2.4.�Interactive evaluation at the prompt (original) (raw)

When you type an expression at the prompt, GHCi immediately evaluates and prints the result:

Prelude> reverse "hello" "olleh" Prelude> 5+5 10

2.4.1.�I/O actions at the prompt

GHCi does more than simple expression evaluation at the prompt. If you enter an expression of type IO a for somea, then GHCi executes it as an IO-computation.

Prelude> "hello" "hello" Prelude> putStrLn "hello" hello

This works even if the type of the expression is more general, provided it can be instantiated to IO a. For example

Prelude> return True True

Furthermore, GHCi will print the result of the I/O action if (and only if):

For example, remembering that putStrLn :: String -> IO ():

Prelude> putStrLn "hello" hello Prelude> do { putStrLn "hello"; return "yes" } hello "yes"

2.4.2.�Using do-notation at the prompt

GHCi actually accepts statements rather than just expressions at the prompt. This means you can bind values and functions to names, and use them in future expressions or statements.

The syntax of a statement accepted at the GHCi prompt is exactly the same as the syntax of a statement in a Haskelldo expression. However, there's no monad overloading here: statements typed at the prompt must be in theIO monad.

Prelude> x <- return 42 Prelude> print x 42 Prelude>

The statement x <- return 42 means “execute return 42 in theIO monad, and bind the result tox”. We can then usex in future statements, for example to print it as we did above.

If -fprint-bind-result is set then GHCi will print the result of a statement if and only if:

.

Of course, you can also bind normal non-IO expressions using the let-statement:

Prelude> let x = 42 Prelude> x 42 Prelude>

Another important difference between the two types of binding is that the monadic bind (p <- e) is_strict_ (it evaluates e), whereas with the let form, the expression isn't evaluated immediately:

Prelude> let x = error "help!" Prelude> print x *** Exception: help! Prelude>

Note that let bindings do not automatically print the value bound, unlike monadic bindings.

Hint: you can also use let-statements to define functions at the prompt:

Prelude> let add a b = a + b Prelude> add 1 2 3 Prelude>

However, this quickly gets tedious when defining functions with multiple clauses, or groups of mutually recursive functions, because the complete definition has to be given on a single line, using explicit braces and semicolons instead of layout:

Prelude> let { f op n [] = n ; f op n (h:t) = h op f op n t } Prelude> f (+) 0 [1..3] 6 Prelude>

To alleviate this issue, GHCi commands can be split over multiple lines, by wrapping them in :{ and:} (each on a single line of its own):

Prelude> :{ Prelude| let { g op n [] = n Prelude| ; g op n (h:t) = h op g op n t Prelude| } Prelude| :} Prelude> g (*) 1 [1..3] 6

Such multiline commands can be used with any GHCi command, and the lines between :{ and:} are simply merged into a single line for interpretation. That implies that each such group must form a single valid command when merged, and that no layout rule is used. The main purpose of multiline commands is not to replace module loading but to make definitions in .ghci-files (see Section�2.9, “The .ghci file”) more readable and maintainable.

Any exceptions raised during the evaluation or execution of the statement are caught and printed by the GHCi command line interface (for more information on exceptions, see the moduleControl.Exception in the libraries documentation).

Every new binding shadows any existing bindings of the same name, including entities that are in scope in the current module context.

WARNING: temporary bindings introduced at the prompt only last until the next :load or:reload command, at which time they will be simply lost. However, they do survive a change of context with:module: the temporary bindings just move to the new location.

HINT: To get a list of the bindings currently in scope, use the:show bindings command:

Prelude> :show bindings x :: Int Prelude>

HINT: if you turn on the +t option, GHCi will show the type of each variable bound by a statement. For example:

Prelude> :set +t Prelude> let (x:xs) = [1..] x :: Integer xs :: [Integer]

2.4.3.�Multiline input

Apart from the :{ ... :} syntax for multi-line input mentioned above, GHCi also has a multiline mode, enabled by :set +m, in which GHCi detects automatically when the current statement is unfinished and allows further lines to be added. A multi-line input is terminated with an empty line. For example:

Prelude> :set +m Prelude> let x = 42 Prelude|

Further bindings can be added to this let statement, so GHCi indicates that the next line continues the previous one by changing the prompt. Note that layout is in effect, so to add more bindings to this let we have to line them up:

Prelude> :set +m Prelude> let x = 42 Prelude| y = 3 Prelude| Prelude>

Explicit braces and semicolons can be used instead of layout, as usual:

Prelude> do { Prelude| putStrLn "hello" Prelude| ;putStrLn "world" Prelude| } hello world Prelude>

Note that after the closing brace, GHCi knows that the current statement is finished, so no empty line is required.

Multiline mode is useful when entering monadicdo statements:

Control.Monad.State> flip evalStateT 0 $ do Control.Monad.State| i <- get Control.Monad.State| lift $ do Control.Monad.State| putStrLn "Hello World!" Control.Monad.State| print i Control.Monad.State| "Hello World!" 0 Control.Monad.State>

During a multiline interaction, the user can interrupt and return to the top-level prompt.

Prelude> do Prelude| putStrLn "Hello, World!" Prelude| ^C Prelude>

2.4.4.�Type, class and other declarations

At the GHCi prompt you can also enter any top-level Haskell declaration, including data, type, newtype, class, instance, deriving, and foreign declarations. For example:

Prelude> data T = A | B | C deriving (Eq, Ord, Show, Enum) Prelude> [A ..] [A,B,C] Prelude> :i T data T = A | B | C -- Defined at :2:6 instance Enum T -- Defined at :2:45 instance Eq T -- Defined at :2:30 instance Ord T -- Defined at :2:34 instance Show T -- Defined at :2:39

As with ordinary variable bindings, later definitions shadow earlier ones, so you can re-enter a declaration to fix a problem with it or extend it. But there's a gotcha: when a new type declaration shadows an older one, there might be other declarations that refer to the old type. The thing to remember is that the old type still exists, and these other declarations still refer to the old type. However, while the old and the new type have the same name, GHCi will treat them as distinct. For example:

Prelude> data T = A | B Prelude> let f A = True; f B = False Prelude> data T = A | B | C Prelude> f A

:2:3: Couldn't match expected type main::Interactive.T' with actual type T' In the first argument of f', namely A' In the expression: f A In an equation for `it': it = f A Prelude>

The old, shadowed, version of T is displayed as main::Interactive.T by GHCi in an attempt to distinguish it from the new T, which is displayed as simply T.

Class and type-family instance declarations are simply added to the list of available instances, with one exception. Since type-family instances are not permitted to overlap, but you might want to re-define one, a type-family instance replaces any earlier type instance with an identical left hand side. (See Section�7.7, “Type families”.)

2.4.5.�What's really in scope at the prompt?

When you type an expression at the prompt, what identifiers and types are in scope? GHCi provides a flexible way to control exactly how the context for an expression is constructed:

The command :show imports will show a summary of which modules contribute to the top-level scope.

Hint: GHCi will tab-complete names that are in scope; for example, if you run GHCi and type J<tab> then GHCi will expand it to “Just ”.

2.4.5.1.�The effect of :load on what is in scope

The :load, :add, and :reload commands (Section�2.2, “Loading source files” and Section�2.3, “Loading compiled code”) affect the top-level scope. Let's start with the simple cases; when you start GHCi the prompt looks like this:

Prelude>

which indicates that everything from the modulePrelude is currently in scope; the visible identifiers are exactly those that would be visible in a Haskell source file with no import declarations.

If we now load a file into GHCi, the prompt will change:

Prelude> :load Main.hs Compiling Main ( Main.hs, interpreted ) *Main>

The new prompt is *Main, which indicates that we are typing expressions in the context of the top-level of the Main module. Everything that is in scope at the top-level in the moduleMain we just loaded is also in scope at the prompt (probably including Prelude, as long as Main doesn't explicitly hide it).

The syntax in the prompt*_`module`_ indicates that it is the full top-level scope of_module_ that is contributing to the scope for expressions typed at the prompt. Without the*, just the exports of the module are visible.

NOTE: for technical reasons, GHCi can only support the*-form for modules that are interpreted. Compiled modules and package modules can only contribute their exports to the current scope. To ensure that GHCi loads the interpreted version of a module, add the * when loading the module, e.g. :load *M.

In general, after a :load command, an automatic import is added to the scope for the most recently loaded "target" module, in a *-form if possible. For example, if you say :load foo.hs bar.hs and bar.hs contains moduleBar, then the scope will be set to*Bar if Bar is interpreted, or if Bar is compiled it will be set to Prelude Bar (GHCi automatically addsPrelude if it isn't present and there aren't any *-form modules). These automatically-added imports can be seen with:show imports:

Prelude> :load hello.hs [1 of 1] Compiling Main ( hello.hs, interpreted ) Ok, modules loaded: Main. *Main> :show imports :module +*Main -- added automatically *Main>

and the automatically-added import is replaced the next time you use :load, :add, or:reload. It can also be removed by:module as with normal imports.

2.4.5.2.�Controlling what is in scope with import

We are not limited to a single module: GHCi can combine scopes from multiple modules, in any mixture of* and non-* forms. GHCi combines the scopes from all of these modules to form the scope that is in effect at the prompt.

To add modules to the scope, use ordinary Haskellimport syntax:

Prelude> import System.IO Prelude System.IO> hPutStrLn stdout "hello\n" hello Prelude System.IO>

The full Haskell import syntax is supported, includinghiding and as clauses. The prompt shows the modules that are currently imported, but it omits details about hiding,as, and so on. To see the full story, use:show imports:

Prelude> import System.IO Prelude System.IO> import Data.Map as Map Prelude System.IO Map> :show imports import Prelude -- implicit import System.IO import Data.Map as Map Prelude System.IO Map>

Note that the Prelude import is marked as implicit. It can be overridden with an explicitPrelude import, just like in a Haskell module.

With multiple modules in scope, especially multiple*-form modules, it is likely that name clashes will occur. Haskell specifies that name clashes are only reported when an ambiguous identifier is used, and GHCi behaves in the same way for expressions typed at the prompt.

2.4.5.3.�Controlling what is in scope with the :module command

Another way to manipulate the scope is to use the:module command, whose syntax is this:

:module [+|-] []mod1 ... []modn

Using the + form of themodule commands adds modules to the current scope, and - removes them. Without either+ or -, the current scope is replaced by the set of modules specified. Note that if you use this form and leave out Prelude, an implicit Prelude import will be added automatically.

The :module command provides a way to do two things that cannot be done with ordinaryimport declarations:

2.4.5.4.�Qualified names

To make life slightly easier, the GHCi prompt also behaves as if there is an implicit import qualified declaration for every module in every package, and every module currently loaded into GHCi. This behaviour can be disabled with the flag -fno-implicit-import-qualified.

2.4.5.5.�:module and:load

It might seem that :module/import and:load/:add/:reload do similar things: you can use both to bring a module into scope. However, there is a very important difference. GHCi is concerned with two sets of modules:

You can add a module to the scope (via :module or import) only if either (a) it is loaded, or (b) it is a module from a package that GHCi knows about. Using :module or import to try bring into scope a non-loaded module may result in the message “module M is not loaded”.

2.4.6.�The :main and :run commands

When a program is compiled and executed, it can use thegetArgs function to access the command-line arguments. However, we cannot simply pass the arguments to themain function while we are testing in ghci, as the main function doesn't take its directly.

Instead, we can use the :main command. This runs whatever main is in scope, with any arguments being treated the same as command-line arguments, e.g.:

Prelude> let main = System.Environment.getArgs >>= print Prelude> :main foo bar ["foo","bar"]

We can also quote arguments which contains characters like spaces, and they are treated like Haskell strings, or we can just use Haskell list syntax:

Prelude> :main foo "bar baz" ["foo","bar baz"] Prelude> :main ["foo", "bar baz"] ["foo","bar baz"]

Finally, other functions can be called, either with the-main-is flag or the :run command:

Prelude> let foo = putStrLn "foo" >> System.Environment.getArgs >>= print Prelude> let bar = putStrLn "bar" >> System.Environment.getArgs >>= print Prelude> :set -main-is foo Prelude> :main foo "bar baz" foo ["foo","bar baz"] Prelude> :run bar ["foo", "bar baz"] bar ["foo","bar baz"]

2.4.7.�The it variable

Whenever an expression (or a non-binding statement, to be precise) is typed at the prompt, GHCi implicitly binds its value to the variable it. For example:

Prelude> 1+2 3 Prelude> it * 2 6

What actually happens is that GHCi typechecks the expression, and if it doesn't have an IO type, then it transforms it as follows: an expression_e_ turns into

let it = e; print it

which is then run as an IO-action.

Hence, the original expression must have a type which is an instance of the Show class, or GHCi will complain:

Prelude> id

:1:0: No instance for (Show (a -> a)) arising from use of `print' at :1:0-1 Possible fix: add an instance declaration for (Show (a -> a)) In the expression: print it In a 'do' expression: print it

The error message contains some clues as to the transformation happening internally.

If the expression was instead of type IO a for some a, then it will be bound to the result of the IO computation, which is of type a. eg.:

Prelude> Time.getClockTime Wed Mar 14 12:23:13 GMT 2001 Prelude> print it Wed Mar 14 12:23:13 GMT 2001

The corresponding translation for an IO-typed_e_ is

it <- e

Note that it is shadowed by the new value each time you evaluate a new expression, and the old value of it is lost.

2.4.8.�Type defaulting in GHCi

Consider this GHCi session:

ghci> reverse []

What should GHCi do? Strictly speaking, the program is ambiguous. show (reverse []) (which is what GHCi computes here) has type Show a => String and how that displays depends on the type a. For example:

ghci> reverse ([] :: String) "" ghci> reverse ([] :: [Int]) []

However, it is tiresome for the user to have to specify the type, so GHCi extends Haskell's type-defaulting rules (Section 4.3.4 of the Haskell 2010 Report) as follows. The standard rules take each group of constraints (C1 a, C2 a, ..., Cn a) for each type variable a, and defaults the type variable if

  1. The type variable a appears in no other constraints
  2. All the classes Ci are standard.
  3. At least one of the classes Ci is numeric.

At the GHCi prompt, or with GHC if the-XExtendedDefaultRules flag is given, the following additional differences apply:

The last point means that, for example, this program:

main :: IO () main = print def

instance Num ()

def :: (Num a, Enum a) => a def = toEnum 0

prints () rather than 0 as the type is defaulted to () rather thanInteger.

The motivation for the change is that it means IO a actions default to IO (), which in turn means that ghci won't try to print a result when running them. This is particularly important for printf, which has an instance that returns IO a. However, it is only able to returnundefined (the reason for the instance having this type is so that printf doesn't require extensions to the class system), so if the type defaults toInteger then ghci gives an error when running a printf.

See also Section�2.4.1, “I/O actions at the prompt” for how the monad of a computational expression defaults to IO if possible.

2.4.9.�Using a custom interactive printing function

[New in version 7.6.1] By default, GHCi prints the result of expressions typed at the prompt using the function System.IO.print. Its type signature is Show a => a -> IO (), and it works by converting the value to String usingshow.

This is not ideal in certain cases, like when the output is long, or contains strings with non-ascii characters.

The -interactive-print flag allows to specify any function of type C a => a -> IO (), for some constraint C, as the function for printing evaluated expressions. The function can reside in any loaded module or any registered package.

As an example, suppose we have following special printing module:

     module SpecPrinter where
     import System.IO

     sprint a = putStrLn $ show a ++ "!"

The sprint function adds an exclamation mark at the end of any printed value. Running GHCi with the command:

     ghci -interactive-print=SpecPrinter.sprinter SpecPrinter

will start an interactive session where values with be printed usingsprint:

     *SpecPrinter> [1,2,3]
     [1,2,3]!
     *SpecPrinter> 42
     42!

A custom pretty printing function can be used, for example, to format tree-like and nested structures in a more readable way.

The -interactive-print flag can also be used when running GHC in -e mode:

     % ghc -e "[1,2,3]" -interactive-print=SpecPrinter.sprint SpecPrinter
     [1,2,3]!