empty %w

[yrashk]

iex(2)> %w()a 
** (ErlangError) erlang error: {:bad_generator, ""}
    :erl_eval.expr/3

Shouldn't this return an empty list?

cc @devinus

[devinus]

@yrashk Yeah it should, not sure why %w()b works but %w()a doesn't... I'll investigate.

[yrashk]

I am also curious why %w()b returns an empty string, not an empty list:

ex(6)> %w()b  
""

Also, c has the same problem as a:

iex(7)> %w()c
** (ErlangError) erlang error: {:bad_generator, ""}
    :erl_eval.expr/3

[devinus]

I know why. It's a bad but simple bug.

  def split(""), do: ""

Should be:

  def split(""), do: [""]

[devinus]

Follow-up: Should String.split("") return [""] or [] ?

[yrashk]

My logic suggests [""]

On Mon, Jul 8, 2013 at 3:03 PM, Devin Torres notifications@github.comwrote:

Follow-up: Should String.split("") return [""] or [] ?

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com//issues/1394#issuecomment-20639590
.

[devinus]

@yrashk What do you expect when you do %w()a ?

[:""] ??

[yrashk]

[]

On Mon, Jul 8, 2013 at 3:09 PM, Devin Torres notifications@github.comwrote:

@yrashk https://github.com/yrashk What do you expect when you do %w()a ?

[:""] ??

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com//issues/1394#issuecomment-20640016
.

[devinus]

@yrashk Then they have different functionality and split_words becomes more complicated :-/

[devinus]

That means %w() should be [] too. I guess that makes sense.

[yrashk]

well, %w means "words" but if the thing is empty, then it means there are
no words.

I think %w(), %w()a and %w()c should return the same thing — an empty list

On Mon, Jul 8, 2013 at 3:12 PM, Devin Torres notifications@github.comwrote:

@yrashk https://github.com/yrashk Then they have different
functionality and split_words becomes more complicated :-/

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com//issues/1394#issuecomment-20640172
.

[devinus]

Indeed.