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To start practicing Elixir, work through the official Getting Started guide or Exercism’s Elixir syllabus and learning exercises, install a compatible Elixir and Erlang/OTP version, then solve small problems and run tests after each change. The examples below begin with strings and values, then move into functions, pattern matching, collections, and recursion; they are illustrative practice problems, not official Exercism solutions.

Where should beginners start with Elixir exercises?

If you are new to the language, first learn enough syntax to read a function, call it, and run a test. The official Elixir learning page points newcomers to the Getting Started guide and lists Exercism among its learning resources. Exercism recommends working through its syllabus and learning exercises, which it says were designed to teach Elixir from scratch.

  1. Read the basics: use the official Elixir learning page to find the Getting Started material and other resources.
  2. Set up a compatible environment: check the official Elixir documentation for current installation and version guidance. The documentation identified Elixir v1.20.4 as stable and Erlang/OTP 27, 28, and 29 as supported on October 4, 2026. These versions can change, so consult the live documentation before installing.
  3. Begin with a small exercise: Exercism’s Hello World exercise has learners modify code, run the test suite, and submit a solution. Completing it unlocks the rest of the track.

Exercism’s live catalog showed 168 Elixir exercises in a 2026 search-result snapshot. The catalog says exercises unlock as learners progress, and its count may change; treat it as an indication of a substantial set of practice material, not a permanent total.

How to work through an Elixir practice problem

Use the test command and file layout provided by your learning environment. The following loop is a practical way to make each exercise teach you something rather than just produce a passing result.

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  1. Read the prompt for its contract. Identify the expected input, output, and special cases before coding.
  2. Write the smallest correct function. Prefer a clear solution that handles the stated cases over clever shortcuts.
  3. Run the supplied tests. Exercism’s introductory workflow explicitly asks learners to modify code, run the test suite, and submit their solution.
  4. Use failures as clues. Check the failing input and expected result, then revise the function. Add your own cases for boundaries the prompt makes relevant.
  5. Compare alternatives or ask for feedback. Once tests pass, consider whether the code is idiomatic and understandable. Exercism describes mentoring as part of its learning resources; feedback can help explain approaches beyond merely passing tests.

Beginner Elixir problems with solutions

These examples are self-contained practice prompts. Their assumptions are stated so the functions have clear behavior, and the tests show representative cases. Each solution is illustrative, not an official answer from Exercism.

1. Normalize a greeting string

Problem: Write a function that trims whitespace from a name and returns Hello, NAME!, with the name converted to uppercase. Assume the input is a string.

defmodule Greeting do
  def hello(name) do
    name
    |> String.trim()
    |> String.upcase()
    |> then("Hello, #{&1}!")
  end
end

Why it works: The pipe operator sends each result into the next function. Trimming first removes surrounding whitespace; uppercasing then applies consistently to the remaining name. The final function builds the greeting from that result.

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ExUnit.start()

defmodule GreetingTest do
  use ExUnit.Case

  test "trims and uppercases a name" do
    assert Greeting.hello("  Ada  ") == "Hello, ADA!"
  end

  test "handles an empty name" do
    assert Greeting.hello("") == "Hello, !"
  end
end

The empty-name test follows directly from the stated behavior: trimming an empty string still leaves an empty string. If a real application should reject blank names instead, that is a different contract and should be specified explicitly.

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2. Classify a number as even or odd

Problem: Given an integer, return the atom :even if it is divisible by two and :odd otherwise. Assume the input is an integer.

defmodule Parity do
  def classify(number) when rem(number, 2) == 0, do: :even
  def classify(_number), do: :odd
end

Why it works: Elixir tries function clauses in order. The first clause has a guard that matches integers with remainder zero when divided by two. If the guard does not match, the second clause handles the value. This uses pattern matching and a guard to express the two cases directly.

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ExUnit.start()

defmodule ParityTest do
  use ExUnit.Case

  test "classifies positive and negative integers" do
    assert Parity.classify(4) == :even
    assert Parity.classify(0) == :even
    assert Parity.classify(-3) == :odd
  end
end

Zero and negative integers are included because divisibility by two does not depend on a number being positive.

3. Count words in a sentence

Problem: Return the number of whitespace-separated words in a string. Treat repeated spaces and leading or trailing spaces as separators, and treat an empty or whitespace-only string as zero words.

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defmodule WordCount do
  def count(text) do
    text
    |> String.split()
    |> length()
  end
end

Why it works: String.split/1 splits on whitespace and omits empty segments by default. Counting the resulting list therefore handles repeated, leading, and trailing whitespace without special cases.

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ExUnit.start()

defmodule WordCountTest do
  use ExUnit.Case

  test "counts words despite extra whitespace" do
    assert WordCount.count("  Elixir   is fun  ") == 3
  end

  test "returns zero for whitespace only" do
    assert WordCount.count("   ") == 0
  end
end

4. Sum a list of integers recursively

Problem: Write a function that sums a list of integers. The sum of an empty list is zero.

defmodule ListSum do
  def sum([]), do: 0
  def sum([head | tail]), do: head + sum(tail)
end

Why it works: The empty-list clause is the base case. For a nonempty list, the pattern [head | tail] separates the first element from the rest; the function adds that element to the sum of the remaining list.

ExUnit.start()

defmodule ListSumTest do
  use ExUnit.Case

  test "sums an empty list" do
    assert ListSum.sum([]) == 0
  end

  test "sums positive and negative values" do
    assert ListSum.sum([3, -1, 4]) == 6
  end
end

This recursive version makes the base case and list decomposition visible. As exercises get more involved, compare a direct recursive solution with standard library functions when the prompt allows either approach.

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How the exercises can grow in difficulty

There is no single required order for every learner, but Elixir’s official learning page describes Exercism’s exercise range as extending from string processing to OTP. A useful progression is to start with small values and functions, then add language features and broader application concepts.

Stage Practice focus What to pay attention to
1. Basic values and strings Format text, trim input, split words, and transform strings. Return values, function calls, pipes, and clear input assumptions.
2. Functions and pattern matching Handle several cases with separate function clauses and guards. Clause order, matched shapes, and explicit fallback behavior.
3. Collections and recursion Process lists, count or transform items, and define base cases. Empty collections, head and tail patterns, and when library functions are clearer.
4. Tests and iteration Run supplied tests, diagnose failures, and add edge-case checks. Whether the implementation meets the prompt’s contract, not just one example.
5. Broader Elixir topics Progress toward exercises involving OTP and other larger concepts. Build on language fundamentals before tackling more involved program structure.

This sequence is a practical study path, not a canonical syllabus imposed by Elixir or Exercism. Use the learning track’s own progression when following its exercises.

Which practice resource should you choose?

The official Elixir learning page and Exercism offer complementary starting points. The official page gathers introductory documentation, books, and other resources; Exercism provides a track organized around exercises that unlock as learners progress. Neither needs to be treated as universally best for every beginner.

Resource Sequence and scope Feedback Cost and setup
Official Elixir learning page and Getting Started material Starting documentation and a list of learning resources; not presented as a counted exercise track. Feedback model not stated on the learning page. Page provides learning links; check the linked resource for its own access and setup details.
Exercism Elixir track Progressing exercise catalog; the live catalog notes that exercises unlock as learners advance. The 168 count is a 2026 snapshot, not a fixed total. Exercism describes mentoring as an available learning feature. Exercism describes a free track; learners need an Elixir environment to run local tests.

For a longer-form book, the official learning page lists Programming Elixir and Elixir in Action. They are optional, not prerequisites. The publisher-hosted introduction to Programming Elixir includes exercises, but it is an older-edition sample; verify the current edition and listing before choosing a copy.

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