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write_canonical(+Stream, ?Term)

The term Term is written on the output stream Stream in a form that ignores operator declarations and can be read in.
Stream
Stream handle or alias (atom)
Term
Prolog term.

Description

Used to write the term Term in a form that can be read back independent of the current operator declarations. Atoms and strings are quoted, operator declarations are ignored, lists are printed as ./2 structures, the (stream-specific or global) print_depth flag is not taken into account, variable attributes are printed, and variables are printed with unique identifiers.

write_canonical(S,Term) is equivalent to printf(S,"%DMOQv.w", Term) or write_term(S,Term, [attributes(full),operators(false),quoted(true), dotlists(true),variables(raw),depth(full),transform(false)]).

Note that as usual, the output is buffered, so it may need to be flushed either by closing the stream, by writing again or by using flush/1.

Modes and Determinism

Modules

This predicate is sensitive to its module context (tool predicate, see @/2).

Exceptions

(4) instantiation fault
Stream is not instantiated.
(5) type error
Stream is not an atom or a stream handle.
(192) illegal stream mode
Stream is not an output stream.
(193) illegal stream specification
Stream is an illegal stream specification.

Examples

   Success:
    ?- write_canonical(output, 'A'+[a,B]).
    +('A', .(a, .(_216, [])))
    B = B
    yes.

Error:
    write_canonical(S, a(b,c)).        (Error 4).
    write_canonical("string", a(b,c)). (Error 5).
    write_canonical(input, X + 2).     (Error 192).
    write_canonical(atom, X + 2).      (Error 193).

See Also

write / 1, write / 2, writeq / 1, writeq / 2, write_canonical / 1