CoCoA:Flatten

Flatten

flatten a list

Description

Components of lists may be lists themselves, i.e., lists may be

nested. With one argument this function returns the list obtained

from the list L by removing all nesting, bringing all elements to the top level. With the optional second argument, N, nesting is removed down N levels. Thus, the elements of M := Flatten(L,1) are formed as follows: go through the elements of L one at a time; if an elements is not a list, add it to M; if an element is a list, add all of its elements to M. Recursively, Flatten(L,N) = Flatten(Flatten(L,N-1),1). For N large, depending on L, Flatten(L,N) gives the same result as Flatten(L).

Example

  Flatten([1,[<quotes>a</quotes>,<quotes>b</quotes>,[2,3,4],<quotes>c</quotes>,<quotes>d</quotes>],5,6]);
[1, <quotes>a</quotes>, <quotes>b</quotes>, 2, 3, 4, <quotes>c</quotes>, <quotes>d</quotes>, 5, 6]
-------------------------------
  L := [1,2, [3,4], [5, [6,7,[8,9]]]];
  Flatten(L,1);
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, [6, 7, [8, 9]]]
-------------------------------
  Flatten(It,1);
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, [8, 9]]
-------------------------------
  Flatten(L,2);  -- same as in the previous line
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, [8, 9]]
-------------------------------
  Flatten(L,3);  -- same as Flatten(L)
[1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
-------------------------------

Syntax

Flatten(L:LIST):LIST
Flatten(L:LIST,N:INT):LIST

   <type>list</type>