Multiple assignment via pattern matching with Array is not working with uppercase vals

Question

After reading this answer I\'ve tried to play with this nice feature by myself and found out that it is ok when I\'m do

scala> val Array(a,b,n) = \"XXX,YY         


        

Answer 1

Scala treats it as a constant against which to match the pattern. Observe:

scala> val N = 20
N: Int = 20

scala> val Array(a, b, N) = Array(11, 23, 20)
a: Int = 11
b: Int = 23

scala> val Array(a, b, N) = Array(11, 23, 21)
scala.MatchError: [I@195d471 (of class [I)
        at .(:75)
        at .()
        at .(:11)
        at .()
        at $print()
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke0(Native Method)
        at sun.reflect.NativeMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(NativeMethodAccessorImpl.java:39)
        at sun.reflect.DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.invoke(DelegatingMethodAccessorImpl.java:25)
        at java.lang.reflect.Method.invoke(Method.java:597)
        at scala.tools.nsc.interpreter.IMain$ReadEvalPrint.call(IMain.scala:704)
        at scala.tools.nsc.interpreter.IMain$Request$$anonfun$14.apply(IMain.scala:920)
        at scala.tools.nsc.interpreter.Line$$anonfun$1.apply$mcV$sp(Line.scala:43)
        at scala.tools.nsc.io.package$$anon$2.run(package.scala:25)
        at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:662)

The variables in which you want to extract the values must begin with a lower-case letter.