How to configure GHCi to automatically import modules

GHCi looks for its configuration file at

• ~/.ghc/ghci.conf on Unix-like systems.

• %APPDATA%\ghc\ghci.conf on Windows.

The configuration file syntax is simple: it’s a list of GHCi commands to execute on startup.

For example, your ghci.conf could contain:

import Control.Applicative
import Data.Char
import Data.List

:set prompt "> "

The last line sets the prompt to "> " so it won’t show all the modules you imported on the command line.

Now you can get to work right away:

GHCi, version 6.12.1: http://www.haskell.org/ghc/  :? for help
Loading package ghc-prim ... linking ... done.
Loading package integer-gmp ... linking ... done.
Loading package base ... linking ... done.
> toLower <$> "Hello, world!"
"hello, world!"
> 

Also, if you decide you don’t want Data.Char in the middle of a GHCi session, you can remove it with:

:m -Data.Char

and if you decide you don’t want anything but Prelude during a session:

:m