Lisp - Sequences

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Sequence is an abstract data type in LISP. Vectors and lists are the two concrete subtypes of this data type. All the functionalities defined on sequence data type are actually applied on all vectors and list types.

In this section, we will discuss most commonly used functions on sequences.

Before starting on various ways of manipulating sequences (i.e., vectors and lists), let us have a look at the list of all available functions.

Creating a Sequence

The function make-sequence allows you to create a sequence of any type. The syntax for this function is −

make-sequence sqtype sqsize &key :initial-element

It creates a sequence of type sqtype and of length sqsize.

You may optionally specify some value using the :initial-element argument, then each of the elements will be initialized to this value.

For example, Create a new source code file named main.lisp and type the following code in it.

main.lisp

; create a sequence of 10 floating numbers initilized with 1.0
(write (make-sequence '(vector float) 
   10 
   :initial-element 1.0))

Output

When you execute the code, it returns the following result −

#(1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0)

Generic Functions on Sequences

Sr.No. Function & Description
1

elt

It allows access to individual elements through an integer index.
2

length

It returns the length of a sequence.
3

subseq

It returns a sub-sequence by extracting the subsequence starting at a particular index and continuing to a particular ending index or the end of the sequence.
4

copy-seq

It returns a sequence that contains the same elements as its argument.
5

fill

It is used to set multiple elements of a sequence to a single value.
6

replace

It takes two sequences and the first argument sequence is destructively modified by copying successive elements into it from the second argument sequence.
7

count

It takes an item and a sequence and returns the number of times the item appears in the sequence.
8

reverse

It returns a sequence contains the same elements of the argument but in reverse order.
9

nreverse

It returns the same sequence containing the same elements as sequence but in reverse order.
10

concatenate

It creates a new sequence containing the concatenation of any number of sequences.
11

position

It takes an item and a sequence and returns the index of the item in the sequence or nil.
12

find

It takes an item and a sequence. It finds the item in the sequence and returns it, if not found then it returns nil.
13

sort

It takes a sequence and a two-argument predicate and returns a sorted version of the sequence.
14

merge

It takes two sequences and a predicate and returns a sequence produced by merging the two sequences, according to the predicate.
15

map

It takes an n-argument function and n sequences and returns a new sequence containing the result of applying the function to subsequent elements of the sequences.
16

some

It takes a predicate as an argument and iterates over the argument sequence, and returns the first non-NIL value returned by the predicate or returns false if the predicate is never satisfied.
17

every

It takes a predicate as an argument and iterate over the argument sequence, it terminates, returning false, as soon as the predicate fails. If the predicate is always satisfied, it returns true.
18

notany

It takes a predicate as an argument and iterate over the argument sequence, and returns false as soon as the predicate is satisfied or true if it never is.
19

notevery

It takes a predicate as an argument and iterate over the argument sequence, and returns true as soon as the predicate fails or false if the predicate is always satisfied.
20

reduce

It maps over a single sequence, applying a two-argument function first to the first two elements of the sequence and then to the value returned by the function and subsequent elements of the sequence.
21

search

It searches a sequence to locate one or more elements satisfying some test.
22

remove

It takes an item and a sequence and returns the sequence with instances of item removed.
23

delete

This also takes an item and a sequence and returns a sequence of the same kind as the argument sequence that has the same elements except the item.
24

substitute

It takes a new item, an existing item, and a sequence and returns a sequence with instances of the existing item replaced with the new item.
25

nsubstitute

It takes a new item, an existing item, and a sequence and returns the same sequence with instances of the existing item replaced with the new item.
26

mismatch

It takes two sequences and returns the index of the first pair of mismatched elements.

Standard Sequence Function Keyword Arguments

Argument Meaning Default Value
:test It is a two-argument function used to compare item (or value extracted by :key function) to element. EQL
:key One-argument function to extract key value from actual sequence element. NIL means use element as is. NIL
:start Starting index (inclusive) of subsequence. 0
:end Ending index (exclusive) of subsequence. NIL indicates end of sequence. NIL
:from-end If true, the sequence will be traversed in reverse order, from end to start. NIL
:count Number indicating the number of elements to remove or substitute or NIL to indicate all (REMOVE and SUBSTITUTE only). NIL

We have just discussed various functions and keywords that are used as arguments in these functions working on sequences. In the next sections, we will see how to use these functions using examples.

Finding Length and Element

The length function returns the length of a sequence, and the elt function allows you to access individual elements using an integer index.

Example

Create a new source code file named main.lisp and type the following code in it.

main.lisp

; set x as a vector of 5 characters
(setq x (vector 'a 'b 'c 'd 'e))
; print length of x
(write (length x))
; terminate printing
(terpri)
; print value at index 3
(write (elt x 3))

Output

When you execute the code, it returns the following result −

5
D

Modifying Sequences

Some sequence functions allows iterating through the sequence and perform some operations like, searching, removing, counting or filtering specific elements without writing explicit loops.

The following example demonstrates this −

Example

Create a new source code file named main.lisp and type the following code in it.

main.lisp

; print count of 7 in the list
(write (count 7 '(1 5 6 7 8 9 2 7 3 4 5)))
; terminate printing
(terpri)
; remove occurences of 5 from the list
(write (remove 5 '(1 5 6 7 8 9 2 7 3 4 5)))
; terminate printing
(terpri)
; delete occurences of 5 from the list
(write (delete 5 '(1 5 6 7 8 9 2 7 3 4 5)))
; terminate printing
(terpri)
; substitute 7 with 10 in the list
(write (substitute 10 7 '(1 5 6 7 8 9 2 7 3 4 5)))
; terminate printing
(terpri)
; find index of 7 in the list
(write (find 7 '(1 5 6 7 8 9 2 7 3 4 5)))
; terminate printing
(terpri)
; find position of 5 in the list
(write (position 5 '(1 5 6 7 8 9 2 7 3 4 5)))

Output

When you execute the code, it returns the following result −

2
(1 6 7 8 9 2 7 3 4)
(1 6 7 8 9 2 7 3 4)
(1 5 6 10 8 9 2 10 3 4 5)
7
1

Example

Create a new source code file named main.lisp and type the following code in it.

main.lisp

; delete odd numbers from the list
(write (delete-if #'oddp '(1 5 6 7 8 9 2 7 3 4 5)))
; terminate printing
(terpri)
; delete even numbers from the list
(write (delete-if #'evenp '(1 5 6 7 8 9 2 7 3 4 5)))
; terminate printing
(terpri)
; remove last even number from the list 
(write (remove-if #'evenp '(1 5 6 7 8 9 2 7 3 4 5) :count 1 :from-end t))
; terminate printing
(terpri)
; set x as vector of characters
(setq x (vector 'a 'b 'c 'd 'e 'f 'g))
; fill x with p starting from 1 to 4 indexes excluding
(fill x 'p :start 1 :end 4)
; print x
(write x)

Output

When you execute the code, it returns the following result −

(6 8 2 4)
(1 5 7 9 7 3 5)
(1 5 6 7 8 9 2 7 3 5)
#(A P P P E F G)

Sorting and Merging Sequences

The sorting functions take a sequence and a two-argument predicate and return a sorted version of the sequence.

Example

Create a new source code file named main.lisp and type the following code in it.

main.lisp

; sort and print the list
(write (sort '(2 4 7 3 9 1 5 4 6 3 8) #'<))
; terminate printing
(terpri)
; sort in reverse order and print the list
(write (sort '(2 4 7 3 9 1 5 4 6 3 8) #'>))
; terminate printing
(terpri)

Output

When you execute the code, it returns the following result −

(1 2 3 3 4 4 5 6 7 8 9)
(9 8 7 6 5 4 4 3 3 2 1)

Example

Create a new source code file named main.lisp and type the following code in it.

main.lisp

; merge two vectors in ascending order and print 
(write (merge 'vector #(1 3 5) #(2 4 6) #'<))
; terminate printing
(terpri)
; merge two lists in ascending order and print 
(write (merge 'list #(1 3 5) #(2 4 6) #'<))
; terminate printing
(terpri)

Output

When you execute the code, it returns the following result −

#(1 2 3 4 5 6)
(1 2 3 4 5 6)

Sequence Predicates

The functions every, some, notany, and notevery are called the sequence predicates.

These functions iterate over sequences and test the Boolean predicate.

All these functions takes a predicate as the first argument and the remaining arguments are sequences.

Example

Create a new source code file named main.lisp and type the following code in it.

main.lisp

; check if all numbers are even
(write (every #'evenp #(2 4 6 8 10)))
; terminate printing
(terpri)
; check if some numbers are even
(write (some #'evenp #(2 4 6 8 10 13 14)))
; terminate printing
(terpri)
; check if all numbers are even
(write (every #'evenp #(2 4 6 8 10 13 14)))
; terminate printing
(terpri)
; check if any numbers is not even
(write (notany #'evenp #(2 4 6 8 10)))
; terminate printing
(terpri)
; check if all numbers are not even
(write (notevery #'evenp #(2 4 6 8 10 13 14)))
; terminate printing
(terpri)

Output

When you execute the code, it returns the following result −

T
T
NIL
NIL
T

Mapping Sequences

We have already discussed the mapping functions. Similarly the map function allows you to apply a function on to subsequent elements of one or more sequences.

The map function takes a n-argument function and n sequences and returns a new sequence after applying the function to subsequent elements of the sequences.

Example

Create a new source code file named main.lisp and type the following code in it.

main.lisp

; compute multiple of vectors and print
(write (map 'vector #'* #(2 3 4 5) #(3 5 4 8)))

Output

When you execute the code, it returns the following result −

#(6 15 16 40)
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