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programming - How to exit from the innermost enclosing pure function?


Here is what I tried to do:


Scan[Function[x,
Scan[Function[y,
If[y == 2, Return[]];

(* Do something useful *) Print[y]],
x]],
{{1, 2, 3}, {4, 5, 6}}]

My intention was that the Return[] exited from the innermost enclosing pure function (having the parameter y). Instead, it terminated execution of the innermost enclosing Scan and proceeded to the next iteration of the outermost Scan.


1 4 5 6

The documentation for Return says:



Return exits only the innermost construct in which it is invoked




I do not see why the innermost Scan is considered the innermost enclosing construct here. If, CompoundExpression and Function look like more inner constructs.




Question 1: Could you give a more clear explanation of what precisely Return does?




After I realized that Return does not do what I want here, I looked for workaround, and found several ones:


(a) I can restructure the body of the innermost pure function:


Scan[Function[x,
Scan[Function[y,
If[y != 2,

(* Do something useful *) Print[y]]
],
x]],
{{1, 2, 3}, {4, 5, 6}}]

In this case it looks straighforward, but becomes messy if I have more nested control flow operators and multiple points where I might need to exit.


(b) I can use infamous Label and Goto constructs:


Scan[Function[x,
Scan[Function[y,
Module[{exit},

If[y == 2, Goto[exit]];
(* Do something useful *) Print[y];
Label[exit];
]],
x]],
{{1, 2, 3}, {4, 5, 6}}]

(c) I can use Throw and Catch constructs:


Scan[Function[x,
Scan[Function[y,

Module[{exit},
Catch[
If[y == 2, Throw[Null, exit]];
(* Do something useful *) Print[y],
exit]]],
x]],
{{1, 2, 3}, {4, 5, 6}}]



Question 2: Which of them would you prefer? Or can you suggest a better way to do this?




Answer



You can specify the evaluation of which construct should be stopped by Return by providing the second argument (undocumented?). For example,


Scan[Function[x,
Module[{},
Print[x];
Return[$Failed, Module];
Print[-x]]],
{1, 2, 3}]

or



Scan[Function[x,
Print[x];
Return[$Failed, CompoundExpression];
Print[-x]],
{1, 2, 3}]

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