Haskell naive duplicate filtering - haskell

I do not understand a sample solution for the following problem: given a list of elements, remove the duplicates. Then count the unique digits of a number. No explicit recursion may be used for either problem.
My code:
removeDuplicates :: Eq a => [a] -> [a]
removeDuplicates = foldr (\x ys -> x:(filter (x /=) ys)) []
differentDigits :: Int -> Int
differentDigits xs = length (removeDuplicates (show xs))
The solution I am trying to understand has a different definition for differentDigits, namely
differentDigits xs = foldr (\ _ x -> x + 1) 0 ( removeDuplicates ( filter (/= '_') ( show xs )))
Both approaches work, but I cannot grasp the sample solution. To break my question down into subquestions,
How does the first argument to filter work? I mean
(/= '_')
How does the lambda for foldr work? In
foldr (\ _ x -> x + 1)
^
the variable x should still be the Char list? How does Haskell figure out that actually 0 should be incremented?

filter (/= '_') is, I'm pretty sure, redundant. It filters out underscore characters, which shouldn't be present in the result of show xs, assuming xs is a number of some sort.
foldr (\ _ x -> x + 1) 0 is equivalent to length. The way foldr works, it takes the second argument (which in your example is zero) as the starting point, then applies the first argument (in your example, lambda) to it over and over for every element of the input list. The element of the input list is passed into the lambda as first argument (denoted _ in your example), and the running sum is passed as second argument (denoted x). Since the lambda just returns a "plus one" number on every pass, the result will be a number representing how many times the lambda was called - which is the length of the list.

First, note that (2) is written in so called point free style, leaving out the third argument of foldr.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tacit_programming#Functional_programming
Also, the underscore in \_ x -> x + 1 is a wild card, that simply marks the place of a parameter but that does not give it a name (a wild card works as a nameless parameter).
Second, (2) is a really nothing else than a simple recursive function that folds to the right. foldr is a compact way to write such recursive functions (in your case length):
foldr :: (a -> b -> b) -> b -> [a]
foldr f z [] = z
foldr f z (x:xs) = f x (foldr f z xs)
If we write
foldr f c ls
ls is the list over which our recursive function should recur (a is the type of the elements).
c is the result in the base case (when the recursive recursive function is applied on an empty list).
f computes the result in the general case (when the recursive function is applied on a non-empty list). f takes two arguments:
The head of the list and
the result of the recursive call on the tail of the list.
So, given f and c, foldr will go through the list ls recursively.
A first example
The Wikipedia page about point free style gives the example of how we can compute the sum of all elements in a list using foldr:
Instead of writing
sum [] = 0
sum (x:xs) = x + sum xs
we can write
sum = foldr (+) 0
The operator section (+) is a 2-argument function that adds its arguments. The expression
sum [1,2,3,4]
is computed as
1 + (2 + (3 + (4)))
(hence "folding to the right").
Example: Multiplying all elements.
Instead of
prod [] = 1
prod (x:xs) = x * prod xs
we can write
prod = foldr (*) 1
Example: Remove all occurrences of a value from a list.
Instead of
remove _ [] = []
remove v (x:xs) = if x==v then remove v xs else x:remove v xs
we can write
remove v = foldr (\x r -> if x==v then r else x:r) []
Your case, (2)
We can now fully understand that
length = foldr (\ _ x -> x + 1) 0
in fact is the same as
length [] = 0
length (x:xs) = length xs + 1
that is, the length function.
Hope this recursive view on foldr helped you understand the code.

Related

Every n-th element of a list in the form of a list

I went through a post for this problem but I do not understand it. Could someone please explain it?
Q: Find every n-th element of the list in the form of a list start from the n-th element itself.
everyNth :: Int -> [t] -> [t]
everyNth elt = map snd . filter (\(lst,y) -> (mod lst elt) == 0) . zip [1..]
Also, please explain how pattern matching can be used for this problem. That is using
[]->[]
It's easy to use pattern matching to 'select every nth element' for particular cases of n:
every2nd (first:second:rest) = second : every2nd rest
every2nd _ = []
-- >>> every2nd [1..12]
-- [2,4,6,8,10,12]
every3rd (first:second:third:rest) = third : every3rd rest
every3rd _ = []
-- >>> every3rd [1..13]
-- [3,6,9,12]
every4th (first:second:third:fourth:rest) = fourth : every4th rest
every4th _ = []
-- >>> every4th [1..12]
-- [4,8,12]
For the general case, though, we're out of luck, at least with that particular approach. Patterns like those above will need some definite length to be definite patterns. The composed function you mention starts from the thought that we do know how to find every nth member of [1..], namely if it's a multiple of n
multiple n m = m `mod` n == 0
-- >>> filter (multiple 3) [1..12]
-- [3,6,9,12]
So the solution you are trying to understand zips [1..] with the list
index xs = zip [1..] xs
-- >>> index [1..5]
-- [(1,1),(2,2),(3,3),(4,4),(5,5)]
-- >>> index "hello"
-- [(1,'h'),(2,'e'),(3,'l'),(4,'l'),(5,'o')]
Then it filters out just those pairs whose first element is a multiple of n
every_nth_with_index n xs = filter (\(m,a) -> multiple n m) (index xs)
-- >>> every_nth_with_index 3 [1..12]
-- [(3,3),(6,6),(9,9),(12,12)]
-- >>> every_nth_with_index 3 "stackoverflow.com"
-- [(3,'a'),(6,'o'),(9,'r'),(12,'o'),(15,'c')]
Then it gets rid of the ancillary construction, leaving us with just the second element of each pair:
every_nth n xs = map snd (every_nth_with_index n xs)
-- >>> every_nth 3 [1..12]
-- [3,6,9,12]
-- >>> every_nth 3 "stackoverflow.com"
-- "aoroc"
Retracinging our steps we see that this is the same as
everyNth elt = map snd . filter (\(lst,y) -> (mod lst elt) == 0) . zip [1..]
The notorious fold fan strikes again.
everyNth n xs = foldr go (`seq` []) xs n where
go x r 0 = x : r (n - 1)
go _ r k = r (k - 1)
This is very similar to chepner's approach but it integrates the dropping into the recursion. Rewritten without the fold, it's pure pattern matching:
everyNth n = go n where
go k [] = k `seq` []
go 0 (x : xs) = x : go (n - 1) xs
go k (_ : xs) = go (k - 1) xs
With a little cheating, you can define everyNth using pattern matching. Really, we're abstracting out the part that makes pattern matching difficult, as pointed out in Michael's answer.
everyNth n lst = e (shorten lst)
where shorten = drop (n-1) -- here's the cheat
e [] = []
e (first:rest) = first : e (shorten rest)
If you have never seen Haskell before then this takes a bit of explaining.
everyNth :: Int -> [t] -> [t]
everyNth elt = map snd . filter (\(lst,y) -> (mod lst elt) == 0) . zip [1..]
First, note that the type has two arguments, but the definition has only one. This is because the value returned by everyNth is in fact another function. elt is the Int, and the expression in the second line creates a new function that does the job.
Second, note the "." operators. This is an operator that joins two functions together. It is defined like this:
(f . g) x = f (g x)
Here is an equivalent version of the definition with the second argument made explicit:
everyNth elt xs = map snd (filter (\(lst y) -> (mod lst elt) == 0) (zip xs))
When you see a bunch of functions in a chain linked by "." operators you need to read it from right to left. In my second version pay attention to the bracket nesting. zip [1..] xs is the inner-most expression, so it gets evaluated first. It turns a list like ["foo", "bar"] into [(1, "foo"),(2, "bar")]. Then this is filtered to find entries where the number is a multiple of elt. Finally the map snd strips the numbers back out to return just the required entries.

Does Haskell have a takeUntil function?

Currently I am using
takeWhile (\x -> x /= 1 && x /= 89) l
to get the elements from a list up to either a 1 or 89. However, the result doesn't include these sentinel values. Does Haskell have a standard function that provides this variation on takeWhile that includes the sentinel in the result? My searches with Hoogle have been unfruitful so far.
Since you were asking about standard functions, no. But also there isn't a package containing a takeWhileInclusive, but that's really simple:
takeWhileInclusive :: (a -> Bool) -> [a] -> [a]
takeWhileInclusive _ [] = []
takeWhileInclusive p (x:xs) = x : if p x then takeWhileInclusive p xs
else []
The only thing you need to do is to take the value regardless whether the predicate returns True and only use the predicate as a continuation factor:
*Main> takeWhileInclusive (\x -> x /= 20) [10..]
[10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20]
Is span what you want?
matching, rest = span (\x -> x /= 1 && x /= 89) l
then look at the head of rest.
The shortest way I found to achieve that is using span and adding a function before it that takes the result of span and merges the first element of the resulting tuple with the head of the second element of the resulting tuple.
The whole expression would look something like this:
(\(f,s) -> f ++ [head s]) $ span (\x -> x /= 1 && x /= 89) [82..140]
The result of this expression is
[82,83,84,85,86,87,88,89]
The first element of the tuple returned by span is the list that takeWhile would return for those parameters, and the second element is the list with the remaining values, so we just add the head from the second list to our first list.

Define function in Haskell using foldr

I'm trying to define a function in Haskell using the foldr function:
fromDigits :: [Int] -> Int
This function takes a list of Ints (each on ranging from 0 to 9) and converts to a single Int. For example:
fromDigits [0,1] = 10
fromDigits [4,3,2,1] = 1234
fromDigits [2,3,9] = 932
fromDigits [2,3,9,0,1] = 10932
Anyway, I have no trouble defining this using explicit recursion or even using zipWith:
fromDigits n = sum (zipWith (*) n (map ((^)10) [0..]))
But now I have to define it using a foldr, but I don't know how to get the powers of 10. What I have is:
fromDigits xs = foldr (\x acc -> (x*10^(???)) + acc) 0 xs
How can I get them to decrease? I know I can start with (length xs - 1) but what then?
Best Regards
You were almost there:
your
fromDigits xs = foldr (\x acc -> (x*10^(???)) + acc) 0 xs
is the solution with 2 little changes:
fromDigits = foldr (\x acc -> acc*10 + x) 0
(BTW I left out the xs on each sides, that's not necessary.
Another option would be
fromDigits = foldl (\x acc -> read $ (show x) ++ (show acc)) 0
The nice thing about foldr is that it's so extemely easy to visualise!
foldr f init [a,b, ... z]
≡ foldr f init $ a : b : ... z : []
≡ a`f b`f`... z`f`init
≡ f a (f b ( ... (f z init)...)))
so as you see, the j-th list element is used in j consecutive calls of f. The head element is merely passed once to the left of the function. For you application, the head element is the last digit. How should that influence the outcome? Well, it's just added to the result, isn't it?
15 = 10 + 5
623987236705839 = 623987236705830 + 9
– obvious. Then the question is, how do you take care for the other digits? Well, to employ the above trick you first need to make sure there's a 0 in the last place of the carried subresult. A 0 that does not come from the supplied digits! How do you add such a zero?
That should really be enough hint given now.
The trick is, you don't need to compute the power of 10 each time from scratch, you just need to compute it based on the previous power of ten (i.e. multiply by 10). Well, assuming you can reverse the input list.
(But the lists you give above are already in reverse order, so arguably you should be able to re-reverse them and just say that your function takes a list of digits in the correct order. If not, then just divide by 10 instead of multiplying by 10.)

Split list and make sum from sublist?

im searching for a solution for my Haskell class.
I have a list of numbers and i need to return SUM for every part of list. Parts are divided by 0. I need to use FOLDL function.
Example:
initial list: [1,2,3,0,3,4,0,5,2,1]
sublist [[1,2,3],[3,4],[5,2,1]]
result [6,7,7]
I have a function for finding 0 in initial list:
findPos list = [index+1 | (index, e) <- zip [0..] list, e == 0]
(returns [4,6] for initial list from example)
and function for making SUM with FOLDL:
sumList list = foldl (+) 0 list
But I completely failed to put it together :/
---- MY SOLUTION
In the end I found something completely different that you guys suggested.
Took me whole day to make it :/
groups :: [Int] -> [Int]
groups list = [sum x | x <- makelist list]
makelist :: [Int] -> [[Int]]
makelist xs = reverse (foldl (\acc x -> zero x acc) [[]] xs)
zero :: Int -> [[Int]] -> [[Int]]
zero x acc | x == 0 = addnewtolist acc
| otherwise = addtolist x acc
addtolist :: Int -> [[Int]] -> [[Int]]
addtolist i listlist = (i : (head listlist)) : (drop 1 listlist)
addnewtolist :: [[Int]] -> [[Int]]
addnewtolist listlist = [] : listlist
I'm going to give you some hints, rather than a complete solution, since this sounds like it may be a homework assignment.
I like the breakdown of steps you've suggested. For the first step (going from a list of numbers with zero markers to a list of lists), I suggest doing an explicit recursion; try this for a template:
splits [] = {- ... -}
splits (0:xs) = {- ... -}
splits (x:xs) = {- ... -}
You can also abuse groupBy if you're careful.
For the second step, it looks like you're almost there; the last step you need is to take a look at the map :: (a -> b) -> ([a] -> [b]) function, which takes a normal function and runs it on each element of a list.
As a bonus exercise, you might want to think about how you might do the whole thing in one shot as a single fold. It's possible -- and even not too difficult, if you track through what the types of the various arguments to foldr/foldl would have to be!
Additions since the question changed:
Since it looks like you've worked out a solution, I now feel comfortable giving some spoilers. =)
I suggested two possible implementations; one that goes step-by-step, as you suggested, and another that goes all at once. The step-by-step one could look like this:
splits [] = []
splits (0:xs) = [] : splits xs
splits (x:xs) = case splits xs of
[] -> [[x]]
(ys:yss) -> ((x:ys):yss)
groups' = map sum . splits
Or like this:
splits' = groupBy (\x y -> y /= 0)
groups'' = map sum . splits'
The all-at-once version might look like this:
accumulate 0 xs = 0:xs
accumulate n (x:xs) = (n+x):xs
groups''' = foldr accumulate [0]
To check that you understand these, here are a few exercises you might like to try:
What do splits and splits' do with [1,2,3,0,4,5]? [1,2,0,3,4,0]? [0]? []? Check your predictions in ghci.
Predict what each of the four versions of groups (including yours) output for inputs like [] or [1,2,0,3,4,0], and then test your prediction in ghci.
Modify groups''' to exhibit the behavior of one of the other implementations.
Modify groups''' to use foldl instead of foldr.
Now that you've completed the problem on your own, I am showing you a slightly less verbose version. Foldr seems better in my opinion to this problem*, but because you asked for foldl I will show you my solution using both functions.
Also, your example appears to be incorrect, the sum of [5,2,1] is 8, not 7.
The foldr version.
makelist' l = foldr (\x (n:ns) -> if x == 0 then 0:(n:ns) else (x + n):ns) [0] l
In this version, we traverse the list, if the current element (x) is a 0, we add a new element to the accumulator list (n:ns). Otherwise, we add the value of the current element to the value of the front element of the accumulator, and replace the front value of the accumulator with this value.
Step by step:
acc = [0], x = 1. Result is [0+1]
acc = [1], x = 2. Result is [1+2]
acc = [3], x = 5. Result is [3+5]
acc = [8], x = 0. Result is 0:[8]
acc = [0,8], x = 4. Result is [0+4,8]
acc = [4,8], x = 3. Result is [4+3,8]
acc = [7,8], x = 0. Result is 0:[7,8]
acc = [0,7,8], x = 3. Result is [0+3,7,8]
acc = [3,7,8], x = 2. Result is [3+2,7,8]
acc = [5,7,8], x = 1. Result is [5+1,7,8] = [6,7,8]
There you have it!
And the foldl version. Works similarly as above, but produces a reversed list, hence the use of reverse at the beginning of this function to unreverse the list.
makelist l = reverse $ foldl (\(n:ns) x -> if x == 0 then 0:(n:ns) else (x + n):ns) [0] l
*Folding the list from the right allows the cons (:) function to be used naturally, using my method with a left fold produces a reversed list. (There is likely a simpler way to do the left fold version that I did not think of that eliminates this triviality.)
As you already solved it, another version:
subListSums list = reverse $ foldl subSum [0] list where
subSum xs 0 = 0 : xs
subSum (x:xs) n = (x+n) : xs
(Assuming that you have only non-negative numbers in the list)

explain how to use this specific function of foldl

sum :: (Num a) => [a] -> a
sum xs = foldl (\acc x -> acc + x) 0 xs
foldl is folds the list up from the left side. So first we get the acc=0 and put the list xs to x ,then doing the function ->acc+x.After calculation, we get the new acc which is equal to acc+x. But why is that? I think this result of acc+x is the new value of x based on the function x->acc+x.
Let's take a look at your definition of sum
sum :: (Num a) => [a] -> a
sum xs = foldl (\acc x -> acc + x) 0 xs
Let's also take a peek at foldl's signature:
foldl :: (a -> b -> a) -> a -> [b] -> a
Hmm, ok, what do we have to feed foldl in order to get the value at the very, very end (->a)?
It needs a curried function (a->b->a). All though not accurate, for brevity's sake, we'll say its a function that takes two arguments (but you and I know that really, it takes one argument and returns another function that takes one argument).
It needs a value of type a. Notice that our curried function from Step 1. takes something of type a and returns something of type a. Interesting...hmmm...
It needs a list of type b. Notice our curried function from Step 1 takes, as well as something of type a, something of type b.
So, do we give it what it wants?
We give it (\acc x -> acc + x). This is an anonymous function, or lambda, that takes two arguments, (remember, it's curried, though), acc and x, and return's their sum.
We give it 0 as our starting value
We give it xs as the list to fold.
Ok dokie. So, let's just let foldl work its Haskell magic. Let's imagine we called sum [1,2,3]
foldl calls our function (\acc x -> acc + x), using 0 for acc and the first value of xs, 1.
0 + 1
This result does not get stored away in acc or x, since they are just arguments in our little lambda function. foldl is going to use that value (see SanSS's answer for the specific implementation).
Remember that the result of our lambda function is the same type as the first parameter? foldl can use that previous sum and pass it back to the lambda function, along with the second element.
(0 + 1) + 2
And again until it has done this for all the elements:
((0 + 1) + 2) + 3
6
As pointed out by Dan, this is the same if you had done:
sum xs = foldl (+) 0 xs
You can tell more easily with this function that we aren't just 'setting' some variable and adding onto it.
Hope this helps.
Side note:
For your definition of sum, you don't have to explicitly state that sum takes xs. You could leave it as:
sum = foldl (\acc x -> acc + x) 0
This takes advantage of currying, because if we provide foldl just its first two arguments -- a curried function like (a->b->a) and a value of type a -- what do we get?
[b] -> a
A function that takes a list of type b and returns a value of type a! This is called pointfree style. Just something to consider :-)
You should look at the definition of foldl:
foldl f z [] = z
foldl f z (x:xs) = foldl f (f z x) xs
foldl recieves a funcion which takes 2 arguments, a value (the "starter value" or accumulator) and a list.
In case the list is empty it returns the current calculation.
If the case is not empty then it calls recursively with the same function as function, the accumulator is the result of the invocation of the function using the accumulator as the first argument and the first element of the list as the second argument and the tail of the list is used as the list for the recursive call.
So the lambda function used in sum becomes quite clear it takes acc as first argument and the element of the list as second argument and return the sum of both.
The result of the invocations for:
sum [1,2,3] = ((0 + 1) + 2) + 3 = 6
From your question, it sounds like you don't understand how the lambda function (\acc x -> acc + x) works here.
The function is not x->acc+x, but acc x->acc + x. In fact, you could rewrite the "sum" equation as
sum xs = foldl (+) 0 xs
Since (\acc x -> acc + x) is the same as (+)
I suggest you (re)read http://learnyouahaskell.com/higher-order-functions#lambdas

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