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<div><a href="index.html" title="">Macaulay2Doc</a> > <a href="___The_sp__Macaulay2_splanguage.html" title="">The Macaulay2 language</a> > <a href="_packages.html" title="">packages</a> > <a href="_creating_spa_sppackage.html" title="">creating a package</a></div>
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<div><h1>creating a package</h1>
<div>There are four parts to a Macaulay2 package: a preamble, which is initiated by the <a href="_new__Package_lp__String_rp.html" title="package item: start a new package">newPackage</a> function, a section where one defines which variables will be exported to global variables, a section containing the actual coding that constitutes the package, and a section containing documentation and tests for the new package.<p/>
A basic template for new packages:<pre>newPackage( ... )
export{ ... }
exportMutable{ ... }
-- Macaulay2 code goes here
beginDocumentation()
document { ... } -- several document's and TEST's, interspersed
TEST " ... "</pre>
The name of the package must be the name of the file, without the '.m2' suffix. Thus a package 'PACKAGENAME' will be in a file named 'PACKAGENAME.m2'. If the package were more complex, then by convention, there should be a directory named 'PACKAGENAME' on the load <a href="_path.html" title="list of directories to look in">path</a>, and the file 'PACKAGENAME.m2' in this directory would load the necessary files.</div>
<div><h3>Menu</h3>
<ul><li><span><a href="_an_spexample_spof_spa_sppackage.html" title="">an example of a package</a></span></li>
</ul>
<h4>Parts of a package</h4>
<ul><li><span>newPackage, see <span><a href="_new__Package_lp__String_rp.html" title="package item: start a new package">newPackage(String)</a> -- package item: start a new package</span></span></li>
<li><span><a href="_export.html" title="package item: export functions">export</a> -- package item: export functions</span></li>
<li><span><a href="_export__Mutable.html" title="package item: export writable variables">exportMutable</a> -- package item: export writable variables</span></li>
<li><span><a href="_begin__Documentation.html" title="package item: start documentation section">beginDocumentation</a> -- package item: start documentation section</span></li>
<li><span><a href="_document.html" title="package item: documentation node">document</a> -- package item: documentation node</span></li>
<li><span><a href="___T__E__S__T.html" title="package item: register a test of the package">TEST</a> -- package item: register a test of the package</span></li>
</ul>
<h4>Documenting, testing, and distributing a package</h4>
<ul><li><span><a href="_writing_spdocumentation.html" title="">writing documentation</a></span></li>
<li><span><a href="_check.html" title="perform tests of a package">check</a> -- perform tests of a package</span></li>
<li><span><a href="_informing_spothers_spabout_spyour_sppackage.html" title="">informing others about your package</a></span></li>
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