Computes and returns the adler32 checksum for Data.

Continues computing the adler32 checksum by combining the previous checksum, OldAdler, with the checksum of Data.

The following code:

assigns the same value to Y as this:

Combines two previously computed adler32 checksums. This computation requires the size of the data object for the second checksum to be known.

The following code:

assigns the same value to Z as this:

Returns a new tuple that has one element more than Tuple1, and contains the elements in Tuple1 followed by Term as the last element. Semantically equivalent to list_to_tuple(tuple_to_list(Tuple1) ++ [Term]), but much faster.

Example:

> erlang:append_element({one, two}, three).
{one,two,three}

Calls a fun, passing the elements in Args as arguments.

If the number of elements in the arguments are known at compile time, the call is better written as Fun(Arg1, Arg2, ... ArgN).

Returns the result of applying Function in Module to Args. The applied function must be exported from Module. The arity of the function is the length of Args.

Example:

> apply(lists, reverse, [[a, b, c]]).
[c,b,a]
> apply(erlang, atom_to_list, ['Erlang']).
"Erlang"

If the number of arguments are known at compile time, the call is better written as Module:Function(Arg1, Arg2, ..., ArgN).

Failure: error_handler:undefined_function/3 is called if the applied function is not exported. The error handler can be redefined (see process_flag/2). If error_handler is undefined, or if the user has redefined the default error_handler so the replacement module is undefined, an error with the reason undef is generated.

Returns a binary corresponding to the text representation of Atom. If Encoding is latin1, there is one byte for each character in the text representation. If Encoding is utf8 or unicode, the characters are encoded using UTF-8 (that is, characters from 128 through 255 are encoded in two bytes).

Example:

> atom_to_binary('Erlang', latin1).
<<"Erlang">>

Returns a string corresponding to the text representation of Atom, for example:

> atom_to_list('Erlang').
"Erlang"

Extracts the part of the binary described by PosLen.

Negative length can be used to extract bytes at the end of a binary, for example:

Failure: badarg if PosLen in any way references outside the binary.

Start is zero-based, that is:

For details about the PosLen semantics, see the binary manual page in STDLIB.

Allowed in guard tests.

The same as binary_part(Subject, {Start, Length}).

Allowed in guard tests.

Returns the atom whose text representation is Binary. If Encoding is latin1, no translation of bytes in the binary is done. If Encoding is utf8 or unicode, the binary must contain valid UTF-8 sequences. Only Unicode characters up to 255 are allowed.

Examples:

> binary_to_atom(<<"Erlang">>, latin1).
'Erlang'
> binary_to_atom(<<1024/utf8>>, utf8).
** exception error: bad argument
     in function  binary_to_atom/2
        called as binary_to_atom(<<208,128>>,utf8)

As binary_to_atom/2, but the atom must exist.

Failure: badarg if the atom does not exist.

Returns the float whose text representation is Binary, for example:

> binary_to_float(<<"2.2017764e+0">>).
2.2017764

Failure: badarg if Binary contains a bad representation of a float.

Returns an integer whose text representation is Binary, for example:

> binary_to_integer(<<"123">>).
123

Failure: badarg if Binary contains a bad representation of an integer.

Returns an integer whose text representation in base Base is Binary, for example:

> binary_to_integer(<<"3FF">>, 16).
1023

Failure: badarg if Binary contains a bad representation of an integer.

Returns a list of integers corresponding to the bytes of Binary.

As binary_to_list/1, but returns a list of integers corresponding to the bytes from position Start to position Stop in Binary. The positions in the binary are numbered starting from 1.

Returns a list of integers corresponding to the bytes of Bitstring. If the number of bits in the binary is not divisible by 8, the last element of the list is a bitstring containing the remaining 1-7 bits.

Returns an Erlang term that is the result of decoding binary object Binary, which must be encoded according to the Erlang external term format.

See also term_to_binary/1 and binary_to_term/2.

As binary_to_term/1, but takes options that affect decoding of the binary.

Failure: badarg if safe is specified and unsafe data is decoded.

See also term_to_binary/1, binary_to_term/1, and list_to_existing_atom/1.

Returns an integer that is the size in bits of Bitstring, for example:

> bit_size(<<433:16,3:3>>).
19
> bit_size(<<1,2,3>>).
24

Allowed in guard tests.

This implementation-dependent function increments the reduction counter for the calling process. In the Beam emulator, the reduction counter is normally incremented by one for each function and BIF call. A context switch is forced when the counter reaches the maximum number of reductions for a process (2000 reductions in OTP R12B).

Returns an integer that is the number of bytes needed to contain Bitstring. That is, if the number of bits in Bitstring is not divisible by 8, the resulting number of bytes is rounded up.

Examples:

> byte_size(<<433:16,3:3>>).
3
> byte_size(<<1,2,3>>).
3

Allowed in guard tests.

Cancels a timer that has been created by erlang:start_timer(), or erlang:send_after(). TimerRef identifies the timer, and was returned by the BIF that created the timer.

Available Options:

More Options may be added in the future.

If Result is an integer, it represents the time in milli-seconds left until the canceled timer would have expired.

If Result is false, a timer corresponding to TimerRef could not be found. This can be either because the timer had expired, already had been canceled, or because TimerRef never corresponded to a timer. Even if the timer had expired, it does not tell you whether or not the timeout message has arrived at its destination yet.

See also erlang:send_after/4, erlang:start_timer/4, and erlang:read_timer/2.

Cancels a timer. The same as calling erlang:cancel_timer(TimerRef, []).

Returns true if Module has old code, otherwise false.

See also code(3).

The same as erlang:check_process_code(Pid, Module, []).

Checks if the node local process identified by Pid executes old code for Module.

The available Options are as follows:

If Pid equals self(), and no async option has been passed, the operation is performed at once. Otherwise a request for the operation is sent to the process identified by Pid, and is handled when appropriate. If no async option has been passed, the caller blocks until CheckResult is available and can be returned.

CheckResult informs about the result of the request as follows:

See also code(3).

Failures:

Converts the Time value of time unit FromUnit to the corresponding ConvertedTime value of time unit ToUnit. The result is rounded using the floor function.

Computes and returns the crc32 (IEEE 802.3 style) checksum for Data.

Continues computing the crc32 checksum by combining the previous checksum, OldCrc, with the checksum of Data.

The following code:

assigns the same value to Y as this:

Combines two previously computed crc32 checksums. This computation requires the size of the data object for the second checksum to be known.

The following code:

assigns the same value to Z as this:

Returns the current date as {Year, Month, Day}.

The time zone and Daylight Saving Time correction depend on the underlying OS.

Example:

> date().
{1995,2,19}

Decodes the binary Bin according to the packet protocol specified by Type. Similar to the packet handling done by sockets with option {packet,Type}.

If an entire packet is contained in Bin, it is returned together with the remainder of the binary as {ok,Packet,Rest}.

If Bin does not contain the entire packet, {more,Length} is returned. Length is either the expected total size of the packet, or undefined if the expected packet size is unknown. decode_packet can then be called again with more data added.

If the packet does not conform to the protocol format, {error,Reason} is returned.

The following Types are valid:

The following options are available:

Examples:

> erlang:decode_packet(1,<<3,"abcd">>,[]).
{ok,<<"abc">>,<<"d">>}
> erlang:decode_packet(1,<<5,"abcd">>,[]).
{more,6}

Returns a new tuple with element at Index removed from tuple Tuple1, for example:

> erlang:delete_element(2, {one, two, three}).
{one,three}

Makes the current code for Module become old code, and deletes all references for this module from the export table. Returns undefined if the module does not exist, otherwise true.

Failure: badarg if there already is an old version of Module.

If MonitorRef is a reference that the calling process obtained by calling monitor/2, this monitoring is turned off. If the monitoring is already turned off, nothing happens.

Once demonitor(MonitorRef) has returned, it is guaranteed that no {'DOWN', MonitorRef, _, _, _} message, because of the monitor, will be placed in the caller message queue in the future. A {'DOWN', MonitorRef, _, _, _} message can have been placed in the caller message queue before the call, though. It is therefore usually advisable to remove such a 'DOWN' message from the message queue after monitoring has been stopped. demonitor(MonitorRef, [flush]) can be used instead of demonitor(MonitorRef) if this cleanup is wanted.

Failure: It is an error if MonitorRef refers to a monitoring started by another process. Not all such cases are cheap to check. If checking is cheap, the call fails with badarg for example, if MonitorRef is a remote reference.

The returned value is true unless info is part of OptionList.

demonitor(MonitorRef, []) is equivalent to demonitor(MonitorRef).

The available Options are as follows:

Failures:

Forces the disconnection of a node. This appears to the node Node as if the local node has crashed. This BIF is mainly used in the Erlang network authentication protocols.

Returns true if disconnection succeeds, otherwise false. If the local node is not alive, ignored is returned.

Prints a text representation of Term on the standard output.

Returns the Nth element (numbering from 1) of Tuple, for example:

> element(2, {a, b, c}).
b

Allowed in guard tests.

Returns the process dictionary and deletes it, for example:

> put(key1, {1, 2, 3}),
put(key2, [a, b, c]),
erase().
[{key1,{1,2,3}},{key2,[a,b,c]}]

Returns the value Val associated with Key and deletes it from the process dictionary. Returns undefined if no value is associated with Key.

Example:

> put(key1, {merry, lambs, are, playing}),
X = erase(key1),
{X, erase(key1)}.
{{merry,lambs,are,playing},undefined}

Stops the execution of the calling process with the reason Reason, where Reason is any term. The exit reason is {Reason, Where}, where Where is a list of the functions most recently called (the current function first). Since evaluating this function causes the process to terminate, it has no return value.

Example:

> catch error(foobar).
{'EXIT',{foobar,[{erl_eval,do_apply,5},
                 {erl_eval,expr,5},
                 {shell,exprs,6},
                 {shell,eval_exprs,6},
                 {shell,eval_loop,3}]}}

Stops the execution of the calling process with the reason Reason, where Reason is any term. The exit reason is {Reason, Where}, where Where is a list of the functions most recently called (the current function first). Args is expected to be the list of arguments for the current function; in Beam it is used to provide the arguments for the current function in the term Where. Since evaluating this function causes the process to terminate, it has no return value.

Stops the execution of the calling process with exit reason Reason, where Reason is any term. Since evaluating this function causes the process to terminate, it has no return value.

Example:

> exit(foobar).
** exception exit: foobar
> catch exit(foobar).
{'EXIT',foobar}

Sends an exit signal with exit reason Reason to the process or port identified by Pid.

The following behavior applies if Reason is any term, except normal or kill:

If Reason is the atom normal, Pid does not exit. If it is trapping exits, the exit signal is transformed into a message {'EXIT', From, normal} and delivered to its message queue.

If Reason is the atom kill, that is, if exit(Pid, kill) is called, an untrappable exit signal is sent to Pid, which unconditionally exits with exit reason killed.

Calculates, without doing the encoding, the maximum byte size for a term encoded in the Erlang external term format. The following condition applies always:

> Size1 = byte_size(term_to_binary(Term)),
> Size2 = erlang:external_size(Term),
> true = Size1 =< Size2.
true

This is equivalent to a call to:

Calculates, without doing the encoding, the maximum byte size for a term encoded in the Erlang external term format. The following condition applies always:

> Size1 = byte_size(term_to_binary(Term, Options)),
> Size2 = erlang:external_size(Term, Options),
> true = Size1 =< Size2.
true

Option {minor_version, Version} specifies how floats are encoded. For a detailed description, see term_to_binary/2.

Returns a float by converting Number to a float, for example:

> float(55).
55.0

Allowed in guard tests.

The same as float_to_binary(Float,[{scientific,20}]).

Returns a binary corresponding to the text representation of Float using fixed decimal point formatting. Options behaves in the same way as float_to_list/2.

Examples:

> float_to_binary(7.12, [{decimals, 4}]).
<<"7.1200">>
> float_to_binary(7.12, [{decimals, 4}, compact]).
<<"7.12">>

The same as float_to_list(Float,[{scientific,20}]).

Returns a string corresponding to the text representation of Float using fixed decimal point formatting. The options are as follows:

Examples:

> float_to_list(7.12, [{decimals, 4}]).
"7.1200"
> float_to_list(7.12, [{decimals, 4}, compact]).
"7.12"

Returns a list with information about the fun Fun. Each list element is a tuple. The order of the tuples is undefined, and more tuples can be added in a future release.

Two types of funs have slightly different semantics:

The following elements are always present in the list for both local and external funs:

The following elements are only present in the list if Fun is local:

Returns a string corresponding to the text representation of Fun.

Returns true if the module Module is loaded and contains an exported function Function/Arity, or if there is a BIF (a built-in function implemented in C) with the given name, otherwise returns false.

Forces an immediate garbage collection of the executing process. The function is not to be used unless it has been noticed (or there are good reasons to suspect) that the spontaneous garbage collection will occur too late or not at all.

The same as garbage_collect(Pid, []).

Garbage collects the node local process identified by Pid.

The available Options are as follows:

If Pid equals self(), and no async option has been passed, the garbage collection is performed at once, that is, the same as calling garbage_collect/0. Otherwise a request for garbage collection is sent to the process identified by Pid, and will be handled when appropriate. If no async option has been passed, the caller blocks until GCResult is available and can be returned.

GCResult informs about the result of the garbage collection request as follows:

Notice that the same caveats apply as for garbage_collect/0.

Failures:

Returns the process dictionary as a list of {Key, Val} tuples, for example:

> put(key1, merry),
put(key2, lambs),
put(key3, {are, playing}),
get().
[{key1,merry},{key2,lambs},{key3,{are,playing}}]

Returns the value Val associated with Key in the process dictionary, or undefined if Key does not exist.

Example:

> put(key1, merry),
put(key2, lambs),
put({any, [valid, term]}, {are, playing}),
get({any, [valid, term]}).
{are,playing}

Returns the magic cookie of the local node if the node is alive, otherwise the atom nocookie.

Returns a list of keys all keys present in the process dictionary.

> put(dog, {animal,1}),
put(cow, {animal,2}),
put(lamb, {animal,3}),
get_keys().
[dog,cow,lamb]

Returns a list of keys that are associated with the value Val in the process dictionary, for example:

> put(mary, {1, 2}),
put(had, {1, 2}),
put(a, {1, 2}),
put(little, {1, 2}),
put(dog, {1, 3}),
put(lamb, {1, 2}),
get_keys({1, 2}).
[mary,had,a,little,lamb]

Returns the process identifier of the group leader for the process evaluating the function.

Every process is a member of some process group and all groups have a group leader. All I/O from the group is channeled to the group leader. When a new process is spawned, it gets the same group leader as the spawning process. Initially, at system start-up, init is both its own group leader and the group leader of all processes.

Sets the group leader of Pid to GroupLeader. Typically, this is used when a process started from a certain shell is to have another group leader than init.

See also group_leader/0.

The same as halt(0, []).

Example:

> halt().
os_prompt% 

The same as halt(Status, []).

Example:

> halt(17).
os_prompt% echo $?
17
os_prompt% 

Status must be a non-negative integer, a string, or the atom abort. Halts the Erlang runtime system. Has no return value. Depending on Status, the following occurs:

For integer Status, the Erlang runtime system closes all ports and allows async threads to finish their operations before exiting. To exit without such flushing, use Option as {flush,false}.

For statuses string() and abort, option flush is ignored and flushing is not done.

Returns a hash value for Term within the range 1..Range. The maximum range is 1..2^27-1.

Returns the head of List, that is, the first element, for example:

> hd([1,2,3,4,5]).
1

Allowed in guard tests.

Failure: badarg if List is the empty list [].

Puts the calling process into a wait state where its memory allocation has been reduced as much as possible. This is useful if the process does not expect to receive any messages soon.

The process is awaken when a message is sent to it, and control resumes in Module:Function with the arguments given by Args with the call stack emptied, meaning that the process terminates when that function returns. Thus erlang:hibernate/3 never returns to its caller.

If the process has any message in its message queue, the process is awakened immediately in the same way as described earlier.

In more technical terms, what erlang:hibernate/3 does is the following. It discards the call stack for the process, and then garbage collects the process. After this, all live data is in one continuous heap. The heap is then shrunken to the exact same size as the live data that it holds (even if that size is less than the minimum heap size for the process).

If the size of the live data in the process is less than the minimum heap size, the first garbage collection occurring after the process is awakened ensures that the heap size is changed to a size not smaller than the minimum heap size.

Notice that emptying the call stack means that any surrounding catch is removed and must be reinserted after hibernation. One effect of this is that processes started using proc_lib (also indirectly, such as gen_server processes), are to use proc_lib:hibernate/3 instead, to ensure that the exception handler continues to work when the process wakes up.

Returns a new tuple with element Term inserted at position Index in tuple Tuple1. All elements from position Index and upwards are pushed one step higher in the new tuple Tuple2.

Example:

> erlang:insert_element(2, {one, two, three}, new).
{one,new,two,three}

Returns a binary corresponding to the text representation of Integer, for example:

> integer_to_binary(77).
<<"77">>

Returns a binary corresponding to the text representation of Integer in base Base, for example:

> integer_to_binary(1023, 16).
<<"3FF">>

Returns a string corresponding to the text representation of Integer, for example:

> integer_to_list(77).
"77"

Returns a string corresponding to the text representation of Integer in base Base, for example:

> integer_to_list(1023, 16).
"3FF"

Returns a binary that is made from the integers and binaries in IoListOrBinary, for example:

> Bin1 = <<1,2,3>>.
<<1,2,3>>
> Bin2 = <<4,5>>.
<<4,5>>
> Bin3 = <<6>>.
<<6>>
> iolist_to_binary([Bin1,1,[2,3,Bin2],4|Bin3]).
<<1,2,3,1,2,3,4,5,4,6>>

Returns an integer that is the size in bytes of the binary that would be the result of iolist_to_binary(Item), for example:

> iolist_size([1,2|<<3,4>>]).
4

Returns true if the local node is alive (that is, if the node can be part of a distributed system), otherwise false.

Returns true if Term is an atom, otherwise false.

Allowed in guard tests.

Returns true if Term is a binary, otherwise false.

A binary always contains a complete number of bytes.

Allowed in guard tests.

Returns true if Term is a bitstring (including a binary), otherwise false.

Allowed in guard tests.

Returns true if Term is the atom true or the atom false (that is, a boolean). Otherwise returns false.

Allowed in guard tests.

This BIF is useful for builders of cross-reference tools.

Returns true if Module:Function/Arity is a BIF implemented in C, otherwise false.

Returns true if Term is a floating point number, otherwise false.

Allowed in guard tests.

Returns true if Term is a fun, otherwise false.

Allowed in guard tests.

Returns true if Term is a fun that can be applied with Arity number of arguments, otherwise false.

Allowed in guard tests.

Returns true if Term is an integer, otherwise false.

Allowed in guard tests.

Returns true if Term is a list with zero or more elements, otherwise false.

Allowed in guard tests.

Returns true if Term is a map, otherwise false.

Allowed in guard tests.

Returns true if Term is an integer or a floating point number. Otherwise returns false.

Allowed in guard tests.

Returns true if Term is a process identifier, otherwise false.

Allowed in guard tests.

Returns true if Term is a port identifier, otherwise false.

Allowed in guard tests.

Pid must refer to a process at the local node.

Returns true if the process exists and is alive, that is, is not exiting and has not exited. Otherwise returns false.

Returns true if Term is a tuple and its first element is RecordTag. Otherwise returns false.

Allowed in guard tests, if RecordTag is a literal atom.

RecordTag must be an atom.

Returns true if Term is a tuple, its first element is RecordTag, and its size is Size. Otherwise returns false.

Allowed in guard tests if RecordTag is a literal atom and Size is a literal integer.

Returns true if Term is a reference, otherwise false.

Allowed in guard tests.

Returns true if Term is a tuple, otherwise false.

Allowed in guard tests.

Returns the length of List, for example:

> length([1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]).
9

Allowed in guard tests.

Creates a link between the calling process and another process (or port) PidOrPort, if there is not such a link already. If a process attempts to create a link to itself, nothing is done. Returns true.

If PidOrPort does not exist, the behavior of the BIF depends on if the calling process is trapping exits or not (see process_flag/2):

Returns the atom whose text representation is String.

String can only contain ISO-latin-1 characters (that is, numbers less than 256) as the implementation does not allow unicode characters equal to or above 256 in atoms. For more information on Unicode support in atoms, see note on UTF-8 encoded atoms in Section "External Term Format" in the User's Guide.

Example:

> list_to_atom("Erlang").
'Erlang'

Returns a binary that is made from the integers and binaries in IoList, for example:

> Bin1 = <<1,2,3>>.
<<1,2,3>>
> Bin2 = <<4,5>>.
<<4,5>>
> Bin3 = <<6>>.
<<6>>
> list_to_binary([Bin1,1,[2,3,Bin2],4|Bin3]).
<<1,2,3,1,2,3,4,5,4,6>>

Returns the atom whose text representation is String, but only if there already exists such atom.

Failure: badarg if there does not already exist an atom whose text representation is String.

Returns the float whose text representation is String, for example:

> list_to_float("2.2017764e+0").
2.2017764

Failure: badarg if String contains a bad representation of a float.

Returns an integer whose text representation is String, for example:

> list_to_integer("123").
123

Failure: badarg if String contains a bad representation of an integer.

Returns an integer whose text representation in base Base is String, for example:

> list_to_integer("3FF", 16).
1023

Failure: badarg if String contains a bad representation of an integer.

Returns a process identifier whose text representation is a String, for example:

> list_to_pid("<0.4.1>").
<0.4.1>

Failure: badarg if String contains a bad representation of a process identifier.

Returns a tuple corresponding to List, for example

> list_to_tuple([share, ['Ericsson_B', 163]]).
{share, ['Ericsson_B', 163]}

List can contain any Erlang terms.

If Binary contains the object code for module Module, this BIF loads that object code. If the code for module Module already exists, all export references are replaced so they point to the newly loaded code. The previously loaded code is kept in the system as old code, as there can still be processes executing that code.

Returns either {module, Module}, or {error, Reason} if loading fails. Reason is any of the following:

Loads and links a dynamic library containing native implemented functions (NIFs) for a module. Path is a file path to the shareable object/dynamic library file minus the OS-dependent file extension (.so for Unix and .dll for Windows. For information on how to implement a NIF library, see erl_nif.

LoadInfo can be any term. It is passed on to the library as part of the initialization. A good practice is to include a module version number to support future code upgrade scenarios.

The call to load_nif/2 must be made directly from the Erlang code of the module that the NIF library belongs to. It returns either ok, or {error,{Reason,Text}} if loading fails. Reason is one of the following atoms while Text is a human readable string that can give more information about the failure:

Returns a list of all loaded Erlang modules (current and old code), including preloaded modules.

See also code(3).

Returns the current local date and time, {{Year, Month, Day}, {Hour, Minute, Second}}, for example:

> erlang:localtime().
{{1996,11,6},{14,45,17}}

The time zone and Daylight Saving Time correction depend on the underlying OS.

Converts local date and time to Universal Time Coordinated (UTC), if supported by the underlying OS. Otherwise no conversion is done and Localtime is returned.

Example:

> erlang:localtime_to_universaltime({{1996,11,6},{14,45,17}}).
{{1996,11,6},{13,45,17}}

Failure: badarg if Localtime denotes an invalid date and time.

Converts local date and time to Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) as erlang:localtime_to_universaltime/1, but the caller decides if Daylight Saving Time is active.

If IsDst == true, Localtime is during Daylight Saving Time, if IsDst == false it is not. If IsDst == undefined, the underlying OS can guess, which is the same as calling erlang:localtime_to_universaltime(Localtime).

Examples:

> erlang:localtime_to_universaltime({{1996,11,6},{14,45,17}}, true).
{{1996,11,6},{12,45,17}}
> erlang:localtime_to_universaltime({{1996,11,6},{14,45,17}}, false).
{{1996,11,6},{13,45,17}}
> erlang:localtime_to_universaltime({{1996,11,6},{14,45,17}}, undefined).
{{1996,11,6},{13,45,17}}

Failure: badarg if Localtime denotes an invalid date and time.

Returns a unique reference. The reference is unique among connected nodes.

Creates a new tuple of the given Arity, where all elements are InitialValue, for example:

> erlang:make_tuple(4, []).
{[],[],[],[]}

Creates a tuple of size Arity, where each element has value DefaultValue, and then fills in values from InitList. Each list element in InitList must be a two-tuple, where the first element is a position in the newly created tuple and the second element is any term. If a position occurs more than once in the list, the term corresponding to the last occurrence is used.

Example:

> erlang:make_tuple(5, [], [{2,ignored},{5,zz},{2,aa}]).
{{[],aa,[],[],zz}

Returns an integer, which is the number of key-value pairs in Map, for example:

> map_size(#{a=>1, b=>2, c=>3}).
3

Allowed in guard tests.

This function is a utility to test a match_spec used in calls to ets:select/2 and erlang:trace_pattern/3. The function both tests MatchSpec for "syntactic" correctness and runs the match_spec against the object. If the match_spec contains errors, the tuple {error, Errors} is returned where Errors is a list of natural language descriptions of what was wrong with the match_spec.

If the Type is table the object to match against should be a tuple. The function then returns {ok,Result,[],Warnings} where Result is what would have been the result in a real ets:select/2 call or false if the match_spec does not match the object tuple.

If Type is trace the object to match against should be a list. The function returns {ok, Result, Flags, Warnings} where Result is true if a trace message should be emitted, false if a trace message should not be emitted or the message term to be appended to the trace message. Flags is a list containing all the trace flags that will be enabled, at the moment this is only return_trace.

This is a useful debugging and test tool, especially when writing complicated match specifications.

See also ets:test_ms/2.

Returns the largest of Term1 and Term2. If the terms are equal, Term1 is returned.

Computes an MD5 message digest from Data, where the length of the digest is 128 bits (16 bytes). Data is a binary or a list of small integers and binaries.

For more information about MD5, see RFC 1321 - The MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm.

Finishes the update of an MD5 Context and returns the computed MD5 message digest.

Creates an MD5 context, to be used in subsequent calls to md5_update/2.

Updates an MD5 Context with Data and returns a NewContext.

Returns the smallest of Term1 and Term2. If the terms are equal, Term1 is returned.

Returns true if the module Module is loaded, otherwise false. It does not attempt to load the module.

Monitors the status of the node Node. If Flag is true, monitoring is turned on. If Flag is false, monitoring is turned off.

Making several calls to monitor_node(Node, true) for the same Node is not an error; it results in as many independent monitoring instances.

If Node fails or does not exist, the message {nodedown, Node} is delivered to the process. If a process has made two calls to monitor_node(Node, true) and Node terminates, two nodedown messages are delivered to the process. If there is no connection to Node, an attempt is made to create one. If this fails, a nodedown message is delivered.

Nodes connected through hidden connections can be monitored as any other nodes.

Failure: badarg if the local node is not alive.

Behaves as monitor_node/2 except that it allows an extra option to be given, namely allow_passive_connect. This option allows the BIF to wait the normal network connection time-out for the monitored node to connect itself, even if it cannot be actively connected from this node (that is, it is blocked). The state where this can be useful can only be achieved by using the Kernel option dist_auto_connect once. If that option is not used, option allow_passive_connect has no effect.

Failure: badarg if the local node is not alive or the option list is malformed.

Returns the current Erlang monotonic time in native time unit. This is a monotonically increasing time since some unspecified point in time.

Returns the current Erlang monotonic time converted into the Unit passed as argument.

Same as calling erlang:convert_time_unit(erlang:monotonic_time(), native, Unit) however optimized for commonly used Units.

Works exactly like erlang:error/1, but Dialyzer thinks that this BIF will return an arbitrary term. When used in a stub function for a NIF to generate an exception when the NIF library is not loaded, Dialyzer does not generate false warnings.

Works exactly like erlang:error/2, but Dialyzer thinks that this BIF will return an arbitrary term. When used in a stub function for a NIF to generate an exception when the NIF library is not loaded, Dialyzer does not generate false warnings.

Returns the name of the local node. If the node is not alive, nonode@nohost is returned instead.

Allowed in guard tests.

Returns the node where Arg originates. Arg can be a process identifier, a reference, or a port. If the local node is not alive, nonode@nohost is returned.

Allowed in guard tests.

Returns a list of all visible nodes in the system, except the local node. Same as nodes(visible).

Returns a list of nodes according to the argument given. The returned result when the argument is a list, is the list of nodes satisfying the disjunction(s) of the list elements.

NodeType can be any of the following:

Some equalities: [node()] = nodes(this), nodes(connected) = nodes([visible, hidden]), and nodes() = nodes(visible).

Returns a port identifier as the result of opening a new Erlang port. A port can be seen as an external Erlang process.

The name of the executable as well as the arguments given in cd, env, args, and arg0 are subject to Unicode file name translation if the system is running in Unicode file name mode. To avoid translation or to force, for example UTF-8, supply the executable and/or arguments as a binary in the correct encoding. For details, see the module file, the function file:native_name_encoding/0, and the STDLIB User's Guide.

PortName can be any of the following:

PortSettings is a list of settings for the port. The valid settings are as follows:

Default is stream for all port types and use_stdio for spawned ports.

Failure: If the port cannot be opened, the exit reason is badarg, system_limit, or the POSIX error code that most closely describes the error, or einval if no POSIX code is appropriate:

During use of a port opened using {spawn, Name}, {spawn_driver, Name}, or {spawn_executable, Name}, errors arising when sending messages to it are reported to the owning process using signals of the form {'EXIT', Port, PosixCode}. For the possible values of PosixCode, see the file(3) manual page in Kernel.

The maximum number of ports that can be open at the same time can be configured by passing command-line flag +Q to erl(1).

Portable hash function that gives the same hash for the same Erlang term regardless of machine architecture and ERTS version (the BIF was introduced in ERTS 4.9.1.1). The function returns a hash value for Term within the range 1..Range. The maximum value for Range is 2^32.

This BIF can be used instead of the old deprecated BIF erlang:hash/2, as it calculates better hashes for all data types, but consider using phash2/1,2 instead.

Returns a string corresponding to the text representation of Pid.

Closes an open port. Roughly the same as Port ! {self(), close} except for the error behavior (see the following), being synchronous, and that the port does not reply with {Port, closed}. Any process can close a port with port_close/1, not only the port owner (the connected process). If the calling process is linked to the port identified by Port, the exit signal from the port is guaranteed to be delivered before port_close/1 returns.

For comparison: Port ! {self(), close} only fails with badarg if Port does not refer to a port or a process. If Port is a closed port, nothing happens. If Port is an open port and the calling process is the port owner, the port replies with {Port, closed} when all buffers have been flushed and the port really closes. If the calling process is not the port owner, the port owner fails with badsig.

Notice that any process can close a port using Port ! {PortOwner, close} as if it itself was the port owner, but the reply always goes to the port owner.

As from OTP R16, Port ! {PortOwner, close} is truly asynchronous. Notice that this operation has always been documented as an asynchronous operation, while the underlying implementation has been synchronous. port_close/1 is however still fully synchronous. This because of its error behavior.

Failure: badarg if Port is not an identifier of an open port, or the registered name of an open port. If the calling process was previously linked to the closed port, identified by Port, the exit signal from the port is guaranteed to be delivered before this badarg exception occurs.

Sends data to a port. Same as Port ! {PortOwner, {command, Data}} except for the error behavior and being synchronous (see the following). Any process can send data to a port with port_command/2, not only the port owner (the connected process).

For comparison: Port ! {PortOwner, {command, Data}} only fails with badarg if Port does not refer to a port or a process. If Port is a closed port, the data message disappears without a sound. If Port is open and the calling process is not the port owner, the port owner fails with badsig. The port owner fails with badsig also if Data is an invalid I/O list.

Notice that any process can send to a port using Port ! {PortOwner, {command, Data}} as if it itself was the port owner.

If the port is busy, the calling process is suspended until the port is not busy any more.

As from OTP-R16, Port ! {PortOwner, {command, Data}} is truly asynchronous. Notice that this operation has always been documented as an asynchronous operation, while the underlying implementation has been synchronous. port_command/2 is however still fully synchronous. This because of its error behavior.

Failures:

Sends data to a port. port_command(Port, Data, []) equals port_command(Port, Data).

If the port command is aborted, false is returned, otherwise true.

If the port is busy, the calling process is suspended until the port is not busy any more.

The following Options are valid:

Failures:

Sets the port owner (the connected port) to Pid. Roughly the same as Port ! {Owner, {connect, Pid}} except for the following:

The old port owner stays linked to the port and must call unlink(Port) if this is not desired. Any process can set the port owner to be any process with port_connect/2.

For comparison: Port ! {self(), {connect, Pid}} only fails with badarg if Port does not refer to a port or a process. If Port is a closed port, nothing happens. If Port is an open port and the calling process is the port owner, the port replies with {Port, connected} to the old port owner. Notice that the old port owner is still linked to the port, while the new is not. If Port is an open port and the calling process is not the port owner, the port owner fails with badsig. The port owner fails with badsig also if Pid is not an existing local process identifier.

Notice that any process can set the port owner using Port ! {PortOwner, {connect, Pid}} as if it itself was the port owner, but the reply always goes to the port owner.

As from OTP-R16, Port ! {PortOwner, {connect, Pid}} is truly asynchronous. Notice that this operation has always been documented as an asynchronous operation, while the underlying implementation has been synchronous. port_connect/2 is however still fully synchronous. This because of its error behavior.

Failures:

Performs a synchronous control operation on a port. The meaning of Operation and Data depends on the port, that is, on the port driver. Not all port drivers support this control feature.

Returns a list of integers in the range 0..255, or a binary, depending on the port driver. The meaning of the returned data also depends on the port driver.

Failures:

Performs a synchronous call to a port. The meaning of Operation and Data depends on the port, that is, on the port driver. Not all port drivers support this feature.

Port is a port identifier, referring to a driver.

Operation is an integer, which is passed on to the driver.

Data is any Erlang term. This data is converted to binary term format and sent to the port.

Returns a term from the driver. The meaning of the returned data also depends on the port driver.

Failures:

Returns a list containing tuples with information about Port, or undefined if the port is not open. The order of the tuples is undefined, and all the tuples are not mandatory. If the port is closed and the calling process was previously linked to the port, the exit signal from the port is guaranteed to be delivered before port_info/1 returns undefined.

The result contains information about the following Items:

For more information about the different Items, see port_info/2.

Failure: badarg if Port is not a local port identifier, or an atom.

Pid is the process identifier of the process connected to the port.

If the port identified by Port is not open, undefined is returned. If the port is closed and the calling process was previously linked to the port, the exit signal from the port is guaranteed to be delivered before port_info/2 returns undefined.

Failure: badarg if Port is not a local port identifier, or an atom.

Index is the internal index of the port. This index can be used to separate ports.

If the port identified by Port is not open, undefined is returned. If the port is closed and the calling process was previously linked to the port, the exit signal from the port is guaranteed to be delivered before port_info/2 returns undefined.

Failure: badarg if Port is not a local port identifier, or an atom.

Bytes is the total number of bytes read from the port.

If the port identified by Port is not open, undefined is returned. If the port is closed and the calling process was previously linked to the port, the exit signal from the port is guaranteed to be delivered before port_info/2 returns undefined.

Failure: badarg if Port is not a local port identifier, or an atom.

Pids is a list of the process identifiers of the processes that the port is linked to.

If the port identified by Port is not open, undefined is returned. If the port is closed and the calling process was previously linked to the port, the exit signal from the port is guaranteed to be delivered before port_info/2 returns undefined.

Failure: badarg if Port is not a local port identifier, or an atom.

Locking is one of the following:

Notice that these results are highly implementation-specific and can change in a future release.

If the port identified by Port is not open, undefined is returned. If the port is closed and the calling process was previously linked to the port, the exit signal from the port is guaranteed to be delivered before port_info/2 returns undefined.

Failure: badarg if Port is not a local port identifier, or an atom.

Bytes is the total number of bytes allocated for this port by the runtime system. The port itself can have allocated memory that is not included in Bytes.

If the port identified by Port is not open, undefined is returned. If the port is closed and the calling process was previously linked to the port, the exit signal from the port is guaranteed to be delivered before port_info/2 returns undefined.

Failure: badarg if Port is not a local port identifier, or an atom.

Monitors represent processes that this port monitors.

If the port identified by Port is not open, undefined is returned. If the port is closed and the calling process was previously linked to the port, the exit signal from the port is guaranteed to be delivered before port_info/2 returns undefined.

Failure: badarg if Port is not a local port identifier, or an atom.

Name is the command name set by open_port/2.

If the port identified by Port is not open, undefined is returned. If the port is closed and the calling process was previously linked to the port, the exit signal from the port is guaranteed to be delivered before port_info/2 returns undefined.

Failure: badarg if Port is not a local port identifier, or an atom.

OsPid is the process identifier (or equivalent) of an OS process created with open_port({spawn | spawn_executable, Command}, Options). If the port is not the result of spawning an OS process, the value is undefined.

If the port identified by Port is not open, undefined is returned. If the port is closed and the calling process was previously linked to the port, the exit signal from the port is guaranteed to be delivered before port_info/2 returns undefined.

Failure: badarg if Port is not a local port identifier, or an atom.

Bytes is the total number of bytes written to the port from Erlang processes using port_command/2, port_command/3, or Port ! {Owner, {command, Data}.

If the port identified by Port is not open, undefined is returned. If the port is closed and the calling process was previously linked to the port, the exit signal from the port is guaranteed to be delivered before port_info/2 returns undefined.

Failure: badarg if Port is not a local port identifier, or an atom.

Boolean corresponds to the port parallelism hint being used by this port. For more information, see option parallelism of open_port/2.

Bytes is the total number of bytes queued by the port using the ERTS driver queue implementation.

If the port identified by Port is not open, undefined is returned. If the port is closed and the calling process was previously linked to the port, the exit signal from the port is guaranteed to be delivered before port_info/2 returns undefined.

Failure: badarg if Port is not a local port identifier, or an atom.

RegisteredName is the registered name of the port. If the port has no registered name, [] is returned.

If the port identified by Port is not open, undefined is returned. If the port is closed and the calling process was previously linked to the port, the exit signal from the port is guaranteed to be delivered before port_info/2 returns undefined.

Failure: badarg if Port is not a local port identifier, or an atom.

Returns a string corresponding to the text representation of the port identifier Port.

Returns a list of port identifiers corresponding to all the ports existing on the local node.

Notice that an exiting port exists, but is not open.

Returns a list of Erlang modules that are preloaded in the system. As all loading of code is done through the file system, the file system must have been loaded previously. Hence, at least the module init must be preloaded.

Writes information about the local process Pid on standard error. The only allowed value for the atom Type is backtrace, which shows the contents of the call stack, including information about the call chain, with the current function printed first. The format of the output is not further defined.

When trap_exit is set to true, exit signals arriving to a process are converted to {'EXIT', From, Reason} messages, which can be received as ordinary messages. If trap_exit is set to false, the process exits if it receives an exit signal other than normal and the exit signal is propagated to its linked processes. Application processes are normally not to trap exits.

Returns the old value of the flag.

See also exit/2.

Used by a process to redefine the error handler for undefined function calls and undefined registered processes. Inexperienced users are not to use this flag, as code auto-loading depends on the correct operation of the error handling module.

Returns the old value of the flag.

Changes the minimum heap size for the calling process.

Returns the old value of the flag.

Changes the minimum binary virtual heap size for the calling process.

Returns the old value of the flag.