I'm trying to make a function which returns a list of the first element of each sub-list, including empty lists being returned as [].
let firstCol (lst: 'a list list) =
List.map List.head lst
This works as long as there are no empty lists, but I get the following error message when my input includes an empty list:
System.ArgumentException: The input list was empty.
How do I go about this? Thanks in advance.
You can use List.tryHead or write your own function from the ground, or with helpers like List.fold/List.foldBack.
If you do List.tryHead you get an option as a result, either Some element, or None if the list is empty. So you must think what happens in the None case. You cannot return an empty list for a sub-list, because a list must have the same type. But you could for example skip empty lists. Or just keep the Option. As it indicates when a list was empty.
let xs = [[1;2;3];[];[4;5;6];[];[7;8;9]]
printfn "%A" (List.map List.tryHead xs)
returning
[Some 1; None; Some 4; None; Some 7]
You could skip the empty sub-lists
printfn "%A" (List.choose List.tryHead xs)
so you get
[1;4;7]
or do it on your own, with List.foldBack
let firstCol xs =
let folder xs acc =
match List.tryHead xs with
| Some x -> x :: acc
| None -> acc
List.foldBack folder xs []
Or even more basic
let rec firstCol xs =
match xs with
| [] -> []
| []::xss -> firstCol xss
| (x::xs)::xss -> x :: firstCol (xss)
The last version is not tail-recursive, but anyway, you should try and train to understand such a recursive definition. And be able to turn such a function into an tail-recursive on your own.
What you're asking for can't be done with the signature you currently have. Consider this input:
[
[1; 2]
[]
[3; 4]
]
It looks like you're asking for the following output:
[
1
[]
3
]
However, that isn't a legal list in F# because its elements don't have the same type.
I think your best bet is just to use tryHead instead, as suggested in the other answers.
Related
I have to write a function that, given two lists, it returns a list of the elements of the first one whose square is present in the second one (sry for my english). I can't do it recursively and i can't use List.filter.
this is what i did:
let lst1= [1;2;3;4;5];;
let lst2= [9;25;10;4];;
let filquadi lst1 lst2 =
let aux = [] in
List.map(fun x -> if List.mem (x*x) lst2 then x::aux else []) lst1;;
It works but it also prints [] when the number doesn't satisfy the if statement:
filquadi lst1 lst2 ;;
- : int list list = [[]; [2]; [3]; []; [5]]
how can I return a list of numbers instead of a list of a list of numbers?
- : int list = [2;3;5]
You can use List.concat to put things together at the end:
List.concat (List.map ...)
As a side comment, aux isn't doing anything useful in your code. It's just a name for the empty list (since OCaml variables are immutable). It would probably be clearer just to use [x] instead of x :: aux.
As another side comment, this is a strange sounding assignment. Normally the reason to forbid use of functions from the List module is to encourage you to write your own recursive solution (which indeed is educational). I can't see offhand a reason to forbid the use of recursion, but it's interesting to combine functions from List in different ways.
Your criteria don't say you can't use List.fold_left or List.rev, so...
let filter lst1 lst2 =
List.fold_left
(fun init x ->
if List.mem (x * x) lst2 then x::init
else init)
[] lst1
|> List.rev
We start with an empty list, and as we fold over the first list, add the current element only if that element appears in the second list. Because this results in a list that's reversed from its original order, we then reverse that.
If you're not supposed to use recursion, this is technically cheating, because List.fold_left works recursively, but then so does basically anything working with lists. Reimplementing the List module's functions is going to involve a lot of recursion, as can be seen from reimplementing fold_left and filter.
let rec fold_left f init lst =
match lst with
| [] -> init
| x::xs -> fold_left f (f init x) xs
let rec filter f lst =
match lst with
| [] -> []
| x::xs when f x -> x :: filter f xs
| _::xs -> filter f xs
I'm supposed to remove consecutive duplicates from an int list without using recursion and using only List.fold, map, filter, fold_left, fold_right.
I almost got it, but the problem with my code is that it checks if each element equals the 2nd element, and not the next element.
For example if let z = int list [3;1;4;5;5;1;1] my code will return [3;4;5] and not [3;1;4;5;1]. I'm not sure how to change it so filter uses a dynamically changing list parameter and not simply the original one (so it doesn't compare each element to the second element (1 in this case) each time):
let dupe (ls: int list) : int list =
List.filter (fun x -> if List.length ls = 0 then true else if x = List.hd (List.tl xs) then false else true) ls
The type of List.filter is this:
# List.filter;;
- : ('a -> bool) -> 'a list -> 'a list = <fun>
Notably, the filter function can see only one element of the list at a time. You need to see two consecutive elements to decide what to do, so I'd say List.filter won't do the job.
You're going to have to use map or one of the folds, I'd say. You can figure out which one(s) will work, with similar reasoning.
(I assume this is the sort of reasoning the assignment is supposed to illustrate. So I'm going to leave it there.)
Without rec
let remove = function
[] -> []
| x::tl ->
let (_,lxRes)=
List.fold_left (
fun (xPrec,lxRes) xCour ->
if xPrec=xCour then
(xCour,lxRes)
else
(xCour,lxRes#[xCour])
) (x+1,[]) (x::tl)
in
lxRes
Test:
# remove [3;1;4;5;5;1;1];;
- : int list = [3; 1; 4; 5; 1]
# remove [1;1];;
- : int list = [1]
# remove [1;1;1;1;2;2;3;4;5;5];;
- : int list = [1; 2; 3; 4; 5]
With rec (just for information)
let rec remove =
function
| [] -> []
| x::[] -> x::[]
| x::y::tl ->
if x=y then remove (y::tl)
else x::remove (y::tl)
Using just List.fold_left can be a little bit more concise than the previous answer. Of course, this will build up the list in reverse order, so we need to reverse the result.
let remove lst =
List.(
lst
|> fold_left
(fun acc x ->
match acc with
| [] -> [x]
| hd::_ when x = hd -> acc
| _ -> x::acc)
[]
|> rev
)
Of course, if you're not allowed to use List.rev we can reimplement it easily using List.fold_left, List.cons and Fun.flip.
let rev lst =
List.fold_left (Fun.flip List.cons) [] lst
With a list of integers such as:
[1;2;3;4;5;6;7;8;9]
How can I create a list of list of ints from the above, with all new lists the same specified length?
For example, I need to go from:
[1;2;3;4;5;6;7;8;9] to [[1;2;3];[4;5;6];[7;8;9]]
with the number to split being 3?
Thanks for your time.
So what you actually want is a function of type
val split : int list -> int -> int list list
that takes a list of integers and a sub-list-size. How about one that is even more general?
val split : 'a list -> int -> 'a list list
Here comes the implementation:
let split xs size =
let (_, r, rs) =
(* fold over the list, keeping track of how many elements are still
missing in the current list (csize), the current list (ys) and
the result list (zss) *)
List.fold_left (fun (csize, ys, zss) elt ->
(* if target size is 0, add the current list to the target list and
start a new empty current list of target-size size *)
if csize = 0 then (size - 1, [elt], zss # [ys])
(* otherwise decrement the target size and append the current element
elt to the current list ys *)
else (csize - 1, ys # [elt], zss))
(* start the accumulator with target-size=size, an empty current list and
an empty target-list *)
(size, [], []) xs
in
(* add the "left-overs" to the back of the target-list *)
rs # [r]
Please let me know if you get extra points for this! ;)
The code you give is a way to remove a given number of elements from the front of a list. One way to proceed might be to leave this function as it is (maybe clean it up a little) and use an outer function to process the whole list. For this to work easily, your function might also want to return the remainder of the list (so the outer function can easily tell what still needs to be segmented).
It seems, though, that you want to solve the problem with a single function. If so, the main thing I see that's missing is an accumulator for the pieces you've already snipped off. And you also can't quit when you reach your count, you have to remember the piece you just snipped off, and then process the rest of the list the same way.
If I were solving this myself, I'd try to generalize the problem so that the recursive call could help out in all cases. Something that might work is to allow the first piece to be shorter than the rest. That way you can write it as a single function, with no accumulators
(just recursive calls).
I would probably do it this way:
let split lst n =
let rec parti n acc xs =
match xs with
| [] -> (List.rev acc, [])
| _::_ when n = 0 -> (List.rev acc, xs)
| x::xs -> parti (pred n) (x::acc) xs
in let rec concat acc = function
| [] -> List.rev acc
| xs -> let (part, rest) = parti n [] xs in concat (part::acc) rest
in concat [] lst
Note that we are being lenient if n doesn't divide List.length lst evenly.
Example:
split [1;2;3;4;5] 2 gives [[1;2];[3;4];[5]]
Final note: the code is very verbose because the OCaml standard lib is very bare bones :/ With a different lib I'm sure this could be made much more concise.
let rec split n xs =
let rec take k xs ys = match k, xs with
| 0, _ -> List.rev ys :: split n xs
| _, [] -> if ys = [] then [] else [ys]
| _, x::xs' -> take (k - 1) xs' (x::ys)
in take n xs []
Hello All I am trying to flatten a list in Ocaml. I am a newbie so please pardon me if my mistake is dumb
So for example, if input is [[1];[2;3];[4]] I should end up with [1;2;3;4].
The idea I am trying to use is as follows
Iterate through the list from the right (Using fold_right) with accumaltor = []
The pseudo code is as follows
func flatten(list, accumalator)
For each item from right to left in list
If Item is a scalar then n :: accumalator
Else fi Item is a list of form head :: tail then
head :: flatten (tail, accumalator).
I think that theoretically the algorithm is correct, but please let me know if you disagree.
Now to my OCaml code to implement this algorithm
let rec flatten acc x =
match x with
n -> n :: acc
| [x] -> x :: acc
| head :: remainder ->
head :: ( my_flat acc remainder )
and my_flat = List.fold_right flatten
;;
my_flat [] [[1];[2;3];[4]]
The Error I get is the following
Error: This expression has type 'a but an expression was expected of type
'a list
The error occurs on the line that reads head :: ( my_flat acc remainder ) in the last pattern in the match statement
Any help is appreciated.
In OCaml, all the elements of a list must be the same type. Thus the value [1; [2; 3]; 4] is invalid all by itself. It contains two elements that are of type int and one element of type int list. In essence, your statement of the problem to be solved is impossible.
$ ocaml312
Objective Caml version 3.12.0
# [1; [2; 3]; 4];;
Characters 4-10:
[1; [2; 3]; 4];;
^^^^^^
Error: This expression has type 'a list
but an expression was expected of type int
This sounds like a homework problem, so I'll just say that restricting yourself to lists that are valid in OCaml may make it easier to solve.
Edit
OK, the problem can now be solved!
The essence of the reported type error is something like this. You have your accumulated result acc (of type int list in the example). You want to add the list x (also of type int list) to it. You've broken x into head (an int) and remainder (an int list). As you can see, remainder is not a suitable argument for your my_flat function. It wants an int list list, i.e., a list of lists of ints. In fact, your recursive call should almost certainly go to flatten and not to my_flat.
Another problem I see: the arguments of List.fold_right are: a function, a list, and a starting value. In your test call to my_flat, you're supplying the last two in the other order. The empty list [] is your starting value.
I hope this is enough to get you going. Since you're just starting out with OCaml there will probably be another problem or two before it works.
Edit 2
Here are a couple more comments, which might be spoilers if you're still working on your own solution....
A tidier version of your function my_flat is in the OCaml standard library under the name List.flatten. It's interesting to look at the implementation:
let rec flatten = function
[] -> []
| l::r -> l # flatten r
I'd call this a very elegant solution, but unfortunately it's not tail recursive. So it will consume some (linear) amount of stack space, and might even crash for a very long list.
Here's one based on the same idea, using the standard FP accumulator trick to get tail recursive behavior (as noted by Thomas):
let flatten2 ll =
let rec go acc = function
| [] -> List.rev acc
| l :: r -> go (List.rev_append l acc) r
in
go [] ll
As is often the case, the tail recursive version accumulates the result in reverse order, and reverses it at the end.
You can start by writing directly your algorithm, by decomposing the base cases of your input value, ie. the input list is either empty, or the head of the input list is empty, or the head of the input list has a head and a tail:
let rec flatten = function
| [] -> []
| [] :: t -> flatten t
| (x::y) :: t -> x :: (flatten (y::t))
You can then optimize the function, because this code is not tail-recursive and thus will crash when lists become too big. So you can rewrite this by using the usual technique:
let flatten list =
let rec aux accu = function
| [] -> accu
| [] :: t -> aux accu t
| (x::y) :: t -> aux (x::accu) (y::t) in
List.rev (aux [] list)
So my advice is: start by decomposing your problem based on the input types, and then later use accumulators to optimize your code.
I like this one, where the auxiliary function takes the accumulator, the first element of the list of lists, and the rest of the list of lists, it is clearer for me :
let flatten list =
let rec aux acc list1 list2 =
match list1 with
| x :: tail -> aux (x :: acc) tail list2
| [] ->
match list2 with
| [] -> List.rev acc
| x :: tail -> aux acc x tail
in
aux [] [] list
Thanks for all your help
Here is the code I used to solve this problem
let flatten list =
let rec flatten_each acc x =
match x with
[] -> acc
| head :: remainder -> head :: ( flatten_each acc remainder )
in
List.fold_right flatten_each ( List.rev list ) []
;;
Edit: as pointed out by Thomas this solution is not tail recursive. Tail recursive version is below
let flatten list =
let rec flatten_each acc x =
match x with
[] -> acc
| head :: remainder -> (flatten_each (acc # [head]) remainder )
in
List.fold_right flatten_each list []
;;
I'm working with a list of lists in OCaml, and I'm trying to write a function that combines all of the lists that share the same head. This is what I have so far, and I make use of the List.hd built-in function, but not surprisingly, I'm getting the failure "hd" error:
let rec combineSameHead list nlist = match list with
| [] -> []#nlist
| h::t -> if List.hd h = List.hd (List.hd t)
then combineSameHead t nlist#uniq(h#(List.hd t))
else combineSameHead t nlist#h;;
So for example, if I have this list:
[[Sentence; Quiet]; [Sentence; Grunt]; [Sentence; Shout]]
I want to combine it into:
[[Sentence; Quiet; Grunt; Shout]]
The function uniq I wrote just removes all duplicates within a list. Please let me know how I would go about completing this. Thanks in advance!
For one thing, I generally avoid functions like List.hd, as pattern maching is usually clearer and less error-prone. In this case, your if can be replaced with guarded patterns (a when clause after the pattern). I think what is happening to cause your error is that your code fails when t is []; guarded patterns help avoid this by making the cases more explicit. So, you can do (x::xs)::(y::ys)::t when x = y as a clause in your match expression to check that the heads of the first two elements of the list are the same. It's not uncommon in OCaml to have several successive patterns which are identical except for guards.
Further things: you don't need []#nlist - it's the same as just writing nlist.
Also, it looks like your nlist#h and similar expressions are trying to concatenate lists before passing them to the recursive call; in OCaml, however, function application binds more tightly than any operator, so it actually appends the result of the recursive call to h.
I don't, off-hand, have a correct version of the function. But I would start by writing it with guarded patterns, and then see how far that gets you in working it out.
Your intended operation has a simple recursive description: recursively process the tail of your list, then perform an "insert" operation with the head which looks for a list that begins with the same head and, if found, inserts all elements but the head, and otherwise appends it at the end. You can then reverse the result to get your intended list of list.
In OCaml, this algorithm would look like this:
let process list =
let rec insert (head,tail) = function
| [] -> head :: tail
| h :: t ->
match h with
| hh :: tt when hh = head -> (hh :: (tail # t)) :: t
| _ -> h :: insert (head,tail) t
in
let rec aux = function
| [] -> []
| [] :: t -> aux t
| (head :: tail) :: t -> insert (head,tail) (aux t)
in
List.rev (aux list)
Consider using a Map or a hash table to keep track of the heads and the elements found for each head. The nlist auxiliary list isn't very helpful if lists with the same heads aren't adjacent, as in this example:
# combineSameHead [["A"; "a0"; "a1"]; ["B"; "b0"]; ["A"; "a2"]]
- : list (list string) = [["A"; "a0"; "a1"; "a2"]; ["B"; "b0"]]
I probably would have done something along the lines of what antonakos suggested. It would totally avoid the O(n) cost of searching in a list. You may also find that using a StringSet.t StringMap.t be easier on further processing. Of course, readability is paramount, and I still find this hold under that criteria.
module OrderedString =
struct
type t = string
let compare = Pervasives.compare
end
module StringMap = Map.Make (OrderedString)
module StringSet = Set.Make (OrderedString)
let merge_same_heads lsts =
let add_single map = function
| hd::tl when StringMap.mem hd map ->
let set = StringMap.find hd map in
let set = List.fold_right StringSet.add tl set in
StringMap.add hd set map
| hd::tl ->
let set = List.fold_right StringSet.add tl StringSet.empty in
StringMap.add hd set map
| [] ->
map
in
let map = List.fold_left add_single StringMap.empty lsts in
StringMap.fold (fun k v acc-> (k::(StringSet.elements v))::acc) map []
You can do a lot just using the standard library:
(* compares the head of a list to a supplied value. Used to partition a lists of lists *)
let partPred x = function h::_ -> h = x
| _ -> false
let rec combineHeads = function [] -> []
| []::t -> combineHeads t (* skip empty lists *)
| (hh::_ as h)::t -> let r, l = List.partition (partPred hh) t in (* split into lists with the same head as the first, and lists with different heads *)
(List.fold_left (fun x y -> x # (List.tl y)) h r)::(combineHeads l) (* combine all the lists with the same head, then recurse on the remaining lists *)
combineHeads [[1;2;3];[1;4;5;];[2;3;4];[1];[1;5;7];[2;5];[3;4;6]];;
- : int list list = [[1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 5; 7]; [2; 3; 4; 5]; [3; 4; 6]]
This won't be fast (partition, fold_left and concat are all O(n)) however.