Atoms and strings

The simplest expressions in every language are constants: atoms, strings, paths. (Strings and paths aren't all constants per se, because they have interpolations.)

Expressions

:_ "Cold Atom"

[%rock p=term q=@]; a constant, cold atom.

A cold atom is one whose type is inferred to be of a single atom constant.

Produces

A cold (fixed) atom q with aura p.

Syntax

Irregular: any warm atom form, prefixed with %.

Irregular: e.g., %hi. Character constraints: a-z lowercase to start, a-z or 0-9 thereafter, with infix hyphens (hep), "kebab-case."

Irregular: ~.

Examples

We can see the contrast with warm atoms by using the compiler parser function, ream:

> (ream '%hi')
[%rock p=%tas q=26.984]

> (ream '\'hi\'')
[%sand p=%t q=26.984]

> (ream '%12')
[%rock p=%ud q=12]

:_ "Paths"

[%path p=(list (each @ta hoon))]: path with interpolation.

Produces

A null-terminated list of the items in p, which are either constant @ta atoms (knots), or expressions producing a knot.

Syntax

Irregular: /this/is/a/path.

Examples

> `path`/this/is/a/path
/this/is/a/path

> `path`/this/is/[`@ta`(cat 3 %a- %test)]/path
/this/is/a-test/path

> `path`/this/is/(scot %tas 'test')/path
/this/is/test/path

> /
~

:_ "Strings with Interpolation"

[%knit p=(list (each @t hoon))]: text string with interpolation.

Produces

A tape.

Syntax

Irregular: "abcdefg".

Irregular: "abc{(weld "lmnop" "xyz")}defg".

> "abcdefg"
"abcdefg"

> "abc{(weld "lmnop" "xyz")}defg"
"abclmnopxyzdefg"

> (ream '"abcdefg"')
[%knit p=~[97 98 99 100 101 102 103]]

Examples

String:

> "hello, world."
"hello, world."

String with interpolation:

> =+(planet="world" "hello, {planet}.")
"hello, world."

String with interpolated prettyprinting:

> =+(planet=%world "hello, {<planet>}.")
"hello, %world."

:_ "Warm Atoms"

[%sand p=term q=@]; a constant, warm atom.

A 'warm' atom is one whose type is inferred to be general, i.e., not just a single atom type.

> `@`12
12

> `%12`12
nest-fail

Produces

A warm (variable) atom q with aura p. Use the Hoon compiler parser function ream to take a closer look:

> (ream '12')
[%sand p=%ud q=12]

> (ream '\'Hello!\'')
[%sand p=%t q=36.762.444.129.608]

Syntax by example

Irregular. A table of examples:

@c    UTF-32                   ~-foobar
@da   128-bit absolute date    ~2016.4.23..20.09.26..f27b..dead..beef..babe
                               ~2016.4.23
@dr   128-bit relative date    ~s17          (17 seconds)
                               ~m20          (20 minutes)
                               ~d42          (42 days)
@f    loobean                  &             (0, yes)
                               |             (1, no)
@p                             ~zod          (0)
@rd   64-bit IEEE float        .~3.14        (pi)
                               .~-3.14       (negative pi)
@rs   32-bit IEEE float        .3.14         (pi)
                               .-3.14        (negative pi)
@rq   128-bit IEEE float       .~~~3.14      (pi)
@rh   16-bit IEEE float        .~~3.14       (pi)
@sb   signed binary            --0b10        (2)
                               -0b101        (-5)
@sd   signed decimal           --2           (2)
                               -5            (-5)
@sv   signed base32            --0v68        (200)
                               -0vfk         (-500)
@sw   signed base64            --0w38        (200)
                               -0w7Q         (500)
@sx   signed hexadecimal       --0x2         (2)
                               -0x5          -5
@t    UTF-8 text (cord)        'foobar'
@ta   ASCII text (knot)        ~.foobar
@ub   unsigned binary          0b10          (2)
@uc   bitcoin address          0c1A1zP1eP5QGefi2DMPTfTL5SLmv7DivfNa
@ud   unsigned decimal         42            (42)
                               1.420         (1420)
@uv   unsigned base32          0v3ic5h.6urr6
@uw   unsigned base64          0wsC5.yrSZC
@ux   unsigned hexadecimal     0xcafe.babe

The @uv characters are 0-9, a-v. The @uw characters are 0-9, a-z, A-Z, - and ~.