Thanks.  This helps a lot.

A couple things to consider. Right now if the variable is not declared,
declare -p  returns 0. Should it be nonzero as is the case if you give a bad
option?

Is there a way to figure out or get a list of local variables versus
non-local variables versus global variables? By "local" I mean those that
were defined in the most recent scope and by "global" I mean those defined
outside of any function nesting, and by "non-local" I mean "not defined in
the immediate scope."

Thanks again

On Sat, Sep 13, 2008 at 3:55 PM, Peter Stephenson <
p.w.stephenson@ntlworld.com> wrote:

> On Sat, 13 Sep 2008 10:52:35 -0400
> "Rocky Bernstein" <rocky.bernstein@gmail.com> wrote:
> > It appears that using "declare" or "typeset" with the -p (print) flag
> will
> > add a new declaration inside a function. Is this really desirable? It
> seems
> > to reduce the usefulness of -p.
>
> That sure as heck looks like a bug to me.  It shouldn't ever create
> anything, even if the variable doesn't exist; it's purely for
> information.  I don't think "declare -p" has had much love and
> attention; it doesn't look like it's ever worked with arguments
> other than patterns (with -m).
>
> Index: Src/builtin.c
> ===================================================================
> RCS file: /cvsroot/zsh/zsh/Src/builtin.c,v
> retrieving revision 1.205
> diff -u -r1.205 builtin.c
> --- Src/builtin.c       11 Sep 2008 17:14:39 -0000      1.205
> +++ Src/builtin.c       13 Sep 2008 19:49:33 -0000
> @@ -2473,10 +2473,17 @@
>
>     /* Take arguments literally.  Don't glob */
>     while ((asg = getasg(*argv++))) {
> -       if (!typeset_single(name, asg->name,
> -                           (Param) (paramtab == realparamtab ?
> -                                    gethashnode2(paramtab, asg->name) :
> -                                    paramtab->getnode(paramtab,
> asg->name)),
> +       HashNode hn = (paramtab == realparamtab ?
> +                      gethashnode2(paramtab, asg->name) :
> +                      paramtab->getnode(paramtab, asg->name));
> +       if (OPT_ISSET(ops,'p')) {
> +           if (hn)
> +               printparamnode(hn, printflags);
> +           else
> +               zwarnnam(name, "no such variable: %s", asg->name);
> +           continue;
> +       }
> +       if (!typeset_single(name, asg->name, (Param)hn,
>                            func, on, off, roff, asg->value, NULL,
>                            ops, 0))
>            returnval = 1;
> Index: Test/B02typeset.ztst
> ===================================================================
> RCS file: /cvsroot/zsh/zsh/Test/B02typeset.ztst,v
> retrieving revision 1.18
> diff -u -r1.18 B02typeset.ztst
> --- Test/B02typeset.ztst        16 Dec 2007 14:05:16 -0000      1.18
> +++ Test/B02typeset.ztst        13 Sep 2008 19:49:33 -0000
> @@ -444,3 +444,12 @@
>  0:Lower case conversion, does not apply to values used internally
>  >lower
>  >value of $lower
> +
> + typeset -a array
> + array=(foo bar)
> + fn() { typeset -p array nonexistent; }
> + fn
> +0:declare -p shouldn't create scoped values
> +>typeset -a array
> +>array=(foo bar)
> +?fn:typeset: no such variable: nonexistent
>
>
> --
> Peter Stephenson <p.w.stephenson@ntlworld.com>
> Web page now at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/p.w.stephenson/
>