View Category
Lists
Declaration

Define an empty list

Assign the variable "list" to a list with no elements
python
list = []
cpp
Generic::List<String^>^ list = gcnew Generic::List<String^>();
std::list<std::string> list;
clojure
(list)
'()

Define a static list

Define the list [One, Two, Three, Four, Five]
python
list = ['One', 'Two', 'Three', 'Four', 'Five']
print list
cpp
array<String^>^ input = {"One", "Two", "Three", "Four", "Five"};
Generic::List<String^>^ list = gcnew Generic::List<String^>((Generic::IEnumerable<String^>^) input);
Generic::List<String^>^ list = gcnew Generic::List<String^>();

list->Add("One");
list->Add("Two");
list->Add("Three");
list->Add("Four");
list->Add("Five");
std::string input[] = {"One", "Two", "Three", "Four", "Five"};
std::list<std::string> list(input, input + 5);
std::list<std::string> list;

list.push_back("One");
list.push_back("Two");
list.push_back("Three");
list.push_back("Four");
list.push_back("Five");
list<string> lst = { "One", "Two", "Three", "Four", "Five" };
list<string> lst;
lst += "One", "Two", "Three", "Four", "Five";
clojure
(def a '[One Two Three Four Five])
Output

Join the elements of a list, separated by commas

Given the list [Apple, Banana, Carrot] produce "Apple, Banana, Carrot"
python
print ", ".join(['Apple', 'Banana', 'Carrot'])
cpp
String^ result = String::Join(L", ", fruit->ToArray());
string fruits[] = {"Apple", "Banana", "Carrot"};
string result = boost::algorithm::join(fruits, ", ");
clojure
(apply str (interpose ", " '("Apple" "Banana" "Carrot")))

Join the elements of a list, in correct english

Create a function join that takes a List and produces a string containing an english language concatenation of the list. It should work with the following examples:
join([Apple, Banana, Carrot]) = "Apple, Banana, and Carrot"
join([One, Two]) = "One and Two"
join([Lonely]) = "Lonely"
join([]) = ""
python
def join(*x):
if len(x) <= 2:
return ' and '.join(x)
else:
return ', '.join(x[:-1] + ('and ' + x[-1],))

if __name__ == "__main__":
assert join("Apple", "Banana", "Carrot") == "Apple, Banana, and Carrot"
assert join("One", "Two") == "One and Two"
assert join("Lonely") == "Lonely"
assert join(*[]) == ""
cpp
Console::WriteLine(join(fruit));
string join(const vector<string> &s, int b=0)
{
switch (s.size() - b)
{
case 0: return "";
case 1: return s[b];
case 2: return s[b] + (s.size() > 2 ? "," : "") + " and " + s[b+1];
default: return s[b] + ", " + join(s, b+1);
}
}
clojure
(defn join [lst]
(cond
(= (count lst) 0) ""
(= (count lst) 1) (first lst)
(= (count lst) 2) (str (first lst) " and " (second lst))
(> (count lst) 2) (loop [lst lst sb (StringBuilder.)]
(if (empty? lst)
(.toString sb)
(recur (rest lst) (.append sb (cond
(> (count lst) 2) (str (first lst) ", ")
(> (count lst) 1) (str (first lst) ", and ")
(= (count lst) 1) (str (first lst)))))))))
(defn join
([lst]
(join lst false))
([lst is-long]
(condp = (count lst)
0 ""
1 (first lst)
2 (str (first lst) (if is-long ",") " and " (second lst))
(str (first lst) ", " (join (rest lst) true)))))

Produce the combinations from two lists

Given two lists, produce the list of tuples formed by taking the combinations from the individual lists. E.g. given the letters ["a", "b", "c"] and the numbers [4, 5], produce the list: [["a", 4], ["b", 4], ["c", 4], ["a", 5], ["b", 5], ["c", 5]]
python
[(x, y) for y in [1,2] for x in ['a','b','c']]
import itertools
[x for x in itertools.product(["a", "b", "c"], [4, 5])]
cpp
Specialized::StringCollection^ combinations = gcnew Specialized::StringCollection;

for each(int number in numbers)
for each(String^ letter in letters)
combinations->Add(makeCombo(letter, number));
string letters[] = { "a", "b", "c" };
int numbers[] = { 4, 5 };
list<pair<string,int> > combo;

for (int n = 0; n < sizeof numbers / sizeof *numbers; n++)
for (int l = 0; l < sizeof letters / sizeof *letters; l++)
combo.push_back(make_pair(letters[l], numbers[n]));

cout << combo << endl;
clojure
(defn combine [lst1 lst2]
(mapcat (fn [x] (map #(list % x) lst1)) lst2))
(mapcat (fn [x] (map #(list % x) ["a", "b", "c"])) [4, 5])

From a List Produce a List of Duplicate Entries

Taking a list:
["andrew", "bob", "chris", "bob"]

Write the code to produce a list of duplicates in the list:
["bob"]
python
import itertools
input = ["andrew", "bob", "chris", "bob"]
input.sort()
output = [k for k, g in itertools.groupby(input, lambda x: x) if len(list(g)) > 1]
cpp
vector<string> lst = { "andrew", "bob", "chris", "bob" };
vector<string> lst_no_dups;
vector<string> tmp;
vector<string> dups;

sort(lst.begin(), lst.end());
unique_copy(lst.begin(), lst.end(), back_inserter(lst_no_dups));
set_difference(lst.begin(), lst.end(),
lst_no_dups.begin(), lst_no_dups.end(),
back_inserter(tmp));
unique_copy(tmp.begin(), tmp.end(), back_inserter(dups));

cout << dups << endl;
list<string> lst = { "andrew", "bob", "chris", "bob" };
map<string,int> num_identical;
list<string> dups;

for (auto &s: lst)
num_identical[s]++;
for (auto &n: num_identical)
if (n.second > 1)
dups.push_back(n.first);
cout << dups << endl;
clojure
(->> '("andrew" "bob" "chris" "bob")
(group-by identity)
(filter #(> (count (second %)) 1))
(map first))
Access

Fetch an element of a list by index

Given the list [One, Two, Three, Four, Five], fetch the third element ('Three')
python
list = ['One', 'Two', 'Three', 'Four', 'Five']
list[2]
cpp
String^ result = list[2];
clojure
(nth '[One Two Three Four Five] 2)

Fetch the last element of a list

Given the list [Red, Green, Blue], access the last element ('Blue')
python
list = ['Red', 'Green', 'Blue']
list[-1]
cpp
String^ result = list[list->Count - 1];
string last_elem = lst.back();
clojure
(last '[One Two Three Four Five])

Find the common items in two lists

Given two lists, find the common items. E.g. given beans = ['broad', 'mung', 'black', 'red', 'white'] and colors = ['black', 'red', 'blue', 'green'], what are the bean varieties that are also color names?
python
beans = ['broad', 'mung', 'black', 'red', 'white']
colors = ['black', 'red', 'blue', 'green']

common = [b for b in beans if b in colors]
beans = ['broad', 'mung', 'black', 'red', 'white']
colors = ['black', 'red', 'blue', 'green']

common = set(beans) & set(colors)
cpp
array<String^>^ inbeans = {"broad", "mung", "black", "red", "white"};
Generic::ICollection<String^>^ beans = makeSET<String^>(gcnew Generic::List<String^>((Generic::IEnumerable<String^>^) inbeans));

array<String^>^ incolors = {"black", "red", "blue", "green"};
Generic::ICollection<String^>^ colors = makeSET<String^>(gcnew Generic::List<String^>((Generic::IEnumerable<String^>^) incolors));

Generic::ICollection<String^>^ result = intersectSET<String^>(beans, colors);
clojure
(use 'clojure.set)

(let [beans '[broad mung black red white]
colors '[black red blue green]]
(intersection (set beans) (set colors)))

Display the unique items in a list

Display the unique items in a list, e.g. given ages = [18, 16, 17, 18, 16, 19, 14, 17, 19, 18], display the unique elements, i.e. with duplicates removed.
python
ages = [18, 16, 17, 18, 16, 19, 14, 17, 19, 18]

unique_ages = list(set(ages))
cpp
array<int>^ input = {18, 16, 17, 18, 16, 19, 14, 17, 19, 18};
Generic::List<int>^ ages = gcnew Generic::List<int>((Generic::IEnumerable<int>^) input);

Generic::ICollection<int>^ result = makeSET<int>(ages);
list<int> input;
input += 18, 16, 17, 18, 16, 19, 14, 17, 19, 18;
input.sort();
unique_copy(input.begin(), input.end(), ostream_iterator<int>(cout, "\n"));
clojure
;; returns a set
(set [18, 16, 17, 18, 16, 19, 14, 17, 19, 18])
;;#{14 16 17 18 19}

;; returns a lazy sequence of the unique elements
(distinct [18, 16, 17, 18, 16, 19, 14, 17, 19, 18])
;;(18 16 17 19 14)


Modification

Remove an element from a list by index

Given the list [Apple, Banana, Carrot], remove the first element to produce the list [Banana, Carrot]
python
myList = ['Apple', 'Banana', 'Carrot']
print myList
del myList[0]
# or
myList.pop(0) # returns 'Apple'
print myList
cpp
fruit->RemoveAt(0);
clojure
(let [fruit ["Apple" "Banana" "Carrot"]
index 0]
(concat
(take index fruit)
(drop (+ index 1) fruit)))

Remove the last element of a list

python
myList = ['Apple', 'Banana', 'Carrot']
myList.pop()

cpp
fruit->RemoveAt(fruit->Count - 1);
clojure
(pop ["Apple" "Banana" "Carrot"])

Rotate a list

Given a list ["apple", "orange", "grapes", "bananas"], rotate it by removing the first item and placing it on the end to yield ["orange", "grapes", "bananas", "apple"]
python
l = ["apple", "orange", "grapes", "bananas"]
first, l = l[0], l[1:] + l[:1]
fruit = ['apple', 'orange', 'grapes', 'bananas']
fruit.append(fruit.pop(0))
cpp
fruit->Add(fruit[0]); fruit->RemoveAt(0);
rotate(fruit.begin(), fruit.begin()+1, fruit.end());
clojure
(let [fruit ["apple" "orange" "grapes" "bananas"]]
(concat (rest fruit) [(first fruit)])
Manipulation

Gather together corresponding elements from multiple lists

Given several lists, gather together the first element from every list, the second element from every list, and so on for all corresponding index values in the lists. E.g. for these three lists, first = ['Bruce', 'Tommy Lee', 'Bruce'], last = ['Willis', 'Jones', 'Lee'], years = [1955, 1946, 1940] the result should produce 3 actors. The middle actor should be Tommy Lee Jones.
python
first = ['Bruce', 'Tommy Lee', 'Bruce']
last = ['Willis', 'Jones', 'Lee']
years = [1955, 1946, 1940]

actors = zip(first, last, years)

assert len(actors) == 3
assert actors[1] == ('Tommy Lee', 'Jones', 1946)
cpp
array<String^>^ first = {"Bruce", "Tommy Lee", "Bruce"}; array<String^>^ last = {"Willis", "Jones", "Lee"}; array<String^>^ years = {"1955", "1946", "1940"};

array<String^>^ result = zip<String^>(",", first, last, years);
list<string> first = { "Bruce", "Tommy Lee", "Bruce" };
list<string> last = {"Willis", "Jones", "Lee"};
list<int> years = {1955, 1946, 1940};
list<tuple<string,string,int> > actors;

for (firstIt = first.begin(), lastIt = last.begin(), yearIt = years.begin();
firstIt != first.end() && lastIt != last.end() && yearIt != years.end();
++firstIt, ++lastIt, ++yearIt)
actors.push_back(make_tuple(*firstIt, *lastIt, *yearIt));
clojure
(defn gatherer [listOfLists]
(if (empty? (first listOfLists))
() ; the base case for recursion
(cons
(map first listOfLists) ; get the first element of each of the lists
(gatherer (map rest listOfLists)) ; gather all the subsequent ones
)
)
)

(def firstnames '("Bruce" "Tommy Lee" "Bruce"))
(def lastnames '("Willis" "Jones" "Lee"))
(def years '(1955 1946 1940))

(println (gatherer [firstnames lastnames years]))

; -> ((Bruce Willis 1955) (Tommy Lee Jones 1946) (Bruce Lee 1940))
(def firstnames ["Bruce" "Tommy Lee" "Bruce"])
(def lastnames ["Willis" "Jones" "Lee"])
(def years [1955 1946 1940])
(println (map (fn [f l y] [f l y]) firstnames lastnames years))

List Combinations

Given two source lists (or sets), generate a list (or set) of all the pairs derived by combining elements from the individual lists (sets). E.g. given suites = ['H', 'D', 'C', 'S'] and faces = ['2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', '10', 'J', 'Q', 'K', 'A'], generate the deck of 52 cards, confirm the deck size and check it contains an expected card, say 'Ace of Hearts'.
python
suites = ('H', 'D', 'C', 'S')
faces = ('2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', '10', 'J', 'Q', 'K', 'A')
deck = [(face,suite) for suite in suites for face in faces]
assert len(deck) == 52
assert ('A', 'H') in deck
cpp
Specialized::StringCollection^ cards = gcnew Specialized::StringCollection;

for each(String^ suite in suites)
for each(String^ face in faces)
cards->Add(makeCard(suite, face));

Console::WriteLine("Deck has {0} cards", cards.Count);
if (cards->Contains(makeCard("h", "A"))) Console::WriteLine("Deck contains 'Ace of hearts'"); else Console::WriteLine("'Ace of hearts' not in deck");
auto suites = {"h", "d", "c", "s"};
auto faces = {"2", "3", "4", "5", "6", "7", "8", "9", "10", "J", "Q", "K", "A"};
list<card> cards;

for (auto s: suites)
for (auto f: faces)
cards.push_back(make_pair(s,f));

cout << "Deck has " << cards.size() << " cards." << endl;

card ace_of_harts = make_pair("h", "A");
if (end(cards) != find_if(begin(cards), end(cards),
[&](const card& c) { return c == ace_of_harts; }))
cout << "Deck contain 'Ace of Harts'" << endl;
else
cout << "Deck lacks 'Ace of Harts'" << endl;
clojure
(def suites ["H" "D" "C" "S"])
(def faces [2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "J" "Q" "K" "A"])
(defn listCards [] (for [s suites f faces] [f s]))
(some (partial = ["A" "H"]) (listCards))
; -> true
(count (listCards))
; -> 52

Perform an operation on every item of a list

Perform an operation on every item of a list, e.g.
for the list ["ox", "cat", "deer", "whale"] calculate
the list of sizes of the strings, e.g. [2, 3, 4, 5]
python
print map(lambda x: len(x), ["ox", "cat", "deer", "whale"])
print [len(x) for x in ['ox', 'cat', 'deer', 'whale']]
cpp
list<string> words;

words.push_back("ox");
words.push_back("cat");
words.push_back("deer");
words.push_back("whale");

for (list<string>::iterator it = words.begin(); it != words.end(); ++it)
cout << it->size() << ' ';
cout << endl;
auto words = { "ox", "cat", "deer", "whale" };
list<size_t> word_sizes;

transform(begin(words),
end(words),
back_inserter(word_sizes),
[](const string& s) { return s.size(); });
clojure
(map count ["ox" "cat" "deer" "whale"])

Split a list of things into numbers and non-numbers

Given a list that might contain e.g. a string, an integer, a float and a date,
split the list into numbers and non-numbers.
python
import re
data = '34234aff340980adf0e0fa0fefl' ## or ''.join(array)

nonDigits = re.findall(re.compile('\D'), data)
digits = re.findall(re.compile('\d'), data)


cpp
typedef variant<int,float,string,date> dynamic;

class is_number : public static_visitor<bool>
{
public:
bool operator()(int &) const {
return true;
}
bool operator()(float &) const {
return true;
}
bool operator()(string &) const {
return false;
}
bool operator()(date &) const {
return false;
}
};

int main()
{
list<dynamic> lst;
list<dynamic> numbers;
list<dynamic> non_numbers;

lst += "hello", 3.14f, 42, date(2011,Aug,23);

BOOST_FOREACH(dynamic v, lst)
if (apply_visitor(is_number(), v))
numbers += v;
else
non_numbers += v;
#include <iostream>
#include <list>

#include <boost/any.hpp>
#include <boost/date_time/gregorian/gregorian.hpp>
#include <boost/foreach.hpp>

using namespace boost;
using namespace boost::gregorian;
using namespace std;

int main()
{
list<any> lst;
list<any> numbers;
list<any> non_numbers;

lst.push_back(string("hello"));
lst.push_back(42);
lst.push_back(3.14f);
lst.push_back(date(day_clock::local_day()));

BOOST_FOREACH(const any &a, lst)
try
{
numbers.push_back(any_cast<int>(a));
}
catch (bad_any_cast &e)
{
try
{
numbers.push_back(any_cast<float>(a));
}
catch (bad_any_cast &e)
{
non_numbers.push_back(a);
}
}

// float and int are now in 'numbers' and the rest in 'non_numbers'
}
clojure
(def jumble [3 "Bill" 5.7 '("A" "B" "C")]) ; int, string, float, list

(defn numberNonNumberSorter [jumbledList]
(if (empty? jumbledList)
(hash-map :numbers [], :nonnumbers []) ; recursion base case - return two empty lists
(let [head (first jumbledList)] ; let <head> be the first element in the list
(let [tailresult (numberNonNumberSorter (rest jumbledList))] ; tailresult applies recursively to the remainder
(if (number? head) ; is head a number?
(hash-map
:numbers (cons head (tailresult :numbers)) ; add <head> to the numbers
:nonnumbers (tailresult :nonnumbers)) ; leave nonnumbers the same
(hash-map
:numbers (tailresult :numbers) ; leave numbers the same
:nonnumbers (cons head (tailresult :nonnumbers))) ; add <head> to nonnumbers
)
)
)
)
)

(println (numberNonNumberSorter jumble))

; -> {:nonnumbers (Bill (A B C)), :numbers (3 5.7)}
(group-by number? ["hello" 42 3.14 (Date.)])
Testing

Test if a condition holds for all items of a list

Given a list, test if a certain logical condition (i.e. predicate) holds for all items of the list.
python
all(x > 1 for x in [2,3,4])
cpp
template <typename InputIterator, typename Predicate>
bool match_all(InputIterator first, InputIterator last, Predicate pred)
{
return find_if(first, last, !pred(_1)) == last;
}
clojure
(every? #(> % 1) [2 3 4])

Test if a condition holds for any items of a list

Given a list, test if a certain logical condition (i.e. predicate) holds for any items of the list.
python
any(x > 3 for x in [2, 3, 4])
cpp
template <typename InputIterator, typename Predicate>
bool match_any(InputIterator first, InputIterator last, Predicate pred)
{
return find_if(first, last, pred) != last;
}
clojure
; The standard library in Clojure has "not-any?" but (oddly enough) no "any?"
(defn any? [pred coll]
((complement not-any?) pred coll))

(any? #(> % 3) [2 3 4])
(some #(> % 3) [2 3 4])