View Source Structs

We learned about maps in earlier chapters:

iex> map = %{a: 1, b: 2}
%{a: 1, b: 2}
iex> map[:a]
1
iex> %{map | a: 3}
%{a: 3, b: 2}

Structs are extensions built on top of maps that provide compile-time checks and default values.

Defining structs

To define a struct, the defstruct/1 construct is used:

iex> defmodule User do
...>   defstruct name: "John", age: 27
...> end

The keyword list used with defstruct defines what fields the struct will have along with their default values. Structs take the name of the module they're defined in. In the example above, we defined a struct named User.

We can now create User structs by using a syntax similar to the one used to create maps:

iex> %User{}
%User{age: 27, name: "John"}
iex> %User{name: "Jane"}
%User{age: 27, name: "Jane"}

Structs provide compile-time guarantees that only the fields defined through defstruct will be allowed to exist in a struct:

iex> %User{oops: :field}
** (KeyError) key :oops not found expanding struct: User.__struct__/1

Accessing and updating structs

Structs share the same syntax for accessing and updating fields as maps of fixed keys:

iex> john = %User{}
%User{age: 27, name: "John"}
iex> john.name
"John"
iex> jane = %{john | name: "Jane"}
%User{age: 27, name: "Jane"}
iex> %{jane | oops: :field}
** (KeyError) key :oops not found in: %User{age: 27, name: "Jane"}

When using the update syntax (|), Elixir is aware that no new keys will be added to the struct, allowing the maps underneath to share their structure in memory. In the example above, both john and jane share the same key structure in memory.

Structs can also be used in pattern matching, both for matching on the value of specific keys as well as for ensuring that the matching value is a struct of the same type as the matched value.

iex> %User{name: name} = john
%User{age: 27, name: "John"}
iex> name
"John"
iex> %User{} = %{}
** (MatchError) no match of right hand side value: %{}

Structs are bare maps underneath

Structs are simply maps with a "special" field named __struct__ that holds the name of the struct:

iex> is_map(john)
true
iex> john.__struct__
User

However, structs do not inherit any of the protocols that maps do. For example, you can neither enumerate nor access a struct:

iex> john = %User{}
%User{age: 27, name: "John"}
iex> john[:name]
** (UndefinedFunctionError) function User.fetch/2 is undefined (User does not implement the Access behaviour)
             User.fetch(%User{age: 27, name: "John"}, :name)
iex> Enum.each(john, fn {field, value} -> IO.puts(value) end)
** (Protocol.UndefinedError) protocol Enumerable not implemented for %User{age: 27, name: "John"} of type User (a struct)

Structs alongside protocols provide one of the most important features for Elixir developers: data polymorphism. That's what we will explore in the next chapter.

Default values and required keys

If you don't specify a default key value when defining a struct, nil will be assumed:

iex> defmodule Product do
...>   defstruct [:name]
...> end
iex> %Product{}
%Product{name: nil}

You can define a structure combining both fields with explicit default values, and implicit nil values. In this case you must first specify the fields which implicitly default to nil:

iex> defmodule User do
...>   defstruct [:email, name: "John", age: 27]
...> end
iex> %User{}
%User{age: 27, email: nil, name: "John"}

Doing it in reverse order will raise a syntax error:

iex> defmodule User do
...>   defstruct [name: "John", age: 27, :email]
...> end
** (SyntaxError) iex:107: unexpected expression after keyword list. Keyword lists must always come last in lists and maps.

You can also enforce that certain keys have to be specified when creating the struct via the @enforce_keys module attribute:

iex> defmodule Car do
...>   @enforce_keys [:make]
...>   defstruct [:model, :make]
...> end
iex> %Car{}
** (ArgumentError) the following keys must also be given when building struct Car: [:make]
    expanding struct: Car.__struct__/1

Enforcing keys provides a simple compile-time guarantee to aid developers when building structs. It is not enforced on updates and it does not provide any sort of value-validation.