Pattern match in conditions and function parameters in Elixir

Kyle Gill: [0:00] Pattern matching can also be used in condition checks or matching variables and function parameters.

[0:05] Inside this HelloWorld module and with this hello() function, you can refactor the function to pattern match a name from a map passed into it. Change the parameter to a map with the percent sign and add the new variable name to be used in place of where value would be.

[0:19] With a user who has a name attribute, like this user with the name Kyle, the value name will be matched off with the map and assigned to username. Make sure to recompile code or run a new Elixir Shell to make sure your changes have taken effect for your module.

[0:34] Then, calling hello and passing in the user, it matches the map from the function declaration name: username with a map you defined of id: 1 named Kyle for the user. The username value is matched with the data on the right assigning Kyle to the username variable.

[0:54] For context, this method of pattern matching maps in function parameters is commonly used in the Phoenix framework. You can also use pattern matching on a condition in a case statement to easily pick variables out of a data structure and run a specific case.

[1:07] With this case of a tuple {1, 2, 3}, it won't match the first case, but it would match the second, as well as binding c to the value 3. The third case wouldn't be reached, but it would match. The underscore is special and is used for binding values you don't care about.

[1:22] When executed, this code will print out the second message.