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Diffstat (limited to 'doc')
| -rw-r--r-- | doc/manual/src/expressions/language-values.md | 22 |
1 files changed, 12 insertions, 10 deletions
diff --git a/doc/manual/src/expressions/language-values.md b/doc/manual/src/expressions/language-values.md index 75ae9f2eb..abbe1fd35 100644 --- a/doc/manual/src/expressions/language-values.md +++ b/doc/manual/src/expressions/language-values.md @@ -172,25 +172,27 @@ function and the fifth being a set. Note that lists are only lazy in values, and they are strict in length. -## Sets +## Attribute Sets -Sets are really the core of the language, since ultimately the Nix -language is all about creating derivations, which are really just sets -of attributes to be passed to build scripts. +Attribute sets are collections of name-value-pairs (called *attributes*) enclosed in curly brackets (`{ }`). -Sets are just a list of name/value pairs (called *attributes*) enclosed -in curly brackets, where each value is an arbitrary expression -terminated by a semicolon. For example: +Names and values are separated by an equal sign (`=`). +Each value is an arbitrary expression terminated by a semicolon (`;`). + +Attributes can appear in any order. +An attribute name may only occur once. + +Example: ```nix -{ x = 123; +{ + x = 123; text = "Hello"; y = f { bla = 456; }; } ``` -This defines a set with attributes named `x`, `text`, `y`. The order of -the attributes is irrelevant. An attribute name may only occur once. +This defines a set with attributes named `x`, `text`, `y`. Attributes can be selected from a set using the `.` operator. For instance, |