#9671: Allow expressions in patterns -------------------------------------+------------------------------------- Reporter: Iceland_jack | Owner: Type: feature request | Status: new Priority: normal | Milestone: 7.10.1 Component: Compiler | Version: Keywords: patterns, pattern | Operating System: synonyms | Unknown/Multiple Architecture: Unknown/Multiple | Type of failure: Difficulty: Unknown | None/Unknown Blocked By: | Test Case: Related Tickets: | Blocking: | Differential Revisions: -------------------------------------+------------------------------------- I've outlined a proposal for extending pattern synonyms to depend on terms (PatternFamilies), the name is less than ideal but I'll keep the page under that name for now. The proposal's introduction has been rewritten. The simplest use case are patterns that matches only when a set contains an element (`IsMember`) or when a set does not contain an element (`NotMember`): [[Image(wiki:PatternFamilies:member.png)]] {{{#!hs hasKeys :: Set Item -> IO () hasKeys (IsMember "keys") = leaveHouse hasKeys (NotMember "keys") = findKeys >> leaveHouse }}} or a pattern that matches a map if the key exists: [[Image(wiki:PatternFamilies:lookup.png)]] used like this: {{{#!hs age :: Map Person Age -> String age (Lookup "Alice" 60) = "Alice is 60 years old!" age (Lookup "Alice" age) = "Alice is " ++ show age ++ "." age (Lookup "Bob" _) = "No info on Alice but we know how old Bob is." age _ = "..." }}} Further details and examples can be found here: PatternFamilies, I discussed it with several people ICFP 2014. This would not require a new extension but would extend PatternSynonyms. This feature can be quite useful, especially when working with deeply nested structures (ASTs, JSON, XML, ...). If people are fine with it I will implement it. -- Ticket URL: http://ghc.haskell.org/trac/ghc/ticket/9671 GHC http://www.haskell.org/ghc/ The Glasgow Haskell Compiler