Decodes an atom from the binary format. The NULL-terminated name of the atom is placed at . At most bytes can be placed in the buffer.

Decodes an atom from the binary format. The NULL-terminated name of the atom is placed in buffer at p of length plen bytes.

The wanted string encoding is specified by want. The original encoding used in the binary format (Latin-1 or UTF-8) can be obtained from *was. The encoding of the resulting string (7-bit ASCII, Latin-1, or UTF-8) can be obtained from *result. Both was and result can be NULL. *result can differ from want if want is a bitwise OR'd combination like ERLANG_LATIN1|ERLANG_UTF8 or if *result turns out to be pure 7-bit ASCII (compatible with both Latin-1 and UTF-8).

This function fails if the atom is too long for the buffer or if it cannot be represented with encoding want.

This function was introduced in Erlang/OTP R16 as part of a first step to support UTF-8 atoms.

Decodes an integer in the binary format to a GMP integer. To use this function, the ei library must be configured and compiled to use the GMP library.

Decodes a binary from the binary format. Parameter is set to the actual size of the binary. Notice that assumes that there is enough room for the binary. The size required can be fetched by .

Decodes a boolean value from the binary format. A boolean is actually an atom, decodes 1 and decodes 0.

Decodes a char (8-bit) integer between 0-255 from the binary format. For historical reasons the returned integer is of type . Your C code is to consider the returned value to be of type even if the C compilers and system can define to be signed.

Decodes a double-precision (64-bit) floating point number from the binary format.

Decodes any term, or at least tries to. If the term pointed at by in fits in the union, it is decoded, and the appropriate field in value]]> is set, and is incremented by the term size.

The function returns 1 on successful decoding, -1 on error, and 0 if the term seems alright, but does not fit in the structure. If 1 is returned, the is incremented, and contains the decoded term.

The structure contains the arity for a tuple or list, size for a binary, string, or atom. It contains a term if it is any of the following: integer, float, atom, pid, port, or ref.

Decodes a fun from the binary format. Parameter is to be NULL or point to an structure. This is the only decode function that allocates memory. When the is no longer needed, it is to be freed with . (This has to do with the arbitrary size of the environment for a fun.)

Decodes a list header from the binary format. The number of elements is returned in . The elements follow (the last one is the tail of the list, normally an empty list). If is , it is an empty list.

Notice that lists are encoded as strings if they consist entirely of integers in the range 0..255. This function do not decode such strings, use instead.

Decodes a long integer from the binary format. If the code is 64 bits, the function ei_decode_long() is the same as ei_decode_longlong().

Decodes a GCC or Visual C++ (64-bit) integer from the binary format. This function is missing in the VxWorks port.

Decodes a map header from the binary format. The number of key-value pairs is returned in *arity. Keys and values follow in this order: K1, V1, K2, V2, ..., Kn, Vn. This makes a total of arity*2 terms. If arity is zero, it is an empty map. A correctly encoded map does not have duplicate keys.

Decodes a process identifier (pid) from the binary format.

Decodes a port identifier from the binary format.

Decodes a reference from the binary format.

Decodes a string from the binary format. A string in Erlang is a list of integers between 0 and 255. Notice that as the string is just a list, sometimes lists are encoded as strings by , even if it was not intended.

The string is copied to , and enough space must be allocated. The returned string is NULL-terminated, so you must add an extra byte to the memory requirement.

Decodes a term from the binary format. The term is return in as a , so is actually an (see erl_eterm). The term is later to be deallocated.

Notice that this function is located in the Erl_Interface library.

Decodes an Erlang trace token from the binary format.

Decodes a tuple header, the number of elements is returned in . The tuple elements follow in order in the buffer.

Decodes an unsigned long integer from the binary format. If the code is 64 bits, the function ei_decode_ulong() is the same as ei_decode_ulonglong().

Decodes a GCC or Visual C++ (64-bit) integer from the binary format. This function is missing in the VxWorks port.

Decodes the version magic number for the Erlang binary term format. It must be the first token in a binary term.

Encodes an atom in the binary format. Parameter is the name of the atom in Latin-1 encoding. Only up to MAXATOMLEN-1 bytes are encoded. The name is to be NULL-terminated, except for the function.

Encodes an atom in the binary format with character encoding to_enc (Latin-1 or UTF-8). Parameter p is the name of the atom with character encoding from_enc (ASCII, Latin-1, or UTF-8). The name must either be NULL-terminated or a function variant with a len parameter must be used. If to_enc is set to the bitwise OR'd combination (ERLANG_LATIN1|ERLANG_UTF8), UTF-8 encoding is only used if the atom string cannot be represented in Latin-1 encoding.

The encoding fails if p is an invalid string in encoding from_enc, if the string is too long, or if it cannot be represented with character encoding to_enc.

These functions were introduced in Erlang/OTP R16 as part of a first step to support UTF-8 atoms. Atoms encoded with ERLANG_UTF8 cannot be decoded by earlier releases than R16.

Encodes a GMP integer to binary format. To use this function, the ei library must be configured and compiled to use the GMP library.

Encodes a binary in the binary format. The data is at , of bytes length.

Encodes a boolean value as the atom if p is not zero, or if p is zero.

Encodes a char (8-bit) as an integer between 0-255 in the binary format. For historical reasons the integer argument is of type . Your C code is to consider the specified argument to be of type even if the C compilers and system may define to be signed.

Encodes a double-precision (64-bit) floating point number in the binary format.

Returns if the floating point number is not finite.

Encodes an empty list. It is often used at the tail of a list.

Encodes a fun in the binary format. Parameter points to an structure. The is not freed automatically, the is to be called if the fun is not needed after encoding.

Encodes a list header, with a specified arity. The next terms are the elements (actually its cons cells) and the tail of the list. Lists and tuples are encoded recursively, so that a list can contain another list or tuple.

For example, to encode the list :

ei_encode_list_header(buf, &i, 3);
ei_encode_atom(buf, &i, "c");
ei_encode_atom(buf, &i, "d");
ei_encode_list_header(buf, &i, 1);
ei_encode_atom(buf, &i, "e");
ei_encode_atom(buf, &i, "f");
ei_encode_empty_list(buf, &i);

To encode a list, without knowing the arity in advance:

while (something()) {
    ei_x_encode_list_header(&x, 1);
    ei_x_encode_ulong(&x, i); /* just an example */
}
ei_x_encode_empty_list(&x);

Encodes a long integer in the binary format. If the code is 64 bits, the function ei_encode_long() is the same as ei_encode_longlong().

Encodes a GCC or Visual C++ (64-bit) integer in the binary format. This function is missing in the VxWorks port.

Encodes a map header, with a specified arity. The next arity*2 terms encoded will be the keys and values of the map encoded in the following order: K1, V1, K2, V2, ..., Kn, Vn.

For example, to encode the map #{a => "Apple", b => "Banana"}:

ei_x_encode_map_header(&x, 2);
ei_x_encode_atom(&x, "a");
ei_x_encode_string(&x, "Apple");
ei_x_encode_atom(&x, "b");
ei_x_encode_string(&x, "Banana");

A correctly encoded map cannot have duplicate keys.

Encodes an Erlang process identifier (pid) in the binary format. Parameter points to an structure (which should have been obtained earlier with ).

Encodes an Erlang port in the binary format. Parameter points to a structure (which should have been obtained earlier with ).

Encodes an Erlang reference in the binary format. Parameter points to a structure (which should have been obtained earlier with ).

Encodes a string in the binary format. (A string in Erlang is a list, but is encoded as a character array in the binary format.) The string is to be NULL-terminated, except for the function.

Encodes an , as obtained from . Parameter is actually an pointer. This function does not free the .

Encodes an Erlang trace token in the binary format. Parameter points to a structure (which should have been obtained earlier with ).

Encodes a tuple header, with a specified arity. The next terms encoded will be the elements of the tuple. Tuples and lists are encoded recursively, so that a tuple can contain another tuple or list.

For example, to encode the tuple :

ei_encode_tuple_header(buf, &i, 2);
ei_encode_atom(buf, &i, "a");
ei_encode_tuple_header(buf, &i, 2);
ei_encode_atom(buf, &i, "b");
ei_encode_tuple_header(buf, &i, 0);

Encodes an unsigned long integer in the binary format. If the code is 64 bits, the function ei_encode_ulong() is the same as ei_encode_ulonglong().

Encodes a GCC or Visual C++ (64-bit) integer in the binary format. This function is missing in the VxWorks port.

Encodes a version magic number for the binary format. Must be the first token in a binary term.

Returns the type in and size in of the encoded term. For strings and atoms, size is the number of characters not including the terminating NULL. For binaries, is the number of bytes. For lists and tuples, is the arity of the object. For other types, is 0. In all cases, is left unchanged.

Prints a term, in clear text, to the file specified by , or the buffer pointed to by . It tries to resemble the term printing in the Erlang shell.

In , parameter is to point to a dynamically (malloc) allocated string of bytes or a NULL pointer. The string can be reallocated (and can be updated) by this function if the result is more than characters. The string returned is NULL-terminated.

The return value is the number of characters written to the file or string, or -1 if does not contain a valid term. Unfortunately, I/O errors on is not checked.

Argument is updated, that is, this function can be viewed as a decode function that decodes a term into a human-readable format.

By default, the library is only guaranteed to be compatible with other Erlang/OTP components from the same release as the library itself. For example, from Erlang/OTP R10 is not compatible with an Erlang emulator from Erlang/OTP R9 by default.

A call to sets the library in compatibility mode of release . Valid range of is [7, current release]. This makes it possible to communicate with Erlang/OTP components from earlier releases.

Skips a term in the specified buffer; recursively skips elements of lists and tuples, so that a full term is skipped. This is a way to get the size of an Erlang term.

is the buffer.

is updated to point right after the term in the buffer.

Returns on success, otherwise .

Appends data at the end of buffer .

Formats a term, given as a string, to a buffer. Works like a sprintf for Erlang terms. contains a format string, with arguments like , to insert terms from variables. The following formats are supported (with the C types given):

~a  An atom, char*
~c  A character, char
~s  A string, char*
~i  An integer, int
~l  A long integer, long int
~u  A unsigned long integer, unsigned long int
~f  A float, float
~d  A double float, double float
~p  An Erlang pid, erlang_pid*

For example, to encode a tuple with some stuff:

ei_x_format("{~a,~i,~d}", "numbers", 12, 3.14159)
encodes the tuple {numbers,12,3.14159}

formats into a buffer, without the initial version byte.

Frees an buffer. The memory used by the buffer is returned to the OS.

Allocates a new buffer. The fields of the structure pointed to by parameter is filled in, and a default buffer is allocated. also puts an initial version byte, which is used in the binary format (so that will not be needed.)