Chapter 10  The toplevel system or REPL (ocaml)

This chapter describes the toplevel system for OCaml, that permits interactive use of the OCaml system through a read-eval-print loop (REPL). In this mode, the system repeatedly reads OCaml phrases from the input, then typechecks, compile and evaluate them, then prints the inferred type and result value, if any. The system prints a # (sharp) prompt before reading each phrase.

Input to the toplevel can span several lines. It is terminated by ;; (a double-semicolon). The toplevel input consists in one or several toplevel phrases, with the following syntax:

toplevel-input::= { definition }+ ;;  
 ∣ expr ;;  
 ∣ # ident  [ directive-argument ] ;;  
 
directive-argument::= string-literal  
 ∣ integer-literal  
 ∣ value-path  
 ∣ true ∣  false

A phrase can consist of a definition, like those found in implementations of compilation units or in struct … end module expressions. The definition can bind value names, type names, an exception, a module name, or a module type name. The toplevel system performs the bindings, then prints the types and values (if any) for the names thus defined.

A phrase may also consist in a value expression (section 7.7). It is simply evaluated without performing any bindings, and its value is printed.

Finally, a phrase can also consist in a toplevel directive, starting with # (the sharp sign). These directives control the behavior of the toplevel; they are listed below in section 10.2.

Unix:   The toplevel system is started by the command ocaml, as follows: 
        ocaml options objects                # interactive mode
        ocaml options objects scriptfile        # script mode
options are described below. objects are filenames ending in .cmo or .cma; they are loaded into the interpreter immediately after options are set. scriptfile is any file name not ending in .cmo or .cma.

If no scriptfile is given on the command line, the toplevel system enters interactive mode: phrases are read on standard input, results are printed on standard output, errors on standard error. End-of-file on standard input terminates ocaml (see also the #quit directive in section 10.2).

On start-up (before the first phrase is read), if the file .ocamlinit exists in the current directory, its contents are read as a sequence of OCaml phrases and executed as per the #use directive described in section 10.2. The evaluation outcode for each phrase are not displayed. If the current directory does not contain an .ocamlinit file, but the user’s home directory (environment variable HOME) does, the latter is read and executed as described below.

The toplevel system does not perform line editing, but it can easily be used in conjunction with an external line editor such as ledit, ocaml2 or rlwrap (see the Caml Hump). Another option is to use ocaml under Gnu Emacs, which gives the full editing power of Emacs (command run-caml from library inf-caml).

At any point, the parsing, compilation or evaluation of the current phrase can be interrupted by pressing ctrl-C (or, more precisely, by sending the INTR signal to the ocaml process). The toplevel then immediately returns to the # prompt.

If scriptfile is given on the command-line to ocaml, the toplevel system enters script mode: the contents of the file are read as a sequence of OCaml phrases and executed, as per the #use directive (section 10.2). The outcome of the evaluation is not printed. On reaching the end of file, the ocaml command exits immediately. No commands are read from standard input. Sys.argv is transformed, ignoring all OCaml parameters, and starting with the script file name in Sys.argv.(0).

In script mode, the first line of the script is ignored if it starts with #!. Thus, it should be possible to make the script itself executable and put as first line #!/usr/local/bin/ocaml, thus calling the toplevel system automatically when the script is run. However, ocaml itself is a #! script on most installations of OCaml, and Unix kernels usually do not handle nested #! scripts. A better solution is to put the following as the first line of the script: 

        #!/usr/local/bin/ocamlrun /usr/local/bin/ocaml

1  Options

The following command-line options are recognized by the ocaml command.

-absname
Force error messages to show absolute paths for file names.
-args filename
Read additional newline-terminated command line arguments from filename. It is not possible to pass a scriptfile via file to the toplevel.
-args0 filename
Read additional null character terminated command line arguments from filename. It is not possible to pass a scriptfile via file to the toplevel.
-config
Print the version number of and a detailed summary of its configuration, then exit.
-I directory
Add the given directory to the list of directories searched for source and compiled files. By default, the current directory is searched first, then the standard library directory. Directories added with -I are searched after the current directory, in the order in which they were given on the command line, but before the standard library directory. See also option -nostdlib.

If the given directory starts with +, it is taken relative to the standard library directory. For instance, -I +unix adds the subdirectory unix of the standard library to the search path.

Directories can also be added to the list once the toplevel is running with the #directory directive (section 10.2).

-init file
Load the given file instead of the default initialization file. The default file is .ocamlinit in the current directory if it exists, otherwise .ocamlinit in the user’s home directory.
-labels
Labels are not ignored in types, labels may be used in applications, and labelled parameters can be given in any order. This is the default.
-no-app-funct
Deactivates the applicative behaviour of functors. With this option, each functor application generates new types in its result and applying the same functor twice to the same argument yields two incompatible structures.
-noassert
Do not compile assertion checks. Note that the special form assert false is always compiled because it is typed specially.
-nolabels
Ignore non-optional labels in types. Labels cannot be used in applications, and parameter order becomes strict.
-noprompt
Do not display any prompt when waiting for input.
-nopromptcont
Do not display the secondary prompt when waiting for continuation lines in multi-line inputs. This should be used e.g. when running ocaml in an emacs window.
-nostdlib
Do not include the standard library directory in the list of directories searched for source and compiled files.
-ppx command
After parsing, pipe the abstract syntax tree through the preprocessor command. The module Ast_mapper, described in chapter 27: Ast_mapper , implements the external interface of a preprocessor.
-principal
Check information path during type-checking, to make sure that all types are derived in a principal way. When using labelled arguments and/or polymorphic methods, this flag is required to ensure future versions of the compiler will be able to infer types correctly, even if internal algorithms change. All programs accepted in -principal mode are also accepted in the default mode with equivalent types, but different binary signatures, and this may slow down type checking; yet it is a good idea to use it once before publishing source code.
-rectypes
Allow arbitrary recursive types during type-checking. By default, only recursive types where the recursion goes through an object type are supported.
-safe-string
Enforce the separation between types string and bytes, thereby making strings read-only. This is the default.
-short-paths
When a type is visible under several module-paths, use the shortest one when printing the type’s name in inferred interfaces and error and warning messages. Identifier names starting with an underscore _ or containing double underscores __ incur a penalty of +10 when computing their length.
-stdin
Read the standard input as a script file rather than starting an interactive session.
-strict-sequence
Force the left-hand part of each sequence to have type unit.
-strict-formats
Reject invalid formats that were accepted in legacy format implementations. You should use this flag to detect and fix such invalid formats, as they will be rejected by future OCaml versions.
-unsafe
Turn bound checking off for array and string accesses (the v.(i) and s.[i] constructs). Programs compiled with -unsafe are therefore faster, but unsafe: anything can happen if the program accesses an array or string outside of its bounds.
-unsafe-string
Identify the types string and bytes, thereby making strings writable. This is intended for compatibility with old source code and should not be used with new software.
-v
Print the version number of the compiler and the location of the standard library directory, then exit.
-verbose
Print all external commands before they are executed, Useful to debug C library problems.
-version
Print version string and exit.
-vnum
Print short version number and exit.
-no-version
Do not print the version banner at startup.
-w warning-list
Enable, disable, or mark as fatal the warnings specified by the argument warning-list. Each warning can be enabled or disabled, and each warning can be fatal or non-fatal. If a warning is disabled, it isn’t displayed and doesn’t affect compilation in any way (even if it is fatal). If a warning is enabled, it is displayed normally by the compiler whenever the source code triggers it. If it is enabled and fatal, the compiler will also stop with an error after displaying it.

The warning-list argument is a sequence of warning specifiers, with no separators between them. A warning specifier is one of the following:

+num
Enable warning number num.
-num
Disable warning number num.
@num
Enable and mark as fatal warning number num.
+num1..num2
Enable warnings in the given range.
-num1..num2
Disable warnings in the given range.
@num1..num2
Enable and mark as fatal warnings in the given range.
+letter
Enable the set of warnings corresponding to letter. The letter may be uppercase or lowercase.
-letter
Disable the set of warnings corresponding to letter. The letter may be uppercase or lowercase.
@letter
Enable and mark as fatal the set of warnings corresponding to letter. The letter may be uppercase or lowercase.
uppercase-letter
Enable the set of warnings corresponding to uppercase-letter.
lowercase-letter
Disable the set of warnings corresponding to lowercase-letter.

Warning numbers and letters which are out of the range of warnings that are currently defined are ignored. The warnings are as follows.

1
Suspicious-looking start-of-comment mark.
2
Suspicious-looking end-of-comment mark.
3
Deprecated feature.
4
Fragile pattern matching: matching that will remain complete even if additional constructors are added to one of the variant types matched.
5
Partially applied function: expression whose result has function type and is ignored.
6
Label omitted in function application.
7
Method overridden.
8
Partial match: missing cases in pattern-matching.
9
Missing fields in a record pattern.
10
Expression on the left-hand side of a sequence that doesn’t have type unit (and that is not a function, see warning number 5).
11
Redundant case in a pattern matching (unused match case).
12
Redundant sub-pattern in a pattern-matching.
13
Instance variable overridden.
14
Illegal backslash escape in a string constant.
15
Private method made public implicitly.
16
Unerasable optional argument.
17
Undeclared virtual method.
18
Non-principal type.
19
Type without principality.
20
Unused function argument.
21
Non-returning statement.
22
Preprocessor warning.
23
Useless record with clause.
24
Bad module name: the source file name is not a valid OCaml module name.
25
Deprecated: now part of warning 8.
26
Suspicious unused variable: unused variable that is bound with let or as, and doesn’t start with an underscore (_) character.
27
Innocuous unused variable: unused variable that is not bound with let nor as, and doesn’t start with an underscore (_) character.
28
Wildcard pattern given as argument to a constant constructor.
29
Unescaped end-of-line in a string constant (non-portable code).
30
Two labels or constructors of the same name are defined in two mutually recursive types.
31
A module is linked twice in the same executable.
32
Unused value declaration.
33
Unused open statement.
34
Unused type declaration.
35
Unused for-loop index.
36
Unused ancestor variable.
37
Unused constructor.
38
Unused extension constructor.
39
Unused rec flag.
40
Constructor or label name used out of scope.
41
Ambiguous constructor or label name.
42
Disambiguated constructor or label name (compatibility warning).
43
Nonoptional label applied as optional.
44
Open statement shadows an already defined identifier.
45
Open statement shadows an already defined label or constructor.
46
Error in environment variable.
47
Illegal attribute payload.
48
Implicit elimination of optional arguments.
49
Absent cmi file when looking up module alias.
50
Unexpected documentation comment.
51
Warning on non-tail calls if @tailcall present.
52 (see 9.5.2)
Fragile constant pattern.
53
Attribute cannot appear in this context
54
Attribute used more than once on an expression
55
Inlining impossible
56
Unreachable case in a pattern-matching (based on type information).
57 (see 9.5.3)
Ambiguous or-pattern variables under guard
58
Missing cmx file
59
Assignment to non-mutable value
60
Unused module declaration
61
Unboxable type in primitive declaration
62
Type constraint on GADT type declaration
A
all warnings
C
warnings 1, 2.
D
Alias for warning 3.
E
Alias for warning 4.
F
Alias for warning 5.
K
warnings 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39.
L
Alias for warning 6.
M
Alias for warning 7.
P
Alias for warning 8.
R
Alias for warning 9.
S
Alias for warning 10.
U
warnings 11, 12.
V
Alias for warning 13.
X
warnings 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 30.
Y
Alias for warning 26.
Z
Alias for warning 27.

The default setting is -w +a-4-6-7-9-27-29-32..42-44-45-48-50-60. It is displayed by -help. Note that warnings 5 and 10 are not always triggered, depending on the internals of the type checker.

-warn-error warning-list
Mark as fatal the warnings specified in the argument warning-list. The compiler will stop with an error when one of these warnings is emitted. The warning-list has the same meaning as for the -w option: a + sign (or an uppercase letter) marks the corresponding warnings as fatal, a - sign (or a lowercase letter) turns them back into non-fatal warnings, and a @ sign both enables and marks as fatal the corresponding warnings.

Note: it is not recommended to use warning sets (i.e. letters) as arguments to -warn-error in production code, because this can break your build when future versions of OCaml add some new warnings.

The default setting is -warn-error -a+31 (only warning 31 is fatal).

-warn-help
Show the description of all available warning numbers.
- file
Use file as a script file name, even when it starts with a hyphen (-).
-help or --help
Display a short usage summary and exit.
Unix:   The following environment variables are also consulted:
OCAMLTOP_UTF_8
When printing string values, non-ascii bytes ( > \0x7E ) are printed as decimal escape sequence if OCAMLTOP_UTF_8 is set to false. Otherwise, they are printed unescaped.
TERM
When printing error messages, the toplevel system attempts to underline visually the location of the error. It consults the TERM variable to determines the type of output terminal and look up its capabilities in the terminal database.
HOME
Directory where the .ocamlinit file is searched.

2  Toplevel directives

The following directives control the toplevel behavior, load files in memory, and trace program execution.

Note: all directives start with a # (sharp) symbol. This # must be typed before the directive, and must not be confused with the # prompt displayed by the interactive loop. For instance, typing #quit;; will exit the toplevel loop, but typing quit;; will result in an “unbound value quit” error.

General
#help;;
Prints a list of all available directives, with corresponding argument type if appropriate.
#quit;;
Exit the toplevel loop and terminate the ocaml command.
Loading codes
#cd "dir-name";;
Change the current working directory.
#directory "dir-name";;
Add the given directory to the list of directories searched for source and compiled files.
#remove_directory "dir-name";;
Remove the given directory from the list of directories searched for source and compiled files. Do nothing if the list does not contain the given directory.
#load "file-name";;
Load in memory a bytecode object file (.cmo file) or library file (.cma file) produced by the batch compiler ocamlc.
#load_rec "file-name";;
Load in memory a bytecode object file (.cmo file) or library file (.cma file) produced by the batch compiler ocamlc. When loading an object file that depends on other modules which have not been loaded yet, the .cmo files for these modules are searched and loaded as well, recursively. The loading order is not specified.
#use "file-name";;
Read, compile and execute source phrases from the given file. This is textual inclusion: phrases are processed just as if they were typed on standard input. The reading of the file stops at the first error encountered.
#mod_use "file-name";;
Similar to #use but also wrap the code into a top-level module of the same name as capitalized file name without extensions, following semantics of the compiler.

For directives that take file names as arguments, if the given file name specifies no directory, the file is searched in the following directories:

  1. In script mode, the directory containing the script currently executing; in interactive mode, the current working directory.
  2. Directories added with the #directory directive.
  3. Directories given on the command line with -I options.
  4. The standard library directory.
Environment queries
#show_class class-path;;
#show_class_type class-path;;
#show_exception ident;;
#show_module module-path;;
#show_module_type modtype-path;;
#show_type typeconstr;;
#show_val value-path;;
Print the signature of the corresponding component.
#show ident;;
Print the signatures of components with name ident in all the above categories.
Pretty-printing
#install_printer printer-name;;
This directive registers the function named printer-name (a value path) as a printer for values whose types match the argument type of the function. That is, the toplevel loop will call printer-name when it has such a value to print.

The printing function printer-name should have type Format.formatter -> t -> unit, where t is the type for the values to be printed, and should output its textual representation for the value of type t on the given formatter, using the functions provided by the Format library. For backward compatibility, printer-name can also have type t -> unit and should then output on the standard formatter, but this usage is deprecated.

#print_depth n;;
Limit the printing of values to a maximal depth of n. The parts of values whose depth exceeds n are printed as ... (ellipsis).
#print_length n;;
Limit the number of value nodes printed to at most n. Remaining parts of values are printed as ... (ellipsis).
#remove_printer printer-name;;
Remove the named function from the table of toplevel printers.
Tracing
#trace function-name;;
After executing this directive, all calls to the function named function-name will be “traced”. That is, the argument and the result are displayed for each call, as well as the exceptions escaping out of the function, raised either by the function itself or by another function it calls. If the function is curried, each argument is printed as it is passed to the function.
#untrace function-name;;
Stop tracing the given function.
#untrace_all;;
Stop tracing all functions traced so far.
Compiler options
#labels bool;;
Ignore labels in function types if argument is false, or switch back to default behaviour (commuting style) if argument is true.
#ppx "file-name";;
After parsing, pipe the abstract syntax tree through the preprocessor command.
#principal bool;;
If the argument is true, check information paths during type-checking, to make sure that all types are derived in a principal way. If the argument is false, do not check information paths.
#rectypes;;
Allow arbitrary recursive types during type-checking. Note: once enabled, this option cannot be disabled because that would lead to unsoundness of the type system.
#warn_error "warning-list";;
Treat as errors the warnings enabled by the argument and as normal warnings the warnings disabled by the argument.
#warnings "warning-list";;
Enable or disable warnings according to the argument.

3  The toplevel and the module system

Toplevel phrases can refer to identifiers defined in compilation units with the same mechanisms as for separately compiled units: either by using qualified names (Modulename.localname), or by using the open construct and unqualified names (see section 7.3).

However, before referencing another compilation unit, an implementation of that unit must be present in memory. At start-up, the toplevel system contains implementations for all the modules in the the standard library. Implementations for user modules can be entered with the #load directive described above. Referencing a unit for which no implementation has been provided results in the error Reference to undefined global `...'.

Note that entering open Mod merely accesses the compiled interface (.cmi file) for Mod, but does not load the implementation of Mod, and does not cause any error if no implementation of Mod has been loaded. The error “reference to undefined global Mod” will occur only when executing a value or module definition that refers to Mod.

4  Common errors

This section describes and explains the most frequently encountered error messages.

Cannot find file filename
The named file could not be found in the current directory, nor in the directories of the search path.

If filename has the format mod.cmi, this means you have referenced the compilation unit mod, but its compiled interface could not be found. Fix: compile mod.mli or mod.ml first, to create the compiled interface mod.cmi.

If filename has the format mod.cmo, this means you are trying to load with #load a bytecode object file that does not exist yet. Fix: compile mod.ml first.

If your program spans several directories, this error can also appear because you haven’t specified the directories to look into. Fix: use the #directory directive to add the correct directories to the search path.

This expression has type t1, but is used with type t2
See section 9.4.
Reference to undefined global mod
You have neglected to load in memory an implementation for a module with #load. See section 10.3 above.

5  Building custom toplevel systems: ocamlmktop

The ocamlmktop command builds OCaml toplevels that contain user code preloaded at start-up.

The ocamlmktop command takes as argument a set of .cmo and .cma files, and links them with the object files that implement the OCaml toplevel. The typical use is: 

        ocamlmktop -o mytoplevel foo.cmo bar.cmo gee.cmo

This creates the bytecode file mytoplevel, containing the OCaml toplevel system, plus the code from the three .cmo files. This toplevel is directly executable and is started by: 

        ./mytoplevel

This enters a regular toplevel loop, except that the code from foo.cmo, bar.cmo and gee.cmo is already loaded in memory, just as if you had typed: 

        #load "foo.cmo";;
        #load "bar.cmo";;
        #load "gee.cmo";;

on entrance to the toplevel. The modules Foo, Bar and Gee are not opened, though; you still have to do 

        open Foo;;

yourself, if this is what you wish.

5.1  Options

The following command-line options are recognized by ocamlmktop.

-cclib libname
Pass the -llibname option to the C linker when linking in “custom runtime” mode. See the corresponding option for ocamlc, in chapter 9.
-ccopt option
Pass the given option to the C compiler and linker, when linking in “custom runtime” mode. See the corresponding option for ocamlc, in chapter 9.
-custom
Link in “custom runtime” mode. See the corresponding option for ocamlc, in chapter 9.
-I directory
Add the given directory to the list of directories searched for compiled object code files (.cmo and .cma).
-o exec-file
Specify the name of the toplevel file produced by the linker. The default is a.out.

6  The native toplevel: ocamlnat (experimental)

This section describes a tool that is not yet officially supported but may be found useful.

OCaml code executing in the traditional toplevel system uses the bytecode interpreter. When increased performance is required, or for testing programs that will only execute correctly when compiled to native code, the native toplevel may be used instead.

For the majority of installations the native toplevel will not have been installed along with the rest of the OCaml toolchain. In such circumstances it will be necessary to build the OCaml distribution from source. From the built source tree of the distribution you may use make natruntop to build and execute a native toplevel. (Alternatively make ocamlnat can be used, which just performs the build step.)

If the make install command is run after having built the native toplevel then the ocamlnat program (either from the source or the installation directory) may be invoked directly rather than using make natruntop.

The present documentation is copyright Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA). A complete version can be obtained from this page.