[Haskell-cafe] Re: Is hGetLine lazy like hGetContents? And what about this todo item?

[Simon Marlow]

On 25/03/2010 15:40, Jason Dagit wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I was trying to figure out if hGetLine is safe to use inside of
> withFile.  Specifically, I want to return the line I read and use it
> later, without inspecting it before withFile calls hClose.
>
> If you want to understand the concern I have, look here:
> http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Maintaining_laziness#Input_and_Output
>
> There is a bit of explanation showing that hGetContents can be
> problematic with withFile.
>
> I can tell from reading the source of hGetContents that it uses
> unsafeInterleaveIO so this make sense to me why that wiki page talks
> about hGetContents:
> http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/latest/html/libraries/base/src/GHC-IO-Handle-Text.html#hGetContents
>
> When I read the source of hGetLine, it is less clear to me if I need to
> be concerned.  I believe it is not lazy in the sense of lazy IO above.
> Could someone else please comment?
> http://www.haskell.org/ghc/docs/latest/html/libraries/base/src/GHC-IO-Handle-Text.html#hGetLine

Correct: it is not lazy, and it is safe to use inside withFile.

> Then I notice this 'todo' item in the description:
> -- ToDo: the unbuffered case is wrong: it doesn't lock the handle for
> -- the duration.
>
> The code itself looks to me like it only handles the buffered case.
> Perhaps this todo is obsolete and needs to be removed?  If it's not
> obsolete, do we need to create a ticket for this?

Well spotted, that comment is out of date and wrong.  There used to be a 
version of hGetLine written in terms of hGetChar which was used when the 
Handle was unbuffered, but I think I removed it in the recent rewrite.

Cheers,
	Simon