Result

type Result<Ok, Err> = {#ok : Ok; #err : Err}

Result<Ok, Err> is the type used for returning and propagating errors. It is a type with the variants, #ok(Ok), representing success and containing a value, and #err(Err), representing error and containing an error value.

The simplest way of working with Results is to pattern match on them:

For example, given a function createUser(user : User) : Result<Id, String> where String is an error message we could use it like so:

motoko no-repl
switch(createUser(myUser)) {
  case (#ok(id)) { Debug.print("Created new user with id: " # id) };
  case (#err(msg)) { Debug.print("Failed to create user with the error: " # msg) };
}

public func equal<Ok, Err>(
  eqOk : (Ok, Ok) -> Bool,
  eqErr : (Err, Err) -> Bool,
  r1 : Result<Ok, Err>,
  r2 : Result<Ok, Err>
) : Bool

public func compare<Ok, Err>(
  compareOk : (Ok, Ok) -> Order.Order,
  compareErr : (Err, Err) -> Order.Order,
  r1 : Result<Ok, Err>,
  r2 : Result<Ok, Err>
) : Order.Order

public func chain<R1, R2, Error>(x : Result<R1, Error>, y : R1 -> Result<R2, Error>) : Result<R2, Error>

Allows sequencing of Result values and functions that return Result's themselves.

import Result "mo:base/Result";
type Result<T,E> = Result.Result<T, E>;
func largerThan10(x : Nat) : Result<Nat, Text> =
  if (x > 10) { #ok(x) } else { #err("Not larger than 10.") };

func smallerThan20(x : Nat) : Result<Nat, Text> =
  if (x < 20) { #ok(x) } else { #err("Not smaller than 20.") };

func between10And20(x : Nat) : Result<Nat, Text> =
  Result.chain(largerThan10(x), smallerThan20);

assert(between10And20(15) == #ok(15));
assert(between10And20(9) == #err("Not larger than 10."));
assert(between10And20(21) == #err("Not smaller than 20."));

public func flatten<Ok, Error>(result : Result<Result<Ok, Error>, Error>) : Result<Ok, Error>

Flattens a nested Result.

import Result "mo:base/Result";
assert(Result.flatten<Nat, Text>(#ok(#ok(10))) == #ok(10));
assert(Result.flatten<Nat, Text>(#err("Wrong")) == #err("Wrong"));
assert(Result.flatten<Nat, Text>(#ok(#err("Wrong"))) == #err("Wrong"));

public func mapOk<Ok1, Ok2, Error>(x : Result<Ok1, Error>, f : Ok1 -> Ok2) : Result<Ok2, Error>

Maps the Ok type/value, leaving any Error type/value unchanged.

public func mapErr<Ok, Error1, Error2>(x : Result<Ok, Error1>, f : Error1 -> Error2) : Result<Ok, Error2>

Maps the Err type/value, leaving any Ok type/value unchanged.

public func fromOption<R, E>(x : ?R, err : E) : Result<R, E>

Create a result from an option, including an error value to handle the null case.

import Result "mo:base/Result";
assert(Result.fromOption(?42, "err") == #ok(42));
assert(Result.fromOption(null, "err") == #err("err"));

public func toOption<R, E>(r : Result<R, E>) : ?R

Create an option from a result, turning all #err into null.

import Result "mo:base/Result";
assert(Result.toOption(#ok(42)) == ?42);
assert(Result.toOption(#err("err")) == null);

public func iterate<Ok, Err>(res : Result<Ok, Err>, f : Ok -> ())

Applies a function to a successful value, but discards the result. Use iterate if you're only interested in the side effect f produces.

import Result "mo:base/Result";
var counter : Nat = 0;
Result.iterate<Nat, Text>(#ok(5), func (x : Nat) { counter += x });
assert(counter == 5);
Result.iterate<Nat, Text>(#err("Wrong"), func (x : Nat) { counter += x });
assert(counter == 5);

public func isOk(r : Result<Any, Any>) : Bool

public func isErr(r : Result<Any, Any>) : Bool

public func assertOk(r : Result<Any, Any>)

Asserts that its argument is an #ok result, traps otherwise.

public func assertErr(r : Result<Any, Any>)

Asserts that its argument is an #err result, traps otherwise.

public func fromUpper<Ok, Err>(result : {#Ok : Ok; #Err : Err}) : Result<Ok, Err>

Converts an upper cased #Ok, #Err result type into a lowercased #ok, #err result type. On the IC, a common convention is to use #Ok and #Err as the variants of a result type, but in Motoko, we use #ok and #err instead.

public func toUpper<Ok, Err>(result : Result<Ok, Err>) : {#Ok : Ok; #Err : Err}

Converts a lower cased #ok, #err result type into an upper cased #Ok, #Err result type. On the IC, a common convention is to use #Ok and #Err as the variants of a result type, but in Motoko, we use #ok and #err instead.