sealed abstract class Either[+A, +B] extends Product with Serializable
Represents a value of one of two possible types (a disjoint union.) An instance of Either is either an instance of scala.util.Left or scala.util.Right.
A common use of Either is as an alternative to scala.Option for dealing with possible missing values. In this usage, scala.None is replaced with a scala.util.Left which can contain useful information. scala.util.Right takes the place of scala.Some. Convention dictates that Left is used for failure and Right is used for success.
For example, you could use Either[String, Int]
to detect whether a
received input is a String or an Int.
val in = Console.readLine("Type Either a string or an Int: ") val result: Either[String,Int] = try { Right(in.toInt) } catch { case e: Exception => Left(in) } println(result match { case Right(x) => s"You passed me the Int: $x, which I will increment. $x + 1 = ${x+1}" case Left(x) => s"You passed me the String: $x" })
Either is right-biased, which means that Right is assumed to be the default case to operate on. If it is Left, operations like map, flatMap, ... return the Left value unchanged:
Right(12).map(_ * 2) // Right(24) Left(23).map(_ * 2) // Left(23)
As Either defines the methods map
and flatMap
, it can also be used in for comprehensions:
val right1: Right[Double, Int] = Right(1) val right2 = Right(2) val right3 = Right(3) val left23: Left[Double, Int] = Left(23.0) val left42 = Left(42.0) for { a <- right1 b <- right2 c <- right3 } yield a + b + c // Right(6) for { a <- right1 b <- right2 c <- left23 } yield a + b + c // Left(23.0) for { a <- right1 b <- left23 c <- right2 } yield a + b + c // Left(23.0) // It is advisable to provide the type of the “missing” value (especially the right value for `Left`) // as otherwise that type might be inferred as `Nothing` without context: for { a <- left23 b <- right1 c <- left42 // type at this position: Either[Double, Nothing] } yield a + b + c // ^ // error: ambiguous reference to overloaded definition, // both method + in class Int of type (x: Char)Int // and method + in class Int of type (x: Byte)Int // match argument types (Nothing)
- Source
- Either.scala
- Version
2.0, 2016-07-15
- Since
2.7
- Alphabetic
- By Inheritance
- Either
- Serializable
- Serializable
- Product
- Equals
- AnyRef
- Any
- by MergeableEither
- by any2stringadd
- by StringFormat
- by Ensuring
- by ArrowAssoc
- Hide All
- Show All
- Public
- All
Abstract Value Members
-
abstract
def
canEqual(that: Any): Boolean
A method that should be called from every well-designed equals method that is open to be overridden in a subclass.
A method that should be called from every well-designed equals method that is open to be overridden in a subclass. See Programming in Scala, Chapter 28 for discussion and design.
- that
the value being probed for possible equality
- returns
true if this instance can possibly equal
that
, otherwise false
- Definition Classes
- Equals
-
abstract
def
isLeft: Boolean
Returns
true
if this is aLeft
,false
otherwise.Returns
true
if this is aLeft
,false
otherwise.Left("tulip").isLeft // true Right("venus fly-trap").isLeft // false
-
abstract
def
isRight: Boolean
Returns
true
if this is aRight
,false
otherwise.Returns
true
if this is aRight
,false
otherwise.Left("tulip").isRight // false Right("venus fly-trap").isRight // true
-
abstract
def
productArity: Int
The size of this product.
-
abstract
def
productElement(n: Int): Any
The nth element of this product, 0-based.
The nth element of this product, 0-based. In other words, for a product
A(x1, ..., xk)
, returnsx(n+1)
where0 <= n < k
.- n
the index of the element to return
- returns
the element
n
elements after the first element
- Definition Classes
- Product
- Exceptions thrown
Concrete Value Members
-
final
def
contains[BB >: B](elem: BB): Boolean
Returns
true
if this is aRight
and its value is equal toelem
(as determined by==
), returnsfalse
otherwise.Returns
true
if this is aRight
and its value is equal toelem
(as determined by==
), returnsfalse
otherwise.// Returns true because value of Right is "something" which equals "something". Right("something") contains "something" // Returns false because value of Right is "something" which does not equal "anything". Right("something") contains "anything" // Returns false because there is no value for Right. Left("something") contains "something"
- elem
the element to test.
- returns
true
if the option has an element that is equal (as determined by==
) toelem
,false
otherwise.
-
def
exists(p: (B) ⇒ Boolean): Boolean
Returns
false
ifLeft
or returns the result of the application of the given predicate to theRight
value.Returns
false
ifLeft
or returns the result of the application of the given predicate to theRight
value.Right(12).exists(_ > 10) // true Right(7).exists(_ > 10) // false Left(12).exists(_ > 10) // false
-
def
filterOrElse[AA >: A](p: (B) ⇒ Boolean, zero: ⇒ AA): Either[AA, B]
Returns
Right
with the existing value ofRight
if this is aRight
and the given predicatep
holds for the right value, returnsLeft(zero)
if this is aRight
and the given predicatep
does not hold for the right value, returnsLeft
with the existing value ofLeft
if this is aLeft
.Returns
Right
with the existing value ofRight
if this is aRight
and the given predicatep
holds for the right value, returnsLeft(zero)
if this is aRight
and the given predicatep
does not hold for the right value, returnsLeft
with the existing value ofLeft
if this is aLeft
.Right(12).filterOrElse(_ > 10, -1) // Right(12) Right(7).filterOrElse(_ > 10, -1) // Left(-1) Left(12).filterOrElse(_ > 10, -1) // Left(12)
-
def
flatMap[AA >: A, Y](f: (B) ⇒ Either[AA, Y]): Either[AA, Y]
Binds the given function across
Right
.Binds the given function across
Right
.- f
The function to bind across
Right
.
-
def
fold[C](fa: (A) ⇒ C, fb: (B) ⇒ C): C
Applies
fa
if this is aLeft
orfb
if this is aRight
.Applies
fa
if this is aLeft
orfb
if this is aRight
.- fa
the function to apply if this is a
Left
- fb
the function to apply if this is a
Right
- returns
the results of applying the function
val result: Either[Exception, Value] = possiblyFailingOperation() log(result.fold( ex => s"Operation failed with $ex", v => s"Operation produced value: $v" ))
Example: -
def
forall(f: (B) ⇒ Boolean): Boolean
Returns
true
ifLeft
or returns the result of the application of the given predicate to theRight
value.Returns
true
ifLeft
or returns the result of the application of the given predicate to theRight
value.Right(12).forall(_ > 10) // true Right(7).forall(_ > 10) // false Left(12).forall(_ > 10) // true
-
def
foreach[U](f: (B) ⇒ U): Unit
Executes the given side-effecting function if this is a
Right
.Executes the given side-effecting function if this is a
Right
.Right(12).foreach(x => println(x)) // prints "12" Left(12).foreach(x => println(x)) // doesn't print
- f
The side-effecting function to execute.
-
def
getOrElse[BB >: B](or: ⇒ BB): BB
Returns the value from this
Right
or the given argument if this is aLeft
.Returns the value from this
Right
or the given argument if this is aLeft
.Right(12).getOrElse(17) // 12 Left(12).getOrElse(17) // 17
-
def
joinLeft[A1 >: A, B1 >: B, C](implicit ev: <:<[A1, Either[C, B1]]): Either[C, B1]
Joins an
Either
throughLeft
.Joins an
Either
throughLeft
.This method requires that the left side of this Either is itself an Either type. That is, this must be some type like:
Either[Either[C, B], B]
(which respects the type parameter bounds, shown below.)
If this instance is a Left[Either[C, B]] then the contained Either[C, B] will be returned, otherwise this value will be returned unmodified.
Left[Either[Int, String], String](Right("flower")).joinLeft // Result: Right("flower") Left[Either[Int, String], String](Left(12)).joinLeft // Result: Left(12) Right[Either[Int, String], String]("daisy").joinLeft // Result: Right("daisy")
This method, and
joinRight
, are analogous toOption#flatten
-
def
joinRight[A1 >: A, B1 >: B, C](implicit ev: <:<[B1, Either[A1, C]]): Either[A1, C]
Joins an
Either
throughRight
.Joins an
Either
throughRight
.This method requires that the right side of this Either is itself an Either type. That is, this must be some type like:
Either[A, Either[A, C]]
(which respects the type parameter bounds, shown below.)
If this instance is a Right[Either[A, C]] then the contained Either[A, C] will be returned, otherwise this value will be returned unmodified.
Right[String, Either[String, Int]](Right(12)).joinRight // Result: Right(12) Right[String, Either[String, Int]](Left("flower")).joinRight // Result: Left("flower") Left[String, Either[String, Int]]("flower").joinRight // Result: Left("flower")
This method, and
joinLeft
, are analogous toOption#flatten
Example: -
def
left: LeftProjection[A, B]
Projects this
Either
as aLeft
. -
def
map[Y](f: (B) ⇒ Y): Either[A, Y]
The given function is applied if this is a
Right
.The given function is applied if this is a
Right
.Right(12).map(x => "flower") // Result: Right("flower") Left(12).map(x => "flower") // Result: Left(12)
-
def
merge: B
- Implicit
- This member is added by an implicit conversion from Either[A, B] to MergeableEither[B] performed by method MergeableEither in scala.util.Either.
- Definition Classes
- MergeableEither
-
def
productIterator: Iterator[Any]
An iterator over all the elements of this product.
An iterator over all the elements of this product.
- returns
in the default implementation, an
Iterator[Any]
- Definition Classes
- Product
-
def
productPrefix: String
A string used in the
toString
methods of derived classes.A string used in the
toString
methods of derived classes. Implementations may override this method to prepend a string prefix to the result oftoString
methods.- returns
in the default implementation, the empty string
- Definition Classes
- Product
-
def
right: RightProjection[A, B]
Projects this
Either
as aRight
.Projects this
Either
as aRight
.Because
Either
is right-biased, this method is not normally needed. (It is retained in the API for now for easy cross-compilation between Scala 2.11 and 2.12.) -
def
swap: Either[B, A]
If this is a
Left
, then return the left value inRight
or vice versa.If this is a
Left
, then return the left value inRight
or vice versa.val right = Right(2) val left = Left(3) for { r1 <- right r2 <- left.swap } yield r1 * r2 // Right(6)
, val left: Either[String, Int] = Left("left") val right: Either[Int, String] = l.swap // Result: Right("left")
Examples: -
def
toOption: Option[B]
Returns a
Some
containing theRight
value if it exists or aNone
if this is aLeft
.Returns a
Some
containing theRight
value if it exists or aNone
if this is aLeft
.Right(12).toOption // Some(12) Left(12).toOption // None
-
def
toSeq: collection.immutable.Seq[B]
Returns a
Seq
containing theRight
value if it exists or an emptySeq
if this is aLeft
.Returns a
Seq
containing theRight
value if it exists or an emptySeq
if this is aLeft
.Right(12).toSeq // Seq(12) Left(12).toSeq // Seq()
- def toTry(implicit ev: <:<[A, Throwable]): Try[B]
This is the documentation for the Scala standard library.
Package structure
The scala package contains core types like
Int
,Float
,Array
orOption
which are accessible in all Scala compilation units without explicit qualification or imports.Notable packages include:
scala.collection
and its sub-packages contain Scala's collections frameworkscala.collection.immutable
- Immutable, sequential data-structures such asVector
,List
,Range
,HashMap
orHashSet
scala.collection.mutable
- Mutable, sequential data-structures such asArrayBuffer
,StringBuilder
,HashMap
orHashSet
scala.collection.concurrent
- Mutable, concurrent data-structures such asTrieMap
scala.collection.parallel.immutable
- Immutable, parallel data-structures such asParVector
,ParRange
,ParHashMap
orParHashSet
scala.collection.parallel.mutable
- Mutable, parallel data-structures such asParArray
,ParHashMap
,ParTrieMap
orParHashSet
scala.concurrent
- Primitives for concurrent programming such asFutures
andPromises
scala.io
- Input and output operationsscala.math
- Basic math functions and additional numeric types likeBigInt
andBigDecimal
scala.sys
- Interaction with other processes and the operating systemscala.util.matching
- Regular expressionsOther packages exist. See the complete list on the right.
Additional parts of the standard library are shipped as separate libraries. These include:
scala.reflect
- Scala's reflection API (scala-reflect.jar)scala.xml
- XML parsing, manipulation, and serialization (scala-xml.jar)scala.swing
- A convenient wrapper around Java's GUI framework called Swing (scala-swing.jar)scala.util.parsing
- Parser combinators, including an example implementation of a JSON parser (scala-parser-combinators.jar)Automatic imports
Identifiers in the scala package and the
scala.Predef
object are always in scope by default.Some of these identifiers are type aliases provided as shortcuts to commonly used classes. For example,
List
is an alias forscala.collection.immutable.List
.Other aliases refer to classes provided by the underlying platform. For example, on the JVM,
String
is an alias forjava.lang.String
.