Scala multiple type pattern matching

pattern matchingscalatypes

I'm wondering how can I use multiple type pattern matching. I have:

abstract class MyAbstract

case class MyFirst extends MyAbstract
case class MySecond extends MyAbstract
case class MyThird extends MyAbstract // shouldn't be matched and shouldn't call doSomething()

val x: MyAbstract = MyFirst

x match { 
 case a: MyFirst => doSomething()
 case b: MySecond => doSomething()
 case _ => doSomethingElse()
}

So I'd like to write something like:

x match {
 case a @ (MyFirst | MySecond) => doSomething()
 case _ => doSomethingElse()
}

I saw similar construction in some tutorial, but it gives me error:

pattern type is incompatible with expected type;
[error]  found   : object MyFirst
[error]  required: MyAbstract

So is there a way to define few different types in on case clause? I think it would make code prettier. As if I will have 5 of them, I will write same code 5 times (calling doSomething()).

Thanks in advance!

Best Answer

You are missing the parenthesis for your case classes. Case classes without parameter lists are deprecated.

Try this:

abstract class MyAbstract
case class MyFirst() extends MyAbstract
case class MySecond() extends MyAbstract

val x: MyAbstract = MyFirst()


x match {
   case aOrB @ (MyFirst() | MySecond()) => doSomething(aOrB)
   case _ => doSomethingElse()
}

If you have too many params for your case classes and don't like having to write long Foo(_,_,..) patterns, then maybe:

x match {
   case aOrB @ (_:MyFirst | _:MySecond) => doSomething(aOrB)
   case _ => doSomethingElse()
}

Or just:

x match {
   case _:MyFirst | _:MySecond => doSomething(x) // just use x instead of aOrB
   case _ => doSomethingElse(x)
}

But perhaps you just wanted singleton case objects?

abstract class MyAbstract
case object MyFirst extends MyAbstract
case object MySecond extends MyAbstract

val x: MyAbstract = MyFirst

x match {
   case aOrB @ (MyFirst | MySecond) => doSomething()
   case _ => doSomethingElse()
}

Related Solutions

Python – What’s the canonical way to check for type in Python

To check if o is an instance of str or any subclass of str, use isinstance (this would be the "canonical" way):

if isinstance(o, str):

To check if the type of o is exactly str (exclude subclasses):

if type(o) is str:

The following also works, and can be useful in some cases:

if issubclass(type(o), str):

See Built-in Functions in the Python Library Reference for relevant information.

One more note: in this case, if you're using Python 2, you may actually want to use:

if isinstance(o, basestring):

because this will also catch Unicode strings (unicode is not a subclass of str; both str and unicode are subclasses of basestring). Note that basestring no longer exists in Python 3, where there's a strict separation of strings (str) and binary data (bytes).

Alternatively, isinstance accepts a tuple of classes. This will return True if o is an instance of any subclass of any of (str, unicode):

if isinstance(o, (str, unicode)):

Python – How to determine a Python variable’s type

Use the type() builtin function:

>>> i = 123
>>> type(i)
<type 'int'>
>>> type(i) is int
True
>>> i = 123.456
>>> type(i)
<type 'float'>
>>> type(i) is float
True

To check if a variable is of a given type, use isinstance:

>>> i = 123
>>> isinstance(i, int)
True
>>> isinstance(i, (float, str, set, dict))
False

Note that Python doesn't have the same types as C/C++, which appears to be your question.

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Python – What’s the canonical way to check for type in Python

Python – How to determine a Python variable’s type

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