Programming Flix

Foreach

Flix supports a traditional foreach construct that enables imperative iteration through collections.

We typically use the foreach construct when we want to iterate through one or more collections and execute an effectful operation for each of their elements.

For example, the program:

def main(): Unit \ IO = 
    let fruits = List#{"Apple", "Pear", "Mango"};
    foreach(fruit <- fruits) 
        println(fruit)

Prints the strings Apple, Pear, and Mango.

We can also iterate through multiple collections:

def main(): Unit \ IO = 
    let fruits = List#{"Apple", "Pear", "Mango"};
    let creams = List#{"Vanilla", "Stracciatella"};
    foreach(fruit <- fruits) 
        foreach(cream <- creams)
            println("Would you like some ${fruit} with ${cream} icecream?")

The same loop can also be written:

def main(): Unit \ IO = 
    let fruits = List#{"Apple", "Pear", "Mango"};
    let creams = List#{"Vanilla", "Stracciatella"};
    foreach(fruit <- fruits; cream <- creams) 
        println("Would you like some ${fruit} with ${cream} icecream?")

We can also write loops with a filter. For example:

def main(): Unit \ IO = 
    let fruits = List#{"Apple", "Pear", "Mango"};
    let creams = List#{"Vanilla", "Stracciatella"};
    foreach(fruit <- fruits; if isExcotic(fruit); cream <- creams) 
        println("Would you like some ${fruit} with ${cream} icecream?")

def isExcotic(fruit: String): Bool = match fruit {
    case "Mango" => true
    case _       => false
}

Adding Optional Braces for Visual Clarity

We can sometimes improve the visual clarity of a foreach expression by adding braces:

foreach(fruit <- fruits) {
    foreach(cream <- creams) {
        println("Would you like some ${fruit} with ${cream} icecream?")
    }
}

The braces have no impact on the meaning of the foreach loop; they are purely stylistic.

The Iterable Trait

We can use the foreach syntax to iterate through any collection type that implements the Iterable trait. In particular, the Iterable trait defines a single signature:

///
/// A trait for immutable data structures that can be iterated.
///
pub trait Iterable[t: Type -> Type] {
    ///
    /// Returns an iterator over `t`.
    ///
    pub def iterator(rc: Region[r], t: t[a]): Iterator[a, r, r] \ r
}

Note: Flix expects the expression body of a foreach to have type Unit. If you want to return a value from the loop body, you should use the foreach-yield construct.