Getting started

A trivial project using batteries:

(* euler001.ml *)
open Batteries_uni

let main () =
  (1--999) (* the enum that counts from 1 to 999 *)
  |> Enum.filter (fun i -> i mod 3 = 0 || i mod 5 = 0)
  |> Enum.reduce (+) (* add all remaining values together *)
  |> Int.print stdout

let () = main ()

To compile this program, run ocamlfind ocamlc -package batteries -linkpkg euler001.ml -o euler001.
To use the syntax extensions included in batteries, run ocamlfind ocamlc -package batteries -package batteries.syntax -syntax camlp4o -linkpkg foo.ml -o foo.

This project opens Batteries_uni because it doesn't use threads. Version 2 of batteries replaces this with open Batteries for all projects, and adds open BatteriesThreads for projects that use threads.

If you have a larger project, ocamlbuild and OMake both work well with batteries.

##Ocamlbuild

###OCaml 3.12 or newer Ocamlbuild comes with support for findlib since 3.12.0. There may be bugs in its handling of threads in 3.12.0, so we recommend 3.12.1 if you are going to follow these instructions. The 3.10-3.11 instructions will work under 3.12.0 as well.

1. Tell ocamlbuild to use batteries through a _tags file: <*>: package(batteries), thread
2. Use open Batteries_uni in your source files to allow referring to BatFoo as just Foo. This also integrates BatList and all other stdlib-extensions into the standard module names.
3. Compile with ocamlbuild -use-ocamlfind foo.byte where foo.ml is the name of your main module file.
4. To use Batteries' Syntax Extensions, add package(batteries.syntax), syntax(camlp4o) to your _tags file.

###OCaml 3.10 to 3.11

1. Use a findlib-enabled "myocamlbuild.ml":https://github.com/ocaml-batteries-team/batteries-included/blob/master/examples/benchmark/myocamlbuild.ml Copy this file into your project directory
2. Tell ocamlbuild to use batteries through a _tags file: <*>: pkg_batteries,pkg_threads
3. Use open Batteries in your source files to allow referring to BatFoo as just Foo. This also integrates BatList and all other stdlib-extensions into the standard module names.
4. Compile with ocamlbuild foo.byte where foo is the name of your main module.
5. To use Batteries' Syntax Extensions, add pkg_batteries.syntax, syntax_camlp4o to your _tags file.

##OMake

If you're already using OMake, add the following to your OMakefile:

OCAMLPACKS[] += batteries
OCAMLFLAGS += -thread

Toplevel

To load batteries included in your toplevel, copy the ocamlinit file from the batteries source tree to ~/.ocamlinit and it will auto-load ocamlfind and the syntax extensions. You should see a graphical banner indicating that batteries is loaded.

ocamlscript

To use Batteries with ocamlscript, you only need to include the appropriate findlib package(s).

#!/usr/bin/env ocamlscript

(* Compile and link with Batteries *)
Ocaml.packs := ["batteries"];;
--
open Batteries_uni

let () = print_endline "Hello world!"

Using syntax extensions is relatively straightforward:

#!/usr/bin/env ocamlscript

Ocaml.packs := ["batteries"; "batteries.pa_string.syntax"];;
--
open Batteries_uni

let () = Print.printf p"Hello!  Here's a list: %{int list}\n" [1; 2; 3]

Finally, bring in threaded Batteries and turn on debugging symbols for backtraces. This example doesn't use threads, but shows how to write something with ocamlscript using threaded Batteries:

#!/usr/bin/env ocamlscript

(* Extra compilation arguments required for threads and debugging symbols *)
Common.extra_args := ["-thread"; "-g"];;
Ocaml.packs := ["threads"; "batteries"];;
--
open Batteries

(* Print a few integers *)
let () = iter (fun x -> Printf.printf "%d\n" x) (1 -- 10)