13  System Functions

module System (      ExitCode(ExitSuccess,ExitFailure),     getArgs, getProgName, getEnv, system, exitWith ) where data ExitCode = ExitSuccess | ExitFailure Int                  deriving (Eq, Ord, Read, Show) getArgs  :: IO [String] getProgName  :: IO String getEnv         :: String -> IO String system         :: String -> IO ExitCode exitWith    :: ExitCode -> IO a

This library describes the interaction of the program with the operating system.

Any System operation could raise an isIllegalOperationError, as described in Section 11.1; all other permissible errors are described below. Note that, in particular, if an implementation does not support an operation it must raise an isIllegalOperationError.

The ExitCode type defines the exit codes that a program can return. ExitSuccess indicates successful termination; and ExitFailure code indicates program failure with value code. The exact interpretation of code is operating-system dependent. In particular, some values of code may be prohibited (for instance, 0 on a POSIX-compliant system).

Computation getArgs returns a list of the program's command line arguments (not including the program name). Computation getProgName returns the name of the program as it was invoked. Computation getEnv var returns the value of the environment variable var. If variable var is undefined, the isDoesNotExistError exception is raised. Computation system cmd returns the exit code produced when the operating system processes the command cmd.

Computation exitWith code terminates the program, returning code to the program's caller. Before the program terminates, any open or semi-closed handles are first closed. The caller may interpret the return code as it wishes, but the program should return ExitSuccess to mean normal completion, and ExitFailure n to mean that the program encountered a problem from which it could not recover. The value exitFailure is equal to exitWith (ExitFailure exitfail), where exitfail is implementation-dependent. exitWith bypasses the error handling in the I/O monad and cannot be intercepted by catch.

If a program terminates as a result of calling error or because its value is otherwise determined to be _|_, then it is treated identically to the computation exitFailure. Otherwise, if any program p terminates without calling exitWith explicitly, it is treated identically to the computation
(p >> exitWith ExitSuccess) `catch` \ _ -> exitFailure