nix-instantiate
    instantiate store expressions from Nix expressions
  
  
    
      nix-instantiate
      &opt-common-syn;
      files
    
  
  
    Description
    
      The command nix-instantiate generates
      (low-level) store expressions from (high-level) Nix expressions.
      It loads and evaluates the Nix expressions in each of
      files.  Each top-level expression
      should evaluate to a derivation, a list of derivations, or a set
      of derivations.  The paths of the resulting store expressions
      are printed on standard output.
    
    
      This command is generally used for testing Nix expression before
      they are used with nix-env.
    
  
  
    Options
    
      &opt-common;
    
  
  
    Examples
    
$ nix-instantiate gcc.nix (instantiate)
/nix/store/468abdcb93aa22bb721142615b97698b-d-gcc-3.3.2.store
$ nix-store -r $(nix-instantiate gcc.nix) (build)
$ nix-store -r $(nix-instantiate gcc.nix) (print output path)
/nix/store/9afa718cddfdfe94b5b9303d0430ceb1-gcc-3.3.2
$ ls -l /nix/store/9afa718cddfdfe94b5b9303d0430ceb1-gcc-3.3.2
dr-xr-xr-x    2 eelco    users         360 2003-12-01 16:12 bin
dr-xr-xr-x    3 eelco    users          72 2003-12-01 16:12 include
...