It matches a value against several patterns. List Evaluation: We can utilise pattern match along with head, tail and cons operator to deconstruct a list. The syntax of pattern matching in Scala is defined as follows: Pattern matching is a mechanism for checking a value against a pattern. You need to match one or more patterns in a Scala match expression, and the pattern may be a constant pattern, variable pattern, constructor pattern, sequence pattern, tuple pattern, or type pattern. Anton Fagerberg 8 March, 2018 | 3 min read. I recently debugged a strange issue which seemed to appear out of nowhere™. This is an excerpt from the Scala Cookbook (partially modified for the internet). Pattern matching is a feature that is not unfamiliar in a lot of functional languages and Scala is no exception. To match a number equal to x you can put it into backticks:. def contains(x: Int, l: List[Int]) = l match { case _ :: `x` :: _ => true case _ => false } Unfortunately :: matcher takes exactly one item from list – the first one, so this code would work only to find the second item in l:. An arrow symbol => separates the pattern from the expressions. Each pattern points to an expression. Using matchers. The ability to use string pattern-matching code in a Scala match expression is a very cool and useful ability, and I didn’t realize how important it was when the Kaleidoscope project was released. The expression that is associated with the the first matching pattern, will be executed. Scala regex FAQ: How can I match a regex pattern against an entire string in Scala?. Now this syntax doesn’t work on its own. list match { case l @ (_ :: _ :: _ :: _) => other(l) case l => op(l) } Note that I've bound a new variable l to the list in the pattern instead of referring to list, and that I've used _ when I don't need a variable. This is a short recipe, Recipe 3.14, “How to use a match expression instead of isInstanceOf (to match types).”. Scala. A successful match can also deconstruct a value into its constituent parts. Solution. This is Recipe 3.11, “How to use pattern matching in Scala match expressions.”. I started off by creating a Scala Regex instance, and then realized the Regex class doesn’t have a simple method to determine whether a String completely matches a pattern. You can use the isInstanceOf method to test the type of an object: It all came down to a that we used List in a match while the methods signature was changed from List to Seq. This SO post shows other ways to try to use string pattern-matching in match expressions, but Kaleidoscope looks like the easiest solution. First you need to create a function which excepts the value as a parameter and the body contains the pattern matching code.. Problem. This morning I needed to write a little Scala code to make sure a String completely matches a regex pattern. It is a more powerful version of the switch statement in Java and it can likewise be used in place of a series of if-else statements. A pattern match includes a sequence of alternatives, each starting with the keyword case. Each alternative includes a pattern and one or more expressions, which will be evaluated if the pattern matches. This is an excerpt from the Scala Cookbook (partially modified for the internet). Case classes of two arguments can be used with infix notation when pattern matching. Avoid pattern matching with List in Scala. Problem. 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