-K, Ctrl-W, and the arrow keys for history and cursor
movement), and on startup evaluates the resource file ~/.bwishrc
(~/.bwishrc.tcl on Windows) if it exists.
bwish does not interpret any command-line options of its own; flags
are left for the executed script to handle via argv.
EXAMPLES
Example 1. Run a Tk script with arguments
bwish make_dialog.tcl 800x600 model.gEvaluates the Tcl/Tk script make_dialog.tcl, with the BRL-CAD
extensions already loaded, passing 800x600 and model.g to the script
as argv. Because libtclcad is initialized, the script can open and
query BRL-CAD geometry databases directly.
Example 2. Interactive geometry scripting
bwish
bwish> package require Tk
bwish> set db [go_open db file model.g]
bwish> button .quit -text Quit -command exit; pack .quitStarts an interactive session, builds a small Tk control, and works with a BRL-CAD database through the bundled commands, all without writing a separate script file.
SEE ALSO
brlcad(1), btclsh(1), mged(1), archer(1)
AUTHOR
BRL-CAD Team
COPYRIGHT
This software is Copyright (c) 1989-2026 by the United States Government as represented by U.S. Army Research Laboratory.
BUG REPORTS
Reports of bugs or problems should be submitted via electronic mail to devs@brlcad.org