leanprover / leanprover/lean4

Cannot declare `let rec`s within the RHS of a multi-pattern-match arm

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Description

Prerequisites

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Description

When attempting to declare a let rec in the body of a pattern-match arm that matches on multiple patterns simultaneously, the elaborator attempts to declare the let rec repeatedly in each desugared match arm, which fails because the duplicate declarations conflict with each other.

Context

This was discovered while debugging #6927, not "organically" during general use.

Steps to Reproduce

Consider the following code:

def foo (xs : List Nat) :=
  match xs with
  | [x] | [x, _] =>
    let rec y := x  -- error: 'foo.y' has already been declared
    y
  | _ => 0

def bar : List Nat → Nat
  | [x] | [x, _] =>
    let rec y := x  -- error: 'bar.y' has already been declared
    y
  | _ => 0

Expected behavior: The definitions compile.

Actual behavior: The definitions fail to compile with the error indicated above.

Versions

Lean 4.18.0-nightly-2025-03-03
Target: x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu

Impact

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Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start by compiling the two minimal examples in the issue on Lean 4.18.0-nightly-2025-03-03 and reproduce the duplicate-declaration error. Investigate the elaborator's handling of multi-pattern-match arms and their desugaring of the RHS; done means both foo and bar compile with the shown let rec bindings.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Domain
compilers
Issue type
Bug
Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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