guile/doc/ref/scripts.texi

@page
@node Guile Scripting
@chapter Guile Scripting

Like AWK, Perl, or any shell, Guile can interpret script files.  A Guile
script is simply a file of Scheme code with some extra information at
the beginning which tells the operating system how to invoke Guile, and
then tells Guile how to handle the Scheme code.

@menu
* Invoking Guile::              How to start a Guile script.
* The Meta Switch::             Passing complex argument lists to Guile
                                from shell scripts.
@end menu

@node Invoking Guile
@section Invoking Guile

Here we describe Guile's command-line processing in detail.  Guile
processes its arguments from left to right, recognizing the switches
described below.  For examples, see @ref{Scripting Examples}.

@table @code

@item -s @var{script} @var{arg...}
Read and evaluate Scheme source code from the file @var{script}, as the
@code{load} function would.  After loading @var{script}, exit.  Any
command-line arguments @var{arg...} following @var{script} become the
script's arguments; the @code{command-line} function returns a list of
strings of the form @code{(@var{script} @var{arg...})}.

@item -c @var{expr} @var{arg...}
Evaluate @var{expr} as Scheme code, and then exit.  Any command-line
arguments @var{arg...} following @var{expr} become command-line arguments; the
@code{command-line} function returns a list of strings of the form
@code{(@var{guile} @var{arg...})}, where @var{guile} is the path of the
Guile executable.

@item -- @var{arg...}
Run interactively, prompting the user for expressions and evaluating
them.  Any command-line arguments @var{arg...} following the @code{--}
become command-line arguments for the interactive session; the
@code{command-line} function returns a list of strings of the form
@code{(@var{guile} @var{arg...})}, where @var{guile} is the path of the
Guile executable.

@item -l @var{file}
Load Scheme source code from @var{file}, and continue processing the
command line.

@item -e @var{function}
Make @var{function} the @dfn{entry point} of the script.  After loading
the script file (with @code{-s}) or evaluating the expression (with
@code{-c}), apply @var{function} to a list containing the program name
and the command-line arguments --- the list provided by the
@code{command-line} function.

A @code{-e} switch can appear anywhere in the argument list, but Guile
always invokes the @var{function} as the @emph{last} action it performs.
This is weird, but because of the way script invocation works under
POSIX, the @code{-s} option must always come last in the list.

@xref{Scripting Examples}.

@item -ds
Treat a final @code{-s} option as if it occurred at this point in the
command line; load the script here.

This switch is necessary because, although the POSIX script invocation
mechanism effectively requires the @code{-s} option to appear last, the
programmer may well want to run the script before other actions
requested on the command line.  For examples, see @ref{Scripting
Examples}.

@item \
Read more command-line arguments, starting from the second line of the
script file.  @xref{The Meta Switch}.

@item --emacs
Assume Guile is running as an inferior process of Emacs, and use a
special protocol to communicate with Emacs's Guile interaction mode.
This switch sets the global variable use-emacs-interface to @code{#t}.

This switch is still experimental.

@item --use-srfi=@var{list}
The option @code{--use-srfi} expects a comma-separated list of numbers,
each representing a SRFI number to be loaded into the interpreter
before starting evaluating a script file or the REPL.  Additionally,
the feature identifier for the loaded SRFIs is recognized by
`cond-expand' when using this option.

@example
guile --use-srfi=8,13
@end example

@item --debug
Start with the debugging evaluator and enable backtraces.  Using the
debugging evaluator will give you better error messages but it will
slow down execution.  By default, the debugging evaluator is only used
when entering an interactive session.  When executing a script with
@code{-s} or @code{-c}, the normal, faster evaluator is used by default.

@item --no-debug
Do not use the debugging evaluator, even when entering an interactive
session.

@item -h@r{, }--help
Display help on invoking Guile, and then exit.

@item -v@r{, }--version
Display the current version of Guile, and then exit.

@end table


@node The Meta Switch
@section The Meta Switch

Guile's command-line switches allow the programmer to describe
reasonably complicated actions in scripts.  Unfortunately, the POSIX
script invocation mechanism only allows one argument to appear on the
@samp{#!} line after the path to the Guile executable, and imposes
arbitrary limits on that argument's length.  Suppose you wrote a script
starting like this:
@example
#!/usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s
!#
(define (main args)
  (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
       (cdr args))
  (newline))
@end example
The intended meaning is clear: load the file, and then call @code{main}
on the command-line arguments.  However, the system will treat
everything after the Guile path as a single argument --- the string
@code{"-e main -s"} --- which is not what we want.

As a workaround, the meta switch @code{\} allows the Guile programmer to
specify an arbitrary number of options without patching the kernel.  If
the first argument to Guile is @code{\}, Guile will open the script file
whose name follows the @code{\}, parse arguments starting from the
file's second line (according to rules described below), and substitute
them for the @code{\} switch.

Working in concert with the meta switch, Guile treats the characters
@samp{#!} as the beginning of a comment which extends through the next
line containing only the characters @samp{!#}.  This sort of comment may
appear anywhere in a Guile program, but it is most useful at the top of
a file, meshing magically with the POSIX script invocation mechanism.

Thus, consider a script named @file{/u/jimb/ekko} which starts like this:
@example
#!/usr/local/bin/guile \
-e main -s
!#
(define (main args)
        (map (lambda (arg) (display arg) (display " "))
             (cdr args))
        (newline))
@end example

Suppose a user invokes this script as follows:
@example
$ /u/jimb/ekko a b c
@end example

Here's what happens:
@itemize @bullet

@item
the operating system recognizes the @samp{#!} token at the top of the
file, and rewrites the command line to:
@example
/usr/local/bin/guile \ /u/jimb/ekko a b c
@end example
This is the usual behavior, prescribed by POSIX.

@item
When Guile sees the first two arguments, @code{\ /u/jimb/ekko}, it opens
@file{/u/jimb/ekko}, parses the three arguments @code{-e}, @code{main},
and @code{-s} from it, and substitutes them for the @code{\} switch.
Thus, Guile's command line now reads:
@example
/usr/local/bin/guile -e main -s /u/jimb/ekko a b c
@end example

@item
Guile then processes these switches: it loads @file{/u/jimb/ekko} as a
file of Scheme code (treating the first three lines as a comment), and
then performs the application @code{(main "/u/jimb/ekko" "a" "b" "c")}.

@end itemize


When Guile sees the meta switch @code{\}, it parses command-line
argument from the script file according to the following rules:
@itemize @bullet

@item
Each space character terminates an argument.  This means that two
spaces in a row introduce an argument @code{""}.

@item
The tab character is not permitted (unless you quote it with the
backslash character, as described below), to avoid confusion.

@item
The newline character terminates the sequence of arguments, and will
also terminate a final non-empty argument.  (However, a newline
following a space will not introduce a final empty-string argument;
it only terminates the argument list.)

@item
The backslash character is the escape character.  It escapes backslash,
space, tab, and newline.  The ANSI C escape sequences like @code{\n} and
@code{\t} are also supported.  These produce argument constituents; the
two-character combination @code{\n} doesn't act like a terminating
newline.  The escape sequence @code{\@var{NNN}} for exactly three octal
digits reads as the character whose ASCII code is @var{NNN}.  As above,
characters produced this way are argument constituents.  Backslash
followed by other characters is not allowed.

@end itemize