[erlang-questions] definition of iolist

[Ladislav Lenart]

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">>

Hello,

I think not. The list in your example actually ends
with an empty list ([]):

   [$a | [$b | [$c | [$d]]]]

and therefore it is a valid iolist. But the following
is NOT an iolist:

   [$a | [$b | [$c | $d]]]]

The difference is in the last $d character.

Hope this helps,

Ladislav Lenart