
# Pampy: Pattern Matching for Python
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Pampy is pretty small (150 lines), reasonably fast, and often makes your code more readable
and hence easier to reason about. [There is also a JavaScript version, called Pampy.js](https://github.com/santinic/pampy.js).
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## You can write many patterns
Patterns are evaluated in the order they appear.
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## You can write Fibonacci
The operator _ means "any other case I didn't think of".
```python
from pampy import match, _
def fibonacci(n):
return match(n,
1, 1,
2, 1,
_, lambda x: fibonacci(x-1) + fibonacci(x-2)
)
```
## You can write a Lisp calculator in 5 lines
```python
from pampy import match, REST, _
def lisp(exp):
return match(exp,
int, lambda x: x,
callable, lambda x: x,
(callable, REST), lambda f, rest: f(*map(lisp, rest)),
tuple, lambda t: list(map(lisp, t)),
)
plus = lambda a, b: a + b
minus = lambda a, b: a - b
from functools import reduce
lisp((plus, 1, 2)) # => 3
lisp((plus, 1, (minus, 4, 2))) # => 3
lisp((reduce, plus, (range, 10))) # => 45
```
## You can match so many things!
```python
match(x,
3, "this matches the number 3",
int, "matches any integer",
(str, int), lambda a, b: "a tuple (a, b) you can use in a function",
[1, 2, _], "any list of 3 elements that begins with [1, 2]",
{'x': _}, "any dict with a key 'x' and any value associated",
_, "anything else"
)
```
## You can match [HEAD, TAIL]
```python
from pampy import match, HEAD, TAIL, _
x = [1, 2, 3]
match(x, [1, TAIL], lambda t: t) # => [2, 3]
match(x, [HEAD, TAIL], lambda h, t: (h, t)) # => (1, [2, 3])
```
`TAIL` and `REST` actually mean the same thing.
## You can nest lists and tuples
```python
from pampy import match, _
x = [1, [2, 3], 4]
match(x, [1, [_, 3], _], lambda a, b: [1, [a, 3], b]) # => [1, [2, 3], 4]
```
## You can nest dicts. And you can use _ as key!
```python
pet = { 'type': 'dog', 'details': { 'age': 3 } }
match(pet, { 'details': { 'age': _ } }, lambda age: age) # => 3
match(pet, { _ : { 'age': _ } }, lambda a, b: (a, b)) # => ('details', 3)
```
It feels like putting multiple _ inside dicts shouldn't work. Isn't ordering in dicts not guaranteed ?
But it does because
[in Python 3.7, dict maintains insertion key order by default](https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2017-December/151283.html)
## You can match class hierarchies
```python
class Pet: pass
class Dog(Pet): pass
class Cat(Pet): pass
class Hamster(Pet): pass
def what_is(x):
return match(x,
Dog, 'dog',
Cat, 'cat',
Pet, 'any other pet',
_, 'this is not a pet at all',
)
what_is(Cat()) # => 'cat'
what_is(Dog()) # => 'dog'
what_is(Hamster()) # => 'any other pet'
what_is(Pet()) # => 'any other pet'
what_is(42) # => 'this is not a pet at all'
```
## All the things you can match
As Pattern you can use any Python type, any class, or any Python value.
The operator `_` and built-in types like `int` or `str`, extract variables that are passed to functions.
Types and Classes are matched via `instanceof(value, pattern)`.
`Iterable` Patterns match recursively through all their elements. The same goes for dictionaries.
| Pattern Example | What it means | Matched Example | Arguments Passed to function | NOT Matched Example |
| --------------- | --------------| --------------- | ----------------------------- | ------------------ |
| `"hello"` | only the string `"hello"` matches | `"hello"` | nothing | any other value |
| `None` | only `None` | `None` | nothing | any other value |
| `int` | Any integer | `42` | `42` | any other value |
| `float` | Any float number | `2.35` | `2.35` | any other value |
| `str` | Any string | `"hello"` | `"hello"` | any other value |
| `tuple` | Any tuple | `(1, 2)` | `(1, 2)` | any other value |
| `list` | Any list | `[1, 2]` | `[1, 2]` | any other value |
| `MyClass` | Any instance of MyClass. **And any object that extends MyClass.** | `MyClass()` | that instance | any other object |
| `_` | Any object (even None) | | that value | |
| `ANY` | The same as `_` | | that value | |
| `(int, int)` | A tuple made of any two integers | `(1, 2)` | `1` and `2` | (True, False) |
| `[1, 2, _]` | A list that starts with 1, 2 and ends with any value | `[1, 2, 3]` | `3` | `[1, 2, 3, 4]` |
| `[1, 2, TAIL]` | A list that start with 1, 2 and ends with any sequence | `[1, 2, 3, 4]`| `[3, 4]` | `[1, 7, 7, 7]` |
| `{'type':'dog', age: _ }` | Any dict with `type: "dog"` and with an age | `{"type":"dog", "age": 3}` | `3` | `{"type":"cat", "age":2}` |
| `{'type':'dog', age: int }` | Any dict with `type: "dog"` and with an `int` age | `{"type":"dog", "age": 3}` | `3` | `{"type":"dog", "age":2.3}` |
| `re.compile('(\w+)-(\w+)-cat$')` | Any string that matches that regular expression expr | `"my-fuffy-cat"` | `"my"` and `"puffy"` | `"fuffy-dog"` |
| `Pet(name=_, age=7)` | Any Pet dataclass with `age == 7` | `Pet('rover', 7)` | `['rover']` | `Pet('rover', 8)` |
## Using strict=False
By default `match()` is strict. If no pattern matches, it raises a `MatchError`.
You can prevent it using `strict=False`. In this case `match` just returns `False` if nothing matches.
```
>>> match([1, 2], [1, 2, 3], "whatever")
MatchError: '_' not provided. This case is not handled: [1, 2]
>>> match([1, 2], [1, 2, 3], "whatever", strict=False)
False
```
## Using Regular Expressions
Pampy supports Python's Regex. You can pass a compiled regex as pattern, and Pampy is going to run `patter.search()`, and then pass to the action function the result of `.groups()`.
```python
def what_is(pet):
return match(pet,
re.compile('(\w+)-(\w+)-cat$'), lambda name, my: 'cat '+name,
re.compile('(\w+)-(\w+)-dog$'), lambda name, my: 'dog '+name,
_, "something else"
)
what_is('fuffy-my-dog') # => 'dog fuffy'
what_is('puffy-her-dog') # => 'dog puffy'
what_is('carla-your-cat') # => 'cat carla'
what_is('roger-my-hamster') # => 'something else'
```
## Using Dataclasses
Pampy supports Python 3.7 dataclasses. You can pass the operator `_` as arguments and it will match those fields.
```python
@dataclass
class Pet:
name: str
age: int
pet = Pet('rover', 7)
match(pet, Pet('rover', _), lambda age: age) # => 7
match(pet, Pet(_, 7), lambda name: name) # => 'rover'
match(pet, Pet(_, _), lambda name, age: (name, age)) # => ('rover', 7)
```
## Install
Currently it works only in Python >= 3.6 [Because dict matching can work only in the latest Pythons](https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-dev/2017-December/151283.html).
I'm currently working on a backport with some minor syntax changes for Python2.
To install it:
```$ pip install pampy```
or
```$ pip3 install pampy```
<!--We could port it also to Python 2 but we'd need to change the dict matching syntax.-->