View Problem
Lists
Output

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([]) = ""
DiskEdit
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(*[]) == ""
DiskEdit
csharp .NET 3.5
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;

public class CSharpListToEnglishList {
public string JoinAsEnglishList (List<string> words) {
switch (words.Count) {
case 0: return "";
case 1: return words[0];
case 2: return string.Format("{0} and {1}", words.ToArray());
default:
return JoinAsEnglishList( new List<string>() {
string.Join(", ", words.Take(words.Count - 1).ToArray()) + ",",
words.Last()
});
}
}
// Driver...
public static void Main() {
var joiner = new CSharpListToEnglishList();
System.Console.WriteLine(
joiner.JoinAsEnglishList(new List<string>() { "Apple", "Banana", "Carrot", "Orange" }) );
System.Console.WriteLine(
joiner.JoinAsEnglishList(new List<string>() { "Apple", "Banana", "Carrot" }) );
System.Console.WriteLine(
joiner.JoinAsEnglishList(new List<string>() { "One", "Two" }) );
System.Console.WriteLine(
joiner.JoinAsEnglishList(new List<string>() { "Lonely" }) );
System.Console.WriteLine(
joiner.JoinAsEnglishList(new List<string>()) );
}
}
ExpandDiskEdit
erlang
io:format("~s~n", [join(Fruit)]).

% ------

join([]) -> "";
join([W|Ws]) -> join(Ws, W).

join([], S) -> S;
join([W], S) -> join([], S ++ " and " ++ W);
join([W|Ws], S) -> join(Ws, S ++ ", " ++ W).
DiskEdit
erlang
%% According to the reference manual, "string is not a data type in Erlang."
%% Instead it has lists of integers. But I/O functions in general accept
%% IO lists, where an IO list is either a list of IO lists or an integer.
%% This gives you O(1) string concatenation.

-module(commalist).
-export([join/1]).

join([]) -> "";
join([W]) -> W;
join([W1, W2]) -> [W1, " and ", W2];
join([W1, W2, W3]) -> [W1, ", ", W2, ", and ", W3];
join([W1|Ws]) -> [W1, ", ", join(Ws)].

ExpandDiskEdit
fantom
join := |List list -> Str|
{
switch(list.size)
{
case 0: return ""
case 1: return list[0]
case 2: return list.join(" and ")
default: return list[0..-2].join(", ") + ", and " + list[-1]
}
}

echo(join(["Apple", "Banana", "Carrot"]))
echo(join(["One", "Two"]))
echo(join(["Lonely"]))
echo(join([,]))
ExpandDiskEdit
groovy
def join(list) {
if (!list) return ''
switch(list.size()) {
case 1:
return list[0]
case 2:
return list.join(' and ')
default:
return list[0..-2].join(', ') + ', and ' + list[-1]
}
}
DiskEdit
groovy 1.7.x
ArrayList.metaClass.joinEng = { ->
def closureMap = [0: { -> delegate.join(' and ')}, 1 : {-> delegate.join(' and ')}].withDefault { k -> { -> delegate[0..-2].join(', ') + ', and ' + delegate[-1] } }
if (delegate.size()) closureMap[delegate.size()-1].call()
else ""
}

assert ["a"].joinEng() == "a"
assert ["a", "b"].joinEng() == "a and b"
assert ["a", "b", "c"].joinEng() == "a, b, and c"
assert [].joinEng() == ""
ExpandDiskEdit
fsharp
let join list =
let rec join' list' s =
match list' with
| [] -> s
| [w] -> join' [] (s ^ " and " ^ w)
| w :: ws -> join' ws (s ^ ", " ^ w)
match list with
| [] -> ""
| w :: ws -> join' ws w

// ------

printfn "%s" (join fruit)

Submit a new solution for python, csharp, erlang, fantom ...
There are 18 other solutions in additional languages (clojure, cpp, haskell, java ...)