Operators, Keywords, and Types

The sections below include the coding conventions with respect to operators, keywords, and types.

Keywords and Types
Operators

Keywords and Types

Do not keep spaces between the type and the pipe operator when it is in a union type (e.g., string|int).

Example,

type method "POST"|"GET"|"PUT";
    
(int|string) variable = 0;
  
function getValue(string key) returns (string|error) {
    ...
}
  
function getName() returns string|error {
    (string|error) valueOrError = getValue("name");
    ...
}

Do not keep spaces between the type and the optional operator ?.

Example,

string? name;

Avoid line breaks in constrained types.

Do’s

  map<int|string> // map reference type

Don’ts

map<
    int
    |
    string
>

Operators

Keep only a single space before and after the = operator.

Example,

int a = 0;

Do not keep spaces around the semicolon ;.
Do not keep spaces between the unary operator and the expression.

Example,

a = -a;

Keep a single space before and after any binary or ternary operator.

Example,

var fullName = firstName + lastName;
  
string|() name = isNameAvailable() ? getName() : "Unknown";
  
var elvisOperator = name ?: "Unknown";

Keep a single space before and after a compound operator such as -= and +=.

Example,

name += lastName;

When accessing a function, object, or record from another module, do not keep spaces around :.

Example,

io:println("john");
http:Response res = new();

"Star"

"Watch"