Keywords

Keywords are reserved and can’t be used as variable, function or parameter names. The type names at the end are reserved too.

Declarations

Keyword	Meaning
fn	Defines a function or method. See Functions.
def	Alias for fn.
var	Declares a variable, optionally with a type hint. See Variables.
const	Declares a constant. See Variables.
struct	Defines a struct. See Structs.
abstract	Marks a struct that can’t be instantiated, or a method children must implement.
static	Declares a struct-level method or variable.
private	Marks a method as internal to its struct.
override	Marks a method that overrides a parent method. Informational.
super	Calls the parent struct’s version of a method.
enum	Defines an enumeration. See Enums.
package	Defines a package. See Packages.
interface	Reserved for future use.

Control flow

Keyword	Meaning
if, elsif, else	Conditional branches. See Control Flow.
case, when	Multi-way branch expression. when also guards statements.
end	Closes a block.
for, in	Iterates over a collection. See Loops.
while	Loops while a condition holds.
repeat, as	Loops a fixed number of times, optionally naming the counter.
do	Opens a loop body or a lambda.
to	Builds an inclusive range: [1 to 10].
break	Leaves the innermost loop.
next	Skips to the next loop iteration.
return	Returns from a function.
yield	Produces a value from a generator.
exit	Ends the program with an exit code.

Errors

Keyword	Meaning
try, catch, finally	Handle errors. See Error Handling.
throw	Raises an error.

Functions and lambdas

Keyword	Meaning
with	Alternative way to open a lambda: with (x) do ... end. See Lambdas.

Modules

Keyword	Meaning
import	Activates a package or loads a file, and returns a package reference.
include	Loads a file.
require	Asserts that a package is available.
export	Activates a package.

See Packages.

Events

Keyword	Meaning
on	Registers an event handler. See Events.
once	Registers a handler that runs once.
emit	Triggers an event.
off	Removes event handlers.

Input and output

Keyword	Meaning
print, println	Write to stdout, without or with a newline.
eprint, eprintln	Write to stderr.
printxy	Write at a terminal position.
eval	Run a string as Kiwi code.

See Global Functions.

Operators and values

Keyword	Meaning
and, or, not	Logical operators, same as &&, || and !.
true, false	Boolean values.
null	The absence of a value.

Symbols

Symbol	Meaning
@	The current struct instance. @name is an instance variable.
@@name	A static struct variable.
@name above fn	A decorator.
::	Package access: math::sqrt.
=>	Separates a lambda’s parameters from its expression.
..	Range, same as to.
...	An empty statement placeholder.
#, /# #/	Comments.

Type names

integer, float, boolean, string, list, hashmap, lambda, object, date, bytes, pointer, generator, any and none are type keywords used in type hints. They can’t be used as names; quote them when you need them as hashmap keys.