Kernel.SpecialForms.require

You're seeing just the macro require, go back to Kernel.SpecialForms module for more information.
Link to this macro

require(module, opts)

View Source (macro)

Requires a module in order to use its macros.

Examples

Public functions in modules are globally available, but in order to use macros, you need to opt-in by requiring the module they are defined in.

Let's suppose you created your own if/2 implementation in the module MyMacros. If you want to invoke it, you need to first explicitly require the MyMacros:

defmodule Math do
  require MyMacros
  MyMacros.if do_something, it_works
end

An attempt to call a macro that was not loaded will raise an error.

Alias shortcut

require/2 also accepts :as as an option so it automatically sets up an alias. Please check alias/2 for more information.