Recursive cases (rcases) tactic and related tactics #
rcases is a tactic that will perform cases recursively, according to a pattern. It is used to
destructure hypotheses or expressions composed of inductive types like h1 : a ∧ b ∧ c ∨ d or
h2 : ∃ x y, trans_rel R x y. Usual usage might be rcases h1 with ⟨ha, hb, hc⟩ | hd or
rcases h2 with ⟨x, y, _ | ⟨z, hxz, hzy⟩⟩ for these examples.
Each element of an rcases pattern is matched against a particular local hypothesis (most of which
are generated during the execution of rcases and represent individual elements destructured from
the input expression). An rcases pattern has the following grammar:
- A name like
x, which names the active hypothesis asx. - A blank
_, which does nothing (letting the automatic naming system used bycasesname the hypothesis). - A hyphen
-, which clears the active hypothesis and any dependents. - The keyword
rfl, which expects the hypothesis to beh : a = b, and callssubston the hypothesis (which has the effect of replacingbwithaeverywhere or vice versa). - A type ascription
p : ty, which sets the type of the hypothesis totyand then matches it againstp. (Of course,tymust unify with the actual type ofhfor this to work.) - A tuple pattern
⟨p1, p2, p3⟩, which matches a constructor with many arguments, or a series of nested conjunctions or existentials. For example if the active hypothesis isa ∧ b ∧ c, then the conjunction will be destructured, andp1will be matched againsta,p2againstband so on. - An alteration pattern
p1 | p2 | p3, which matches an inductive type with multiple constructors, or a nested disjunction likea ∨ b ∨ c.
The patterns are fairly liberal about the exact shape of the constructors, and will insert additional alternation branches and tuple arguments if there are not enough arguments provided, and reuse the tail for further matches if there are too many arguments provided to alternation and tuple patterns.
This file also contains the obtain and rintro tactics, which use the same syntax of rcases
patterns but with a slightly different use case:
rintro(orrintros) is used likerintro x ⟨y, z⟩and is the same asintrosfollowed byrcaseson the newly introduced arguments.obtainis the same asrcasesbut with a syntax styled afterhaverather thancases.obtain ⟨hx, hy⟩ | hz := foois equivalent torcases foo with ⟨hx, hy⟩ | hz. Unlikercases,obtainalso allows one to omit:= foo, although a type must be provided in this case, as inobtain ⟨hx, hy⟩ | hz : a ∧ b ∨ c, in which case it produces a subgoal for provinga ∧ b ∨ cin addition to the subgoalshx : a, hy : b |- goalandhz : c |- goal.
Tags #
rcases, rintro, obtain, destructuring, cases, pattern matching, match
These synonyms for list are used to clarify the meanings of the many
usages of lists in this module.
-
listΣis used where a list represents a disjunction, such as the list of possible constructors of an inductive type. -
listΠis used where a list represents a conjunction, such as the list of arguments of an individual constructor.
These are merely type synonyms, and so are not checked for consistency by the compiler.
The def/local notation combination makes Lean retain these
annotations in reported types.
A list, with a disjunctive meaning (like a list of inductive constructors, or subgoals)
Equations
A list, with a conjunctive meaning (like a list of constructor arguments, or hypotheses)
Equations
Like zip_with, but if the lists don't match in length, the excess elements will be put at the
end of the result.
Equations
- tactic.merge_list m (a :: l₁) (b :: l₂) = m a b :: tactic.merge_list m l₁ l₂
- tactic.merge_list m (hd :: tl) list.nil = hd :: tl
- tactic.merge_list m list.nil (hd :: tl) = hd :: tl
- tactic.merge_list m list.nil list.nil = list.nil