Pattern Matching

Pattern matching is a key feature of most modern functional programming languages since it allows clean and secure code to be written. Internally, ``pattern-matching forms'' should be translated (compiled) into cascades of ``elementary tests'' where code is made as efficient as possible, avoiding redundant tests; Bigloo's ``pattern matching compiler'' provides this. The technique used is described in details in [QueinnecGeffroy92], and the code generated can be considered optimal In the cases of pattern matching in lists and vectors, not in structures for the moment. due to the way this ``pattern compiler'' was obtained.

The ``pattern language'' allows the expression of a wide variety of patterns, including:

Bigloo pattern matching facilities

Only two special forms are provided for this in Bigloo: match-case and match-lambda.

match-case key clause...bigloo syntax

The argument key may be any expression and each clause has the form

(pattern s-expression...)
Semantics: A match-case expression is evaluated as follows. key is evaluated and the result is compared with each successive pattern. If the pattern in some clause yields a match, then the expressions in that clause are evaluated from left to right in an environment where the pattern variables are bound to the corresponding subparts of the datum, and the result of the last expression in that clause is returned as the result of the match-case expression. If no pattern in any clause matches the datum, then, if there is an else clause, its expressions are evaluated and the result of the last is the result of the whole match-case expression; otherwise the result of the match-case expression is unspecified.

The equality predicate used is eq?.

(match-case '(a b a)
   ((?x ?x) 'foo)
   ((?x ?- ?x) 'bar))
    bar
.keep
The following syntax is also available:

match-lambda clause...bigloo syntax

It expands into a lambda-expression expecting an argument which, once applied to an expression, behaves exactly like a match-case expression.

((match-lambda
   ((?x ?x) 'foo)
   ((?x ?- ?x) 'bar))
 '(a b a))
    bar
.keep

The pattern language

The syntax for <pattern> is:

<pattern> ⇒                Matches:

<atom> the <atom>. | (kwote <atom>) any expression eq? to <atom>. | (and <pat1> ... <patn>) if all of <pati> match. | (or <pat1> ... ...<patn>) if any of <pat1> through <patn> matches. | (not <pat>) if <pat> doesn't match. | (? <predicate>) if <predicate> is true. | (<pat1> ... <patn>) a list of n elements. Here, ... is a meta-character denoting a finite repetition of patterns. | <pat> ... a (possibly empty) repetition of <pat> in a list. | #(<pat> ... <patn>) a vector of n elements. | #{<struct> <pat> ... } a structure. | ?<id> anything, and binds id as a variable. | ?- anything. | ??- any (possibly empty) repetition of anything in a list. | ???- any end of list.
Remark: and, or, not, check and kwote must be quoted in order to be treated as literals. This is the only justification for having the kwote pattern since, by convention, any atom which is not a keyword is quoted.

Remark: ??- and ... patterns can not appear inside a vector, where you should use ???-: For example, #(a ??- b) or #(a...) are invalid patterns, whereas #(a ???-) is valid and matches any vector whose first element is the atom a.