Elixir Enums
Unlike object-oriented programming languages, Elixir uses structs a lot. This requires a way to manipulate structs which is done by Enum and functions.
Enum.premade_function_to_manipulate_list([a, b, c, d], anonymous_function_to_manipulate_each_item_in_list)
Common Enum Functions
find
Enum.find([array], default_result, fn x -> method_using_x end)
Finds the element in the list that fulfills the function, otherwise returns a default result
Enum.find([2, 3, 4], fn x -> rem(x, 2) == 1 end) #3
Enum.find([2, 4, 6], fn x -> rem(x, 2) == 1 end) # nil
Enum.find([2, 4, 6], "No Result!", fn x -> rem(x, 2) == 1 end) # "No Result!" as the default result
map
Applies a function to each element and creates a new list with the results
iex> Enum.map([0, 1, 2, 3], fn(x) -> x - 1 end)
[-1, 0, 1, 2]
map_every
Applies the function every n items
Enum.map_every([1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8], 3, fn x -> x + 1000 end)
[1001, 2, 3, 1004, 5, 6, 1007, 8]
each
Get each element, returning the atom :ok
Enum.each(list, fn(s) -> IO.puts(s) end)
Enum.each(["one", "two", "three"], fn(s) -> IO.puts(s) end)
one
two
three
:ok
min/1
Finds the minimal value in the list:
iex> Enum.min([5, 3, 0, -1])
-1
min/2
In case the enumerable is empty, it lets us specify a function to produce the minimum value.
iex> Enum.min([], fn -> :foo end)
:foo
max
returns the maximal value in the collection:
iex> Enum.max([5, 3, 0, -1])
5
max/2 is to max/1 what min/2 is to min/1:
iex> Enum.max([], fn -> :bar end)
:bar
filter
The filter/2 function enables us to filter the collection to include only those elements that evaluate to true using the provided function.
iex> Enum.filter([1, 2, 3, 4], fn(x) -> rem(x, 2) == 0 end)
[2, 4]
reduce
With reduce/3 we can distill our collection down into a single value. To do this we supply an optional accumulator (10 in this example) to be passed into our function; if no accumulator is provided the first element in the enumerable is used:
iex> Enum.reduce([1, 2, 3], 10, fn(x, acc) -> x + acc end)
16
iex> Enum.reduce([1, 2, 3], fn(x, acc) -> x + acc end)
6
iex> Enum.reduce(["a","b","c"], "1", fn(x,acc)-> x <> acc end)
"cba1"
sort/1
Sorts lists
iex> Enum.sort([:foo, "bar", Enum, -1, 4])
[-1, 4, Enum, :foo, "bar"]
sort/2
Uses two sorting functions.
iex> Enum.sort([%{:val => 4}, %{:val => 1}], fn(x, y) -> x[:val] > y[:val] end)
[%{val: 4}, %{val: 1}]
sort/2 allows :asc or :desc
Enum.sort([2, 3, 1], :desc)
[3, 2, 1]
uniq/1
Remove duplicates:
iex> Enum.uniq([1, 2, 3, 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1])
[1, 2, 3]
uniq_by/2
allows a function to do the uniqueness comparison.
iex> Enum.uniq_by([%{x: 1, y: 1}, %{x: 2, y: 1}, %{x: 3, y: 3}], fn coord -> coord.y end)
[%{x: 1, y: 1}, %{x: 3, y: 3}]
Enum using the Capture operator (&)
iex> Enum.map([1,2,3], &(&1 + 3))
[4, 5, 6]
or
plus_three = &(&1 + 3)
Enum.map([1,2,3], plus_three)
[4, 5, 6]
Named Functions
defmodule M, do: def add_tatlo(number), do: number + 3
Enum.map([1,2,3], fn number -> M.add_tatlo(number) end)
[4, 5, 6]
Enum.map([1,2,3], &M.add_tatlo(&1))
[4, 5, 6]
Enum.map([1,2,3], &M.add_tatlo/1)
[4, 5, 6]
Not-so-common Functions
all?
fn applies a function to all elements
Enum.all?(["foo", "bar", "hello"], fn(s) -> String.length(s) == 3 end) # false because hello fails
any?
applies a function to all elements and returns true if at least one elements is true
iex> Enum.any?(["foo", "bar", "hello"], fn(s) -> String.length(s) == 5 end) # true
chunk_every
Breaks up a list into smaller groups by size
iex> Enum.chunk_every([1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6], 2)
[[1, 2], [3, 4], [5, 6]]
chunk_by
Breaks up a list into smaller groups according to function
iex> Enum.chunk_by(["one", "two", "three", "four", "five", "six"], fn(x) -> String.length(x) end)
[["one", "two"], ["three"], ["four", "five"], ["six"]]