[Haskell-cafe] Generalized version of `words'?

[Christian Maeder]

Here is my version:

-- | split list at separator elements, avoid empty sublists
splitBy :: Eq a => a -> [a] -> [[a]]
splitBy x xs = let (l, r) = break (==x) xs in
    (if null l then [] else [l]) ++ (if null r then [] else splitBy x $
tail r)
-- suffix "By" usually indicates a (a -> a -> Bool) argument instead of Eq

An earlier discussion about such a function did not end in a conclusion.
There are so many variants/generalizations and no agreement for a name.

Christian


Dimitry Golubovsky wrote:
> Does there exist a generalized version of the `words' function i. e.
> one that breaks an arbitrary list into parts by an arbitrary predicate?
> 
> splitAt is not what I need.
> 
> I had to write my own:
> 
> -- A version of words, but works with any lists on any predicate.
> 
> parts pred s = case dropWhile pred s of
>                                      [] -> []
>                                      s' -> w : parts pred s''
>                                          where (w, s'') = break pred s'
> 
> (just by parameterizing `words' found in Data.List with a predicate
> passed as a parameter).
> 
> In case such a function already exists, what is its name?
> 
> In the opposite case, can such a function be added to the standard
> library? (or why didn't it exist?)
> 
> Dimitry Golubovsky
> Middletown, CT