6.2.5. Qualified do-notation

QualifiedDo

Since:9.0.1

Allow the use of qualified do notation.

QualifiedDo enables qualifying a do block with a module name, to control which operations to use for the monadic combinators that the do notation desugars to. When -XQualifiedDo is enabled, you can qualify the do notation by writing modid.do, where modid is a module name in scope:

{-# LANGUAGE QualifiedDo #-}
import qualified Some.Module.Monad as M

action :: M.SomeType a
action = M.do x <- u
              res
              M.return x

The additional module name (here M) is called the qualifier of the do-expression.

The unqualified do syntax is convenient for writing monadic code, but it only works for data types that provide an instance of the Monad type class. There are other types which are “monad-like” but can’t provide an instance of Monad (e.g. indexed monads, graded monads or relative monads), yet they could still use the do syntax if it weren’t hardwired to the methods of the Monad type class. -XQualifiedDo comes to make the do syntax customizable in this respect. It allows you to mix and match do blocks of different types with suitable operations to use on each case:

{-# LANGUAGE QualifiedDo #-}
import qualified Control.Monad.Linear as L

import MAC (label, box, runMAC)
import qualified MAC as MAC

f :: IO ()
f = do
  x <- runMAC $           -- (Prelude.>>=)
                          --   (runMAC $
    MAC.do                --
      d <- label "y"      --     label "y" MAC.>>= \d ->
      box $               --
                          --       (box $
        L.do              --
          r <- L.f d      --         L.f d L.>>= \r ->
          L.g r           --         L.g r L.>>
          L.return r      --         L.return r
                          --       ) MAC.>>
      MAC.return d        --       (MAC.return d)
                          --   )
  print x                 --   (\x -> print x)

The semantics of do notation statements with -XQualifiedDo is as follows:

• The x <- u statement uses (M.>>=)

  M.do { x <- u; stmts }  =  u M.>>= \x -> M.do { stmts }
  

• The u statement uses (M.>>)

  M.do { u; stmts }  =  u M.>> M.do { stmts }
  

• The a pat <- u statement uses M.fail for the failing case, if such a case is needed

  M.do { pat <- u; stmts }  =  u M.>>= \case
    { pat -> M.do { stmts }
    ; _ -> M.fail "…"
    }
  

  If the pattern cannot fail, then we don’t need to use M.fail.

  M.do { pat <- u; stmts }  =  u M.>>= \case pat -> M.do { stmts }
  

• The desugaring of -XApplicativeDo uses M.fmap, (M.<*>), and M.join (after the the applicative-do grouping has been performed)

  M.do { (x1 <- u1 | … | xn <- un); M.return e }  =
    (\x1 … xn -> e) `M.fmap` u1 M.<*> … M.<*> un
  
  M.do { (x1 <- u1 | … | xn <- un); stmts }  =
    M.join ((\x1 … xn -> M.do { stmts }) `M.fmap` u1 M.<*> … M.<*> un)
  

Note that M.join is only needed if the final expression is not identifiably a return. With -XQualifiedDo enabled, -XApplicativeDo looks only for the qualified return/pure in a qualified do-block.

• With -XRecursiveDo, rec and mdo blocks use M.mfix and M.return:

  M.do { rec { x1 <- u1; … ; xn <- un }; stmts }  =
    M.do
    { (x1, …, xn) <- M.mfix (\~(x1, …, xn) -> M.do { x1 <- u1; …; xn <- un; M.return (x1, …, xn)})
    ; stmts
    }
  

If a name M.op is required by the desugaring process (and only if it’s required!) but the name is not in scope, it is reported as an error.

The types of the operations picked for desugaring must produce an expression which is accepted by the typechecker. But other than that, there are no specific requirements on the types.

If no qualifier is specified with -XQualifiedDo enabled, it defaults to the operations defined in the Prelude, or, if -XRebindableSyntax is enabled, to whatever operations are in scope.

Note that the operations to be qualified must be in scope for QualifiedDo to work. I.e. import MAC (label) in the example above would result in an error, since MAC.>>= and MAC.>> would not be in scope.

6.2.5.1. Examples

-XQualifiedDo does not affect return in the monadic do notation.

import qualified Some.Monad.M as M

boolM :: (a -> M.M Bool) -> b -> b -> a -> M.M b
boolM p a b x = M.do
    px <- p x     -- M.>>=
    if px then
      return b    -- Prelude.return
    else
      M.return a  -- M.return

-XQualifiedDo does not affect explicit (>>=) in the monadic do notation.

import qualified Some.Monad.M as M
import Data.Bool (bool)

boolMM :: (a -> M.M Bool) -> M b -> M b -> a -> M.M b
boolMM p ma mb x = M.do
    p x >>= bool ma mb   -- Prelude.>>=

Nested do blocks do not affect each other’s meanings.

import qualified Some.Monad.M as M

f :: M.M SomeType
f = M.do
    x <- f1                 -- M.>>=
    f2 (do y <- g1          -- Prelude.>>=
           g2 x y)
  where
    f1 = ...
    f2 m = ...
    g1 = ...
    g2 x y = ...

The type of (>>=) can also be modified, as seen here for a graded monad:

{-# LANGUAGE ConstraintKinds #-}
{-# LANGUAGE PolyKinds #-}
{-# LANGUAGE TypeFamilies #-}
module Control.Monad.Graded (GradedMonad(..)) where

import Data.Kind (Constraint)

class GradedMonad (m :: k -> * -> *) where
  type Unit m :: k
  type Plus m (i :: k) (j :: k) :: k
  type Inv  m (i :: k) (j :: k) :: Constraint
  (>>=) :: Inv m i j => m i a -> (a -> m j b) -> m (Plus m i j) b
  return :: a -> m (Unit m) a

-----------------

module M where

import Control.Monad.Graded as Graded

g :: GradedMonad m => a -> m SomeTypeIndex b
g a = Graded.do
  b <- someGradedFunction a Graded.>>= someOtherGradedFunction
  c <- anotherGradedFunction b
  Graded.return c