getContents package:base-prelude

The getContents operation returns all user input as a single string, which is read lazily as it is needed (same as hGetContents stdin).

The getContents' operation returns all user input as a single string, which is fully read before being returned (same as hGetContents' stdin).

Computation hGetContents hdl returns the list of characters corresponding to the unread portion of the channel or file managed by hdl, which is put into an intermediate state, semi-closed. In this state, hdl is effectively closed, but items are read from hdl on demand and accumulated in a special list returned by hGetContents hdl. Any operation that fails because a handle is closed, also fails if a handle is semi-closed. The only exception is hClose. A semi-closed handle becomes closed:

• if hClose is applied to it;
• if an I/O error occurs when reading an item from the handle;
• or once the entire contents of the handle has been read.

Once a semi-closed handle becomes closed, the contents of the associated list becomes fixed. The contents of this final list is only partially specified: it will contain at least all the items of the stream that were evaluated prior to the handle becoming closed. Any I/O errors encountered while a handle is semi-closed are simply discarded. This operation may fail with:

• isEOFError if the end of file has been reached.

The hGetContents' operation reads all input on the given handle before returning it as a String and closing the handle.