Unit

A unit is a source code file (or the binary compiled from that file) which was written using the Pascal programming language, and that is designed to be a single module in an application or an object module. Unit is a reserved word. It must appear before anything in the unit except comments.

Purpose

A unit may be used where functionality needs to be provided to an application program or to other units. It allows writing code that performs that functionality once and have it used in many places. This can reduce the possibility of errors and increase code reusage.

A binary unit may be used where a unit author wishes to provide certain functionality to be used in a Pascal program but does not wish to provide the source code that performs that functionality.

Units were also used on older versions of Pascal when it was necessary on computers with limited resources to be able to load routines as needed rather than keeping every routine of the executable program in memory all of the time.

A unit or program that needs to access the procedures and data types in another unit must specify the units it needs to access them in a uses statement (but linking is done without the need to write a makefile as in C).

A unit may also be used to declare a series of global constants or variables for use by the entire application, without actually containing any executable code. This is similar to the common keyword in the Fortran programming language.

Format

A unit is defined with the unit keyword followed by the unit-identifier. The unit-identifier (in the following example the unit's name is “minimalunit”) should match the filename it is written in. A minimal working example (which does nothing) is:

unit minimalunit;
interface
    // here comes stuff that the unit publicly offers
implementation
    // here comes the implementation of offered stuff and
    // optionally internal stuff (only known in the unit)
end.

where the part after interface corresponds to the public-part of other languages and implementation does so to private.

A more advanced basic structure is:

unit advancedunit;
interface

implementation

initialization
    // here may be placed code that is
    // executed as the unit gets loaded

finalization
    // code executed at program end

end.

The optional initialization and finalization blocks may be followed by code that is executed on program start/end.

Detailed unit example

A step-by-step example:

unit randomunit;
// this unit does something

// public  - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
interface

type
    // the type TRandomNumber gets globally known
    // since it is included somewhere (uses-statement)
    TRandomNumber = integer;

// of course the const- and var-sections are possible, too

// a list of procedure/function signatures makes
// them usable from outside of the unit
function getRandomNumber(): TRandomNumber;

// an implementation of a function/procedure
// must not be in the interface-part

// private - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
implementation

var
    // var in private-part
    // => only modifiable inside from this unit
    chosenRandomNumber: TRandomNumber;

function getRandomNumber(): TRandomNumber;
begin
    // return value
    getRandomNumber := chosenRandomNumber;
end;

// initialization is the part executed
// when the unit is loaded/included
initialization
begin
    // choose our random number
    chosenRandomNumber := 3;
    // chosen by fair-dice-roll
    // guaranteed to be random
end;

// finalization is executed at program end
finalization
begin
    // this unit says 'bye' at program halt
    writeln('bye');
end;

// initialization and finalization
// are executed at most _once_
// during the entire runtime of a program
end.

To include a unit just use the uses-statement.

program chooseNextCandidate;
uses
    // include a unit
    randomunit;

begin
    writeln('next candidate: no. ' + getRandomNumber());
end.

When compiling, FPC checks this program for unit dependencies. It has to be able to find the unit “randomunit”.

The simplest way to satisfy this is to have a unit whose name matches the file name it is written in (appending .pas is OK and encouraged). The unit file may be in the same directory where the program source is in or in the unit path FPC looks for units.

Unit precedence

When multiple units are described in a use clause, conflicts can occur with identifiers (procedures, types, functions etc.) that have the same name in multiple units. In FreePascal, the last unit “wins” and provides the code for the unit.

If you want to achieve a different behavior, you can explicitly prepend unitname.identifier to specify the unit you want to use, or reorder the units. The former is often the clearest option.

unit interestCalculations;

interface

type
    basisType = currency;

implementation

end.

Specifying the unit of declaration explicitly:

program interestCalculator;

uses
    interestCalculations;

type
    // we already loaded a declaration of "basisType"
    // from the interestCalculations unit, but we're
    // re-declaring it here again ("shadowing")
    basisType = extended;

var
    // last declaration wins: originalCapital is an extended
    originalCapital: basisType;
    // specify a scope to use the declaration valid there
    monthlyMargin: interestCalculations.basisType;

begin
end.

Note, the interestCalculations unit will still perform its own calculations with its own basisType (here currency). You can only alter (“shadow”) declarations in the current scope (and descending).

See also

• “Unit scope” in the “reference guide” (FPC HTML documentation)
• “Compiling a unit” in the “users's guide” (FPC HTML documentation)
• § “Units” in the WikiBook “Pascal Programming”
• Unit not found - How to find units

From the Free Pascal wiki, page "Unit", as it stood on 2022-01-02 after a change by Kai Burghardt, out of the wiki's dump of 2024-05-26. Copyright stays with the author who wrote it, according to the old wiki's Licensing page. If you have concerns about this material, message the admin.