Debugger commands
Author: Daniel Diaz
Keywords: GNU Prolog, manual, Prolog, compiler, constraints, finite domains

### 5.5 Debugger commands

When the debugger reaches a leashed port it shows the current goal followed by the ? symbol. At this point there are many commands available. Typing RETURN will creep into the program. Continuing to creep will show all the control flow. The debugger shows every port for every predicate encountered during the execution. It is possible to select the ports at which the debugger will prompt the user using the built-in predicate leash/1 (section 5.3.2). Each command is only one character long:

Command | Name | Description
RET or c | creep | single-step to the next port
l | leap | continue the execution only stopping when a goal with a spy-point is reached
s | skip | skip over the entire execution of the current goal. No message will be shown until control returns
G | go to | ask for an invocation number and continue the execution until a port is reached for that invocation number
r | retry | try to restart the invocation of the current goal by failing until reaching the invocation of the goal. The state of execution is the same as when the goal was initially invoked (except when using side-effect predicates)
f | fail | force the current goal to fail immediately
w | write | show the current goal using write/2 (section 8.14.6)
d | display | show the current goal using display/2 (section 8.14.6)
p | print | show the current goal using print/2 (section 8.14.6)
e | exception | show the pending exception. Only applicable to an exception port
g | ancestors | show the list of ancestors of the current goal
A | alternatives | show the list of ancestors of the current goal combined with choice-points
u | unify | ask for a term and unify the current goal with this term. This is convenient for getting a specific solution. Only available at a call port
. | father file | show the Prolog file name and the line number where the current predicate is defined
n | no debug | switch the debugger off. Same as nodebug/0 (section 5.3.1)
= | debugging | show debugger information. Same as debugging/0 (section 5.3.1)
+ | spy this | set a spy-point on the current goal. Uses spy/1 (section 5.3.3)
- | nospy this | remove a spy-point on the current goal. Uses nospy/1 (section 5.3.3)
* | spy conditionally | ask for a term Goal, Port, Test (terminated by a dot) and set a conditional spy-point on the current predicate. Goal and the current goal must have the same predicate indicator. Uses spypoint_condition/3 (section 5.3.3)
L | listing | list all the clauses associated with the current predicate. Uses listing/1 (section 8.23.3)
a | abort | abort the current execution. Same as abort/0 (section 8.18.1)
b | break | invoke a recursive top-level. Same as break/0 (section 8.18.1)
@ | execute goal | ask for a goal and execute it
< | set print depth | ask for an integer and set the print depth to this value (-1 for no depth limit)
h or ? | help | display a summary of available commands
W | WAM debugger | invoke the low-level WAM debugger (section 5.6)

Copyright (C) 1999-2021 Daniel Diaz Verbatim copying and distribution of this entire article is permitted in any medium, provided this notice is preserved. More about the copyright