1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="iso-8859-1"?>
3 <title>Using GHCi</title>
4 <indexterm><primary>GHCi</primary></indexterm>
5 <indexterm><primary>interpreter</primary><see>GHCi</see></indexterm>
6 <indexterm><primary>interactive</primary><see>GHCi</see></indexterm>
9 <para>The ‘i’ stands for “Interactive”</para>
11 is GHC's interactive environment, in which Haskell expressions can
12 be interactively evaluated and programs can be interpreted. If
13 you're familiar with <ulink url="http://www.haskell.org/hugs/">Hugs</ulink><indexterm><primary>Hugs</primary>
14 </indexterm>, then you'll be right at home with GHCi. However, GHCi
15 also has support for interactively loading compiled code, as well as
16 supporting all<footnote><para>except <literal>foreign export</literal>, at the moment</para>
17 </footnote> the language extensions that GHC provides.</para>
18 <indexterm><primary>FFI</primary><secondary>GHCi support</secondary></indexterm>
19 <indexterm><primary>Foreign Function Interface</primary><secondary>GHCi support</secondary></indexterm>
22 <title>Introduction to GHCi</title>
24 <para>Let's start with an example GHCi session. You can fire up
25 GHCi with the command <literal>ghci</literal>:</para>
31 / /_\// /_/ / / | | GHC Interactive, version 6.6, for Haskell 98.
32 / /_\\/ __ / /___| | http://www.haskell.org/ghc/
33 \____/\/ /_/\____/|_| Type :? for help.
35 Loading package base ... linking ... done.
39 <para>There may be a short pause while GHCi loads the prelude and
40 standard libraries, after which the prompt is shown. If we follow
41 the instructions and type <literal>:?</literal> for help, we
45 Commands available from the prompt:
47 <stmt> evaluate/run <stmt>
48 :add <filename> ... add module(s) to the current target set
49 :browse [*]<module> display the names defined by <module>
50 :cd <dir> change directory to <dir>
51 :def <cmd> <expr> define a command :<cmd>
52 :edit <file> edit file
53 :edit edit last module
54 :help, :? display this list of commands
55 :info [<name> ...] display information about the given names
56 :load <filename> ... load module(s) and their dependents
57 :module [+/-] [*]<mod> ... set the context for expression evaluation
58 :main [<arguments> ...] run the main function with the given arguments
59 :reload reload the current module set
61 :set <option> ... set options
62 :set args <arg> ... set the arguments returned by System.getArgs
63 :set prog <progname> set the value returned by System.getProgName
64 :set prompt <prompt> set the prompt used in GHCi
65 :set editor <cmd> set the command used for :edit
67 :show modules show the currently loaded modules
68 :show bindings show the current bindings made at the prompt
70 :ctags [<file>] create tags file for Vi (default: "tags")
71 :etags [<file>] create tags file for Emacs (default: "TAGS")
72 :type <expr> show the type of <expr>
73 :kind <type> show the kind of <type>
74 :undef <cmd> undefine user-defined command :<cmd>
75 :unset <option> ... unset options
77 :!<command> run the shell command <command>
79 Options for ':set' and ':unset':
81 +r revert top-level expressions after each evaluation
82 +s print timing/memory stats after each evaluation
83 +t print type after evaluation
84 -<flags> most GHC command line flags can also be set here
85 (eg. -v2, -fglasgow-exts, etc.)
88 <para>We'll explain most of these commands as we go along. For
89 Hugs users: many things work the same as in Hugs, so you should be
90 able to get going straight away.</para>
92 <para>Haskell expressions can be typed at the prompt:</para>
93 <indexterm><primary>prompt</primary><secondary>GHCi</secondary>
99 Prelude> let x = 42 in x / 9
104 <para>GHCi interprets the whole line as an expression to evaluate.
105 The expression may not span several lines - as soon as you press
106 enter, GHCi will attempt to evaluate it.</para>
110 <title>Loading source files</title>
112 <para>Suppose we have the following Haskell source code, which we
113 place in a file <filename>Main.hs</filename>:</para>
116 main = print (fac 20)
119 fac n = n * fac (n-1)
122 <para>You can save <filename>Main.hs</filename> anywhere you like,
123 but if you save it somewhere other than the current
124 directory<footnote><para>If you started up GHCi from the command
125 line then GHCi's current directory is the same as the current
126 directory of the shell from which it was started. If you started
127 GHCi from the “Start” menu in Windows, then the
128 current directory is probably something like
129 <filename>C:\Documents and Settings\<replaceable>user
130 name</replaceable></filename>.</para> </footnote> then we will
131 need to change to the right directory in GHCi:</para>
134 Prelude> :cd <replaceable>dir</replaceable>
137 <para>where <replaceable>dir</replaceable> is the directory (or
138 folder) in which you saved <filename>Main.hs</filename>.</para>
140 <para>To load a Haskell source file into GHCi, use the
141 <literal>:load</literal> command:</para>
142 <indexterm><primary><literal>:load</literal></primary></indexterm>
146 Compiling Main ( Main.hs, interpreted )
147 Ok, modules loaded: Main.
151 <para>GHCi has loaded the <literal>Main</literal> module, and the
152 prompt has changed to “<literal>*Main></literal>” to
153 indicate that the current context for expressions typed at the
154 prompt is the <literal>Main</literal> module we just loaded (we'll
155 explain what the <literal>*</literal> means later in <xref
156 linkend="ghci-scope"/>). So we can now type expressions involving
157 the functions from <filename>Main.hs</filename>:</para>
164 <para>Loading a multi-module program is just as straightforward;
165 just give the name of the “topmost” module to the
166 <literal>:load</literal> command (hint: <literal>:load</literal>
167 can be abbreviated to <literal>:l</literal>). The topmost module
168 will normally be <literal>Main</literal>, but it doesn't have to
169 be. GHCi will discover which modules are required, directly or
170 indirectly, by the topmost module, and load them all in dependency
173 <sect2 id="ghci-modules-filenames">
174 <title>Modules vs. filenames</title>
175 <indexterm><primary>modules</primary><secondary>and filenames</secondary></indexterm>
176 <indexterm><primary>filenames</primary><secondary>of modules</secondary></indexterm>
178 <para>Question: How does GHC find the filename which contains
179 module <replaceable>M</replaceable>? Answer: it looks for the
180 file <literal><replaceable>M</replaceable>.hs</literal>, or
181 <literal><replaceable>M</replaceable>.lhs</literal>. This means
182 that for most modules, the module name must match the filename.
183 If it doesn't, GHCi won't be able to find it.</para>
185 <para>There is one exception to this general rule: when you load
186 a program with <literal>:load</literal>, or specify it when you
187 invoke <literal>ghci</literal>, you can give a filename rather
188 than a module name. This filename is loaded if it exists, and
189 it may contain any module you like. This is particularly
190 convenient if you have several <literal>Main</literal> modules
191 in the same directory and you can't call them all
192 <filename>Main.hs</filename>.</para>
194 <para>The search path for finding source files is specified with
195 the <option>-i</option> option on the GHCi command line, like
197 <screen>ghci -i<replaceable>dir<subscript>1</subscript></replaceable>:...:<replaceable>dir<subscript>n</subscript></replaceable></screen>
199 <para>or it can be set using the <literal>:set</literal> command
200 from within GHCi (see <xref
201 linkend="ghci-cmd-line-options"/>)<footnote><para>Note that in
202 GHCi, and <option>––make</option> mode, the <option>-i</option>
203 option is used to specify the search path for
204 <emphasis>source</emphasis> files, whereas in standard
205 batch-compilation mode the <option>-i</option> option is used to
206 specify the search path for interface files, see <xref
207 linkend="search-path"/>.</para> </footnote></para>
209 <para>One consequence of the way that GHCi follows dependencies
210 to find modules to load is that every module must have a source
211 file. The only exception to the rule is modules that come from
212 a package, including the <literal>Prelude</literal> and standard
213 libraries such as <literal>IO</literal> and
214 <literal>Complex</literal>. If you attempt to load a module for
215 which GHCi can't find a source file, even if there are object
216 and interface files for the module, you'll get an error
221 <title>Making changes and recompilation</title>
222 <indexterm><primary><literal>:reload</literal></primary></indexterm>
224 <para>If you make some changes to the source code and want GHCi
225 to recompile the program, give the <literal>:reload</literal>
226 command. The program will be recompiled as necessary, with GHCi
227 doing its best to avoid actually recompiling modules if their
228 external dependencies haven't changed. This is the same
229 mechanism we use to avoid re-compiling modules in the batch
230 compilation setting (see <xref linkend="recomp"/>).</para>
234 <sect1 id="ghci-compiled">
235 <title>Loading compiled code</title>
236 <indexterm><primary>compiled code</primary><secondary>in GHCi</secondary></indexterm>
238 <para>When you load a Haskell source module into GHCi, it is
239 normally converted to byte-code and run using the interpreter.
240 However, interpreted code can also run alongside compiled code in
241 GHCi; indeed, normally when GHCi starts, it loads up a compiled
242 copy of the <literal>base</literal> package, which contains the
243 <literal>Prelude</literal>.</para>
245 <para>Why should we want to run compiled code? Well, compiled
246 code is roughly 10x faster than interpreted code, but takes about
247 2x longer to produce (perhaps longer if optimisation is on). So
248 it pays to compile the parts of a program that aren't changing
249 very often, and use the interpreter for the code being actively
252 <para>When loading up source files with <literal>:load</literal>,
253 GHCi looks for any corresponding compiled object files, and will
254 use one in preference to interpreting the source if possible. For
255 example, suppose we have a 4-module program consisting of modules
256 A, B, C, and D. Modules B and C both import D only,
257 and A imports both B & C:</para>
265 <para>We can compile D, then load the whole program, like this:</para>
267 Prelude> :! ghc -c D.hs
269 Skipping D ( D.hs, D.o )
270 Compiling C ( C.hs, interpreted )
271 Compiling B ( B.hs, interpreted )
272 Compiling A ( A.hs, interpreted )
273 Ok, modules loaded: A, B, C, D.
277 <para>In the messages from the compiler, we see that it skipped D,
278 and used the object file <filename>D.o</filename>. The message
279 <literal>Skipping</literal> <replaceable>module</replaceable>
280 indicates that compilation for <replaceable>module</replaceable>
281 isn't necessary, because the source and everything it depends on
282 is unchanged since the last compilation.</para>
284 <para>At any time you can use the command
285 <literal>:show modules</literal>
286 to get a list of the modules currently loaded
292 C ( C.hs, interpreted )
293 B ( B.hs, interpreted )
294 A ( A.hs, interpreted )
297 <para>If we now modify the source of D (or pretend to: using Unix
298 command <literal>touch</literal> on the source file is handy for
299 this), the compiler will no longer be able to use the object file,
300 because it might be out of date:</para>
305 Compiling D ( D.hs, interpreted )
306 Skipping C ( C.hs, interpreted )
307 Skipping B ( B.hs, interpreted )
308 Skipping A ( A.hs, interpreted )
309 Ok, modules loaded: A, B, C, D.
313 <para>Note that module D was compiled, but in this instance
314 because its source hadn't really changed, its interface remained
315 the same, and the recompilation checker determined that A, B and C
316 didn't need to be recompiled.</para>
318 <para>So let's try compiling one of the other modules:</para>
321 *Main> :! ghc -c C.hs
323 Compiling D ( D.hs, interpreted )
324 Compiling C ( C.hs, interpreted )
325 Compiling B ( B.hs, interpreted )
326 Compiling A ( A.hs, interpreted )
327 Ok, modules loaded: A, B, C, D.
330 <para>We didn't get the compiled version of C! What happened?
331 Well, in GHCi a compiled module may only depend on other compiled
332 modules, and in this case C depends on D, which doesn't have an
333 object file, so GHCi also rejected C's object file. Ok, so let's
334 also compile D:</para>
337 *Main> :! ghc -c D.hs
339 Ok, modules loaded: A, B, C, D.
342 <para>Nothing happened! Here's another lesson: newly compiled
343 modules aren't picked up by <literal>:reload</literal>, only
344 <literal>:load</literal>:</para>
348 Skipping D ( D.hs, D.o )
349 Skipping C ( C.hs, C.o )
350 Compiling B ( B.hs, interpreted )
351 Compiling A ( A.hs, interpreted )
352 Ok, modules loaded: A, B, C, D.
355 <para>HINT: since GHCi will only use a compiled object file if it
356 can be sure that the compiled version is up-to-date, a good technique
357 when working on a large program is to occasionally run
358 <literal>ghc ––make</literal> to compile the whole project (say
359 before you go for lunch :-), then continue working in the
360 interpreter. As you modify code, the new modules will be
361 interpreted, but the rest of the project will remain
367 <title>Interactive evaluation at the prompt</title>
369 <para>When you type an expression at the prompt, GHCi immediately
370 evaluates and prints the result:
372 Prelude> reverse "hello"
379 <sect2><title>I/O actions at the prompt</title>
381 <para>GHCi does more than simple expression evaluation at the prompt.
382 If you type something of type <literal>IO a</literal> for some
383 <literal>a</literal>, then GHCi <emphasis>executes</emphasis> it
384 as an IO-computation.
388 Prelude> putStrLn "hello"
391 Furthermore, GHCi will print the result of the I/O action if (and only
394 <listitem><para>The result type is an instance of <literal>Show</literal>.</para></listitem>
395 <listitem><para>The result type is not
396 <literal>()</literal>.</para></listitem>
398 For example, remembering that <literal>putStrLn :: String -> IO ()</literal>:
400 Prelude> putStrLn "hello"
402 Prelude> do { putStrLn "hello"; return "yes" }
408 <sect2 id="ghci-stmts">
409 <title>Using <literal>do-</literal>notation at the prompt</title>
410 <indexterm><primary>do-notation</primary><secondary>in GHCi</secondary></indexterm>
411 <indexterm><primary>statements</primary><secondary>in GHCi</secondary></indexterm>
413 <para>GHCi actually accepts <firstterm>statements</firstterm>
414 rather than just expressions at the prompt. This means you can
415 bind values and functions to names, and use them in future
416 expressions or statements.</para>
418 <para>The syntax of a statement accepted at the GHCi prompt is
419 exactly the same as the syntax of a statement in a Haskell
420 <literal>do</literal> expression. However, there's no monad
421 overloading here: statements typed at the prompt must be in the
422 <literal>IO</literal> monad.
424 Prelude> x <- return 42
430 The statement <literal>x <- return 42</literal> means
431 “execute <literal>return 42</literal> in the
432 <literal>IO</literal> monad, and bind the result to
433 <literal>x</literal>”. We can then use
434 <literal>x</literal> in future statements, for example to print
435 it as we did above.</para>
437 <para>GHCi will print the result of a statement if and only if:
440 <para>The statement is not a binding, or it is a monadic binding
441 (<literal>p <- e</literal>) that binds exactly one
445 <para>The variable's type is not polymorphic, is not
446 <literal>()</literal>, and is an instance of
447 <literal>Show</literal></para>
450 The automatic printing of binding results can be supressed with
451 <option>:set -fno-print-bind-result</option> (this does not
452 supress printing the result of non-binding statements).
453 <indexterm><primary><option>-fno-print-bind-result</option></primary></indexterm><indexterm><primary><option>-fprint-bind-result</option></primary></indexterm>.
454 You might want to do this to prevent the result of binding
455 statements from being fully evaluated by the act of printing
456 them, for example.</para>
458 <para>Of course, you can also bind normal non-IO expressions
459 using the <literal>let</literal>-statement:</para>
466 <para>Another important difference between the two types of binding
467 is that the monadic bind (<literal>p <- e</literal>) is
468 <emphasis>strict</emphasis> (it evaluates <literal>e</literal>),
469 whereas with the <literal>let</literal> form, the expression
470 isn't evaluated immediately:</para>
472 Prelude> let x = error "help!"
478 <para>Note that <literal>let</literal> bindings do not automatically
479 print the value bound, unlike monadic bindings.</para>
481 <para>Any exceptions raised during the evaluation or execution
482 of the statement are caught and printed by the GHCi command line
483 interface (for more information on exceptions, see the module
484 <literal>Control.Exception</literal> in the libraries
485 documentation).</para>
487 <para>Every new binding shadows any existing bindings of the
488 same name, including entities that are in scope in the current
489 module context.</para>
491 <para>WARNING: temporary bindings introduced at the prompt only
492 last until the next <literal>:load</literal> or
493 <literal>:reload</literal> command, at which time they will be
494 simply lost. However, they do survive a change of context with
495 <literal>:module</literal>: the temporary bindings just move to
496 the new location.</para>
498 <para>HINT: To get a list of the bindings currently in scope, use the
499 <literal>:show bindings</literal> command:</para>
502 Prelude> :show bindings
506 <para>HINT: if you turn on the <literal>+t</literal> option,
507 GHCi will show the type of each variable bound by a statement.
509 <indexterm><primary><literal>+t</literal></primary></indexterm>
512 Prelude> let (x:xs) = [1..]
519 <sect2 id="ghci-scope">
520 <title>What's really in scope at the prompt?</title>
522 <para>When you type an expression at the prompt, what
523 identifiers and types are in scope? GHCi provides a flexible
524 way to control exactly how the context for an expression is
525 constructed. Let's start with the simple cases; when you start
526 GHCi the prompt looks like this:</para>
528 <screen>Prelude></screen>
530 <para>Which indicates that everything from the module
531 <literal>Prelude</literal> is currently in scope. If we now
532 load a file into GHCi, the prompt will change:</para>
535 Prelude> :load Main.hs
536 Compiling Main ( Main.hs, interpreted )
540 <para>The new prompt is <literal>*Main</literal>, which
541 indicates that we are typing expressions in the context of the
542 top-level of the <literal>Main</literal> module. Everything
543 that is in scope at the top-level in the module
544 <literal>Main</literal> we just loaded is also in scope at the
545 prompt (probably including <literal>Prelude</literal>, as long
546 as <literal>Main</literal> doesn't explicitly hide it).</para>
549 <literal>*<replaceable>module</replaceable></literal> indicates
550 that it is the full top-level scope of
551 <replaceable>module</replaceable> that is contributing to the
552 scope for expressions typed at the prompt. Without the
553 <literal>*</literal>, just the exports of the module are
556 <para>We're not limited to a single module: GHCi can combine
557 scopes from multiple modules, in any mixture of
558 <literal>*</literal> and non-<literal>*</literal> forms. GHCi
559 combines the scopes from all of these modules to form the scope
560 that is in effect at the prompt. For technical reasons, GHCi
561 can only support the <literal>*</literal>-form for modules which
562 are interpreted, so compiled modules and package modules can
563 only contribute their exports to the current scope.</para>
565 <para>The scope is manipulated using the
566 <literal>:module</literal> command. For example, if the current
567 scope is <literal>Prelude</literal>, then we can bring into
568 scope the exports from the module <literal>IO</literal> like
573 Prelude IO> hPutStrLn stdout "hello\n"
578 <para>(Note: <literal>:module</literal> can be shortened to
579 <literal>:m</literal>). The full syntax of the
580 <literal>:module</literal> command is:</para>
583 :module <optional>+|-</optional> <optional>*</optional><replaceable>mod<subscript>1</subscript></replaceable> ... <optional>*</optional><replaceable>mod<subscript>n</subscript></replaceable>
586 <para>Using the <literal>+</literal> form of the
587 <literal>module</literal> commands adds modules to the current
588 scope, and <literal>-</literal> removes them. Without either
589 <literal>+</literal> or <literal>-</literal>, the current scope
590 is replaced by the set of modules specified. Note that if you
591 use this form and leave out <literal>Prelude</literal>, GHCi
592 will assume that you really wanted the
593 <literal>Prelude</literal> and add it in for you (if you don't
594 want the <literal>Prelude</literal>, then ask to remove it with
595 <literal>:m -Prelude</literal>).</para>
597 <para>The scope is automatically set after a
598 <literal>:load</literal> command, to the most recently loaded
599 "target" module, in a <literal>*</literal>-form if possible.
600 For example, if you say <literal>:load foo.hs bar.hs</literal>
601 and <filename>bar.hs</filename> contains module
602 <literal>Bar</literal>, then the scope will be set to
603 <literal>*Bar</literal> if <literal>Bar</literal> is
604 interpreted, or if <literal>Bar</literal> is compiled it will be
605 set to <literal>Prelude Bar</literal> (GHCi automatically adds
606 <literal>Prelude</literal> if it isn't present and there aren't
607 any <literal>*</literal>-form modules).</para>
609 <para>With multiple modules in scope, especially multiple
610 <literal>*</literal>-form modules, it is likely that name
611 clashes will occur. Haskell specifies that name clashes are
612 only reported when an ambiguous identifier is used, and GHCi
613 behaves in the same way for expressions typed at the
617 Hint: GHCi will tab-complete names that are in scope; for
618 example, if you run GHCi and type <literal>J<tab></literal>
619 then GHCi will expand it to <literal>Just </literal>.
623 <title>Qualified names</title>
625 <para>To make life slightly easier, the GHCi prompt also
626 behaves as if there is an implicit <literal>import
627 qualified</literal> declaration for every module in every
628 package, and every module currently loaded into GHCi.</para>
632 <title>The <literal>:main</literal> command</title>
635 When a program is compiled and executed, it can use the
636 <literal>getArgs</literal> function to access the
637 command-line arguments.
638 However, we cannot simply pass the arguments to the
639 <literal>main</literal> function while we are testing in ghci,
640 as the <literal>main</literal> function doesn't take its
645 Instead, we can use the <literal>:main</literal> command.
646 This runs whatever <literal>main</literal> is in scope, with
647 any arguments being treated the same as command-line arguments,
652 Prelude> let main = System.Environment.getArgs >>= print
653 Prelude> :main foo bar
662 <title>The <literal>it</literal> variable</title>
663 <indexterm><primary><literal>it</literal></primary>
666 <para>Whenever an expression (or a non-binding statement, to be
667 precise) is typed at the prompt, GHCi implicitly binds its value
668 to the variable <literal>it</literal>. For example:</para>
675 <para>What actually happens is that GHCi typechecks the
676 expression, and if it doesn't have an <literal>IO</literal> type,
677 then it transforms it as follows: an expression
678 <replaceable>e</replaceable> turns into
680 let it = <replaceable>e</replaceable>;
683 which is then run as an IO-action.</para>
685 <para>Hence, the original expression must have a type which is an
686 instance of the <literal>Show</literal> class, or GHCi will
692 <interactive>:1:0:
693 No instance for (Show (a -> a))
694 arising from use of `print' at <interactive>:1:0-1
695 Possible fix: add an instance declaration for (Show (a -> a))
696 In the expression: print it
697 In a 'do' expression: print it
700 <para>The error message contains some clues as to the
701 transformation happening internally.</para>
703 <para>If the expression was instead of type <literal>IO a</literal> for
704 some <literal>a</literal>, then <literal>it</literal> will be
705 bound to the result of the <literal>IO</literal> computation,
706 which is of type <literal>a</literal>. eg.:</para>
708 Prelude> Time.getClockTime
709 Wed Mar 14 12:23:13 GMT 2001
711 Wed Mar 14 12:23:13 GMT 2001
714 <para>The corresponding translation for an IO-typed
715 <replaceable>e</replaceable> is
717 it <- <replaceable>e</replaceable>
721 <para>Note that <literal>it</literal> is shadowed by the new
722 value each time you evaluate a new expression, and the old value
723 of <literal>it</literal> is lost.</para>
727 <sect2 id="extended-default-rules">
728 <title>Type defaulting in GHCi</title>
729 <indexterm><primary>Type default</primary></indexterm>
730 <indexterm><primary><literal>Show</literal> class</primary></indexterm>
732 Consider this GHCi session:
736 What should GHCi do? Strictly speaking, the program is ambiguous. <literal>show (reverse [])</literal>
737 (which is what GHCi computes here) has type <literal>Show a => a</literal> and how that displays depends
738 on the type <literal>a</literal>. For example:
740 ghci> (reverse []) :: String
742 ghci> (reverse []) :: [Int]
745 However, it is tiresome for the user to have to specify the type, so GHCi extends Haskell's type-defaulting
746 rules (Section 4.3.4 of the Haskell 98 Report (Revised)) as follows. The
747 standard rules take each group of constraints <literal>(C1 a, C2 a, ..., Cn
748 a)</literal> for each type variable <literal>a</literal>, and defaults the
751 <listitem><para> The type variable <literal>a</literal>
752 appears in no other constraints </para></listitem>
753 <listitem><para> All the classes <literal>Ci</literal> are standard.</para></listitem>
754 <listitem><para> At least one of the classes <literal>Ci</literal> is
755 numeric.</para></listitem>
757 At the GHCi prompt, the second and third rules are relaxed as follows
758 (differences italicised):
760 <listitem><para> <emphasis>All</emphasis> of the classes
761 <literal>Ci</literal> are single-parameter type classes.</para></listitem>
762 <listitem><para> At least one of the classes <literal>Ci</literal> is
763 numeric, <emphasis>or is <literal>Show</literal>,
764 <literal>Eq</literal>, or <literal>Ord</literal></emphasis>.</para></listitem>
766 The same type-default behaviour can be enabled in an ordinary Haskell
767 module, using the flag <literal>-fextended-default-rules</literal>.
772 <sect1 id="ghci-invocation">
773 <title>Invoking GHCi</title>
774 <indexterm><primary>invoking</primary><secondary>GHCi</secondary></indexterm>
775 <indexterm><primary><option>––interactive</option></primary></indexterm>
777 <para>GHCi is invoked with the command <literal>ghci</literal> or
778 <literal>ghc ––interactive</literal>. One or more modules or
779 filenames can also be specified on the command line; this
780 instructs GHCi to load the specified modules or filenames (and all
781 the modules they depend on), just as if you had said
782 <literal>:load <replaceable>modules</replaceable></literal> at the
783 GHCi prompt (see <xref linkend="ghci-commands"/>). For example, to
784 start GHCi and load the program whose topmost module is in the
785 file <literal>Main.hs</literal>, we could say:</para>
791 <para>Most of the command-line options accepted by GHC (see <xref
792 linkend="using-ghc"/>) also make sense in interactive mode. The ones
793 that don't make sense are mostly obvious; for example, GHCi
794 doesn't generate interface files, so options related to interface
795 file generation won't have any effect.</para>
798 <title>Packages</title>
799 <indexterm><primary>packages</primary><secondary>with GHCi</secondary></indexterm>
801 <para>Most packages (see <xref linkend="using-packages"/>) are
802 available without needing to specify any extra flags at all:
803 they will be automatically loaded the first time they are
806 <para>For non-auto packages, however, you need to request the
807 package be loaded by using the <literal>-package</literal> flag:</para>
810 $ ghci -package readline
813 / /_\// /_/ / / | | GHC Interactive, version 6.6, for Haskell 98.
814 / /_\\/ __ / /___| | http://www.haskell.org/ghc/
815 \____/\/ /_/\____/|_| Type :? for help.
817 Loading package base ... linking ... done.
818 Loading package readline-1.0 ... linking ... done.
822 <para>The following command works to load new packages into a
826 Prelude> :set -package <replaceable>name</replaceable>
829 <para>But note that doing this will cause all currently loaded
830 modules to be unloaded, and you'll be dumped back into the
831 <literal>Prelude</literal>.</para>
835 <title>Extra libraries</title>
836 <indexterm><primary>libraries</primary><secondary>with GHCi</secondary></indexterm>
838 <para>Extra libraries may be specified on the command line using
839 the normal <literal>-l<replaceable>lib</replaceable></literal>
840 option. (The term <emphasis>library</emphasis> here refers to
841 libraries of foreign object code; for using libraries of Haskell
842 source code, see <xref linkend="ghci-modules-filenames"/>.) For
843 example, to load the “m” library:</para>
849 <para>On systems with <literal>.so</literal>-style shared
850 libraries, the actual library loaded will the
851 <filename>lib<replaceable>lib</replaceable>.so</filename>. GHCi
852 searches the following places for libraries, in this order:</para>
856 <para>Paths specified using the
857 <literal>-L<replaceable>path</replaceable></literal>
858 command-line option,</para>
861 <para>the standard library search path for your system,
862 which on some systems may be overridden by setting the
863 <literal>LD_LIBRARY_PATH</literal> environment
868 <para>On systems with <literal>.dll</literal>-style shared
869 libraries, the actual library loaded will be
870 <filename><replaceable>lib</replaceable>.dll</filename>. Again,
871 GHCi will signal an error if it can't find the library.</para>
873 <para>GHCi can also load plain object files
874 (<literal>.o</literal> or <literal>.obj</literal> depending on
875 your platform) from the command-line. Just add the name the
876 object file to the command line.</para>
878 <para>Ordering of <option>-l</option> options matters: a library
879 should be mentioned <emphasis>before</emphasis> the libraries it
880 depends on (see <xref linkend="options-linker"/>).</para>
885 <sect1 id="ghci-commands">
886 <title>GHCi commands</title>
888 <para>GHCi commands all begin with
889 ‘<literal>:</literal>’ and consist of a single command
890 name followed by zero or more parameters. The command name may be
891 abbreviated, with ambiguities being resolved in favour of the more
892 commonly used commands.</para>
897 <literal>:add</literal> <replaceable>module</replaceable> ...
898 <indexterm><primary><literal>:add</literal></primary></indexterm>
901 <para>Add <replaceable>module</replaceable>(s) to the
902 current <firstterm>target set</firstterm>, and perform a
909 <literal>:browse</literal> <optional><literal>*</literal></optional><replaceable>module</replaceable> ...
910 <indexterm><primary><literal>:browse</literal></primary></indexterm>
913 <para>Displays the identifiers defined by the module
914 <replaceable>module</replaceable>, which must be either
915 loaded into GHCi or be a member of a package. If the
916 <literal>*</literal> symbol is placed before the module
917 name, then <emphasis>all</emphasis> the identifiers defined
918 in <replaceable>module</replaceable> are shown; otherwise
919 the list is limited to the exports of
920 <replaceable>module</replaceable>. The
921 <literal>*</literal>-form is only available for modules
922 which are interpreted; for compiled modules (including
923 modules from packages) only the non-<literal>*</literal>
924 form of <literal>:browse</literal> is available.</para>
930 <literal>:cd</literal> <replaceable>dir</replaceable>
931 <indexterm><primary><literal>:cd</literal></primary></indexterm>
934 <para>Changes the current working directory to
935 <replaceable>dir</replaceable>. A
936 ‘<literal>˜</literal>’ symbol at the
937 beginning of <replaceable>dir</replaceable> will be replaced
938 by the contents of the environment variable
939 <literal>HOME</literal>.</para>
941 <para>NOTE: changing directories causes all currently loaded
942 modules to be unloaded. This is because the search path is
943 usually expressed using relative directories, and changing
944 the search path in the middle of a session is not
951 <literal>:def</literal> <replaceable>name</replaceable> <replaceable>expr</replaceable>
952 <indexterm><primary><literal>:def</literal></primary></indexterm>
955 <para>The command <literal>:def</literal>
956 <replaceable>name</replaceable>
957 <replaceable>expr</replaceable> defines a new GHCi command
958 <literal>:<replaceable>name</replaceable></literal>,
959 implemented by the Haskell expression
960 <replaceable>expr</replaceable>, which must have type
961 <literal>String -> IO String</literal>. When
962 <literal>:<replaceable>name</replaceable>
963 <replaceable>args</replaceable></literal> is typed at the
964 prompt, GHCi will run the expression
965 <literal>(<replaceable>name</replaceable>
966 <replaceable>args</replaceable>)</literal>, take the
967 resulting <literal>String</literal>, and feed it back into
968 GHCi as a new sequence of commands. Separate commands in
969 the result must be separated by
970 ‘<literal>\n</literal>’.</para>
972 <para>That's all a little confusing, so here's a few
973 examples. To start with, here's a new GHCi command which
974 doesn't take any arguments or produce any results, it just
975 outputs the current date & time:</para>
978 Prelude> let date _ = Time.getClockTime >>= print >> return ""
979 Prelude> :def date date
981 Fri Mar 23 15:16:40 GMT 2001
984 <para>Here's an example of a command that takes an argument.
985 It's a re-implementation of <literal>:cd</literal>:</para>
988 Prelude> let mycd d = Directory.setCurrentDirectory d >> return ""
989 Prelude> :def mycd mycd
993 <para>Or I could define a simple way to invoke
994 “<literal>ghc ––make Main</literal>” in the
995 current directory:</para>
998 Prelude> :def make (\_ -> return ":! ghc ––make Main")
1001 <para>We can define a command that reads GHCi input from a
1002 file. This might be useful for creating a set of bindings
1003 that we want to repeatedly load into the GHCi session:</para>
1006 Prelude> :def . readFile
1007 Prelude> :. cmds.ghci
1010 <para>Notice that we named the command
1011 <literal>:.</literal>, by analogy with the
1012 ‘<literal>.</literal>’ Unix shell command that
1013 does the same thing.</para>
1019 <literal>:edit <optional><replaceable>file</replaceable></optional></literal>
1020 <indexterm><primary><literal>:edit</literal></primary></indexterm>
1023 <para>Opens an editor to edit the file
1024 <replaceable>file</replaceable>, or the most recently loaded
1025 module if <replaceable>file</replaceable> is omitted. The
1026 editor to invoke is taken from the <literal>EDITOR</literal>
1027 environment variable, or a default editor on your system if
1028 <literal>EDITOR</literal> is not set. You can change the
1029 editor using <literal>:set editor</literal>.</para>
1035 <literal>:help</literal>
1036 <indexterm><primary><literal>:help</literal></primary></indexterm>
1039 <literal>:?</literal>
1040 <indexterm><primary><literal>:?</literal></primary></indexterm>
1043 <para>Displays a list of the available commands.</para>
1049 <literal>:info</literal> <replaceable>name</replaceable> ...
1050 <indexterm><primary><literal>:info</literal></primary></indexterm>
1053 <para>Displays information about the given name(s). For
1054 example, if <replaceable>name</replaceable> is a class, then
1055 the class methods and their types will be printed; if
1056 <replaceable>name</replaceable> is a type constructor, then
1057 its definition will be printed; if
1058 <replaceable>name</replaceable> is a function, then its type
1059 will be printed. If <replaceable>name</replaceable> has
1060 been loaded from a source file, then GHCi will also display
1061 the location of its definition in the source.</para>
1067 <literal>:load</literal> <replaceable>module</replaceable> ...
1068 <indexterm><primary><literal>:load</literal></primary></indexterm>
1071 <para>Recursively loads the specified
1072 <replaceable>module</replaceable>s, and all the modules they
1073 depend on. Here, each <replaceable>module</replaceable>
1074 must be a module name or filename, but may not be the name
1075 of a module in a package.</para>
1077 <para>All previously loaded modules, except package modules,
1078 are forgotten. The new set of modules is known as the
1079 <firstterm>target set</firstterm>. Note that
1080 <literal>:load</literal> can be used without any arguments
1081 to unload all the currently loaded modules and
1084 <para>After a <literal>:load</literal> command, the current
1085 context is set to:</para>
1089 <para><replaceable>module</replaceable>, if it was loaded
1090 successfully, or</para>
1093 <para>the most recently successfully loaded module, if
1094 any other modules were loaded as a result of the current
1095 <literal>:load</literal>, or</para>
1098 <para><literal>Prelude</literal> otherwise.</para>
1106 <literal>:main <replaceable>arg<subscript>1</subscript></replaceable> ... <replaceable>arg<subscript>n</subscript></replaceable></literal>
1107 <indexterm><primary><literal>:main</literal></primary></indexterm>
1111 When a program is compiled and executed, it can use the
1112 <literal>getArgs</literal> function to access the
1113 command-line arguments.
1114 However, we cannot simply pass the arguments to the
1115 <literal>main</literal> function while we are testing in ghci,
1116 as the <literal>main</literal> function doesn't take its
1121 Instead, we can use the <literal>:main</literal> command.
1122 This runs whatever <literal>main</literal> is in scope, with
1123 any arguments being treated the same as command-line arguments,
1128 Prelude> let main = System.Environment.getArgs >>= print
1129 Prelude> :main foo bar
1138 <literal>:module <optional>+|-</optional> <optional>*</optional><replaceable>mod<subscript>1</subscript></replaceable> ... <optional>*</optional><replaceable>mod<subscript>n</subscript></replaceable></literal>
1139 <indexterm><primary><literal>:module</literal></primary></indexterm>
1142 <para>Sets or modifies the current context for statements
1143 typed at the prompt. See <xref linkend="ghci-scope"/> for
1144 more details.</para>
1150 <literal>:quit</literal>
1151 <indexterm><primary><literal>:quit</literal></primary></indexterm>
1154 <para>Quits GHCi. You can also quit by typing a control-D
1155 at the prompt.</para>
1161 <literal>:reload</literal>
1162 <indexterm><primary><literal>:reload</literal></primary></indexterm>
1165 <para>Attempts to reload the current target set (see
1166 <literal>:load</literal>) if any of the modules in the set,
1167 or any dependent module, has changed. Note that this may
1168 entail loading new modules, or dropping modules which are no
1169 longer indirectly required by the target.</para>
1175 <literal>:set</literal> <optional><replaceable>option</replaceable>...</optional>
1176 <indexterm><primary><literal>:set</literal></primary></indexterm>
1179 <para>Sets various options. See <xref linkend="ghci-set"/>
1180 for a list of available options. The
1181 <literal>:set</literal> command by itself shows which
1182 options are currently set.</para>
1188 <literal>:set</literal> <literal>args</literal> <replaceable>arg</replaceable> ...
1189 <indexterm><primary><literal>:set args</literal></primary></indexterm>
1192 <para>Sets the list of arguments which are returned when the
1193 program calls <literal>System.getArgs</literal><indexterm><primary>getArgs</primary>
1194 </indexterm>.</para>
1200 <literal>:set</literal> <literal>editor</literal> <replaceable>cmd</replaceable>
1203 <para>Sets the command used by <literal>:edit</literal> to
1204 <replaceable>cmd</replaceable>.</para>
1210 <literal>:set</literal> <literal>prog</literal> <replaceable>prog</replaceable>
1211 <indexterm><primary><literal>:set prog</literal></primary></indexterm>
1214 <para>Sets the string to be returned when the program calls
1215 <literal>System.getProgName</literal><indexterm><primary>getProgName</primary>
1216 </indexterm>.</para>
1222 <literal>:set</literal> <literal>prompt</literal> <replaceable>prompt</replaceable>
1225 <para>Sets the string to be used as the prompt in GHCi.
1226 Inside <replaceable>prompt</replaceable>, the sequence
1227 <literal>%s</literal> is replaced by the names of the
1228 modules currently in scope, and <literal>%%</literal> is
1229 replaced by <literal>%</literal>.</para>
1235 <literal>:show bindings</literal>
1236 <indexterm><primary><literal>:show bindings</literal></primary></indexterm>
1239 <para>Show the bindings made at the prompt and their
1246 <literal>:show modules</literal>
1247 <indexterm><primary><literal>:show modules</literal></primary></indexterm>
1250 <para>Show the list of modules currently load.</para>
1256 <literal>:ctags</literal> <optional><replaceable>filename</replaceable></optional>
1257 <literal>:etags</literal> <optional><replaceable>filename</replaceable></optional>
1258 <indexterm><primary><literal>:etags</literal></primary>
1260 <indexterm><primary><literal>:etags</literal></primary>
1264 <para>Generates a “tags” file for Vi-style editors
1265 (<literal>:ctags</literal>) or Emacs-style editors (<literal>etags</literal>). If
1266 no filename is specified, the defaulit <filename>tags</filename> or
1267 <filename>TAGS</filename> is
1268 used, respectively. Tags for all the functions, constructors and
1269 types in the currently loaded modules are created. All modules must
1270 be interpreted for these commands to work.</para>
1271 <para>See also <xref linkend="hasktags" />.</para>
1277 <literal>:type</literal> <replaceable>expression</replaceable>
1278 <indexterm><primary><literal>:type</literal></primary></indexterm>
1281 <para>Infers and prints the type of
1282 <replaceable>expression</replaceable>, including explicit
1283 forall quantifiers for polymorphic types. The monomorphism
1284 restriction is <emphasis>not</emphasis> applied to the
1285 expression during type inference.</para>
1291 <literal>:kind</literal> <replaceable>type</replaceable>
1292 <indexterm><primary><literal>:kind</literal></primary></indexterm>
1295 <para>Infers and prints the kind of
1296 <replaceable>type</replaceable>. The latter can be an arbitrary
1297 type expression, including a partial application of a type constructor,
1298 such as <literal>Either Int</literal>.</para>
1304 <literal>:undef</literal> <replaceable>name</replaceable>
1305 <indexterm><primary><literal>:undef</literal></primary></indexterm>
1308 <para>Undefines the user-defined command
1309 <replaceable>name</replaceable> (see <literal>:def</literal>
1316 <literal>:unset</literal> <replaceable>option</replaceable>...
1317 <indexterm><primary><literal>:unset</literal></primary></indexterm>
1320 <para>Unsets certain options. See <xref linkend="ghci-set"/>
1321 for a list of available options.</para>
1327 <literal>:!</literal> <replaceable>command</replaceable>...
1328 <indexterm><primary><literal>:!</literal></primary></indexterm>
1329 <indexterm><primary>shell commands</primary><secondary>in GHCi</secondary></indexterm>
1332 <para>Executes the shell command
1333 <replaceable>command</replaceable>.</para>
1340 <sect1 id="ghci-set">
1341 <title>The <literal>:set</literal> command</title>
1342 <indexterm><primary><literal>:set</literal></primary></indexterm>
1344 <para>The <literal>:set</literal> command sets two types of
1345 options: GHCi options, which begin with
1346 ‘<literal>+</literal>” and “command-line”
1347 options, which begin with ‘-’. </para>
1349 <para>NOTE: at the moment, the <literal>:set</literal> command
1350 doesn't support any kind of quoting in its arguments: quotes will
1351 not be removed and cannot be used to group words together. For
1352 example, <literal>:set -DFOO='BAR BAZ'</literal> will not do what
1356 <title>GHCi options</title>
1357 <indexterm><primary>options</primary><secondary>GHCi</secondary>
1360 <para>GHCi options may be set using <literal>:set</literal> and
1361 unset using <literal>:unset</literal>.</para>
1363 <para>The available GHCi options are:</para>
1368 <literal>+r</literal>
1369 <indexterm><primary><literal>+r</literal></primary></indexterm>
1370 <indexterm><primary>CAFs</primary><secondary>in GHCi</secondary></indexterm>
1371 <indexterm><primary>Constant Applicative Form</primary><see>CAFs</see></indexterm>
1374 <para>Normally, any evaluation of top-level expressions
1375 (otherwise known as CAFs or Constant Applicative Forms) in
1376 loaded modules is retained between evaluations. Turning
1377 on <literal>+r</literal> causes all evaluation of
1378 top-level expressions to be discarded after each
1379 evaluation (they are still retained
1380 <emphasis>during</emphasis> a single evaluation).</para>
1382 <para>This option may help if the evaluated top-level
1383 expressions are consuming large amounts of space, or if
1384 you need repeatable performance measurements.</para>
1390 <literal>+s</literal>
1391 <indexterm><primary><literal>+s</literal></primary></indexterm>
1394 <para>Display some stats after evaluating each expression,
1395 including the elapsed time and number of bytes allocated.
1396 NOTE: the allocation figure is only accurate to the size
1397 of the storage manager's allocation area, because it is
1398 calculated at every GC. Hence, you might see values of
1399 zero if no GC has occurred.</para>
1405 <literal>+t</literal>
1406 <indexterm><primary><literal>+t</literal></primary></indexterm>
1409 <para>Display the type of each variable bound after a
1410 statement is entered at the prompt. If the statement is a
1411 single expression, then the only variable binding will be
1413 ‘<literal>it</literal>’.</para>
1419 <sect2 id="ghci-cmd-line-options">
1420 <title>Setting GHC command-line options in GHCi</title>
1422 <para>Normal GHC command-line options may also be set using
1423 <literal>:set</literal>. For example, to turn on
1424 <option>-fglasgow-exts</option>, you would say:</para>
1427 Prelude> :set -fglasgow-exts
1430 <para>Any GHC command-line option that is designated as
1431 <firstterm>dynamic</firstterm> (see the table in <xref
1432 linkend="flag-reference"/>), may be set using
1433 <literal>:set</literal>. To unset an option, you can set the
1434 reverse option:</para>
1435 <indexterm><primary>dynamic</primary><secondary>options</secondary></indexterm>
1438 Prelude> :set -fno-glasgow-exts
1441 <para><xref linkend="flag-reference"/> lists the reverse for each
1442 option where applicable.</para>
1444 <para>Certain static options (<option>-package</option>,
1445 <option>-I</option>, <option>-i</option>, and
1446 <option>-l</option> in particular) will also work, but some may
1447 not take effect until the next reload.</para>
1448 <indexterm><primary>static</primary><secondary>options</secondary></indexterm>
1452 <sect1 id="ghci-dot-files">
1453 <title>The <filename>.ghci</filename> file</title>
1454 <indexterm><primary><filename>.ghci</filename></primary><secondary>file</secondary>
1456 <indexterm><primary>startup</primary><secondary>files, GHCi</secondary>
1459 <para>When it starts, GHCi always reads and executes commands from
1460 <filename>$HOME/.ghci</filename>, followed by
1461 <filename>./.ghci</filename>.</para>
1463 <para>The <filename>.ghci</filename> in your home directory is
1464 most useful for turning on favourite options (eg. <literal>:set
1465 +s</literal>), and defining useful macros. Placing a
1466 <filename>.ghci</filename> file in a directory with a Haskell
1467 project is a useful way to set certain project-wide options so you
1468 don't have to type them everytime you start GHCi: eg. if your
1469 project uses GHC extensions and CPP, and has source files in three
1470 subdirectories A B and C, you might put the following lines in
1471 <filename>.ghci</filename>:</para>
1474 :set -fglasgow-exts -cpp
1478 <para>(Note that strictly speaking the <option>-i</option> flag is
1479 a static one, but in fact it works to set it using
1480 <literal>:set</literal> like this. The changes won't take effect
1481 until the next <literal>:load</literal>, though.)</para>
1483 <para>Two command-line options control whether the
1484 <filename>.ghci</filename> files are read:</para>
1489 <option>-ignore-dot-ghci</option>
1490 <indexterm><primary><option>-ignore-dot-ghci</option></primary></indexterm>
1493 <para>Don't read either <filename>./.ghci</filename> or
1494 <filename>$HOME/.ghci</filename> when starting up.</para>
1499 <option>-read-dot-ghci</option>
1500 <indexterm><primary><option>-read-dot-ghci</option></primary></indexterm>
1503 <para>Read <filename>.ghci</filename> and
1504 <filename>$HOME/.ghci</filename>. This is normally the
1505 default, but the <option>-read-dot-ghci</option> option may
1506 be used to override a previous
1507 <option>-ignore-dot-ghci</option> option.</para>
1515 <title>FAQ and Things To Watch Out For</title>
1519 <term>The interpreter can't load modules with foreign export
1520 declarations!</term>
1522 <para>Unfortunately not. We haven't implemented it yet.
1523 Please compile any offending modules by hand before loading
1524 them into GHCi.</para>
1530 <literal>-O</literal> doesn't work with GHCi!
1531 <indexterm><primary><option>-O</option></primary></indexterm>
1534 <para>For technical reasons, the bytecode compiler doesn't
1535 interact well with one of the optimisation passes, so we
1536 have disabled optimisation when using the interpreter. This
1537 isn't a great loss: you'll get a much bigger win by
1538 compiling the bits of your code that need to go fast, rather
1539 than interpreting them with optimisation turned on.</para>
1544 <term>Unboxed tuples don't work with GHCi</term>
1546 <para>That's right. You can always compile a module that
1547 uses unboxed tuples and load it into GHCi, however.
1548 (Incidentally the previous point, namely that
1549 <literal>-O</literal> is incompatible with GHCi, is because
1550 the bytecode compiler can't deal with unboxed
1556 <term>Concurrent threads don't carry on running when GHCi is
1557 waiting for input.</term>
1559 <para>No, they don't. This is because the Haskell binding
1560 to the GNU readline library doesn't support reading from the
1561 terminal in a non-blocking way, which is required to work
1562 properly with GHC's concurrency model.</para>
1567 <term>After using <literal>getContents</literal>, I can't use
1568 <literal>stdin</literal> again until I do
1569 <literal>:load</literal> or <literal>:reload</literal>.</term>
1572 <para>This is the defined behaviour of
1573 <literal>getContents</literal>: it puts the stdin Handle in
1574 a state known as <firstterm>semi-closed</firstterm>, wherein
1575 any further I/O operations on it are forbidden. Because I/O
1576 state is retained between computations, the semi-closed
1577 state persists until the next <literal>:load</literal> or
1578 <literal>:reload</literal> command.</para>
1580 <para>You can make <literal>stdin</literal> reset itself
1581 after every evaluation by giving GHCi the command
1582 <literal>:set +r</literal>. This works because
1583 <literal>stdin</literal> is just a top-level expression that
1584 can be reverted to its unevaluated state in the same way as
1585 any other top-level expression (CAF).</para>
1595 ;;; Local Variables: ***
1597 ;;; sgml-parent-document: ("users_guide.xml" "book" "chapter") ***