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-rw-r--r--erts/doc/src/match_spec.xml74
1 files changed, 54 insertions, 20 deletions
diff --git a/erts/doc/src/match_spec.xml b/erts/doc/src/match_spec.xml
index ca73d78b8d..7be3d15de6 100644
--- a/erts/doc/src/match_spec.xml
+++ b/erts/doc/src/match_spec.xml
@@ -33,21 +33,15 @@
<file>match_spec.xml</file>
</header>
<p>A "match specification" (match_spec) is an Erlang term describing a
- small "program" that will try to match something (either the
- parameters to a function as used in the <c><![CDATA[erlang:trace_pattern/2]]></c>
- BIF, or the objects in an ETS table.).
+ small "program" that will try to match something. It can be used
+ to either control tracing with
+ <seealso marker="erlang#trace_pattern/3">erlang:trace_pattern/3</seealso>
+ or to search for objects in an ETS table with for example
+ <seealso marker="stdlib:ets#select/2">ets:select/2</seealso>.
The match_spec in many ways works like a small function in Erlang, but is
interpreted/compiled by the Erlang runtime system to something much more
efficient than calling an Erlang function. The match_spec is also
very limited compared to the expressiveness of real Erlang functions.</p>
- <p>Match specifications are given to the BIF <c><![CDATA[erlang:trace_pattern/2]]></c> to
- execute matching of function arguments as well as to define some actions
- to be taken when the match succeeds (the <c><![CDATA[MatchBody]]></c> part). Match
- specifications can also be used in ETS, to specify objects to be
- returned from an <c><![CDATA[ets:select/2]]></c> call (or other select
- calls). The semantics and restrictions differ slightly when using
- match specifications for tracing and in ETS, the differences are
- defined in a separate paragraph below.</p>
<p>The most notable difference between a match_spec and an Erlang fun is
of course the syntax. Match specifications are Erlang terms, not
Erlang code. A match_spec also has a somewhat strange concept of
@@ -382,6 +376,51 @@
the pid() of the current process.</p>
</section>
+ <marker id="match_target"></marker>
+ <section>
+ <title>Match target</title>
+ <p>Each execution of a match specification is done against
+ a match target term. The format and content of the target term
+ depends on the context in which the match is done. The match
+ target for ETS is always a full table tuple. The match target
+ for call trace is always a list of all function arguments. The
+ match target for event trace depends on the event type, see
+ table below.</p>
+ <table>
+ <row>
+ <cell align="left" valign="middle">Context</cell>
+ <cell align="left" valign="middle">Type</cell>
+ <cell align="left" valign="middle">Match target</cell>
+ <cell align="left" valign="middle">Description</cell>
+ </row>
+ <row>
+ <cell align="left" valign="middle">ETS</cell>
+ <cell align="left" valign="middle"></cell>
+ <cell align="left" valign="middle">{Key, Value1, Value2, ...}</cell>
+ <cell align="left" valign="middle">A table object</cell>
+ </row>
+ <row>
+ <cell align="left" valign="middle">Trace</cell>
+ <cell align="left" valign="middle">call</cell>
+ <cell align="left" valign="middle">[Arg1, Arg2, ...]</cell>
+ <cell align="left" valign="middle">Function arguments</cell>
+ </row>
+ <row>
+ <cell align="left" valign="middle">Trace</cell>
+ <cell align="left" valign="middle">send</cell>
+ <cell align="left" valign="middle">[Receiver, Message]</cell>
+ <cell align="left" valign="middle">Receiving process/port and message term</cell>
+ </row>
+ <row>
+ <cell align="left" valign="middle">Trace</cell>
+ <cell align="left" valign="middle">'receive'</cell>
+ <cell align="left" valign="middle">[Node, Sender, Message]</cell>
+ <cell align="left" valign="middle">Sending node, process/port and message term</cell>
+ </row>
+ <tcaption>Match target depending on context</tcaption>
+ </table>
+ </section>
+
<section>
<title>Variables and literals</title>
<p>Variables take the form <c><![CDATA['$<number>']]></c> where
@@ -396,10 +435,8 @@
<c><![CDATA[MatchCondition]]></c> parts, only variables bound previously may
be used. As a special case, in the
<c><![CDATA[MatchCondition/MatchBody]]></c> parts, the variable <c><![CDATA['$_']]></c>
- expands to the whole expression which matched the
- <c><![CDATA[MatchHead]]></c> (i.e., the whole parameter list to the possibly
- traced function or the whole matching object in the ets table)
- and the variable <c><![CDATA['$$']]></c> expands to a list
+ expands to the whole <seealso marker="#match_target">match target</seealso>
+ term and the variable <c><![CDATA['$$']]></c> expands to a list
of the values of all bound variables in order
(i.e. <c><![CDATA[['$1','$2', ...]]]></c>).
</p>
@@ -480,8 +517,8 @@
<p>For each tuple in the <c><![CDATA[MatchExpression]]></c> list and while no
match has succeeded:</p>
<list type="bulleted">
- <item>Match the <c><![CDATA[MatchHead]]></c> part against the arguments to the
- function,
+ <item>Match the <c><![CDATA[MatchHead]]></c> part against the
+ match target term,
binding the <c><![CDATA['$<number>']]></c> variables (much like in
<c><![CDATA[ets:match/2]]></c>).
If the <c><![CDATA[MatchHead]]></c> cannot match the arguments, the match fails.
@@ -522,9 +559,6 @@
term. The <c><![CDATA[ActionTerm]]></c>'s are executed as in an imperative
language, i.e. for their side effects. Functions with side effects
are also allowed when tracing.</p>
- <p>In ETS the match head is a <c><![CDATA[tuple()]]></c> (or a single match
- variable) while it is a list (or a single match variable) when
- tracing.</p>
</section>
<section>