Introducing Elixir, 2nd Edition

Appendix A. An Elixir Parts Catalog

Like every language, Elixir has drawers full of parts that are fun to peruse, and there are many more available through Erlang.

These are a few of the more common ones, all represented using Elixir calling conventions. If you want (much, much) more, see the Erlang User Guide.

Shell Commands

You can use most Elixir functions from the shell, but the commands shown in Table A-1 are ones that are exclusive to the shell.

Table A-1. Elixir shell commands

Command	Action
c(file)	Compiles the specified Erlang file
c(file,path)	Compiles the specified file and puts object code in the directory specified by path
ls()	Lists files at the current location
ls(path)	Lists files at the specified path
cd(directory)	Changes to the specified directory
pwd()	Gets the present working directory
clear()	Clears the screen
h()	Prints list of available helpers
h(item)	Prints help for the specified item
l(module)	Loads the given module’s code, purging the current version
m()	Lists all loaded modules
r(module)	Recompiles and reloads the given module’s source file
v()	Prints a list of all commands and returned values for this session
v(n)	Retrieves the nth output value from the shell session
flush()	Flushes all messages sent to the shell

Reserved Words

There are a few Elixir terms you can’t use outside of their intended context.

The Elixir compiler will wonder what you’re ...