OCaml: Match expression inside another one?

Quick Solution

You just need to add parentheses, or begin/end, around the inner match:

let rec filter exp =
    match exp with
    | Var v -> Var v
    | Sum (e1, e2) -> Sum (e1, e2)
    | Prod (e1, e2) -> Prod (e1, e2)
    | Diff (e1, e2) ->
            (match e2 with
             | Sum (e3, e4) -> filter (diffRule e2)
             | Diff (e3, e4) -> filter (diffRule e2)
             | _ -> filter e2)
    | Quot (e1, e2) ->
            (match e2 with
             | Quot (e3, e4) -> filter (quotRule e2)
             | Prod (e3, e4) -> filter (quotRule e2)
             | _ -> filter e2)
;;

Simplifications

In your particular case there is no need for a nested match. You can just use bigger patterns. You can also eliminate the duplication in the nested rules using “|” (“or”) patterns:

let rec filter exp =
    match exp with
    | Var v -> Var v
    | Sum (e1, e2) -> Sum (e1, e2)
    | Prod (e1, e2) -> Prod (e1, e2)
    | Diff (e1, (Sum (e3, e4) | Diff (e3, e4) as e2)) -> filter (diffRule e2)
    | Diff (e1, e2) -> filter e2
    | Quot (e1, (Quot (e3, e4) | Prod (e3, e4) as e2)) -> filter (quotRule e2)
    | Quot (e1, e2) -> filter e2
;;

You can make it even more readable by replacing unused pattern variables with _ (underscore). This also works for whole sub patterns such as the (e3,e4) tuple:

let rec filter exp =
    match exp with
    | Var v -> Var v
    | Sum (e1, e2) -> Sum (e1, e2)
    | Prod (e1, e2) -> Prod (e1, e2)
    | Diff (_, (Sum _ | Diff _ as e2)) -> filter (diffRule e2)
    | Diff (_, e2) -> filter e2
    | Quot (_, (Quot _ | Prod _ as e2)) -> filter (quotRule e2)
    | Quot (_, e2) -> filter e2
;;

In the same way, you can proceed simplifying. For example, the first three cases (Var, Sum, Prod) are returned unmodified, which you can express directly:

let rec filter exp =
    match exp with
    | Var _ | Sum _ | Prod _ as e -> e
    | Diff (_, (Sum _ | Diff _ as e2)) -> filter (diffRule e2)
    | Diff (_, e2) -> filter e2
    | Quot (_, (Quot _ | Prod _ as e2)) -> filter (quotRule e2)
    | Quot (_, e2) -> filter e2
;;

Finally, you can replace e2 by e and replace match with the function shortcut:

let rec filter = function
    | Var _ | Sum _ | Prod _ as e -> e
    | Diff (_, (Sum _ | Diff _ as e)) -> filter (diffRule e)
    | Diff (_, e) -> filter e
    | Quot (_, (Quot _ | Prod _ as e)) -> filter (quotRule e)
    | Quot (_, e) -> filter e
;;

OCaml’s pattern syntax is nice, isn’t it?