Question:

Why does this code:

  set dir "D:/JNN/proc/"
  set tempname "D:/JNN/proc/Doc-99887767.dat"
  set cname [string trimleft $tempname $dir]
  puts $cname
report
  -99887767.dat

but this code:

  set dir "D:/JNN/proc/"
  set tempname "D:/JNN/proc/Foc-99887767.dat"
  set cname [string trimleft $tempname $dir]
  puts $cname
report
  Foc-99887767.dat

Answer

The second parameter to string trimleft (the one that's in $dir in the example) is treated as a list of individual characters to be removed. And in the first example, the "D" "o" and "c" are stripped off the beginning of the file name because they also occur in the directory name.

Suggestion

If you want to strip the leading directory information off a path and file name, you may find it better to use regsub
  set cname [regsub {.*/} $tempname ""]
the apparently spurious .* meaning we trim to the last / rather than the first.
(written 2012-01-13, updated 2012-01-14)

 T205 - Tcl/Tk - String Handling in Tcl
  [404] How to check that a string contains a number in Tcl - (2005-08-06)
  [779] The fragility of pancakes - and better structures - (2006-06-26)
  [943] Matching within multiline strings, and ignoring case in regular expressions - (2006-11-25)
  [1403] Square Bracket protection in Tcl - (2007-10-23)
  [1410] Tcl / regsub - changing a string and using interesting bits - (2007-10-27)
  [1601] Replacing the last comma with an and - (2008-04-04)
  [2472] split and join in tcl and expect - (2009-10-23)
  [3192] Tcl - Some example of HOW TO in handling data files and formats - (2011-03-04)
  [3285] Extracting data from a string / line from file - Tcl - (2011-05-10)
  [4205] Regular Expression Substitution - Tcl - (2013-11-12)
  [4454] Everything is a string - even a list - (2015-03-11)
  [4455] Working out distance between places, using OS grid references and a program in Tcl - (2015-03-11)

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