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Match Syntax Proposal

Overview

This proposal introduces a match expression for BAML, enabling structural pattern matching on data types.

The core idea is to provide a type-safe, expressive way to handle different data shapes, particularly useful for working with union types and structured LLM outputs.

Mental Model

match is an expression that takes a value and compares it against a series of patterns. The first matching pattern determines the result.

It is helpful to think of the variable: Type syntax as syntactic sugar for if statements with instanceof checks.

// This match expression:
match (val) {
  s: string => ...
  u: User => ...
}

// Is logically equivalent to:
if (val instanceof string) {
  let s = val; // narrowed to string
  ...
} else if (val instanceof User) {
  let u = val; // narrowed to User
  ...
}

let result = match (value) {
  Pattern1 => Result1
  Pattern2 => Result2
}

Syntax Examples

Basic Value Matching

enum Status {
  Active
  Inactive
  Pending
}

function StatusMessage(s: Status) -> string {
  return match (s) {
    Status.Active => "User is active"
    Status.Inactive => "User is inactive"
    Status.Pending => "User is pending"
  }
}

Union Type Matching (Discriminated Unions)

BAML often deals with union types (e.g., string | Image). The syntax uses variable: Type for type patterns, consistent with variable declarations.

class Image {
  url string
}

function GetContent(input: string | Image) -> string {
  return match (input) {
    // Variable binding with Type Assertion
    s: string => s
    img: Image => img.url
  }
}

Literal Matching in Unions

You can match exact values within a union without wrapping them.

type Result = "success" | int

match (res) {
  // Exact match (Literal)
  "success" => "Operation succeeded"

  // Type match (Catch-all for int)
  code: int => "Error code: " + code
}

Destructuring

Match can destructure classes and objects using the existing object syntax.

class User {
  name string
  age int
}

function Greet(u: User) -> string {
  return match (u) {
    // Structural match with constant pattern
    User { name: "Admin" } => "Welcome, Administrator"

    // Structural match with guard
    User { name, age } if age < 18 => "Hello, young " + name

    // Structural match binding 'name'
    User { name } => "Hello, " + name
  }
}

Design Rationale

Primary Benefits

  1. Type Safety: The compiler ensures all cases are handled (exhaustiveness checking).
  2. Expressiveness: Concisely handle complex data structures without nested if statements.
  3. LLM Output Handling: Perfect for processing polymorphic outputs from LLMs (e.g., "Extract this, or return an error").

Syntax Decisions

1. Type Patterns: var: Type

Decision: Use variable: Type (e.g., s: string). Rationale: This aligns with BAML's variable declaration syntax (let s: string = ...) and function arguments (arg: Type). It treats the pattern match as a "conditional declaration" of a variable with a specific type. * Discarded Alternative: Type(var) (Rust style) - Rejected because it looks like a constructor/function call, and primitives like string are not wrappers in BAML.

2. Literal Matching

Decision: Use direct literals ("abc", 123). Rationale: Simple and intuitive. No need to wrap them (e.g., string("abc") is redundant).

3. Destructuring

Decision: Use Type { field: pattern }. Rationale: Consistent with object construction syntax.

Key Features

1. Exhaustiveness Checking

The compiler will error if not all possible cases are covered.

// Error: Missing case for Status.Pending
match (status) {
  Status.Active => ...
  Status.Inactive => ...
}

2. Guards

Add conditions to patterns using if.

match (response) {
  // Pattern + Guard
  s: Success if s.score > 0.9 => "High confidence"
  s: Success => "Low confidence"
  Failure => "Failed"
}

3. Wildcards

Use _ or a named variable (without type) to catch "everything else".

match (x) {
  1 => "One"
  other => "Something else: " + other
}

Advanced Matching

1. Subset Matching

Since variable: Type is just sugar for if (variable instanceof Type), the type T doesn't have to be a single variant. It can be a subset of the union.

type Primitive = string | int | bool
type Complex = User | Image
type Any = Primitive | Complex

function Handle(val: Any) -> string {
  return match (val) {
    // Matches if val is string, int, or bool
    p: Primitive => "Got a primitive value"

    // Matches if val is User or Image
    c: Complex => "Got a complex object"
  }
}

2. Wildcard Binding

You can use _ to match without binding a name, or _: Type to match a type without a name.

match (val) {
  // Ignore the value, just match the type
  _: int => "It's an integer"

  // Catch-all wildcard
  _ => "Everything else"
}

Semantics: Value vs Type Patterns

The syntax unifies two kinds of matching:

  1. Value Patterns: Matching against a specific runtime value (Literals, Enum Members).
    • Example: "abc", 123, Status.Active
  2. Type Patterns: Matching against a type variant in a Union.
    • Example: s: string, u: User

Mixed Matching Example

type Mixed = "Special" | string | Status

match (val) {
  // Value Patterns (Specific)
  "Special" => "Got the special string"
  Status.Active => "Got active status"

  // Type Patterns (General)
  // 's' is bound as 'Status' here (narrowed from Status.Active)
  s: Status => "Got some other status"

  // 'str' is bound as 'string'
  str: string => "Got some other string: " + str
}