..
   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: public/1; Directive
.. _directives_public_1:

``public/1``
============

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

::

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

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

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

Declares :term:`public <public predicate>` predicates, public grammar
rule non-terminals, and public operators. A public predicate can be called
from any object. A public non-terminal can be used as an argument in
:ref:`methods_phrase_2` and :ref:`methods_phrase_3` calls from any object.

.. note::

   Declaring a public operator does not make it global when the entity
   holding the scope directive is compiled and loaded. But declaring
   public operators provides a reusable specification for using them
   in the entity clients (e.g., in :ref:`directives_uses_2` directives).

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

::

   public(+predicate_indicator_term)
   public(+non_terminal_indicator_term)
   public(+operator_declaration)

Examples
--------

::

   :- public(ancestor/1).

   :- public((instance/1, instances/1)).

   :- public([leaf/1, leaves/1]).

.. seealso::

   :ref:`directives_private_1`,
   :ref:`directives_protected_1`,
   :ref:`methods_predicate_property_2`
