[erlang-questions] Pattern Matching Question

[Thomas Lindgren]

--- Esbjörn Dominique <esbjorn@REDACTED> wrote:

> This reminds me of something that have bothered me
> some times (well,
> not that much): the lack of fall-through á la C
> switch/case. What I
> would like is something like:
> 
> days_in(jan, _);
> days_in(mar, _);
> days_in(may, _);
> days_in(jul, _);
> days_in(aug, _);
> days_in(oct, _) -> 31;
> days_in(dec, _);
> days_in(apr, _);
> days_in(jun, _);
> days_in(sep, _);
> days_in(nov, _) -> 30;
> days_in(feb, common) -> 28;
> days_in(feb, leap) -> 29.
> 
> The motivation is simply to reduce duplication.

You can do it like this:

days_in(Mon, Leap) ->
   if
      Mon == jan ; Mon == .. ; ... -> 31;
      Mon == nov ; ... -> 30;
      Mon == feb, Leap == leap -> 29;
      Mon == feb, Leap == normal -> 28
   end.

(or use other guard operators). You can't do this for
general patterns, of course, because you can't bind
variables in guards.

Another way to reduce duplication is to factor the
common clause bodies into a new function. In this
case, probably not worth it.

Best,
Thomas



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