..
   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: protected/1; Directive
.. _directives_protected_1:

``protected/1``
===============

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

::

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

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

   protected(op(Precedence,Associativity,Operator))
   protected((op(Precedence,Associativity,Operator), ...))
   protected([op(Precedence,Associativity,Operator), ...])

Declares :term:`protected <protected predicate>` predicates, protected
grammar rule non-terminals, and protected operators. A protected predicate
can only be called from the object containing the directive or from an
object that inherits the directive. A protected non-terminal can only be
used as an argument in a :ref:`methods_phrase_2` and :ref:`methods_phrase_3`
calls from the object containing the directive or from an object that
inherits the directive.

.. note::

   Protected operators are not inherited but declaring them provides
   a reusable specification for using them in descendant objects (or
   categories).

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

::

   protected(+predicate_indicator_term)
   protected(+non_terminal_indicator_term)
   protected(+operator_declaration)

Examples
--------

::

   :- protected(init/1).

   :- protected((print/2, convert/4)).

   :- protected([load/1, save/3]).

.. seealso::

   :ref:`directives_private_1`,
   :ref:`directives_public_1`,
   :ref:`methods_predicate_property_2`
