9 Pattern Matching (original) (raw)

9 Pattern Matching🔗

+Pattern Matching in The Racket Guide introduces pattern matching.

The match form and related forms support general pattern matching on Racket values. See also Regular Expressions for information on regular-expression matching on strings, bytes, and streams.

(match val-expr clause ...)
clause = [pat option=> option ... body ...+] option=> = | (=> id) option = #:when cond-expr #:do [do-body ...]

Finds the first pat that matches the result ofval-expr, and evaluates the corresponding bodys with bindings introduced by pat (if any). Bindings introduced bypat are not available in other parts of pat. The last bodyin the matching clause is evaluated in tail position with respect to the match expression.

To find a match, the clauses are tried in order. If noclause matches, then the exn:misc:match? exception is raised.

An optional #:when cond-expr specifies that the pattern should only match if cond-expr produces a true value.cond-expr is in the scope of all of the variables bound inpat. cond-expr must not mutate the object being matched before calling the failure procedure, otherwise the behavior of matching is unpredictable. See also failure-cont, which is a lower-level mechanism achieving the same ends.

Examples:

> (define (m x) (match x [(list a b c) #:when (= 6 (+ a b c)) 'sum-is-six] [(list a b c) 'sum-is-not-six]))
> (m '(1 2 3))
'sum-is-six
> (m '(2 3 4))
'sum-is-not-six

An optional #:do [do-body ...] executes do-body forms. In particular, the forms may introduce definitions that are visible in the remaining options and the main clause body. Both #:when and #:do options may appear multiple times

Examples:

> (define (m x) (match x [(list a b c) #:do [(define sum (+ a b c))] #:when (> sum 6) (format "the sum, which is ~a, is greater than 6" sum)] [(list a b c) 'sum-is-not-greater-than-six]))
> (m '(1 2 3))
'sum-is-not-greater-than-six
> (m '(2 3 4))
"the sum, which is 9, is greater than 6"

An optional (=> id), which must appear immediately after pat, is bound to a failure procedure of zero arguments.id is visible in all clause options and the clause body. If this procedure is invoked, it escapes back to the pattern matching expression, and resumes the matching process as if the pattern had failed to match. The bodys must not mutate the object being matched before calling the failure procedure, otherwise the behavior of matching is unpredictable.

Examples:

> (m '(1 2 3))
'sum-is-six
> (m '(2 3 4))
'sum-is-not-six

The grammar of pat is as follows, where non-italicized identifiers are recognized symbolically (i.e., not by binding).

pat ::= id match anything, bind identifier
| (var id) match anything, bind identifier
| _ match anything
| literal match literal
| (quote datum) match equal? value
| (list lvp ...) match sequence of lvps
| (list-rest lvp ... pat) match lvps consed onto a pat
| (list* lvp ... pat) match lvps consed onto a pat
| (list-no-order pat ...) match pats in any order
| (list-no-order pat ... lvp) match pats in any order
| (vector lvp ...) match vector of pats
| (hash expr pat ... ... ht-opt) match hash table
| (hash* [expr pat kv-opt] ... ht-opt) match hash table
| (hash-table (pat pat) ...) match hash table - deprecated
| (hash-table (pat pat) ...+ ooo) match hash table - deprecated
| (cons pat pat) match pair of pats
| (mcons pat pat) match mutable pair of pats
| (box pat) match boxed pat
| (struct-id pat ...) match struct-id instance
| (struct struct-id (pat ...)) match struct-id instance
| (regexp rx-expr) match string
| (regexp rx-expr pat) match string, result with pat
| (pregexp px-expr) match string
| (pregexp px-expr pat) match string, result with pat
| (and pat ...) match when all pats match
| (or pat ...) match when any pat match
| (not pat ...) match when no pat matches
| (app expr pats ...) match (expr value) output values to pats
| (? expr pat ...) match if (expr value) and pats
| (quasiquote qp) match a quasipattern
| derived-pattern match using extension
literal ::= #t match true
| #f match false
| string match equal? string
| bytes match equal? byte string
| number match equal? number
| char match equal? character
| keyword match equal? keyword
| regexp match equal? regexp literal
| pregexp match equal? pregexp literal
lvp ::= pat ooo greedily match pat instances
| pat match pat
qp ::= literal match literal
| id match symbol
| (qp ...) match sequences of qps
| (qp ... . qp) match qps ending qp
| (qp ooo . qp) match qps beginning with repeated qp
| #(qp ...) match vector of qps
| #&qp match boxed qp
| #s(prefab-key qp ...) match prefab struct with qp fields
| ,pat match pat
| ,@(list lvp ...) match lvps, spliced
| ,@(list-rest lvp ... pat) match lvps plus pat, spliced
| ,@'qp match list-matching qp, spliced
ooo ::= ... zero or more; ... is literal
| ___ zero or more
| ..k k or more
| __k k or more
kv-opt ::= key must exist
| #:default def-expr key may not exist; match def-expr with the value pattern
ht-opt ::= default mode
| #:closed closed to extension mode
| #:open open to extension mode
| #:rest pat residue mode

In more detail, patterns match as follows:

Example:

> (match "yes" ["no" #f] ["yes" #t])
#t

Note that the matching process may destructure the input multiple times, and may evaluate expressions embedded in patterns such as (app expr pat) in arbitrary order, or multiple times. Therefore, such expressions must be safe to call multiple times, or in an order other than they appear in the original program.

Changed in version 8.9.0.5 of package base: Added a support for #:do.
Changed in version 8.11.1.10: Added the hash andhash* patterns.

9.1 Additional Matching Forms🔗

(match* (val-expr ...+) clause* ...)
clause* = [(pat ...+) option=> option ... body ...+]

Matches a sequence of values against each clause in order, matching only when all patterns in a clause match. Each clause must have the same number of patterns as the number of val-exprs.

Examples:

(match/values expr clause* clause* ...)

If expr evaluates to n values, then match all nvalues against the patterns in clause* .... Each clause must contain exactly n patterns. At least one clause is required to determine how many values to expect from expr.

Example:

(define/match (head args) match*-clause ...)
head = id | (head args) args = arg ... arg ... . rest-id arg = arg-id [arg-id default-expr] keyword arg-id keyword [arg-id default-expr] match*-clause = [(pat ...+) option=> option ... body ...+]

Binds id to a procedure that is defined by pattern matching clauses using match*. Each clause takes a sequence of patterns that correspond to the arguments in the function header. The arguments are ordered as they appear in the function header for matching purposes.

Examples:

(define/match (fact n) [(0) 1] [(n) (* n (fact (sub1 n)))])
> (fact 5)
120

The function header may also contain optional or keyword arguments, may have curried arguments, and may also contain a rest argument.

Examples:

(define/match ((f x) #:y [y '(1 2 3)]) [((regexp #rx"p+") `(,a 2 3)) a] [(_ _) #f])
> ((f "ape") #:y '(5 2 3))
5
> ((f "dog"))
#f
(define/match (g x y . rst) [(0 0 '()) #t] [(5 5 '(5 5)) #t] [(_ _ _) #f])
> (g 0 0)
#t
> (g 5 5 5 5)
#t
> (g 1 2)
#f
(match-lambda clause ...)
(match-λ clause ...)

Equivalent to (lambda (id) (match id clause ...)).

Changed in version 8.13.0.5 of package base: Added match-λ.

(match-lambda* clause ...)
(match-λ* clause ...)

Equivalent to (lambda lst (match lst clause ...)).

Changed in version 8.13.0.5 of package base: Added match-λ*.

(match-lambda** clause* ...)
(match-λ** clause ...)

Equivalent to (lambda (args ...) (match* (args ...) clause* ...)), where the number of args ... is computed from the number of patterns appearing in each of the clause*.

Changed in version 8.13.0.5 of package base: Added match-λ**.

(match-let ([pat expr] ...) body ...+)

Generalizes let to support pattern bindings. Eachexpr is matched against its corresponding pat (the match must succeed), and the bindings that pat introduces are visible in the bodys.

Example:

(match-let* ([pat expr] ...) body ...+)

Like match-let, but generalizes let*, so that the bindings of each pat are available in each subsequentexpr.

Example:

(match-let-values ([(pat ...) expr] ...) body ...+)

(match-let*-values ([(pat ...) expr] ...) body ...+)

(match-letrec ([pat expr] ...) body ...+)

Like match-let, but generalizes letrec.

(match-letrec-values ([(pat ...) expr] ...) body ...+)

Added in version 6.1.1.8 of package base.

Defines the names bound by pat to the values produced by matching against the result of expr.

Examples:

> (match-define (list a b) '(1 2))
> b
2

(match-define-values (pat pats ...) expr)

Like match-define but for when expr produces multiple values. Like match/values, it requires at least one pattern to determine the number of values to expect.

Examples:

A predicate for the exception raised in the case of a match failure.

Continues matching as if the current pattern failed. Note that unlike use of the => form, this does not escape the current context, and thus should only be used in tail position with respect to the match form.

9.2 Extending match🔗

(define-match-expander id proc-expr)
(define-match-expander id proc-expr proc-expr)

Binds id to a match expander.

The first proc-expr sub-expression must evaluate to a transformer that produces a pat for match. Whenever id appears as the beginning of a pattern, this transformer is given, at expansion time, a syntax object corresponding to the entire pattern (including id). The pattern is replaced with the result of the transformer.

A transformer produced by a second proc-expr sub-expression is used when id is used in an expression context. Using the second proc-expr, id can be given meaning both inside and outside patterns.

Match expanders are not invoked unless id appears in the first position in a sequence. Instead, identifiers bound by define-match-expanderare used as binding identifiers (like any other identifier) when they appear anywhere except the first position in a sequence.

For example, to extend the pattern matcher and destructure syntax lists,

And here is an example showing howdefine-match-expander-bound identifiers arenot treated specially unless they appear in the first position of pattern sequence. Consider this (incorrect) definition of a length function:

(define-match-expander nil
(λ (stx) #''())
(λ (stx) #''()))
(define (len l)
(match l
[nil 0]
[(cons hd tl) (+ 1 (len tl))]))

Because there are no parenthesis around nil,match treats the first case as an identifier (which matches everything) instead of a use of the match expander and len always returns 0.

> (len nil)
0
> (len (cons 1 nil))
0
> (len (cons 1 (cons 2 nil)))
0

Match expanders accept any syntax pair whose first element is anidentifier? bound to the expander. The following example shows a match expander which can be called with an improper syntax list of the form (expander a b . rest).

Changed in version 7.7.0.2 of package base: Match expanders now allowed any syntax pair whose first element is anidentifier? bound to the expander. The example above did not work with previous versions.

The property value must be an exact non-negative integer or a procedure of one or two arguments. In the former case, the integer designates a field within the structure that should contain a procedure; the integer must be between 0 (inclusive) and the number of non-automatic fields in the structure type (exclusive, not counting supertype fields), and the designated field must also be specified as immutable.

If the property value is a procedure of one argument, then the procedure serves as the transformer for match expansion. If the property value is a procedure of two arguments, then the first argument is the structure whose type hasprop:match-expander property, and the second argument is a syntax object as for a match expander..

If the property value is a assignment transformer, then the wrapped procedure is extracted withset!-transformer-procedure before it is called.

This binding is provided for-syntax.

Like prop:match-expander, but for the legacy match syntax.

This binding is provided for-syntax.

Predicates for values which implement the appropriate match expander properties.

Changed in version 6.90.0.29 of package base: Made equivalent to syntax-local-introduce.

A parameter that determines the comparison procedure used to check whether multiple uses of an identifier match the “same” value. The default is equal?.

(match/derived val-expr original-datum clause ...)
(match*/derived (val-expr ...) original-datum clause* ...)

Like match and match* respectively, but includes a sub-expression to be used as the source for all syntax errors within the form. For example, match-lambda expands to match/derived so that errors in the body of the form are reported in terms of match-lambdainstead of match.

9.3 Library Extensions🔗

(== val comparator)
(== val)

A match expanderwhich checks if the matched value is the same as val when compared by comparator. If comparator is not provided, it defaults to equal?.

Examples:

(struct* struct-id ([field pat] ...))

A match pattern form that matches an instance of a structure type named struct-id, where the field field in the instance matches the corresponding pat. The fields do not include those from super types.

Any field of struct-id may be omitted, and such fields can occur in any order.

Examples:

> (match (tree 0 (tree 1 #f #f) #f) [(struct* tree ([val a] [left (struct* tree ([right #f] [val b]))])) (list a b)])
'(0 1)
> (match (tree* 0 #f #f 42) [(and (struct* tree* ([val a])) (struct* tree ([val b]))) (list a b)])
'(42 0)