Folding with anonymous functions - haskell

I'm currently trying to learn folding.
But instead of using predefined functions I want to use my own.
So I want to double all vowels in a String.
doubleVowels :: String -> String
My attempt is (yet just for 'a', as I'm try solve it for one letter first and will expand and optimize it, once it runs):
doubleVowels :: String -> String
doubleVowels a = foldl (\eachChar -> if eachChar == 'a' then (a ++ "aa") else a) "" a
Trying to run he code I'm getting the following erorr:
Experimenting.hs:8:78: error:
* Couldn't match type `[Char]' with `Char -> Char'
Expected type: Char -> Char
Actual type: String
* In the expression: a
In the expression: if eachChar == 'a' then (a ++ "aa") else a
In the first argument of `foldl', namely
`(\ eachChar -> if eachChar == 'a' then (a ++ "aa") else a)'
|
8 | doubleVowels a = foldl (\eachChar -> if eachChar == 'a' then (a ++ "aa") else a) "" a
| ^
Experimenting.hs:8:81: error:
* Couldn't match expected type `Char' with actual type `[Char]'
* In the second argument of `foldl', namely `""'
In the expression:
foldl
(\ eachChar -> if eachChar == 'a' then (a ++ "aa") else a) "" a
In an equation for `doubleVowels':
doubleVowels
= foldl
(\ eachChar -> if eachChar == 'a' then (a ++ "aa") else a) "" a
|
8 | doubleVowels a = foldl (\eachChar -> if eachChar == 'a' then (a ++ "aa") else a) "" a
| ^^
Failed, no modules loaded.

doubleVowels :: String -> String
doubleVowels a = foldr (\eachChar b -> if eachChar == 'a' then ("aa" ++ b) else (eachChar:b)) "" a
In most cases, if there is no specific reason for foldl, use foldr instead of foldl as it allows the Haskell compiler to lazily evaluate your expression. If I remember correctly, even then use foldl', since foldl is not strict and takes too much memory while not giving you any benefit for the laziness.
Apart from that, you are missing the second argument to foldrs (or foldls) function. foldr has type:
foldr :: (a -> b -> b) -> b -> t a -> b
The function to foldr has type a -> b -> b where the first argument is the current element of the folding structure and the second is the accumulator. The lambda that you are using has only one parameter.
In addition, the body of the lambda function also doesn't make much sense.
if eachChar == 'a' then (a ++ "aa") else a)
a is the parameter that the surrounding function doubleVowels receives. You need to use the parameters of the lambda function here.

First of all, the function used in foldl should have two argments. The first one is the accmulated result, and the other is current char.
Second, the order of evaluation of foldl is from left to right, so we have to reverse the result string.
For example, here is a modified version
doubleVowels :: String -> String
doubleVowels s = reverse $ foldl (\x y -> if y == 'a' then ("aa" ++ x) else (y : x)) "" s

Related

String manipulation haskell

In the following exercise i want to manipulate a random string input by using functions.
Step 1: I want to remove all characters which are not digits, letters or spaces
Step 2: I want to replace all spaces with '_'
Step 3: I want to convert all numbers to spaces
Step 4: I want to replace all 'a' with 'z' and all 'A' with 'Z'
For lists i already used the filter function and i am wondering if this function can also be used for string inputs. I am not quite sure how to approach this exercise.
Update: I found an approach to solve step 1 and step 3 but i am not quite sure how to put the different functions together in a function which includes every step. Is it possible to call the different functions one after another in the right order in some kind of main function?
import Data.Char
toUpperStr xs = map toUpper xs -- function to convert lower to upper
dropInvalids xs = (filter (\x -> isUpper x || isSpace x || isDigit x)) $
toUpperStr xs
replaceBlank [] = [] -- function to replace " " with "_"
replaceBlank (x:xs) =
if x == ' '
then '_' : replaceBlank xs
else x : replaceBlank xs
Yes, absolutely! That's one of the beautiful things about Haskell.
You can treat Strings as [Char]. In fact, that's what they are!
In GHCi, type :i String - you get type String = [Char].
You can easily compose functions. There's an operator for that, (.).
So (f . g) x is f (g x).
I would improve the code in a few key ways.
Firstly, make the replaceBlank function more general, so it takes a condition and a replacement function.
Secondly, compose all the functions in a "main" function, as you call it.
But do not name the main function main! That name is reserved for the IO action of a program.
It's also important not to think of the final function as "calling" the other functions.
That is imperative terminology, here, we are applying the function(s).
Also, why does your dropInvalids contain a toUpperStr? You never specified the string to be all uppercase in the end.
Also also, be sure to declare the type of your functions.
In this case, the following would be the correct code:
import Data.Char
dropInvalids :: [Char] -> [Char]
dropInvalids = filter (\x -> isLetter x || isSpace x || isDigit x)
-- isLetter exists
replace' :: (a -> Bool) -> (a -> a) -> [a] -> [a]
replace' _ _ [] = []
replace' f g (x:xs) =
if f x
then g x : replace' f g xs
else x : replace' f g xs
-- To replace one value with another, use replace (== a) (const b).
replaceWith :: (a -> Bool) -> a -> [a] -> [a]
replaceWith f b = replace' f (const b)
replace :: Eq a => a -> a -> [a] -> [a]
replace a b = replace' (== a) (const b)
-- The Eq makes sure you can check for equality.
manipulateString :: [Char] -> [Char]
manipulateString = replace 'A' 'Z' . replace 'a' 'z' . replaceWith isDigit ' ' . replace ' ' '_' . dropInvalids

Couldn't match expected type ‘[Char]’ with actual type ‘Int’

Working on a method to convert a number n into any base b and having some trouble.
Code:
int2Base :: Int -> Int -> String
int2Base n b
|n == 0 = "0"
|otherwise = (mod n b) ++ int2Base (div n b) b
and my error:
Couldn't match expected type ‘[Char]’ with actual type ‘Int’
In the second argument of ‘mod’, namely ‘b’
In the first argument of ‘(++)’, namely ‘(mod n b)’
It seems like a simply error but even when I cast it to a char it still expects '[Char]' not [Char]
The problem is here:
(mod n b) ++ int2Base (div n b) b
"(mod n b)" produces an Int, not a String.
This should fix it:
int2Base :: Int -> Int -> String
int2Base n b
|n == 0 = "0"
|otherwise = show(mod n b) ++ int2Base (div n b) b
if you look at ++ in GHCI
Prelude> :t (++)
(++) :: [a] -> [a] -> [a]
So ++ can only be applied to lists and [char] is a list of chars.
Mean while if you want to convert this Int value to String/[Char] you may use show
Prelude> :t show
show :: Show a => a -> String
This mean show is capable of taking certain types as denoted by 'a' and returning String.
So to fix the error you may use otherwise = show(mod n b) ++ int2Base (div n b) b
This will make sure you match the function type with a list of strings
int2Base :: Int -> Int -> String
int2Base n b
|n == 0 = ['0']
|otherwise = show(mod n b) ++ int2Base (div n b) b
(I've used ['0'] just to show how String in double quotes maintains [chars] type

higher order function haskell

I'm new to Haskell, I've to do a function that counts the number of vowels in a string using the higher order function foldr
I've tried to create this function
vowels [] = 0
vowels (x:xs)= if elem x "aeiou" then 1 + vowels xs else vowels xs
But it doesn't work and I'm not able to do it using foldr, any suggestion?
Well a foldr :: (a -> b -> b) -> b -> [a] -> b is a function where the first parameter is a function f :: a -> b -> b. You can here see the a parameter as the "head" of the list, the second parameter b as the result of the recursion with foldr, and you thus want to produce a result in terms of these two for the entire function. This logic is basically encapsulated in the second clause of your function.
Indeed:
vowels (x:xs) = if elem x "aeiou" then 1 + vowels xs else vowels xs
can be rewritten as:
vowels (x:xs) = if elem x "aeiou" then 1 + rec else rec
where rec = vowels xs
and rec is thus the outcome of the recursive call, the second parameter of the "fold"-function. x on the other hand is the first parameter of the "fold"-function. We thus need to write this function, only in terms of x and rec, and this is simply:
\x rec -> if elem x "aeiou" then 1 + rec else rec
Furthermore we need to handle the case of an empty list, this is the first clause of your function. In that case the result is 0, this is the second paramter of the foldr, so we got:
vowels = foldr (\x rec -> if elem x "aeiou" then 1 + rec else rec) 0
Or a more clean syntax:
vowels = foldr f 0
where f x rec | elem x "aeiou" = 1 + rec
| otherwise = rec
We can further clean it up, by abstracting away rec:
vowels = foldr f 0
where f x | elem x "aeiou" = (1+)
| otherwise = id
You need to take a look at foldr's signature.
foldr :: Foldable t => (a -> b -> b) -> b -> t a -> b
Never mind the Foldable part and focus on the first function it takes.
(a -> b -> b) b is the same type that you are supposed to return, so directly translating the signature into a lambda gives you \x acc -> acc, but you want to do more than just ignore every element.
Take a look at your function if elem x "aeiou" then 1 + vowels xs else vowels xs. You need to return b, not recurse adding one to it.
if elem x "aeiou" this part is fine. then 1 + acc <- see what I'm doing here? I'm adding one to the accumulator, not recursing manually, that is done by foldr, as for the else case: acc. That's it. You don't need to even touch x.
Putting it all together: vowels = foldr (\x acc -> if elem x "aeiou" then 1 + acc else acc) 0
The 0 is what the acc will start as.
If you want to know more about folds, I suggest you reimplement them yourself.
The easiest way to write something like that is to let the compiler guide you.
First, look only at the obvious parts of the foldr signature. This is the traditional signature, specialised to lists. Nowedays, foldr can actually work on any other suitable container as well, but this isn't important here.
foldr :: (a -> b -> b) -- ^ Not obvious
-> b -- ^ Not obvious
-> [a] -- ^ A list... that'll be the input string
-> b -- ^ Final result, so nothing to be done here.
So, your implementation will be of the form
vowels :: String -> Int
vowels s = foldr _ _ s
where we yet need to find out what to put in the _ gaps. The compiler will give you useful hints as to this:
$ ghc wtmpf-file6869.hs
[1 of 1] Compiling Main ( wtmpf-file6869.hs, wtmpf-file6869.o )
/tmp/wtmpf-file6869.hs:2:18: error:
• Found hole: _ :: Char -> Int -> Int
• In the first argument of ‘foldr’, namely ‘_’
In the expression: foldr _ _ s
In an equation for ‘Main.vowels’: Main.vowels s = foldr _ _ s
• Relevant bindings include
s :: String (bound at /tmp/wtmpf-file6869.hs:2:8)
vowels :: String -> Int (bound at /tmp/wtmpf-file6869.hs:2:1)
|
2 | vowels s = foldr _ _ s
| ^
So, a function that merely takes a single character, and then modifies an integer. That was actually already part of your original implementation:
vowels (x:xs) = if elem x "aeiou" then 1 + vowels xs else vowels xs
The bold part is essentially a function of a single character, that yields a number-modifier. So we can put that in the foldr implementation, using lambda syntax:
vowels s = foldr (\x -> if x`elem`"aeiou" then (1+) else _) _ s
I had to put the 1+ in parenthesis so it works without an explicit argument, as an operator section.
Ok, more gaps:
• Found hole: _ :: Int -> Int
• In the expression: _
In the expression: if x `elem` "aeiou" then (1 +) else _
In the first argument of ‘foldr’, namely
‘(\ x -> if x `elem` "aeiou" then (1 +) else _)’
• Relevant bindings include
x :: Char (bound at wtmpf-file6869.hs:2:20)
s :: String (bound at wtmpf-file6869.hs:2:8)
vowels :: String -> Int (bound at wtmpf-file6869.hs:2:1)
|
2 | vowels s = foldr (\x -> if x`elem`"aeiou" then (1+) else _) _ s
| ^
So that's the modifier that should take action when you've found a non-vowel. What do you want to modify in this case? Well, nothing actually: the count should stay as-is. That's accomplished by the id function.
vowels s = foldr (\x -> if x`elem`"aeiou" then (1+) else id) _ s
• Found hole: _ :: Int
• In the second argument of ‘foldr’, namely ‘_’
In the expression:
foldr (\ x -> if x `elem` "aeiou" then (1 +) else id) _ s
In an equation for ‘vowels’:
vowels s
= foldr (\ x -> if x `elem` "aeiou" then (1 +) else id) _ s
• Relevant bindings include
s :: String (bound at wtmpf-file6869.hs:2:8)
vowels :: String -> Int (bound at wtmpf-file6869.hs:2:1)
|
2 | vowels s = foldr (\x -> if x`elem`"aeiou" then (1+) else id) _ s
| ^
So that's an integer that's completely outside of the foldr. I.e. it can't depend on the string. In particular, it will also be used if the string is empty. Can only be 0!
vowels s = foldr (\x -> if x`elem`"aeiou" then (1+) else id) 0 s
No more gaps, so the compiler will just accept this. Test it:
$ ghci wtmpf-file6869
GHCi, version 8.2.1: http://www.haskell.org/ghc/ :? for help
Loaded GHCi configuration from /home/sagemuej/.ghc/ghci.conf
Loaded GHCi configuration from /home/sagemuej/.ghci
[1 of 1] Compiling Main ( wtmpf-file6869.hs, interpreted )
Ok, 1 module loaded.
*Main> vowels "uwkaefdohinurheoi"
9
Your definition can be tweaked into
vowels [] = 0
vowels (x:xs) = g x (vowels xs)
where
g x rec = if elem x "aeiou" then 1 + rec else rec
which matches the pattern
foldr r z [] = z
foldr r z (x:xs) = r x (foldr r z xs)
if we have foldr r z = vowels and r = g, and also z = 0.
That "pattern" is in fact a valid definition of the foldr function.
Thus we indeed have
vowels xs = foldr g 0 xs
where
g x rec = if elem x "aeiou" then 1 + rec else rec

Haskell type mismatch Int and [Int]

I'm a beginner to Haskell. I'm trying to create a function which has two parameters: a character and a string.
This function is supposed to go through the string and check if the character given is in the string, and then return a list of integers representing the position of the characters in the string.
My code is:
tegnPose :: Char -> String -> [Int]
tegnPose c [] = []
tegnPose c (x:xs) = [if not (xs !! a == c)
then [a] ++ tegnPose c xs
else tegnPose c xs |a <- [0.. length xs - 1]]
Which is a recursive function with list comprehension.
The error I get:
Uke4.hs:14:7: error:
* Couldn't match expected type `Int' with actual type `[Int]'
* In the expression: [a] ++ tegnPose c xs
In the expression:
if not (xs !! a == c) then [a] ++ tegnPose c xs else tegnPose c xs
In the expression:
[if not (xs !! a == c) then
[a] ++ tegnPose c xs
else
tegnPose c xs |
a <- [0 .. length xs - 1]]
|
14 | then [a] ++ tegnPose c xs
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Uke4.hs:15:7: error:
* Couldn't match expected type `Int' with actual type `[Int]'
* In the expression: tegnPose c xs
In the expression:
if not (xs !! a == c) then [a] ++ tegnPose c xs else tegnPose c xs
In the expression:
[if not (xs !! a == c) then
[a] ++ tegnPose c xs
else
tegnPose c xs |
a <- [0 .. length xs - 1]]
|
15 | else tegnPose c xs |a <- [0.. length xs - 1]]
I don't understand how the mismatch happens, as the recursive function should just run through.
Here's why the mismatch happens. First, note that a list comprehension that returns a list of type [a] must generate elements of type a, so you need the following to match:
example :: [Int]
-- .-- the final value is "[Int]"
-- |
example = [ 2+x*y | x <- [1..10], y <- [1..5], x < y]
-- ^^^^^
-- |
-- `- therefore, this must be "Int"
In your example, the type signature for tegnPose implies that the list comprehension must return an [Int], but the expression generating list elements, namely:
if ... then [a] ++ tegnPose c xs else tegnPose c cx
is clearly not returning a plain Int the way it's supposed to.
The first error message is indicating that actual type of the subexpression [a] ++ tegnPos c xs which is [Int] does not match the expected type of the result of the entire if .. then .. else expression which should have type Int.
If I understand your question correctly (i.e., return a list of the integer positions of each occurrence of a character in a string so that tegnPose 'a' "abracadabra" returns [0,3,5,7,10], then you should either use recursion or a list comprehension, but not both.
Note that the non-recursive list comprehension:
tegnPose c xs = [a | a <- [0..length xs - 1]
almost does what you want. All that's missing is testing the condition to see if the character at position a is a c. If you don't know about using "guards" in list comprehensions, go look it up.
Alternatively, the recursive function without a list comprehension:
tegnPose c (x:xs) = if (x == c) then ??? : tegnPose c xs
else tegnPose c xs
tegnPose _ [] = []
also almost does what you want, except it's not obvious what to put in place of ??? to return a number indicating the current position. If you write a recursive version with an extra parameter:
tp n c (x:xs) = if (x == c) then n : tp (???) c xs
else tp (???) c xs
tp _ _ [] = []
with the idea that you could define:
tegnPose c xs = tp 0 c xs
then you'd be closer, if only you could figure out what new value for n should go in place of the ???.
More standard Haskell solutions might involve things like zips:
> zip [0..] "abracadabra"
[(0,'a'),(1,'b'),(2,'r'),...]
and filters:
> filter (\(i,c) -> c == 'a') $ zip [0..] "abracadabra"
[(0,'a'),(3,'a'),...]
and maps:
> map fst $ filter (\(i,c) -> c == 'a') $ zip [0..] "abracadabra"
[0,3,5,7,10]
or looking in Data.List for a function that does what you want:
> elemIndices 'a' "abracadabra"
[0,3,5,7,10]
Just for some variety a simpler way of implementing this functionality with a single foldr could be;
import Data.Bool (bool)
charIndices :: Char -> String -> [Int]
charIndices c = foldr (\t r -> bool r (fst t : r) (snd t == c)) [] . zip [0..]
*Main> charIndices 't' "tektronix test and measurement instruments"
[0,3,10,13,29,34,40]
Explanation:
Type of foldr is Foldable t => (a -> b -> b) -> b -> t a -> b
It takes three parameters;
A function which accepts two parameters
An initial value of type b
A traversable data type which hold values of type a
an returns a single value of type b.
In this particular case our type a value is Char type, which makes t a a String type (due to type signature) and type b value is a list of integers [Int].
The provided function as the first parameter is (\t r -> bool r (fst t : r) (snd t == c)) which is very simple if you check Data.bool. bool is a ternary operator of type a -> a -> Bool -> a which takes three arguments. In order they are negative result, positive result and condition. (negative is on the left as usual in Haskell). It checks if the current character is equal to our target character c, if so it returns fst t : r if not r (r means result). And finally t is the current tuple of the fed tuples list. The tuples list is constructed by zip [0..] s where s is not shown in the function definition due to partial application.

Haskell String to Maybe List

readSquareTransition :: String -> Maybe [SquareTurn]
readSquareTransition [] = Just []
readSquareTransition (x:xs) = case x of
'L' -> Just (L : readSquareTransition xs)
'R' -> Just (R : readSquareTransition xs)
_ -> Nothing
I want to get Just [L,L,R,R]. But looks like i failed :( Here is the error message!
src/StudentSources/LangtonsAnt.hs:231:24:
Couldn't match expected type ‘[SquareTurn]’
with actual type ‘Maybe [SquareTurn]’
In the second argument of ‘(:)’, namely ‘readSquareTransition xs’
In the first argument of ‘Just’, namely
‘(L : readSquareTransition xs)’
src/StudentSources/LangtonsAnt.hs:232:24:
Couldn't match expected type ‘[SquareTurn]’
with actual type ‘Maybe [SquareTurn]’
In the second argument of ‘(:)’, namely ‘readSquareTransition xs’
In the first argument of ‘Just’, namely
‘(R : readSquareTransition xs)’
A modular way of doing this would be to define readSquareTurn first which defines how to turn a Char into a single SquareTurn (with the possibility of failure):
readSquareTurn :: Char -> Maybe SquareTurn
readSquareTurn x = case x of
'L' -> Just L
'R' -> Just R
_ -> Nothing
and then use mapM :: (a -> Maybe b) -> [a] -> Maybe [b] to process the whole String like so:
readSquareTransition :: String -> Maybe [SquareTurn]
readSquareTransition = mapM readSquareTurn
Change this
'L' -> Just (L : readSquareTransition xs)
'R' -> Just (R : readSquareTransition xs)
to this
'L' -> fmap (L :) $ readSquareTransition xs
'R' -> fmap (R :) $ readSquareTransition xs
The problem is that readSquareTransition returns a Maybe [SquareTurn], so you can't apply (:) to it ((:) requires a List). fmap however lets you apply into the Just (while preserving a Nothing).

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