[erlang-questions] definition of iolist

[David Hopwood]

David Terrell wrote:
> On Fri, Aug 31, 2007 at 02:27:54PM +0200, Bjorn Gustavsson wrote:
>> Anthony Shipman <als@REDACTED> writes:
>>
>>> The documentation often says this:
>>>
>>> iolist = [char() | binary() | iolist()]
>>>   a binary is allowed as the tail of the list
>>>
>>> This says to me that an iolist is a list whose members can be characters, 
>>> binaries or iolists. In which case it is automatic that a binary can be the 
>>> tail of the list. So what is the point of the comment?
>> A character is not allowed in the tail.
> 
> I think I'm misunderstanding you... wouldn't this forbid a 
> normal erlang string from being considered a valid iolist?
> 
> 1> list_to_binary(["abcdefg", $h]).
> <<"abcdefgh">>

The final tail of "abcdefg" (and any other proper list) is nil.
A list that has a binary as its tail is an improper list.

-- 
David Hopwood <david.hopwood@REDACTED>