..
   This file is part of Logtalk <https://logtalk.org/>
   SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 1998-2025 Paulo Moura <pmoura@logtalk.org>
   SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0

   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
   You may obtain a copy of the License at

       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
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   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
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.. rst-class:: align-right

**built-in predicate**

.. index:: pair: logtalk_compile/1; Built-in predicate
.. _predicates_logtalk_compile_1:

``logtalk_compile/1``
=====================

Description
-----------

::

   logtalk_compile(File)
   logtalk_compile(Files)

Compiles to disk a :term:`source file` or a list of source files using
the default compiler flag values. The Logtalk source file name extension
(by default, ``.lgt``) can be omitted. Source file paths can be absolute,
relative to the current directory, or use :term:`library notation`. This
predicate can also be used to compile Prolog source files as Logtalk source
code. When no recognized Logtalk or Prolog extension is specified, the
compiler tries first to append a Logtalk source file extension and then a
Prolog source file extension. If that fails, the compiler tries to use the
file name as-is. The recognized Logtalk and Prolog file extensions are
defined in the :term:`backend adapter files <adapter file>`.

.. note::

   This predicate does not load into memory the compiled source file.
   If you want to both compile and load a source file, use instead the
   :ref:`predicates_logtalk_load_1` built-in predicate.

When this predicate is called from the top-level interpreter, relative source
file paths are resolved using the current working directory. When the calls
are made from a source file, relative source file paths are resolved using
the source file directory.

Note that only the errors related to problems in the predicate argument
are listed below. This predicate fails on the first error found during
compilation of a source file. In this case, no file with the compiled
code is written to disk.

Modes and number of proofs
--------------------------

::

   logtalk_compile(@source_file_name) - zero_or_one
   logtalk_compile(@list(source_file_name)) - zero_or_one

Errors
------

| ``File`` is a variable:
|     ``instantiation_error``
| ``Files`` is a variable or a list with an element which is a variable:
|     ``instantiation_error``
| ``File``, or an element ``File`` of the ``Files`` list, is neither a variable nor a source file name:
|     ``type_error(source_file_name, File)``
| ``File``, or an element ``File`` of the ``Files`` list, uses library notation but the library does not exist:
|     ``existence_error(library, Library)``
| ``File`` or an element ``File`` of the ``Files`` list does not exist:
|     ``existence_error(file, File)``

Examples
--------

::

   % compile to disk the "set" source file in the
   % current directory:
   | ?- logtalk_compile(set).

   % compile to disk the "tree" source file in the
   % "types" library directory:
   | ?- logtalk_load(types(tree)).

   % compile to disk the "listp" and "list" source
   % files in the current directory:
   | ?- logtalk_compile([listp, list]).

.. seealso::

   :ref:`predicates_logtalk_compile_2`,
   :ref:`predicates_logtalk_load_1`,
   :ref:`predicates_logtalk_load_2`,
   :ref:`predicates_logtalk_make_0`,
   :ref:`predicates_logtalk_make_1`,
   :ref:`predicates_logtalk_library_path_2`
