apply
The BIF apply(Mod, Func, [Arg1, Arg2, ..., ArgN])
applies the function Func
in the module
Mod
to the arguments Arg1
, Arg2
,
... ArgN
. It is equivalent to calling this:
| Mod:Func(Arg1, Arg2, ..., ArgN) |
apply
lets you call a function in a module, passing it
arguments. What makes it different from calling the function
directly is that the module name and/or the function name can be
computed dynamically.
All the Erlang BIFs can also be called using apply
by assuming
that they belong to the module erlang
. So, to build a dynamic
call to a BIF, we might write the following:
| 1> apply(erlang, atom_to_list, [hello]). |
| "hello" |
Warning: The use of apply
should be avoided if possible. When the number of arguments to a function is known in advance, ...
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