Functions

Functions in Noir follow the same semantics of Rust, though Noir does not support early returns.

To declare a function the fn keyword is used.

fn foo() {}

By default, functions are visible only within the package they are defined. To make them visible outside of that package (for example, as part of a library), you should mark them as pub:

pub fn foo() {}

You can also restrict the visibility of the function to only the crate it was defined in, by specifying pub(crate):

pub(crate) fn foo() {}  //foo can only be called within its crate

All parameters in a function must have a type and all types are known at compile time. The parameter is pre-pended with a colon and the parameter type. Multiple parameters are separated using a comma.

fn foo(x : Field, y : Field){}

The return type of a function can be stated by using the -> arrow notation. The function below states that the foo function must return a Field. If the function returns no value, then the arrow is omitted.

fn foo(x : Field, y : Field) -> Field {
    x + y
}

Note that a return keyword is unneeded in this case - the last expression in a function's body is returned.

Main function

If you're writing a binary, the main function is the starting point of your program. You can pass all types of expressions to it, as long as they have a fixed size at compile time:

fn main(x : Field) // this is fine: passing a Field
fn main(x : [Field; 2]) // this is also fine: passing a Field with known size at compile-time
fn main(x : (Field, bool)) // 👌: passing a (Field, bool) tuple means size 2
fn main(x : str<5>) // this is fine, as long as you pass a string of size 5

fn main(x : Vec<Field>) // can't compile, has variable size
fn main(x : [Field]) // can't compile, has variable size
fn main(....// i think you got it by now

Keep in mind tests don't differentiate between main and any other function. The following snippet passes tests, but won't compile or prove:

fn main(x : [Field]) {
    assert(x[0] == 1);
}

#[test]
fn test_one() {
    main(&[1, 2]);
}

$ nargo test
[testing] Running 1 test functions
[testing] Testing test_one... ok
[testing] All tests passed

$ nargo check
The application panicked (crashed).
Message:  Cannot have variable sized arrays as a parameter to main

Call Expressions

Calling a function in Noir is executed by using the function name and passing in the necessary arguments.

Below we show how to call the foo function from the main function using a call expression:

fn main(x : Field, y : Field) {
    let z = foo(x);
}

fn foo(x : Field) -> Field {
    x + x
}

Methods

You can define methods in Noir on any struct type in scope.

struct MyStruct {
    foo: Field,
    bar: Field,
}

impl MyStruct {
    fn new(foo: Field) -> MyStruct {
        MyStruct {
            foo,
            bar: 2,
        }
    }

    fn sum(self) -> Field {
        self.foo + self.bar
    }
}

fn main() {
    let s = MyStruct::new(40);
    assert(s.sum() == 42);
}

Methods are just syntactic sugar for functions, so if we wanted to we could also call sum as follows:

assert(MyStruct::sum(s) == 42);

It is also possible to specialize which method is chosen depending on the generic type that is used. In this example, the foo function returns different values depending on its type:

struct Foo<T> {}

impl Foo<u32> {
    fn foo(self) -> Field { 1 }
}

impl Foo<u64> {
    fn foo(self) -> Field { 2 }
}

fn main() {
    let f1: Foo<u32> = Foo{};
    let f2: Foo<u64> = Foo{};
    assert(f1.foo() + f2.foo() == 3);
}

Also note that impls with the same method name defined in them cannot overlap. For example, if we already have foo defined for Foo<u32> and Foo<u64> like we do above, we cannot also define foo in an impl<T> Foo<T> since it would be ambiguous which version of foo to choose.

// Including this impl in the same project as the above snippet would
// cause an overlapping impls error
impl<T> Foo<T> {
    fn foo(self) -> Field { 3 }
}

Lambdas

Lambdas are anonymous functions. They follow the syntax of Rust - |arg1, arg2, ..., argN| return_expression.

let add_50 = |val| val + 50;
assert(add_50(100) == 150);

See Lambdas for more details.

Attributes

Attributes are metadata that can be applied to a function, using the following syntax: #[attribute(value)].

Supported attributes include:

• builtin: the function is implemented by the compiler, for efficiency purposes.
• deprecated: mark the function as deprecated. Calling the function will generate a warning: warning: use of deprecated function
• field: Used to enable conditional compilation of code depending on the field size. See below for more details
• oracle: mark the function as oracle; meaning it is an external unconstrained function, implemented in noir_js. See Unconstrained and NoirJS for more details.
• test: mark the function as unit tests. See Tests for more details

Field Attribute

The field attribute defines which field the function is compatible for. The function is conditionally compiled, under the condition that the field attribute matches the Noir native field. The field can be defined implicitly, by using the name of the elliptic curve usually associated to it - for instance bn254, bls12_381 - or explicitly by using the field (prime) order, in decimal or hexadecimal form. As a result, it is possible to define multiple versions of a function with each version specialized for a different field attribute. This can be useful when a function requires different parameters depending on the underlying elliptic curve.

Example: we define the function foo() three times below. Once for the default Noir bn254 curve, once for the field $\mathbb F_{23}$, which will normally never be used by Noir, and once again for the bls12_381 curve.

#[field(bn254)]
fn foo() -> u32 {
    1
}

#[field(23)]
fn foo() -> u32 {
    2
}

// This commented code would not compile as foo would be defined twice because it is the same field as bn254
// #[field(21888242871839275222246405745257275088548364400416034343698204186575808495617)]
// fn foo() -> u32 {
//     2
// }

#[field(bls12_381)]
fn foo() -> u32 {
    3
}

If the field name is not known to Noir, it will discard the function. Field names are case insensitive.