The semantics for this is the same as in F# (probably because F# is based on OCaml):
-
function
allows the use of pattern matching (i.e.|
), but consequently it can be passed only one argument.function p_1 -> exp_1 | … | p_n -> exp_n
is equivalent to
fun exp -> match exp with p_1 -> exp_1 | … | p_n -> exp_n
-
fun
does not allow pattern matching, but can be passed multiple arguments, e.g.fun x y -> x + y
When either of the two forms can be used, fun
is generally preferred due to its compactness.
See also OCaml documentation on Functions.