Pattern Matching

The Match Operator

In Elixir, = is the match operator, not just assignment. It binds variables on the left to values on the right.

x = 10
IO.puts(x)   # 10

Tuple Destructuring

You can match tuples to extract values:

{a, b} = {10, 20}
IO.puts(a)   # 10
IO.puts(b)   # 20

List Destructuring

Match list head and tail with [head | tail]:

[first | rest] = [1, 2, 3, 4]
IO.puts(first)          # 1
IO.puts(length(rest))   # 3

Your Turn

1. Match {a, b} = {10, 20} and print both values
2. Match [first | rest] = [1, 2, 3, 4] and print first and length(rest)