case-cond-and-if.markdown

layout	title	guide
getting_started	5 case, cond and if	5

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In this chapter, we will learn about the case, cond and if control-flow structures.

5.1 case

case allows us to compare a value against many patterns until we find a matching one:

iex> case {1, 2, 3} do
...>   {4, 5, 6} ->
...>     "This clause won't match"
...>   {1, x, 3} ->
...>     "This clause will match and bind x to 2 in this clause"
...>   _ ->
...>     "This clause would match any value"
...> end

If you want to pattern match against an existing variable, you need to use the ^ operator:

iex> x = 1
1
iex> case 10 do
...>   ^x -> "Won't match"
...>   _  -> "Will match"
...> end

Clauses also allow extra conditions to be specified via guards:

iex> case {1, 2, 3} do
...>   {1, x, 3} when x > 0 ->
...>     "Will match"
...>   _ ->
...>     "Won't match"
...> end

The first clause above will only match when x is positive.

5.2 Expressions in guard clauses.

The Erlang Virtual Machine (VM) only allows a limited set of expressions in guards:

• comparison operators (==, !=, ===, !==, >, <, <=, >=)

• boolean operators (and, or) and negation operators (not, !)

• arithmetic operators (+, -, *, /)

• <> and ++ as long as the left side is a literal

• the in operator

• all the following type check functions:

  • is_atom/1
  • is_binary/1
  • is_bitstring/1
  • is_boolean/1
  • is_float/1
  • is_function/1
  • is_function/2
  • is_integer/1
  • is_list/1
  • is_map/1
  • is_number/1
  • is_pid/1
  • is_port/1
  • is_reference/1
  • is_tuple/1

• plus these functions:

  • abs(number)
  • bit_size(bitstring)
  • byte_size(bitstring)
  • div(integer, integer)
  • elem(tuple, n)
  • hd(list)
  • length(list)
  • map_size(map)
  • node()
  • node(pid | ref | port)
  • rem(integer, integer)
  • round(number)
  • self()
  • tl(list)
  • trunc(number)
  • tuple_size(tuple)

Keep in mind errors in guards do not leak but simply make the guard fail:

iex> hd(1)
** (ArgumentError) argument error
    :erlang.hd(1)
iex> case 1 do
...>   x when hd(x) -> "Won't match"
...>   x -> "Got: #{x}"
...> end
"Got 1"

If none of the clauses match, an error is raised:

iex> case :ok do
...>   :error -> "Won't match"
...> end
** (CaseClauseError) no case clause matching: :ok

Note anonymous functions can also have multiple clauses and guards:

iex> f = fn
...>   x, y when x > 0 -> x + y
...>   x, y -> x * y
...> end
#Function<12.71889879/2 in :erl_eval.expr/5>
iex> f.(1, 3)
4
iex> f.(-1, 3)
-3

The number of arguments in each anonymous function clause needs to be the same, otherwise an error is raised.

5.3 cond

case is useful when you need to match against different values. However, in many circumstances, we want to check different conditions and find the first one that evaluates to true. In such cases, one may use cond:

iex> cond do
...>   2 + 2 == 5 ->
...>     "This will not be true"
...>   2 * 2 == 3 ->
...>     "Nor this"
...>   1 + 1 == 2 ->
...>     "But this will"
...> end
"But this will"

This is equivalent to else if clauses in many imperative languages (although used way less frequently here).

If none of the conditions return true, an error is raised. For this reason, it may be necessary to add a final condition, equal to true, which will always match:

iex> cond do
...>   2 + 2 == 5 ->
...>     "This is never true"
...>   2 * 2 == 3 ->
...>     "Nor this"
...>   true ->
...>     "This is always true (equivalent to else)"
...> end

Finally, note cond considers any value besides nil and false to be true:

iex> cond do
...>   hd([1,2,3]) ->
...>     "1 is considered as true"
...> end
"1 is considered as true"

5.4 if and unless

Besides case and cond, Elixir also provides the macros if/2 and unless/2 which are useful when you need to check for just one condition:

iex> if true do
...>   "This works!"
...> end
"This works!"
iex> unless true do
...>   "This will never be seen"
...> end
nil

If the condition given to if/2 returns false or nil, the body given between do/end is not executed and it simply returns nil. The opposite happens with unless/2.

They also support else blocks:

iex> if nil do
...>   "This won't be seen"
...> else
...>   "This will"
...> end
"This will"

Note: An interesting note regarding if/2 and unless/2 is that they are implemented as macros in the language; they aren't special language constructs as they would be in many languages. You can check the documentation and the source of if/2 in the Kernel module docs. The Kernel module is also where operators like +/2 and functions like is_function/2 are defined, all automatically imported and available in your code by default.

5.5 do/end blocks

At this point, we have learned four control structures: case, cond, if and unless, and they were all wrapped in do/end blocks. It happens we could also write if as follows:

iex> if true, do: 1 + 2
3

In Elixir, do/end blocks are a convenience for passing a group of expressions to do:. These are equivalent:

iex> if true do
...>   a = 1 + 2
...>   a + 10
...> end
13
iex> if true, do: (
...>   a = 1 + 2
...>   a + 10
...> )
13

We say the second syntax is using keyword lists. We can pass else using this syntax:

iex> if false, do: :this, else: :that
:that

One thing to keep in mind when using do/end blocks is they are always bound to the outermost function call. For example, the following expression:

iex> is_number if true do
...>  1 + 2
...> end

Would be parsed as:

iex> is_number(if true) do
...>  1 + 2
...> end

Which leads to an undefined function error as Elixir attempts to invoke is_number/2. Adding explicit parentheses is enough to resolve the ambiguity:

iex> is_number(if true do
...>  1 + 2
...> end)
true

Keyword lists play an important role in the language and are quite common in many functions and macros. We will explore them a bit more in a future chapter. Now it is time to talk about "Binaries, strings and char lists".