List package:protolude

The listToMaybe function returns Nothing on an empty list or Just a where a is the first element of the list.

Examples

Basic usage:

>>> listToMaybe []
Nothing

>>> listToMaybe [9]
Just 9

>>> listToMaybe [1,2,3]
Just 1

Composing maybeToList with listToMaybe should be the identity on singleton/empty lists:

>>> maybeToList $ listToMaybe [5]
[5]

>>> maybeToList $ listToMaybe []
[]

But not on lists with more than one element:

>>> maybeToList $ listToMaybe [1,2,3]
[1]

Lists, but with an Applicative functor based on zipping.

The maybeToList function returns an empty list when given Nothing or a singleton list when given Just.

Examples

Basic usage:

>>> maybeToList (Just 7)
[7]

>>> maybeToList Nothing
[]

One can use maybeToList to avoid pattern matching when combined with a function that (safely) works on lists:

>>> import Text.Read ( readMaybe )

>>> sum $ maybeToList (readMaybe "3")
3

>>> sum $ maybeToList (readMaybe "")
0

List of elements of a structure, from left to right. If the entire list is intended to be reduced via a fold, just fold the structure directly bypassing the list.

Examples

Basic usage:

>>> toList Nothing
[]

>>> toList (Just 42)
[42]

>>> toList (Left "foo")
[]

>>> toList (Node (Leaf 5) 17 (Node Empty 12 (Leaf 8)))
[5,17,12,8]

For lists, toList is the identity:

>>> toList [1, 2, 3]
[1,2,3]

The method showList is provided to allow the programmer to give a specialised way of showing lists of values. For example, this is used by the predefined Show instance of the Char type, where values of type String should be shown in double quotes, rather than between square brackets.