Skip to main content

Built-in Functions

Minilux provides several built-in functions for common operations.

printf() / print()​

Print text and variables to standard output.

Syntax​

printf(arg1, arg2, arg3, ...)
print(arg1, arg2, arg3, ...)

Description​

printf() concatenates all arguments and prints them. print() is an identical alias. Both functions automatically add a newline at the end if one is missing.

Strings also support variable interpolation:

$name = "Alexia"
printf("Hello, ", $name)

Escape Sequences​

Supported escape sequences in strings:

  • \n - Newline
  • \t - Tab

Examples​

# Print simple text
printf("Hello, World!")

# Print variables by interpolation
$name = "Alexia"
printf("Hello, ", $name)

# Mix multiple values as arguments
$a = 10
$b = 20
printf("Sum of ", $a, " and ", $b, " is ", $a + $b)

read()​

Read a line from standard input and store it in a variable.

Syntax​

read($variable)

Examples​

printf("What is your name? ")
read($name)
printf("Hello, ", $name)

len()​

Get the length of an array or string.

Syntax​

len($variable)

Examples​

# Array length
$numbers = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
printf("Array has ", len($numbers), " elements")

# String length
$text = "Hello"
printf("String has ", len($text), " characters")

number()​

Convert a string or an existing integer into a numeric value for arithmetic.

Syntax​

number(expression)

Examples​

read($input)
$value = number($input)
printf("Twice is ", $value * 2)

Note: If the input cannot be parsed as a number, it returns 0.

lower() / upper()​

Normalize string casing.

Syntax​

lower(string)
upper(string)

Examples​

$answer = "YeS"
if (lower($answer) == "yes") {
    printf("Confirmed")
}

printf("Shouting: ", upper("minilux"))

shell()​

Execute a system command and return its output.

Syntax​

$output = shell("command")

Description​

Returns the standard output with the trailing newline removed.

Examples​

$user = shell("whoami")
$date = shell("date +%Y-%m-%d")
printf("User: ", $user, " on ", $date)

inc / dec​

Increment or decrement a variable. Note that these are statements and do not use parentheses.

Syntax​

inc $variable + amount
dec $variable - amount

Examples​

$counter = 0
inc $counter + 1   # counter is 1
inc $counter + 5   # counter is 6
dec $counter - 2   # counter is 4

Array Operations​

These operations modify an array in place. They are called like statements without parentheses.

  • push $array, value - Add element to end
  • pop $array - Remove element from end
  • shift $array - Remove element from beginning
  • unshift $array, value - Add element to beginning

Examples​

$list = [1, 2, 3]
push $list, 4        # [1, 2, 3, 4]
pop $list            # [1, 2, 3]
shift $list          # [2, 3]
unshift $list, 0     # [0, 2, 3]

sleep()​

Pause execution for a specified number of seconds.

Syntax​

sleep(seconds)

Examples​

printf("Starting...")
sleep(2)
printf("2 seconds later")

sockopen() / sockwrite() / sockread() / sockclose()​

TCP socket operations for network programming.

  • sockopen("name", "host", port) - Open a connection
  • sockwrite("name", "data") - Send data
  • sockread("name", $var) - Read data into variable
  • sockclose("name") - Close connection

Example​

sockopen("web", "example.com", 80)
sockwrite("web", "GET / HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: example.com\r\n\r\n")
sockread("web", $response)
printf($response)
sockclose("web")