:info Show -- See class definition only :instances Show -- See instances of Show
If you do not want to wait till this is implemented you can do it yourself using ghci scripting.
Here's a first stab (ghci 6.8.3, using the :redir command from that tutorial), filtering out lines beginning with "instance" until indentation level returns to zero): Prelude> :{ Prelude| :def infoNoInsts \x->return $ unlines Prelude| [":redir out :info "++x Prelude| ,"let noInsts [] = []; Prelude| noInsts (l:ls) = if \"instance\" `Data.List.isPrefixOf` l Prelude| then noInsts $ dropWhile (Data.Char.isSpace . head) ls Prelude| else l:noInsts ls" Prelude| ,"putStr $ unlines $ noInsts $ lines out"] Prelude| :} Prelude> :infoNoInsts Show class Show a where showsPrec :: Int -> a -> ShowS show :: a -> String showList :: [a] -> ShowS -- Defined in GHC.Show Prelude> :infoNoInsts [] Maybe Int data [] a = [] | a : [a] -- Defined in GHC.Base data Maybe a = Nothing | Just a -- Defined in Data.Maybe data Int = GHC.Base.I# GHC.Prim.Int# -- Defined in GHC.Base
Details how to do it are in tutorial from Claus Reinke: http://www.haskell.org/pipermail/haskell-cafe/2007-September/032260.html Understanding all the possibilities and limitations of ghci scripting may take a day or maybe even more. But once you are done with it you can implement your :instances command and and something like :infoWithoutInstances withing an hour at most. And it is more interesting that you could do much more extensions like this easily if you need them in the future.
Note that "understanding" is unlikely to mean "feel comfortable with" here:-( the quoting and scope management are rather attrocious in 'ghciscript', and as others have pointed out, my tutorial is rather short on explanations (you really need to work through the examples). It does, however, afford you the means to prototype your ghci ideas quickly, and to build yourself a library of useful definitions for working with ghci. Please remember to share any interesting ideas/code at the ghci wiki page http://www.haskell.org/haskellwiki/Ghci (once haskell wiki access is resurrected) Claus