Rules / Operators / structural

does Skeleton

infix does

does
infixstructural 14/27non-assocRaku++ runs this — 1 of 7 results differdocs.raku.org ↗

The rules for does have not been written yet. Everything below is extracted rather than authored: the official documentation supplies the classification, and the interpreters were asked directly about the rest.

What is established #

Classification #

does is parsed as an infix at the structural precedence level, non-associative.

That is level 14 of 27 on the ladder, counting from the tightest. Operators sharing a level bind equally; grouping among them is decided by associativity alone.

Shares its precedence level with #

but, cmp, coll, unicmp, leg, <=>, .., ..^, ^.., ^..^.

These all bind equally tightly, so an expression mixing them groups by associativity alone.

What the interpreter said #

Raku++ parses this spelling. Asked to compile:

my $a = 6; my $b = 3; sink($a does $b)

…it got through the parser. On its own that establishes very little: it says nothing about whether the construct executes, let alone whether the result is right. Where the behaviour table below exists, that is the stronger evidence — those expressions were actually run.

Covered upstream #

The official documentation has a section for this construct: docs.raku.org. Until the rules here are written, that is the better reference.

Observed behaviour #

Each expression below was executed by both interpreters when this page was built; the results are recorded, not written. The operands are chosen to cross the boundaries that catch people out: string against number, a list where a scalar was meant, a boolean, an undefined value, and an exact rational.

1 of 7 of these disagree between Raku++ and Rakudo — shown side by side below. A disagreement here is a defect report waiting to be written, not a documented rule.

ExpressionRaku++Rakudo
1 does 2rejected by both — Cannot use 'does' operator on a Int, did you mean 'but'?
"a" does "b"rejected by both — Cannot use 'does' operator on a Str, did you mean 'but'?
1 does "2"rejected by both — Cannot use 'does' operator on a Int, did you mean 'but'?
(1, 2) does (3, 4, 5)List+{} | (1 2)ERR Method 'Int' must be resolved by class List+{<anon|1>,<anon|2>,<anon|3>} because it exists in multiple roles (<anon|3>, <anon|2>, <anon|1>)
True does Falserejected by both — Cannot use 'does' operator on a Bool, did you mean 'but'?
Nil does 1rejected by both — Undefined routine 'does'
1/2 does 1/3rejected by both — Cannot use 'does' operator on a Rat, did you mean 'but'?