[Haskell-cafe] Defining operators via sections

I can define operators directly or through their parenthesised name:

let x .+ y = x + y let (.+) x y = (+) x y let (.+) x = (+) x let (.+) = (.+)

but I can't define them via sections:

let (x .+) = (x +) <interactive>:11:6: Parse error in pattern: x .+ let (.+ y) = (+ y) <interactive>:12:6: Parse error in pattern: .+ y

It seems natural to write, for example instance Monad Maybe where ... (>>= f) = \case Nothing -> Nothing Just a -> f a Is there any particular reason this is not possible? Thanks, Tom