{-# LANGUAGE FlexibleInstances #-} {-# LANGUAGE GeneralizedNewtypeDeriving #-} {-# LANGUAGE NoImplicitPrelude #-} {-# LANGUAGE StandaloneDeriving #-} {-# LANGUAGE Trustworthy #-} {-# LANGUAGE TypeFamilies #-} ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- | -- Module : Data.String -- Copyright : (c) The University of Glasgow 2007 -- License : BSD-style (see the file libraries/base/LICENSE) -- -- Maintainer : libraries@haskell.org -- Stability : experimental -- Portability : portable -- -- The @String@ type and associated operations. -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- module Data.String ( String , IsString(..) -- * Functions on strings , lines , words , unlines , unwords ) where import GHC.Base import Data.Functor.Const (Const (Const)) import Data.Functor.Identity (Identity (Identity)) import Data.List (lines, words, unlines, unwords) -- | Class for string-like datastructures; used by the overloaded string -- extension (-XOverloadedStrings in GHC). class IsString a where fromString :: String -> a {- Note [IsString String] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Previously, the IsString instance that covered String was a flexible instance for [Char]. This is in some sense the most accurate choice, but there are cases where it can lead to an ambiguity, for instance: show $ "foo" ++ "bar" The use of (++) ensures that "foo" and "bar" must have type [t] for some t, but a flexible instance for [Char] will _only_ match if something further determines t to be Char, and nothing in the above example actually does. So, the above example generates an error about the ambiguity of t, and what's worse, the above behavior can be generated by simply typing: "foo" ++ "bar" into GHCi with the OverloadedStrings extension enabled. The new instance fixes this by defining an instance that matches all [a], and forces a to be Char. This instance, of course, overlaps with things that the [Char] flexible instance doesn't, but this was judged to be an acceptable cost, for the gain of providing a less confusing experience for people experimenting with overloaded strings. It may be possible to fix this via (extended) defaulting. Currently, the rules are not able to default t to Char in the above example. If a more flexible system that enabled this defaulting were put in place, then it would probably make sense to revert to the flexible [Char] instance, since extended defaulting is enabled in GHCi. However, it is not clear at the time of this note exactly what such a system would be, and it certainly hasn't been implemented. A test case (should_run/overloadedstringsrun01.hs) has been added to ensure the good behavior of the above example remains in the future. -} -- | @(a ~ Char)@ context was introduced in @4.9.0.0@ -- -- @since 2.01 instance (a ~ Char) => IsString [a] where -- See Note [IsString String] fromString :: String -> [a] fromString xs :: String xs = [a] String xs -- | @since 4.9.0.0 deriving instance IsString a => IsString (Const a b) -- | @since 4.9.0.0 deriving instance IsString a => IsString (Identity a)