<refentry> <refnamediv> <refname>nix-instantiate</refname> <refpurpose>instantiate store expressions from Nix expressions</refpurpose> </refnamediv> <refsynopsisdiv> <cmdsynopsis> <command>nix-instantiate</command> &opt-common-syn; <arg choice='plain' rep='repeat'><replaceable>files</replaceable></arg> </cmdsynopsis> </refsynopsisdiv> <refsection> <title>Description</title> <para> The command <command>nix-instantiate</command> generates (low-level) store expressions from (high-level) Nix expressions. It loads and evaluates the Nix expressions in each of <replaceable>files</replaceable>. Each top-level expression should evaluate to a derivation, a list of derivations, or a set of derivations. The paths of the resulting store expressions are printed on standard output. </para> <para> This command is generally used for testing Nix expression before they are used with <command>nix-env</command>. </para> </refsection> <refsection> <title>Options</title> <variablelist> &opt-common; </variablelist> </refsection> <refsection> <title>Examples</title> <screen> $ nix-instantiate gcc.nix <lineannotation>(instantiate)</lineannotation> /nix/store/468abdcb93aa22bb721142615b97698b-d-gcc-3.3.2.store $ nix-store -r $(nix-instantiate gcc.nix) <lineannotation>(build)</lineannotation> $ nix-store -r $(nix-instantiate gcc.nix) <lineannotation>(print output path)</lineannotation> /nix/store/9afa718cddfdfe94b5b9303d0430ceb1-gcc-3.3.2 $ ls -l /nix/store/9afa718cddfdfe94b5b9303d0430ceb1-gcc-3.3.2 dr-xr-xr-x 2 eelco users 360 2003-12-01 16:12 bin dr-xr-xr-x 3 eelco users 72 2003-12-01 16:12 include ...</screen> </refsection> </refentry>