11.1.1 Overview

The reference pages for SICStus Prolog built-in predicates conform to certain conventions concerning

These are particularly important in utilizing the Synopsis and Arguments fields of each reference page. The Synopsis field consists of the goal template(s) with mode annotations and a brief description of the purpose of the predicate. For example, consider this excerpt from the reference page for assert/[1,2]:

Synopsis

These predicates add a dynamic clause, Clause, to the Prolog database. They optionally return a database reference in Ref:

assert(+Clause)

assert(+Clause, -Ref)

It is undefined whether Clause will precede or follow the clauses already in the database.

The Arguments field lists, for each meta-variable name in the template, its argument type, (e.g. callable), a brief description (sometimes omitted), and an indication (‘:’) if it does module name expansion. For example,

Arguments

:Clause
callable A valid dynamic Prolog clause.
Ref
db_reference a database reference, which uniquely identifies the newly asserted Clause.

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