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authorValentin Gagarin <valentin.gagarin@tweag.io>2022-07-28 17:09:53 +0200
committerValentin Gagarin <valentin.gagarin@tweag.io>2022-07-28 17:23:57 +0200
commit3063e5b94c1cc1f64cea6af792513c1a04e12155 (patch)
tree28e133956dac948c0159caee7ef0df2e620115a8 /doc/manual
parent86fcd4f6923b3a8ccca261596b9db0d8c0a873ec (diff)
manual: use subheadings for primitive types
this gives us HTML anchors for each of them
Diffstat (limited to 'doc/manual')
-rw-r--r--doc/manual/src/expressions/language-values.md298
1 files changed, 154 insertions, 144 deletions
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/expressions/language-values.md b/doc/manual/src/expressions/language-values.md
index abbe1fd35..fa5743222 100644
--- a/doc/manual/src/expressions/language-values.md
+++ b/doc/manual/src/expressions/language-values.md
@@ -4,151 +4,161 @@
Nix has the following basic data types:
- - *Strings* can be written in three ways.
-
- The most common way is to enclose the string between double quotes,
- e.g., `"foo bar"`. Strings can span multiple lines. The special
- characters `"` and `\` and the character sequence `${` must be
- escaped by prefixing them with a backslash (`\`). Newlines, carriage
- returns and tabs can be written as `\n`, `\r` and `\t`,
- respectively.
-
- You can include the result of an expression into a string by
- enclosing it in `${...}`, a feature known as *antiquotation*. The
- enclosed expression must evaluate to something that can be coerced
- into a string (meaning that it must be a string, a path, or a
- derivation). For instance, rather than writing
-
- ```nix
- "--with-freetype2-library=" + freetype + "/lib"
- ```
-
- (where `freetype` is a derivation), you can instead write the more
- natural
-
- ```nix
- "--with-freetype2-library=${freetype}/lib"
- ```
-
- The latter is automatically translated to the former. A more
- complicated example (from the Nix expression for
- [Qt](http://www.trolltech.com/products/qt)):
-
- ```nix
- configureFlags = "
- -system-zlib -system-libpng -system-libjpeg
- ${if openglSupport then "-dlopen-opengl
- -L${mesa}/lib -I${mesa}/include
- -L${libXmu}/lib -I${libXmu}/include" else ""}
- ${if threadSupport then "-thread" else "-no-thread"}
- ";
- ```
-
- Note that Nix expressions and strings can be arbitrarily nested; in
- this case the outer string contains various antiquotations that
- themselves contain strings (e.g., `"-thread"`), some of which in
- turn contain expressions (e.g., `${mesa}`).
-
- The second way to write string literals is as an *indented string*,
- which is enclosed between pairs of *double single-quotes*, like so:
-
- ```nix
- ''
- This is the first line.
- This is the second line.
- This is the third line.
+### Strings
+
+*Strings* can be written in three ways.
+
+The most common way is to enclose the string between double quotes,
+e.g., `"foo bar"`. Strings can span multiple lines. The special
+characters `"` and `\` and the character sequence `${` must be
+escaped by prefixing them with a backslash (`\`). Newlines, carriage
+returns and tabs can be written as `\n`, `\r` and `\t`,
+respectively.
+
+You can include the result of an expression into a string by
+enclosing it in `${...}`, a feature known as *antiquotation*. The
+enclosed expression must evaluate to something that can be coerced
+into a string (meaning that it must be a string, a path, or a
+derivation). For instance, rather than writing
+
+```nix
+"--with-freetype2-library=" + freetype + "/lib"
+```
+
+(where `freetype` is a derivation), you can instead write the more
+natural
+
+```nix
+"--with-freetype2-library=${freetype}/lib"
+```
+
+The latter is automatically translated to the former. A more
+complicated example (from the Nix expression for
+[Qt](http://www.trolltech.com/products/qt)):
+
+```nix
+configureFlags = "
+ -system-zlib -system-libpng -system-libjpeg
+ ${if openglSupport then "-dlopen-opengl
+ -L${mesa}/lib -I${mesa}/include
+ -L${libXmu}/lib -I${libXmu}/include" else ""}
+ ${if threadSupport then "-thread" else "-no-thread"}
+";
+```
+
+Note that Nix expressions and strings can be arbitrarily nested; in
+this case the outer string contains various antiquotations that
+themselves contain strings (e.g., `"-thread"`), some of which in
+turn contain expressions (e.g., `${mesa}`).
+
+The second way to write string literals is as an *indented string*,
+which is enclosed between pairs of *double single-quotes*, like so:
+
+```nix
+''
+ This is the first line.
+ This is the second line.
+ This is the third line.
+''
+```
+
+This kind of string literal intelligently strips indentation from
+the start of each line. To be precise, it strips from each line a
+number of spaces equal to the minimal indentation of the string as a
+whole (disregarding the indentation of empty lines). For instance,
+the first and second line are indented two spaces, while the third
+line is indented four spaces. Thus, two spaces are stripped from
+each line, so the resulting string is
+
+```nix
+"This is the first line.\nThis is the second line.\n This is the third line.\n"
+```
+
+Note that the whitespace and newline following the opening `''` is
+ignored if there is no non-whitespace text on the initial line.
+
+Antiquotation (`${expr}`) is supported in indented strings.
+
+Since `${` and `''` have special meaning in indented strings, you
+need a way to quote them. `$` can be escaped by prefixing it with
+`''` (that is, two single quotes), i.e., `''$`. `''` can be escaped
+by prefixing it with `'`, i.e., `'''`. `$` removes any special
+meaning from the following `$`. Linefeed, carriage-return and tab
+characters can be written as `''\n`, `''\r`, `''\t`, and `''\`
+escapes any other character.
+
+Indented strings are primarily useful in that they allow multi-line
+string literals to follow the indentation of the enclosing Nix
+expression, and that less escaping is typically necessary for
+strings representing languages such as shell scripts and
+configuration files because `''` is much less common than `"`.
+Example:
+
+```nix
+stdenv.mkDerivation {
+ ...
+ postInstall =
''
- ```
-
- This kind of string literal intelligently strips indentation from
- the start of each line. To be precise, it strips from each line a
- number of spaces equal to the minimal indentation of the string as a
- whole (disregarding the indentation of empty lines). For instance,
- the first and second line are indented two spaces, while the third
- line is indented four spaces. Thus, two spaces are stripped from
- each line, so the resulting string is
-
- ```nix
- "This is the first line.\nThis is the second line.\n This is the third line.\n"
- ```
-
- Note that the whitespace and newline following the opening `''` is
- ignored if there is no non-whitespace text on the initial line.
-
- Antiquotation (`${expr}`) is supported in indented strings.
-
- Since `${` and `''` have special meaning in indented strings, you
- need a way to quote them. `$` can be escaped by prefixing it with
- `''` (that is, two single quotes), i.e., `''$`. `''` can be escaped
- by prefixing it with `'`, i.e., `'''`. `$` removes any special
- meaning from the following `$`. Linefeed, carriage-return and tab
- characters can be written as `''\n`, `''\r`, `''\t`, and `''\`
- escapes any other character.
-
- Indented strings are primarily useful in that they allow multi-line
- string literals to follow the indentation of the enclosing Nix
- expression, and that less escaping is typically necessary for
- strings representing languages such as shell scripts and
- configuration files because `''` is much less common than `"`.
- Example:
-
- ```nix
- stdenv.mkDerivation {
- ...
- postInstall =
- ''
- mkdir $out/bin $out/etc
- cp foo $out/bin
- echo "Hello World" > $out/etc/foo.conf
- ${if enableBar then "cp bar $out/bin" else ""}
- '';
- ...
- }
- ```
-
- Finally, as a convenience, *URIs* as defined in appendix B of
- [RFC 2396](http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2396.txt) can be written *as
- is*, without quotes. For instance, the string
- `"http://example.org/foo.tar.bz2"` can also be written as
- `http://example.org/foo.tar.bz2`.
-
- - Numbers, which can be *integers* (like `123`) or *floating point*
- (like `123.43` or `.27e13`).
-
- Numbers are type-compatible: pure integer operations will always
- return integers, whereas any operation involving at least one
- floating point number will have a floating point number as a result.
-
- - *Paths*, e.g., `/bin/sh` or `./builder.sh`. A path must contain at
- least one slash to be recognised as such. For instance, `builder.sh`
- is not a path: it's parsed as an expression that selects the
- attribute `sh` from the variable `builder`. If the file name is
- relative, i.e., if it does not begin with a slash, it is made
- absolute at parse time relative to the directory of the Nix
- expression that contained it. For instance, if a Nix expression in
- `/foo/bar/bla.nix` refers to `../xyzzy/fnord.nix`, the absolute path
- is `/foo/xyzzy/fnord.nix`.
-
- If the first component of a path is a `~`, it is interpreted as if
- the rest of the path were relative to the user's home directory.
- e.g. `~/foo` would be equivalent to `/home/edolstra/foo` for a user
- whose home directory is `/home/edolstra`.
-
- Paths can also be specified between angle brackets, e.g.
- `<nixpkgs>`. This means that the directories listed in the
- environment variable `NIX_PATH` will be searched for the given file
- or directory name.
-
- Antiquotation is supported in any paths except those in angle brackets.
- `./${foo}-${bar}.nix` is a more convenient way of writing
- `./. + "/" + foo + "-" + bar + ".nix"` or `./. + "/${foo}-${bar}.nix"`. At
- least one slash must appear *before* any antiquotations for this to be
- recognized as a path. `a.${foo}/b.${bar}` is a syntactically valid division
- operation. `./a.${foo}/b.${bar}` is a path.
-
- - *Booleans* with values `true` and `false`.
-
- - The null value, denoted as `null`.
+ mkdir $out/bin $out/etc
+ cp foo $out/bin
+ echo "Hello World" > $out/etc/foo.conf
+ ${if enableBar then "cp bar $out/bin" else ""}
+ '';
+ ...
+}
+```
+
+Finally, as a convenience, *URIs* as defined in appendix B of
+[RFC 2396](http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2396.txt) can be written *as
+is*, without quotes. For instance, the string
+`"http://example.org/foo.tar.bz2"` can also be written as
+`http://example.org/foo.tar.bz2`.
+
+### Numbers
+
+Numbers, which can be *integers* (like `123`) or *floating point*
+(like `123.43` or `.27e13`).
+
+Numbers are type-compatible: pure integer operations will always
+return integers, whereas any operation involving at least one
+floating point number will have a floating point number as a result.
+
+### Paths
+
+*Paths*, e.g., `/bin/sh` or `./builder.sh`. A path must contain at
+least one slash to be recognised as such. For instance, `builder.sh`
+is not a path: it's parsed as an expression that selects the
+attribute `sh` from the variable `builder`. If the file name is
+relative, i.e., if it does not begin with a slash, it is made
+absolute at parse time relative to the directory of the Nix
+expression that contained it. For instance, if a Nix expression in
+`/foo/bar/bla.nix` refers to `../xyzzy/fnord.nix`, the absolute path
+is `/foo/xyzzy/fnord.nix`.
+
+If the first component of a path is a `~`, it is interpreted as if
+the rest of the path were relative to the user's home directory.
+e.g. `~/foo` would be equivalent to `/home/edolstra/foo` for a user
+whose home directory is `/home/edolstra`.
+
+Paths can also be specified between angle brackets, e.g.
+`<nixpkgs>`. This means that the directories listed in the
+environment variable `NIX_PATH` will be searched for the given file
+or directory name.
+
+Antiquotation is supported in any paths except those in angle brackets.
+`./${foo}-${bar}.nix` is a more convenient way of writing
+`./. + "/" + foo + "-" + bar + ".nix"` or `./. + "/${foo}-${bar}.nix"`. At
+least one slash must appear *before* any antiquotations for this to be
+recognized as a path. `a.${foo}/b.${bar}` is a syntactically valid division
+operation. `./a.${foo}/b.${bar}` is a path.
+
+### Booleans
+
+*Booleans* with values `true` and `false`.
+
+### Null
+
+The null value, denoted as `null`.
## Lists