..
   This file is part of Logtalk <https://logtalk.org/>
   SPDX-FileCopyrightText: 1998-2026 Paulo Moura <pmoura@logtalk.org>
   SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0

   Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
   you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
   You may obtain a copy of the License at

       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
   limitations under the License.


.. rst-class:: align-right

**directive**

.. index:: pair: dynamic/1; Directive
.. _directives_dynamic_1:

``dynamic/1``
=============

Description
-----------

::

   dynamic(Name/Arity)
   dynamic((Name/Arity, ...))
   dynamic([Name/Arity, ...])

   dynamic(Entity::Name/Arity)
   dynamic((Entity::Name/Arity, ...))
   dynamic([Entity::Name/Arity, ...])

   dynamic(Module:Name/Arity)
   dynamic((Module:Name/Arity, ...))
   dynamic([Module:Name/Arity, ...])

   dynamic(Name//Arity)
   dynamic((Name//Arity, ...))
   dynamic([Name//Arity, ...])

   dynamic(Entity::Name//Arity)
   dynamic((Entity::Name//Arity, ...))
   dynamic([Entity::Name//Arity, ...])

   dynamic(Module:Name//Arity)
   dynamic((Module:Name//Arity, ...))
   dynamic([Module:Name//Arity, ...])

Declares :term:`dynamic <dynamic predicate>` predicates and dynamic grammar
rule non-terminals. Note that an object can be static and have both static
and dynamic predicates/non-terminals. When the dynamic predicates are local
to an object, declaring them also as :ref:`private predicates <directives_private_1>`
allows the Logtalk compiler to generate optimized code for asserting and
retracting predicate clauses. Categories can also contain dynamic predicate
directives but cannot contain clauses for dynamic predicates.

The predicate indicators (or non-terminal indicators) can be explicitly
qualified with an object, category, or module identifier when the predicates
(or non-terminals) are also declared :ref:`multifile <directives_multifile_1>`.

Note that dynamic predicates cannot be declared synchronized (when
necessary, declare the predicates updating the dynamic predicates as
:ref:`synchronized <directives_synchronized_1>`).

.. warning::

   Some backend Prolog compilers declare the atom ``dynamic`` as an
   operator for a lighter syntax. But this makes the code non-portable
   and is therefore a practice best avoided.

Template and modes
------------------

::

   dynamic(+qualified_predicate_indicator_term)
   dynamic(+qualified_non_terminal_indicator_term)

Examples
--------

::

   :- dynamic(counter/1).

   :- dynamic((lives/2, works/2)).

   :- dynamic([db/4, key/2, file/3]).

.. seealso::

   :ref:`directives_dynamic_0`,
   :ref:`methods_predicate_property_2`
