path: root/lib/stdlib/doc/src/erl_pp.xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<!DOCTYPE erlref SYSTEM "erlref.dtd">

<erlref>
  <header>
    <copyright>
      <year>1996</year>
      <year>2016</year>
      <holder>Ericsson AB, All Rights Reserved</holder>
    </copyright>            
    <legalnotice>
  Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
  You may obtain a copy of the License at
 
      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
  limitations under the License.

  The Initial Developer of the Original Code is Ericsson AB.
    </legalnotice>

    <title>erl_pp</title>
    <prepared>Robert Virding</prepared>
    <responsible>Bjarne D&auml;cker</responsible>
    <docno>1</docno>
    <approved>Bjarne D&auml;cker</approved>
    <checked></checked>
    <date>1997-01-24</date>
    <rev>B</rev>
    <file>erl_pp.xml</file>
  </header>
  <module>erl_pp</module>
  <modulesummary>The Erlang pretty printer.</modulesummary>
  <description>
    <p>The functions in this module are used to generate
      aesthetically attractive representations of abstract
      forms, which are suitable for printing.
      All functions return (possibly deep)
      lists of characters and generate an error if the form is wrong.</p>

    <p>All functions can have an optional argument, which specifies a hook
      that is called if an attempt is made to print an unknown form.</p>
  </description>

  <datatypes>
    <datatype>
      <name name="hook_function"/>
      <desc>
        <p>Optional argument <marker id="hook_function"/><c>HookFunction</c>,
          shown in the functions described in this module, defines a function
          that is called when an unknown form occurs where there
          is to be a valid expression. If <c>HookFunction</c> is equal to
          <c>none</c>, there is no hook function.</p>
        <p>The called hook function is to return a (possibly deep) list of
          characters. Function <seealso marker="#expr/4"><c>expr/4</c></seealso>
          is useful in a hook.</p>
        <p>If <c><anno>CurrentIndentation</anno></c> is negative, there are no
          line breaks and only a space is used as a separator.</p>
      </desc>
    </datatype>
    <datatype>
      <name name="option"/>
    </datatype>
    <datatype>
      <name name="options"/>
    </datatype>
  </datatypes>

  <funcs>
    <func>
      <name name="attribute" arity="1"/>
      <name name="attribute" arity="2"/>
      <fsummary>Pretty print an attribute.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Same as <seealso marker="#form/1"><c>form/1,2</c></seealso>,
          but only for attribute <c><anno>Attribute</anno></c>.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="expr" arity="1"/>
      <name name="expr" arity="2"/>
      <name name="expr" arity="3"/>
      <name name="expr" arity="4"/>
      <fsummary>Pretty print one <c>Expression</c>.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Prints one expression. It is useful for implementing hooks (see
          section
          <seealso marker="#knownlimitations">Known Limitations</seealso>).</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="exprs" arity="1"/>
      <name name="exprs" arity="2"/>
      <name name="exprs" arity="3"/>
      <fsummary>Pretty print <c>Expressions</c>.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Same as <seealso marker="#form/1"><c>form/1,2</c></seealso>,
          but only for the sequence of
          expressions in <c><anno>Expressions</anno></c>.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="form" arity="1"/>
      <name name="form" arity="2"/>
      <fsummary>Pretty print a form.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Pretty prints a
          <c><anno>Form</anno></c>, which is an abstract form of a type that is
          returned by <seealso marker="erl_parse#parse_form/1">
          <c>erl_parse:parse_form/1</c></seealso>.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="function" arity="1"/>
      <name name="function" arity="2"/>
      <fsummary>Pretty print a function.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Same as <seealso marker="#form/1"><c>form/1,2</c></seealso>,
          but only for function <c><anno>Function</anno></c>.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>

    <func>
      <name name="guard" arity="1"/>
      <name name="guard" arity="2"/>
      <fsummary>Pretty print a guard.</fsummary>
      <desc>
        <p>Same as <seealso marker="#form/1"><c>form/1,2</c></seealso>,
          but only for the guard test <c><anno>Guard</anno></c>.</p>
      </desc>
    </func>
  </funcs>

  <section>
    <marker id="knownlimitations"/>
    <title>Known Limitations</title>
    <p>It is not possible to have hook functions for unknown forms
      at other places than expressions.</p>
  </section>

  <section>
    <title>See Also</title>
    <p><seealso marker="erl_eval"><c>erl_eval(3)</c></seealso>,
      <seealso marker="erl_parse"><c>erl_parse(3)</c></seealso>,
      <seealso marker="io"><c>io(3)</c></seealso></p>
  </section>
</erlref>