Allow vars and subexprs in extern args

crates/nu-cli/src/syntax_highlight.rs

@@ -39,8 +39,12 @@ impl Highlighter for NuHighlighter {
                 .to_string();
             match shape.1 {
                 FlatShape::Custom(..) => output.push((Style::new().bold(), next_token)),
-                FlatShape::External => output.push((Style::new().bold(), next_token)),
-                FlatShape::ExternalArg => output.push((Style::new().bold(), next_token)),
+                FlatShape::External => {
+                    output.push((Style::new().fg(nu_ansi_term::Color::Green), next_token))
+                }
+                FlatShape::ExternalArg => {
+                    output.push((Style::new().fg(nu_ansi_term::Color::Green), next_token))
+                }
                 FlatShape::Garbage => output.push((
                     Style::new()
                         .fg(nu_ansi_term::Color::White)

crates/nu-engine/src/eval.rs

@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ use nu_protocol::ast::{Block, Call, Expr, Expression, Operator, Statement};
 use nu_protocol::engine::EvaluationContext;
 use nu_protocol::{Range, ShellError, Span, Type, Unit, Value};
 
+use crate::FromValue;
+
 pub fn eval_operator(op: &Expression) -> Result<Operator, ShellError> {
     match op {
         Expression {
@@ -71,7 +73,7 @@ fn eval_call(context: &EvaluationContext, call: &Call, input: Value) -> Result<V
 fn eval_external(
     context: &EvaluationContext,
     name: &Span,
-    args: &[Span],
+    args: &[Expression],
     input: Value,
     last_expression: bool,
 ) -> Result<Value, ShellError> {
@@ -84,20 +86,28 @@ fn eval_external(
     let command = engine_state.get_decl(decl_id);
 
     let mut call = Call::new();
-    call.positional = [*name]
-        .iter()
-        .chain(args.iter())
-        .map(|span| {
-            let contents = engine_state.get_span_contents(span);
-            let val = String::from_utf8_lossy(contents);
-            Expression {
-                expr: Expr::String(val.into()),
-                span: *span,
-                ty: Type::String,
-                custom_completion: None,
-            }
+
+    let name_span = name;
+    let name = engine_state.get_span_contents(name);
+    call.positional.push(Expression {
+        expr: Expr::String(String::from_utf8_lossy(name).to_string()),
+        span: *name_span,
+        ty: Type::String,
+        custom_completion: None,
+    });
+
+    for arg in args {
+        let span = arg.span;
+        let result = eval_expression(context, arg)?;
+        let result: String = FromValue::from_value(&result)?;
+
+        call.positional.push(Expression {
+            expr: Expr::String(result),
+            span,
+            ty: Type::String,
+            custom_completion: None,
         })
-        .collect();
+    }
 
     if last_expression {
         call.named.push(("last_expression".into(), None))

crates/nu-parser/src/flatten.rs

@@ -67,7 +67,19 @@ pub fn flatten_expression(
             let mut output = vec![(*name, FlatShape::External)];
 
             for arg in args {
-                output.push((*arg, FlatShape::ExternalArg));
+                //output.push((*arg, FlatShape::ExternalArg));
+                match arg {
+                    Expression {
+                        expr: Expr::String(..),
+                        span,
+                        ..
+                    } => {
+                        output.push((*span, FlatShape::ExternalArg));
+                    }
+                    _ => {
+                        output.extend(flatten_expression(working_set, arg));
+                    }
+                }
             }
 
             output

crates/nu-parser/src/parser.rs

@@ -104,14 +104,28 @@ pub fn check_name<'a>(
 }
 
 pub fn parse_external_call(
-    _working_set: &mut StateWorkingSet,
+    working_set: &mut StateWorkingSet,
     spans: &[Span],
 ) -> (Expression, Option<ParseError>) {
-    // TODO: add external parsing
     let mut args = vec![];
     let name = spans[0];
+    let mut error = None;
+
     for span in &spans[1..] {
-        args.push(*span);
+        let contents = working_set.get_span_contents(*span);
+
+        if contents.starts_with(b"$") || contents.starts_with(b"(") {
+            let (arg, err) = parse_expression(working_set, &[*span], true);
+            error = error.or(err);
+            args.push(arg);
+        } else {
+            args.push(Expression {
+                expr: Expr::String(String::from_utf8_lossy(contents).to_string()),
+                span: *span,
+                ty: Type::String,
+                custom_completion: None,
+            })
+        }
     }
     (
         Expression {
@@ -120,7 +134,7 @@ pub fn parse_external_call(
             ty: Type::Unknown,
             custom_completion: None,
         },
-        None,
+        error,
     )
 }
 

crates/nu-protocol/src/ast/expr.rs

@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ pub enum Expr {
     ),
     Var(VarId),
     Call(Box<Call>),
-    ExternalCall(Span, Vec<Span>),
+    ExternalCall(Span, Vec<Expression>),
     Operator(Operator),
     RowCondition(VarId, Box<Expression>),
     BinaryOp(Box<Expression>, Box<Expression>, Box<Expression>), //lhs, op, rhs