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<erlref>
<header>
<copyright>
<year>1996</year><year>2012</year>
<holder>Ericsson AB. All Rights Reserved.</holder>
</copyright>
<legalnotice>
The contents of this file are subject to the Erlang Public License,
Version 1.1, (the "License"); you may not use this file except in
compliance with the License. You should have received a copy of the
Erlang Public License along with this software. If not, it can be
retrieved online at http://www.erlang.org/.
Software distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS"
basis, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See
the License for the specific language governing rights and limitations
under the License.
</legalnotice>
<title>io_lib</title>
<prepared></prepared>
<docno></docno>
<date></date>
<rev></rev>
</header>
<module>io_lib</module>
<modulesummary>IO Library Functions</modulesummary>
<description>
<p>This module contains functions for converting to and from
strings (lists of characters). They are used for implementing the
functions in the <c>io</c> module. There is no guarantee that the
character lists returned from some of the functions are flat,
they can be deep lists. <c>lists:flatten/1</c> can be used for
flattening deep lists.</p>
</description>
<datatypes>
<datatype>
<name name="chars"/>
</datatype>
<datatype>
<name name="continuation"/>
<desc><p>A continuation as returned by <seealso marker="#fread/3"><c>fread/3</c></seealso>.</p>
</desc>
</datatype>
<datatype>
<name name="depth"/>
</datatype>
<datatype>
<name name="fread_error"/>
</datatype>
</datatypes>
<funcs>
<func>
<name name="nl" arity="0"/>
<fsummary>Write a newline</fsummary>
<desc>
<p>Returns a character list which represents a new line
character.</p>
</desc>
</func>
<func>
<name name="write" arity="1"/>
<name name="write" arity="2"/>
<fsummary>Write a term</fsummary>
<desc>
<p>Returns a character list which represents <c><anno>Term</anno></c>. The
<c><anno>Depth</anno></c> (-1) argument controls the depth of the
structures written. When the specified depth is reached,
everything below this level is replaced by "...". For
example:</p>
<pre>
1> <input>lists:flatten(io_lib:write({1,[2],[3],[4,5],6,7,8,9})).</input>
"{1,[2],[3],[4,5],6,7,8,9}"
2> <input>lists:flatten(io_lib:write({1,[2],[3],[4,5],6,7,8,9}, 5)).</input>
"{1,[2],[3],[...],...}"</pre>
</desc>
</func>
<func>
<name name="print" arity="1"/>
<name name="print" arity="4"/>
<fsummary>Pretty print a term</fsummary>
<desc>
<p>Also returns a list of characters which represents
<c><anno>Term</anno></c>, but breaks representations which are longer than
one line into many lines and indents each line sensibly. It
also tries to detect and output lists of printable characters
as strings. <c><anno>Column</anno></c> is the starting column (1),
<c><anno>LineLength</anno></c> the maximum line length (80), and
<c><anno>Depth</anno></c> (-1) the maximum print depth.</p>
</desc>
</func>
<func>
<name name="fwrite" arity="2"/>
<name name="format" arity="2"/>
<fsummary>Write formatted output</fsummary>
<desc>
<p>Returns a character list which represents <c><anno>Data</anno></c>
formatted in accordance with <c><anno>Format</anno></c>. See
<seealso marker="io#fwrite/1">io:fwrite/1,2,3</seealso> for a detailed
description of the available formatting options. A fault is
generated if there is an error in the format string or
argument list.</p>
<p>If (and only if) the Unicode translation modifier is used
in the format string (i.e. ~ts or ~tc), the resulting list
may contain characters beyond the ISO-latin-1 character
range (in other words, numbers larger than 255). If so, the
result is not an ordinary Erlang string(), but can well be
used in any context where Unicode data is allowed.</p>
</desc>
</func>
<func>
<name name="fread" arity="2"/>
<fsummary>Read formatted input</fsummary>
<desc>
<p>Tries to read <c><anno>String</anno></c> in accordance with the control
sequences in <c><anno>Format</anno></c>. See
<seealso marker="io#fread/3">io:fread/3</seealso> for a detailed
description of the available formatting options. It is
assumed that <c><anno>String</anno></c> contains whole lines. It returns:</p>
<taglist>
<tag><c>{ok, <anno>InputList</anno>, <anno>LeftOverChars</anno>}</c></tag>
<item>
<p>The string was read. <c><anno>InputList</anno></c> is the list of
successfully matched and read items, and
<c><anno>LeftOverChars</anno></c> are the input characters not used.</p>
</item>
<tag><c>{more, <anno>RestFormat</anno>, <anno>Nchars</anno>, <anno>InputStack</anno>}</c></tag>
<item>
<p>The string was read, but more input is needed in order
to complete the original format string. <c><anno>RestFormat</anno></c>
is the remaining format string, <c><anno>Nchars</anno></c> the number
of characters scanned, and <c><anno>InputStack</anno></c> is the
reversed list of inputs matched up to that point.</p>
</item>
<tag><c>{error, <anno>What</anno>}</c></tag>
<item>
<p>The read operation failed and the parameter <c><anno>What</anno></c>
gives a hint about the error.</p>
</item>
</taglist>
<p>Example:</p>
<pre>
3> <input>io_lib:fread("~f~f~f", "15.6 17.3e-6 24.5").</input>
{ok,[15.6,1.73e-5,24.5],[]}</pre>
</desc>
</func>
<func>
<name name="fread" arity="3"/>
<fsummary>Re-entrant formatted reader</fsummary>
<desc>
<p>This is the re-entrant formatted reader. The continuation of
the first call to the functions must be <c>[]</c>. Refer to
Armstrong, Virding, Williams, 'Concurrent Programming in
Erlang', Chapter 13 for a complete description of how the
re-entrant input scheme works.</p>
<p>The function returns:</p>
<taglist>
<tag><c>{done, <anno>Result</anno>, <anno>LeftOverChars</anno>}</c></tag>
<item>
<p>The input is complete. The result is one of the
following:</p>
<taglist>
<tag><c>{ok, <anno>InputList</anno>}</c></tag>
<item>
<p>The string was read. <c><anno>InputList</anno></c> is the list of
successfully matched and read items, and
<c><anno>LeftOverChars</anno></c> are the remaining characters.</p>
</item>
<tag><c>eof</c></tag>
<item>
<p>End of file has been encountered.
<c><anno>LeftOverChars</anno></c> are the input characters not
used.</p>
</item>
<tag><c>{error, <anno>What</anno>}</c></tag>
<item>
<p>An error occurred and the parameter <c><anno>What</anno></c> gives
a hint about the error.</p>
</item>
</taglist>
</item>
<tag><c>{more, <anno>Continuation</anno>}</c></tag>
<item>
<p>More data is required to build a term.
<c><anno>Continuation</anno></c> must be passed to <c>fread/3</c>,
when more data becomes available.</p>
</item>
</taglist>
</desc>
</func>
<func>
<name name="write_atom" arity="1"/>
<fsummary>Write an atom</fsummary>
<desc>
<p>Returns the list of characters needed to print the atom
<c><anno>Atom</anno></c>.</p>
</desc>
</func>
<func>
<name name="write_string" arity="1"/>
<fsummary>Write a string</fsummary>
<desc>
<p>Returns the list of characters needed to print <c><anno>String</anno></c>
as a string.</p>
</desc>
</func>
<func>
<name name="write_char" arity="1"/>
<fsummary>Write a character</fsummary>
<desc>
<p>Returns the list of characters needed to print a character
constant in the ISO-latin-1 character set.</p>
</desc>
</func>
<func>
<name name="indentation" arity="2"/>
<fsummary>Indentation after printing string</fsummary>
<desc>
<p>Returns the indentation if <c><anno>String</anno></c> has been printed,
starting at <c><anno>StartIndent</anno></c>.</p>
</desc>
</func>
<func>
<name name="char_list" arity="1"/>
<fsummary>Test for a list of characters</fsummary>
<desc>
<p>Returns <c>true</c> if <c><anno>Term</anno></c> is a flat list of
characters in the ISO-latin-1 range, otherwise it returns <c>false</c>.</p>
</desc>
</func>
<func>
<name name="deep_char_list" arity="1"/>
<fsummary>Test for a deep list of characters</fsummary>
<desc>
<p>Returns <c>true</c> if <c><anno>Term</anno></c> is a, possibly deep, list
of characters in the ISO-latin-1 range, otherwise it returns <c>false</c>.</p>
</desc>
</func>
<func>
<name name="printable_list" arity="1"/>
<fsummary>Test for a list of printable ISO-latin-1 characters</fsummary>
<desc>
<p>Returns <c>true</c> if <c><anno>Term</anno></c> is a flat list of
printable ISO-latin-1 characters, otherwise it returns <c>false</c>.</p>
</desc>
</func>
</funcs>
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