Library
Module
Module type
Parameter
Class
Class type
Immutable singly-linked list of elements which must have the same type.
Lists can have any number of elements.
They are fast (O(1)) when:
head
tail
cons
They also support exhaustive pattern matching
match aList with
| [] -> "Empty"
| [a] -> "Exactly one element"
| [a, b] -> "Exactly two elements"
| a :: b :: cs -> "More than two elements"
Lists are slow when:
As they have inefficent (O(n)
) getAt
and length
operations.
If those are important to your use-case, perhaps you need an Array
.
Arbitrary length, singly linked lists
You can create a list
with the [1;2;3]
syntax.
val empty : 'a t
An empty list.
Examples
List.empty = []
List.length List.empty = 0
val singleton : 'a -> 'a t
Create a list with only one element.
Examples
List.singleton 1234 = [1234]
List.singleton "hi" = ["hi"]
val repeat : 'a -> times:int -> 'a t
Creates a list of length times
with the value x
populated at each index.
Examples
List.repeat ~times:5 'a' = ['a'; 'a'; 'a'; 'a'; 'a']
List.repeat ~times:0 7 = []
List.repeat ~times:(-1) "Why?" = []
val range : ?from:int -> int -> int t
Creates a list containing all of the integers from from
if it is provided or 0
if not, up to but not including to
Examples
List.range 5 = [0; 1; 2; 3; 4]
List.range ~from:2 5 = [2; 3; 4]
List.range ~from:(-2) 3 = [-2; -1; 0; 1; 2]
val initialize : int -> f:(int -> 'a) -> 'a t
Initialize a list.
List.initialize n ~f
creates a list of length n
by setting the element at position index
to be f(index)
.
Examples
List.initialize 4 ~f:identity = [0; 1; 2; 3]
List.initialize 4 ~f:(fun index -> index * index) = [0; 1; 4; 9]
val head : 'a t -> 'a option
Returns, as an Option
, the first element of a list.
If the list is empty, returns None
Examples
List.head [1;2;3] = Some 1
List.head [] = None
Returns, as an Option
, a list without its first element.
If the list is empty, returns None
Examples
List.tail [1;2;3] = Some [2;3]
List.tail [1] = Some []
List.tail [] = None
Prepend a value to the front of a list.
The ::
operator can also be used, in Reason you use the spread syntax instead.
Examples
List.cons [2;3;4] 1 = [1;2;3;4]
1 :: [2;3;4] = [1;2;3;4]
Attempt to take the first count
elements of a list.
If the list has fewer than count
elements, returns None
.
Examples
List.take [1;2;3] ~count:2 = Some [1;2]
List.take [] ~count:2 = None
List.take [1;2;3;4] ~count:8 = None
Take elements from a list until f
returns false
Examples
List.takeWhile ~f:Int.isEven [2; 4; 6; 7; 8; 9] = [2; 4; 6]
List.takeWhile ~f:Int.isEven [2; 4; 6] = [2; 4; 6]
List.takeWhile ~f:Int.isEven [1; 2; 3] = []
Drop the first count
elements from the front of a list.
Examples
List.drop [1;2;3;4] ~count:2 = [3;4]
List.drop [1;2;3;4] ~count:6 = []
Drop elements from a list until f
returns false
Examples
List.dropWhile ~f:Int.isEven [2; 4; 6; 7; 8; 9] = [7; 8; 9]
List.dropWhile ~f:Int.isEven [2; 4; 6; 8] = []
List.dropWhile ~f:Int.isEven [1; 2; 3] = [1; 2; 3]
As an Option
get of all of the elements of a list except the last one.
Returns None
if the list is empty.
Examples
List.initial [1;2;3] = Some [1;2]
List.initial [1] = Some []
List.initial [] = None
val last : 'a t -> 'a option
Get the last element of a list.
Returns None
if the list is empty.
Warning This will iterate through the entire list.
Examples
List.last [1;2;3] = Some 3
List.last [1] = Some 1
List.last [] = None
val getAt : 'a t -> index:int -> 'a option
Returns the element at position index
in the list.
Returns None
if index
is outside of the bounds of the list.
Examples
List.getAt [1;2;3] ~index:1 = Some 2
List.getAt [] ~index:2 = None
List.getAt [1;2;3] ~index:100 = None
Insert a new element at the specified index.
The element previously occupying index
will now be at index + 1
If index
is greater than then length of the list, it will be appended:
Exceptions
Raises an Invalid_argument
exception if index
is negative
Examples
List.insertAt
~index:2
~value:999
[100; 101; 102; 103] =
[100; 101; 999; 102; 103]
List.insertAt ~index:0 ~value:999 [100; 101; 102; 103] = [999; 100; 101; 102; 103]
List.insertAt ~index:4 ~value:999 [100; 101; 102; 103] = [100; 101; 102; 103; 999]
List.insertAt ~index:(-1) ~value:999 [100; 101; 102; 103] = [999]
List.insertAt ~index:5 ~value:999 [100; 101; 102; 103] = [999]
Returns a new list with the value at index
updated to be the result of applying f
.
If index
is outside of the bounds of the list, returns the list as-is.
Examples
List.updateAt [1; 2; 3] ~index:1 ~f:(Int.add 3) = [1; 5; 3]
let animals = ["Ant"; "Bat"; "Cat"] in
animals = List.updateAt animals ~index:4 ~f:String.reverse
Creates a new list without the element at index
.
If index
is outside of the bounds of the list, returns the list as-is.
Examples
List.removeAt [1; 2; 3] ~index:2 = [1; 2]
let animals = ["Ant"; "Bat"; "Cat"] in
List.equal String.equal animals (List.removeAt animals ~index:4) = true
Sort using the provided compare
function.
On native it uses merge sort which means the sort is stable, runs in linear heap space, logarithmic stack space and n * log (n) time.
When targeting javascript the time and space complexity of the sort cannot be guaranteed as it depends on the implementation.
Examples
List.sort [5;6;8;3;6] ~compare:Int.compare = [3;5;6;6;8]
val isEmpty : _ t -> bool
Determine if a list is empty.
Examples
List.isEmpty List.empty = true
List.isEmpty [||] = true
List.isEmpty [|1; 2; 3|] = false
val length : 'a t -> int
Return the number of elements in a list.
Warning List.length
needs to access the entire list in order to calculate its result.
If you need fast access to the length, perhaps you need an Array
.
A common mistake is to have something like the following:
if (List.length someList) = 0 then (
() (* It will take longer than you think to reach here *)
) else (
() (* But it doesn't need to *)
)
instead you should do
if (List.isEmpty someList) then (
() (* This happens instantly *)
) else (
() (* Since List.isEmpty takes the same amount of time for all lists *)
)
Or
match someList with
| [] -> () (* Spoilers *)
| _ -> () (* This is how isEmpty is implemented *)
Examples
List.length [] = 0
List.length [7; 8; 9] = 3
val any : 'a t -> f:('a -> bool) -> bool
Determine if f
returns true for any
values in a list.
Stops iteration as soon as f
returns true.
Examples
List.any ~f:isEven [|2;3|] = true
List.any ~f:isEven [|1;3|] = false
List.any ~f:isEven [||] = false
val all : 'a t -> f:('a -> bool) -> bool
Determine if f
returns true for all
values in a list.
Stops iteration as soon as f
returns false.
Examples
List.all ~f:Int.isEven [|2;4|] = true
List.all ~f:Int.isEven [|2;3|] = false
List.all ~f:Int.isEven [||] = true
val count : 'a t -> f:('a -> bool) -> int
Count the number of elements which f
returns true
for
Examples
List.count [7;5;8;6] ~f:Int.isEven = 2
val find : 'a t -> f:('a -> bool) -> 'a option
Returns, as an option, the first element for which f
evaluates to true.
If f
doesn't return true
for any of the elements find
will return None
Examples
List.find ~f:Int.isEven [|1; 3; 4; 8;|] = Some 4
List.find ~f:Int.isOdd [|0; 2; 4; 8;|] = None
List.find ~f:Int.isEven [||] = None
val findIndex : 'a t -> f:(int -> 'a -> bool) -> (int * 'a) option
Returns, as an option, a tuple of the first element and its index for which f
evaluates to true.
If f
doesnt return true
for any (index, element)
pair, returns None
.
Examples
List.findIndex ~f:(fun index number -> index > 2 && Int.isEven number) [|1; 3; 4; 8;|] = Some (3, 8)
val includes : 'a t -> 'a -> equal:('a -> 'a -> bool) -> bool
Test if a list contains the specified element using the provided equal
to test for equality.
This function may iterate the entire list, so if your code needs to repeatedly perform this check, maybe you want a Set
instead.
Examples
List.includes [1; 3; 5; 7] 3 ~equal:Int.equal = true
List.includes [1; 3; 5; 7] 4 ~equal:Int.equal = false
List.includes [] 5 ~equal:Int.equal = false
val minimum : 'a t -> compare:('a -> 'a -> int) -> 'a option
Find the smallest element using the provided compare
function.
Returns None
if called on an empty array.
Examples
List.minimum [|7; 5; 8; 6|] ~compare:Int.compare = Some 5
val maximum : 'a t -> compare:('a -> 'a -> int) -> 'a option
Find the largest element using the provided compare
function.
Returns None
if called on an empty array.
Examples
List.maximum [|7; 5; 8; 6|] ~compare:compare = Some 8
val extent : 'a t -> compare:('a -> 'a -> int) -> ('a * 'a) option
Find a Tuple
of the (minimum, maximum)
elements using the provided compare
function.
Returns None
if called on an empty array.
Examples
List.extent [|7; 5; 8; 6|] ~compare:compare = Some (5, 8)
val sum : 'a t -> (module Standard__.Core.Container.Sum with type t = 'a) -> 'a
Calculate the sum of a list using the provided modules zero
value and add
function.
Examples
List.sum [1;2;3] (module Int) = 6
List.sum [4.0;4.5;5.0] (module Float) = 13.5
List.sum
["a"; "b"; "c"]
(
module struct
type t = string
let zero = ""
let add = (^)
end
)
= "abc"
Create a new list which is the result of applying a function f
to every element.
Examples
List.map ~f:Float.squareRoot [|1.0; 4.0; 9.0|] = [|1.0; 2.0; 3.0|]
Apply a function f
to every element and its index.
Examples
List.mapI
["zero"; "one"; "two"]
~f:(fun index element ->
(Int.toString index) ^ ": " ^ element)
= ["0: zero"; "1: one"; "2: two"]
Keep elements that f
returns true
for.
Examples
List.filter ~f:Int.isEven [1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6] = [2; 4; 6]
Like filter
but f
is also called with each elements index.
Allows you to combine map
and filter
into a single pass.
The output list only contains elements for which f
returns Some
.
Why filterMap
and not just filter
then map
?
filterMap
removes the Option
layer automatically. If your mapping is already returning an Option
and you want to skip over Nones, then filterMap
is much nicer to use.
Examples
let characters = ['a'; '9'; '6'; ' '; '2'; 'z'] in
List.filterMap characters ~f:Char.toDigit = [9; 6; 2]
List.filterMap [3; 4; 5; 6] ~f:(fun number ->
if Int.isEven number then
Some (number * number)
else
None
) = [16; 36]
Apply a function f
onto a list and flatten
the resulting list of lists.
Examples
List.flatMap ~f xs = List.map ~f xs |> List.flatten
List.flatMap ~f:(fun n -> [|n; n|]) [|1; 2; 3|] = [|1; 1; 2; 2; 3; 3|]
val fold : 'a t -> initial:'b -> f:('b -> 'a -> 'b) -> 'b
Transform a list into a value
After applying f
to every element of the list, fold
returns the accumulator.
fold
iterates over the elements of the list from first to last.
For examples if we have:
let numbers = [1, 2, 3] in
let sum =
List.fold numbers ~initial:0 ~f:(fun accumulator element -> accumulator + element)
in
sum = 6
Walking though each iteration step by step:
accumulator: 0, element: 1, result: 1
accumulator: 1, element: 2, result: 3
accumulator: 3, element: 3, result: 6
And so the final result is 6
. (Note that in this case you probably want to use List.sum
)
Examples continued
List.fold [|1; 2; 3|] ~initial:[] ~f:(List.cons) = [3; 2; 1]
let unique integers =
List.fold integers ~initial:Set.Int.empty ~f:Set.add |> Set.toList
in
unique [|1; 1; 2; 3; 2|] = [|1; 2; 3|]
let lastEven integers =
List.fold integers ~initial:None ~f:(fun last int ->
if Int.isEven then
Some int
else
last
)
in
lastEven [|1;2;3;4;5|] = Some 4
val foldRight : 'a t -> initial:'b -> f:('b -> 'a -> 'b) -> 'b
This method is like fold
except that it iterates over the elements of the list from last to first.
Creates a new list which is the result of appending the second list onto the end of the first.
Examples
let fortyTwos = List.repeat ~length:2 42 in
let eightyOnes = List.repeat ~length:3 81 in
List.append fourtyTwos eightyOnes = [42; 42; 81; 81; 81];
Concatenate a list of lists into a single list:
Examples
List.flatten [[1; 2]; [3]; [4; 5]] = [1; 2; 3; 4; 5]
Combine two lists by merging each pair of elements into a Tuple
If one list is longer, the extra elements are dropped.
The same as List.map2 ~f:Tuple.make
Examples
List.zip [|1;2;3;4;5|] [|"Dog"; "Eagle"; "Ferret"|] = [|(1, "Dog"); (2, "Eagle"); (3, "Ferret")|]
Combine two lists, using f
to combine each pair of elements.
If one list is longer, the extra elements are dropped.
Examples
List.map2 [|1;2;3|] [|4;5;6|] ~f:(+) = [|5;7;9|]
List.map2
[|"alice"; "bob"; "chuck"|]
[|3; 5; 7; 9; 11; 13; 15; 17; 19|]
~f:Tuple.create
= [|("alice", 3); ("bob", 5); ("chuck", 7)|]
Combine three lists, using f
to combine each trio of elements.
If one list is longer, the extra elements are dropped.
Examples
List.map3
~f:Tuple3.create
[|"alice"; "bob"; "chuck"|]
[|2; 5; 7; 8;|]
[|true; false; true; false|] =
[|("alice", 2, true); ("bob", 5, false); ("chuck", 7, true)|]
Split a list into a Tuple
of lists. Values which f
returns true for will end up in Tuple.first
.
Examples
List.partition [1;2;3;4;5;6] ~f:Int.isOdd = ([1;3;5], [2;4;6])
Divides a list into a Tuple
of lists.
Elements which have index upto (but not including) index
will be in the first component of the tuple.
Elements with an index greater than or equal to index
will be in the second.
If index
is outside of the bounds of the list, all elements will be in the first component of the tuple.
Examples
List.splitAt [1;2;3;4;5] ~index:2 = ([1;2], [3;4;5])
Divides a list into a Tuple
at the first element f
returns true
for.
Elements up to (but not including) the first element f
returns true
for will be in the first component of the tuple, the remaining elements will be in the second
Examples
List.splitWhen [2; 4; 5; 6; 7] ~f:Int.isEven = ([2; 4], [5; 6; 7])
List.splitWhen [2; 4; 5; 6; 7] ~f:(Fun.constant false) = ([2; 4; 5; 6; 7], [])
val forEach : 'a t -> f:('a -> unit) -> unit
Iterates over the elements of invokes f
for each element.
The function you provide must return unit
, and the forEach
call itself also returns unit
.
You use List.forEach
when you want to process a list only for side effects.
Examples
List.forEach [|1; 2; 3|] ~f:(fun int -> print (Int.toString int))
(*
Prints
1
2
3
*)
val forEachI : 'a t -> f:(int -> 'a -> unit) -> unit
Like forEach
but f
is also called with the elements index.
Examples
List.forEachI [1; 2; 3] ~f:(fun index int -> printf "%d: %d" index int)
(*
Prints
0: 1
1: 2
2: 3
*)
Places sep
between all the elements of the given list.
Examples
List.intersperse ~sep:"on" [|"turtles"; "turtles"; "turtles"|] = [|"turtles"; "on"; "turtles"; "on"; "turtles"|]
List.intersperse ~sep:0 [||] = [||]
Split a list into equally sized chunks.
If there aren't enough elements to make the last 'chunk', those elements are ignored.
Examples
List.chunksOf ~size:2 ["#FFBA49"; "#9984D4"; "#20A39E"; "#EF5B5B"; "#23001E"] = [
["#FFBA49"; "#9984D4"];
["#20A39E"; "#EF5B5B"];
]
Provides a sliding 'window' of sub-lists over a list.
The first sub-list starts at the head of the list and takes the first size
elements.
The sub-list then advances step
(which defaults to 1) positions before taking the next size
elements.
The sub-lists are guaranteed to always be of length size
and iteration stops once a sub-list would extend beyond the end of the list.
Examples
List.sliding [1;2;3;4;5] ~size:1 = [[1]; [2]; [3]; [4]; [5]]
List.sliding [1;2;3;4;5] ~size:2 = [[1;2]; [2;3]; [3;4]; [4;5]]
List.sliding [1;2;3;4;5] ~size:3 = [[1;2;3]; [2;3;4]; [3;4;5]]
List.sliding [1;2;3;4;5] ~size:2 ~step:2 = [[1;2]; [3;4]]
List.sliding [1;2;3;4;5] ~size:1 ~step:3 = [[1]; [4]]
List.sliding [1;2;3;4;5] ~size:2 ~step:3 = [[1; 2]; [4; 5]]
List.sliding [1;2;3;4;5] ~size:7 = []
Divide a list into groups.
f
is called with consecutive elements, when f
returns false
a new group is started.
Examples
List.groupWhile [1; 2; 3;] ~f:(Fun.constant false) = [[1]; [2]; [3]]
List.groupWhile [1; 2; 3;] ~f:(Fun.constant true) = [[1; 2; 3]]
List.groupWhile
~f:String.equal
["a"; "b"; "b"; "a"; "a"; "a"; "b"; "a"] =
[["a"]; ["b"; "b"]; ["a"; "a"; "a";] ["b"]; ["a"]]
List.groupWhile
~f:(fun x y -> x mod 2 = y mod 2)
[2; 4; 6; 5; 3; 1; 8; 7; 9] =
[[2; 4; 6]; [5; 3; 1]; [8]; [7; 9]]
val join : string t -> sep:string -> string
Converts a list of strings into a String
, placing sep
between each string in the result.
Examples
List.join ["Ant"; "Bat"; "Cat"] ~sep:", " = "Ant, Bat, Cat"
val groupBy :
'value t ->
(module Standard__.Core.Comparator.S
with type identity = 'id
and type t = 'key) ->
f:('value -> 'key) ->
('key, 'value list, 'id) Standard__.Core.Map.t
Collect elements which f
produces the same key for
Produces a map from 'key
to a List
of all elements which produce the same 'key
Examples
let animals = ["Ant"; "Bear"; "Cat"; "Dewgong"] in
Array.groupBy animals (module Int) ~f:String.length = Map.Int.ofList [
(3, ["Cat"; "Ant"]);
(4, ["Bear"]);
(7, ["Dewgong"]);
]
Test two lists for equality using the provided function to test elements.
Compare two lists using the provided function to compare elements.
A shorter list is 'less' than a longer one.
Examples
List.compare Int.compare [1;2;3] [1;2;3;4] = -1
List.compare Int.compare [1;2;3] [1;2;3] = 0
List.compare Int.compare [1;2;5] [1;2;3] = 1