Today I Learned

hashrocket A Hashrocket project

Elixir IEX multi-line command

A change on Elixir 1.12.0 made possible to pipe |> multi-line commands in iex where the |> operator is in the beginning of new lines.

That means that we can:

iex(1)> :foo
:foo
iex(2)>       |> to_string()
"foo"
iex(3)>       |> String.upcase()
"FOO"

The docs also mention that all other binary operators works the same way, except +/2 and -/2, so that's also valid:

iex(1)> [:foo]
[:foo]
iex(2)> ++ [:bar]
[:foo, :bar]
iex(3)> |> Enum.join(" ")
"foo bar"
iex(4)> |> String.upcase()
"FOO BAR"

Each line will run at a new command, so if you assign a variable in the first line you may not have what you expect, so watch out.

See More #elixir TILs
Looking for help? At Hashrocket, we 💜 Elixir! From our many Elixir client projects, to sponsoring the Chicago Elixir Meetup, to the source code for this application, we are invested in this community. Contact us today to talk about your Elixir project.