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Version: 0.8

Statements

Syntax​

In KCL, statements consist of small statements and compound statements. The syntax is the following:

preamble_statement: preamble_small_stmt | preamble_compound_stmt
preamble_small_stmt: (small_stmt | import_stmt) NEWLINE
preamble_compound_stmt: compound_stmt | schema_stmt
statement: small_stmt NEWLINE | compound_stmt
compound_stmt: if_stmt
small_stmt: assign_stmt | expr_stmt | assert_stmt

The preamble statement is used to define the module level statements, consist of statement, import_stmt, and schema_stmt. The statement is used to define the block level statements, which are used in the if statement and schema statement.

Small Statements​

A small statement is comprised of a single logical line. Multiple statements in one-line are not allowed.

Assignment Statements​

Generally, assign_stmt is divided into assignment and augmented assignment. The syntax is the following:

assign_stmt: target_primary (":" type) ("=" target_primary)* "=" test | target_primary aug_assign test
aug_assign: "+=" | "-=" | "*=" | "**=" | "/=" | "//=" | "%=" | "&=" | "|=" | "^=" | "<<=" | ">>="
target_primary: identifier | target_primary DOT identifier

An assignment statement has the form lhs = rhs. It evaluates the expression on the right-hand side then assigns its value (or values) to the variable (or variables) on the left-hand side.

The target_primary on the left-hand side is an identifier or an identifier followed by select dots.

Note: When using target_primary will cause collisions, use primary_expr as an alternative.

Examples:

k = 1
a.b = "a.b"

To keep it simple, the compound target is not supported as target_primary.

The right value of an assignment statement is a conditional expression, which is discussed separately.

An augmented assignment, which has the form lhs op= rhs updates the variable lhs by applying a binary arithmetic operator op (one of +, -, *, /, //, %, &, |, ^, <<, >>) to the previous value of lhs and the value of rhs.

The target_primary on the left-hand side is the same as assignment statement. Examples:

_x -= 1
_filename += ".k"

There is no concept of in-place modification in KCL. The aug_assign statement will modify a copy of the target_primary and assign the copy to target_primary.

In particular, in KCL, the |= symbol represents the union operation, which is defined as follows:

  • The behavior of the union operation needs to be consistent with the behavior of the configuration definition.

See expressions spec for more details of union operator in Arithmetic Operations.

Expression Statements​

An expression statement evaluates an expression and discards its result.

Syntax:

expr_stmt: expression

An expression statement supported in KCL is function invocation expression, which is discussed in expression spec.

print(k) # print a variable

Import Statements​

Import statements are used to search and load a module, and define a name or names in the local namespace for the scope where the import statement occurs.

Syntax:

import_stmt: "import" dot_name ("as" NAME)?
dot_name: [leading_dots] identifier (DOT identifier)*
leading_dots: "."+

Examples:

import math # import a built-in module math
import pkg # import pkg
import pkg.foo # import pkg.foo
import pkg.subpkg # import a subpkg in a pkg
import .pkg2.subpkg3 # import a subpkg in a pkg inside of current pkg
import ...pkg2 # Go two levels up then import pkg2

See module spec for more details of module spec.

Assert Statements​

Assert statements are a convenient way to insert debugging assertions into KCL code.

The syntax is the following:

assert_stmt: ASSERT test ("if" test)? ("," test)?

The conditional expression in assert will be evaluated and get a boolean. Report an error if returning a False.

Examples:

assert: x > 1 # report an error on x <= 1

Conditional Statements​

KCL allows using conditional statements to control the instructions to be executed. They are also called the control-flow statements.

The only type of control-flow syntax is the well-known if-elif-else syntax.

The syntax of the if-elif-else statement is the following.

if_stmt: "if" test ":" suite ("elif" test ":" suite)* (ELSE ":" suite)?
suite: small_stmt | NEWLINE _INDENT statement+ _DEDENT

An if or elif statement evaluates a given expression. When the expression is evaluated to True, a list of statements following : are executed.

The following is an example:

a = 10
if a == 0:
    print("a is zero")
elif a < 100:
    print("a < 100")
    print("maybe a is negative")
else:
    print("a >= 100")

if-elif-else statements can be nested. For example:

a = 10
if a == 0:
    print("a is zero")
elif a < 100:
    print("a < 100")
    if a < 0:
        print("a is negative")
    print("No matter a is negative or positive, this message is printed")
else:
    print("a >= 100")

Schema Statements​

Schema statements are used to define a type of configuration data. The syntax is the following:

schema_stmt: [decorators] "schema" identifier ["[" [arguments] "]"] ["(" operand_name ")"] ":" NEWLINE [schema_body]
schema_body: _INDENT (string NEWLINE)* [mixin_stmt] (schema_attribute_stmt | statement)* [check_block] _DEDENT

See schema spec for more details of schema spec.