— Function: position obj lst

position returns the 0-based position of obj in lst, or #f if obj does not occur in lst.

Example:

          (position 'foo '(foo bar baz bang))
             ⇒ 0
          (position 'baz '(foo bar baz bang))
             ⇒ 2
          (position 'oops '(foo bar baz bang))
             ⇒ #f

— Function: reduce p lst

reduce combines all the elements of a sequence using a binary operation (the combination is left-associative). For example, using +, one can add up all the elements. reduce allows you to apply a function which accepts only two arguments to more than 2 objects. Functional programmers usually refer to this as foldl. collect:reduce (see Collections) provides a version of collect generalized to collections.

Example:

          (reduce + '(1 2 3 4))
             ⇒ 10
          (define (bad-sum . l) (reduce + l))
          (bad-sum 1 2 3 4)
             == (reduce + (1 2 3 4))
             == (+ (+ (+ 1 2) 3) 4)
          ⇒ 10
          (bad-sum)
             == (reduce + ())
             ⇒ ()
          (reduce string-append '("hello" "cruel" "world"))
             == (string-append (string-append "hello" "cruel") "world")
             ⇒ "hellocruelworld"
          (reduce anything '())
             ⇒ ()
          (reduce anything '(x))
             ⇒ x

What follows is a rather non-standard implementation of reverse in terms of reduce and a combinator elsewhere called C.

          ;;; Contributed by Jussi Piitulainen (jpiitula @ ling.helsinki.fi)
          
          (define commute
            (lambda (f)
              (lambda (x y)
                (f y x))))
          
          (define reverse
            (lambda (args)
              (reduce-init (commute cons) '() args)))

— Function: reduce-init p init lst

reduce-init is the same as reduce, except that it implicitly inserts init at the start of the list. reduce-init is preferred if you want to handle the null list, the one-element, and lists with two or more elements consistently. It is common to use the operator's idempotent as the initializer. Functional programmers usually call this foldl.

Example:

          (define (sum . l) (reduce-init + 0 l))
          (sum 1 2 3 4)
             == (reduce-init + 0 (1 2 3 4))
             == (+ (+ (+ (+ 0 1) 2) 3) 4)
             ⇒ 10
          (sum)
             == (reduce-init + 0 '())
             ⇒ 0
          
          (reduce-init string-append "@" '("hello" "cruel" "world"))
          ==
          (string-append (string-append (string-append "@" "hello")
                                         "cruel")
                         "world")
          ⇒ "@hellocruelworld"

Given a differentiation of 2 arguments, diff, the following will differentiate by any number of variables.

          (define (diff* exp . vars)
            (reduce-init diff exp vars))

Example:

          ;;; Real-world example:  Insertion sort using reduce-init.
          
          (define (insert l item)
            (if (null? l)
                (list item)
                (if (< (car l) item)
                    (cons (car l) (insert (cdr l) item))
                    (cons item l))))
          (define (insertion-sort l) (reduce-init insert '() l))
          
          (insertion-sort '(3 1 4 1 5)
             == (reduce-init insert () (3 1 4 1 5))
             == (insert (insert (insert (insert (insert () 3) 1) 4) 1) 5)
             == (insert (insert (insert (insert (3)) 1) 4) 1) 5)
             == (insert (insert (insert (1 3) 4) 1) 5)
             == (insert (insert (1 3 4) 1) 5)
             == (insert (1 1 3 4) 5)
             ⇒ (1 1 3 4 5)

— Function: last lst n

last returns the last n elements of lst. n must be a non-negative integer.

Example:

          (last '(foo bar baz bang) 2)
             ⇒ (baz bang)
          (last '(1 2 3) 0)
             ⇒ ()

— Function: butlast lst n

butlast returns all but the last n elements of lst.

Example:

          (butlast '(a b c d) 3)
             ⇒ (a)
          (butlast '(a b c d) 4)
             ⇒ ()

     (last '(a b c d e) 2)
        ⇒ (d e)
     (butlast '(a b c d e) 2)
        ⇒ (a b c)

— Function: nthcdr n lst

nthcdr takes n cdrs of lst and returns the result. Thus (nthcdr 3 lst) == (cdddr lst)

Example:

          (nthcdr 2 '(a b c d))
             ⇒ (c d)
          (nthcdr 0 '(a b c d))
             ⇒ (a b c d)

— Function: butnthcdr n lst

butnthcdr returns all but the nthcdr n elements of lst.

Example:

          (butnthcdr 3 '(a b c d))
             ⇒ (a b c)
          (butnthcdr 4 '(a b c d))
             ⇒ (a b c d)

     (nthcdr 2 '(a b c d e))
        ⇒ (c d e)
     (butnthcdr 2 '(a b c d e))
        ⇒ (a b)