in reply to convert script from perl to tcl

Hi

When I add

puts "What is $output" return $output

I get "What is" a whole bunch of times

$output is empty

I'm confused as to when to use "output" and when to use "$output" and I think you are too

If I use  lappend output $sofar instead I get a list sometimes

What is {2 2 2 2 2} What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is {2 2 3 3} What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is {2 3 5} What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is What is {5 5} What is What is What is What is What is What is

Clearly tcl is one step above brain**ck :/

You might get further if you study below and sprinkle in more parens / uplevel/upvar / and whatnots :)

http://pleac.sourceforge.net/pleac_tcl/subroutines.html could use some help :)

https://wiki.tcl-lang.org/page/Recursive+functions

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/33706216/recursive-tcl-procedure-does-not-return-anything

http://www.tcl.tk/man/tcl8.5/TclCmd/uplevel.htm

http://www.tcl.tk/man/tcl8.5/TclCmd/upvar.htm