compile
Erlang Compiler
This module provides an interface to the standard Erlang compiler. It can generate either a new file which contains the object code, or return a binary which can be loaded directly.
Functions
file(File)
Is the same as
file(File, [verbose,report_errors,report_warnings])
.
file(File, Options) -> CompRet
CompRet = ModRet | BinRet | ErrRet
ModRet = {ok,ModuleName} | {ok,ModuleName,Warnings}
BinRet = {ok,ModuleName,Binary} | {ok,ModuleName,Binary,Warnings}
ErrRet = error | {error,Errors,Warnings}
Compiles the code in the file File
, which is an
Erlang source code file without the .erl
extension.
Options
determine the behavior of the compiler.
Returns {ok,ModuleName}
if successful, or error
if there are errors. An object code file is created if
the compilation succeeds with no errors. It is considered
to be an error if the module name in the source code is
not the same as the basename of the output file.
Here follows first all elements of Options
that in
some way control the behavior of the compiler.
basic_validation
-
This option is fast way to test whether a module will compile successfully (mainly useful for code generators that want to verify the code they emit). No code will generated. If warnings are enabled, warnings generated by the
erl_lint
module (such as warnings for unused variables and functions) will be returned too.Use the
strong_validation
option to generate all warnings that the compiler would generate. strong_validation
-
Similar to the
basic_validation
option, no code will be generated, but more compiler passes will be run to ensure also warnings generated by the optimization passes are generated (such as clauses that will not match or expressions that are guaranteed to fail with an exception at run-time). binary
-
Causes the compiler to return the object code in a binary instead of creating an object file. If successful, the compiler returns
{ok,ModuleName,Binary}
. bin_opt_info
-
The compiler will emit informational warnings about binary matching optimizations (both successful and unsuccessful). See the Efficiency Guide for further information.
compressed
-
The compiler will compress the generated object code, which can be useful for embedded systems.
debug_info
-
Include debug information in the form of abstract code (see The Abstract Format in ERTS User's Guide) in the compiled beam module. Tools such as Debugger, Xref and Cover require the debug information to be included.
Warning: Source code can be reconstructed from the debug information. Use encrypted debug information (see below) to prevent this.
See beam_lib(3) for details.
{debug_info_key,KeyString}
{debug_info_key,{Mode,KeyString}}
-
Include debug information, but encrypt it, so that it cannot be accessed without supplying the key. (To give the
debug_info
option as well is allowed, but is not necessary.) Using this option is a good way to always have the debug information available during testing, yet protect the source code.Mode
is the type of crypto algorithm to be used for encrypting the debug information. The default type -- and currently the only type -- isdes3_cbc
.See beam_lib(3) for details.
encrypt_debug_info
-
Like the
debug_info_key
option above, except that the key will be read from an.erlang.crypt
file.See beam_lib(3) for details.
'P'
-
Produces a listing of the parsed code after preprocessing and parse transforms, in the file
<File>.P
. No object file is produced. 'E'
-
Produces a listing of the code after all source code transformations have been performed, in the file
<File>.E
. No object file is produced. 'S'
-
Produces a listing of the assembler code in the file
<File>.S
. No object file is produced. report_errors/report_warnings
-
Causes errors/warnings to be printed as they occur.
report
-
This is a short form for both
report_errors
andreport_warnings
. return_errors
-
If this flag is set, then
{error,ErrorList,WarningList}
is returned when there are errors. return_warnings
-
If this flag is set, then an extra field containing
WarningList
is added to the tuples returned on success. warnings_as_errors
-
Causes warnings to be treated as errors. This option is supported since R13B04.
return
-
This is a short form for both
return_errors
andreturn_warnings
. verbose
-
Causes more verbose information from the compiler describing what it is doing.
{outdir,Dir}
-
Sets a new directory for the object code. The current directory is used for output, except when a directory has been specified with this option.
export_all
-
Causes all functions in the module to be exported.
{i,Dir}
-
Add
Dir
to the list of directories to be searched when including a file. When encountering an-include
or-include_dir
directive, the compiler searches for header files in the following directories:-
"."
, the current working directory of the file server; -
the base name of the compiled file;
-
the directories specified using the
i
option. The directory specified last is searched first.
-
{d,Macro}
{d,Macro,Value}
Defines a macro Macro
to have the value
Value
. The default is true
).
{parse_transform,Module}
Causes the parse transformation function
Module:parse_transform/2
to be applied to the
parsed code before the code is checked for errors.
asm
The input file is expected to be assembler code (default file suffix ".S"). Note that the format of assembler files is not documented, and may change between releases - this option is primarily for internal debugging use.
no_strict_record_tests
This option is not recommended.
By default, the generated code for
the Record#record_tag.field
operation verifies that
the tuple Record
is of the correct size for
the record and that the first element is the tag
record_tag
. Use this option to omit
the verification code.
no_error_module_mismatch
Normally the compiler verifies that the module name given in the source code is the same as the base name of the output file and refuses to generate an output file if there is a mismatch. If you have a good reason (or other reason) for having a module name unrelated to the name of the output file, this option disables that verification (there will not even be a warning if there is a mismatch).
If warnings are turned on (the report_warnings
option
described above), the following options control what type of
warnings that will be generated.
With the exception of {warn_format,Verbosity}
all
options below have two forms; one warn_xxx
form to
turn on the warning and one nowarn_xxx
form to turn off
the warning. In the description that follows, the form that
is used to change the default value is listed.
{warn_format, Verbosity}
-
Causes warnings to be emitted for malformed format strings as arguments to
io:format
and similar functions.Verbosity
selects the amount of warnings: 0 = no warnings; 1 = warnings for invalid format strings and incorrect number of arguments; 2 = warnings also when the validity could not be checked (for example, when the format string argument is a variable). The default verbosity is 1. Verbosity 0 can also be selected by the optionnowarn_format
. nowarn_bif_clash
-
By default, there will be a compilation error if a module contains an exported function with the same name as an auto-imported BIF (such as
size/1
) AND there is a call to it without a qualifying module name. The reason is that the BIF will be called, not the function in the same module. The recommended way to eliminate that warning is to use a call with a module name - eithererlang
to call the BIF or?MODULE
to call the function in the same module. The warning can also be turned off using this option, but that is not recommended.The use of this option is strongly discouraged, as code that uses it will probably break in a future major release (R14 or R15).
{nowarn_bif_clash, FAs}
-
Turns off warnings as
nowarn_bif_clash
but only for the mentioned local functions.FAs
is a tuple{Name,Arity}
or a list of such tuples.The use of this option is strongly discouraged, as code that uses it will probably break in a future major release (R14 or R15).
warn_export_all
-
Causes a warning to be emitted if the
export_all
option has also been given. warn_export_vars
-
Causes warnings to be emitted for all implicitly exported variables referred to after the primitives where they were first defined. No warnings for exported variables unless they are referred to in some pattern, which is the default, can be selected by the option
nowarn_export_vars
. warn_shadow_vars
-
Causes warnings to be emitted for "fresh" variables in functional objects or list comprehensions with the same name as some already defined variable. The default is to warn for such variables. No warnings for shadowed variables can be selected by the option
nowarn_shadow_vars
. nowarn_unused_function
-
Turns off warnings for unused local functions. By default (
warn_unused_function
), warnings are emitted for all local functions that are not called directly or indirectly by an exported function. The compiler does not include unused local functions in the generated beam file, but the warning is still useful to keep the source code cleaner. {nowarn_unused_function, FAs}
-
Turns off warnings for unused local functions as
nowarn_unused_function
but only for the mentioned local functions.FAs
is a tuple{Name,Arity}
or a list of such tuples. nowarn_deprecated_function
-
Turns off warnings for calls to deprecated functions. By default (
warn_deprecated_function
), warnings are emitted for every call to a function known by the compiler to be deprecated. Note that the compiler does not know about the-deprecated()
attribute but uses an assembled list of deprecated functions in Erlang/OTP. To do a more general check theXref
tool can be used. See also xref(3) and the function xref:m/1 also accessible through the c:xm/1 function. {nowarn_deprecated_function, MFAs}
-
Turns off warnings for calls to deprecated functions as
nowarn_deprecated_function
but only for the mentioned functions.MFAs
is a tuple{Module,Name,Arity}
or a list of such tuples. warn_obsolete_guard
-
Causes warnings to be emitted for calls to old type testing BIFs such as
pid/1
andlist/1
. See the Erlang Reference Manual for a complete list of type testing BIFs and their old equivalents. No warnings for calls to old type testing BIFs, which is the default, can be selected by the optionnowarn_obsolete_guard
. warn_unused_import
-
Causes warnings to be emitted for unused imported functions. No warnings for unused imported functions, which is the default, can be selected by the option
nowarn_unused_import
. nowarn_unused_vars
-
By default, warnings are emitted for variables which are not used, with the exception of variables beginning with an underscore ("Prolog style warnings"). Use this option to turn off this kind of warnings.
nowarn_unused_record
-
Turns off warnings for unused record types. By default (
warn_unused_records
), warnings are emitted for unused locally defined record types.
Another class of warnings is generated by the compiler
during optimization and code generation. They warn about
patterns that will never match (such as a=b
), guards
that will always evaluate to false, and expressions that will
always fail (such as atom+42
).
Note that the compiler does not warn for expressions that it
does not attempt to optimize. For instance, the compiler tries
to evaluate 1/0
, notices that it will cause an
exception and emits a warning. On the other hand,
the compiler is silent about the similar expression
X/0
; because of the variable in it, the compiler does
not even try to evaluate and therefore it emits no warnings.
Currently, those warnings cannot be disabled (except by disabling all warnings).
Warning!
Obviously, the absence of warnings does not mean that there are no remaining errors in the code.
Note that all the options except the include path
({i,Dir}
) can also be given in the file with a
-compile([Option,...])
. attribute.
The -compile()
attribute is allowed after function
definitions.
Note also that the {nowarn_unused_function, FAs}
,
{nowarn_bif_clash, FAs}
, and
{nowarn_deprecated_function, MFAs}
options are only
recognized when given in files. They are not affected by
the warn_unused_function
, warn_bif_clash
, or
warn_deprecated_function
options.
For debugging of the compiler, or for pure curiosity,
the intermediate code generated by each compiler pass can be
inspected.
A complete list of the options to produce list files can be
printed by typing compile:options()
at the Erlang
shell prompt.
The options will be printed in order that the passes are
executed. If more than one listing option is used, the one
representing the earliest pass takes effect.
Unrecognized options are ignored.
Both WarningList
and ErrorList
have
the following format:
[{FileName,[ErrorInfo]}].
ErrorInfo
is described below. The file name has been
included here as the compiler uses the Erlang pre-processor
epp
, which allows the code to be included in other
files. For this reason, it is important to know to
which file an error or warning line number refers.
forms(Forms)
Is the same as
forms(File, [verbose,report_errors,report_warnings])
.
forms(Forms, Options) -> CompRet
Forms = [Form]
CompRet = BinRet | ErrRet
BinRet = {ok,ModuleName,BinaryOrCode} | {ok,ModuleName,BinaryOrCode,Warnings}
BinaryOrCode = binary() | term()
ErrRet = error | {error,Errors,Warnings}
Analogous to file/1
, but takes a list of forms (in
the Erlang abstract format representation) as first argument.
The option binary
is implicit; i.e., no object code
file is produced. Options that would ordinarily produce a
listing file, such as 'E', will instead cause the internal
format for that compiler pass (an Erlang term; usually not a
binary) to be returned instead of a binary.
format_error(ErrorDescriptor) -> chars()
ErrorDescriptor = errordesc()
Uses an ErrorDescriptor
and returns a deep list of
characters which describes the error. This function is
usually called implicitly when an ErrorInfo
structure
is processed. See below.
output_generated(Options) -> true | false
Options = [term()]
Determines whether the compiler would generate a beam
file with the given options. true
means that a beam
file would be generated; false
means that the compiler
would generate some listing file, return a binary, or merely
check the syntax of the source code.
noenv_file(File, Options) -> CompRet
Works exactly like file/2,
except that the environment variable ERL_COMPILER_OPTIONS
is not consulted.
noenv_forms(Forms, Options) -> CompRet
Works exactly like forms/2,
except that the environment variable ERL_COMPILER_OPTIONS
is not consulted.
noenv_output_generated(Options) -> true | false
Options = [term()]
Works exactly like
output_generated/1,
except that the environment variable ERL_COMPILER_OPTIONS
is not consulted.
Default compiler options
The (host operating system) environment variable
ERL_COMPILER_OPTIONS
can be used to give default compiler
options. Its value must be a valid Erlang term. If the value is a
list, it will be used as is. If it is not a list, it will be put
into a list.
The list will be appended to any options given to file/2, forms/2, and output_generated/2. Use the alternative functions noenv_file/2, noenv_forms/2, or noenv_output_generated/2 if you don't want the environment variable to be consulted (for instance, if you are calling the compiler recursively from inside a parse transform).
Inlining
The compiler can do function inlining within an Erlang
module. Inlining means that a call to a function is replaced with
the function body with the arguments replaced with the actual
values. The semantics are preserved, except if exceptions are
generated in the inlined code. Exceptions will be reported as
occurring in the function the body was inlined into. Also,
function_clause
exceptions will be converted to similar
case_clause
exceptions.
When a function is inlined, the original function will be
kept if it is exported (either by an explicit export or if the
export_all
option was given) or if not all calls to the
function were inlined.
Inlining does not necessarily improve running time. For instance, inlining may increase Beam stack usage which will probably be detrimental to performance for recursive functions.
Inlining is never default; it must be explicitly enabled with a
compiler option or a -compile()
attribute in the source
module.
To enable inlining, either use the inline
option to
let the compiler decide which functions to inline or
{inline,[{Name,Arity},...]}
to have the compiler inline
all calls to the given functions. If the option is given inside
a compile
directive in an Erlang module, {Name,Arity}
may be written as Name/Arity
.
Example of explicit inlining:
-compile({inline,[pi/0]}). pi() -> 3.1416.
Example of implicit inlining:
-compile(inline).
The {inline_size,Size}
option controls how large functions
that are allowed to be inlined. Default is 24
, which will
keep the size of the inlined code roughly the same as
the un-inlined version (only relatively small functions will be
inlined).
Example:
%% Aggressive inlining - will increase code size. -compile(inline). -compile({inline_size,100}).
Parse Transformations
Parse transformations are used when a programmer wants to use Erlang syntax but with different semantics. The original Erlang code is then transformed into other Erlang code.
Error Information
The ErrorInfo
mentioned above is the standard
ErrorInfo
structure which is returned from all IO modules.
It has the following format:
{ErrorLine, Module, ErrorDescriptor}
A string describing the error is obtained with the following call:
Module:format_error(ErrorDescriptor)