Built-in Functions

This section lists the functions built into the Nix language evaluator. All built-in functions are available through the global builtins constant.

For convenience, some built-ins can be accessed directly:

derivation
import
abort
throw

derivation attrs

derivation is described in its own section.

abort s

Abort Nix expression evaluation and print the error message s.

add e1 e2

Return the sum of the numbers e1 and e2.

addDrvOutputDependencies s

Create a copy of the given string where a single consant string context element is turned into a "derivation deep" string context element.

The store path that is the constant string context element should point to a valid derivation, and end in .drv.

The original string context element must not be empty or have multiple elements, and it must not have any other type of element other than a constant or derivation deep element. The latter is supported so this function is idempotent.

This is the opposite of builtins.unsafeDiscardOutputDependency.

all pred list

Return true if the function pred returns true for all elements of list, and false otherwise.

any pred list

Return true if the function pred returns true for at least one element of list, and false otherwise.

attrNames set

Return the names of the attributes in the set set in an alphabetically sorted list. For instance, builtins.attrNames { y = 1; x = "foo"; } evaluates to [ "x" "y" ].

attrValues set

Return the values of the attributes in the set set in the order corresponding to the sorted attribute names.

baseNameOf s

Return the base name of the string s, that is, everything following the final slash in the string. This is similar to the GNU basename command.

bitAnd e1 e2

Return the bitwise AND of the integers e1 and e2.

bitOr e1 e2

Return the bitwise OR of the integers e1 and e2.

bitXor e1 e2

Return the bitwise XOR of the integers e1 and e2.

break v

In debug mode (enabled using --debugger), pause Nix expression evaluation and enter the REPL. Otherwise, return the argument v.

catAttrs attr list

Collect each attribute named attr from a list of attribute sets. Attrsets that don't contain the named attribute are ignored. For example,

builtins.catAttrs "a" [{a = 1;} {b = 0;} {a = 2;}]

evaluates to [1 2].

ceil double

Converts an IEEE-754 double-precision floating-point number (double) to the next higher integer.

If the datatype is neither an integer nor a "float", an evaluation error will be thrown.

compareVersions s1 s2

Compare two strings representing versions and return -1 if version s1 is older than version s2, 0 if they are the same, and 1 if s1 is newer than s2. The version comparison algorithm is the same as the one used by nix-env -u.

concatLists lists

Concatenate a list of lists into a single list.

concatMap f list

This function is equivalent to builtins.concatLists (map f list) but is more efficient.

concatStringsSep separator list

Concatenate a list of strings with a separator between each element, e.g. concatStringsSep "/" ["usr" "local" "bin"] == "usr/local/bin".

convertHash args

Return the specified representation of a hash string, based on the attributes presented in args:

hash

The hash to be converted. The hash format is detected automatically.
hashAlgo

The algorithm used to create the hash. Must be one of
- "md5"
- "sha1"
- "sha256"
- "sha512"
The attribute may be omitted when hash is an SRI hash or when the hash is prefixed with the hash algorithm name followed by a colon. That <hashAlgo>:<hashBody> syntax is supported for backwards compatibility with existing tooling.
toHashFormat

The format of the resulting hash. Must be one of
- "base16"
- "nix32"
- "base32" (deprecated alias for "nix32")
- "base64"
- "sri"

The result hash is the toHashFormat representation of the hash hash.

Example

Convert a SHA256 hash in Base16 to SRI:

builtins.convertHash {
  hash = "e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855";
  toHashFormat = "sri";
  hashAlgo = "sha256";
}

"sha256-47DEQpj8HBSa+/TImW+5JCeuQeRkm5NMpJWZG3hSuFU="

Example

Convert a SHA256 hash in SRI to Base16:

builtins.convertHash {
  hash = "sha256-47DEQpj8HBSa+/TImW+5JCeuQeRkm5NMpJWZG3hSuFU=";
  toHashFormat = "base16";
}

"e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855"

Example

Convert a hash in the form <hashAlgo>:<hashBody> in Base16 to SRI:

builtins.convertHash {
  hash = "sha256:e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855";
  toHashFormat = "sri";
}

"sha256-47DEQpj8HBSa+/TImW+5JCeuQeRkm5NMpJWZG3hSuFU="

deepSeq e1 e2

This is like seq e1 e2, except that e1 is evaluated deeply: if it’s a list or set, its elements or attributes are also evaluated recursively.

dirOf s

Return the directory part of the string s, that is, everything before the final slash in the string. This is similar to the GNU dirname command.

div e1 e2

Return the quotient of the numbers e1 and e2.

elem x xs

Return true if a value equal to x occurs in the list xs, and false otherwise.

elemAt xs n

Return element n from the list xs. Elements are counted starting from 0. A fatal error occurs if the index is out of bounds.

fetchClosure args

Note

This function is only available if the fetch-closure experimental feature is enabled.

For example, include the following in nix.conf:
extra-experimental-features = fetch-closure

Fetch a store path closure from a binary cache, and return the store path as a string with context.

This function can be invoked in three ways, that we will discuss in order of preference.

Fetch a content-addressed store path

Example:

builtins.fetchClosure {
  fromStore = "https://cache.nixos.org";
  fromPath = /nix/store/ldbhlwhh39wha58rm61bkiiwm6j7211j-git-2.33.1;
}

This is the simplest invocation, and it does not require the user of the expression to configure trusted-public-keys to ensure their authenticity.

If your store path is input addressed instead of content addressed, consider the other two invocations.

Fetch any store path and rewrite it to a fully content-addressed store path

Example:

builtins.fetchClosure {
  fromStore = "https://cache.nixos.org";
  fromPath = /nix/store/r2jd6ygnmirm2g803mksqqjm4y39yi6i-git-2.33.1;
  toPath = /nix/store/ldbhlwhh39wha58rm61bkiiwm6j7211j-git-2.33.1;
}

This example fetches /nix/store/r2jd... from the specified binary cache, and rewrites it into the content-addressed store path /nix/store/ldbh....

Like the previous example, no extra configuration or privileges are required.

To find out the correct value for toPath given a fromPath, use nix store make-content-addressed:

# nix store make-content-addressed --from https://cache.nixos.org /nix/store/r2jd6ygnmirm2g803mksqqjm4y39yi6i-git-2.33.1
rewrote '/nix/store/r2jd6ygnmirm2g803mksqqjm4y39yi6i-git-2.33.1' to '/nix/store/ldbhlwhh39wha58rm61bkiiwm6j7211j-git-2.33.1'

Alternatively, set toPath = "" and find the correct toPath in the error message.

Fetch an input-addressed store path as is

Example:

builtins.fetchClosure {
  fromStore = "https://cache.nixos.org";
  fromPath = /nix/store/r2jd6ygnmirm2g803mksqqjm4y39yi6i-git-2.33.1;
  inputAddressed = true;
}

It is possible to fetch an input-addressed store path and return it as is. However, this is the least preferred way of invoking fetchClosure, because it requires that the input-addressed paths are trusted by the Nix configuration.

builtins.storePath

fetchClosure is similar to builtins.storePath in that it allows you to use a previously built store path in a Nix expression. However, fetchClosure is more reproducible because it specifies a binary cache from which the path can be fetched. Also, using content-addressed store paths does not require users to configure trusted-public-keys to ensure their authenticity.

fetchGit args

Fetch a path from git. args can be a URL, in which case the HEAD of the repo at that URL is fetched. Otherwise, it can be an attribute with the following attributes (all except url optional):

url

The URL of the repo.
name (default: source)

The name of the directory the repo should be exported to in the store.
rev (default: the tip of ref)

The Git revision to fetch. This is typically a commit hash.
ref (default: HEAD)

The Git reference under which to look for the requested revision. This is often a branch or tag name.

By default, the ref value is prefixed with refs/heads/. As of 2.3.0, Nix will not prefix refs/heads/ if ref starts with refs/.
submodules (default: false)

A Boolean parameter that specifies whether submodules should be checked out.
exportIgnore (default: true)

A Boolean parameter that specifies whether export-ignore from .gitattributes should be applied. This approximates part of the git archive behavior.

Enabling this option is not recommended because it is unknown whether the Git developers commit to the reproducibility of export-ignore in newer Git versions.
shallow (default: false)

Make a shallow clone when fetching the Git tree.
allRefs

Whether to fetch all references of the repository. With this argument being true, it's possible to load a rev from any ref (by default only revs from the specified ref are supported).
verifyCommit (default: true if publicKey or publicKeys are provided, otherwise false)

Whether to check rev for a signature matching publicKey or publicKeys. If verifyCommit is enabled, then fetchGit cannot use a local repository with uncommitted changes. Requires the verified-fetches experimental feature.
publicKey

The public key against which rev is verified if verifyCommit is enabled. Requires the verified-fetches experimental feature.
keytype (default: "ssh-ed25519")

The key type of publicKey. Possible values:
- "ssh-dsa"
- "ssh-ecdsa"
- "ssh-ecdsa-sk"
- "ssh-ed25519"
- "ssh-ed25519-sk"
- "ssh-rsa" Requires the verified-fetches experimental feature.
publicKeys

The public keys against which rev is verified if verifyCommit is enabled. Must be given as a list of attribute sets with the following form:
```
{
  key = "<public key>";
  type = "<key type>"; # optional, default: "ssh-ed25519"
}
```
Requires the verified-fetches experimental feature.

Here are some examples of how to use fetchGit.

To fetch a private repository over SSH:

builtins.fetchGit {
  url = "git@github.com:my-secret/repository.git";
  ref = "master";
  rev = "adab8b916a45068c044658c4158d81878f9ed1c3";
}

To fetch an arbitrary reference:

builtins.fetchGit {
  url = "https://github.com/NixOS/nix.git";
  ref = "refs/heads/0.5-release";
}

If the revision you're looking for is in the default branch of the git repository you don't strictly need to specify the branch name in the ref attribute.

However, if the revision you're looking for is in a future branch for the non-default branch you will need to specify the the ref attribute as well.
```
builtins.fetchGit {
  url = "https://github.com/nixos/nix.git";
  rev = "841fcbd04755c7a2865c51c1e2d3b045976b7452";
  ref = "1.11-maintenance";
}
```
Note

It is nice to always specify the branch which a revision belongs to. Without the branch being specified, the fetcher might fail if the default branch changes. Additionally, it can be confusing to try a commit from a non-default branch and see the fetch fail. If the branch is specified the fault is much more obvious.

If the revision you're looking for is in the default branch of the git repository you may omit the ref attribute.

builtins.fetchGit {
  url = "https://github.com/nixos/nix.git";
  rev = "841fcbd04755c7a2865c51c1e2d3b045976b7452";
}

To fetch a specific tag:

builtins.fetchGit {
  url = "https://github.com/nixos/nix.git";
  ref = "refs/tags/1.9";
}

To fetch the latest version of a remote branch:

builtins.fetchGit {
  url = "ssh://git@github.com/nixos/nix.git";
  ref = "master";
}

To verify the commit signature:

builtins.fetchGit {
  url = "ssh://git@github.com/nixos/nix.git";
  verifyCommit = true;
  publicKeys = [
      {
        type = "ssh-ed25519";
        key = "AAAAC3NzaC1lZDI1NTE5AAAAIArPKULJOid8eS6XETwUjO48/HKBWl7FTCK0Z//fplDi";
      }
  ];
}

Nix will refetch the branch according to the tarball-ttl setting.

This behavior is disabled in pure evaluation mode.

To fetch the content of a checked-out work directory:
```
builtins.fetchGit ./work-dir
```

If the URL points to a local directory, and no ref or rev is given, fetchGit will use the current content of the checked-out files, even if they are not committed or added to Git's index. It will only consider files added to the Git repository, as listed by git ls-files.

fetchTarball args

Download the specified URL, unpack it and return the path of the unpacked tree. The file must be a tape archive (.tar) compressed with gzip, bzip2 or xz. The top-level path component of the files in the tarball is removed, so it is best if the tarball contains a single directory at top level. The typical use of the function is to obtain external Nix expression dependencies, such as a particular version of Nixpkgs, e.g.

with import (fetchTarball https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/archive/nixos-14.12.tar.gz) {};

stdenv.mkDerivation { … }

The fetched tarball is cached for a certain amount of time (1 hour by default) in ~/.cache/nix/tarballs/. You can change the cache timeout either on the command line with --tarball-ttl number-of-seconds or in the Nix configuration file by adding the line tarball-ttl = number-of-seconds.

Note that when obtaining the hash with nix-prefetch-url the option --unpack is required.

This function can also verify the contents against a hash. In that case, the function takes a set instead of a URL. The set requires the attribute url and the attribute sha256, e.g.

with import (fetchTarball {
  url = "https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/archive/nixos-14.12.tar.gz";
  sha256 = "1jppksrfvbk5ypiqdz4cddxdl8z6zyzdb2srq8fcffr327ld5jj2";
}) {};

stdenv.mkDerivation { … }

Not available in restricted evaluation mode.

fetchTree input

Note

This function is only available if the fetch-tree experimental feature is enabled.

For example, include the following in nix.conf:
extra-experimental-features = fetch-tree

Fetch a file system tree or a plain file using one of the supported backends and return an attribute set with:

the resulting fixed-output store path
the corresponding NAR hash
backend-specific metadata (currently not documented).

input must be an attribute set with the following attributes:

type (String, required)

One of the supported source types. This determines other required and allowed input attributes.
narHash (String, optional)

The narHash parameter can be used to substitute the source of the tree. It also allows for verification of tree contents that may not be provided by the underlying transfer mechanism. If narHash is set, the source is first looked up is the Nix store and substituters, and only fetched if not available.

A subset of the output attributes of fetchTree can be re-used for subsequent calls to fetchTree to produce the same result again. That is, fetchTree is idempotent.

Downloads are cached in $XDG_CACHE_HOME/nix. The remote source will be fetched from the network if both are true:

A NAR hash is supplied and the corresponding store path is not valid, that is, not available in the store

Note

Substituters are not used in fetching.
There is no cache entry or the cache entry is older than tarball-ttl

Source types

The following source types and associated input attributes are supported.

"file"

Place a plain file into the Nix store. This is similar to builtins.fetchurl
- url (String, required)
  
  Supported protocols:
  - https
    Example
```
fetchTree {
  type = "file";
  url = "https://example.com/index.html";
}
```
  - http
    
    Insecure HTTP transfer for legacy sources.
    
    Warning
    
    HTTP performs no encryption or authentication. Use a narHash known in advance to ensure the output has expected contents.
  - file
    
    A file on the local file system.
    Example
```
fetchTree {
  type = "file";
  url = "file:///home/eelco/nix/README.md";
}
```
"tarball"

Download a tar archive and extract it into the Nix store. This has the same underyling implementation as builtins.fetchTarball
- url (String, required)
  Example
```
fetchTree {
  type = "tarball";
  url = "https://github.com/NixOS/nixpkgs/tarball/nixpkgs-23.11";
}
```
"git"

Fetch a Git tree and copy it to the Nix store. This is similar to builtins.fetchGit.
- url (String, required)
  
  The URL formats supported are the same as for Git itself.
  Example
```
fetchTree {
  type = "git";
  url = "git@github.com:NixOS/nixpkgs.git";
}
```
  Note
  
  If the URL points to a local directory, and no ref or rev is given, Nix will only consider files added to the Git index, as listed by git ls-files but use the current file contents of the Git working directory.
- ref (String, optional)
  
  A Git reference, such as a branch or tag name.
  
  Default: "HEAD"
- rev (String, optional)
  
  A Git revision; a commit hash.
  
  Default: the tip of ref
- shallow (Bool, optional)
  
  Make a shallow clone when fetching the Git tree.
  
  Default: false
- submodules (Bool, optional)
  
  Also fetch submodules if available.
  
  Default: false
- allRefs (Bool, optional)
  
  If set to true, always fetch the entire repository, even if the latest commit is still in the cache. Otherwise, only the latest commit is fetched if it is not already cached.
  
  Default: false
- lastModified (Integer, optional)
  
  Unix timestamp of the fetched commit.
  
  If set, pass through the value to the output attribute set. Otherwise, generated from the fetched Git tree.
- revCount (Integer, optional)
  
  Number of revisions in the history of the Git repository before the fetched commit.
  
  If set, pass through the value to the output attribute set. Otherwise, generated from the fetched Git tree.

The following input types are still subject to change:

"path"
"github"
"gitlab"
"sourcehut"
"mercurial"

input can also be a URL-like reference. The additional input types and the URL-like syntax requires the flakes experimental feature to be enabled.

Example

Fetch a GitHub repository using the attribute set representation:

builtins.fetchTree {
  type = "github";
  owner = "NixOS";
  repo = "nixpkgs";
  rev = "ae2e6b3958682513d28f7d633734571fb18285dd";
}

This evaluates to the following attribute set:

{
  lastModified = 1686503798;
  lastModifiedDate = "20230611171638";
  narHash = "sha256-rA9RqKP9OlBrgGCPvfd5HVAXDOy8k2SmPtB/ijShNXc=";
  outPath = "/nix/store/l5m6qlvfs9sdw14ja3qbzpglcjlb6j1x-source";
  rev = "ae2e6b3958682513d28f7d633734571fb18285dd";
  shortRev = "ae2e6b3";
}

Example

Fetch the same GitHub repository using the URL-like syntax:
builtins.fetchTree "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/ae2e6b3958682513d28f7d633734571fb18285dd"

fetchurl url

Download the specified URL and return the path of the downloaded file.

Not available in restricted evaluation mode.

filter f list

Return a list consisting of the elements of list for which the function f returns true.

filterSource e1 e2

Warning

filterSource should not be used to filter store paths. Since filterSource uses the name of the input directory while naming the output directory, doing so will produce a directory name in the form of <hash2>-<hash>-<name>, where <hash>-<name> is the name of the input directory. Since <hash> depends on the unfiltered directory, the name of the output directory will indirectly depend on files that are filtered out by the function. This will trigger a rebuild even when a filtered out file is changed. Use builtins.path instead, which allows specifying the name of the output directory.

This function allows you to copy sources into the Nix store while filtering certain files. For instance, suppose that you want to use the directory source-dir as an input to a Nix expression, e.g.

stdenv.mkDerivation {
  ...
  src = ./source-dir;
}

However, if source-dir is a Subversion working copy, then all those annoying .svn subdirectories will also be copied to the store. Worse, the contents of those directories may change a lot, causing lots of spurious rebuilds. With filterSource you can filter out the .svn directories:

src = builtins.filterSource
  (path: type: type != "directory" || baseNameOf path != ".svn")
  ./source-dir;

Thus, the first argument e1 must be a predicate function that is called for each regular file, directory or symlink in the source tree e2. If the function returns true, the file is copied to the Nix store, otherwise it is omitted. The function is called with two arguments. The first is the full path of the file. The second is a string that identifies the type of the file, which is either "regular", "directory", "symlink" or "unknown" (for other kinds of files such as device nodes or fifos — but note that those cannot be copied to the Nix store, so if the predicate returns true for them, the copy will fail). If you exclude a directory, the entire corresponding subtree of e2 will be excluded.

findFile search-path lookup-path

Find lookup-path in search-path.

A search path is represented list of attribute sets with two attributes:

prefix is a relative path.
path denotes a file system location The exact syntax depends on the command line interface.

Examples of search path attribute sets:

{
  prefix = "nixos-config";
  path = "/etc/nixos/configuration.nix";
}

{
  prefix = "";
  path = "/nix/var/nix/profiles/per-user/root/channels";
}

The lookup algorithm checks each entry until a match is found, returning a path value of the match:

If lookup-path matches prefix, then the remainder of lookup-path (the "suffix") is searched for within the directory denoted by path. Note that the path may need to be downloaded at this point to look inside.
If the suffix is found inside that directory, then the entry is a match. The combined absolute path of the directory (now downloaded if need be) and the suffix is returned.

Lookup path expressions can be desugared using this and builtins.nixPath:

<nixpkgs>

is equivalent to:

builtins.findFile builtins.nixPath "nixpkgs"

flakeRefToString attrs

Note

This function is only available if the flakes experimental feature is enabled.

For example, include the following in nix.conf:
extra-experimental-features = flakes

Convert a flake reference from attribute set format to URL format.

For example:

builtins.flakeRefToString {
  dir = "lib"; owner = "NixOS"; ref = "23.05"; repo = "nixpkgs"; type = "github";
}

evaluates to

"github:NixOS/nixpkgs/23.05?dir=lib"

floor double

Converts an IEEE-754 double-precision floating-point number (double) to the next lower integer.

If the datatype is neither an integer nor a "float", an evaluation error will be thrown.

foldl' op nul list

Reduce a list by applying a binary operator, from left to right, e.g. foldl' op nul [x0 x1 x2 ...] = op (op (op nul x0) x1) x2) ....

For example, foldl' (acc: elem: acc + elem) 0 [1 2 3] evaluates to 6 and foldl' (acc: elem: { "${elem}" = elem; } // acc) {} ["a" "b"] evaluates to { a = "a"; b = "b"; }.

The first argument of op is the accumulator whereas the second argument is the current element being processed. The return value of each application of op is evaluated immediately, even for intermediate values.

fromJSON e

Convert a JSON string to a Nix value. For example,

builtins.fromJSON ''{"x": [1, 2, 3], "y": null}''

returns the value { x = [ 1 2 3 ]; y = null; }.

fromTOML e

Convert a TOML string to a Nix value. For example,

builtins.fromTOML ''
  x=1
  s="a"
  [table]
  y=2
''

returns the value { s = "a"; table = { y = 2; }; x = 1; }.

functionArgs f

Return a set containing the names of the formal arguments expected by the function f. The value of each attribute is a Boolean denoting whether the corresponding argument has a default value. For instance, functionArgs ({ x, y ? 123}: ...) = { x = false; y = true; }.

"Formal argument" here refers to the attributes pattern-matched by the function. Plain lambdas are not included, e.g. functionArgs (x: ...) = { }.

genList generator length

Generate list of size length, with each element i equal to the value returned by generator i. For example,

builtins.genList (x: x * x) 5

returns the list [ 0 1 4 9 16 ].

genericClosure attrset

Take an attrset with values named startSet and operator in order to return a list of attrsets by starting with the startSet and recursively applying the operator function to each item. The attrsets in the startSet and the attrsets produced by operator must contain a value named key which is comparable. The result is produced by calling operator for each item with a value for key that has not been called yet including newly produced items. The function terminates when no new items are produced. The resulting list of attrsets contains only attrsets with a unique key. For example,

builtins.genericClosure {
  startSet = [ {key = 5;} ];
  operator = item: [{
    key = if (item.key / 2 ) * 2 == item.key
         then item.key / 2
         else 3 * item.key + 1;
  }];
}

evaluates to

[ { key = 5; } { key = 16; } { key = 8; } { key = 4; } { key = 2; } { key = 1; } ]

key can be one of the following types:

getAttr s set

getAttr returns the attribute named s from set. Evaluation aborts if the attribute doesn’t exist. This is a dynamic version of the . operator, since s is an expression rather than an identifier.

getContext s

Return the string context of s.

The string context tracks references to derivations within a string. It is represented as an attribute set of store derivation paths mapping to output names.

Using string interpolation on a derivation will add that derivation to the string context. For example,

builtins.getContext "${derivation { name = "a"; builder = "b"; system = "c"; }}"

evaluates to

{ "/nix/store/arhvjaf6zmlyn8vh8fgn55rpwnxq0n7l-a.drv" = { outputs = [ "out" ]; }; }

getEnv s

getEnv returns the value of the environment variable s, or an empty string if the variable doesn’t exist. This function should be used with care, as it can introduce all sorts of nasty environment dependencies in your Nix expression.

getEnv is used in Nix Packages to locate the file ~/.nixpkgs/config.nix, which contains user-local settings for Nix Packages. (That is, it does a getEnv "HOME" to locate the user’s home directory.)

getFlake args

Note

This function is only available if the flakes experimental feature is enabled.

For example, include the following in nix.conf:
extra-experimental-features = flakes

Fetch a flake from a flake reference, and return its output attributes and some metadata. For example:

(builtins.getFlake "nix/55bc52401966fbffa525c574c14f67b00bc4fb3a").packages.x86_64-linux.nix

Unless impure evaluation is allowed (--impure), the flake reference must be "locked", e.g. contain a Git revision or content hash. An example of an unlocked usage is:

(builtins.getFlake "github:edolstra/dwarffs").rev

groupBy f list

Groups elements of list together by the string returned from the function f called on each element. It returns an attribute set where each attribute value contains the elements of list that are mapped to the same corresponding attribute name returned by f.

For example,

builtins.groupBy (builtins.substring 0 1) ["foo" "bar" "baz"]

evaluates to

{ b = [ "bar" "baz" ]; f = [ "foo" ]; }

hasAttr s set

hasAttr returns true if set has an attribute named s, and false otherwise. This is a dynamic version of the ? operator, since s is an expression rather than an identifier.

hasContext s

Return true if string s has a non-empty context. The context can be obtained with getContext.

Example

Many operations require a string context to be empty because they are intended only to work with "regular" strings, and also to help users avoid unintentionally loosing track of string context elements. builtins.hasContext can help create better domain-specific errors in those case.
name: meta:

if builtins.hasContext name
then throw "package name cannot contain string context"
else { ${name} = meta; }

hashFile type p

Return a base-16 representation of the cryptographic hash of the file at path p. The hash algorithm specified by type must be one of "md5", "sha1", "sha256" or "sha512".

hashString type s

Return a base-16 representation of the cryptographic hash of string s. The hash algorithm specified by type must be one of "md5", "sha1", "sha256" or "sha512".

head list

Return the first element of a list; abort evaluation if the argument isn’t a list or is an empty list. You can test whether a list is empty by comparing it with [].

import path

Load, parse, and return the Nix expression in the file path.

Note

Unlike some languages, import is a regular function in Nix.

The path argument must meet the same criteria as an interpolated expression.

If path is a directory, the file default.nix in that directory is used if it exists.

Example
$ echo 123 > default.nix
Import default.nix from the current directory.
import ./.
123

Evaluation aborts if the file doesn’t exist or contains an invalid Nix expression.

A Nix expression loaded by import must not contain any free variables, that is, identifiers that are not defined in the Nix expression itself and are not built-in. Therefore, it cannot refer to variables that are in scope at the call site.

Example

If you have a calling expression
rec {
  x = 123;
  y = import ./foo.nix;
}
then the following foo.nix will give an error:
# foo.nix
x + 456
since x is not in scope in foo.nix. If you want x to be available in foo.nix, pass it as a function argument:
rec {
  x = 123;
  y = import ./foo.nix x;
}
and
# foo.nix
x: x + 456
The function argument doesn’t have to be called x in foo.nix; any name would work.

intersectAttrs e1 e2

Return a set consisting of the attributes in the set e2 which have the same name as some attribute in e1.

Performs in O(n log m) where n is the size of the smaller set and m the larger set's size.

isAttrs e

Return true if e evaluates to a set, and false otherwise.

isBool e

Return true if e evaluates to a bool, and false otherwise.

isFloat e

Return true if e evaluates to a float, and false otherwise.

isFunction e

Return true if e evaluates to a function, and false otherwise.

isInt e

Return true if e evaluates to an integer, and false otherwise.

isList e

Return true if e evaluates to a list, and false otherwise.

isNull e

Return true if e evaluates to null, and false otherwise.

This is equivalent to e == null.

isPath e

Return true if e evaluates to a path, and false otherwise.

isString e

Return true if e evaluates to a string, and false otherwise.

length e

Return the length of the list e.

lessThan e1 e2

Return true if the number e1 is less than the number e2, and false otherwise. Evaluation aborts if either e1 or e2 does not evaluate to a number.

listToAttrs e

Construct a set from a list specifying the names and values of each attribute. Each element of the list should be a set consisting of a string-valued attribute name specifying the name of the attribute, and an attribute value specifying its value.

In case of duplicate occurrences of the same name, the first takes precedence.

Example:

builtins.listToAttrs
  [ { name = "foo"; value = 123; }
    { name = "bar"; value = 456; }
    { name = "bar"; value = 420; }
  ]

evaluates to

{ foo = 123; bar = 456; }

map f list

Apply the function f to each element in the list list. For example,

map (x: "foo" + x) [ "bar" "bla" "abc" ]

evaluates to [ "foobar" "foobla" "fooabc" ].

mapAttrs f attrset

Apply function f to every element of attrset. For example,

builtins.mapAttrs (name: value: value * 10) { a = 1; b = 2; }

evaluates to { a = 10; b = 20; }.

match regex str

Returns a list if the extended POSIX regular expression regex matches str precisely, otherwise returns null. Each item in the list is a regex group.

builtins.match "ab" "abc"

Evaluates to null.

builtins.match "abc" "abc"

Evaluates to [ ].

builtins.match "a(b)(c)" "abc"

Evaluates to [ "b" "c" ].

builtins.match "[[:space:]]+([[:upper:]]+)[[:space:]]+" "  FOO   "

Evaluates to [ "FOO" ].

mul e1 e2

Return the product of the numbers e1 and e2.

outputOf derivation-reference output-name

Note

This function is only available if the dynamic-derivations experimental feature is enabled.

For example, include the following in nix.conf:
extra-experimental-features = dynamic-derivations

Return the output path of a derivation, literally or using a placeholder if needed.

If the derivation has a statically-known output path (i.e. the derivation output is input-addressed, or fixed content-addresed), the output path will just be returned. But if the derivation is content-addressed or if the derivation is itself not-statically produced (i.e. is the output of another derivation), a placeholder will be returned instead.

derivation reference must be a string that may contain a regular store path to a derivation, or may be a placeholder reference. If the derivation is produced by a derivation, you must explicitly select drv.outPath. This primop can be chained arbitrarily deeply. For instance,

builtins.outputOf
  (builtins.outputOf myDrv "out")
  "out"

will return a placeholder for the output of the output of myDrv.

This primop corresponds to the ^ sigil for derivable paths, e.g. as part of installable syntax on the command line.

parseDrvName s

Split the string s into a package name and version. The package name is everything up to but not including the first dash not followed by a letter, and the version is everything following that dash. The result is returned in a set { name, version }. Thus, builtins.parseDrvName "nix-0.12pre12876" returns { name = "nix"; version = "0.12pre12876"; }.

parseFlakeRef flake-ref

Note

This function is only available if the flakes experimental feature is enabled.

For example, include the following in nix.conf:
extra-experimental-features = flakes

Parse a flake reference, and return its exploded form.

For example:

builtins.parseFlakeRef "github:NixOS/nixpkgs/23.05?dir=lib"

evaluates to:

{ dir = "lib"; owner = "NixOS"; ref = "23.05"; repo = "nixpkgs"; type = "github"; }

partition pred list

Given a predicate function pred, this function returns an attrset containing a list named right, containing the elements in list for which pred returned true, and a list named wrong, containing the elements for which it returned false. For example,

builtins.partition (x: x > 10) [1 23 9 3 42]

evaluates to

{ right = [ 23 42 ]; wrong = [ 1 9 3 ]; }

path args

An enrichment of the built-in path type, based on the attributes present in args. All are optional except path:

path
The underlying path.
name
The name of the path when added to the store. This can used to reference paths that have nix-illegal characters in their names, like @.
filter
A function of the type expected by builtins.filterSource, with the same semantics.
recursive
When false, when path is added to the store it is with a flat hash, rather than a hash of the NAR serialization of the file. Thus, path must refer to a regular file, not a directory. This allows similar behavior to fetchurl. Defaults to true.
sha256
When provided, this is the expected hash of the file at the path. Evaluation will fail if the hash is incorrect, and providing a hash allows builtins.path to be used even when the pure-eval nix config option is on.

pathExists path

Return true if the path path exists at evaluation time, and false otherwise.

placeholder output

Return a placeholder string for the specified output that will be substituted by the corresponding output path at build time. Typical outputs would be "out", "bin" or "dev".

readDir path

Return the contents of the directory path as a set mapping directory entries to the corresponding file type. For instance, if directory A contains a regular file B and another directory C, then builtins.readDir ./A will return the set

{ B = "regular"; C = "directory"; }

The possible values for the file type are "regular", "directory", "symlink" and "unknown".

readFile path

Return the contents of the file path as a string.

readFileType p

Determine the directory entry type of a filesystem node, being one of "directory", "regular", "symlink", or "unknown".

removeAttrs set list

Remove the attributes listed in list from set. The attributes don’t have to exist in set. For instance,

removeAttrs { x = 1; y = 2; z = 3; } [ "a" "x" "z" ]

evaluates to { y = 2; }.

replaceStrings from to s

Given string s, replace every occurrence of the strings in from with the corresponding string in to.

The argument to is lazy, that is, it is only evaluated when its corresponding pattern in from is matched in the string s

Example:

builtins.replaceStrings ["oo" "a"] ["a" "i"] "foobar"

evaluates to "fabir".

seq e1 e2

Evaluate e1, then evaluate and return e2. This ensures that a computation is strict in the value of e1.

sort comparator list

Return list in sorted order. It repeatedly calls the function comparator with two elements. The comparator should return true if the first element is less than the second, and false otherwise. For example,

builtins.sort builtins.lessThan [ 483 249 526 147 42 77 ]

produces the list [ 42 77 147 249 483 526 ].

This is a stable sort: it preserves the relative order of elements deemed equal by the comparator.

split regex str

Returns a list composed of non matched strings interleaved with the lists of the extended POSIX regular expression regex matches of str. Each item in the lists of matched sequences is a regex group.

builtins.split "(a)b" "abc"

Evaluates to [ "" [ "a" ] "c" ].

builtins.split "([ac])" "abc"

Evaluates to [ "" [ "a" ] "b" [ "c" ] "" ].

builtins.split "(a)|(c)" "abc"

Evaluates to [ "" [ "a" null ] "b" [ null "c" ] "" ].

builtins.split "([[:upper:]]+)" " FOO "

Evaluates to [ " " [ "FOO" ] " " ].

splitVersion s

Split a string representing a version into its components, by the same version splitting logic underlying the version comparison in nix-env -u.

storePath path

This function allows you to define a dependency on an already existing store path. For example, the derivation attribute src = builtins.storePath /nix/store/f1d18v1y…-source causes the derivation to depend on the specified path, which must exist or be substitutable. Note that this differs from a plain path (e.g. src = /nix/store/f1d18v1y…-source) in that the latter causes the path to be copied again to the Nix store, resulting in a new path (e.g. /nix/store/ld01dnzc…-source-source).

Not available in pure evaluation mode.

Nix Reference Manual

Built-in Functions

Source types