Control.Monad.Instances

fmap is used to apply a function of type (a -> b) to a value of type f a, where f is a functor, to produce a value of type f b. Note that for any type constructor with more than one parameter (e.g., Either), only the last type parameter can be modified with fmap (e.g., b in `Either a b`).

Some type constructors with two parameters or more have a Data.Bifunctor instance that allows both the last and the penultimate parameters to be mapped over.

Examples

Convert from a Maybe Int to a Maybe String using show:

>>> fmap show NothingNothing>>> fmap show (Just 3)Just "3"

Convert from an Either Int Int to an Either Int String using show:

>>> fmap show (Left 17)Left 17>>> fmap show (Right 17)Right "17"

Double each element of a list:

>>> fmap (*2) [1,2,3][2,4,6]

Apply even to the second element of a pair:

>>> fmap even (2,2)(2,True)

It may seem surprising that the function is only applied to the last element of the tuple compared to the list example above which applies it to every element in the list. To understand, remember that tuples are type constructors with multiple type parameters: a tuple of 3 elements (a,b,c) can also be written (,,) a b c and its Functor instance is defined for Functor ((,,) a b) (i.e., only the third parameter is free to be mapped over with fmap).

It explains why fmap can be used with tuples containing values of different types as in the following example:

>>> fmap even ("hello", 1.0, 4)("hello",1.0,True)

Replace all locations in the input with the same value. The default definition is fmap . const, but this may be overridden with a more efficient version.

Examples

Perform a computation with Maybe and replace the result with a constant value if it is Just:

>>> 'a' <$ Just 2Just 'a'>>> 'a' <$ NothingNothing

Sequentially compose two actions, passing any value produced by the first as an argument to the second.

'as >>= bs' can be understood as the do expression

do a <- as
   bs a

An alternative name for this function is 'bind', but some people may refer to it as 'flatMap', which results from it being equivialent to

\x f -> join (fmap f x) :: Monad m => m a -> (a -> m b) -> m b

which can be seen as mapping a value with Monad m => m a -> m (m b) and then 'flattening' m (m b) to m b using join.

Sequentially compose two actions, discarding any value produced by the first, like sequencing operators (such as the semicolon) in imperative languages.

'as >> bs' can be understood as the do expression

do as
   bs

or in terms of (>>=) as

as >>= const bs

Inject a value into the monadic type. This function should not be different from its default implementation as pure. The justification for the existence of this function is merely historic.