Free Pascal Cookbook

Welcome to my Free Pascal Cookbook!

You'll find useful snippets and study notes for Object Pascal using using the Free Pascal Compiler (FPC) and Lazarus IDE—perfect for saving time and streamlining your work!

If you're seeking tutorials and in-depth technical discussions, don't miss Resources.

Install FPC Official Documentation

Why Free Pascal?

Productive

Rapid application development with visual components and event-driven design.

Cross-Platform

Free Pascal and Lazarus allow development across multiple platforms.

Readable

Clean syntax and strong typing for easier maintenance and debugging.

Native

Direct compilation to machine code for optimal performance.

Stable

Maintains compatibility with legacy code while supporting modern features.

Rich Ecosystem

Extensive component library with strong database support.

Official Documentation

Free Pascal Compiler (FPC)

PDF	HTML	Note
PDF	HTML	User's guide
PDF	HTML	Programmer's guide
PDF	HTML	Language reference guide
PDF	HTML	Run-Time Library (RTL) units reference manual
PDF	HTML	Free Component Library (FCL) units reference manual
PDF	HTML	Free Component Library (FCL) Resource units reference manual
PDF	HTML	fpdoc documentation tool reference manual
PDF	NA	Reference chart with all compiler options and switches (PDF only)

Lazarus IDE

• The Lazarus User Guides
• The Lazarus Component Library
• The Lazarus FAQ

Installation

You need the Free Pascal Compiler (FPC) to run the snippets locally on your machine.

FPC and Lazarus IDEFPC Only

• Download the Lazarus IDE installer for your platform to install both FPC and Lazarus IDE.
• Alternatively, get the fpcupdeluxe for your OS.

• Download the FPC installer for your platform.
• Alternatively, get the fpcupdeluxe for your OS, and only install the Free Pascal Compiler.

Latest release: FPC 3.3.2, Lazarus IDE 3.6.

Code Repos

• The repo of the Free Pascal Compiler: FPC - Gitlab
• The repo of the Lazarus IDE: Lazarus IDE - Gitlab
• The repo of the snippets: https://github.com/ikelaiah/free-pascal-snippets.

Acknowledgments

• The FPC devs for sharing the joy of Object Pascal.
• The Lazarus IDE devs for making such an amazing IDE.
• The dedicated people behind various units/modules in OPM.

• The kind and helpful individuals on various online platforms such as;

  • Unofficial Free Pascal discord server.
  • Free Pascal & Lazarus forum.
  • Tweaking4All Delphi, Lazarus, Free Pascal forum.
  • Laz Planet - Blogspot / Laz Planet - GitLab.
  • Delphi Basics.

Note

Code snippets on this site work with FPC 3.2.2 and Lazarus 3.6 on Win 11.

Warning

This document is a work in progress.

Contents are still being revised and added.