[erlang-questions] Wildcard matching a list of strings vs atoms/binaries

[Ivan Carmenates García]

Greetings Olav,

 

I don’t understand why you try to math using that kind pattern, you can use
the common way.

 

Instead of using ([0,1,2] ++ _) = [0,1,2,3,4] you can use  [0,1,2| _] =
[0,1,2,3,4] pattern matching.

 

 

Best,

Ivan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

De: erlang-questions-bounces@REDACTED
[mailto:erlang-questions-bounces@REDACTED] En nombre de Olav Frengstad
Enviado el: miércoles, 17 de abril de 2013 16:27
Para: erlang-questions@REDACTED Questions
Asunto: [erlang-questions] Wildcard matching a list of strings vs
atoms/binaries

 

Hey,

 

I'm getting some unexpected behavior when trying to pattern match the head
of a list.

 

When matching against a list of integers I can successfully do a wildcard
match:

27> ("ab ++ _)  = "abcd".

 

But when trying to do the same with a list of atoms i get the error: * 1:
illegal pattern:

28>  ([a,b,c] ++ _) = [a,b,c,d].

* 1: illegal pattern

 

So just making sure there's no magic in string matching i also try with an
actual list of integers:

29> ([0,1,2] ++ _) = [0,1,2,3,4].  

[0,1,2,3,4]

 

Why can't I pattern match a lists with other values integers?

 

What i'm looking to achieve is to provide wildcard matching on a gen_event
handler so I can do matches like this:

 

handle_event((Match ++ _), State#state{match = Match}) ->

% handle

 

Any other alternatives is appreciated, current implementation uses
lists:suffix/2

 

-- 
Med Vennlig Hilsen

Olav Frengstad

 

Systemutvikler // FWT

+47 920 42 090

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