Case analysis for the Either type.
If the value is Left a, apply the first function to a;
if it is Right b, apply the second function to b.
Examples
We create two values of type EitherStringInt, one using the
Left constructor and another using the Right constructor. Then
we apply "either" the Prelude.length function (if we have a String)
or the "times-two" function (if we have an Int):
Example4 expressions
>>> let s = Left "foo" :: Either String Int>>> let n = Right 3 :: Either String Int>>> either length (*2) s3>>> either length (*2) n6
Assuming a Left value signifies some sort of error, we can use
isLeft to write a very simple error-reporting function that does
absolutely nothing in the case of success, and outputs "ERROR" if
any error occurred.
This example shows how isLeft might be used to avoid pattern
matching when one does not care about the value contained in the
constructor:
Example4 expressions
>>> import Control.Monad ( when )>>> let report e = when (isLeft e) $ putStrLn "ERROR">>> report (Right 1)>>> report (Left "parse error")ERROR
Assuming a Left value signifies some sort of error, we can use
isRight to write a very simple reporting function that only
outputs "SUCCESS" when a computation has succeeded.
This example shows how isRight might be used to avoid pattern
matching when one does not care about the value contained in the
constructor:
Example4 expressions
>>> import Control.Monad ( when )>>> let report e = when (isRight e) $ putStrLn "SUCCESS">>> report (Left "parse error")>>> report (Right 1)SUCCESS
Partitions a list of Either into two lists.
All the Left elements are extracted, in order, to the first
component of the output. Similarly the Right elements are extracted
to the second component of the output.
Examples
Basic usage:
Example2 expressions
>>> let list = [ Left "foo", Right 3, Left "bar", Right 7, Left "baz" ]>>> partitionEithers list(["foo","bar","baz"],[3,7])
The Either type represents values with two possibilities: a value of
type Either a b is either Left a or Right b.
The Either type is sometimes used to represent a value which is
either correct or an error; by convention, the Left constructor is
used to hold an error value and the Right constructor is used to
hold a correct value (mnemonic: "right" also means "correct").
Examples
The type EitherStringInt is the type of values which can be either
a String or an Int. The Left constructor can be used only on
Strings, and the Right constructor can be used only on Ints:
Example6 expressions
>>> let s = Left "foo" :: Either String Int>>> sLeft "foo">>> let n = Right 3 :: Either String Int>>> nRight 3>>> :type ss :: Either String Int>>> :type nn :: Either String Int
The fmap from our Functor instance will ignore Left values, but
will apply the supplied function to values contained in a Right:
Example4 expressions
>>> let s = Left "foo" :: Either String Int>>> let n = Right 3 :: Either String Int>>> fmap (*2) sLeft "foo">>> fmap (*2) nRight 6
The Monad instance for Either allows us to chain together multiple
actions which may fail, and fail overall if any of the individual
steps failed. First we'll write a function that can either parse an
Int from a Char, or fail.
Example3 expressions
>>> import Data.Char ( digitToInt, isDigit )>>> :{ let parseEither :: Char -> Either String Int parseEither c | isDigit c = Right (digitToInt c) | otherwise = Left "parse error">>> :}
The following should work, since both '1' and '2' can be
parsed as Ints.
Example2 expressions
>>> :{ let parseMultiple :: Either String Int parseMultiple = do x <- parseEither '1' y <- parseEither '2' return (x + y)>>> :}
Example1 expression
>>> parseMultipleRight 3
But the following should fail overall, since the first operation where
we attempt to parse 'm' as an Int will fail:
Example2 expressions
>>> :{ let parseMultiple :: Either String Int parseMultiple = do x <- parseEither 'm' y <- parseEither '2' return (x + y)>>> :}