Just an example of matching arbitrary length of list with a list of matchers (PF)

string_list_parser.scala

val `namespace` = "namespace"
val `elementTerminator` = "elementTerminator"
val `openBracket` = "openBracket"
val `closeBracket` = "closeBracket"

// list of partial functions from list of strings to string:    
val patterns = List[PartialFunction[List[String], String]](
  { case `namespace` :: value :: `elementTerminator` :: rest => "case1" },
  { case `openBracket` :: rest => "case2" },
  { case `closeBracket` :: `elementTerminator` :: rest => "case3" })

def matchingAndDispatch(xs: List[String], patterns: List[PartialFunction[List[String], String]]): String =
  patterns.find(_.isDefinedAt(xs)).map(_(xs)).getOrElse("unknown")

// Test/Outputs:
matchingAndDispatch(List("namespace", "somevalue", "elementTerminator"), patterns)
// case1

matchingAndDispatch(List("namespace", "somevalue", "elementTerminator", "more"), patterns)
// case1

matchingAndDispatch(List("namespace", "somevalue", "not_terminator", "more"), patterns)
// unknown