Chicken » Unit utils

## Unit utils

This unit contains a "grab bag" of procedures without a good home, and which don't have to be available by default (as compared to the extras unit).

This unit uses the `extras` and `srfi-13` units.

### Executing shell commands with formatstring and error checking

#### system*

`(system* FORMATSTRING ARGUMENT1 ...)` procedure

  Similar to `(system (sprintf FORMATSTRING ARGUMENT1 ...))`, but signals an error should the invoked program return a nonzero exit status.

### Reading a file's contents

#### read-all

`(read-all [FILE-OR-PORT])` procedure

  If `FILE-OR-PORT` is a string, then this procedure returns the contents of the file as a string. If `FILE-OR-PORT` is a port, all remaining input is read and returned as a string. The port is not closed. If no argument is provided, input will be read from the port that is the current value of `(current-input-port)`.

### Shell argument quoting

#### qs

`(qs STRING [PLATFORM])` procedure

  Escapes `STRING` suitably for passing to a shell command on `PLATFORM`. `PLATFORM` defaults to the value of `(build-platform)` and indicates in which style the argument should be quoted. On Windows systems, the string is simply enclosed in double-quote (`"`) characters, on UNIXish systems, characters that would have a special meaning to the shell are escaped using backslash (`\`).

### Dynamic compilation

#### compile-file

`(compile-file FILENAME #!key options output-file load)` procedure

  Compiles the Scheme source file `FILENAME` into a dynamically loadable library by invoking the `csc` compiler driver. If the library can be successfully created and `load` is not given or true, the file is loaded into the current Scheme process. `options` may be a list of strings which are passed as additional command line options to `csc`. If `output-file` is not given, then the compiled file is stored in a temporary location and will be deleted when the process exits successfully. When compilation and loading succeeds, the name of the compiled file is returned, otherwise `#f` is returned.

  Notes:

  - loading the same compiled file multiple times is only supported on Linux in the moment and should be considered unreliable. For this reason, a new temporary file is created for every invocation of `compile-file`, unless an explicit output file name is given.
  - this procedure is compatible to the `scheme-compile-file` command in `emacs`' `scheme-mode`.

#### compile-file-options

`compile-file-options` parameter

  A parameter that holds a list of default options that should be given to `csc` after invocation of the `compile-file` procedure. The initial default options are `-scrutinize -O2 -d2`.

### Scanning through an input port

#### scan-input-lines

`(scan-input-lines REGEXP [PORT])` procedure

  Reads lines from `PORT` (defaults to the result of `(current-input-port)`) using `read-line` and returns the result of `(irregex-search REGEXP LINE)`, if the match succeeds. If no match could be found, `#f` is returned.

  `REGEXP` may also be a procedure of one argument which is called for each input line and should return a non-false value on success, which will then be the result of the call to `scan-input-lines`.

### Asking the user for confirmation

#### yes-or-no?

`(yes-or-no? MESSAGE #!key default title abort)` procedure

  Prints the string `MESSAGE` and asks for entering "yes", "no" or "abort". If running under Windows in GUI mode, then a suitable dialog box is shown. Returns either `#t` or `#f` depending on whether `yes` or `no` was entered. The `default` keyword argument specifies the default answer that is effective if the user just presses ENTER (or the default button in case of a dialog box). `title` specifies the text shown in the caption of the dialog box and is ignored when not running in GUI mode. `abort` should be a zero-argument procedure that is called when the user selects "abort". The default value for `abort` is the `reset` procedure. A value of `#f` for `abort` disables aborting completely.

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