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Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center
FullForm
  • See Also
    • InputForm
    • TreeForm
    • CharacterName
    • BinarySerialize
  • Related Guides
    • Expression Structure
    • Expressions
  • Workflows
    • Find the Underlying Tree Structure of an Expression
  • Tech Notes
    • Everything Is an Expression
    • Parts of Expressions
    • Introduction to Patterns
    • Patterns for Some Common Types of Expression
    • Forms of Input and Output
    • The Interpretation of Textual Forms
    • The Representation of Textual Forms
    • See Also
      • InputForm
      • TreeForm
      • CharacterName
      • BinarySerialize
    • Related Guides
      • Expression Structure
      • Expressions
    • Workflows
      • Find the Underlying Tree Structure of an Expression
    • Tech Notes
      • Everything Is an Expression
      • Parts of Expressions
      • Introduction to Patterns
      • Patterns for Some Common Types of Expression
      • Forms of Input and Output
      • The Interpretation of Textual Forms
      • The Representation of Textual Forms

FullForm[expr]

prints as the full form of expr, with no special syntax.

Details and Options
Details and Options Details and Options
Examples  
Basic Examples  
Scope  
Basic Objects  
Special Input Forms  
Special Output Forms  
Options  
NumberMarks  
Applications  
Properties & Relations  
Possible Issues  
See Also
Tech Notes
Related Guides
Related Workflows
Related Links
History
Cite this Page
BUILT-IN SYMBOL
  • See Also
    • InputForm
    • TreeForm
    • CharacterName
    • BinarySerialize
  • Related Guides
    • Expression Structure
    • Expressions
  • Workflows
    • Find the Underlying Tree Structure of an Expression
  • Tech Notes
    • Everything Is an Expression
    • Parts of Expressions
    • Introduction to Patterns
    • Patterns for Some Common Types of Expression
    • Forms of Input and Output
    • The Interpretation of Textual Forms
    • The Representation of Textual Forms
    • See Also
      • InputForm
      • TreeForm
      • CharacterName
      • BinarySerialize
    • Related Guides
      • Expression Structure
      • Expressions
    • Workflows
      • Find the Underlying Tree Structure of an Expression
    • Tech Notes
      • Everything Is an Expression
      • Parts of Expressions
      • Introduction to Patterns
      • Patterns for Some Common Types of Expression
      • Forms of Input and Output
      • The Interpretation of Textual Forms
      • The Representation of Textual Forms

FullForm

FullForm[expr]

prints as the full form of expr, with no special syntax.

Details and Options

  • FullForm always effectively uses "PrintableASCII" as the setting for $CharacterEncoding.
  • The option NumberMarks can be used to specify whether ` marks should be used to indicate type, precision, or accuracy of approximate numbers. »
  • The typeset form of FullForm[expr] is interpreted the same as expr when used in input. »
  • When an input evaluates to FullForm[expr], FullForm does not appear in the output. »

Examples

open all close all

Basic Examples  (2)

FullForm of a typeset expression:

FullForm of a graphic:

Scope  (8)

Basic Objects  (2)

Integer, Rational, Real, and Complex numbers:

Arbitrary-precision Real and Complex numbers:

Special constants:

Characters and strings of characters:

Control characters for strings:

Special Input Forms  (4)

Different inputs interpreted as Power expressions:

Special typeset expressions:

Different list structures:

Input without special interpretation:

With special characters in the same positions, there may be special interpretations:

In the case of superscripts, most things get interpreted as Power:

Special Output Forms  (2)

Some objects use a special output representation:

Some objects use an elided output representation:

The elided parts are visible in the underlying FullForm:

Options  (2)

NumberMarks  (2)

Inexact numbers format without number marks by default:

The same numbers without number marks:

A mixed symbolic and numeric expression:

Omit all number marks:

Applications  (4)

The FullForm will show the precedence of operators:

Grouping with parentheses affects the precedence:

See the underlying interpretation for a TraditionalForm output:

Perform replacements:

Replace lists with a new wrapper newhead:

Multiplications have the head Times:

Find all multiplications in expr:

See the underlying expressions:

Properties & Relations  (4)

The typeset form of FullForm[expr] is interpreted the same as expr when used in input:

Copy the output and paste it into an input cell. The Power[x,2] is interpreted as x2:

When an input evaluates to FullForm[expr], FullForm does not appear in the output:

Out is assigned the value x2, not FullForm[x^2]:

FullForm has linear formatting without special syntax:

InputForm formats as linear input:

TreeForm graphically displays an expression's tree structure:

Possible Issues  (2)

Even when an output omits FullForm from the top level, it is not stripped from subexpressions:

The output does not have FullForm in it:

However, the variable e does have FullForm in it, which may affect subsequent evaluations:

The product is not evaluated due to the intervening FullForm:

Assign variables first and then apply FullForm to the result to maintain computability:

Pattern matching is based on the FullForm:

The previous fraction is represented as a single Power expression:

Perform the desired replacement:

See Also

InputForm  TreeForm  CharacterName  BinarySerialize

Tech Notes

    ▪
  • Everything Is an Expression
  • ▪
  • Parts of Expressions
  • ▪
  • Introduction to Patterns
  • ▪
  • Patterns for Some Common Types of Expression
  • ▪
  • Forms of Input and Output
  • ▪
  • The Interpretation of Textual Forms
  • ▪
  • The Representation of Textual Forms

Related Guides

    ▪
  • Expression Structure
  • ▪
  • Expressions

Related Workflows

    Related Workflows
    ▪
  • Find the Underlying Tree Structure of an Expression

Related Links

  • Fast Introduction for Programmers: Symbolic Expressions
  • An Elementary Introduction to the Wolfram Language : Expressions and Their Structure
  • NKS|Online  (A New Kind of Science)

History

Introduced in 1988 (1.0) | Updated in 2003 (5.0)

Wolfram Research (1988), FullForm, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FullForm.html (updated 2003).

Text

Wolfram Research (1988), FullForm, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FullForm.html (updated 2003).

CMS

Wolfram Language. 1988. "FullForm." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2003. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FullForm.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (1988). FullForm. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FullForm.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_fullform, author="Wolfram Research", title="{FullForm}", year="2003", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FullForm.html}", note=[Accessed: 01-December-2025]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2025_fullform, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={FullForm}, year={2003}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/FullForm.html}, note=[Accessed: 01-December-2025]}

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