Elixir v1.5.3 Inspect.Algebra View Source

A set of functions for creating and manipulating algebra documents.

This module implements the functionality described in “Strictly Pretty” (2000) by Christian Lindig with small additions, like support for String nodes, and a custom rendering function that maximises horizontal space use.

iex> Inspect.Algebra.empty
:doc_nil

iex> "foo"
"foo"

With the functions in this module, we can concatenate different elements together and render them:

iex> doc = Inspect.Algebra.concat(Inspect.Algebra.empty, "foo")
iex> Inspect.Algebra.format(doc, 80)
["foo"]

The functions nest/2, space/2 and line/2 help you put the document together into a rigid structure. However, the document algebra gets interesting when using functions like break/1, which converts the given string into a line break depending on how much space there is to print. Let’s glue two docs together with a break and then render it:

iex> doc = Inspect.Algebra.glue("a", " ", "b")
iex> Inspect.Algebra.format(doc, 80)
["a", " ", "b"]

Notice the break was represented as is, because we haven’t reached a line limit. Once we do, it is replaced by a newline:

iex> doc = Inspect.Algebra.glue(String.duplicate("a", 20), " ", "b")
iex> Inspect.Algebra.format(doc, 10)
["aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa", "\n", "b"]

Finally, this module also contains Elixir related functions, a bit tied to Elixir formatting, namely surround/3 and surround_many/5.

Implementation details

The original Haskell implementation of the algorithm by Wadler relies on lazy evaluation to unfold document groups on two alternatives: :flat (breaks as spaces) and :break (breaks as newlines). Implementing the same logic in a strict language such as Elixir leads to an exponential growth of possible documents, unless document groups are encoded explicitly as :flat or :break. Those groups are then reduced to a simple document, where the layout is already decided, per Lindig.

This implementation slightly changes the semantic of Lindig’s algorithm to allow elements that belong to the same group to be printed together in the same line, even if they do not fit the line fully. This was achieved by changing :break to mean a possible break and :flat to force a flat structure. Then deciding if a break works as a newline is just a matter of checking if we have enough space until the next break that is not inside a group (which is still flat).

Custom pretty printers can be implemented using the documents returned by this module and by providing their own rendering functions.

Link to this section Summary

Functions

Returns a document entity with the " " string as break

Returns a document entity representing a break based on the given string

Colors a document if the color_key has a color in the options

Concatenates a list of documents returning a new document

Concatenates two document entities returning a new document

Returns a document entity used to represent nothingness

Folds a list of documents into a document using the given folder function

Formats a given document for a given width

Glues two documents together inserting " " as a break between them

Glues two documents (doc1 and doc2) together inserting the given break break_string between them

Returns a group containing the specified document doc

Inserts a mandatory linebreak between two documents

Nests the given document at the given level

Inserts a mandatory single space between two documents

Surrounds a document with characters

Converts an Elixir term to an algebra document according to the Inspect protocol

Link to this section Types

Link to this type t() View Source
t() ::
  :doc_nil |
  :doc_line |
  doc_cons() |
  doc_nest() |
  doc_break() |
  doc_group() |
  doc_color() |
  binary()

Link to this section Functions

Link to this function break() View Source
break() :: doc_break()

Returns a document entity with the " " string as break.

See break/1 for more information.

Link to this function break(string) View Source
break(binary()) :: doc_break()

Returns a document entity representing a break based on the given string.

This break can be rendered as a linebreak or as the given string, depending on the mode of the chosen layout or the provided separator.

Examples

Let’s create a document by concatenating two strings with a break between them:

iex> doc = Inspect.Algebra.concat(["a", Inspect.Algebra.break("\t"), "b"])
iex> Inspect.Algebra.format(doc, 80)
["a", "\t", "b"]

Notice the break was represented with the given string, because we didn’t reach a line limit. Once we do, it is replaced by a newline:

iex> break = Inspect.Algebra.break("\t")
iex> doc = Inspect.Algebra.concat([String.duplicate("a", 20), break, "b"])
iex> Inspect.Algebra.format(doc, 10)
["aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa", "\n", "b"]
Link to this function color(doc, color_key, opts) View Source
color(t(), Inspect.Opts.color_key(), Inspect.Opts.t()) :: doc_color()

Colors a document if the color_key has a color in the options.

Link to this function concat(docs) View Source
concat([t()]) :: t()

Concatenates a list of documents returning a new document.

Examples

iex> doc = Inspect.Algebra.concat(["a", "b", "c"])
iex> Inspect.Algebra.format(doc, 80)
["a", "b", "c"]
Link to this function concat(doc1, doc2) View Source
concat(t(), t()) :: t()

Concatenates two document entities returning a new document.

Examples

iex> doc = Inspect.Algebra.concat("hello", "world")
iex> Inspect.Algebra.format(doc, 80)
["hello", "world"]
Link to this function empty() View Source
empty() :: :doc_nil

Returns a document entity used to represent nothingness.

Examples

iex> Inspect.Algebra.empty
:doc_nil
Link to this function fold_doc(docs, folder_fun) View Source
fold_doc([t()], (t(), t() -> t())) :: t()

Folds a list of documents into a document using the given folder function.

The list of documents is folded “from the right”; in that, this function is similar to List.foldr/3, except that it doesn’t expect an initial accumulator and uses the last element of docs as the initial accumulator.

Examples

iex> docs = ["A", "B", "C"]
iex> docs = Inspect.Algebra.fold_doc(docs, fn(doc, acc) ->
...>   Inspect.Algebra.concat([doc, "!", acc])
...> end)
iex> Inspect.Algebra.format(docs, 80)
["A", "!", "B", "!", "C"]
Link to this function format(doc, width) View Source
format(t(), non_neg_integer() | :infinity) :: iodata()

Formats a given document for a given width.

Takes the maximum width and a document to print as its arguments and returns an IO data representation of the best layout for the document to fit in the given width.

Examples

iex> doc = Inspect.Algebra.glue("hello", " ", "world")
iex> Inspect.Algebra.format(doc, 30) |> IO.iodata_to_binary()
"hello world"
iex> Inspect.Algebra.format(doc, 10) |> IO.iodata_to_binary()
"hello\nworld"
Link to this function glue(doc1, doc2) View Source
glue(t(), t()) :: t()

Glues two documents together inserting " " as a break between them.

This means the two documents will be separated by " " in case they fit in the same line. Otherwise a line break is used.

Examples

iex> doc = Inspect.Algebra.glue("hello", "world")
iex> Inspect.Algebra.format(doc, 80)
["hello", " ", "world"]
Link to this function glue(doc1, break_string, doc2) View Source
glue(t(), binary(), t()) :: t()

Glues two documents (doc1 and doc2) together inserting the given break break_string between them.

For more information on how the break is inserted, see break/1.

Examples

iex> doc = Inspect.Algebra.glue("hello", "\t", "world")
iex> Inspect.Algebra.format(doc, 80)
["hello", "\t", "world"]
Link to this function group(doc) View Source
group(t()) :: doc_group()

Returns a group containing the specified document doc.

Documents in a group are attempted to be rendered together to the best of the renderer ability.

Examples

iex> doc = Inspect.Algebra.group(
...>   Inspect.Algebra.concat(
...>     Inspect.Algebra.group(
...>       Inspect.Algebra.concat(
...>         "Hello,",
...>         Inspect.Algebra.concat(
...>           Inspect.Algebra.break,
...>           "A"
...>         )
...>       )
...>     ),
...>     Inspect.Algebra.concat(
...>       Inspect.Algebra.break,
...>       "B"
...>     )
...> ))
iex> Inspect.Algebra.format(doc, 80)
["Hello,", " ", "A", " ", "B"]
iex> Inspect.Algebra.format(doc, 6)
["Hello,", "\n", "A", " ", "B"]
Link to this function line(doc1, doc2) View Source
line(t(), t()) :: t()

Inserts a mandatory linebreak between two documents.

Examples

iex> doc = Inspect.Algebra.line("Hughes", "Wadler")
iex> Inspect.Algebra.format(doc, 80)
["Hughes", "\n", "Wadler"]
Link to this function nest(doc, level) View Source
nest(t(), non_neg_integer()) :: doc_nest()

Nests the given document at the given level.

Nesting will be appended to the line breaks.

Examples

iex> doc = Inspect.Algebra.nest(Inspect.Algebra.glue("hello", "world"), 5)
iex> Inspect.Algebra.format(doc, 5)
["hello", "\n     ", "world"]
Link to this function space(doc1, doc2) View Source
space(t(), t()) :: t()

Inserts a mandatory single space between two documents.

Examples

iex> doc = Inspect.Algebra.space("Hughes", "Wadler")
iex> Inspect.Algebra.format(doc, 5)
["Hughes", " ", "Wadler"]
Link to this function surround(left, doc, right) View Source
surround(t(), t(), t()) :: t()

Surrounds a document with characters.

Puts the given document doc between the left and right documents enclosing and nesting it. The document is marked as a group, to show the maximum as possible concisely together.

Examples

iex> doc = Inspect.Algebra.surround("[", Inspect.Algebra.glue("a", "b"), "]")
iex> Inspect.Algebra.format(doc, 3)
["[", "a", "\n ", "b", "]"]
Link to this function surround_many(left, docs, right, opts, fun, separator \\ ",") View Source
surround_many(t(), [any()], t(), Inspect.Opts.t(), (term(), Inspect.Opts.t() -> t()), t()) :: t()

Maps and glues a collection of items.

It uses the given left and right documents as surrounding and the separator document separator to separate items in docs. A limit can be passed: when this limit is reached, this function stops gluing and outputs "..." instead.

Examples

iex> doc = Inspect.Algebra.surround_many("[", Enum.to_list(1..5), "]",
...>         %Inspect.Opts{limit: :infinity}, fn i, _opts -> to_string(i) end)
iex> Inspect.Algebra.format(doc, 5) |> IO.iodata_to_binary
"[1,\n 2,\n 3,\n 4,\n 5]"

iex> doc = Inspect.Algebra.surround_many("[", Enum.to_list(1..5), "]",
...>         %Inspect.Opts{limit: 3}, fn i, _opts -> to_string(i) end)
iex> Inspect.Algebra.format(doc, 20) |> IO.iodata_to_binary
"[1, 2, 3, ...]"

iex> doc = Inspect.Algebra.surround_many("[", Enum.to_list(1..5), "]",
...>         %Inspect.Opts{limit: 3}, fn i, _opts -> to_string(i) end, "!")
iex> Inspect.Algebra.format(doc, 20) |> IO.iodata_to_binary
"[1! 2! 3! ...]"
Link to this function to_doc(term, opts) View Source
to_doc(any(), Inspect.Opts.t()) :: t()

Converts an Elixir term to an algebra document according to the Inspect protocol.