1 # Copyright (c) 1997-2009 Graham Barr <gbarr@pobox.com>. All rights reserved.
2 # This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
3 # modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
5 # Maintained since 2013 by Paul Evans <leonerd@leonerd.org.uk>
12 our @ISA = qw(Exporter);
14 all any first min max minstr maxstr none notall product reduce sum sum0 shuffle
15 pairmap pairgrep pairfirst pairs pairkeys pairvalues
17 our $VERSION = "1.37";
18 our $XS_VERSION = $VERSION;
19 $VERSION = eval $VERSION;
22 XSLoader::load('List::Util', $XS_VERSION);
28 # (RT88848) Touch the caller's $a and $b, to avoid the warning of
29 # Name "main::a" used only once: possible typo" warning
31 ${"${pkg}::a"} = ${"${pkg}::a"};
32 ${"${pkg}::b"} = ${"${pkg}::b"};
34 goto &Exporter::import;
43 List::Util - A selection of general-utility list subroutines
47 use List::Util qw(first max maxstr min minstr reduce shuffle sum);
51 C<List::Util> contains a selection of subroutines that people have expressed
52 would be nice to have in the perl core, but the usage would not really be high
53 enough to warrant the use of a keyword, and the size so small such that being
54 individual extensions would be wasteful.
56 By default C<List::Util> does not export any subroutines.
60 =head1 LIST-REDUCTION FUNCTIONS
62 The following set of functions all reduce a list down to a single value.
66 =head2 $result = reduce { BLOCK } @list
68 Reduces C<@list> by calling C<BLOCK> in a scalar context multiple times,
69 setting C<$a> and C<$b> each time. The first call will be with C<$a> and C<$b>
70 set to the first two elements of the list, subsequent calls will be done by
71 setting C<$a> to the result of the previous call and C<$b> to the next element
74 Returns the result of the last call to the C<BLOCK>. If C<@list> is empty then
75 C<undef> is returned. If C<@list> only contains one element then that element
76 is returned and C<BLOCK> is not executed.
78 The following examples all demonstrate how C<reduce> could be used to implement
79 the other list-reduction functions in this module. (They are not in fact
80 implemented like this, but instead in a more efficient manner in individual C
83 $foo = reduce { defined($a) ? $a :
84 $code->(local $_ = $b) ? $b :
85 undef } undef, @list # first
87 $foo = reduce { $a > $b ? $a : $b } 1..10 # max
88 $foo = reduce { $a gt $b ? $a : $b } 'A'..'Z' # maxstr
89 $foo = reduce { $a < $b ? $a : $b } 1..10 # min
90 $foo = reduce { $a lt $b ? $a : $b } 'aa'..'zz' # minstr
91 $foo = reduce { $a + $b } 1 .. 10 # sum
92 $foo = reduce { $a . $b } @bar # concat
94 $foo = reduce { $a || $code->(local $_ = $b) } 0, @bar # any
95 $foo = reduce { $a && $code->(local $_ = $b) } 1, @bar # all
96 $foo = reduce { $a && !$code->(local $_ = $b) } 1, @bar # none
97 $foo = reduce { $a || !$code->(local $_ = $b) } 0, @bar # notall
98 # Note that these implementations do not fully short-circuit
100 If your algorithm requires that C<reduce> produce an identity value, then make
101 sure that you always pass that identity value as the first argument to prevent
102 C<undef> being returned
104 $foo = reduce { $a + $b } 0, @values; # sum with 0 identity value
106 The remaining list-reduction functions are all specialisations of this generic
109 =head2 $b = any { BLOCK } @list
111 Similar to C<grep> in that it evaluates C<BLOCK> setting C<$_> to each element
112 of C<@list> in turn. C<any> returns true if any element makes the C<BLOCK>
113 return a true value. If C<BLOCK> never returns true or C<@list> was empty then
116 Many cases of using C<grep> in a conditional can be written using C<any>
117 instead, as it can short-circuit after the first true result.
119 if( any { length > 10 } @strings ) {
120 # at least one string has more than 10 characters
123 =head2 $b = all { BLOCK } @list
125 Similar to C<any>, except that it requires all elements of the C<@list> to make
126 the C<BLOCK> return true. If any element returns false, then it returns false.
127 If the C<BLOCK> never returns false or the C<@list> was empty then it returns
130 =head2 $b = none { BLOCK } @list
132 =head2 $b = notall { BLOCK } @list
134 Similar to C<any> and C<all>, but with the return sense inverted. C<none>
135 returns true only if no value in the LIST causes the BLOCK to return true, and
136 C<notall> returns true only if not all of the values do.
138 =head2 $val = first { BLOCK } @list
140 Similar to C<grep> in that it evaluates C<BLOCK> setting C<$_> to each element
141 of C<@list> in turn. C<first> returns the first element where the result from
142 C<BLOCK> is a true value. If C<BLOCK> never returns true or C<@list> was empty
143 then C<undef> is returned.
145 $foo = first { defined($_) } @list # first defined value in @list
146 $foo = first { $_ > $value } @list # first value in @list which
147 # is greater than $value
149 =head2 $num = max @list
151 Returns the entry in the list with the highest numerical value. If the list is
152 empty then C<undef> is returned.
154 $foo = max 1..10 # 10
155 $foo = max 3,9,12 # 12
156 $foo = max @bar, @baz # whatever
158 =head2 $str = maxstr @list
160 Similar to C<max>, but treats all the entries in the list as strings and
161 returns the highest string as defined by the C<gt> operator. If the list is
162 empty then C<undef> is returned.
164 $foo = maxstr 'A'..'Z' # 'Z'
165 $foo = maxstr "hello","world" # "world"
166 $foo = maxstr @bar, @baz # whatever
168 =head2 $num = min @list
170 Similar to C<max> but returns the entry in the list with the lowest numerical
171 value. If the list is empty then C<undef> is returned.
174 $foo = min 3,9,12 # 3
175 $foo = min @bar, @baz # whatever
177 =head2 $str = minstr @list
179 Similar to C<min>, but treats all the entries in the list as strings and
180 returns the lowest string as defined by the C<lt> operator. If the list is
181 empty then C<undef> is returned.
183 $foo = minstr 'A'..'Z' # 'A'
184 $foo = minstr "hello","world" # "hello"
185 $foo = minstr @bar, @baz # whatever
187 =head2 $num = product @list
189 Returns the numerical product of all the elements in C<@list>. If C<@list> is
190 empty then C<1> is returned.
192 $foo = product 1..10 # 3628800
193 $foo = product 3,9,12 # 324
195 =head2 $num_or_undef = sum @list
197 Returns the numerical sum of all the elements in C<@list>. For backwards
198 compatibility, if C<@list> is empty then C<undef> is returned.
200 $foo = sum 1..10 # 55
201 $foo = sum 3,9,12 # 24
202 $foo = sum @bar, @baz # whatever
204 =head2 $num = sum0 @list
206 Similar to C<sum>, except this returns 0 when given an empty list, rather than
211 =head1 KEY/VALUE PAIR LIST FUNCTIONS
213 The following set of functions, all inspired by L<List::Pairwise>, consume an
214 even-sized list of pairs. The pairs may be key/value associations from a hash,
215 or just a list of values. The functions will all preserve the original ordering
216 of the pairs, and will not be confused by multiple pairs having the same "key"
217 value - nor even do they require that the first of each pair be a plain string.
221 =head2 @kvlist = pairgrep { BLOCK } @kvlist
223 =head2 $count = pairgrep { BLOCK } @kvlist
225 Similar to perl's C<grep> keyword, but interprets the given list as an
226 even-sized list of pairs. It invokes the C<BLOCK> multiple times, in scalar
227 context, with C<$a> and C<$b> set to successive pairs of values from the
230 Returns an even-sized list of those pairs for which the C<BLOCK> returned true
231 in list context, or the count of the B<number of pairs> in scalar context.
232 (Note, therefore, in scalar context that it returns a number half the size of
233 the count of items it would have returned in list context).
235 @subset = pairgrep { $a =~ m/^[[:upper:]]+$/ } @kvlist
237 As with C<grep> aliasing C<$_> to list elements, C<pairgrep> aliases C<$a> and
238 C<$b> to elements of the given list. Any modifications of it by the code block
239 will be visible to the caller.
241 =head2 ( $key, $val ) = pairfirst { BLOCK } @kvlist
243 =head2 $found = pairfirst { BLOCK } @kvlist
245 Similar to the C<first> function, but interprets the given list as an
246 even-sized list of pairs. It invokes the C<BLOCK> multiple times, in scalar
247 context, with C<$a> and C<$b> set to successive pairs of values from the
250 Returns the first pair of values from the list for which the C<BLOCK> returned
251 true in list context, or an empty list of no such pair was found. In scalar
252 context it returns a simple boolean value, rather than either the key or the
255 ( $key, $value ) = pairfirst { $a =~ m/^[[:upper:]]+$/ } @kvlist
257 As with C<grep> aliasing C<$_> to list elements, C<pairfirst> aliases C<$a> and
258 C<$b> to elements of the given list. Any modifications of it by the code block
259 will be visible to the caller.
261 =head2 @list = pairmap { BLOCK } @kvlist
263 =head2 $count = pairmap { BLOCK } @kvlist
265 Similar to perl's C<map> keyword, but interprets the given list as an
266 even-sized list of pairs. It invokes the C<BLOCK> multiple times, in list
267 context, with C<$a> and C<$b> set to successive pairs of values from the
270 Returns the concatenation of all the values returned by the C<BLOCK> in list
271 context, or the count of the number of items that would have been returned in
274 @result = pairmap { "The key $a has value $b" } @kvlist
276 As with C<map> aliasing C<$_> to list elements, C<pairmap> aliases C<$a> and
277 C<$b> to elements of the given list. Any modifications of it by the code block
278 will be visible to the caller.
280 =head2 @pairs = pairs @kvlist
282 A convenient shortcut to operating on even-sized lists of pairs, this function
283 returns a list of ARRAY references, each containing two items from the given
284 list. It is a more efficient version of
286 @pairs = pairmap { [ $a, $b ] } @kvlist
288 It is most convenient to use in a C<foreach> loop, for example:
290 foreach ( pairs @KVLIST ) {
291 my ( $key, $value ) = @$_;
295 =head2 @keys = pairkeys @kvlist
297 A convenient shortcut to operating on even-sized lists of pairs, this function
298 returns a list of the the first values of each of the pairs in the given list.
299 It is a more efficient version of
301 @keys = pairmap { $a } @kvlist
303 =head2 @values = pairvalues @kvlist
305 A convenient shortcut to operating on even-sized lists of pairs, this function
306 returns a list of the the second values of each of the pairs in the given list.
307 It is a more efficient version of
309 @values = pairmap { $b } @kvlist
313 =head1 OTHER FUNCTIONS
317 =head2 @values = shuffle @values
319 Returns the values of the input in a random order
321 @cards = shuffle 0..51 # 0..51 in a random order
327 With perl versions prior to 5.005 there are some cases where reduce will return
328 an incorrect result. This will show up as test 7 of reduce.t failing.
330 =head1 SUGGESTED ADDITIONS
332 The following are additions that have been requested, but I have been reluctant
333 to add due to them being very simple to implement in perl
335 # How many elements are true
337 sub true { scalar grep { $_ } @_ }
339 # How many elements are false
341 sub false { scalar grep { !$_ } @_ }
345 L<Scalar::Util>, L<List::MoreUtils>
349 Copyright (c) 1997-2007 Graham Barr <gbarr@pobox.com>. All rights reserved.
350 This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
351 modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
353 Recent additions and current maintenance by
354 Paul Evans, <leonerd@leonerd.org.uk>.