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add syntax overview from NixOS manual

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taken verbatim to keep track of required corrections.

made it an HTML table to more easily change structure and keep diffs
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Valentin Gagarin 2022-08-12 13:07:18 +02:00
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doc/manual/src/language/index.md
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@ -11,3 +11,309 @@ packages, compositions of packages, and the variability within packages.
This section presents the various features of the language. This section presents the various features of the language.
# Syntax Summary
Below is a summary of the most important syntactic constructs in the Nix
expression language. It's not complete. In particular, there are many
other built-in functions. See the [Nix
manual](https://nixos.org/nix/manual/#chap-writing-nix-expressions) for
the rest.
<table>
<tr>
<th>
Example
</th>
<th>
Description
</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
*Basic values*
</td>
<td>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`"Hello world"`
</td>
<td>
A string
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`"${pkgs.bash}/bin/sh"`
</td>
<td>
A string containing an expression (expands to `"/nix/store/hash-bash-version/bin/sh"`)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`true`, `false`
</td>
<td>
Booleans
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`123`
</td>
<td>
An integer
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`./foo.png`
</td>
<td>
A path (relative to the containing Nix expression)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
*Compound values*
</td>
<td>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`{ x = 1; y = 2; }`
</td>
<td>
A set with attributes named `x` and `y`
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`{ foo.bar = 1; }`
</td>
<td>
A nested set, equivalent to `{ foo = { bar = 1; }; }`
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`rec { x = "foo"; y = x + "bar"; }`
</td>
<td>
A recursive set, equivalent to `{ x = "foo"; y = "foobar"; }`
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`[ "foo" "bar" ]`
</td>
<td>
A list with two elements
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
*Operators*
</td>
<td>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`"foo" + "bar"`
</td>
<td>
String concatenation
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`1 + 2`
</td>
<td>
Integer addition
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`"foo" == "f" + "oo"`
</td>
<td>
Equality test (evaluates to `true`)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`"foo" != "bar"`
</td>
<td>
Inequality test (evaluates to `true`)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`!true`
</td>
<td>
Boolean negation
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`{ x = 1; y = 2; }.x`
</td>
<td>
Attribute selection (evaluates to `1`)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`{ x = 1; y = 2; }.z or 3`
</td>
<td>
Attribute selection with default (evaluates to `3`)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`{ x = 1; y = 2; } // { z = 3; }`
</td>
<td>
Merge two sets (attributes in the right-hand set taking precedence)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
*Control structures*
</td>
<td>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`if 1 + 1 == 2 then "yes!" else "no!"`
</td>
<td>
Conditional expression
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`assert 1 + 1 == 2; "yes!"`
</td>
<td>
Assertion check (evaluates to `"yes!"`). See [](#sec-assertions) for using assertions in modules
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`let x = "foo"; y = "bar"; in x + y`
</td>
<td>
Variable definition
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`with pkgs.lib; head [ 1 2 3 ]`
</td>
<td>
Add all attributes from the given set to the scope (evaluates to `1`)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
*Functions (lambdas)*
</td>
<td>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`x: x + 1`
</td>
<td>
A function that expects an integer and returns it increased by 1
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`(x: x + 1) 100`
</td>
<td>
A function call (evaluates to 101)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`let inc = x: x + 1; in inc (inc (inc 100))`
</td>
<td>
A function bound to a variable and subsequently called by name (evaluates to 103)
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`{ x, y }: x + y`
</td>
<td>
A function that expects a set with required attributes `x` and `y` and concatenates them
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`{ x, y ? "bar" }: x + y`
</td>
<td>
A function that expects a set with required attribute `x` and optional `y`, using `"bar"` as default value for `y`
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`{ x, y, ... }: x + y`
</td>
<td>
A function that expects a set with required attributes `x` and `y` and ignores any other attributes
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`{ x, y } @ args: x + y`
</td>
<td>
A function that expects a set with required attributes `x` and `y`, and binds the whole set to `args`
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
*Built-in functions*
</td>
<td>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`import ./foo.nix`
</td>
<td>
Load and return Nix expression in given file
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>
`map (x: x + x) [ 1 2 3 ]`
</td>
<td>
Apply a function to every element of a list (evaluates to `[ 2 4 6 ]`)
</td>
</tr>
</table>