The equality types

data a :~: b where infix 4 Source

Propositional equality. If a :~: b is inhabited by some terminating value, then the type a is the same as the type b. To use this equality in practice, pattern-match on the a :~: b to get out the Refl constructor; in the body of the pattern-match, the compiler knows that a ~ b.

Since: 4.7.0.0

class (~#) j k a b => (j ~~ k) a b Source

Lifted, heterogeneous equality. By lifted, we mean that it can be bogus (deferred type error). By heterogeneous, the two types a and b might have different kinds. Because ~~ can appear unexpectedly in error messages to users who do not care about the difference between heterogeneous equality ~~ and homogeneous equality ~, this is printed as ~ unless -fprint-equality-relations is set.

Working with equality

sym :: (a :~: b) -> b :~: a Source

Symmetry of equality

trans :: (a :~: b) -> (b :~: c) -> a :~: c Source

Transitivity of equality

castWith :: (a :~: b) -> a -> b Source

Type-safe cast, using propositional equality

gcastWith :: (a :~: b) -> (a ~ b => r) -> r Source

Generalized form of type-safe cast using propositional equality

apply :: (f :~: g) -> (a :~: b) -> f a :~: g b Source

Apply one equality to another, respectively

inner :: (f a :~: g b) -> a :~: b Source

Extract equality of the arguments from an equality of a applied types

outer :: (f a :~: g b) -> f :~: g Source

Extract equality of type constructors from an equality of applied types

Inferring equality from other types

class TestEquality f where Source

This class contains types where you can learn the equality of two types from information contained in terms. Typically, only singleton types should inhabit this class.

Boolean type-level equality

type family (a :: k) == (b :: k) :: Bool infix 4 Source

A type family to compute Boolean equality. Instances are provided only for open kinds, such as * and function kinds. Instances are also provided for datatypes exported from base. A poly-kinded instance is not provided, as a recursive definition for algebraic kinds is generally more useful.