How do I find the number of characters in a string using scheme programming language? - string

I used string-length to get the number of characters but I am having difficulties in defining a recursive function. Should I convert the string to a list and then count the elements?

There's no useful way of doing this recursively (or even tail recursively): strings in Scheme are objects which know how long they are. There would be such an approach in a language like C where strings don't know how long they are but are delimited by some special marker. So for instance if (special-marker? s i) told you whether the i'th element of s was the special marker object, then you could write a function to know how long the string was:
(define (silly-string-length s)
(let silly-string-length-loop ([i 1])
(if (special-marker? s i)
(- i 1)
(silly-string-length-loop (+ i 1)))))
But now think about how you would implement special-marker? in Scheme: in particular here's the obvious implementation:
(define (special-marker? s i)
(= i (+ (string-length s) 1)))
And you can see that silly-string-length is now just a terrible version of string-length.
Well, if you wanted to make it look even more terrible, you could, as you suggest, convert a string to a list and then compute the length of the lists. Lists are delimited by a special marker object, () so this approach is reasonable:
(define (length-of-list l)
(let length-of-list-loop ([i 0]
[lt l])
(if (null? lt)
i
(length-of-list-loop (+ i 1) (rest lt)))))
So you could write
(define (superficially-less-silly-string-length s)
(length-of-list
(turn-string-into-list s)))
But, wait, how do you write turn-string-into-list? Well, something like this perhaps:
(define (turn-string-into-list s)
(let ([l (string-length s)])
(let loop ([i 0]
[r '()])
(if (= i l)
(reverse r)
(loop (+ i 1)
(cons (string-ref s i) r))))))
And this ... uses string-length.

What is the problem with?
(string-length string)

If the question is a puzzle "count characters in a string without using string-length",
then maybe:
(define (my-string-length s)
(define (my-string-length t n)
(if (string=? s t) n
(my-string-length
(string-append t (string (string-ref s n))) (+ n 1))))
(my-string-length "" 0))
or:
(define (my-string-length s)
(define (my-string-length n)
(define (try thunk)
(call/cc (lambda (k)
(with-exception-handler (lambda (x)
(k n))
thunk))))
(try (lambda ()
(string-ref s n)
(my-string-length (+ n 1)))))
(my-string-length 0))
(but of course string-ref will be using the base string-length or equivalent)

Related

Racket - string->list returns strange results [duplicate]

I want to calculate the sum of digits of a number in Scheme. It should work like this:
>(sum-of-digits 123)
6
My idea is to transform the number 123 to string "123" and then transform it to a list '(1 2 3) and then use (apply + '(1 2 3)) to get 6.
but it's unfortunately not working like I imagined.
>(string->list(number->string 123))
'(#\1 #\2 #\3)
Apparently '(#\1 #\2 #\3) is not same as '(1 2 3)... because I'm using language racket under DrRacket, so I can not use the function like char->digit.
Can anyone help me fix this?
An alternative method would be to loop over the digits by using modulo. I'm not as used to scheme syntax, but thanks to #bearzk translating my Lisp here's a function that works for non-negative integers (and with a little work could encompass decimals and negative values):
(define (sum-of-digits x)
(if (= x 0) 0
(+ (modulo x 10)
(sum-of-digits (/ (- x (modulo x 10)) 10)))))
Something like this can do your digits thing arithmetically rather than string style:
(define (digits n)
(if (zero? n)
'()
(cons (remainder n 10) (digits2 (quotient n 10))))
Anyway, idk if its what you're doing but this question makes me think Project Euler. And if so, you're going to appreciate both of these functions in future problems.
Above is the hard part, this is the rest:
(foldr + (digits 12345) 0)
OR
(apply + (digits 1234))
EDIT - I got rid of intLength above, but in case you still want it.
(define (intLength x)
(define (intLengthP x c)
(if (zero? x)
c
(intLengthP (quotient x 10) (+ c 1))
)
)
(intLengthP x 0))
Those #\1, #\2 things are characters. I hate to RTFM you, but the Racket docs are really good here. If you highlight string->list in DrRacket and hit F1, you should get a browser window with a bunch of useful information.
So as not to keep you in the dark; I think I'd probably use the "string" function as the missing step in your solution:
(map string (list #\a #\b))
... produces
(list "a" "b")
A better idea would be to actually find the digits and sum them. 34%10 gives 4 and 3%10 gives 3. Sum is 3+4.
Here's an algorithm in F# (I'm sorry, I don't know Scheme):
let rec sumOfDigits n =
if n<10 then n
else (n%10) + sumOfDigits (n/10)
This works, it builds on your initial string->list solution, just does a conversion on the list of characters
(apply + (map (lambda (d) (- (char->integer d) (char->integer #\0)))
(string->list (number->string 123))))
The conversion function could factored out to make it a little more clear:
(define (digit->integer d)
(- (char->integer d) (char->integer #\0)))
(apply + (map digit->integer (string->list (number->string 123))))
(define (sum-of-digits num)
(if (< num 10)
num
(+ (remainder num 10) (sum-of-digits (/ (- num (remainder num 10)) 10)))))
recursive process.. terminates at n < 10 where sum-of-digits returns the input num itself.

How to modify string by index in Clojure?

I want to modify a string by applying a function to some of its chars (by starting index and length).
For example, I want to increment the ascii representation of the string "aaaaa" from the 2nd index to the 4th.
[start=1 length=3]
"aaaaa" => "abbba"
The only way I could think of is applying map, but it goes over all the sequence.
You could use subs to get the portions you do and don't want to modify. After modification use str to concatenate the result together:
(defn replace-in-str [f in from len]
(let [before (subs in 0 from)
after (subs in (+ from len))
being-replaced (subs in from (+ from len))
replaced (f being-replaced)]
(str before replaced after)))
You can call it:
(replace-in-str
(fn [sub-str] (apply str (map #(char (+ 1 (int %))) sub-str)))
"aaaaa"
1
3)
Indeed map applies the function to every element in the sequence. One way to get around that is to start with map-indexed. Unlike map, map-indexed passes the element's index as the first argument to the mapping function. When we have element's index, we can use it to choose if we need to perform the operation or just return the element as is.
A solution might look like this:
(defn inc-char [c]
(char (inc (long c))))
(defn if-in-range [from to f]
(fn [i x & args]
(if (<= from i (dec to))
(apply f x args)
x)))
(defn map-subs [from to f s]
(apply str (map-indexed (if-in-range from to f) s)))
(map-subs 1 4 inc-char "aaaaa")
;; "abbba"
I thought of using map-index to execute the operation only on the specified index:
((fn [op start length] (map-indexed (fn [i m] (if (<= start i length)
(op m)
m)) "aaaaa"))
#(char (+ 1 (int %)))
1
3)
=> (\a \b \b \b \a)
Here you go:
(defn replace-str
[s start-i end-i]
(apply str (map-indexed (fn [index val]
(if (and (>= index start-i)
(<= index end-i))
(char (+ (int val) 1))
val))
s)))
(replace-str "aaaa" 1 2)
;=> "abba"

Scheme: How to find a position of a char in a string

I am trying to find the index of a string where it is equal to a certain character, but I can seem to figure it out.
This is what I got so far, but its not working...
(define getPos
(lambda ()
(define s (apply string-append myList))
(getPosition pos (string->list s))))
(define getPosition
(lambda (position s)
(if (and (< position (length s)) (equal? (car s) #\space))
((set! pos (+ pos 1)) (getPosition (cdr s) pos));increment the positon and continue the loop
pos)));else
(define length
(lambda (s);the value s must be coverted to a string->list when passed in
(cond
((null? s) 0)
(else (+ 1 (length (cdr s)))))))
The solution is simple: we have to test each char in the list until either we run out of elements or we find the first occurrence of the char, keeping track of which position we're in.
Your proposed solution looks weird, in Scheme we try to avoid set! and other operations that mutate data - the way to go, is by using recursion to traverse the list of chars. Something like this is preferred:
(define (getPosition char-list char pos)
(cond ((null? char-list) #f) ; list was empty
((char=? char (car char-list)) pos) ; we found it!
(else (getPosition (cdr char-list) char (add1 pos))))) ; char was not found
For 0-based indexes use it like this, converting the string to a list of chars and initializing the position in 0:
(getPosition (string->list "abcde") #\e 0)
=> 4
Of course, we can do better by using existing procedures - here's a more idiomatic solution:
(require srfi/1) ; required for using the `list-index` procedure
(define (getPosition string char)
(list-index (curry char=? char)
(string->list string)))
(getPosition "abcde" #\e)
=> 4
A solution with for:
#lang racket
(define (find-char c s)
(for/first ([x s] ; for each character in the string c
[i (in-naturals)] ; counts 0, 1, 2, ...
#:when (char=? c x))
i))
(find-char #\o "hello world")
(find-char #\x "hello world")
Output:
4
#f

Scheme list of strings

my function in scheme looks like this
(define (func1 input)
(let kloop ((x 6))
(let ((act (string-copy (func2 input2))))
(if (eq? act "") (display "null") (display act))
(if (> x 0) (kloop (- x 1)))))))
func2 return some string which is stored in act. Now I have to create a list of all strings returned by this function. Here above, I am just displaying those strings. I tried different approaches, but nothing is working out. I tried using append and cons.
Please suggest.
Your last if is missing the else case, which is where one would expect the return value of the function to be.
You don't mention how you've tried to use append and cons, but a common pattern is to pass an accumulating parameter around in the loop:
(define (five input)
(let loop ((x 5) (outputs '()))
(if (> x 0)
(loop (- x 1) (cons input outputs))
outputs)))
> (five "yes")
'("yes" "yes" "yes" "yes" "yes")
You are calling func2 on input six times. Does it return a different value each time? If not, this works:
(define (func1 input)
(make-list 6 (func2 input)))
The question is a bit confusing, you should provide a sample of the expected output for a given input. And why the empty string is treated differently in your code? apparently the recursion should advance on the value of x, not the value of the string returned by func2. Also, why are you copying the string? seems unnecessary.
Assuming that the named let is used just for keeping track of the number of iterations, this solution seems aligned with your intent, as this will return a 6-element list of all strings returned by func2
(define (func1 input)
(let kloop ((x 6))
(if (zero? x)
'()
(cons (func2 input)
(kloop (- x 1))))))
But we can be smarter and use the named let to give a tail-recursive solution, which is more efficient:
(define (func1 input)
(let kloop ((x 6)
(acc '()))
(if (zero? x)
acc
(kloop (- x 1)
(cons (func2 input)
acc)))))

Scheme - list functions with filter

I am currently working on a homework assignment with MIT scheme, and have come across a few problems that are supposedly very short, though I'm a bit confused as to how to implement some of them.
One problem asks me to write a function that returns a list with all the integers removed. I did manage to solve that,
(define (f2a lst) (map (lambda(x) (remove number? x)) lst))
though I'm confused as to how I can rewrite it to not use remove, but rather use a filter.
*note: (f2a '(("a" 1 "b") (2 "c") (-1 "d") (-2))) returns '(("a" "b") ("c") ("d"))
The other two problems are ones to which I haven't found any solutions.
They ask me to write a function that returns a list with all positive odd and negative even integers removed. For example,
(f2b '(("a" 1 "b") (2 "c") (-1 "d") (-2)))
returns
(("a" "b") (2 "c") (-1 "d"))
I have some code down that is incorrect, but I feel shows how I have tried to approach solving this one:
(define (f2b lst)
(lambda(x)
(cond ((and (positive? x) (odd? x)) (filter x lst))
((and (negative? x) (even? x)) (filter x lst))
(else "this should never print"))))
The last problem simply asks for a function that returns a string consisting of all strings appended together in a list. (f2c '(("a" 1 "b") (2 "c") (-1 "d") (-2))) returns "abcd".
I almost managed to figure this one out, but got stuck when it kept returning strange values. This is the code I have:
(define (f2c lst)
(lambda(x)
(map (lambda (x) (filter string? x)) lst)
(list x))
(string-append (car lst) (cdr lst)))
In terms of higher-order syntax, I'm limited to map, filter, accumulate and sum. I am not asking for a direct answer, but rather some help for me to figure out what I need to do. What am I doing wrong with my code? Any assistance given with this is very much appreciated. Thank you.
The structure of the input and the desired output is identical in the first two problems; the only thing that differs is the predicate on when/when-not to remove an element. For the second case it would be:
(define (f2b lst)
(map (lambda (sublst)
(remove (lambda (x)
(and (number? x)
(or (and (positive? x) (odd? x))
(and (negative? x) (even? x)))))
sublst))
lst))
Since only the predicate differs you can generalize this as:
(define (f2x predicate)
(lambda (lst)
(map (lambda (sublst) (remove predicate sublst)) lst)))
(define f2a (f2x number?))
(define f2b (f2x (lambda (x)
(and (number? x)
(or (and (positive? x) (odd? x))
(and (negative? x) (even? x))))))
For your last problem, you can use the result of the first problem as:
(define (f2c lst)
(apply string-append (apply append (f2a list))))
Also, note that your syntax for f2b and f2a is incorrect. You are using
(define (func arg)
(lambda (x) ...))
which means that (func arg) returns a function which isn't what you want.

Resources