$ is:exact

($) is the function application operator. Applying ($) to a function f and an argument x gives the same result as applying f to x directly. The definition is akin to this:

($) :: (a -> b) -> a -> b
($) f x = f x

This is id specialized from a -> a to (a -> b) -> (a -> b) which by the associativity of (->) is the same as (a -> b) -> a -> b. On the face of it, this may appear pointless! But it's actually one of the most useful and important operators in Haskell. The order of operations is very different between ($) and normal function application. Normal function application has precedence 10 - higher than any operator - and associates to the left. So these two definitions are equivalent:

expr = min 5 1 + 5
expr = ((min 5) 1) + 5

($) has precedence 0 (the lowest) and associates to the right, so these are equivalent:

expr = min 5 $ 1 + 5
expr = (min 5) (1 + 5)

Examples

A common use cases of ($) is to avoid parentheses in complex expressions. For example, instead of using nested parentheses in the following Haskell function:

-- | Sum numbers in a string: strSum "100  5 -7" == 98
strSum :: String -> Int
strSum s = sum (mapMaybe readMaybe (words s))

we can deploy the function application operator:

-- | Sum numbers in a string: strSum "100  5 -7" == 98
strSum :: String -> Int
strSum s = sum $ mapMaybe readMaybe $ words s

($) is also used as a section (a partially applied operator), in order to indicate that we wish to apply some yet-unspecified function to a given value. For example, to apply the argument 5 to a list of functions:

applyFive :: [Int]
applyFive = map ($ 5) [(+1), (2^)]
>>> [6, 32]

Technical Remark (Representation Polymorphism)

($) is fully representation-polymorphic. This allows it to also be used with arguments of unlifted and even unboxed kinds, such as unboxed integers:

fastMod :: Int -> Int -> Int
fastMod (I# x) (I# m) = I# $ remInt# x m

Application operator. This operator is redundant, since ordinary application (f x) means the same as (f $ x). However, $ has low, right-associative binding precedence, so it sometimes allows parentheses to be omitted; for example:

f $ g $ h x  =  f (g (h x))

It is also useful in higher-order situations, such as map ($ 0) xs, or zipWith ($) fs xs. Note that ($) is representation-polymorphic in its result type, so that foo $ True where foo :: Bool -> Int# is well-typed.

Application operator. This operator is redundant, since ordinary application (f x) means the same as (f $ x). However, $ has low, right-associative binding precedence, so it sometimes allows parentheses to be omitted; for example:

f $ g $ h x  =  f (g (h x))

It is also useful in higher-order situations, such as map ($ 0) xs, or zipWith ($) fs xs. Note that ($) is levity-polymorphic in its result type, so that foo $ True where foo :: Bool -> Int# is well-typed.

Note that this denotes the identity function, so ($) f can usually be replaced with f.

Application operator. This operator is redundant, since ordinary application (f x) means the same as (f $ x). However, $ has low, right-associative binding precedence, so it sometimes allows parentheses to be omitted; for example:

f $ g $ h x  =  f (g (h x))

It is also useful in higher-order situations, such as map ($ 0) xs, or zipWith ($) fs xs.

Infix application.

f :: Either String $ Maybe Int
=
f :: Either String (Maybe Int)

Application operator. This operator is redundant, since ordinary application (f x) means the same as (f $ x). However, $ has low, right-associative binding precedence, so it sometimes allows parentheses to be omitted; for example:

f $ g $ h x  =  f (g (h x))

It is also useful in higher-order situations, such as map ($ 0) xs, or zipWith ($) fs xs. Note that ($) is levity-polymorphic in its result type, so that foo $ True where foo :: Bool -> Int# is well-typed

($) is the function application operator. Applying ($) to a function f and an argument x gives the same result as applying f to x directly. The definition is akin to this:

($) :: (a -> b) -> a -> b
($) f x = f x

This is id specialized from a -> a to (a -> b) -> (a -> b) which by the associativity of (->) is the same as (a -> b) -> a -> b. On the face of it, this may appear pointless! But it's actually one of the most useful and important operators in Haskell. The order of operations is very different between ($) and normal function application. Normal function application has precedence 10 - higher than any operator - and associates to the left. So these two definitions are equivalent:

expr = min 5 1 + 5
expr = ((min 5) 1) + 5

($) has precedence 0 (the lowest) and associates to the right, so these are equivalent:

expr = min 5 $ 1 + 5
expr = (min 5) (1 + 5)

Examples

A common use cases of ($) is to avoid parentheses in complex expressions. For example, instead of using nested parentheses in the following Haskell function:

-- | Sum numbers in a string: strSum "100  5 -7" == 98
strSum :: String -> Int
strSum s = sum (mapMaybe readMaybe (words s))

we can deploy the function application operator:

-- | Sum numbers in a string: strSum "100  5 -7" == 98
strSum :: String -> Int
strSum s = sum $ mapMaybe readMaybe $ words s

($) is also used as a section (a partially applied operator), in order to indicate that we wish to apply some yet-unspecified function to a given value. For example, to apply the argument 5 to a list of functions:

applyFive :: [Int]
applyFive = map ($ 5) [(+1), (2^)]
>>> [6, 32]

Technical Remark (Representation Polymorphism)

($) is fully representation-polymorphic. This allows it to also be used with arguments of unlifted and even unboxed kinds, such as unboxed integers:

fastMod :: Int -> Int -> Int
fastMod (I# x) (I# m) = I# $ remInt# x m

Type-level infix applcation for functors.