NAME

List::Util - A selection of general-utility list subroutines

SYNOPSIS

use List::Util qw(first sum min max minstr maxstr reduce);

DESCRIPTION

List::Util contains a selection of subroutines that people have expressed would be nice to have in the perl core, but the usage would not really be high enough to warrant the use of a keyword, and the size so small such that being individual extensions would be wasteful.

By default List::Util does not export any subroutines. The subroutines defined are

first BLOCK LIST

Similar to grep in that it evaluates BLOCK setting $_ to each element of LIST in turn. first returns the first element where the result from BLOCK is a true value. If BLOCK never returns true or LIST was empty then undef is returned.

$foo = first { defined($_) } @list    # first defined value in @list
$foo = first { $_ > $value } @list    # first value in @list which
                                      # is greater than $value

This function could be implemented using reduce like this

$foo = reduce { defined($a) ? $a : wanted($b) ? $b : undef } undef, @list

for example wanted() could be defined() which would return the first defined value in @list

max LIST

Returns the entry in the list with the highest numerical value. If the list is empty then undef is returned.

$foo = max 1..10                # 10
$foo = max 3,9,12               # 12
$foo = max @bar, @baz           # whatever

This function could be implemented using reduce like this

$foo = reduce { $a > $b ? $a : $b } 1..10

maxstr LIST

Similar to max, but treats all the entries in the list as strings and returns the highest string as defined by the gt operator. If the list is empty then undef is returned.

$foo = maxstr 'A'..'Z'     	    # 'Z'
$foo = maxstr "hello","world"   # "world"
$foo = maxstr @bar, @baz        # whatever

This function could be implemented using reduce like this

$foo = reduce { $a gt $b ? $a : $b } 'A'..'Z'

min LIST

Similar to max but returns the entry in the list with the lowest numerical value. If the list is empty then undef is returned.

$foo = min 1..10                # 1
$foo = min 3,9,12               # 3
$foo = min @bar, @baz           # whatever

This function could be implemented using reduce like this

$foo = reduce { $a < $b ? $a : $b } 1..10

minstr LIST

Similar to min, but treats all the entries in the list as strings and returns the lowest string as defined by the lt operator. If the list is empty then undef is returned.

$foo = maxstr 'A'..'Z'     	    # 'A'
$foo = maxstr "hello","world"   # "hello"
$foo = maxstr @bar, @baz        # whatever

This function could be implemented using reduce like this

$foo = reduce { $a lt $b ? $a : $b } 'A'..'Z'

reduce BLOCK LIST

Reduces LIST by calling BLOCK multiple times, setting $a and $b each time. The first call will be with $a and $b set to the first two elements of the list, subsequent calls will be done by setting $a to the result of the previous call and $b to the next element in the list.

Returns the result of the last call to BLOCK. If LIST is empty then undef is returned. If LIST only contains one element then that element is returned and BLOCK is not executed.

$foo = reduce { $a < $b ? $a : $b } 1..10       # min
$foo = reduce { $a lt $b ? $a : $b } 'aa'..'zz' # minstr
$foo = reduce { $a + $b } 1 .. 10               # sum
$foo = reduce { $a . $b } @bar                  # concat

sum LIST

Returns the sum of all the elements in LIST.

$foo = sum 1..10                # 55
$foo = sum 3,9,12               # 24
$foo = sum @bar, @baz           # whatever

This function could be implemented using reduce like this

$foo = reduce { $a + $b } 1..10

COPYRIGHT

Copyright (c) 1997-1999 Graham Barr <gbarr@pobox.com>. All rights reserved. This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.