GHC supports several pragmas, or instructions to the compiler placed in the source code. Pragmas don’t normally affect the meaning of the program, but they might affect the efficiency of the generated code.
Pragmas all take the form {-# word ... #-}
where ⟨word⟩ indicates the type of pragma, and is followed optionally by information specific to that type of pragma. Case is ignored in ⟨word⟩. The various values for ⟨word⟩ that GHC understands are described in the following sections; any pragma encountered with an unrecognised ⟨word⟩ is ignored.
Certain pragmas are file-header pragmas:
- A file-header pragma must precede the
module
keyword in the file. - There can be as many file-header pragmas as you please, and they can be preceded or followed by comments.
- File-header pragmas are read once only, before pre-processing the file (e.g. with cpp).
- The file-header pragmas are:
{-# LANGUAGE #-}
,{-# OPTIONS_GHC #-}
, and{-# INCLUDE #-}
.
6.20.1. LANGUAGE
pragma
{-# LANGUAGE ⟨ext⟩, ⟨ext⟩, ... #-}
-
Where: file header Enable or disable a set of language extensions.
The LANGUAGE
pragma allows language extensions to be enabled in a portable way. It is the intention that all Haskell compilers support the LANGUAGE
pragma with the same syntax, although not all extensions are supported by all compilers, of course. The LANGUAGE
pragma should be used instead of OPTIONS_GHC
, if possible.
For example, to enable the FFI and preprocessing with CPP:
{-# LANGUAGE ForeignFunctionInterface, CPP #-}
LANGUAGE
is a file-header pragma (see Pragmas).
Every language extension can also be turned into a command-line flag by prefixing it with “-X
”; for example -XForeignFunctionInterface
. (Similarly, all “-X
” flags can be written as LANGUAGE
pragmas.)
A list of all supported language extensions can be obtained by invoking ghc --supported-extensions
(see --supported-extensions
).
Any extension from the Extension
type defined in Language.Haskell.Extension may be used. GHC will report an error if any of the requested extensions are not supported.
6.20.2. OPTIONS_GHC
pragma
{-# OPTIONS_GHC ⟨flags⟩ #-}
-
Where: file header
The OPTIONS_GHC
pragma is used to specify additional options that are given to the compiler when compiling this source file. See Command line options in source files for details.
Previous versions of GHC accepted OPTIONS
rather than OPTIONS_GHC
, but that is now deprecated.
OPTIONS_GHC
is a file-header pragma (see Pragmas).
6.20.3. INCLUDE
pragma
The INCLUDE
used to be necessary for specifying header files to be included when using the FFI and compiling via C. It is no longer required for GHC, but is accepted (and ignored) for compatibility with other compilers.
6.20.4. WARNING
and DEPRECATED
pragmas
{-# WARNING #-}
-
Where: declaration The
WARNING
pragma allows you to attach an arbitrary warning to a particular function, class, or type.
{-# DEPRECATED #-}
-
Where: declaration A
DEPRECATED
pragma lets you specify that a particular function, class, or type is deprecated.
There are two ways of using these pragmas.
You can work on an entire module thus:
module Wibble {-# DEPRECATED "Use Wobble instead" #-} where ...
Or:
module Wibble {-# WARNING "This is an unstable interface." #-} where ...
When you compile any module that import
Wibble
, GHC will print the specified message.You can attach a warning to a function, class, type, or data constructor, with the following top-level declarations:
{-# DEPRECATED f, C, T "Don't use these" #-} {-# WARNING unsafePerformIO "This is unsafe; I hope you know what you're doing" #-}
When you compile any module that imports and uses any of the specified entities, GHC will print the specified message.
You can only attach to entities declared at top level in the module being compiled, and you can only use unqualified names in the list of entities. A capitalised name, such as
T
refers to either the type constructorT
or the data constructorT
, or both if both are in scope. If both are in scope, there is currently no way to specify one without the other (c.f. fixities Infix type constructors, classes, and type variables).
Also note that the argument to DEPRECATED
and WARNING
can also be a list of strings, in which case the strings will be presented on separate lines in the resulting warning message,
{-# DEPRECATED foo, bar ["Don't use these", "Use gar instead"] #-}
Warnings and deprecations are not reported for (a) uses within the defining module, (b) defining a method in a class instance, and (c) uses in an export list. The latter reduces spurious complaints within a library in which one module gathers together and re-exports the exports of several others.
You can suppress the warnings with the flag -Wno-warnings-deprecations
.
6.20.5. MINIMAL
pragma
{-# MINIMAL ⟨name⟩ | ⟨name⟩ , ... #-}
-
Where: in class body Define the methods needed for a minimal complete instance of a class.
The MINIMAL
pragma is used to specify the minimal complete definition of a class, i.e. specify which methods must be implemented by all instances. If an instance does not satisfy the minimal complete definition, then a warning is generated. This can be useful when a class has methods with circular defaults. For example
class Eq a where
(==) :: a -> a -> Bool
(/=) :: a -> a -> Bool
x == y = not (x /= y)
x /= y = not (x == y)
{-# MINIMAL (==) | (/=) #-}
Without the MINIMAL
pragma no warning would be generated for an instance that implements neither method.
The syntax for minimal complete definition is:
mindef ::= name
| '(' mindef ')'
| mindef '|' mindef
| mindef ',' mindef
A vertical bar denotes disjunction, i.e. one of the two sides is required. A comma denotes conjunction, i.e. both sides are required. Conjunction binds stronger than disjunction.
If no MINIMAL
pragma is given in the class declaration, it is just as if a pragma {-# MINIMAL op1, op2, ..., opn #-}
was given, where the opi
are the methods that lack a default method in the class declaration (c.f. -Wmissing-methods
, Warnings and sanity-checking).
This warning can be turned off with the flag -Wno-missing-methods
.
6.20.6. INLINE
and NOINLINE
pragmas
These pragmas control the inlining of function definitions.
6.20.6.1. INLINE
pragma
{-# INLINE ⟨name⟩ #-}
-
Where: any function definition Force GHC to inline a value.
GHC (with -O
, as always) tries to inline (or “unfold”) functions/values that are “small enough,” thus avoiding the call overhead and possibly exposing other more-wonderful optimisations. GHC has a set of heuristics, tuned over a long period of time using many benchmarks, that decide when it is beneficial to inline a function at its call site. The heuristics are designed to inline functions when it appears to be beneficial to do so, but without incurring excessive code bloat. If a function looks too big, it won’t be inlined, and functions larger than a certain size will not even have their definition exported in the interface file. Some of the thresholds that govern these heuristic decisions can be changed using flags, see -f*: platform-independent flags.
Normally GHC will do a reasonable job of deciding by itself when it is a good idea to inline a function. However, sometimes you might want to override the default behaviour. For example, if you have a key function that is important to inline because it leads to further optimisations, but GHC judges it to be too big to inline.
The sledgehammer you can bring to bear is the INLINE
pragma, used thusly:
key_function :: Int -> String -> (Bool, Double)
{-# INLINE key_function #-}
The major effect of an INLINE
pragma is to declare a function’s “cost” to be very low. The normal unfolding machinery will then be very keen to inline it. However, an INLINE
pragma for a function “f
” has a number of other effects:
While GHC is keen to inline the function, it does not do so blindly. For example, if you write
map key_function xs
there really isn’t any point in inlining
key_function
to getmap (\x -> body) xs
In general, GHC only inlines the function if there is some reason (no matter how slight) to suppose that it is useful to do so.
Moreover, GHC will only inline the function if it is fully applied, where “fully applied” means applied to as many arguments as appear (syntactically) on the LHS of the function definition. For example:
comp1 :: (b -> c) -> (a -> b) -> a -> c {-# INLINE comp1 #-} comp1 f g = \x -> f (g x) comp2 :: (b -> c) -> (a -> b) -> a -> c {-# INLINE comp2 #-} comp2 f g x = f (g x)
The two functions
comp1
andcomp2
have the same semantics, butcomp1
will be inlined when applied to two arguments, whilecomp2
requires three. This might make a big difference if you saymap (not `comp1` not) xs
which will optimise better than the corresponding use of
comp2
.It is useful for GHC to optimise the definition of an INLINE function
f
just like any other non-INLINE
function, in case the non-inlined version off
is ultimately called. But we don’t want to inline the optimised version off
; a major reason forINLINE
pragmas is to expose functions inf
’s RHS that have rewrite rules, and it’s no good if those functions have been optimised away.So GHC guarantees to inline precisely the code that you wrote, no more and no less. It does this by capturing a copy of the definition of the function to use for inlining (we call this the “inline-RHS”), which it leaves untouched, while optimising the ordinarily RHS as usual. For externally-visible functions the inline-RHS (not the optimised RHS) is recorded in the interface file.
- An
INLINE
function is not worker/wrappered by strictness analysis. It’s going to be inlined wholesale instead.
GHC ensures that inlining cannot go on forever: every mutually-recursive group is cut by one or more loop breakers that is never inlined (see Secrets of the GHC inliner, JFP 12(4) July 2002). GHC tries not to select a function with an INLINE
pragma as a loop breaker, but when there is no choice even an INLINE function can be selected, in which case the INLINE
pragma is ignored. For example, for a self-recursive function, the loop breaker can only be the function itself, so an INLINE
pragma is always ignored.
INLINE
pragmas are a particularly good idea for the then
/return
(or bind
/unit
) functions in a monad. For example, in GHC’s own UniqueSupply
monad code, we have:
{-# INLINE thenUs #-}
{-# INLINE returnUs #-}
See also the NOINLINE
(NOINLINE pragma) and INLINABLE
(INLINABLE pragma) pragmas.
6.20.6.1.1. INLINE
pragma effects on various locations
Syntactically, an INLINE
pragma for a function can be put anywhere its type signature could be put. This means a INLINE
pragma can really be put on any definition site for a binding. This includes top-level, let
and where
bindings as well as default class methods and instance declarations.
The pragma itself will only have an effect when the RHS of the binding it’s applied to is used. For regular bindings this is straight forward but for class methods and instance definitions this can have surprising ramifications.
If we consider a class definition with two instances like this:
class C a where
op1 :: a -> a
op2 :: [a] -> [a]
op2 xs = reverse (xs ++ xs)
{-# INLINE op2 #-}
instance C T1 where
op1 x = ...blah...
instance C T2 where
{-# INLINE op1 #-}
op1 x = ...blah...
op2 xs = ...blah...
Then op2
for the T1 instance will get an implicit INLINE
pragma. This is because the RHS of the default method is used for op2
which retains it’s INLINE
pragma.
In the T2 instance op1
gets an INLINE
pragma and behaves accordingly. However op2
for T2 is not implemented by the default method. This means the pragma in the class definition doesn’t apply to this instance. With no pragma being explicitly applied GHC will then decide on a proper inlining behaviour for T2
s op2
method on it’s own.
6.20.6.2. INLINABLE
pragma
{-# INLINABLE ⟨name⟩ #-}
-
Where: any function definition Suggest that the compiler always consider inlining
name
.
An {-# INLINABLE f #-}
pragma on a function f
has the following behaviour:
- While
INLINE
says “please inline me”, theINLINABLE
says “feel free to inline me; use your discretion”. In other words the choice is left to GHC, which uses the same rules as for pragma-free functions. UnlikeINLINE
, that decision is made at the call site, and will therefore be affected by the inlining threshold, optimisation level etc. - Like
INLINE
, theINLINABLE
pragma retains a copy of the original RHS for inlining purposes, and persists it in the interface file, regardless of the size of the RHS. - One way to use
INLINABLE
is in conjunction with the special functioninline
(Special built-in functions). The callinline f
tries very hard to inlinef
. To make sure thatf
can be inlined, it is a good idea to mark the definition off
asINLINABLE
, so that GHC guarantees to expose an unfolding regardless of how big it is. Moreover, by annotatingf
asINLINABLE
, you ensure thatf
’s original RHS is inlined, rather than whatever random optimised version off
GHC’s optimiser has produced. - The
INLINABLE
pragma also works withSPECIALISE
: if you mark functionf
asINLINABLE
, then you can subsequentlySPECIALISE
in another module (see SPECIALIZE pragma). - Unlike
INLINE
, it is OK to use anINLINABLE
pragma on a recursive function. The principal reason do to so to allow later use ofSPECIALISE
The alternative spelling INLINEABLE
is also accepted by GHC.
6.20.6.3. NOINLINE
pragma
{-# NOINLINE ⟨name⟩ #-}
-
Where: any function definition Instructs the compiler not to inline a value.
The NOINLINE
pragma does exactly what you’d expect: it stops the named function from being inlined by the compiler. You shouldn’t ever need to do this, unless you’re very cautious about code size.
NOTINLINE
is a synonym for NOINLINE
(NOINLINE
is specified by Haskell 98 as the standard way to disable inlining, so it should be used if you want your code to be portable).
6.20.6.4. CONLIKE
modifier
{-# CONLIKE #-}
-
Instructs GHC to consider a value to be especially cheap to inline.
An INLINE
or NOINLINE
pragma may have a CONLIKE
modifier, which affects matching in RULE
s (only). See How rules interact with CONLIKE pragmas.
6.20.6.5. Phase control
Sometimes you want to control exactly when in GHC’s pipeline the INLINE
pragma is switched on. Inlining happens only during runs of the simplifier. Each run of the simplifier has a different phase number; the phase number decreases towards zero. If you use -dverbose-core2core
you will see the sequence of phase numbers for successive runs of the simplifier. In an INLINE
pragma you can optionally specify a phase number, thus:
- “
INLINE[k] f
” means: do not inlinef
until phasek
, but from phasek
onwards be very keen to inline it. - “
INLINE[~k] f
” means: be very keen to inlinef
until phasek
, but from phasek
onwards do not inline it. - “
NOINLINE[k] f
” means: do not inlinef
until phasek
, but from phasek
onwards be willing to inline it (as if there was no pragma). - “
NOINLINE[~k] f
” means: be willing to inlinef
until phasek
, but from phasek
onwards do not inline it.
The same information is summarised here:
-- Before phase 2 Phase 2 and later
{-# INLINE [2] f #-} -- No Yes
{-# INLINE [~2] f #-} -- Yes No
{-# NOINLINE [2] f #-} -- No Maybe
{-# NOINLINE [~2] f #-} -- Maybe No
{-# INLINE f #-} -- Yes Yes
{-# NOINLINE f #-} -- No No
By “Maybe” we mean that the usual heuristic inlining rules apply (if the function body is small, or it is applied to interesting-looking arguments etc). Another way to understand the semantics is this:
- For both
INLINE
andNOINLINE
, the phase number says when inlining is allowed at all. - The
INLINE
pragma has the additional effect of making the function body look small, so that when inlining is allowed it is very likely to happen.
The same phase-numbering control is available for RULE
s (Rewrite rules).
6.20.7. OPAQUE
pragma
{-# OPAQUE ⟨name⟩ #-}
-
Where: top-level Instructs the compiler to ensure that every call of
name
remains a call ofname
, and not some name-mangled variant.
The OPAQUE
pragma is an even stronger variant of the NOINLINE
pragma. Like the NOINLINE
, named functions annotated with a OPAQUE
pragma are not inlined, nor will they be be specialized. Unlike the NOINLINE
, named functions annotated with a OPAQUE
pragma are left untouched by the Worker/Wrapper transformation. Unlike NOINLINE
, OPAQUE
has no phase control.
In effect, every call of a named function annotated with an OPAQUE
pragma remains a call of that named function, not some name-mangled variant. You shouldn’t ever need to use the OPAQUE
pragma, unless you have a reason to care about name-mangling.
6.20.8. LINE
pragma
{-# LINE ⟨lineno⟩ "⟨file⟩" #-}
-
Where: anywhere Generated by preprocessors to convey source line numbers of the original source.
This pragma is similar to C’s #line
pragma, and is mainly for use in automatically generated Haskell code. It lets you specify the line number and filename of the original code; for example
{-# LINE 42 "Foo.vhs" #-}
if you’d generated the current file from something called Foo.vhs
and this line corresponds to line 42 in the original. GHC will adjust its error messages to refer to the line/file named in the LINE
pragma.
LINE
pragmas generated from Template Haskell set the file and line position for the duration of the splice and are limited to the splice. Note that because Template Haskell splices abstract syntax, the file positions are not automatically advanced.
6.20.9. COLUMN
pragma
This is the analogue of the LINE
pragma and is likewise intended for use in automatically generated Haskell code. It lets you specify the column number of the original code; for example
foo = do
{-# COLUMN 42 #-}pure ()
pure ()
This adjusts all column numbers immediately after the pragma to start at 42. The presence of this pragma only affects the quality of the diagnostics and does not change the syntax of the code itself.
6.20.10. RULES
pragma
The RULES
pragma lets you specify rewrite rules. It is described in Rewrite rules.
6.20.11. SPECIALIZE
pragma
{-# SPECIALIZE ⟨name⟩ :: ⟨type⟩ #-}
-
Ask that GHC specialize a polymorphic value to a particular type.
(UK spelling also accepted.) For key overloaded functions, you can create extra versions (NB: at the cost of larger code) specialised to particular types. Thus, if you have an overloaded function:
hammeredLookup :: Ord key => [(key, value)] -> key -> value
If it is heavily used on lists with Widget
keys, you could specialise it as follows:
{-# SPECIALIZE hammeredLookup :: [(Widget, value)] -> Widget -> value #-}
- A
SPECIALIZE
pragma for a function can be put anywhere its type signature could be put. Moreover, you can alsoSPECIALIZE
an imported function provided it was given anINLINABLE
pragma at its definition site (INLINABLE pragma). - A
SPECIALIZE
has the effect of generating (a) a specialised version of the function and (b) a rewrite rule (see Rewrite rules) that rewrites a call to the un-specialised function into a call to the specialised one. Moreover, given aSPECIALIZE
pragma for a functionf
, GHC will automatically create specialisations for any type-class-overloaded functions called byf
, if they are in the same module as theSPECIALIZE
pragma, or if they areINLINABLE
; and so on, transitively. You can add phase control (Phase control) to the RULE generated by a
SPECIALIZE
pragma, just as you can if you write aRULE
directly. For example:{-# SPECIALIZE [0] hammeredLookup :: [(Widget, value)] -> Widget -> value #-}
generates a specialisation rule that only fires in Phase 0 (the final phase). If you do not specify any phase control in the
SPECIALIZE
pragma, the phase control is inherited from the inline pragma (if any) of the function. For example:foo :: Num a => a -> a foo = ...blah... {-# NOINLINE [0] foo #-} {-# SPECIALIZE foo :: Int -> Int #-}
The
NOINLINE
pragma tells GHC not to inlinefoo
until Phase 0; and this property is inherited by the specialisation RULE, which will therefore only fire in Phase 0.The main reason for using phase control on specialisations is so that you can write optimisation RULES that fire early in the compilation pipeline, and only then specialise the calls to the function. If specialisation is done too early, the optimisation rules might fail to fire.
The type in a
SPECIALIZE
pragma can be any type that is less polymorphic than the type of the original function. In concrete terms, if the original function isf
then the pragma{-# SPECIALIZE f :: <type> #-}
is valid if and only if the definition
f_spec :: <type> f_spec = f
is valid. Here are some examples (where we only give the type signature for the original function, not its code):
f :: Eq a => a -> b -> b {-# SPECIALISE f :: Int -> b -> b #-} g :: (Eq a, Ix b) => a -> b -> b {-# SPECIALISE g :: (Eq a) => a -> Int -> Int #-} h :: Eq a => a -> a -> a {-# SPECIALISE h :: (Eq a) => [a] -> [a] -> [a] #-}
The last of these examples will generate a RULE with a somewhat-complex left-hand side (try it yourself), so it might not fire very well. If you use this kind of specialisation, let us know how well it works.
6.20.11.1. SPECIALIZE INLINE
{-# SPECIALIZE INLINE ⟨name⟩ :: ⟨type⟩ #-}
-
Where: top-level
A SPECIALIZE
pragma can optionally be followed with a INLINE
or NOINLINE
pragma, optionally followed by a phase, as described in INLINE and NOINLINE pragmas. The INLINE
pragma affects the specialised version of the function (only), and applies even if the function is recursive. The motivating example is this:
-- A GADT for arrays with type-indexed representation
data Arr e where
ArrInt :: !Int -> ByteArray# -> Arr Int
ArrPair :: !Int -> Arr e1 -> Arr e2 -> Arr (e1, e2)
(!:) :: Arr e -> Int -> e
{-# SPECIALISE INLINE (!:) :: Arr Int -> Int -> Int #-}
{-# SPECIALISE INLINE (!:) :: Arr (a, b) -> Int -> (a, b) #-}
(ArrInt _ ba) !: (I# i) = I# (indexIntArray# ba i)
(ArrPair _ a1 a2) !: i = (a1 !: i, a2 !: i)
Here, (!:)
is a recursive function that indexes arrays of type Arr e
. Consider a call to (!:)
at type (Int,Int)
. The second specialisation will fire, and the specialised function will be inlined. It has two calls to (!:)
, both at type Int
. Both these calls fire the first specialisation, whose body is also inlined. The result is a type-based unrolling of the indexing function.
You can add explicit phase control (Phase control) to SPECIALISE INLINE
pragma, just like on an INLINE
pragma; if you do so, the same phase is used for the rewrite rule and the INLINE control of the specialised function.
Warning
You can make GHC diverge by using SPECIALISE INLINE
on an ordinarily-recursive function.
6.20.11.2. SPECIALIZE
for imported functions
Generally, you can only give a SPECIALIZE
pragma for a function defined in the same module. However if a function f
is given an INLINABLE
pragma at its definition site, then it can subsequently be specialised by importing modules (see INLINABLE pragma). For example
module Map( lookup, blah blah ) where
lookup :: Ord key => [(key,a)] -> key -> Maybe a
lookup = ...
{-# INLINABLE lookup #-}
module Client where
import Map( lookup )
data T = T1 | T2 deriving( Eq, Ord )
{-# SPECIALISE lookup :: [(T,a)] -> T -> Maybe a
Here, lookup
is declared INLINABLE
, but it cannot be specialised for type T
at its definition site, because that type does not exist yet. Instead a client module can define T
and then specialise lookup
at that type.
Moreover, every module that imports Client
(or imports a module that imports Client
, transitively) will “see”, and make use of, the specialised version of lookup
. You don’t need to put a SPECIALIZE
pragma in every module.
Moreover you often don’t even need the SPECIALIZE
pragma in the first place. When compiling a module M
, GHC’s optimiser (when given the -O
flag) automatically considers each top-level overloaded function declared in M
, and specialises it for the different types at which it is called in M
. The optimiser also considers each imported INLINABLE
overloaded function, and specialises it for the different types at which it is called in M
. So in our example, it would be enough for lookup
to be called at type T
:
module Client where
import Map( lookup )
data T = T1 | T2 deriving( Eq, Ord )
findT1 :: [(T,a)] -> Maybe a
findT1 m = lookup m T1 -- A call of lookup at type T
However, sometimes there are no such calls, in which case the pragma can be useful.
6.20.12. SPECIALIZE
instance pragma
{-# SPECIALIZE instance ⟨instance head⟩ #-}
-
Where: instance body
Same idea, except for instance declarations. For example:
instance (Eq a) => Eq (Foo a) where {
{-# SPECIALIZE instance Eq (Foo [(Int, Bar)]) #-}
... usual stuff ...
}
The pragma must occur inside the where
part of the instance declaration.
6.20.13. UNPACK
pragma
{-# UNPACK #-}
-
Where: data constructor field Instructs the compiler to unpack the contents of a constructor field into the constructor itself.
The UNPACK
indicates to the compiler that it should unpack the contents of a constructor field into the constructor itself, removing a level of indirection. For example:
data T = T {-# UNPACK #-} !Float
{-# UNPACK #-} !Float
will create a constructor T
containing two unboxed floats. This may not always be an optimisation: if the T
constructor is scrutinised and the floats passed to a non-strict function for example, they will have to be reboxed (this is done automatically by the compiler).
Unpacking constructor fields should only be used in conjunction with -O
[1], in order to expose unfoldings to the compiler so the reboxing can be removed as often as possible. For example:
f :: T -> Float
f (T f1 f2) = f1 + f2
The compiler will avoid reboxing f1
and f2
by inlining +
on floats, but only when -O
is on.
Any single-constructor data is eligible for unpacking; for example
data T = T {-# UNPACK #-} !(Int,Int)
will store the two Int
s directly in the T
constructor, by flattening the pair. Multi-level unpacking is also supported:
data T = T {-# UNPACK #-} !S
data S = S {-# UNPACK #-} !Int {-# UNPACK #-} !Int
will store two unboxed Int#
s directly in the T
constructor. The unpacker can see through newtypes, too.
See also the -funbox-strict-fields
flag, which essentially has the effect of adding {-# UNPACK #-}
to every strict constructor field.
6.20.14. NOUNPACK
pragma
{-# NOUNPACK #-}
-
Where: top-level Instructs the compiler not to unpack a constructor field.
The NOUNPACK
pragma indicates to the compiler that it should not unpack the contents of a constructor field. Example:
data T = T {-# NOUNPACK #-} !(Int,Int)
Even with the flags -funbox-strict-fields
and -O
, the field of the constructor T
is not unpacked.
6.20.15. SOURCE
pragma
{-# SOURCE #-}
-
Where: after import
statementImport a module by
hs-boot
file to break a module loop.
The {-# SOURCE #-}
pragma is used only in import
declarations, to break a module loop. It is described in detail in How to compile mutually recursive modules.
6.20.16. COMPLETE
pragmas
{-# COMPLETE #-}
-
Where: at top level Specify the set of constructors or pattern synonyms which constitute a total match.
The COMPLETE
pragma is used to inform the pattern match checker that a certain set of patterns is complete and that any function which matches on all the specified patterns is total.
The most common usage of COMPLETE
pragmas is with Pattern synonyms. On its own, the checker is very naive and assumes that any match involving a pattern synonym will fail. As a result, any pattern match on a pattern synonym is regarded as incomplete unless the user adds a catch-all case.
For example, the data types 2 * A
and A + A
are isomorphic but some computations are more naturally expressed in terms of one or the other. To get the best of both worlds, we can choose one as our implementation and then provide a set of pattern synonyms so that users can use the other representation if they desire. We can then specify a COMPLETE
pragma in order to inform the pattern match checker that a function which matches on both LeftChoice
and RightChoice
is total.
data Choice a = Choice Bool a
pattern LeftChoice :: a -> Choice a
pattern LeftChoice a = Choice False a
pattern RightChoice :: a -> Choice a
pattern RightChoice a = Choice True a
{-# COMPLETE LeftChoice, RightChoice #-}
foo :: Choice Int -> Int
foo (LeftChoice n) = n * 2
foo (RightChoice n) = n - 2
COMPLETE
pragmas are only used by the pattern match checker. If a function definition matches on all the constructors specified in the pragma then the compiler will produce no warning.
COMPLETE
pragmas can contain any data constructors or pattern synonyms which are in scope, but must mention at least one data constructor or pattern synonym defined in the same module. COMPLETE
pragmas may only appear at the top level of a module. Once defined, they are automatically imported and exported from modules. COMPLETE
pragmas should be thought of as asserting a universal truth about a set of patterns and as a result, should not be used to silence context specific incomplete match warnings.
It is also possible to restrict the types to which a COMPLETE
pragma applies by putting a double colon ::
after the list of constructors, followed by a result type constructor, which will be used to restrict the cases in which the pragma applies. GHC will compare the annotated result type constructor with the type constructor in the head of the scrutinee type in a pattern match to see if the COMPLETE
pragma is meant to apply to it.
This is especially useful in cases that the constructors specified are polymorphic, e.g.:
data Proxy a = Proxy
class IsEmpty a where
isEmpty :: a -> Bool
class IsCons a where
type Elt a
isCons :: a -> Maybe (Elt a, a)
pattern Empty :: IsEmpty a => a
pattern Empty <- (isEmpty -> True)
pattern Cons :: IsCons a => Elt a -> a -> a
pattern Cons x xs <- (isCons -> Just (x,xs))
instance IsEmpty (Proxy a) where
isEmpty Proxy = True
instance IsEmpty [a] where
isEmpty = null
instance IsCons [a] where
type Elt [a] = a
isCons [] = Nothing
isCons (x:xs) = Just (x,xs)
{-# COMPLETE Empty :: Proxy #-}
{-# COMPLETE Empty, Cons :: [] #-}
foo :: Proxy a -> Int
foo Empty = 0
bar :: [a] -> Int
bar Empty = 0
bar (Cons _ _) = 1
baz :: [a] -> Int
baz Empty = 0
In this example, foo
and bar
will not be warned about, as their pattern matches are covered by the two COMPLETE
pragmas above, but baz
will be warned about as incomplete.
6.20.17. OVERLAPPING
, OVERLAPPABLE
, OVERLAPS
, and INCOHERENT
pragmas
{-# OVERLAPPING #-}
{-# OVERLAPPABLE #-}
{-# OVERLAPS #-}
{-# INCOHERENT #-}
-
Where: on instance head
The pragmas OVERLAPPING
, OVERLAPPABLE
, OVERLAPS
, INCOHERENT
are used to specify the overlap behavior for individual instances, as described in Section Overlapping instances. The pragmas are written immediately after the instance
keyword, like this:
instance {-# OVERLAPPING #-} C t where ...