solidity/docs/contracts/visibility-and-getters.rst

.. index:: ! visibility, external, public, private, internal

.. |visibility-caveat| replace:: Making something ``private`` or ``internal`` only prevents other contracts from reading or modifying the information, but it will still be visible to the whole world outside of the blockchain.

.. _visibility-and-getters:

**********************
Visibility and Getters
**********************

State Variable Visibility
=========================

``public``
    Public state variables differ from internal ones only in that the compiler automatically generates
    :ref:`getter functions<getter-functions>` for them, which allows other contracts to read their values.
    When used within the same contract, the external access (e.g. ``this.x``) invokes the getter
    while internal access (e.g. ``x``) gets the variable value directly from storage.
    Setter functions are not generated so other contracts cannot directly modify their values.

``internal``
    Internal state variables can only be accessed from within the contract they are defined in
    and in derived contracts.
    They cannot be accessed externally.
    This is the default visibility level for state variables.

``private``
    Private state variables are like internal ones but they are not visible in derived contracts.

.. warning::
    |visibility-caveat|

Function Visibility
===================

Solidity knows two kinds of function calls: external ones that do create an actual EVM message call and internal ones that do not.
Furthermore, internal functions can be made inaccessible to derived contracts.
This gives rise to four types of visibility for functions.

``external``
    External functions are part of the contract interface,
    which means they can be called from other contracts and
    via transactions. An external function ``f`` cannot be called
    internally (i.e. ``f()`` does not work, but ``this.f()`` works).

``public``
    Public functions are part of the contract interface
    and can be either called internally or via message calls.

``internal``
    Internal functions can only be accessed from within the current contract
    or contracts deriving from it.
    They cannot be accessed externally.
    Since they are not exposed to the outside through the contract's ABI, they can take parameters of internal types like mappings or storage references.

``private``
    Private functions are like internal ones but they are not visible in derived contracts.

.. warning::
    |visibility-caveat|

The visibility specifier is given after the type for
state variables and between parameter list and
return parameter list for functions.

.. code-block:: solidity

    // SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0
    pragma solidity >=0.4.16 <0.9.0;

    contract C {
        function f(uint a) private pure returns (uint b) { return a + 1; }
        function setData(uint a) internal { data = a; }
        uint public data;
    }

In the following example, ``D``, can call ``c.getData()`` to retrieve the value of
``data`` in state storage, but is not able to call ``f``. Contract ``E`` is derived from
``C`` and, thus, can call ``compute``.

.. code-block:: solidity

    // SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0
    pragma solidity >=0.4.16 <0.9.0;

    contract C {
        uint private data;

        function f(uint a) private pure returns(uint b) { return a + 1; }
        function setData(uint a) public { data = a; }
        function getData() public view returns(uint) { return data; }
        function compute(uint a, uint b) internal pure returns (uint) { return a + b; }
    }

    // This will not compile
    contract D {
        function readData() public {
            C c = new C();
            uint local = c.f(7); // error: member `f` is not visible
            c.setData(3);
            local = c.getData();
            local = c.compute(3, 5); // error: member `compute` is not visible
        }
    }

    contract E is C {
        function g() public {
            C c = new C();
            uint val = compute(3, 5); // access to internal member (from derived to parent contract)
        }
    }

.. index:: ! getter;function, ! function;getter
.. _getter-functions:

Getter Functions
================

The compiler automatically creates getter functions for
all **public** state variables. For the contract given below, the compiler will
generate a function called ``data`` that does not take any
arguments and returns a ``uint``, the value of the state
variable ``data``. State variables can be initialized
when they are declared.

.. code-block:: solidity

    // SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0
    pragma solidity >=0.4.16 <0.9.0;

    contract C {
        uint public data = 42;
    }

    contract Caller {
        C c = new C();
        function f() public view returns (uint) {
            return c.data();
        }
    }

The getter functions have external visibility. If the
symbol is accessed internally (i.e. without ``this.``),
it evaluates to a state variable.  If it is accessed externally
(i.e. with ``this.``), it evaluates to a function.

.. code-block:: solidity

    // SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0
    pragma solidity >=0.4.0 <0.9.0;

    contract C {
        uint public data;
        function x() public returns (uint) {
            data = 3; // internal access
            return this.data(); // external access
        }
    }

If you have a ``public`` state variable of array type, then you can only retrieve
single elements of the array via the generated getter function. This mechanism
exists to avoid high gas costs when returning an entire array. You can use
arguments to specify which individual element to return, for example
``myArray(0)``. If you want to return an entire array in one call, then you need
to write a function, for example:

.. code-block:: solidity

    // SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0
    pragma solidity >=0.4.16 <0.9.0;

    contract arrayExample {
        // public state variable
        uint[] public myArray;

        // Getter function generated by the compiler
        /*
        function myArray(uint i) public view returns (uint) {
            return myArray[i];
        }
        */

        // function that returns entire array
        function getArray() public view returns (uint[] memory) {
            return myArray;
        }
    }

Now you can use ``getArray()`` to retrieve the entire array, instead of
``myArray(i)``, which returns a single element per call.

The next example is more complex:

.. code-block:: solidity

    // SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0
    pragma solidity >=0.4.0 <0.9.0;

    contract Complex {
        struct Data {
            uint a;
            bytes3 b;
            mapping (uint => uint) map;
            uint[3] c;
            uint[] d;
            bytes e;
        }
        mapping (uint => mapping(bool => Data[])) public data;
    }

It generates a function of the following form. The mapping and arrays (with the
exception of byte arrays) in the struct are omitted because there is no good way
to select individual struct members or provide a key for the mapping:

.. code-block:: solidity

    function data(uint arg1, bool arg2, uint arg3)
        public
        returns (uint a, bytes3 b, bytes memory e)
    {
        a = data[arg1][arg2][arg3].a;
        b = data[arg1][arg2][arg3].b;
        e = data[arg1][arg2][arg3].e;
    }