#8925: :print and :sprint sometimes fully evaluates strings ------------------------------------+------------------------------------- Reporter: soapie | Owner: Type: bug | Status: new Priority: normal | Milestone: Component: GHCi | Version: 7.6.3 Keywords: | Operating System: Unknown/Multiple Architecture: Unknown/Multiple | Type of failure: Other Difficulty: Unknown | Test Case: Blocked By: | Blocking: Related Tickets: | ------------------------------------+------------------------------------- Not too confident in my terminology but `:sprint`ing a string that has been evaluated down to its spine seems to fully evaluate the string: {{{ Prelude> let a = map (Debug.Trace.trace "!!!") "abc" Prelude> a `seq` () () Prelude> :sprint a a = _ : _ -- looks fine Prelude> length a 3 Prelude> :sprint a a = "!!! -- strange! a!!! b!!! c" }}} What I expect to see is `a = [_,_,_]`. `:print` behaves similarly. Since neither `:print` nor `:sprint` is supposed to force any evaluation this seems like a bug. At least it can make debugging quite confusing if you're not aware of it! -- Ticket URL: http://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/8925 GHC http://www.haskell.org/ghc/ The Glasgow Haskell Compiler