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List::Util(3)         User Contributed Perl Documentation        List::Util(3)

NAME
       List::Util - A selection of general-utility list subroutines
SYNOPSIS
           use List::Util qw(first max maxstr min minstr reduce shuffle sum);
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 = minstr 'A'..'Z'          # 'A'
               $foo = minstr "hello","world"   # "hello"
               $foo = minstr @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, in a scalar context, 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
           If your algorithm requires that "reduce" produce an identity value,
           then make sure that you always pass that identity value as the
           first argument to prevent "undef" being returned
             $foo = reduce { $a + $b } 0, @values;             # sum with 0 identity value
       shuffle LIST
           Returns the elements of LIST in a random order
               @cards = shuffle 0..51      # 0..51 in a random order
       sum LIST
           Returns the sum of all the elements in LIST. If LIST is empty then
           "undef" is returned.
               $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
           If your algorithm requires that "sum" produce an identity of 0,
           then make sure that you always pass 0 as the first argument to
           prevent "undef" being returned
             $foo = sum 0, @values;
       sum0 LIST
           Similar to "sum", except this returns 0 when given an empty list,
           rather than "undef".
KNOWN BUGS
       With perl versions prior to 5.005 there are some cases where reduce
       will return an incorrect result. This will show up as test 7 of
       reduce.t failing.
SUGGESTED ADDITIONS
       The following are additions that have been requested, but I have been
       reluctant to add due to them being very simple to implement in perl
         # One argument is true
         sub any { $_ && return 1 for @_; 0 }
         # All arguments are true
         sub all { $_ || return 0 for @_; 1 }
         # All arguments are false
         sub none { $_ && return 0 for @_; 1 }
         # One argument is false
         sub notall { $_ || return 1 for @_; 0 }
         # How many elements are true
         sub true { scalar grep { $_ } @_ }
         # How many elements are false
         sub false { scalar grep { !$_ } @_ }
SEE ALSO
       Scalar::Util, List::MoreUtils
COPYRIGHT
       Copyright (c) 1997-2007 Graham Barr <gbarr AT 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.

perl v5.16.3                      2012-12-27                     List::Util(3)