NAME

       guile - The GNU Project Extension Language

SYNOPSIS

       guile [-L DIRECTORY] [-l FILE] [-e FUNCTION] [\] [-c EXPR] [-s SCRIPT] [--] [SCRIPT [ARGs for SCRIPT]]

       Only the most useful options are listed here; see below for the remainder.

DESCRIPTION

       GNU Guile is an implementation of the Scheme programming language.  It extends the R5RS and R6RS language
       standards, providing additional features necessary for real-world use.

       Guile  works  well for interactive use, basic scripting, and extension of larger applications, as well as
       for stand-alone Scheme application development.

       The guile executable itself provides a stand-alone interactive compiler and run-time for Scheme programs,
       both for interactive use and for executing Scheme scripts or programs.

       This manual page provides only brief instruction in invoking guile from the command line.  Please consult
       the Guile info documentation for more information, (type   info  "(guile)Invoking  Guile"  at  a  command
       prompt).

OPTIONS

       -L DIRECTORY
              Add DIRECTORY to the front of Guile's module load path.  The given directories are searched in the
              order  given  on  the  command  line and before any directories in the GUILE_LOAD_PATH environment
              variable.  Paths added here are not in effect during execution of the user's ~/.guile file.

       -C DIRECTORY
              Like -L, but adjusts the load path for compiled files.

       -l FILE
              Load Scheme source code from FILE, and continue processing the command line.

       -e FUNCTION
              After reading SCRIPT, apply FUNCTION to command-line arguments.  Note that FUNCTION is  evaluated,
              so, for example, (@ (my-module) my-proc) is valid here.

       \      The  "meta  switch",  used to work around limitations in #! scripts.  See "The Meta Switch" in the
              texinfo documentation for more details.

       --     Stop argument processing, and start guile in interactive mode.

       -c EXPR
              Stop argument processing, and evaluate EXPR as a Scheme expression.

       -s SCRIPT-FILE
              Load Scheme source from SCRIPT-FILE and execute as a script.  Note that in many cases  it  is  not
              necessary to use -s; one may invoke guile simply as guile SCRIPT-FILE ARG...

       -ds    Carry out -s SCRIPT at this point in the option sequence.  Note that this argument must be used in
              conjunction with -s.

       --debug
              Start  guile  with  the  debugging  VM.   By  default,  debugging  is  on  when  guile  is invoked
              interactively; it is off otherwise.

       --no-debug
              Start guile without the debugging VM, even if guile is being run interactively.

       --auto-compile
              Compile source files automatically (default behavior).

       --fresh-auto-compile
              Treat the auto-compilation cache as invalid, forcing recompilation.

       --no-auto-compile
              Disable automatic source file compilation.

       --language LANG
              For the remainder of the  command  line  arguments,  assume  that  files  mentioned  with  -l  and
              expressions  passed  with  -c  are written in LANG, which must be the name of one of the languages
              supported by the compiler.  When run interactively, set the REPL's language to LANG.

       --listen[=P]
              Listen on a port or socket for remote REPL connections.  See the manual for more details.

       --use-srfi=N,M...
              Load SRFI extensions N, M, etc.  For example,
               --use-srfi=8,13.

       --r6rs, --r7rs
              Adapt Guile's initial environment to better support R6RS or R7RS. See "R6RS Incompatibilities" and
              "R7RS Incompatibilities" in the info pages for some caveats.

       -x EXTENSION
              Add EXTENSION to the guile load extension list.

       -h, --help
              Describe command-line options and exit.

       -v, --version
              Display guile version and exit.

       -q     In interactive mode, suppress loading the user's initialization file, ~/.guile.

ENVIRONMENT

       GUILE_LOAD_PATH
              If $GUILE_LOAD_PATH is set before guile is started, its value is  used  to  augment  the  path  to
              search  for  Scheme files when loading.  It should be a colon-separated list of directories, which
              will be prefixed to the default %load-path.

       GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH
              If $GUILE_LOAD_COMPILED_PATH is set before guile is started, its value is used to augment the path
              to search for compiled Scheme files (.go files) when loading.  It should be a colon-separated list
              of directories, which will be prefixed to the default %load-compiled-path.

FILES

       ~/.guile
              A Guile script that is executed before any other processing occurs.  For  example,  the  following
              .guile activates guile's readline interface:

                (use-modules (ice-9 readline))
                (activate-readline)

SEE ALSO

       The  full  documentation for Guile is maintained as a Texinfo manual.  If the info and guile programs are
       properly installed at your site, the command

              info guile

       should give you access to the complete manual.

       http://www.schemers.org provides a general introduction to the Scheme language.

REPORTING BUGS

       There is a mailing list, bug-guile@gnu.org, for reporting Guile bugs and  fixes.   But  before  reporting
       something as a bug, please try to be sure that it really is a bug, not a misunderstanding or a deliberate
       feature.   We  ask  you  to  read  the  section ``Reporting Bugs'' in the Guile reference manual (or Info
       system) for hints on how and when to report bugs.  Also, include the version number of the Guile you  are
       running  in  every bug report that you send in.  Bugs tend actually to get fixed if they can be isolated,
       so it is in your interest to report them in such a way that they can be easily reproduced.

COPYING

       Copyright (C) 2010, 2011, 2025 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

       Permission is granted to make and distribute verbatim copies of  this  document  provided  the  copyright
       notice and this permission notice are preserved on all copies.

       Permission  is granted to copy and distribute modified versions of this document under the conditions for
       verbatim copying, provided that the entire resulting derived work is distributed under  the  terms  of  a
       permission notice identical to this one.

       Permission  is  granted to copy and distribute translations of this document into another language, under
       the above conditions for modified versions, except that  this  permission  notice  may  be  stated  in  a
       translation approved by the Free Software Foundation.

AUTHORS

       Robert Merkel <rgmerk@mira.net> wrote this manpage.  Rob Browning <rlb@defaultvalue.org> has added to it.

       guile  is GNU software.  Guile is originally based on Aubrey Jaffer's SCM interpreter, and is the work of
       many individuals.

GNU                                                2017-05-22                                           GUILE(1)