What Does the "?" Operator Do In Elixir?

The "?" operator in Elixir is commonly used as the "is" operator. It is used to check if a given expression meets certain conditions and returns either true or false. The "?" operator is typically paired with ":" to create a ternary expression, allowing for concise conditional logic in Elixir code.

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What does the "?" operator evaluate in Elixir?

In Elixir, the "?" operator is used in boolean expressions to evaluate if a condition is true or false. It allows you to write concise and readable code by condensing conditional statements into a single line.

What is the general syntax for using the "?" operator in Elixir?

The general syntax for using the "?" operator in Elixir is as follows:

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condition ? value_if_true : value_if_false

This operator is known as the ternary operator and is used as a shorthand way of writing if-else statements. The condition is evaluated first, if it is true, the expression before the ":" is returned, otherwise the expression after the ":" is returned.

How to incorporate the "?" operator into functional programming paradigms in Elixir?

In Elixir, the "?" operator is typically used as a way to check for the existence of a value in a data structure or to test for a certain condition. To incorporate the "?" operator into functional programming paradigms in Elixir, you can use pattern matching and guards to achieve similar functionality.

Here is an example of how you can use pattern matching and guards to replicate the "?" operator in Elixir:

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defmodule ExampleModule do
  def safe_divide(a, b) when b != 0, do: a / b
  def safe_divide(_, _), do: nil
end

IO.puts ExampleModule.safe_divide(10, 2) # Output: 5
IO.puts ExampleModule.safe_divide(10, 0) # Output: nil

In this example, the safe_divide function checks if the second argument is not equal to 0 using a guard (when b != 0). If the condition is met, the function performs the division operation. If the condition is not met, the function returns nil.

By using pattern matching and guards in Elixir, you can achieve similar functionality to the "?" operator in other programming languages. This allows you to write expressive and concise code in a functional programming paradigm.