# A more powerful version of the operator |\>
**URL:** https://discourse.julialang.org/t/a-more-powerful-version-of-the-operator/57064
**Category:** Internals & Design
**Created:** [March 13, 2021, 8:36am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/a-more-powerful-version-of-the-operator/57064 "2021-03-13T08:36:47Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@anon74562486](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/anon74562486)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2021, 8:36am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/a-more-powerful-version-of-the-operator/57064/1 "2021-03-13T08:36:47Z")
(This is probably the best section to make this proposal)
I recently asked a question about how often the |\> operator is used.
Many people don’t use the pipe operator because of its limitations (having to **write a lambda** every time the function to the right of |\> takes more than one argument, or having to rely on **external macros** ).
I wish there were more powerful versions of the pipe operator in the Base library that didn’t force you to write lambdas.
I’ve been thinking about something like this but I don’t know if they are good or bad practice:
before
```julia
a = [1:100;]
a |>
x -> reshape(x, 10, 10) |> # reshape to 10x10 matrix
x -> my_function(x, args) |> # apply a function with other args to the matrix
x -> reshape(x, size(a)) |> # convert to original size
x -> filter(iseven, a)
```
after
```julia
|>₁(a, f_args::Tuple) = f_args[1](a, f_args[2:end]...)
|>₂(a, f_args::Tuple) = f_args[1](f_args[2], a, f_args[3:end]...)
|>₃(a, f_args::Tuple) = f_args[1](f_args[2], f_args[3], a, f_args[4:end]...)
a = [1:100;]
a |>₁
(reshape, 10, 10) |>₁
(my_function, args) |>₁
(reshape, size(a)) |>₂
(filter, iseven)
```
What are your thoughts on this? Does it make sense? Are there better ways to do this? Thank you.
---
### Author:  [@Skoffer](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Skoffer)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2021, 11:15am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/a-more-powerful-version-of-the-operator/57064/2 "2021-03-13T11:15:37Z")
Have you seen [Underscores.jl](https://github.com/c42f/Underscores.jl)? It provides placeholder functionality, which tries to solve the same issue.
---
### Author:  [@NiclasMattsson](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/NiclasMattsson)
#### Post date: [March 13, 2021, 11:19am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/a-more-powerful-version-of-the-operator/57064/3 "2021-03-13T11:19:42Z")
Julians have considered this problem quite a lot, except the focus has been on simplifying lambdas using underscores, see [#24990](https://github.com/JuliaLang/julia/pull/24990). One version of the proposed syntax has been implemented in Underscores.jl, so you can do this:
```julia
julia> using Underscores
julia> my_function(x,b) = x * b
my_function (generic function with 1 method)
julia> a = [1:100;];
julia> @_ a |>
reshape(__, 10, 10) |>
my_function.(__,3) |>
reshape(__, size(a)) |>
filter(iseven, __)
50-element Vector{Int64}:
6
12
18
24
30
36
42
48
54
60
66
72
78
⋮
234
240
246
252
258
264
270
276
282
288
294
300
```
Ninja’d, darn it. 🙂