List Comprehensions
List comprehensions are expressions that create lists without having to use funs, maps, or filters. This makes our programs even shorter and easier to understand.
We’ll start with an example. Suppose we have a list
L.
| | 1> L = [1,2,3,4,5]. |
| | [1,2,3,4,5] |
And say we want to double every element in the list. We’ve done this before, but I’ll remind you.
| | 2> lists:map(fun(X) -> 2*X end, L). |
| | [2,4,6,8,10] |
But there’s a much easier way that uses a list comprehension.
| | 4> [2*X || X <- L ]. |
| | [2,4,6,8,10] |
The notation [ F(X) || X <- L] means “the list
of F(X) where X is taken from the list
L.”
Thus, [2*X || X <- L ] means “the list of 2*X
where X is taken from the list L.”
To see how to use a list comprehension, we can enter ...
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