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Getting started with Charcoal

Using Charcoal

There are many flags you can use to specify how you want to use Charcoal.

Flag Long Type Details
None None str Path to the file of code. If the file extension is .cl, the file extension can be excluded.
-c --code str Code.
-i --input str Input(s). If more than one is specified, the program is run with each one as a separate testcase. The interpreter tries to parse each input as a Python list. If this fails, the input is split by newlines if the input has more than one line, else it is split by spaces.
-o --output str Outputs. If this is used, the interpreter will how many testcases produce expected output.
-rif --rawinputfile str Path to a file with raw input, treated as a singular input.
-if --inputfile str Path to a file with input, parsed the same way as input, but treated as multiple inputs.
-of --outputfile str Path to a file with output, parsed the same way as input.
-qt --quiettesting boolean If this is enabled, testcase output will not be shown.
-cs --canvasstep int Changes canvas step interval in milliseconds (default 500).
-e --normalencoding boolean Parse input using Charcoal's custom codepage.
-a --astify boolean If this is enabled, the AST of the code is printed before it is executed.

Types

Name Short form Succinct mode Verbose mode
Integer int A run of ⁰¹²³⁴⁵⁶⁷⁸⁹ A run of 0123456789
String str A run of ASCII printables ( to ~), or a compressed string (more about this later) A string delimited with " or ', processed with Unicode unescaping
Variable var One of αβγδεζηθικλμνξπρσςτυφχψω One of abgdezhciklmnxprstufko
Literal lit An int, str, or var An int, str, or var
Arrow arw One of ←↑→↓↖↗↘↙ One of :Left, :Right, :Up, :Down, :UpLeft, :UpRight, :DownLeft and :DownRight.
Command cmd See Command. See Command.
Operator op See Operator. See Operator.
Dyad dy A dyadic operator. A dyadic operator.
Monad mn A monadic operator. A monadic operator.
Nilad nl A niladic operator. A niladic operator.
Expression exp A lit, lst, dy exp exp, mn exp, or nl
Body bdy A command, or multiple commands surrounded by «» A command, or multiple commands surrounded by {}
List lst A list of lit, delimited by ⟦⟧
Arrow list als A list of arw, delimited by ⟦⟧
Separator sep ¦ One of ,;

Separators can be placed after any literal, i.e. an int, str, or var.

Compressed strings

Strings delimited by “” are compressed strings. This means they are ASCII strings converted from base 96 or under (the 95 printables and newline) to base 255 (the full 8-bit codepage minus ). The first character in the string is the encoded character for the base.

Strings delimited by ”” are permuted compressed strings. This means they are ASCII strings converted from base 96 or under to base 255. The first character in the string is the encoded index of the permutation number, the second is the encoded character for the base.

Permutation number

The default order of the ASCII character set is whitespace, symbols, lowercase letters, numbers, and uppercase letters. An index is generated based on the number of uses of each type of character using this order as the base.

Commands

Pretty simple. In succinct mode it's just <command><arguments : var>, in verbose mode it's just <command>(<arguments : var>). See more [here|Commands].

Control Flow

There are three kinds of control flow statements:

Succinct

¿<condition : exp><if_true : bdy><if_false : bdy>
F<iterable : exp><body : bdy>
W<condition : exp><body : bdy>
HF<delay : exp><iterable : exp><body : bdy>
HW<delay : exp><condition : exp><body : bdy>

Verbose

if (<condition : exp>) <if_true : bdy><if_false : bdy>
for (<iterable : exp>) <body : bdy>
while (<condition : exp>) <body : bdy> RefreshFor(<delay : exp><iterable : exp>_<body : bdy>
RefreshWhile(<delay : exp><condition : exp>)<body : bdy>

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