NAME
dialyzer - The Dialyzer, a DIscrepancy AnalYZer for ERlang programs
DESCRIPTION
The Dialyzer is a static analysis tool that identifies software
discrepancies such as definite type errors, code which has become dead
or unreachable due to some programming error, unnecessary tests, etc.
in single Erlang modules or entire (sets of) applications. Dialyzer
starts its analysis from either debug-compiled BEAM bytecode or from
Erlang source code. The file and line number of a discrepancy is
reported along with an indication of what the discrepancy is about.
Dialyzer bases its analysis on the concept of success typings which
allows for sound warnings (no false positives).
Read more about Dialyzer and about how to use it from the GUI in
Dialyzer User’s Guide.
USING THE DIALYZER FROM THE COMMAND LINE
Dialyzer also has a command line version for automated use. Below is a
brief description of the list of its options. The same information can
be obtained by writing
dialyzer --help
in a shell. Please refer to the GUI description for more details on the
operation of Dialyzer.
The exit status of the command line version is:
0 - No problems were encountered during the analysis and no
warnings were emitted.
1 - Problems were encountered during the analysis.
2 - No problems were encountered, but warnings were emitted.
Usage:
dialyzer [--help] [--version] [--shell] [--quiet] [--verbose]
[-pa dir]* [--plt plt] [-Ddefine]* [-I include_dir]*
[--output_plt file] [-Wwarn]* [--src]
[-c applications] [-r applications] [-o outfile]
[--build_plt] [--add_to_plt] [--remove_from_plt]
[--check_plt] [--no_check_plt] [--plt_info] [--get_warnings]
Options:
-c applications(or --command-line applications)
use Dialyzer from the command line (no GUI) to detect defects in
the
specified applications (directories or .erl or .beam
files)
-r applications
same as -c only that directories are searched recursively for
subdirectories containing .erl or .beam files (depending
on the
type of analysis)
-o outfile(or --output outfile)
when using Dialyzer from the command line, send the analysis
results in the specified outfile rather than in stdout
--src
override the default, which is to analyze debug compiled BEAM
bytecode, and analyze starting from Erlang source code
instead
--raw
When using Dialyzer from the command line, output the raw
analysis
results (Erlang terms) instead of the formatted result.
The raw format is easier to post-process (for instance, to
filter
warnings or to output HTML pages).
-Dname(or -Dname=value)
when analyzing from source, pass the define to Dialyzer (**)
-I include_dir
when analyzing from source, pass the include_dir to Dialyzer
(**)
-pa dir
Include dir in the path for Erlang. Useful when analyzing files
that have -include_lib() directives.
--output_plt file
Store the PLT at the specified location after building it.
--plt plt
Use the specified plt as the initial persistent lookup table.
-Wwarn
a family of option which selectively turn on/off warnings.
(for help on the names of warnings use dialyzer -Whelp)
--shell
do not disable the Erlang shell while running the GUI
--version (or -v)
prints the Dialyzer version and some more information and exits
--help (or -h)
prints this message and exits
--quiet (or -q)
makes Dialyzer a bit more quiet
--verbose
makes Dialyzer a bit more verbose
--check_plt
Only checks if the initial PLT is up to date and rebuilds it if
this is not the case
--no_check_plt (or -n)
Skip the PLT integrity check when running Dialyzer.
Useful when working with installed PLTs that never change.
--build_plt
The analysis starts from an empty PLT and creates a new one from
the files specified with -c and -r. Only works for beam
files.
Use --plt or --output_plt to override the default PLT
location.
--add_to_plt
The PLT is extended to also include the files specified with
-c and -r. Use --plt to specify which PLT to start from,
and --output_plt
to specify where to put the PLT. Note that the analysis
might include
files from the PLT if they depend on the new files.
This option only works with beam files.
--remove_from_plt
The information from the files specified with -c and -r is
removed
from the PLT. Note that this may cause a re-analysis of
the remaining
dependent files.
--get_warnings
Makes Dialyzer emit warnings even when manipulating the PLT. Only
emits warnings for files that are actually analyzed. The
default is to
not emit any warnings when manipulating the PLT. This
option has no
effect when performing a normal analysis.
Note:
* denotes that multiple occurrences of these options are possible.
** options -D and -I work both from command-line and in the Dialyzer
GUI; the syntax of defines and includes is the same as that used by
erlc.
Warning options:
-Wno_return
Suppress warnings for functions of no return.
-Wno_unused
Suppress warnings for unused functions.
-Wno_improper_lists
Suppress warnings for construction of improper lists.
-Wno_fun_app
Suppress warnings for fun applications that will fail.
-Wno_match
Suppress warnings for patterns that are unused or cannot
match.
-Werror_handling***
Include warnings for functions that only return by means of an
exception.
-Wunmatched_returns***
Include warnings for function calls which ignore a structured
return
value or do not match against one of many possible return
value(s).
-Wunderspecs***
Warn about underspecified functions
(the -spec is strictly more allowing than the success
typing)
-Woverspecs***
Warn about overspecified functions
(the -spec is strictly less allowing than the success
typing)
-Wspecdiffs***
Warn when the -spec is different than the success typing
Note:
*** These are options that turn on warnings rather than turning
them off.
USING THE DIALYZER FROM ERLANG
You can also use Dialyzer directly from Erlang. Both the GUI and the
command line versions are available. The options are similar to the
ones given from the command line, so please refer to the sections above
for a description of these.
EXPORTS
gui() -> ok | {error, Msg}
gui(OptList) -> ok | {error, Msg}
Types OptList -- see below
Dialyzer GUI version.
OptList : [Option]
Option : {files, [Filename : string()]}
| {files_rec, [DirName : string()]}
| {defines, [{Macro: atom(), Value : term()}]}
| {from, src_code | byte_code} %% Defaults to byte_code
| {init_plt, FileName : string()} %% If changed from default
| {include_dirs, [DirName : string()]}
| {output_file, FileName : string()}
| {output_plt, FileName :: string()}
| {analysis_type, ’success_typings’ | ’plt_add’ | ’plt_build’ | ’plt_check’ | ’plt_remove’}
| {warnings, [WarnOpts]}
| {get_warnings, bool()}
WarnOpts : no_return
| no_unused
| no_improper_lists
| no_fun_app
| no_match
| no_fail_call
| error_handling
| unmatched_returns
| overspecs
| underspecs
| specdiffs
run(OptList) -> Warnings
Types OptList -- see gui/0,1
Warnings -- see below
Dialyzer command line version.
Warnings :: [{Tag, Id, Msg}]
Tag : ’warn_return_no_exit’ | ’warn_return_only_exit’
| ’warn_not_called’ | ’warn_non_proper_list’
| ’warn_fun_app’ | ’warn_matching’
| ’warn_failing_call’ | ’warn_contract_types’
| ’warn_contract_syntax’ | ’warn_contract_not_equal’
| ’warn_contract_subtype’ | ’warn_contract_supertype’
Id = {File :: string(), Line :: integer()}
Msg = msg() -- Undefined
format_warning(Msg) -> string()
Types Msg = {Tag, Id, msg()} -- See run/1
Get a string from warnings as returned by dialyzer:run/1.
plt_info(string()) -> {’ok’, [{atom(), any()}]} | {’error’, atom()}
Returns information about the specified plt.