elixir function arity

In Elixir, the arity of a function refers to the number of arguments it accepts. Each function in Elixir is defined with a specific number of arguments, and the arity of a function determines how many arguments can be passed to it when it is called.

Elixir functions can have different arities, which means they can be defined to accept a variable number of arguments. This is achieved using the special syntax &function_name/number_of_arguments. For example, if a function is defined with an arity of 2, it means it expects to receive exactly 2 arguments when called.

It is important to note that in Elixir, functions with different arities are considered to be different functions. This is known as function overloading. When calling a function, Elixir will automatically choose the appropriate function based on the number of arguments passed to it.

Here is an example to illustrate function arity in Elixir:

defmodule MyModule do
  def my_function(arg1, arg2) do
    IO.puts("Function with arity 2")
  end

  def my_function(arg1) do
    IO.puts("Function with arity 1")
  end
end

MyModule.my_function(1, 2)  # Output: "Function with arity 2"
MyModule.my_function(1)     # Output: "Function with arity 1"

In the example above, my_function/2 is defined with an arity of 2 and my_function/1 is defined with an arity of 1. When my_function is called with two arguments, the function with arity 2 is executed. When it is called with only one argument, the function with arity 1 is executed.

This is the explanation of function arity in Elixir without any additional phrases.