free(?Var)

Var

Prolog term.

Description

CAUTION: is it usually a mistake to distinguish between free and attributed variables, because variables can have several unrelated attributes (for example, some attributes are only for debugging purposes and should not affect the program behaviour at all). Correct code should check for the presence or absence of a particular attribute, and only use the free/1 test as a shortcut for detecting the absence of any attribute, e.g.

    add_my_attribute_if_needed(X) :-
        free(X),
        % X has no attributes at all: add my one
        add_attribute(X, my_attribute).
    add_my_attribute_if_needed(X{my_attr:Attr}) ?-
        ( var(Attr) ->
            % X has attributes, but not my one: add it
            add_attribute(X, my_attribute)
        ;
            % X already has my attribute: do nothing
            true
        ).

Modes and Determinism

• free(?) is semidet

Fail Conditions

Examples

Success:
      free(X).
      free(_abc).
      free(_).

Fail:
      free(X{a}).
      suspend:(X>0), free(X).
      var(atom).
      var('Abc').

See Also