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Editorial Team
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Asked: 2026-06-03T07:27:37+00:00

I am converting several modules based on OCaml to F# and ran into the

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I am converting several modules based on OCaml to F# and ran into the OCaml ”Quotation.add” compiler directive for a quotation expander.

A quotation expander is a function written in OCaml. A call to the
Camlp4 library function ”Quotation.add” adds the quotation
expander.

Camlp4 – Tutorial, Ch. 3

After searching for both a quotation expander and the ”Quotation.add” compiler directive in F# books, the F# site, Google and here, the answer I get is no.

Can someone confirm that F# does not support the concept of the OCaml ”Quotation.add” compiler directive or the concept of OCaml quotation expanders.

EDIT

Note: I just learned that Camlp4 is a preprocessor-pretty-printer of OCaml, I thought it was a separate library for OCaml when I asked the question; now it makes sense.

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  1. Editorial Team

    You’re correct – the camlp4 library is not available for F#, so I’m afraid you’ll need to use another approach to re-implement the required functionality in F#.

    In general, there are a couple of related technologies that you can use from F# (but it is hard to tell if any of them is useful for you without knowing more about the specific problem):

    • F# Quotations allow you to manipulate F# code, but have limited compilation capabilities (are good i.e. for translating F# to SQL, JavaScript or perhaps GPU)
    • F# CodeDom (from F# PowerPack) allows you to generate code and compile it using F# compiler, but you can either generate code as text or using .NET object-oriented style.
    • T4 Templating is a .NET templating mechanism, though last time I checked, it did not support F# (but I think the Mono version might work)
    • F# Type Providers (thanks to kvb) make it possible to generate types by F# plugin for a compiler. This handles cases where you’re using camplp4 to generate some types to be used later (i.e. from a shorter specification), but they have only limited use if you need to generate some code
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