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-<section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
- xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
- xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"
- version="5.0"
- xml:id='ssec-builtins'>
-
-<title>Built-in Functions</title>
-
-<para>This section lists the functions and constants built into the
-Nix expression evaluator. (The built-in function
-<function>derivation</function> is discussed above.) Some built-ins,
-such as <function>derivation</function>, are always in scope of every
-Nix expression; you can just access them right away. But to prevent
-polluting the namespace too much, most built-ins are not in scope.
-Instead, you can access them through the <varname>builtins</varname>
-built-in value, which is a set that contains all built-in functions
-and values. For instance, <function>derivation</function> is also
-available as <function>builtins.derivation</function>.</para>
-
-
-<variablelist>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-abort'>
- <term><function>abort</function> <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
- <term><function>builtins.abort</function> <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Abort Nix expression evaluation, print error
- message <replaceable>s</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-add'>
- <term><function>builtins.add</function>
- <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable>
- </term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return the sum of the numbers
- <replaceable>e1</replaceable> and
- <replaceable>e2</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-all'>
- <term><function>builtins.all</function>
- <replaceable>pred</replaceable> <replaceable>list</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if the function
- <replaceable>pred</replaceable> returns <literal>true</literal>
- for all elements of <replaceable>list</replaceable>,
- and <literal>false</literal> otherwise.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-any'>
- <term><function>builtins.any</function>
- <replaceable>pred</replaceable> <replaceable>list</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if the function
- <replaceable>pred</replaceable> returns <literal>true</literal>
- for at least one element of <replaceable>list</replaceable>,
- and <literal>false</literal> otherwise.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-attrNames'>
- <term><function>builtins.attrNames</function>
- <replaceable>set</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return the names of the attributes in the set
- <replaceable>set</replaceable> in an alphabetically sorted list. For instance,
- <literal>builtins.attrNames { y = 1; x = "foo"; }</literal>
- evaluates to <literal>[ "x" "y" ]</literal>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-attrValues'>
- <term><function>builtins.attrValues</function>
- <replaceable>set</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return the values of the attributes in the set
- <replaceable>set</replaceable> in the order corresponding to the
- sorted attribute names.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-baseNameOf'>
- <term><function>baseNameOf</function> <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return the <emphasis>base name</emphasis> of the
- string <replaceable>s</replaceable>, that is, everything following
- the final slash in the string. This is similar to the GNU
- <command>basename</command> command.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-bitAnd'>
- <term><function>builtins.bitAnd</function>
- <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return the bitwise AND of the integers
- <replaceable>e1</replaceable> and
- <replaceable>e2</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-bitOr'>
- <term><function>builtins.bitOr</function>
- <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return the bitwise OR of the integers
- <replaceable>e1</replaceable> and
- <replaceable>e2</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-bitXor'>
- <term><function>builtins.bitXor</function>
- <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return the bitwise XOR of the integers
- <replaceable>e1</replaceable> and
- <replaceable>e2</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-builtins'>
- <term><varname>builtins</varname></term>
-
- <listitem><para>The set <varname>builtins</varname> contains all
- the built-in functions and values. You can use
- <varname>builtins</varname> to test for the availability of
- features in the Nix installation, e.g.,
-
-<programlisting>
-if builtins ? getEnv then builtins.getEnv "PATH" else ""</programlisting>
-
- This allows a Nix expression to fall back gracefully on older Nix
- installations that don’t have the desired built-in
- function.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-compareVersions'>
- <term><function>builtins.compareVersions</function>
- <replaceable>s1</replaceable> <replaceable>s2</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Compare two strings representing versions and
- return <literal>-1</literal> if version
- <replaceable>s1</replaceable> is older than version
- <replaceable>s2</replaceable>, <literal>0</literal> if they are
- the same, and <literal>1</literal> if
- <replaceable>s1</replaceable> is newer than
- <replaceable>s2</replaceable>. The version comparison algorithm
- is the same as the one used by <link
- linkend="ssec-version-comparisons"><command>nix-env
- -u</command></link>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-concatLists'>
- <term><function>builtins.concatLists</function>
- <replaceable>lists</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Concatenate a list of lists into a single
- list.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-concatStringsSep'>
- <term><function>builtins.concatStringsSep</function>
- <replaceable>separator</replaceable> <replaceable>list</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Concatenate a list of strings with a separator
- between each element, e.g. <literal>concatStringsSep "/"
- ["usr" "local" "bin"] == "usr/local/bin"</literal></para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-currentSystem'>
- <term><varname>builtins.currentSystem</varname></term>
-
- <listitem><para>The built-in value <varname>currentSystem</varname>
- evaluates to the Nix platform identifier for the Nix installation
- on which the expression is being evaluated, such as
- <literal>"i686-linux"</literal> or
- <literal>"x86_64-darwin"</literal>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <!--
- <varlistentry><term><function>currentTime</function></term>
-
- <listitem><para>The built-in value <varname>currentTime</varname>
- returns the current system time in seconds since 00:00:00 1/1/1970
- UTC. Due to the evaluation model of Nix expressions
- (<emphasis>maximal laziness</emphasis>), it always yields the same
- value within an execution of Nix.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
- -->
-
-
- <!--
- <varlistentry><term><function>dependencyClosure</function></term>
-
- <listitem><para>TODO</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
- -->
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-deepSeq'>
- <term><function>builtins.deepSeq</function>
- <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>This is like <literal>seq
- <replaceable>e1</replaceable>
- <replaceable>e2</replaceable></literal>, except that
- <replaceable>e1</replaceable> is evaluated
- <emphasis>deeply</emphasis>: if it’s a list or set, its elements
- or attributes are also evaluated recursively.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-derivation'>
- <term><function>derivation</function>
- <replaceable>attrs</replaceable></term>
- <term><function>builtins.derivation</function>
- <replaceable>attrs</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para><function>derivation</function> is described in
- <xref linkend='ssec-derivation' />.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-dirOf'>
- <term><function>dirOf</function> <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
- <term><function>builtins.dirOf</function> <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return the directory part of the string
- <replaceable>s</replaceable>, that is, everything before the final
- slash in the string. This is similar to the GNU
- <command>dirname</command> command.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-div'>
- <term><function>builtins.div</function>
- <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return the quotient of the numbers
- <replaceable>e1</replaceable> and
- <replaceable>e2</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-elem'>
- <term><function>builtins.elem</function>
- <replaceable>x</replaceable> <replaceable>xs</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if a value equal to
- <replaceable>x</replaceable> occurs in the list
- <replaceable>xs</replaceable>, and <literal>false</literal>
- otherwise.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-elemAt'>
- <term><function>builtins.elemAt</function>
- <replaceable>xs</replaceable> <replaceable>n</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return element <replaceable>n</replaceable> from
- the list <replaceable>xs</replaceable>. Elements are counted
- starting from 0. A fatal error occurs if the index is out of
- bounds.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-fetchurl'>
- <term><function>builtins.fetchurl</function>
- <replaceable>url</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Download the specified URL and return the path of
- the downloaded file. This function is not available if <link
- linkend="conf-restrict-eval">restricted evaluation mode</link> is
- enabled.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-fetchTarball'>
- <term><function>fetchTarball</function>
- <replaceable>url</replaceable></term>
- <term><function>builtins.fetchTarball</function>
- <replaceable>url</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Download the specified URL, unpack it and return
- the path of the unpacked tree. The file must be a tape archive
- (<filename>.tar</filename>) compressed with
- <literal>gzip</literal>, <literal>bzip2</literal> or
- <literal>xz</literal>. The top-level path component of the files
- in the tarball is removed, so it is best if the tarball contains a
- single directory at top level. The typical use of the function is
- to obtain external Nix expression dependencies, such as a
- particular version of Nixpkgs, e.g.
-
-<programlisting>
-with import (fetchTarball https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/archive/nixos-14.12.tar.gz) {};
-
-stdenv.mkDerivation { … }
-</programlisting>
- </para>
-
- <para>The fetched tarball is cached for a certain amount of time
- (1 hour by default) in <filename>~/.cache/nix/tarballs/</filename>.
- You can change the cache timeout either on the command line with
- <option>--option tarball-ttl <replaceable>number of seconds</replaceable></option> or
- in the Nix configuration file with this option:
- <literal><xref linkend="conf-tarball-ttl" /> <replaceable>number of seconds to cache</replaceable></literal>.
- </para>
-
- <para>Note that when obtaining the hash with <varname>nix-prefetch-url
- </varname> the option <varname>--unpack</varname> is required.
- </para>
-
- <para>This function can also verify the contents against a hash.
- In that case, the function takes a set instead of a URL. The set
- requires the attribute <varname>url</varname> and the attribute
- <varname>sha256</varname>, e.g.
-
-<programlisting>
-with import (fetchTarball {
- url = "https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/archive/nixos-14.12.tar.gz";
- sha256 = "1jppksrfvbk5ypiqdz4cddxdl8z6zyzdb2srq8fcffr327ld5jj2";
-}) {};
-
-stdenv.mkDerivation { … }
-</programlisting>
-
- </para>
-
- <para>This function is not available if <link
- linkend="conf-restrict-eval">restricted evaluation mode</link> is
- enabled.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-fetchGit'>
- <term>
- <function>builtins.fetchGit</function>
- <replaceable>args</replaceable>
- </term>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- Fetch a path from git. <replaceable>args</replaceable> can be
- a URL, in which case the HEAD of the repo at that URL is
- fetched. Otherwise, it can be an attribute with the following
- attributes (all except <varname>url</varname> optional):
- </para>
-
- <variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>url</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The URL of the repo.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>name</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The name of the directory the repo should be exported to
- in the store. Defaults to the basename of the URL.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>rev</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The git revision to fetch. Defaults to the tip of
- <varname>ref</varname>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>ref</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The git ref to look for the requested revision under.
- This is often a branch or tag name. Defaults to
- <literal>HEAD</literal>.
- </para>
-
- <para>
- By default, the <varname>ref</varname> value is prefixed
- with <literal>refs/heads/</literal>. As of Nix 2.3.0
- Nix will not prefix <literal>refs/heads/</literal> if
- <varname>ref</varname> starts with <literal>refs/</literal>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>submodules</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- A Boolean parameter that specifies whether submodules
- should be checked out. Defaults to
- <literal>false</literal>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- </variablelist>
-
- <example>
- <title>Fetching a private repository over SSH</title>
- <programlisting>builtins.fetchGit {
- url = "git@github.com:my-secret/repository.git";
- ref = "master";
- rev = "adab8b916a45068c044658c4158d81878f9ed1c3";
-}</programlisting>
- </example>
-
- <example>
- <title>Fetching an arbitrary ref</title>
- <programlisting>builtins.fetchGit {
- url = "https://github.com/NixOS/nix.git";
- ref = "refs/heads/0.5-release";
-}</programlisting>
- </example>
-
- <example>
- <title>Fetching a repository's specific commit on an arbitrary branch</title>
- <para>
- If the revision you're looking for is in the default branch
- of the git repository you don't strictly need to specify
- the branch name in the <varname>ref</varname> attribute.
- </para>
- <para>
- However, if the revision you're looking for is in a future
- branch for the non-default branch you will need to specify
- the the <varname>ref</varname> attribute as well.
- </para>
- <programlisting>builtins.fetchGit {
- url = "https://github.com/nixos/nix.git";
- rev = "841fcbd04755c7a2865c51c1e2d3b045976b7452";
- ref = "1.11-maintenance";
-}</programlisting>
- <note>
- <para>
- It is nice to always specify the branch which a revision
- belongs to. Without the branch being specified, the
- fetcher might fail if the default branch changes.
- Additionally, it can be confusing to try a commit from a
- non-default branch and see the fetch fail. If the branch
- is specified the fault is much more obvious.
- </para>
- </note>
- </example>
-
- <example>
- <title>Fetching a repository's specific commit on the default branch</title>
- <para>
- If the revision you're looking for is in the default branch
- of the git repository you may omit the
- <varname>ref</varname> attribute.
- </para>
- <programlisting>builtins.fetchGit {
- url = "https://github.com/nixos/nix.git";
- rev = "841fcbd04755c7a2865c51c1e2d3b045976b7452";
-}</programlisting>
- </example>
-
- <example>
- <title>Fetching a tag</title>
- <programlisting>builtins.fetchGit {
- url = "https://github.com/nixos/nix.git";
- ref = "refs/tags/1.9";
-}</programlisting>
- </example>
-
- <example>
- <title>Fetching the latest version of a remote branch</title>
- <para>
- <function>builtins.fetchGit</function> can behave impurely
- fetch the latest version of a remote branch.
- </para>
- <note><para>Nix will refetch the branch in accordance to
- <xref linkend="conf-tarball-ttl" />.</para></note>
- <note><para>This behavior is disabled in
- <emphasis>Pure evaluation mode</emphasis>.</para></note>
- <programlisting>builtins.fetchGit {
- url = "ssh://git@github.com/nixos/nix.git";
- ref = "master";
-}</programlisting>
- </example>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.filter</function>
- <replaceable>f</replaceable> <replaceable>xs</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return a list consisting of the elements of
- <replaceable>xs</replaceable> for which the function
- <replaceable>f</replaceable> returns
- <literal>true</literal>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-filterSource'>
- <term><function>builtins.filterSource</function>
- <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem>
-
- <para>This function allows you to copy sources into the Nix
- store while filtering certain files. For instance, suppose that
- you want to use the directory <filename>source-dir</filename> as
- an input to a Nix expression, e.g.
-
-<programlisting>
-stdenv.mkDerivation {
- ...
- src = ./source-dir;
-}
-</programlisting>
-
- However, if <filename>source-dir</filename> is a Subversion
- working copy, then all those annoying <filename>.svn</filename>
- subdirectories will also be copied to the store. Worse, the
- contents of those directories may change a lot, causing lots of
- spurious rebuilds. With <function>filterSource</function> you
- can filter out the <filename>.svn</filename> directories:
-
-<programlisting>
- src = builtins.filterSource
- (path: type: type != "directory" || baseNameOf path != ".svn")
- ./source-dir;
-</programlisting>
-
- </para>
-
- <para>Thus, the first argument <replaceable>e1</replaceable>
- must be a predicate function that is called for each regular
- file, directory or symlink in the source tree
- <replaceable>e2</replaceable>. If the function returns
- <literal>true</literal>, the file is copied to the Nix store,
- otherwise it is omitted. The function is called with two
- arguments. The first is the full path of the file. The second
- is a string that identifies the type of the file, which is
- either <literal>"regular"</literal>,
- <literal>"directory"</literal>, <literal>"symlink"</literal> or
- <literal>"unknown"</literal> (for other kinds of files such as
- device nodes or fifos — but note that those cannot be copied to
- the Nix store, so if the predicate returns
- <literal>true</literal> for them, the copy will fail). If you
- exclude a directory, the entire corresponding subtree of
- <replaceable>e2</replaceable> will be excluded.</para>
-
- </listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-foldl-prime'>
- <term><function>builtins.foldl’</function>
- <replaceable>op</replaceable> <replaceable>nul</replaceable> <replaceable>list</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Reduce a list by applying a binary operator, from
- left to right, e.g. <literal>foldl’ op nul [x0 x1 x2 ...] = op (op
- (op nul x0) x1) x2) ...</literal>. The operator is applied
- strictly, i.e., its arguments are evaluated first. For example,
- <literal>foldl’ (x: y: x + y) 0 [1 2 3]</literal> evaluates to
- 6.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-functionArgs'>
- <term><function>builtins.functionArgs</function>
- <replaceable>f</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>
- Return a set containing the names of the formal arguments expected
- by the function <replaceable>f</replaceable>.
- The value of each attribute is a Boolean denoting whether the corresponding
- argument has a default value. For instance,
- <literal>functionArgs ({ x, y ? 123}: ...) = { x = false; y = true; }</literal>.
- </para>
-
- <para>"Formal argument" here refers to the attributes pattern-matched by
- the function. Plain lambdas are not included, e.g.
- <literal>functionArgs (x: ...) = { }</literal>.
- </para></listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-fromJSON'>
- <term><function>builtins.fromJSON</function> <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Convert a JSON string to a Nix
- value. For example,
-
-<programlisting>
-builtins.fromJSON ''{"x": [1, 2, 3], "y": null}''
-</programlisting>
-
- returns the value <literal>{ x = [ 1 2 3 ]; y = null;
- }</literal>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-genList'>
- <term><function>builtins.genList</function>
- <replaceable>generator</replaceable> <replaceable>length</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Generate list of size
- <replaceable>length</replaceable>, with each element
- <replaceable>i</replaceable> equal to the value returned by
- <replaceable>generator</replaceable> <literal>i</literal>. For
- example,
-
-<programlisting>
-builtins.genList (x: x * x) 5
-</programlisting>
-
- returns the list <literal>[ 0 1 4 9 16 ]</literal>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-getAttr'>
- <term><function>builtins.getAttr</function>
- <replaceable>s</replaceable> <replaceable>set</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para><function>getAttr</function> returns the attribute
- named <replaceable>s</replaceable> from
- <replaceable>set</replaceable>. Evaluation aborts if the
- attribute doesn’t exist. This is a dynamic version of the
- <literal>.</literal> operator, since <replaceable>s</replaceable>
- is an expression rather than an identifier.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-getEnv'>
- <term><function>builtins.getEnv</function>
- <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para><function>getEnv</function> returns the value of
- the environment variable <replaceable>s</replaceable>, or an empty
- string if the variable doesn’t exist. This function should be
- used with care, as it can introduce all sorts of nasty environment
- dependencies in your Nix expression.</para>
-
- <para><function>getEnv</function> is used in Nix Packages to
- locate the file <filename>~/.nixpkgs/config.nix</filename>, which
- contains user-local settings for Nix Packages. (That is, it does
- a <literal>getEnv "HOME"</literal> to locate the user’s home
- directory.)</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-hasAttr'>
- <term><function>builtins.hasAttr</function>
- <replaceable>s</replaceable> <replaceable>set</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para><function>hasAttr</function> returns
- <literal>true</literal> if <replaceable>set</replaceable> has an
- attribute named <replaceable>s</replaceable>, and
- <literal>false</literal> otherwise. This is a dynamic version of
- the <literal>?</literal> operator, since
- <replaceable>s</replaceable> is an expression rather than an
- identifier.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-hashString'>
- <term><function>builtins.hashString</function>
- <replaceable>type</replaceable> <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return a base-16 representation of the
- cryptographic hash of string <replaceable>s</replaceable>. The
- hash algorithm specified by <replaceable>type</replaceable> must
- be one of <literal>"md5"</literal>, <literal>"sha1"</literal>,
- <literal>"sha256"</literal> or <literal>"sha512"</literal>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-hashFile'>
- <term><function>builtins.hashFile</function>
- <replaceable>type</replaceable> <replaceable>p</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return a base-16 representation of the
- cryptographic hash of the file at path <replaceable>p</replaceable>. The
- hash algorithm specified by <replaceable>type</replaceable> must
- be one of <literal>"md5"</literal>, <literal>"sha1"</literal>,
- <literal>"sha256"</literal> or <literal>"sha512"</literal>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-head'>
- <term><function>builtins.head</function>
- <replaceable>list</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return the first element of a list; abort
- evaluation if the argument isn’t a list or is an empty list. You
- can test whether a list is empty by comparing it with
- <literal>[]</literal>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-import'>
- <term><function>import</function>
- <replaceable>path</replaceable></term>
- <term><function>builtins.import</function>
- <replaceable>path</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Load, parse and return the Nix expression in the
- file <replaceable>path</replaceable>. If <replaceable>path
- </replaceable> is a directory, the file <filename>default.nix
- </filename> in that directory is loaded. Evaluation aborts if the
- file doesn’t exist or contains an incorrect Nix expression.
- <function>import</function> implements Nix’s module system: you
- can put any Nix expression (such as a set or a function) in a
- separate file, and use it from Nix expressions in other
- files.</para>
-
- <note><para>Unlike some languages, <function>import</function> is a regular
- function in Nix. Paths using the angle bracket syntax (e.g., <function>
- import</function> <replaceable>&lt;foo&gt;</replaceable>) are normal path
- values (see <xref linkend='ssec-values' />).</para></note>
-
- <para>A Nix expression loaded by <function>import</function> must
- not contain any <emphasis>free variables</emphasis> (identifiers
- that are not defined in the Nix expression itself and are not
- built-in). Therefore, it cannot refer to variables that are in
- scope at the call site. For instance, if you have a calling
- expression
-
-<programlisting>
-rec {
- x = 123;
- y = import ./foo.nix;
-}</programlisting>
-
- then the following <filename>foo.nix</filename> will give an
- error:
-
-<programlisting>
-x + 456</programlisting>
-
- since <varname>x</varname> is not in scope in
- <filename>foo.nix</filename>. If you want <varname>x</varname>
- to be available in <filename>foo.nix</filename>, you should pass
- it as a function argument:
-
-<programlisting>
-rec {
- x = 123;
- y = import ./foo.nix x;
-}</programlisting>
-
- and
-
-<programlisting>
-x: x + 456</programlisting>
-
- (The function argument doesn’t have to be called
- <varname>x</varname> in <filename>foo.nix</filename>; any name
- would work.)</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-intersectAttrs'>
- <term><function>builtins.intersectAttrs</function>
- <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return a set consisting of the attributes in the
- set <replaceable>e2</replaceable> that also exist in the set
- <replaceable>e1</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-isAttrs'>
- <term><function>builtins.isAttrs</function>
- <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if
- <replaceable>e</replaceable> evaluates to a set, and
- <literal>false</literal> otherwise.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-isList'>
- <term><function>builtins.isList</function>
- <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if
- <replaceable>e</replaceable> evaluates to a list, and
- <literal>false</literal> otherwise.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-isFunction'><term><function>builtins.isFunction</function>
- <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if
- <replaceable>e</replaceable> evaluates to a function, and
- <literal>false</literal> otherwise.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-isString'>
- <term><function>builtins.isString</function>
- <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if
- <replaceable>e</replaceable> evaluates to a string, and
- <literal>false</literal> otherwise.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-isInt'>
- <term><function>builtins.isInt</function>
- <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if
- <replaceable>e</replaceable> evaluates to an int, and
- <literal>false</literal> otherwise.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-isFloat'>
- <term><function>builtins.isFloat</function>
- <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if
- <replaceable>e</replaceable> evaluates to a float, and
- <literal>false</literal> otherwise.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-isBool'>
- <term><function>builtins.isBool</function>
- <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if
- <replaceable>e</replaceable> evaluates to a bool, and
- <literal>false</literal> otherwise.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.isPath</function>
- <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if
- <replaceable>e</replaceable> evaluates to a path, and
- <literal>false</literal> otherwise.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-isNull'>
- <term><function>isNull</function>
- <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
- <term><function>builtins.isNull</function>
- <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if
- <replaceable>e</replaceable> evaluates to <literal>null</literal>,
- and <literal>false</literal> otherwise.</para>
-
- <warning><para>This function is <emphasis>deprecated</emphasis>;
- just write <literal>e == null</literal> instead.</para></warning>
-
- </listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-length'>
- <term><function>builtins.length</function>
- <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return the length of the list
- <replaceable>e</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-lessThan'>
- <term><function>builtins.lessThan</function>
- <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if the number
- <replaceable>e1</replaceable> is less than the number
- <replaceable>e2</replaceable>, and <literal>false</literal>
- otherwise. Evaluation aborts if either
- <replaceable>e1</replaceable> or <replaceable>e2</replaceable>
- does not evaluate to a number.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-listToAttrs'>
- <term><function>builtins.listToAttrs</function>
- <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Construct a set from a list specifying the names
- and values of each attribute. Each element of the list should be
- a set consisting of a string-valued attribute
- <varname>name</varname> specifying the name of the attribute, and
- an attribute <varname>value</varname> specifying its value.
- Example:
-
-<programlisting>
-builtins.listToAttrs
- [ { name = "foo"; value = 123; }
- { name = "bar"; value = 456; }
- ]
-</programlisting>
-
- evaluates to
-
-<programlisting>
-{ foo = 123; bar = 456; }
-</programlisting>
-
- </para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-map'>
- <term><function>map</function>
- <replaceable>f</replaceable> <replaceable>list</replaceable></term>
- <term><function>builtins.map</function>
- <replaceable>f</replaceable> <replaceable>list</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Apply the function <replaceable>f</replaceable> to
- each element in the list <replaceable>list</replaceable>. For
- example,
-
-<programlisting>
-map (x: "foo" + x) [ "bar" "bla" "abc" ]</programlisting>
-
- evaluates to <literal>[ "foobar" "foobla" "fooabc"
- ]</literal>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-match'>
- <term><function>builtins.match</function>
- <replaceable>regex</replaceable> <replaceable>str</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Returns a list if the <link
- xlink:href="http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1_chap09.html#tag_09_04">extended
- POSIX regular expression</link> <replaceable>regex</replaceable>
- matches <replaceable>str</replaceable> precisely, otherwise returns
- <literal>null</literal>. Each item in the list is a regex group.
-
-<programlisting>
-builtins.match "ab" "abc"
-</programlisting>
-
-Evaluates to <literal>null</literal>.
-
-<programlisting>
-builtins.match "abc" "abc"
-</programlisting>
-
-Evaluates to <literal>[ ]</literal>.
-
-<programlisting>
-builtins.match "a(b)(c)" "abc"
-</programlisting>
-
-Evaluates to <literal>[ "b" "c" ]</literal>.
-
-<programlisting>
-builtins.match "[[:space:]]+([[:upper:]]+)[[:space:]]+" " FOO "
-</programlisting>
-
-Evaluates to <literal>[ "foo" ]</literal>.
-
- </para></listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-mul'>
- <term><function>builtins.mul</function>
- <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return the product of the numbers
- <replaceable>e1</replaceable> and
- <replaceable>e2</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-parseDrvName'>
- <term><function>builtins.parseDrvName</function>
- <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Split the string <replaceable>s</replaceable> into
- a package name and version. The package name is everything up to
- but not including the first dash followed by a digit, and the
- version is everything following that dash. The result is returned
- in a set <literal>{ name, version }</literal>. Thus,
- <literal>builtins.parseDrvName "nix-0.12pre12876"</literal>
- returns <literal>{ name = "nix"; version = "0.12pre12876";
- }</literal>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-path'>
- <term>
- <function>builtins.path</function>
- <replaceable>args</replaceable>
- </term>
-
- <listitem>
- <para>
- An enrichment of the built-in path type, based on the attributes
- present in <replaceable>args</replaceable>. All are optional
- except <varname>path</varname>:
- </para>
-
- <variablelist>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>path</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>The underlying path.</para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>name</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- The name of the path when added to the store. This can
- used to reference paths that have nix-illegal characters
- in their names, like <literal>@</literal>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>filter</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- A function of the type expected by
- <link linkend="builtin-filterSource">builtins.filterSource</link>,
- with the same semantics.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>recursive</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- When <literal>false</literal>, when
- <varname>path</varname> is added to the store it is with a
- flat hash, rather than a hash of the NAR serialization of
- the file. Thus, <varname>path</varname> must refer to a
- regular file, not a directory. This allows similar
- behavior to <literal>fetchurl</literal>. Defaults to
- <literal>true</literal>.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- <varlistentry>
- <term>sha256</term>
- <listitem>
- <para>
- When provided, this is the expected hash of the file at
- the path. Evaluation will fail if the hash is incorrect,
- and providing a hash allows
- <literal>builtins.path</literal> to be used even when the
- <literal>pure-eval</literal> nix config option is on.
- </para>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
- </variablelist>
- </listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-pathExists'>
- <term><function>builtins.pathExists</function>
- <replaceable>path</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if the path
- <replaceable>path</replaceable> exists at evaluation time, and
- <literal>false</literal> otherwise.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-placeholder'>
- <term><function>builtins.placeholder</function>
- <replaceable>output</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return a placeholder string for the specified
- <replaceable>output</replaceable> that will be substituted by the
- corresponding output path at build time. Typical outputs would be
- <literal>"out"</literal>, <literal>"bin"</literal> or
- <literal>"dev"</literal>.</para></listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-readDir'>
- <term><function>builtins.readDir</function>
- <replaceable>path</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return the contents of the directory
- <replaceable>path</replaceable> as a set mapping directory entries
- to the corresponding file type. For instance, if directory
- <filename>A</filename> contains a regular file
- <filename>B</filename> and another directory
- <filename>C</filename>, then <literal>builtins.readDir
- ./A</literal> will return the set
-
-<programlisting>
-{ B = "regular"; C = "directory"; }</programlisting>
-
- The possible values for the file type are
- <literal>"regular"</literal>, <literal>"directory"</literal>,
- <literal>"symlink"</literal> and
- <literal>"unknown"</literal>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-readFile'>
- <term><function>builtins.readFile</function>
- <replaceable>path</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return the contents of the file
- <replaceable>path</replaceable> as a string.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-removeAttrs'>
- <term><function>removeAttrs</function>
- <replaceable>set</replaceable> <replaceable>list</replaceable></term>
- <term><function>builtins.removeAttrs</function>
- <replaceable>set</replaceable> <replaceable>list</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Remove the attributes listed in
- <replaceable>list</replaceable> from
- <replaceable>set</replaceable>. The attributes don’t have to
- exist in <replaceable>set</replaceable>. For instance,
-
-<programlisting>
-removeAttrs { x = 1; y = 2; z = 3; } [ "a" "x" "z" ]</programlisting>
-
- evaluates to <literal>{ y = 2; }</literal>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-replaceStrings'>
- <term><function>builtins.replaceStrings</function>
- <replaceable>from</replaceable> <replaceable>to</replaceable> <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Given string <replaceable>s</replaceable>, replace
- every occurrence of the strings in <replaceable>from</replaceable>
- with the corresponding string in
- <replaceable>to</replaceable>. For example,
-
-<programlisting>
-builtins.replaceStrings ["oo" "a"] ["a" "i"] "foobar"
-</programlisting>
-
- evaluates to <literal>"fabir"</literal>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-seq'>
- <term><function>builtins.seq</function>
- <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Evaluate <replaceable>e1</replaceable>, then
- evaluate and return <replaceable>e2</replaceable>. This ensures
- that a computation is strict in the value of
- <replaceable>e1</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-sort'>
- <term><function>builtins.sort</function>
- <replaceable>comparator</replaceable> <replaceable>list</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return <replaceable>list</replaceable> in sorted
- order. It repeatedly calls the function
- <replaceable>comparator</replaceable> with two elements. The
- comparator should return <literal>true</literal> if the first
- element is less than the second, and <literal>false</literal>
- otherwise. For example,
-
-<programlisting>
-builtins.sort builtins.lessThan [ 483 249 526 147 42 77 ]
-</programlisting>
-
- produces the list <literal>[ 42 77 147 249 483 526
- ]</literal>.</para>
-
- <para>This is a stable sort: it preserves the relative order of
- elements deemed equal by the comparator.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-split'>
- <term><function>builtins.split</function>
- <replaceable>regex</replaceable> <replaceable>str</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Returns a list composed of non matched strings interleaved
- with the lists of the <link
- xlink:href="http://pubs.opengroup.org/onlinepubs/9699919799/basedefs/V1_chap09.html#tag_09_04">extended
- POSIX regular expression</link> <replaceable>regex</replaceable> matches
- of <replaceable>str</replaceable>. Each item in the lists of matched
- sequences is a regex group.
-
-<programlisting>
-builtins.split "(a)b" "abc"
-</programlisting>
-
-Evaluates to <literal>[ "" [ "a" ] "c" ]</literal>.
-
-<programlisting>
-builtins.split "([ac])" "abc"
-</programlisting>
-
-Evaluates to <literal>[ "" [ "a" ] "b" [ "c" ] "" ]</literal>.
-
-<programlisting>
-builtins.split "(a)|(c)" "abc"
-</programlisting>
-
-Evaluates to <literal>[ "" [ "a" null ] "b" [ null "c" ] "" ]</literal>.
-
-<programlisting>
-builtins.split "([[:upper:]]+)" " FOO "
-</programlisting>
-
-Evaluates to <literal>[ " " [ "FOO" ] " " ]</literal>.
-
- </para></listitem>
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-splitVersion'>
- <term><function>builtins.splitVersion</function>
- <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Split a string representing a version into its
- components, by the same version splitting logic underlying the
- version comparison in <link linkend="ssec-version-comparisons">
- <command>nix-env -u</command></link>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-stringLength'>
- <term><function>builtins.stringLength</function>
- <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return the length of the string
- <replaceable>e</replaceable>. If <replaceable>e</replaceable> is
- not a string, evaluation is aborted.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-sub'>
- <term><function>builtins.sub</function>
- <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return the difference between the numbers
- <replaceable>e1</replaceable> and
- <replaceable>e2</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-substring'>
- <term><function>builtins.substring</function>
- <replaceable>start</replaceable> <replaceable>len</replaceable>
- <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return the substring of
- <replaceable>s</replaceable> from character position
- <replaceable>start</replaceable> (zero-based) up to but not
- including <replaceable>start + len</replaceable>. If
- <replaceable>start</replaceable> is greater than the length of the
- string, an empty string is returned, and if <replaceable>start +
- len</replaceable> lies beyond the end of the string, only the
- substring up to the end of the string is returned.
- <replaceable>start</replaceable> must be
- non-negative. For example,
-
-<programlisting>
-builtins.substring 0 3 "nixos"
-</programlisting>
-
- evaluates to <literal>"nix"</literal>.
- </para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-tail'>
- <term><function>builtins.tail</function>
- <replaceable>list</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return the second to last elements of a list;
- abort evaluation if the argument isn’t a list or is an empty
- list.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-throw'>
- <term><function>throw</function>
- <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
- <term><function>builtins.throw</function>
- <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Throw an error message
- <replaceable>s</replaceable>. This usually aborts Nix expression
- evaluation, but in <command>nix-env -qa</command> and other
- commands that try to evaluate a set of derivations to get
- information about those derivations, a derivation that throws an
- error is silently skipped (which is not the case for
- <function>abort</function>).</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-toFile'>
- <term><function>builtins.toFile</function>
- <replaceable>name</replaceable>
- <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Store the string <replaceable>s</replaceable> in a
- file in the Nix store and return its path. The file has suffix
- <replaceable>name</replaceable>. This file can be used as an
- input to derivations. One application is to write builders
- “inline”. For instance, the following Nix expression combines
- <xref linkend='ex-hello-nix' /> and <xref
- linkend='ex-hello-builder' /> into one file:
-
-<programlisting>
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, perl }:
-
-stdenv.mkDerivation {
- name = "hello-2.1.1";
-
- builder = builtins.toFile "builder.sh" "
- source $stdenv/setup
-
- PATH=$perl/bin:$PATH
-
- tar xvfz $src
- cd hello-*
- ./configure --prefix=$out
- make
- make install
- ";
-
- src = fetchurl {
- url = "http://ftp.nluug.nl/pub/gnu/hello/hello-2.1.1.tar.gz";
- sha256 = "1md7jsfd8pa45z73bz1kszpp01yw6x5ljkjk2hx7wl800any6465";
- };
- inherit perl;
-}</programlisting>
-
- </para>
-
- <para>It is even possible for one file to refer to another, e.g.,
-
-<programlisting>
- builder = let
- configFile = builtins.toFile "foo.conf" "
- # This is some dummy configuration file.
- <replaceable>...</replaceable>
- ";
- in builtins.toFile "builder.sh" "
- source $stdenv/setup
- <replaceable>...</replaceable>
- cp ${configFile} $out/etc/foo.conf
- ";</programlisting>
-
- Note that <literal>${configFile}</literal> is an antiquotation
- (see <xref linkend='ssec-values' />), so the result of the
- expression <literal>configFile</literal> (i.e., a path like
- <filename>/nix/store/m7p7jfny445k...-foo.conf</filename>) will be
- spliced into the resulting string.</para>
-
- <para>It is however <emphasis>not</emphasis> allowed to have files
- mutually referring to each other, like so:
-
-<programlisting>
-let
- foo = builtins.toFile "foo" "...${bar}...";
- bar = builtins.toFile "bar" "...${foo}...";
-in foo</programlisting>
-
- This is not allowed because it would cause a cyclic dependency in
- the computation of the cryptographic hashes for
- <varname>foo</varname> and <varname>bar</varname>.</para>
- <para>It is also not possible to reference the result of a derivation.
- If you are using Nixpkgs, the <literal>writeTextFile</literal> function is able to
- do that.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-toJSON'>
- <term><function>builtins.toJSON</function> <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return a string containing a JSON representation
- of <replaceable>e</replaceable>. Strings, integers, floats, booleans,
- nulls and lists are mapped to their JSON equivalents. Sets
- (except derivations) are represented as objects. Derivations are
- translated to a JSON string containing the derivation’s output
- path. Paths are copied to the store and represented as a JSON
- string of the resulting store path.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-toPath'>
- <term><function>builtins.toPath</function> <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para> DEPRECATED. Use <literal>/. + "/path"</literal>
- to convert a string into an absolute path. For relative paths,
- use <literal>./. + "/path"</literal>.
- </para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-toString'>
- <term><function>toString</function> <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
- <term><function>builtins.toString</function> <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Convert the expression
- <replaceable>e</replaceable> to a string.
- <replaceable>e</replaceable> can be:</para>
- <itemizedlist>
- <listitem><para>A string (in which case the string is returned unmodified).</para></listitem>
- <listitem><para>A path (e.g., <literal>toString /foo/bar</literal> yields <literal>"/foo/bar"</literal>.</para></listitem>
- <listitem><para>A set containing <literal>{ __toString = self: ...; }</literal>.</para></listitem>
- <listitem><para>An integer.</para></listitem>
- <listitem><para>A list, in which case the string representations of its elements are joined with spaces.</para></listitem>
- <listitem><para>A Boolean (<literal>false</literal> yields <literal>""</literal>, <literal>true</literal> yields <literal>"1"</literal>).</para></listitem>
- <listitem><para><literal>null</literal>, which yields the empty string.</para></listitem>
- </itemizedlist>
- </listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-toXML'>
- <term><function>builtins.toXML</function> <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return a string containing an XML representation
- of <replaceable>e</replaceable>. The main application for
- <function>toXML</function> is to communicate information with the
- builder in a more structured format than plain environment
- variables.</para>
-
- <!-- TODO: more formally describe the schema of the XML
- representation -->
-
- <para><xref linkend='ex-toxml' /> shows an example where this is
- the case. The builder is supposed to generate the configuration
- file for a <link xlink:href='http://jetty.mortbay.org/'>Jetty
- servlet container</link>. A servlet container contains a number
- of servlets (<filename>*.war</filename> files) each exported under
- a specific URI prefix. So the servlet configuration is a list of
- sets containing the <varname>path</varname> and
- <varname>war</varname> of the servlet (<xref
- linkend='ex-toxml-co-servlets' />). This kind of information is
- difficult to communicate with the normal method of passing
- information through an environment variable, which just
- concatenates everything together into a string (which might just
- work in this case, but wouldn’t work if fields are optional or
- contain lists themselves). Instead the Nix expression is
- converted to an XML representation with
- <function>toXML</function>, which is unambiguous and can easily be
- processed with the appropriate tools. For instance, in the
- example an XSLT stylesheet (<xref linkend='ex-toxml-co-stylesheet'
- />) is applied to it (<xref linkend='ex-toxml-co-apply' />) to
- generate the XML configuration file for the Jetty server. The XML
- representation produced from <xref linkend='ex-toxml-co-servlets'
- /> by <function>toXML</function> is shown in <xref
- linkend='ex-toxml-result' />.</para>
-
- <para>Note that <xref linkend='ex-toxml' /> uses the <function
- linkend='builtin-toFile'>toFile</function> built-in to write the
- builder and the stylesheet “inline” in the Nix expression. The
- path of the stylesheet is spliced into the builder at
- <literal>xsltproc ${stylesheet}
- <replaceable>...</replaceable></literal>.</para>
-
- <example xml:id='ex-toxml'><title>Passing information to a builder
- using <function>toXML</function></title>
-
-<programlisting><![CDATA[
-{ stdenv, fetchurl, libxslt, jira, uberwiki }:
-
-stdenv.mkDerivation (rec {
- name = "web-server";
-
- buildInputs = [ libxslt ];
-
- builder = builtins.toFile "builder.sh" "
- source $stdenv/setup
- mkdir $out
- echo "$servlets" | xsltproc ${stylesheet} - > $out/server-conf.xml]]> <co xml:id='ex-toxml-co-apply' /> <![CDATA[
- ";
-
- stylesheet = builtins.toFile "stylesheet.xsl"]]> <co xml:id='ex-toxml-co-stylesheet' /> <![CDATA[
- "<?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?>
- <xsl:stylesheet xmlns:xsl='http://www.w3.org/1999/XSL/Transform' version='1.0'>
- <xsl:template match='/'>
- <Configure>
- <xsl:for-each select='/expr/list/attrs'>
- <Call name='addWebApplication'>
- <Arg><xsl:value-of select=\"attr[@name = 'path']/string/@value\" /></Arg>
- <Arg><xsl:value-of select=\"attr[@name = 'war']/path/@value\" /></Arg>
- </Call>
- </xsl:for-each>
- </Configure>
- </xsl:template>
- </xsl:stylesheet>
- ";
-
- servlets = builtins.toXML []]> <co xml:id='ex-toxml-co-servlets' /> <![CDATA[
- { path = "/bugtracker"; war = jira + "/lib/atlassian-jira.war"; }
- { path = "/wiki"; war = uberwiki + "/uberwiki.war"; }
- ];
-})]]></programlisting>
-
- </example>
-
- <example xml:id='ex-toxml-result'><title>XML representation produced by
- <function>toXML</function></title>
-
-<programlisting><![CDATA[<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
-<expr>
- <list>
- <attrs>
- <attr name="path">
- <string value="/bugtracker" />
- </attr>
- <attr name="war">
- <path value="/nix/store/d1jh9pasa7k2...-jira/lib/atlassian-jira.war" />
- </attr>
- </attrs>
- <attrs>
- <attr name="path">
- <string value="/wiki" />
- </attr>
- <attr name="war">
- <path value="/nix/store/y6423b1yi4sx...-uberwiki/uberwiki.war" />
- </attr>
- </attrs>
- </list>
-</expr>]]></programlisting>
-
- </example>
-
- </listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-trace'>
- <term><function>builtins.trace</function>
- <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Evaluate <replaceable>e1</replaceable> and print its
- abstract syntax representation on standard error. Then return
- <replaceable>e2</replaceable>. This function is useful for
- debugging.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-tryEval'>
- <term><function>builtins.tryEval</function>
- <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Try to shallowly evaluate <replaceable>e</replaceable>.
- Return a set containing the attributes <literal>success</literal>
- (<literal>true</literal> if <replaceable>e</replaceable> evaluated
- successfully, <literal>false</literal> if an error was thrown) and
- <literal>value</literal>, equalling <replaceable>e</replaceable>
- if successful and <literal>false</literal> otherwise. Note that this
- doesn't evaluate <replaceable>e</replaceable> deeply, so
- <literal>let e = { x = throw ""; }; in (builtins.tryEval e).success
- </literal> will be <literal>true</literal>. Using <literal>builtins.deepSeq
- </literal> one can get the expected result: <literal>let e = { x = throw "";
- }; in (builtins.tryEval (builtins.deepSeq e e)).success</literal> will be
- <literal>false</literal>.
- </para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
- <varlistentry xml:id='builtin-typeOf'>
- <term><function>builtins.typeOf</function>
- <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
-
- <listitem><para>Return a string representing the type of the value
- <replaceable>e</replaceable>, namely <literal>"int"</literal>,
- <literal>"bool"</literal>, <literal>"string"</literal>,
- <literal>"path"</literal>, <literal>"null"</literal>,
- <literal>"set"</literal>, <literal>"list"</literal>,
- <literal>"lambda"</literal> or
- <literal>"float"</literal>.</para></listitem>
-
- </varlistentry>
-
-
-</variablelist>
-
-
-</section>