Skip to content

Allow returning bool instead of unit option for partial active patterns #1041

@Tarmil

Description

@Tarmil

Allow returning bool instead of unit option for partial active patterns

I propose we allow returning bool from partial active patterns that don't return a significant value apart from "matches" / "doesn't match".

The existing way of approaching this problem in F# is to return Some () if the value matches and None if it doesn't.

For example the active pattern for the following:

match key with
| CaseInsensitive "foo" -> ...
| CaseInsensitive "bar" -> ...

would currently be written as:

let (|CaseInsensitive|_|) (pattern: string) (value: string) =
    if String.Equals(value, pattern, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase) then
        Some ()
    else
        None

With this proposal, it could be written as:

let (|CaseInsensitive|_|) (pattern: string) (value: string) =
    String.Equals(value, pattern, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase)

Pros and Cons

The advantages of making this adjustment to F# are

  • A simpler way to write active patterns that just check a condition without returning a value.
  • Fewer memory allocations and probably better generated IL.

The disadvantages of making this adjustment to F# are

  • Adding one more way to do the same thing.

Extra information

Estimated cost (XS, S, M, L, XL, XXL): S

Related suggestions:

Affidavit (please submit!)

Please tick this by placing a cross in the box:

  • This is not a question (e.g. like one you might ask on stackoverflow) and I have searched stackoverflow for discussions of this issue
  • I have searched both open and closed suggestions on this site and believe this is not a duplicate
  • This is not something which has obviously "already been decided" in previous versions of F#. If you're questioning a fundamental design decision that has obviously already been taken (e.g. "Make F# untyped") then please don't submit it.

Please tick all that apply:

  • This is not a breaking change to the F# language design
  • I or my company would be willing to help implement and/or test this

For Readers

If you would like to see this issue implemented, please click the 👍 emoji on this issue. These counts are used to generally order the suggestions by engagement.

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

No one assigned

    Type

    No type

    Projects

    No projects

    Milestone

    No milestone

    Relationships

    None yet

    Development

    No branches or pull requests

    Issue actions