Erlang logo
User's Guide
Reference Manual
Release Notes
PDF
Top

STDLIB
Reference Manual
Version 1.17.5


Expand All
Contract All

Table of Contents

lib

MODULE

lib

MODULE SUMMARY

A number of useful library functions

DESCRIPTION

Warning

This module is retained for compatibility. It may disappear without warning in a future release.

EXPORTS

flush_receive() -> ok

Flushes the message buffer of the current process.

error_message(Format, Args) -> ok

Types:

Format = io:format()
Args = [term()]

Prints error message Args in accordance with Format. Similar to io:format/2, see io(3).

progname() -> atom()

Returns the name of the script that started the current Erlang session.

nonl(String1) -> String2

Types:

String1 = String2 = string()

Removes the last newline character, if any, in String1.

send(To, Msg) -> Msg

Types:

To = pid() | atom() | {atom(), node()}
Msg = term()

This function to makes it possible to send a message using the apply/3 BIF.

sendw(To, Msg) -> Msg

Types:

To = pid() | atom() | {atom(), node()}
Msg = term()

As send/2, but waits for an answer. It is implemented as follows:

sendw(To, Msg) ->
    To ! {self(),Msg},
    receive
        Reply -> Reply
    end.

The message returned is not necessarily a reply to the message sent.