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			28 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			XML
		
	
	
	
	
	
			
		
		
	
	
			853 lines
		
	
	
	
		
			28 KiB
		
	
	
	
		
			XML
		
	
	
	
	
	
| <section xmlns="http://docbook.org/ns/docbook"
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|          xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
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|          xml:id='ssec-builtins'>
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| 
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| <title>Built-in functions</title>
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| 
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| 
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| <para>This section lists the functions and constants built into the
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| Nix expression evaluator.  (The built-in function
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| <function>derivation</function> is discussed above.)  Some built-ins,
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| such as <function>derivation</function>, are always in scope of every
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| Nix expression; you can just access them right away.  But to prevent
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| polluting the namespace too much, most built-ins are not in scope.
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| Instead, you can access them through the <varname>builtins</varname>
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| built-in value, which is an attribute set that contains all built-in
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| functions and values.  For instance, <function>derivation</function>
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| is also available as <function>builtins.derivation</function>.</para>
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| 
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| 
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| <variablelist>
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| 
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|   
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|   <varlistentry><term><function>abort</function> <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
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| 
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|     <listitem><para>Abort Nix expression evaluation, print error
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|     message <replaceable>s</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
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| 
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|   </varlistentry>
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| 
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|   
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|   <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.add</function>
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|   <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
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| 
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|     <listitem><para>Return the sum of the integers
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|     <replaceable>e1</replaceable> and
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|     <replaceable>e2</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
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| 
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|   </varlistentry>
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| 
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|   
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|   <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.attrNames</function>
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|   <replaceable>attrs</replaceable></term>
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| 
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|     <listitem><para>Return the names of the attributes in the
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|     attribute set <replaceable>attrs</replaceable> in a sorted list.
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|     For instance, <literal>builtins.attrNames { y = 1; x = "foo";
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|     }</literal> evaluates to <literal>[ "x" "y" ]</literal>.  There is
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|     no built-in function <function>attrValues</function>, but you can
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|     easily define it yourself:
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| 
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| <programlisting>
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| attrValues = attrs: map (name: builtins.getAttr name attrs) (builtins.attrNames attrs);</programlisting>
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| 
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|     </para></listitem>
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| 
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|   </varlistentry>
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| 
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|   
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|   <varlistentry><term><function>baseNameOf</function> <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
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| 
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|     <listitem><para>Return the <emphasis>base name</emphasis> of the
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|     string <replaceable>s</replaceable>, that is, everything following
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|     the final slash in the string.  This is similar to the GNU
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|     <command>basename</command> command.</para></listitem>
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| 
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|   </varlistentry>
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| 
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|   
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|   <varlistentry><term><varname>builtins</varname></term>
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| 
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|     <listitem><para>The attribute set <varname>builtins</varname>
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|     contains all the built-in functions and values.  You can use
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|     <varname>builtins</varname> to test for the availability of
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|     features in the Nix installation, e.g.,
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| 
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| <programlisting>
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| if builtins ? getEnv then builtins.getEnv "PATH" else ""</programlisting>
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| 
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|     This allows a Nix expression to fall back gracefully on older Nix
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|     installations that don’t have the desired built-in
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|     function.</para></listitem>
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| 
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|   </varlistentry>
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| 
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|   
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|   <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.compareVersions</function>
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|   <replaceable>s1</replaceable> <replaceable>s2</replaceable></term>
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| 
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|     <listitem><para>Compare two strings representing versions and
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|     return <literal>-1</literal> if version
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|     <replaceable>s1</replaceable> is older than version
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|     <replaceable>s2</replaceable>, <literal>0</literal> if they are
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|     the same, and <literal>1</literal> if
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|     <replaceable>s1</replaceable> is newer than
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|     <replaceable>s2</replaceable>.  The version comparison algorithm
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|     is the same as the one used by <link
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|     linkend="ssec-version-comparisons"><command>nix-env
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|     -u</command></link>.</para></listitem>
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| 
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|   </varlistentry>
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| 
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|   
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|   <varlistentry
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|   xml:id='builtin-currentSystem'><term><varname>builtins.currentSystem</varname></term>
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| 
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|     <listitem><para>The built-in value <varname>currentSystem</varname>
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|     evaluates to the Nix platform identifier for the Nix installation
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|     on which the expression is being evaluated, such as
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|     <literal>"i686-linux"</literal> or
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|     <literal>"powerpc-darwin"</literal>.</para></listitem>
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| 
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|   </varlistentry>
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| 
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| 
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|   <!--
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|   <varlistentry><term><function>currentTime</function></term>
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| 
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|     <listitem><para>The built-in value <varname>currentTime</varname>
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|     returns the current system time in seconds since 00:00:00 1/1/1970
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|     UTC.  Due to the evaluation model of Nix expressions
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|     (<emphasis>maximal laziness</emphasis>), it always yields the same
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|     value within an execution of Nix.</para></listitem>
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| 
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|   </varlistentry>
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|   -->
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| 
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|   
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|   <!--
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|   <varlistentry><term><function>dependencyClosure</function></term>
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| 
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|     <listitem><para>TODO</para></listitem>
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| 
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|   </varlistentry>
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|   -->
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| 
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|   
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|   <varlistentry><term><function>derivation</function>
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|   <replaceable>attrs</replaceable></term>
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| 
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|     <listitem><para><function>derivation</function> is described in
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|     <xref linkend='ssec-derivation' />.</para></listitem>
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| 
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|   </varlistentry>
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| 
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| 
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|   <varlistentry><term><function>dirOf</function> <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
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| 
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|     <listitem><para>Return the directory part of the string
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|     <replaceable>s</replaceable>, that is, everything before the final
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|     slash in the string.  This is similar to the GNU
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|     <command>dirname</command> command.</para></listitem>
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| 
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|   </varlistentry>
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| 
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|   
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|   <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.div</function>
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|   <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
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| 
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|     <listitem><para>Return the quotient of the integers
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|     <replaceable>e1</replaceable> and
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|     <replaceable>e2</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
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| 
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|   </varlistentry>
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| 
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|   
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|   <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.filterSource</function>
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|   <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
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| 
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|     <listitem>
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| 
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|       <para>This function allows you to copy sources into the Nix
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|       store while filtering certain files.  For instance, suppose that
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|       you want to use the directory <filename>source-dir</filename> as
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|       an input to a Nix expression, e.g.
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| 
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| <programlisting>
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| stdenv.mkDerivation {
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|   ...
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|   src = ./source-dir;
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| }
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| </programlisting>
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| 
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|       However, if <filename>source-dir</filename> is a Subversion
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|       working copy, then all those annoying <filename>.svn</filename>
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|       subdirectories will also be copied to the store.  Worse, the
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|       contents of those directories may change a lot, causing lots of
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|       spurious rebuilds.  With <function>filterSource</function> you
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|       can filter out the <filename>.svn</filename> directories:
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| 
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| <programlisting>
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|   src = builtins.filterSource
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|     (path: type: type != "directory" || baseNameOf path != ".svn")
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|     ./source-dir;
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| </programlisting>
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| 
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|       </para>
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| 
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|       <para>Thus, the first argument <replaceable>e1</replaceable>
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|       must be a predicate function that is called for each regular
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|       file, directory or symlink in the source tree
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|       <replaceable>e2</replaceable>.  If the function returns
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|       <literal>true</literal>, the file is copied to the Nix store,
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|       otherwise it is omitted.  The function is called with two
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|       arguments.  The first is the full path of the file.  The second
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|       is a string that identifies the type of the file, which is
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|       either <literal>"regular"</literal>,
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|       <literal>"directory"</literal>, <literal>"symlink"</literal> or
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|       <literal>"unknown"</literal> (for other kinds of files such as
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|       device nodes or fifos — but note that those cannot be copied to
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|       the Nix store, so if the predicate returns
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|       <literal>true</literal> for them, the copy will fail).</para>
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| 
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|     </listitem>
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| 
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|   </varlistentry>
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| 
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|   
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|   <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.getAttr</function>
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|   <replaceable>s</replaceable> <replaceable>attrs</replaceable></term>
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| 
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|     <listitem><para><function>getAttr</function> returns the attribute
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|     named <replaceable>s</replaceable> from the attribute set
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|     <replaceable>attrs</replaceable>.  Evaluation aborts if the
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|     attribute doesn’t exist.  This is a dynamic version of the
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|     <literal>.</literal> operator, since <replaceable>s</replaceable>
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|     is an expression rather than an identifier.</para></listitem>
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| 
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|   </varlistentry>
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| 
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|   
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|   <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.getEnv</function>
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|   <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
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| 
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|     <listitem><para><function>getEnv</function> returns the value of
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|     the environment variable <replaceable>s</replaceable>, or an empty
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|     string if the variable doesn’t exist.  This function should be
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|     used with care, as it can introduce all sorts of nasty environment
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|     dependencies in your Nix expression.</para>
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| 
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|     <para><function>getEnv</function> is used in Nix Packages to
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|     locate the file <filename>~/.nixpkgs/config.nix</filename>, which
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|     contains user-local settings for Nix Packages.  (That is, it does
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|     a <literal>getEnv "HOME"</literal> to locate the user’s home
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|     directory.)</para></listitem>
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| 
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|   </varlistentry>
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| 
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|   
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|   <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.hasAttr</function>
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|   <replaceable>s</replaceable> <replaceable>attrs</replaceable></term>
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| 
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|     <listitem><para><function>hasAttr</function> returns
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|     <literal>true</literal> if the attribute set
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|     <replaceable>attrs</replaceable> has an attribute named
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|     <replaceable>s</replaceable>, and <literal>false</literal>
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|     otherwise.  This is a dynamic version of the <literal>?</literal>
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|     operator, since <replaceable>s</replaceable> is an expression
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|     rather than an identifier.</para></listitem>
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| 
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|   </varlistentry>
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| 
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|   
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|   <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.head</function>
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|   <replaceable>list</replaceable></term>
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| 
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|     <listitem><para>Return the first element of a list; abort
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|     evaluation if the argument isn’t a list or is an empty list.  You
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|     can test whether a list is empty by comparing it with
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|     <literal>[]</literal>.</para></listitem>
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| 
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|   </varlistentry>
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| 
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|   
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|   <varlistentry><term><function>import</function>
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|   <replaceable>path</replaceable></term>
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| 
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|     <listitem><para>Load, parse and return the Nix expression in the
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|     file <replaceable>path</replaceable>.  If <replaceable>path
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|     </replaceable> is a directory, the file <filename>default.nix
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|     </filename> in that directory is loaded.  Evaluation aborts if
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|     the file doesn’t exist or contains an incorrect Nix
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|     expression.  <function>import</function> implements Nix’s module
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|     system: you can put any Nix expression (such as an attribute set
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|     or a function) in a separate file, and use it from Nix expressions
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|     in other files.</para>
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| 
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|     <para>A Nix expression loaded by <function>import</function> must
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|     not contain any <emphasis>free variables</emphasis> (identifiers
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|     that are not defined in the Nix expression itself and are not
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|     built-in).  Therefore, it cannot refer to variables that are in
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|     scope at the call site.  For instance, if you have a calling
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|     expression
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|     
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| <programlisting>
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| rec {
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|   x = 123;
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|   y = import ./foo.nix;
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| }</programlisting>
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| 
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|     then the following <filename>foo.nix</filename> will give an
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|     error:
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| 
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| <programlisting>
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| x + 456</programlisting>
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| 
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|     since <varname>x</varname> is not in scope in
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|     <filename>foo.nix</filename>.  If you want <varname>x</varname>
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|     to be available in <filename>foo.nix</filename>, you should pass
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|     it as a function argument:
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| 
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| <programlisting>
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| rec {
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|   x = 123;
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|   y = import ./foo.nix x;
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| }</programlisting>
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| 
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|     and
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| 
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| <programlisting>
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| x: x + 456</programlisting>
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| 
 | ||
|     (The function argument doesn’t have to be called
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|     <varname>x</varname> in <filename>foo.nix</filename>; any name
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|     would work.)</para></listitem>
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| 
 | ||
|   </varlistentry>
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| 
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|   
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|   <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.intersectAttrs</function>
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|   <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
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| 
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|     <listitem><para>Return an attribute set consisting of the
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|     attributes in the set <replaceable>e2</replaceable> that also
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|     exist in the set <replaceable>e1</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
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| 
 | ||
|   </varlistentry>
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|         
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|     
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|   <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.isAttrs</function>
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|   <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
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| 
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|     <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if
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|     <replaceable>e</replaceable> evaluates to an attribute set, and
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|     <literal>false</literal> otherwise.</para></listitem>
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| 
 | ||
|   </varlistentry>
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| 
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|   
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|   <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.isList</function>
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|   <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
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| 
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|     <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if
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|     <replaceable>e</replaceable> evaluates to a list, and
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|     <literal>false</literal> otherwise.</para></listitem>
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| 
 | ||
|   </varlistentry>
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| 
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|   
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|   <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.isFunction</function>
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|   <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
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| 
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|     <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if
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|     <replaceable>e</replaceable> evaluates to a function, and
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|     <literal>false</literal> otherwise.</para></listitem>
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| 
 | ||
|   </varlistentry>
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| 
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|   
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|   <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.isString</function>
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|   <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
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| 
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|     <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if
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|     <replaceable>e</replaceable> evaluates to a string, and
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|     <literal>false</literal> otherwise.</para></listitem>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   </varlistentry>
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| 
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|   
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|   <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.isInt</function>
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|   <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
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| 
 | ||
|     <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if
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|     <replaceable>e</replaceable> evaluates to a int, and
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|     <literal>false</literal> otherwise.</para></listitem>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   </varlistentry>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   
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|   <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.isBool</function>
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|   <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|     <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if
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|     <replaceable>e</replaceable> evaluates to a bool, and
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|     <literal>false</literal> otherwise.</para></listitem>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   </varlistentry>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   
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|   <varlistentry><term><function>isNull</function>
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|   <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|     <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if
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|     <replaceable>e</replaceable> evaluates to <literal>null</literal>,
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|     and <literal>false</literal> otherwise.</para>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|     <warning><para>This function is <emphasis>deprecated</emphasis>;
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|     just write <literal>e == null</literal> instead.</para></warning>
 | ||
|     
 | ||
|     </listitem>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   </varlistentry>
 | ||
| 
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|   
 | ||
|   <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.length</function>
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|   <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|     <listitem><para>Return the length of the list
 | ||
|     <replaceable>e</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   </varlistentry>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   
 | ||
|   <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.lessThan</function>
 | ||
|   <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|     <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if the integer
 | ||
|     <replaceable>e1</replaceable> is less than the integer
 | ||
|     <replaceable>e2</replaceable>, and <literal>false</literal>
 | ||
|     otherwise.  Evaluation aborts if either
 | ||
|     <replaceable>e1</replaceable> or <replaceable>e2</replaceable>
 | ||
|     does not evaluate to an integer.</para></listitem>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   </varlistentry>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   
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|   <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.listToAttrs</function>
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|   <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|     <listitem><para>Construct an attribute set from a list specifying
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|     the names and values of each attribute.  Each element of the list
 | ||
|     should be an attribute 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>
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| builtins.listToAttrs
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|   [ { name = "foo"; value = 123; }
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|     { name = "bar"; value = 456; }
 | ||
|   ]
 | ||
| </programlisting>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|     evaluates to
 | ||
| 
 | ||
| <programlisting>
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| { foo = 123; bar = 456; }
 | ||
| </programlisting>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|     </para></listitem>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   </varlistentry>
 | ||
|   
 | ||
|   <varlistentry><term><function>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>
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| map (x: "foo" + x) [ "bar" "bla" "abc" ]</programlisting>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|     evaluates to <literal>[ "foobar" "foobla" "fooabc"
 | ||
|     ]</literal>.</para></listitem>
 | ||
|     
 | ||
|   </varlistentry>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   
 | ||
|   <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.mul</function>
 | ||
|   <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|     <listitem><para>Return the product of the integers
 | ||
|     <replaceable>e1</replaceable> and
 | ||
|     <replaceable>e2</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   </varlistentry>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   
 | ||
|   <varlistentry><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 an attribute 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><term><function>builtins.pathExists</function>
 | ||
|   <replaceable>path</replaceable></term>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|     <listitem><para>Return <literal>true</literal> if the path
 | ||
|     <replaceable>path</replaceable> exists, and
 | ||
|     <literal>false</literal> otherwise.  One application of this
 | ||
|     function is to conditionally include a Nix expression containing
 | ||
|     user configuration:
 | ||
| 
 | ||
| <programlisting>
 | ||
| let
 | ||
|   fileName = builtins.getEnv "CONFIG_FILE";
 | ||
|   config =
 | ||
|     if fileName != "" && builtins.pathExists (builtins.toPath fileName)
 | ||
|     then import (builtins.toPath fileName)
 | ||
|     else { someSetting = false; }; <lineannotation># default configuration</lineannotation>
 | ||
| in config.someSetting</programlisting>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|     (Note that <envar>CONFIG_FILE</envar> must be an absolute path for
 | ||
|     this to work.)</para></listitem>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   </varlistentry>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   <!--
 | ||
|   <varlistentry><term><function>relativise</function></term>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|     <listitem><para>TODO</para></listitem>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   </varlistentry>
 | ||
|   -->
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   
 | ||
|   <varlistentry><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><term><function>removeAttrs</function>
 | ||
|   <replaceable>attrs</replaceable> <replaceable>list</replaceable></term>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|     <listitem><para>Remove the attributes listed in
 | ||
|     <replaceable>list</replaceable> from the attribute set
 | ||
|     <replaceable>attrs</replaceable>.  The attributes don’t have to
 | ||
|     exist in <replaceable>attrs</replaceable>. For instance,
 | ||
| 
 | ||
| <screen>
 | ||
| removeAttrs { x = 1; y = 2; z = 3; } [ "a" "x" "z" ]</screen>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|     evaluates to <literal>{ y = 2; }</literal>.</para></listitem>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   </varlistentry>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   
 | ||
|   <varlistentry><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><term><function>builtins.sub</function>
 | ||
|   <replaceable>e1</replaceable> <replaceable>e2</replaceable></term>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|     <listitem><para>Return the difference between the integers
 | ||
|     <replaceable>e1</replaceable> and
 | ||
|     <replaceable>e2</replaceable>.</para></listitem>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   </varlistentry>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   
 | ||
|   <varlistentry><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.</para></listitem>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   </varlistentry>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   
 | ||
|   <varlistentry><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><term><function>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://nix.cs.uu.nl/dist/tarballs/hello-2.1.1.tar.gz;
 | ||
|     md5 = "70c9ccf9fac07f762c24f2df2290784d";
 | ||
|   };
 | ||
|   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></listitem>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   </varlistentry>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   
 | ||
|   <varlistentry><term><function>builtins.toPath</function> <replaceable>s</replaceable></term>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|     <listitem><para>Convert the string value
 | ||
|     <replaceable>s</replaceable> into a path value.  The string
 | ||
|     <replaceable>s</replaceable> must represent an absolute path
 | ||
|     (i.e., must start with <literal>/</literal>).  The path need not
 | ||
|     exist.  The resulting path is canonicalised, e.g.,
 | ||
|     <literal>builtins.toPath "//foo/xyzzy/../bar/"</literal> returns
 | ||
|     <literal>/foo/bar</literal>.</para></listitem>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   </varlistentry>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   
 | ||
|   <varlistentry><term><function>toString</function> <replaceable>e</replaceable></term>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|     <listitem><para>Convert the expression
 | ||
|     <replaceable>e</replaceable> to a string.
 | ||
|     <replaceable>e</replaceable> can be a string (in which case
 | ||
|     <function>toString</function> is a no-op) or a path (e.g.,
 | ||
|     <literal>toString /foo/bar</literal> yields
 | ||
|     <literal>"/foo/bar"</literal>.</para></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
 | ||
|     attribute 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><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>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
|   
 | ||
| </variablelist>
 | ||
| 
 | ||
| 
 | ||
| </section>
 |