Editing Higher-order function (section)

====Erlang====
{{further information|Erlang (programming language)}}

<syntaxhighlight lang="erlang">
or_else([], _) -> false;
or_else([F | Fs], X) -> or_else(Fs, X, F(X)).

or_else(Fs, X, false) -> or_else(Fs, X);
or_else(Fs, _, {false, Y}) -> or_else(Fs, Y);
or_else(_, _, R) -> R.

or_else([fun erlang:is_integer/1, fun erlang:is_atom/1, fun erlang:is_list/1], 3.23).
</syntaxhighlight>

In this Erlang example, the higher-order function {{code|or_else/2}} takes a list of functions ({{code|Fs}}) and argument ({{code|X}}). It evaluates the function {{code|F}} with the argument {{code|X}} as argument. If the function {{code|F}} returns false then the next function in {{code|Fs}} will be evaluated. If the function {{code|F}} returns {{code|{false, Y} }} then the next function in {{code|Fs}} with argument {{code|Y}} will be evaluated. If the function {{code|F}} returns {{code|R}} the higher-order function {{code|or_else/2}} will return {{code|R}}. Note that {{code|X}}, {{code|Y}}, and {{code|R}} can be functions. The example returns {{code|false}}.