Programming Elixir ≥ 1.6

More Complex Matches

First, a little background syntax. Elixir lists can be created using square brackets containing a comma-separated set of values. Here are some lists:

[ "Humperdinck", "Buttercup", "Fezzik" ]
[ "milk", "butter", [ "iocane", 12 ] ]

Back to the match operator.

iex> list = [ 1, 2, 3 ]
[1, 2, 3]

To make the match true, Elixir bound the variable list to the list [1, 2, 3].

But let’s try something else:

iex> list = [1, 2, 3]
[1, 2, 3]
iex> [a, b, c ] = list
[1, 2, 3]
iex> a
1
iex> b
2
iex> c
3

Elixir looks for a way to make the value of the left side the same as the value of the right side. The left side is a list containing three variables, and the right is a list of three values, ...