Can I concatenate strings in Elixir and use the pipe operator?

Question

In Elixir, you can concatenate strings with the <> operator, like in "Hello" <> " " <> "World".

You can also use the pipe operator |> to chain functions together.

I'm trying to write the Elixir code to format the currency for an online game.

def format_price(price) do
  price/10000
  |> Float.round(2)
  |> to_string
  |> <> "g"
end

The above results in a syntax error. Am I overlooking a basic function that can concatenate strings? I know I can define one myself, but that seems like creating unnecessary clutter in my code if I can avoid it.

I realize I can accomplish the same thing, by simply chaining the methods together like to_string(Float.round(price/10000, 2)) <> "g", but this syntax isn't as nice to read, and it makes it more difficult to extend the method in the future, if I want to add steps in between.

Does Elixir have ways to concatenate text using the pipe operator, or is that not possible without defining the method yourself?

Answer 1

Yes, you can, by passing the full path to the function, which in this case is Kernel.<>:

iex(1)> "foo" |> Kernel.<>("bar")
"foobar"