Data.Either

base-4.8.2.0: Basic libraries

Copyright | (c) The University of Glasgow 2001
License | BSD-style (see the file libraries/base/LICENSE)
Maintainer | libraries@haskell.org
Stability | experimental
Portability | portable
Safe Haskell | Trustworthy
Language | Haskell2010

Data.Either

Description

The Either type, and associated operations.

Synopsis

- data Either a b
  - = Left a
  - | Right b
- either :: (a -> c) -> (b -> c) -> Either a b -> c
- lefts :: [Either a b] -> [a]
- rights :: [Either a b] -> [b]
- isLeft :: Either a b -> Bool
- isRight :: Either a b -> Bool
- partitionEithers :: [Either a b] -> ([a], [b])

# Documentation

data Either a b

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 ``Either` `String` `Int`` is the type of values which can be either a `String` or an `Int`. The `Left` constructor can be used only on `String`s, and the `Right` constructor can be used only on `Int`s:

    >>> let s = Left "foo" :: Either String Int
    >>> s
    Left "foo"
    >>> let n = Right 3 :: Either String Int
    >>> n
    Right 3
    >>> :type s
    s :: Either String Int
    >>> :type n
    n :: 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`:

    >>> let s = Left "foo" :: Either String Int
    >>> let n = Right 3 :: Either String Int
    >>> fmap (*2) s
    Left "foo"
    >>> fmap (*2) n
    Right 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.

    >>> 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 `Int`s.

    >>> :{
        let parseMultiple :: Either String Int
            parseMultiple = do
              x <- parseEither '1'
              y <- parseEither '2'
              return (x + y)
    >>> :}

    >>> parseMultiple
    Right 3

But the following should fail overall, since the first operation where we attempt to parse `'m'` as an `Int` will fail:

    >>> :{
        let parseMultiple :: Either String Int
            parseMultiple = do
              x <- parseEither 'm'
              y <- parseEither '2'
              return (x + y)
    >>> :}

    >>> parseMultiple
    Left "parse error"

Constructors

Left a |
Right b |

Instances

Bifunctor Either |
Monad (Either e) |
Functor (Either a) |
MonadFix (Either e) |
Applicative (Either e) |
Foldable (Either a) |
Traversable (Either a) |
Generic1 (Either a) |
(Eq a, Eq b) => Eq (Either a b) |
(Data a, Data b) => Data (Either a b) |
(Ord a, Ord b) => Ord (Either a b) |
(Read a, Read b) => Read (Either a b) |
(Show a, Show b) => Show (Either a b) |
Generic (Either a b) |
type Rep1 (Either a) |
type Rep (Either a b) |
type (==) (Either k k1) a b |

either :: (a -> c) -> (b -> c) -> Either a b -> c

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 ``Either` `String` `Int``, one using the `Left` constructor and another using the `Right` constructor. Then we apply "either" the `length` function (if we have a `String`) or the "times-two" function (if we have an `Int`):

    >>> let s = Left "foo" :: Either String Int
    >>> let n = Right 3 :: Either String Int
    >>> either length (*2) s
    3
    >>> either length (*2) n
    6

lefts :: [Either a b] -> [a]

Extracts from a list of `Either` all the `Left` elements. All the `Left` elements are extracted in order.

#### Examples

Basic usage:

    >>> let list = [ Left "foo", Right 3, Left "bar", Right 7, Left "baz" ]
    >>> lefts list
    ["foo","bar","baz"]

rights :: [Either a b] -> [b]

Extracts from a list of `Either` all the `Right` elements. All the `Right` elements are extracted in order.

#### Examples

Basic usage:

    >>> let list = [ Left "foo", Right 3, Left "bar", Right 7, Left "baz" ]
    >>> rights list
    [3,7]

isLeft :: Either a b -> Bool

Return `True` if the given value is a `Left`-value, `False` otherwise.

#### Examples

Basic usage:

    >>> isLeft (Left "foo")
    True
    >>> isLeft (Right 3)
    False

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:

    >>> import Control.Monad ( when )
    >>> let report e = when (isLeft e) $ putStrLn "ERROR"
    >>> report (Right 1)
    >>> report (Left "parse error")
    ERROR

Since: 4.7.0.0

isRight :: Either a b -> Bool

Return `True` if the given value is a `Right`-value, `False` otherwise.

#### Examples

Basic usage:

    >>> isRight (Left "foo")
    False
    >>> isRight (Right 3)
    True

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:

    >>> import Control.Monad ( when )
    >>> let report e = when (isRight e) $ putStrLn "SUCCESS"
    >>> report (Left "parse error")
    >>> report (Right 1)
    SUCCESS

Since: 4.7.0.0

partitionEithers :: [Either a b] -> ([a], [b])

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:

    >>> let list = [ Left "foo", Right 3, Left "bar", Right 7, Left "baz" ]
    >>> partitionEithers list
    (["foo","bar","baz"],[3,7])

The pair returned by ``partitionEithers` x` should be the same pair as `(`lefts` x, `rights` x)`:

    >>> let list = [ Left "foo", Right 3, Left "bar", Right 7, Left "baz" ]
    >>> partitionEithers list == (lefts list, rights list)
    True