On this page:
write-char
write-byte
newline
write-string
write-bytes
write-bytes-avail
write-bytes-avail*
write-bytes-avail/  enable-break
write-special
write-special-avail*
write-bytes-avail-evt
write-special-evt
port-writes-atomic?
port-writes-special?

13.3 Byte and String Output

procedure

(write-char char [out])  void?

  char : char?
  out : output-port? = (current-output-port)
Writes a single character to out; more precisely, the bytes that are the UTF-8 encoding of char are written to out.

procedure

(write-byte byte [out])  void?

  byte : byte?
  out : output-port? = (current-output-port)
Writes a single byte to out.

procedure

(newline [out])  void?

  out : output-port? = (current-output-port)
The same as (write-char #\newline out).

procedure

(write-string str [out start-pos end-pos])

  exact-nonnegative-integer?
  str : string?
  out : output-port? = (current-output-port)
  start-pos : exact-nonnegative-integer? = 0
  end-pos : exact-nonnegative-integer? = (string-length str)
Writes characters to out from str starting from index start-pos (inclusive) up to end-pos (exclusive). Like substring, the exn:fail:contract exception is raised if start-pos or end-pos is out-of-range for str.

The result is the number of characters written to out, which is always (- end-pos start-pos).

If str is mutable, mutations after write-string returns do not affect the characters written to out. (This independence from mutation is not a special property of write-string, but instead generally true of output functions.)

procedure

(write-bytes bstr [out start-pos end-pos])

  exact-nonnegative-integer?
  bstr : bytes?
  out : output-port? = (current-output-port)
  start-pos : exact-nonnegative-integer? = 0
  end-pos : exact-nonnegative-integer? = (bytes-length bstr)
Like write-string, but writes bytes instead of characters.

procedure

(write-bytes-avail bstr    
  [out    
  start-pos    
  end-pos])  exact-nonnegative-integer?
  bstr : bytes?
  out : output-port? = (current-output-port)
  start-pos : exact-nonnegative-integer? = 0
  end-pos : exact-nonnegative-integer? = (bytes-length bstr)
Like write-bytes, but returns without blocking after writing as many bytes as it can immediately flush. It blocks only if no bytes can be flushed immediately. The result is the number of bytes written and flushed to out; if start-pos is the same as end-pos, then the result can be 0 (indicating a successful flush of any buffered data), otherwise the result is between 1 and (- end-pos start-pos), inclusive.

The write-bytes-avail procedure never drops bytes; if write-bytes-avail successfully writes some bytes and then encounters an error, it suppresses the error and returns the number of written bytes. (The error will be triggered by future writes.) If an error is encountered before any bytes have been written, an exception is raised.

procedure

(write-bytes-avail* bstr 
  [out 
  start-pos 
  end-pos]) 
  (or/c exact-nonnegative-integer? #f)
  bstr : bytes?
  out : output-port? = (current-output-port)
  start-pos : exact-nonnegative-integer? = 0
  end-pos : exact-nonnegative-integer? = (bytes-length bstr)
Like write-bytes-avail, but never blocks, returns #f if the port contains buffered data that cannot be written immediately, and returns 0 if the port’s internal buffer (if any) is flushed but no additional bytes can be written immediately.

procedure

(write-bytes-avail/enable-break bstr 
  [out 
  start-pos 
  end-pos]) 
  exact-nonnegative-integer?
  bstr : bytes?
  out : output-port? = (current-output-port)
  start-pos : exact-nonnegative-integer? = 0
  end-pos : exact-nonnegative-integer? = (bytes-length bstr)
Like write-bytes-avail, except that breaks are enabled during the write. The procedure provides a guarantee about the interaction of writing and breaks: if breaking is disabled when write-bytes-avail/enable-break is called, and if the exn:break exception is raised as a result of the call, then no bytes will have been written to out. See also Breaks.

procedure

(write-special v [out])  boolean?

  v : any/c
  out : output-port? = (current-output-port)
Writes v directly to out if the port supports special writes, or raises exn:fail:contract if the port does not support special write. The result is always #t, indicating that the write succeeded.

procedure

(write-special-avail* v [out])  boolean?

  v : any/c
  out : output-port? = (current-output-port)
Like write-special, but without blocking. If v cannot be written immediately, the result is #f without writing v, otherwise the result is #t and v is written.

procedure

(write-bytes-avail-evt bstr    
  [out    
  start-pos    
  end-pos])  evt?
  bstr : bytes?
  out : output-port? = (current-output-port)
  start-pos : exact-nonnegative-integer? = 0
  end-pos : exact-nonnegative-integer? = (bytes-length bstr)
Similar to write-bytes-avail, but instead of writing bytes immediately, it returns a synchronizable event (see Events). The out must support atomic writes, as indicated by port-writes-atomic?.

Synchronizing on the object starts a write from bstr, and the event becomes ready when bytes are written (unbuffered) to the port. If start-pos and end-pos are the same, then the synchronization result is 0 when the port’s internal buffer (if any) is flushed, otherwise the result is a positive exact integer. If the event is not selected in a synchronization, then no bytes will have been written to out.

procedure

(write-special-evt v [out])  evt?

  v : any/c
  out : output-port? = (current-output-port)
Similar to write-special, but instead of writing the special value immediately, it returns a synchronizable event (see Events). The out must support atomic writes, as indicated by port-writes-atomic?.

Synchronizing on the object starts a write of the special value, and the event becomes ready when the value is written (unbuffered) to the port. If the event is not selected in a synchronization, then no value will have been written to out.

procedure

(port-writes-atomic? out)  boolean?

  out : output-port?
Returns #t if write-bytes-avail/enable-break can provide an exclusive-or guarantee (break or write, but not both) for out, and if the port can be used with procedures like write-bytes-avail-evt. Racket’s file-stream ports, pipes, string ports, and TCP ports all support atomic writes; ports created with make-output-port (see Custom Ports) may support atomic writes.

procedure

(port-writes-special? out)  boolean?

  out : output-port?
Returns #t if procedures like write-special can write arbitrary values to the port. Racket’s file-stream ports, pipes, string ports, and TCP ports all reject special values, but ports created with make-output-port (see Custom Ports) may support them.