9mm

9mm

Elixir way to conditionally update a map

I am constructing a JSON object (map) and I need to conditionally set a field. I’m trying to write proper elixir-way code… and I’m at a loss how to do this without an if statement. I also don’t know if rebinding the same variable is a ‘code smell’

data = %{
  requireInteraction: true,
  title: title,
  icon: icon,
  click_action: click_action
}

if body do
  data = Map.put(data, :body, body)
end

Most Liked

gregvaughn

gregvaughn

I’ve written a helper function for this sort of thing before

def maybe_put(map, _key, nil), do: map
def maybe_put(map, key, value), do: Map.put(map, key, value)

Then you can use for multiple fields and pipe easily, for example:

data = %{
  requireInteraction: true,
  title: title,
  icon: icon,
  click_action: click_action
}
|> maybe_put(:body, body)
|> maybe_put(:other_field, other_value)
Eiji

Eiji

I don’t like to have two variables with same name in scope. For me such code is less readable.

If you have only one variable like that then use if or && with || instead like:

data = %{…}
updated_data = if body, do: Map.put(data, :body, body), else: data
# or
updated_data = body && Map.put(data, :body, body) || data

In case you need to do it multiple times then I recommend to do something like:

data = %{…}
data2 = %{example: 5, body: body, sample: 10}
Enum.reduce(data2, data, fn {key, value}, acc -> value && Map.put(acc, key, value) || acc)

This is equivalent for maps:

:maps.filter(fn _key, value -> not is_nil(value) end, data)
peerreynders

peerreynders

Statement mindset:

Expression mindset:

Statements don’t work in an expression based language - that’s why.

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