7.3. Syntactic extensions
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## 7.3. Syntactic extensions

### 7.3.1. Unicode syntax

The language extension `-XUnicodeSyntax` enables Unicode characters to be used to stand for certain ASCII character sequences. The following alternatives are provided:

ASCII | Unicode alternative | Code point | Name
--- | --- | --- | ---
`::` | :: | 0x2237 | PROPORTION
`=>` | ⇒ | 0x21D2 | RIGHTWARDS DOUBLE ARROW
`forall` | ∀ | 0x2200 | FOR ALL
`->` | → | 0x2192 | RIGHTWARDS ARROW
`<-` | ← | 0x2190 | LEFTWARDS ARROW
-< | ↢ | 0x2919 | LEFTWARDS ARROW-TAIL
>- | ↣ | 0x291A | RIGHTWARDS ARROW-TAIL
-<< |  | 0x291B | LEFTWARDS DOUBLE ARROW-TAIL
>>- |  | 0x291C | RIGHTWARDS DOUBLE ARROW-TAIL
* | ★ | 0x2605 | BLACK STAR

### 7.3.2. The magic hash

The language extension `-XMagicHash` allows "#" as a postfix modifier to identifiers. Thus, "x#" is a valid variable, and "T#" is a valid type constructor or data constructor.

The hash sign does not change sematics at all. We tend to use variable names ending in "#" for unboxed values or types (e.g. `Int#`), but there is no requirement to do so; they are just plain ordinary variables. Nor does the `-XMagicHash` extension bring anything into scope. For example, to bring `Int#` into scope you must import `GHC.Prim` (see Section 7.2, “Unboxed types and primitive operations”); the `-XMagicHash` extension then allows you to refer to the `Int#` that is now in scope.

The `-XMagicHash` also enables some new forms of literals (see Section 7.2.1, “Unboxed types ”):

- `'x'#` has type `Char#`

- `"foo"#` has type `Addr#`

- `3#` has type `Int#`. In general, any Haskell 98 integer lexeme followed by a `#` is an `Int#` literal, e.g. `-0x3A#` as well as `32#`

  .

- `3##` has type `Word#`. In general, any non-negative Haskell 98 integer lexeme followed by `##` is a `Word#`.

- `3.2#` has type `Float#`.

- `3.2##` has type `Double#`

### 7.3.3. New qualified operator syntax

A new syntax for referencing qualified operators is planned to be introduced by Haskell', and is enabled in GHC with the `-XNewQualifiedOperators` option. In the new syntax, the prefix form of a qualified operator is written ``module`.(`symbol`)` (in Haskell 98 this would be `(`module`.`symbol`)`), and the infix form is written ```module`.(`symbol`)`` (in Haskell 98 this would be ```module`.`symbol```. For example:

      add x y = Prelude.(+) x y
      subtract y = (`Prelude.(-)` y)

The new form of qualified operators is intended to regularise the syntax by eliminating odd cases like `Prelude..`. For example, when `NewQualifiedOperators` is on, it is possible to write the enumerated sequence `[Monday..]` without spaces, whereas in Haskell 98 this would be a reference to the operator ‘`.`‘ from module `Monday`.

When `-XNewQualifiedOperators` is on, the old Haskell 98 syntax for qualified operators is not accepted, so this option may cause existing Haskell 98 code to break.

### 7.3.4. Hierarchical Modules

GHC supports a small extension to the syntax of module names: a module name is allowed to contain a dot `‘.’`. This is also known as the “hierarchical module namespace” extension, because it extends the normally flat Haskell module namespace into a more flexible hierarchy of modules.

This extension has very little impact on the language itself; modules names are always fully qualified, so you can just think of the fully qualified module name as “the module name”. In particular, this means that the full module name must be given after the `module` keyword at the beginning of the module; for example, the module `A.B.C` must begin

    module A.B.C

It is a common strategy to use the `as` keyword to save some typing when using qualified names with hierarchical modules. For example:

    import qualified Control.Monad.ST.Strict as ST

For details on how GHC searches for source and interface files in the presence of hierarchical modules, see Section 4.7.3, “The search path”.

GHC comes with a large collection of libraries arranged hierarchically; see the accompanying library documentation. More libraries to install are available from HackageDB.

### 7.3.5. Pattern guards

The discussion that follows is an abbreviated version of Simon Peyton Jones's original proposal. (Note that the proposal was written before pattern guards were implemented, so refers to them as unimplemented.)

Suppose we have an abstract data type of finite maps, with a lookup operation:

    lookup :: FiniteMap -> Int -> Maybe Int

The lookup returns `Nothing` if the supplied key is not in the domain of the mapping, and `(Just v)` otherwise, where `v` is the value that the key maps to. Now consider the following definition:

    clunky env var1 var2 | ok1 && ok2 = val1 + val2
    | otherwise  = var1 + var2
    where
      m1 = lookup env var1
      m2 = lookup env var2
      ok1 = maybeToBool m1
      ok2 = maybeToBool m2
      val1 = expectJust m1
      val2 = expectJust m2

The auxiliary functions are

    maybeToBool :: Maybe a -> Bool
    maybeToBool (Just x) = True
    maybeToBool Nothing  = False

    expectJust :: Maybe a -> a
    expectJust (Just x) = x
    expectJust Nothing  = error "Unexpected Nothing"

What is `clunky` doing? The guard `ok1 && ok2` checks that both lookups succeed, using `maybeToBool` to convert the `Maybe` types to booleans. The (lazily evaluated) `expectJust` calls extract the values from the results of the lookups, and binds the returned values to `val1` and `val2` respectively. If either lookup fails, then clunky takes the `otherwise` case and returns the sum of its arguments.

This is certainly legal Haskell, but it is a tremendously verbose and un-obvious way to achieve the desired effect. Arguably, a more direct way to write clunky would be to use case expressions:

    clunky env var1 var2 = case lookup env var1 of
      Nothing -> fail
      Just val1 -> case lookup env var2 of
        Nothing -> fail
        Just val2 -> val1 + val2
    where
      fail = var1 + var2

This is a bit shorter, but hardly better. Of course, we can rewrite any set of pattern-matching, guarded equations as case expressions; that is precisely what the compiler does when compiling equations! The reason that Haskell provides guarded equations is because they allow us to write down the cases we want to consider, one at a time, independently of each other. This structure is hidden in the case version. Two of the right-hand sides are really the same (`fail`), and the whole expression tends to become more and more indented.

Here is how I would write clunky:

    clunky env var1 var2
      | Just val1 <- lookup env var1
      , Just val2 <- lookup env var2
      = val1 + val2
    ...other equations for clunky...

The semantics should be clear enough. The qualifiers are matched in order. For a `<-` qualifier, which I call a pattern guard, the right hand side is evaluated and matched against the pattern on the left. If the match fails then the whole guard fails and the next equation is tried. If it succeeds, then the appropriate binding takes place, and the next qualifier is matched, in the augmented environment. Unlike list comprehensions, however, the type of the expression to the right of the `<-` is the same as the type of the pattern to its left. The bindings introduced by pattern guards scope over all the remaining guard qualifiers, and over the right hand side of the equation.

Just as with list comprehensions, boolean expressions can be freely mixed with among the pattern guards. For example:

    f x | [y] <- x
        , y > 3
        , Just z <- h y
        = ...

Haskell's current guards therefore emerge as a special case, in which the qualifier list has just one element, a boolean expression.

### 7.3.6. View patterns

View patterns are enabled by the flag `-XViewPatterns`. More information and examples of view patterns can be found on the Wiki page.

View patterns are somewhat like pattern guards that can be nested inside of other patterns. They are a convenient way of pattern-matching against values of abstract types. For example, in a programming language implementation, we might represent the syntax of the types of the language as follows:

    type Typ

    data TypView = Unit
                 | Arrow Typ Typ

    view :: Type -> TypeView

    -- additional operations for constructing Typ's ...

The representation of Typ is held abstract, permitting implementations to use a fancy representation (e.g., hash-consing to manage sharing). Without view patterns, using this signature a little inconvenient:

    size :: Typ -> Integer
    size t = case view t of
      Unit -> 1
      Arrow t1 t2 -> size t1 + size t2

It is necessary to iterate the case, rather than using an equational function definition. And the situation is even worse when the matching against `t` is buried deep inside another pattern.

View patterns permit calling the view function inside the pattern and matching against the result:

    size (view -> Unit) = 1
    size (view -> Arrow t1 t2) = size t1 + size t2

That is, we add a new form of pattern, written `expression` `->` `pattern` that means "apply the expression to whatever we're trying to match against, and then match the result of that application against the pattern". The expression can be any Haskell expression of function type, and view patterns can be used wherever patterns are used.

The semantics of a pattern `(` `exp` `->` `pat` `)` are as follows:

- Scoping:

  The variables bound by the view pattern are the variables bound by `pat`.

  Any variables in `exp` are bound occurrences, but variables bound "to the left" in a pattern are in scope. This feature permits, for example, one argument to a function to be used in the view of another argument. For example, the function `clunky` from Section 7.3.5, “Pattern guards” can be written using view patterns as follows:

      clunky env (lookup env -> Just val1) (lookup env -> Just val2) = val1 + val2
      ...other equations for clunky...

  More precisely, the scoping rules are:

  - In a single pattern, variables bound by patterns to the left of a view pattern expression are in scope. For example:

        example :: Maybe ((String -> Integer,Integer), String) -> Bool
        example Just ((f,_), f -> 4) = True

    Additionally, in function definitions, variables bound by matching earlier curried arguments may be used in view pattern expressions in later arguments:

        example :: (String -> Integer) -> String -> Bool
        example f (f -> 4) = True

    That is, the scoping is the same as it would be if the curried arguments were collected into a tuple.

  - In mutually recursive bindings, such as `let`, `where`, or the top level, view patterns in one declaration may not mention variables bound by other declarations. That is, each declaration must be self-contained. For example, the following program is not allowed:

        let {(x -> y) = e1 ;
             (y -> x) = e2 } in x

    (For some amplification on this design choice see Trac #4061.)

- Typing: If `exp` has type `T1` `->` `T2` and `pat` matches a `T2`, then the whole view pattern matches a `T1`.

- Matching: To the equations in Section 3.17.3 of the Haskell 98 Report, add the following:

      case v of { (e -> p) -> e1 ; _ -> e2 }
       =
      case (e v) of { p -> e1 ; _ -> e2 }

  That is, to match a variable `v` against a pattern `(` `exp` `->` `pat` `)`, evaluate `(` `exp` `v` `)` and match the result against `pat`.

- Efficiency: When the same view function is applied in multiple branches of a function definition or a case expression (e.g., in `size` above), GHC makes an attempt to collect these applications into a single nested case expression, so that the view function is only applied once. Pattern compilation in GHC follows the matrix algorithm described in Chapter 4 of The Implementation of Functional Programming Languages. When the top rows of the first column of a matrix are all view patterns with the "same" expression, these patterns are transformed into a single nested case. This includes, for example, adjacent view patterns that line up in a tuple, as in

      f ((view -> A, p1), p2) = e1
      f ((view -> B, p3), p4) = e2

  The current notion of when two view pattern expressions are "the same" is very restricted: it is not even full syntactic equality. However, it does include variables, literals, applications, and tuples; e.g., two instances of `view ("hi", "there")` will be collected. However, the current implementation does not compare up to alpha-equivalence, so two instances of `(x, view x -> y)` will not be coalesced.

### 7.3.7. n+k patterns

`n+k` pattern support is enabled by default. To disable it, you can use the `-XNoNPlusKPatterns` flag.

### 7.3.8. The recursive do-notation

The do-notation of Haskell 98 does not allow recursive bindings, that is, the variables bound in a do-expression are visible only in the textually following code block. Compare this to a let-expression, where bound variables are visible in the entire binding group. It turns out that several applications can benefit from recursive bindings in the do-notation. The `-XDoRec` flag provides the necessary syntactic support.

Here is a simple (albeit contrived) example:

    {-# LANGUAGE DoRec #-}
    justOnes = do { rec { xs <- Just (1:xs) }
                  ; return (map negate xs) }

As you can guess `justOnes` will evaluate to `Just [-1,-1,-1,...`.

The background and motivation for recursive do-notation is described in A recursive do for Haskell, by Levent Erkok, John Launchbury, Haskell Workshop 2002, pages: 29-37. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The theory behind monadic value recursion is explained further in Erkok's thesis Value Recursion in Monadic Computations. However, note that GHC uses a different syntax than the one described in these documents.

#### 7.3.8.1. Details of recursive do-notation

The recursive do-notation is enabled with the flag `-XDoRec` or, equivalently, the LANGUAGE pragma `DoRec`. It introduces the single new keyword "`rec`", which wraps a mutually-recursive group of monadic statements, producing a single statement.

Similar to a `let` statement, the variables bound in the `rec` are visible throughout the `rec` group, and below it. For example, compare

    do { a <- getChar              do { a <- getChar
       ; let { r1 = f a r2	           ; rec { r1 <- f a r2
             ; r2 = g r1 }	                 ; r2 <- g r1 }
       ; return (r1 ++ r2) }          ; return (r1 ++ r2) }

In both cases, `r1` and `r2` are available both throughout the `let` or `rec` block, and in the statements that follow it. The difference is that `let` is non-monadic, while `rec` is monadic. (In Haskell `let` is really `letrec`, of course.)

The static and dynamic semantics of `rec` can be described as follows:

- First, similar to let-bindings, the `rec` is broken into minimal recursive groups, a process known as segmentation. For example:

      rec { a <- getChar      ===>     a <- getChar
          ; b <- f a c                 rec { b <- f a c
          ; c <- f b a                     ; c <- f b a }
          ; putChar c }                putChar c

  The details of segmentation are described in Section 3.2 of A recursive do for Haskell. Segmentation improves polymorphism, reduces the size of the recursive "knot", and, as the paper describes, also has a semantic effect (unless the monad satisfies the right-shrinking law).

- Then each resulting `rec` is desugared, using a call to `Control.Monad.Fix.mfix`. For example, the `rec` group in the preceding example is desugared like this:

      rec { b <- f a c     ===>    (b,c) <- mfix (\~(b,c) -> do { b <- f a c
          ; c <- f b a }                                        ; c <- f b a
                                                                ; return (b,c) })

  In general, the statment `rec `ss`` is desugared to the statement

      vs <- mfix (\~vs -> do { ss; return vs })

  where `vs` is a tuple of the variables bound by `ss`.

  The original `rec` typechecks exactly when the above desugared version would do so. For example, this means that the variables `vs` are all monomorphic in the statements following the `rec`, because they are bound by a lambda.

  The `mfix` function is defined in the `MonadFix` class, in `Control.Monad.Fix`, thus:

      class Monad m => MonadFix m where
         mfix :: (a -> m a) -> m a

Here are some other important points in using the recursive-do notation:

- It is enabled with the flag `-XDoRec`, which is in turn implied by `-fglasgow-exts`.

- If recursive bindings are required for a monad, then that monad must be declared an instance of the `MonadFix` class.

- The following instances of `MonadFix` are automatically provided: List, Maybe, IO. Furthermore, the Control.Monad.ST and Control.Monad.ST.Lazy modules provide the instances of the MonadFix class for Haskell's internal state monad (strict and lazy, respectively).

- Like `let` and `where` bindings, name shadowing is not allowed within a `rec`; that is, all the names bound in a single `rec` must be distinct (Section 3.3 of the paper).

- It supports rebindable syntax (see Section 7.3.11, “Rebindable syntax and the implicit Prelude import”).

#### 7.3.8.2. Mdo-notation (deprecated)

GHC used to support the flag `-XRecursiveDo`, which enabled the keyword `mdo`, precisely as described in A recursive do for Haskell, but this is now deprecated. Instead of `mdo { Q; e }`, write `do { rec Q; e }`.

Historical note: The old implementation of the mdo-notation (and most of the existing documents) used the name `MonadRec` for the class and the corresponding library. This name is not supported by GHC.

### 7.3.9. Parallel List Comprehensions

Parallel list comprehensions are a natural extension to list comprehensions. List comprehensions can be thought of as a nice syntax for writing maps and filters. Parallel comprehensions extend this to include the zipWith family.

A parallel list comprehension has multiple independent branches of qualifier lists, each separated by a `|' symbol. For example, the following zips together two lists:

       [ (x, y) | x <- xs | y <- ys ]

The behavior of parallel list comprehensions follows that of zip, in that the resulting list will have the same length as the shortest branch.

We can define parallel list comprehensions by translation to regular comprehensions. Here's the basic idea:

Given a parallel comprehension of the form:

       [ e | p1 <- e11, p2 <- e12, ...
           | q1 <- e21, q2 <- e22, ...
           ...
       ]

This will be translated to:

       [ e | ((p1,p2), (q1,q2), ...) <- zipN [(p1,p2) | p1 <- e11, p2 <- e12, ...]
                                             [(q1,q2) | q1 <- e21, q2 <- e22, ...]
                                             ...
       ]

where `zipN' is the appropriate zip for the given number of branches.

### 7.3.10. Generalised (SQL-Like) List Comprehensions

Generalised list comprehensions are a further enhancement to the list comprehension syntactic sugar to allow operations such as sorting and grouping which are familiar from SQL. They are fully described in the paper Comprehensive comprehensions: comprehensions with "order by" and "group by", except that the syntax we use differs slightly from the paper.

The extension is enabled with the flag `-XTransformListComp`.

Here is an example:

    employees = [ ("Simon", "MS", 80)
    , ("Erik", "MS", 100)
    , ("Phil", "Ed", 40)
    , ("Gordon", "Ed", 45)
    , ("Paul", "Yale", 60)]

    output = [ (the dept, sum salary)
    | (name, dept, salary) <- employees
    , then group by dept
    , then sortWith by (sum salary)
    , then take 5 ]

In this example, the list `output` would take on the value:

    [("Yale", 60), ("Ed", 85), ("MS", 180)]

There are three new keywords: `group`, `by`, and `using`. (The function `sortWith` is not a keyword; it is an ordinary function that is exported by `GHC.Exts`.)

There are five new forms of comprehension qualifier, all introduced by the (existing) keyword `then`:

-     then f

  This statement requires that `f` have the type `forall a. [a] -> [a]`. You can see an example of its use in the motivating example, as this form is used to apply `take 5`.

-     then f by e

  This form is similar to the previous one, but allows you to create a function which will be passed as the first argument to f. As a consequence f must have the type `forall a. (a -> t) -> [a] -> [a]`. As you can see from the type, this function lets f "project out" some information from the elements of the list it is transforming.

  An example is shown in the opening example, where `sortWith` is supplied with a function that lets it find out the `sum salary` for any item in the list comprehension it transforms.

-     then group by e using f

  This is the most general of the grouping-type statements. In this form, f is required to have type `forall a. (a -> t) -> [a] -> [[a]]`. As with the `then f by e` case above, the first argument is a function supplied to f by the compiler which lets it compute e on every element of the list being transformed. However, unlike the non-grouping case, f additionally partitions the list into a number of sublists: this means that at every point after this statement, binders occurring before it in the comprehension refer to lists of possible values, not single values. To help understand this, let's look at an example:

      -- This works similarly to groupWith in GHC.Exts, but doesn't sort its input first
      groupRuns :: Eq b => (a -> b) -> [a] -> [[a]]
      groupRuns f = groupBy (\x y -> f x == f y)

      output = [ (the x, y)
      | x <- ([1..3] ++ [1..2])
      , y <- [4..6]
      , then group by x using groupRuns ]

  This results in the variable `output` taking on the value below:

      [(1, [4, 5, 6]), (2, [4, 5, 6]), (3, [4, 5, 6]), (1, [4, 5, 6]), (2, [4, 5, 6])]

  Note that we have used the `the` function to change the type of x from a list to its original numeric type. The variable y, in contrast, is left unchanged from the list form introduced by the grouping.

-     then group by e

  This form of grouping is essentially the same as the one described above. However, since no function to use for the grouping has been supplied it will fall back on the `groupWith` function defined in `GHC.Exts`. This is the form of the group statement that we made use of in the opening example.

-     then group using f

  With this form of the group statement, f is required to simply have the type `forall a. [a] -> [[a]]`, which will be used to group up the comprehension so far directly. An example of this form is as follows:

      output = [ x
      | y <- [1..5]
      , x <- "hello"
      , then group using inits]

  This will yield a list containing every prefix of the word "hello" written out 5 times:

      ["","h","he","hel","hell","hello","helloh","hellohe","hellohel","hellohell","hellohello","hellohelloh",...]

### 7.3.11. Rebindable syntax and the implicit Prelude import

GHC normally imports `Prelude.hi` files for you. If you'd rather it didn't, then give it a `-XNoImplicitPrelude` option. The idea is that you can then import a Prelude of your own. (But don't call it `Prelude`; the Haskell module namespace is flat, and you must not conflict with any Prelude module.)

Suppose you are importing a Prelude of your own in order to define your own numeric class hierarchy. It completely defeats that purpose if the literal "1" means "`Prelude.fromInteger 1`", which is what the Haskell Report specifies. So the `-XRebindableSyntax` flag causes the following pieces of built-in syntax to refer to whatever is in scope, not the Prelude versions:

- An integer literal `368` means "`fromInteger (368::Integer)`", rather than "`Prelude.fromInteger (368::Integer)`".

- Fractional literals are handed in just the same way, except that the translation is `fromRational (3.68::Rational)`.

- The equality test in an overloaded numeric pattern uses whatever `(==)` is in scope.

- The subtraction operation, and the greater-than-or-equal test, in `n+k` patterns use whatever `(-)` and `(>=)` are in scope.

- Negation (e.g. "`- (f x)`") means "`negate (f x)`", both in numeric patterns, and expressions.

- Conditionals (e.g. "`if` e1 `then` e2 `else` e3") means "`ifThenElse` e1 e2 e3". However `case` expressions are unaffected.

- "Do" notation is translated using whatever functions `(>>=)`, `(>>)`, and `fail`, are in scope (not the Prelude versions). List comprehensions, mdo (Section 7.3.8.2, “ Mdo-notation (deprecated) ”), and parallel array comprehensions, are unaffected.

- Arrow notation (see Section 7.10, “Arrow notation ”) uses whatever `arr`, `(>>>)`, `first`, `app`, `(|||)` and `loop` functions are in scope. But unlike the other constructs, the types of these functions must match the Prelude types very closely. Details are in flux; if you want to use this, ask!

`-XRebindableSyntax` implies `-XNoImplicitPrelude`.

In all cases (apart from arrow notation), the static semantics should be that of the desugared form, even if that is a little unexpected. For example, the static semantics of the literal `368` is exactly that of `fromInteger (368::Integer)`; it's fine for `fromInteger` to have any of the types:

    fromInteger :: Integer -> Integer
    fromInteger :: forall a. Foo a => Integer -> a
    fromInteger :: Num a => a -> Integer
    fromInteger :: Integer -> Bool -> Bool

Be warned: this is an experimental facility, with fewer checks than usual. Use `-dcore-lint` to typecheck the desugared program. If Core Lint is happy you should be all right.

### 7.3.12. Postfix operators

The `-XPostfixOperators` flag enables a small extension to the syntax of left operator sections, which allows you to define postfix operators. The extension is this: the left section

      (e !)

is equivalent (from the point of view of both type checking and execution) to the expression

      ((!) e)

(for any expression `e` and operator `(!)`. The strict Haskell 98 interpretation is that the section is equivalent to

      (\y -> (!) e y)

That is, the operator must be a function of two arguments. GHC allows it to take only one argument, and that in turn allows you to write the function postfix.

The extension does not extend to the left-hand side of function definitions; you must define such a function in prefix form.

### 7.3.13. Tuple sections

The `-XTupleSections` flag enables Python-style partially applied tuple constructors. For example, the following program

      (, True)

is considered to be an alternative notation for the more unwieldy alternative

      \x -> (x, True)

You can omit any combination of arguments to the tuple, as in the following

      (, "I", , , "Love", , 1337)

which translates to

      \a b c d -> (a, "I", b, c, "Love", d, 1337)

If you have unboxed tuples enabled, tuple sections will also be available for them, like so

      (# , True #)

Because there is no unboxed unit tuple, the following expression

      (# #)

continues to stand for the unboxed singleton tuple data constructor.

### 7.3.14. Record field disambiguation

In record construction and record pattern matching it is entirely unambiguous which field is referred to, even if there are two different data types in scope with a common field name. For example:

    module M where
      data S = MkS { x :: Int, y :: Bool }

    module Foo where
      import M

      data T = MkT { x :: Int }

      ok1 (MkS { x = n }) = n+1   -- Unambiguous
      ok2 n = MkT { x = n+1 }     -- Unambiguous

      bad1 k = k { x = 3 }  -- Ambiguous
      bad2 k = x k          -- Ambiguous

Even though there are two `x`'s in scope, it is clear that the `x` in the pattern in the definition of `ok1` can only mean the field `x` from type `S`. Similarly for the function `ok2`. However, in the record update in `bad1` and the record selection in `bad2` it is not clear which of the two types is intended.

Haskell 98 regards all four as ambiguous, but with the `-XDisambiguateRecordFields` flag, GHC will accept the former two. The rules are precisely the same as those for instance declarations in Haskell 98, where the method names on the left-hand side of the method bindings in an instance declaration refer unambiguously to the method of that class (provided they are in scope at all), even if there are other variables in scope with the same name. This reduces the clutter of qualified names when you import two records from different modules that use the same field name.

Some details:

- Field disambiguation can be combined with punning (see Section 7.3.15, “Record puns ”). For exampe:

      module Foo where
        import M
        x=True
        ok3 (MkS { x }) = x+1   -- Uses both disambiguation and punning

- With `-XDisambiguateRecordFields` you can use unqualifed field names even if the correponding selector is only in scope qualified For example, assuming the same module `M` as in our earlier example, this is legal:

      module Foo where
        import qualified M    -- Note qualified

        ok4 (M.MkS { x = n }) = n+1   -- Unambiguous

  Since the constructore `MkS` is only in scope qualified, you must name it `M.MkS`, but the field `x` does not need to be qualified even though `M.x` is in scope but `x` is not. (In effect, it is qualified by the constructor.)

### 7.3.15. Record puns

Record puns are enabled by the flag `-XNamedFieldPuns`.

When using records, it is common to write a pattern that binds a variable with the same name as a record field, such as:

    data C = C {a :: Int}
    f (C {a = a}) = a

Record punning permits the variable name to be elided, so one can simply write

    f (C {a}) = a

to mean the same pattern as above. That is, in a record pattern, the pattern `a` expands into the pattern `a = a` for the same name `a`.

Note that:

- Record punning can also be used in an expression, writing, for example,

      let a = 1 in C {a}

  instead of

      let a = 1 in C {a = a}

  The expansion is purely syntactic, so the expanded right-hand side expression refers to the nearest enclosing variable that is spelled the same as the field name.

- Puns and other patterns can be mixed in the same record:

      data C = C {a :: Int, b :: Int}
      f (C {a, b = 4}) = a

- Puns can be used wherever record patterns occur (e.g. in `let` bindings or at the top-level).

- A pun on a qualified field name is expanded by stripping off the module qualifier. For example:

      f (C {M.a}) = a

  means

      f (M.C {M.a = a}) = a

  (This is useful if the field selector `a` for constructor `M.C` is only in scope in qualified form.)

### 7.3.16. Record wildcards

Record wildcards are enabled by the flag `-XRecordWildCards`. This flag implies `-XDisambiguateRecordFields`.

For records with many fields, it can be tiresome to write out each field individually in a record pattern, as in

    data C = C {a :: Int, b :: Int, c :: Int, d :: Int}
    f (C {a = 1, b = b, c = c, d = d}) = b + c + d

Record wildcard syntax permits a "`..`" in a record pattern, where each elided field `f` is replaced by the pattern `f = f`. For example, the above pattern can be written as

    f (C {a = 1, ..}) = b + c + d

More details:

- Wildcards can be mixed with other patterns, including puns (Section 7.3.15, “Record puns ”); for example, in a pattern `C {a = 1, b, ..})`. Additionally, record wildcards can be used wherever record patterns occur, including in `let` bindings and at the top-level. For example, the top-level binding

      C {a = 1, ..} = e

  defines `b`, `c`, and `d`.

- Record wildcards can also be used in expressions, writing, for example,

      let {a = 1; b = 2; c = 3; d = 4} in C {..}

  in place of

      let {a = 1; b = 2; c = 3; d = 4} in C {a=a, b=b, c=c, d=d}

  The expansion is purely syntactic, so the record wildcard expression refers to the nearest enclosing variables that are spelled the same as the omitted field names.

- The "`..`" expands to the missing in-scope record fields, where "in scope" includes both unqualified and qualified-only. Any fields that are not in scope are not filled in. For example

      module M where
        data R = R { a,b,c :: Int }
      module X where
        import qualified M( R(a,b) )
        f a b = R { .. }

  The `{..}` expands to `{M.a=a,M.b=b}`, omitting `c` since it is not in scope at all.

### 7.3.17. Local Fixity Declarations

A careful reading of the Haskell 98 Report reveals that fixity declarations (`infix`, `infixl`, and `infixr`) are permitted to appear inside local bindings such those introduced by `let` and `where`. However, the Haskell Report does not specify the semantics of such bindings very precisely.

In GHC, a fixity declaration may accompany a local binding:

    let f = ...
        infixr 3 `f`
    in
        ...

and the fixity declaration applies wherever the binding is in scope. For example, in a `let`, it applies in the right-hand sides of other `let`-bindings and the body of the `let`C. Or, in recursive `do` expressions (Section 7.3.8, “The recursive do-notation ”), the local fixity declarations of a `let` statement scope over other statements in the group, just as the bound name does.

Moreover, a local fixity declaration *must* accompany a local binding of that name: it is not possible to revise the fixity of name bound elsewhere, as in

    let infixr 9 $ in ...

Because local fixity declarations are technically Haskell 98, no flag is necessary to enable them.

### 7.3.18. Package-qualified imports

With the `-XPackageImports` flag, GHC allows import declarations to be qualified by the package name that the module is intended to be imported from. For example:

    import "network" Network.Socket

would import the module `Network.Socket` from the package `network` (any version). This may be used to disambiguate an import when the same module is available from multiple packages, or is present in both the current package being built and an external package.

Note: you probably don't need to use this feature, it was added mainly so that we can build backwards-compatible versions of packages when APIs change. It can lead to fragile dependencies in the common case: modules occasionally move from one package to another, rendering any package-qualified imports broken.

### 7.3.19. Summary of stolen syntax

Turning on an option that enables special syntax might cause working Haskell 98 code to fail to compile, perhaps because it uses a variable name which has become a reserved word. This section lists the syntax that is "stolen" by language extensions. We use notation and nonterminal names from the Haskell 98 lexical syntax (see the Haskell 98 Report). We only list syntax changes here that might affect existing working programs (i.e. "stolen" syntax). Many of these extensions will also enable new context-free syntax, but in all cases programs written to use the new syntax would not be compilable without the option enabled.

There are two classes of special syntax:

- New reserved words and symbols: character sequences which are no longer available for use as identifiers in the program.

- Other special syntax: sequences of characters that have a different meaning when this particular option is turned on.

The following syntax is stolen:

`forall`

  Stolen (in types) by: `-XExplicitForAll`, and hence by `-XScopedTypeVariables`, `-XLiberalTypeSynonyms`, `-XRank2Types`, `-XRankNTypes`, `-XPolymorphicComponents`, `-XExistentialQuantification`

`mdo`

  Stolen by: `-XRecursiveDo`,

`foreign`

  Stolen by: `-XForeignFunctionInterface`,

`rec`, `proc`, `-<`, `>-`, `-<<`, `>>-`, and `(|`, `|)` brackets

  Stolen by: `-XArrows`,

`?`varid``, `%`varid``

  Stolen by: `-XImplicitParams`,

`[|`, `[e|`, `[p|`, `[d|`, `[t|`, `$(`, `$`varid``

  Stolen by: `-XTemplateHaskell`,

`[:`varid`|`

  Stolen by: `-XQuasiQuotes`,

`varid`{`#`}, `char``#`, `string``#`, `integer``#`, `float``#`, `float``##`, `(#`, `#)`,

  Stolen by: `-XMagicHash`,

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