Namespaces and includes¶

Namespaces¶

Dotted names and blocks can be combined:

rat.whiskers.left.length = 4cm
rat {
  whiskers {
    right.length = 4cm
  }
  nap_after = 20min
}

The fully qualified names are rat.whiskers.left.length, rat.whiskers.right.length, and rat.nap_after. References inside a namespace resolve through the compiler's namespace rules. Reassignments keep their original position in evaluation order.

Include another file¶

Assign a path to the current namespace to include another Ratslang file.

count = 24
length = 4cm

whiskers {
  = ./whiskers.rl
}
whiskers.length = 5cm

Relative includes resolve against the containing file's directory. Values from whiskers.rl receive the whiskers prefix here. A later assignment overrides the included value. An include at the root uses = ./whiskers.rl without a block.

Use compile_file when reading files so the compiler can resolve includes from the correct directory. For source strings, compile_code_with_state accepts an explicit parent directory. Include nesting is limited to 64 files.

Defaults and overrides¶

Applications can compile defaults and user configuration separately, then use from_variables_with_defaults for a typed view. The CLI's --schema option loads defaults for validation. A # @schema comment alone does not include application values.

See schemas for validation and the CLI for layered command-line overrides and provenance.