Table of Contents

• 1 Introduction
  • 1.1 SWI-Prolog
    • 1.1.1 Books about Prolog
  • 1.2 Status
  • 1.3 Compliance to the ISO standard
  • 1.4 Should you be using SWI-Prolog?
  • 1.5 The XPCE GUI system for Prolog
  • 1.6 Release Notes
    • 1.6.1 Version 1.8 Release Notes
    • 1.6.2 Version 1.9 Release Notes
    • 1.6.3 Version 2.0 Release Notes
    • 1.6.4 Version 2.5 Release Notes
    • 1.6.5 Version 2.6 Release Notes
    • 1.6.6 Version 2.7 Release Notes
    • 1.6.7 Version 2.8 Release Notes
    • 1.6.8 Version 2.9 Release Notes
    • 1.6.9 Version 3.0 Release Notes
    • 1.6.10 Version 3.1 Release Notes
    • 1.6.11 Version 3.3 Release Notes
      • 1.6.11.1 Incompatible changes
    • 1.6.12 Version 3.4 Release Notes
    • 1.6.13 Version 4.0 Release Notes
    • 1.6.14 Version 5.0 Release Notes
    • 1.6.15 Version 5.1 Release Notes
    • 1.6.16 Version 5.2 Release Notes
    • 1.6.17 Version 5.3 Release Notes
    • 1.6.18 Version 5.4 Release Notes
    • 1.6.19 Version 5.5 Release Notes
    • 1.6.20 Version 5.6 Release Notes
  • 1.7 Donate to the SWI-Prolog project
  • 1.8 Acknowledgements
• 2 Overview
  • 2.1 Getting started quickly
    • 2.1.1 Starting SWI-Prolog
      • 2.1.1.1 Starting SWI-Prolog on Unix
      • 2.1.1.2 Starting SWI-Prolog on Windows
    • 2.1.2 Executing a query
  • 2.2 The user's initialisation file
  • 2.3 Initialisation files and goals
  • 2.4 Command-line options
  • 2.5 GNU Emacs Interface
  • 2.6 Online Help
  • 2.7 Command-line history
  • 2.8 Reuse of top-level bindings
  • 2.9 Overview of the Debugger
  • 2.10 Compilation
    • 2.10.1 During program development
    • 2.10.2 For running the result
      • 2.10.2.1 Using PrologScript
      • 2.10.2.2 Creating a shell-script
      • 2.10.2.3 Creating a saved-state
      • 2.10.2.4 Compilation using the -c command-line option
  • 2.11 Environment Control (Prolog flags)
  • 2.12 An overview of hook predicates
  • 2.13 Automatic loading of libraries
  • 2.14 Garbage Collection
  • 2.15 Syntax Notes
    • 2.15.1 ISO Syntax Support
      • 2.15.1.1 Processor Character Set
      • 2.15.1.2 Character Escape Syntax
      • 2.15.1.3 Syntax for non-decimal numbers
      • 2.15.1.4 Unicode Prolog source
      • 2.15.1.5 Singleton variable checking
  • 2.16 Infinite trees (cyclic terms)
  • 2.17 Wide character support
    • 2.17.1 Wide character encodings on streams
      • 2.17.1.1 BOM: Byte Order Mark
  • 2.18 System limits
    • 2.18.1 Limits on memory areas
      • 2.18.1.1 The heap
    • 2.18.2 Other Limits
    • 2.18.3 Reserved Names
• 3 Initialising and Managing a Prolog Project
  • 3.1 The project source-files
    • 3.1.1 File Names and Locations
      • 3.1.1.1 File Name Extensions
      • 3.1.1.2 Project Directories
      • 3.1.1.3 Sub-projects using search-paths
    • 3.1.2 Project Special Files
    • 3.1.3 International source files
  • 3.2 Using modules
  • 3.3 The test-edit-reload cycle
    • 3.3.1 Locating things to edit
    • 3.3.2 Editing and incremental compilation
  • 3.4 Using the PceEmacs built-in editor
    • 3.4.1 Activating PceEmacs
    • 3.4.2 Bluffing through PceEmacs
      • 3.4.2.1 Edit modes
      • 3.4.2.2 Frequently used editor commands
    • 3.4.3 Prolog Mode
      • 3.4.3.1 Finding your way around
  • 3.5 The Graphical Debugger
    • 3.5.1 Invoking the window-based debugger
  • 3.6 The Prolog Navigator
  • 3.7 Cross referencer
  • 3.8 Accessing the IDE from your program
  • 3.9 Summary of the iDE
• 4 Built-in predicates
  • 4.1 Notation of Predicate Descriptions
  • 4.2 Character representation
  • 4.3 Loading Prolog source files
    • 4.3.1 Loading files, active code and threads
      • 4.3.1.1 Threads and reloading running code
    • 4.3.2 Quick load files
  • 4.4 Listing and Editor Interface
  • 4.5 Verify Type of a Term
  • 4.6 Comparison and Unification or Terms
    • 4.6.1 Standard Order of Terms
  • 4.7 Control Predicates
  • 4.8 Meta-Call Predicates
  • 4.9 ISO compliant Exception handling
    • 4.9.1 Debugging and exceptions
    • 4.9.2 The exception term
    • 4.9.3 Printing messages
  • 4.10 Handling signals
    • 4.10.1 Notes on signal handling
  • 4.11 The `block' control-structure
  • 4.12 DCG Grammar rules
  • 4.13 Database
    • 4.13.1 Update view
    • 4.13.2 Indexing databases
  • 4.14 Declaring predicates properties
  • 4.15 Examining the program
  • 4.16 Input and output
    • 4.16.1 ISO Input and Output Streams
    • 4.16.2 Edinburgh-style I/O
    • 4.16.3 Switching Between Edinburgh and ISO I/O
  • 4.17 Status of streams
  • 4.18 Primitive character I/O
  • 4.19 Term reading and writing
  • 4.20 Analysing and Constructing Terms
    • 4.20.1 Non-logical operations on terms
  • 4.21 Analysing and Constructing Atoms
  • 4.22 Classifying characters
    • 4.22.1 Case conversion
  • 4.23 Representing text in strings
  • 4.24 Operators
  • 4.25 Character Conversion
  • 4.26 Arithmetic
    • 4.26.1 Special purpose integer arithmetic
    • 4.26.2 General purpose arithmetic
      • 4.26.2.1 Arithmetic types
      • 4.26.2.2 Rational number examples
      • 4.26.2.3 Arithmetic Functions
  • 4.27 Adding Arithmetic Functions
  • 4.28 Built-in list operations
  • 4.29 Finding all Solutions to a Goal
  • 4.30 Invoking Predicates on all Members of a List
  • 4.31 Forall
  • 4.32 Formatted Write
    • 4.32.1 Writef
    • 4.32.2 Format
    • 4.32.3 Programming Format
  • 4.33 Terminal Control
  • 4.34 Operating System Interaction
    • 4.34.1 Dealing with time and date
    • 4.34.2 Controlling the PLWIN.EXE console window
  • 4.35 File System Interaction
  • 4.36 User Top-level Manipulation
  • 4.37 Creating a Protocol of the User Interaction
  • 4.38 Debugging and Tracing Programs
  • 4.39 Obtaining Runtime Statistics
  • 4.40 Execution profiling
    • 4.40.1 Profiling predicates
    • 4.40.2 Visualizing profiling data
    • 4.40.3 Information gathering
      • 4.40.3.1 Profiling in the Windows Implementation
  • 4.41 Memory Management
  • 4.42 Windows DDE interface
    • 4.42.1 DDE client interface
    • 4.42.2 DDE server mode
  • 4.43 Miscellaneous
• 5 Using Modules
  • 5.1 Why Using Modules?
  • 5.2 Name-based versus Predicate-based Modules
  • 5.3 Defining a Module
  • 5.4 Importing Predicates into a Module
    • 5.4.1 Reserved Modules
  • 5.5 Using the Module System
    • 5.5.1 Object Oriented Programming
  • 5.6 Meta-Predicates in Modules
    • 5.6.1 Definition and Context Module
    • 5.6.2 Overruling Module Boundaries
  • 5.7 Dynamic Modules
  • 5.8 Module Handling Predicates
  • 5.9 Compatibility of the Module System
    • 5.9.1 Emulating meta_predicate
• 6 Special Variables and Coroutining
  • 6.1 Attributed variables
    • 6.1.1 Special purpose predicates for attributes
  • 6.2 Coroutining
  • 6.3 Global variables
    • 6.3.1 Compatibility of SWI-Prolog Global Variables
• 7 CHR: Constraint Handling Rules
  • 7.1 Introduction
  • 7.2 Syntax and Semantics
    • 7.2.1 Syntax
    • 7.2.2 Semantics
  • 7.3 CHR in SWI-Prolog Programs
    • 7.3.1 Embedding in Prolog Programs
    • 7.3.2 Constraint declaration
    • 7.3.3 Compilation
  • 7.4 Debugging
    • 7.4.1 Ports
    • 7.4.2 Tracing
    • 7.4.3 CHR Debugging Predicates
  • 7.5 Examples
  • 7.6 Backwards Compatibility
  • 7.7 Guidelines
• 8 Multi-threaded applications
  • 8.1 Creating and destroying Prolog threads
  • 8.2 Monitoring threads
    • 8.2.1 Linux: linuxthreads vs. NPTL
  • 8.3 Thread communication
    • 8.3.1 Message queues
    • 8.3.2 Signalling threads
    • 8.3.3 Threads and dynamic predicates
  • 8.4 Thread synchronisation
  • 8.5 Thread-support library(threadutil)
    • 8.5.1 Debugging threads
    • 8.5.2 Profiling threads
  • 8.6 Multi-threaded mixed C and Prolog applications
    • 8.6.1 A Prolog thread for each native thread (one-to-one)
    • 8.6.2 Pooling Prolog engines (many-to-many)
      • 8.6.2.1 Engines in single-threaded SWI-Prolog
  • 8.7 Multithreading and the XPCE graphics system
• 9 Foreign Language Interface
  • 9.1 Overview of the Interface
  • 9.2 Linking Foreign Modules
    • 9.2.1 What linking is provided?
    • 9.2.2 What kind of loading should I be using?
  • 9.3 Dynamic Linking of shared libraries
  • 9.4 Using the library shlib for .DLL and .so files
    • 9.4.1 Static Linking
  • 9.5 Interface Data types
    • 9.5.1 Type term_t: a reference to a Prolog term
      • 9.5.1.1 Interaction with the garbage collector and stack-shifter
    • 9.5.2 Other foreign interface types
  • 9.6 The Foreign Include File
    • 9.6.1 Argument Passing and Control
      • 9.6.1.1 Non-deterministic Foreign Predicates
    • 9.6.2 Atoms and functors
      • 9.6.2.1 Atoms and atom-garbage collection
    • 9.6.3 Analysing Terms via the Foreign Interface
      • 9.6.3.1 Testing the type of a term
      • 9.6.3.2 Reading data from a term
      • 9.6.3.3 Exchanging text using length and string
      • 9.6.3.4 Wide character versions
      • 9.6.3.5 Reading a list
      • 9.6.3.6 An example: defining write/1 in C
    • 9.6.4 Constructing Terms
    • 9.6.5 Unifying data
    • 9.6.6 BLOBS: Using atoms to store arbitrary binary data
      • 9.6.6.1 Defining a BLOB type
      • 9.6.6.2 Accessing blobs
    • 9.6.7 Exchanging GMP numbers
    • 9.6.8 Calling Prolog from C
      • 9.6.8.1 Predicate references
      • 9.6.8.2 Initiating a query from C
    • 9.6.9 Discarding Data
    • 9.6.10 Foreign Code and Modules
    • 9.6.11 Prolog exceptions in foreign code
    • 9.6.12 Catching Signals (Software Interrupts)
    • 9.6.13 Miscellaneous
      • 9.6.13.1 Term Comparison
      • 9.6.13.2 Recorded database
      • 9.6.13.3 Getting file names
    • 9.6.14 Errors and warnings
    • 9.6.15 Environment Control from Foreign Code
    • 9.6.16 Querying Prolog
    • 9.6.17 Registering Foreign Predicates
    • 9.6.18 Foreign Code Hooks
    • 9.6.19 Storing foreign data
      • 9.6.19.1 Examples for storing foreign data
    • 9.6.20 Embedding SWI-Prolog in other applications
      • 9.6.20.1 Threading, Signals and embedded Prolog
  • 9.7 Linking embedded applications using plld
    • 9.7.1 A simple example
  • 9.8 The Prolog `home' directory
  • 9.9 Example of Using the Foreign Interface
  • 9.10 Notes on Using Foreign Code
    • 9.10.1 Memory Allocation
    • 9.10.2 Compatibility between Prolog versions
    • 9.10.3 Debugging Foreign Code
    • 9.10.4 Name Conflicts in C modules
    • 9.10.5 Compatibility of the Foreign Interface
• 10 Generating Runtime Applications
  • 10.1 Limitations of qsave_program
  • 10.2 Runtimes and Foreign Code
  • 10.3 Using program resources
    • 10.3.1 Predicates Definitions
    • 10.3.2 The plrc program
  • 10.4 Finding Application files
    • 10.4.1 Passing a path to the application
  • 10.5 The Runtime Environment
    • 10.5.1 The Runtime Emulator
• A The SWI-Prolog library
  • A.1 library( lists ): List Manipulation
    • A.1.1 Set Manipulation
  • A.2 library( assoc ): Association lists
  • A.3 library( ugraphs ): Unweighted Graphs
  • A.4 library( nbset ): Non-backtrackable set
  • A.5 library( gensym ): Generate unique identifiers
  • A.6 library( check ): Elementary completeness checks
  • A.7 library( debug ): Some reusable code to help debugging applications
  • A.8 library( readutil ): Reading lines, streams and files
  • A.9 library( netscape ): Activating your Web-browser
  • A.10 library( registry ): Manipulating the Windows registry
  • A.11 library( url ): Analysing and constructing URL
  • A.12 library( clp/bounds ): Integer Bounds Constraint Solver
    • A.12.1 Constraints
    • A.12.2 Constraint Implication and Reified Constraints
    • A.12.3 Example 1: Send+More=Money
    • A.12.4 Example 2: Using tuples_in for a train schedule
    • A.12.5 SICStus clp(FD) compatibility
  • A.13 library( clpqr ): Constraint Logic Programming over Rationals and Reals
    • A.13.1 Solver predicates
    • A.13.2 Syntax of the predicate arguments
    • A.13.3 Use of unification
    • A.13.4 Non-linear constraints
  • A.14 library( clp/clp_distinct ): Weak arc consistent `all_distinct' constraint
    • A.14.1 Example 1
    • A.14.2 Example 2
    • A.14.3 Example 3
  • A.15 library( simplex ): Solve linear programming problems
    • A.15.1 Example 1
    • A.15.2 Example 2
    • A.15.3 Example 3
  • A.16 library( prologxref ): Cross-reference data collection library
    • A.16.1 Extending the library
• B Hackers corner
  • B.1 Examining the Environment Stack
  • B.2 Intercepting the Tracer
  • B.3 Adding context to errors: prolog_exception_hook
  • B.4 Hooks using the exception predicate
  • B.5 Hooks for integrating libraries
  • B.6 Hooks for loading files
  • B.7 Readline Interaction
• C Glossary of Terms
• D SWI-Prolog License Conditions and Tools
  • D.1 The SWI-Prolog kernel and foreign libraries
    • D.1.1 The SWI-Prolog Prolog libraries
  • D.2 Contributing to the SWI-Prolog project
  • D.3 Software support to keep track of license conditions
  • D.4 Library predicates
    • D.4.1 library(check)
    • D.4.2 library(lists)
    • D.4.3 library(ugraphs)
    • D.4.4 library(www_browser)
    • D.4.5 library(readutil)
    • D.4.6 library(registry)
    • D.4.7 library(url)
    • D.4.8 library(clp/bounds)
    • D.4.9 library(clp/clp_distinct)
    • D.4.10 library(clp/simplex)
    • D.4.11 library(clpqr)
    • D.4.12 library(prologxref)
• E Bibliography