Dependencies and setup

This doc page is specific to features shipped in Scala 2, which have either been removed in Scala 3 or replaced by an alternative. Unless otherwise stated, all the code examples in this page assume you are using Scala 2.

Scala 2.11

In Scala 2.11, quasiquotes are shipped in the official Scala distribution as part of scala-reflect.jar, so you don’t need to do anything special to use them - just don’t forget to add a dependency on scala-reflect.

All examples and code snippets in this guide are run under in 2.11 REPL with one extra line:

scala> val universe: scala.reflect.runtime.universe.type = scala.reflect.runtime.universe
scala> import universe._

A wildcard import from a universe (be it a runtime reflection universe like here or a compile-time universe provided in macros) is all that’s needed to use quasiquotes. All the examples will assume that import.

Additionally, some examples that use ToolBox API will need a few more lines to get things rolling:

scala> import scala.reflect.runtime.currentMirror
scala> import scala.tools.reflect.ToolBox
scala> val toolbox = currentMirror.mkToolBox()

Another tool you might want to be aware of is new and shiny showCode pretty printer (contributed by @VladimirNik):

scala> val C = q"class C"
C: universe.ClassDef =
class C extends scala.AnyRef {
  def <init>() = {
    super.<init>();
    ()
  }
}

scala> println(showCode(C))
class C

Default pretty printer shows you contents of the tree in imaginary low-level Scala-like notation. showCode on the other hand will do its best to reconstruct actual source code equivalent to the given tree in proper Scala syntax.

On the other side of spectrum there is also a showRaw pretty printer that shows direct internal organization of the tree:

scala> println(showRaw(q"class C"))
ClassDef(Modifiers(), TypeName("C"), List(), Template(List(Select(Ident(scala), TypeName("AnyRef"))), noSelfType, List(DefDef(Modifiers(), termNames.CONSTRUCTOR, List(), List(List()), TypeTree(), Block(List(pendingSuperCall), Literal(Constant(())))))))

Scala 2.10

In Scala 2.10, quasiquotes are only available via the macro paradise compiler plugin.

In short, using quasiquotes in 2.10 is as simple as adding a single addCompilerPlugin line to your sbt build for the macro paradise plugin that enables quasiquotes and an additional libraryDependencies line for the supporting library that is necessary for quasiquotes to function in Scala 2.10. A full example is provided at https://github.com/scalamacros/sbt-example-paradise.

New showCode pretty printer is not available under 2.10.

sbt cross-compile

Here’s a neat sbt snippet taken from Spire that allows you to use quasiquotes and cross-compile against both Scala 2.10 and 2.11:

libraryDependencies := {
  CrossVersion.partialVersion(scalaVersion.value) match {
    // if scala 2.11+ is used, quasiquotes are merged into scala-reflect
    case Some((2, scalaMajor)) if scalaMajor >= 11 =>
      libraryDependencies.value
    // in Scala 2.10, quasiquotes are provided by macro paradise
    case Some((2, 10)) =>
      libraryDependencies.value ++ Seq(
        compilerPlugin("org.scalamacros" % "paradise" % "2.0.0" cross CrossVersion.full),
        "org.scalamacros" %% "quasiquotes" % "2.0.0" cross CrossVersion.binary)
  }
}