Nushell

# Values

A Value is the basic structure datatype in Nu.

pub struct Value {
    pub value: UntaggedValue,
    pub tag: Tag,
}

Where the value field is any given value type UntaggedValue and the tag field holds metadata associated with it.

An UntaggedValue covers the following value types:

pub enum UntaggedValue {
    Primitive(Primitive),
    Row(Dictionary),
    Table(Vec<Value>),

    Error(ShellError),

    Block(Evaluate),
}

Where Primitive is:

pub enum Primitive {
    Nothing,
    Int(BigInt),
    Decimal(BigDecimal),
    Bytes(u64),
    String(String),
    Line(String),
    ColumnPath(ColumnPath),
    Pattern(String),
    Boolean(bool),
    Date(DateTime<Utc>),
    Duration(u64),
    Range(Box<Range>),
    Path(PathBuf),
    Binary(Vec<u8>),

    // Stream markers (used as bookend markers rather than actual values)
    BeginningOfStream,
    EndOfStream,
}

Let's look at these in reverse order to see how Primitives build towards our full Value types:

# Primitive

A Primitive data type is a fundamental type in Nu. While these have similarities to the fundamental datatypes of programming languages, there are a few differences because of the shell capabilities of Nu.

Nu comes with two 'big' number types: BigInt for integers and BigDecimal for decimal numbers. This allows Nu in the future to do mathematical operations and maintain precision for longer.

Other data types that are perhaps a bit different from the norm:

  • Nothing = An empty value
  • Bytes(u64) = filesize in number of bytes
  • Line(String) = A string value with an implied carriage return (or cr/lf) ending
  • ColumnPath(ColumnPath) = A path to travel to reach a value in a table
  • Pattern(string) = a glob pattern (like the nu* in ls nu*)
  • Duration(u64) = A count in the number of seconds (like 1h, 3600s, 1440m, 1d, 86400s in echo 1h 3600s 1440m 1d 86400s)
  • Range(Box<Range>) = A range of values (like 0..2 in ls | range 0..2)
  • Path(PathBuf) = a filepath
  • Binary(Vec<u8>) = an array of bytes
  • BeginningOfStream = a marker to denote the beginning of a stream
  • EndOfStream = a marker to denote the end of a stream

# UntaggedValue

In addition to the primitive types, Nu supports aggregate data types. Collectively, these aggregate types are called UntaggedValues.

Currently, Nu supports 5 UntaggedValue types: Row, Table, Block, Primitive, and Error.

# Tables and Rows

Nu uses a set of terms that match a bit more closely to spreadsheets. Rather than having lists of objects, Nu has a table, which contains rows. Each Row contains the column names and their corresponding Values.

# Blocks

Blocks represent code that is ready to be executed by the evaluator. One example of this is the condition in where {$it > 10}.

# Errors

Represents errors that can happen when pipelines are run.

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