How to define an function in the eshell (Erlang shell)?

Question

Is there any way to define an Erlang function from within the Erlang shell instead of from an erl file (aka a module)?

Answer 1

Yes but it is painful. Below is a "lambda function declaration" (aka fun in Erlang terms).

1> F=fun(X) -> X+2 end.
%%⇒ #Fun <erl_eval.6.13229925>

Have a look at this post. You can even enter a module's worth of declaration if you ever needed. In other words, yes you can declare functions.

Answer 2

One answer is that the shell only evaluates expressions and function definitions are not expressions, they are forms. In an erl file you define forms not expressions.

All functions exist within modules, and apart from function definitions a module consists of attributes, the more important being the modules name and which functions are exported from it. Only exported functions can be called from other modules. This means that a module must be defined before you can define the functions.

Modules are the unit of compilation in erlang. They are also the basic unit for code handling, i.e. it is whole modules which are loaded into, updated, or deleted from the system. In this respect defining functions separately one-by-one does not fit into the scheme of things.

Also, from a purely practical point of view, compiling a module is so fast that there is very little gain in being able to define functions in the shell.

Answer 3

This depends on what you actually need to do.

There are functions that one could consider as 'throwaways', that is, are defined once to perform a test with, and then you move on. In such cases, the fun syntax is used. Although a little cumbersome, this can be used to express things quickly and effectively. For instance:

1> Sum = fun(X, Y) -> X + Y end.
#Fun<erl_eval.12.128620087>
2> Sum(1, 2).
3

defines an anonymous fun that is bound to the variable (or label) Sum. Meanwhile, the following defines a named fun, called F, that is used to create a new process whose PID (<0.80.0>) is bound to Pid. Note that F is called in a tail recursive fashion in the second clause of receive, enabling the process to loop until the message stop is sent to it.

3> Pid = spawn(fun F() -> receive stop -> io:format("Stopped~n"); Msg -> io:format("Got: ~p~n", [Msg]), F() end end). 
<0.80.0>
4> Pid ! hello.
hello
Got: hello
5> Pid ! stop.
Stopped
stop
6> 

However you might need to define certain utility functions that you intend to use over and over again in the Erlang shell. In this case, I would suggest using the user_default.erl file together with .erlang to automatically load these custom utility functions into the Erlang shell as soon as this is launched. For instance, you could write a function that compiles all the Erlang files in living in the current directory.

I have written a small guide on how to do this on this GitHub link. You might find it helpful and instructive.

Answer 4

If you want to define a function on the shell to use it as macro (because it encapsulates some functionality that you need frequently), have a look at

https://erldocs.com/current/stdlib/shell_default.html