Append two lists, i.e.,

 [x1, ..., xm] ++ [y1, ..., yn] == [x1, ..., xm, y1, ..., yn]
 [x1, ..., xm] ++ [y1, ...] == [x1, ..., xm, y1, ...]

If the first list is not finite, the result is the first list.

map f xs is the list obtained by applying f to each element of xs, i.e.,

 map f [x1, x2, ..., xn] == [f x1, f x2, ..., f xn]
 map f [x1, x2, ...] == [f x1, f x2, ...]

The intersperse function takes an element and a list and `intersperses' that element between the elements of the list. For example,

 intersperse ',' "abcde" == "a,b,c,d,e"

The transpose function transposes the rows and columns of its argument. For example,

 transpose [[1,2,3],[4,5,6]] == [[1,4],[2,5],[3,6]]

foldl, applied to a binary operator, a starting value (typically the left-identity of the operator), and a list, reduces the list using the binary operator, from left to right:

 foldl f z [x1, x2, ..., xn] == (...((z `f` x1) `f` x2) `f`...) `f` xn

The list must be finite.

foldr, applied to a binary operator, a starting value (typically the right-identity of the operator), and a list, reduces the list using the binary operator, from right to left:

 foldr f z [x1, x2, ..., xn] == x1 `f` (x2 `f` ... (xn `f` z)...)

scanl is similar to foldl, but returns a list of successive reduced values from the left:

 scanl f z [x1, x2, ...] == [z, z `f` x1, (z `f` x1) `f` x2, ...]

Note that

 last (scanl f z xs) == foldl f z xs.

scanl1 is a variant of scanl that has no starting value argument:

 scanl1 f [x1, x2, ...] == [x1, x1 `f` x2, ...]

scanr is the right-to-left dual of scanl. Note that

 head (scanr f z xs) == foldr f z xs.

iterate f x returns an infinite list of repeated applications of f to x:

 iterate f x == [x, f x, f (f x), ...]

The unfoldr function is a `dual' to foldr: while foldr reduces a list to a summary value, unfoldr builds a list from a seed value. The function takes the element and returns Nothing if it is done producing the list or returns Just (a,b), in which case, a is a prepended to the list and b is used as the next element in a recursive call. For example,

 iterate f == unfoldr (\x -> Just (x, f x))

In some cases, unfoldr can undo a foldr operation:

 unfoldr f' (foldr f z xs) == xs

if the following holds:

 f' (f x y) = Just (x,y)
 f' z       = Nothing

A simple use of unfoldr:

 unfoldr (\b -> if b == 0 then Nothing else Just (b, b-1)) 10
  [10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1]

take n, applied to a list xs, returns the prefix of xs of length n, or xs itself if n > length xs:

 take 5 "Hello World!" == "Hello"
 take 3 [1,2,3,4,5] == [1,2,3]
 take 3 [1,2] == [1,2]
 take 3 [] == []
 take (-1) [1,2] == []
 take 0 [1,2] == []

It is an instance of the more general genericTake, in which n may be of any integral type.

drop n xs returns the suffix of xs after the first n elements, or [] if n > length xs:

 drop 6 "Hello World!" == "World!"
 drop 3 [1,2,3,4,5] == [4,5]
 drop 3 [1,2] == []
 drop 3 [] == []
 drop (-1) [1,2] == [1,2]
 drop 0 [1,2] == [1,2]

It is an instance of the more general genericDrop, in which n may be of any integral type.

splitAt n xs returns a tuple where first element is xs prefix of length n and second element is the remainder of the list:

 splitAt 6 "Hello World!" == ("Hello ","World!")
 splitAt 3 [1,2,3,4,5] == ([1,2,3],[4,5])
 splitAt 1 [1,2,3] == ([1],[2,3])
 splitAt 3 [1,2,3] == ([1,2,3],[])
 splitAt 4 [1,2,3] == ([1,2,3],[])
 splitAt 0 [1,2,3] == ([],[1,2,3])
 splitAt (-1) [1,2,3] == ([],[1,2,3])

It is equivalent to (take n xs, drop n xs). splitAt is an instance of the more general genericSplitAt, in which n may be of any integral type.

takeWhile, applied to a predicate p and a list xs, returns the longest prefix (possibly empty) of xs of elements that satisfy p:

 takeWhile (< 3) [1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4] == [1,2]
 takeWhile (< 9) [1,2,3] == [1,2,3]
 takeWhile (< 0) [1,2,3] == []

dropWhile p xs returns the suffix remaining after takeWhile p xs:

 dropWhile (< 3) [1,2,3,4,5,1,2,3] == [3,4,5,1,2,3]
 dropWhile (< 9) [1,2,3] == []
 dropWhile (< 0) [1,2,3] == [1,2,3]

span, applied to a predicate p and a list xs, returns a tuple where first element is longest prefix (possibly empty) of xs of elements that satisfy p and second element is the remainder of the list:

 span (< 3) [1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4] == ([1,2],[3,4,1,2,3,4])
 span (< 9) [1,2,3] == ([1,2,3],[])
 span (< 0) [1,2,3] == ([],[1,2,3])

span p xs is equivalent to (takeWhile p xs, dropWhile p xs)

break, applied to a predicate p and a list xs, returns a tuple where first element is longest prefix (possibly empty) of xs of elements that do not satisfy p and second element is the remainder of the list:

 break (> 3) [1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4] == ([1,2,3],[4,1,2,3,4])
 break (< 9) [1,2,3] == ([],[1,2,3])
 break (> 9) [1,2,3] == ([1,2,3],[])

break p is equivalent to span (not . p).

The stripPrefix function drops the given prefix from a list. It returns Nothing if the list did not start with the prefix given, or Just the list after the prefix, if it does.

 stripPrefix "foo" "foobar" -> Just "bar"
 stripPrefix "foo" "foo" -> Just ""
 stripPrefix "foo" "barfoo" -> Nothing
 stripPrefix "foo" "barfoobaz" -> Nothing

The group function takes a list and returns a list of lists such that the concatenation of the result is equal to the argument. Moreover, each sublist in the result contains only equal elements. For example,

 group "Mississippi" = ["M","i","ss","i","ss","i","pp","i"]

It is a special case of groupBy, which allows the programmer to supply their own equality test.

The inits function returns all initial segments of the argument, shortest first. For example,

 inits "abc" == ["","a","ab","abc"]

The tails function returns all final segments of the argument, longest first. For example,

 tails "abc" == ["abc", "bc", "c",""]

The isInfixOf function takes two lists and returns True iff the first list is contained, wholly and intact, anywhere within the second.

Example:

isInfixOf "Haskell" "I really like Haskell." -> True
isInfixOf "Ial" "I really like Haskell." -> False

filter, applied to a predicate and a list, returns the list of those elements that satisfy the predicate; i.e.,

 filter p xs = [ x | x <- xs, p x]

The partition function takes a predicate a list and returns the pair of lists of elements which do and do not satisfy the predicate, respectively; i.e.,

 partition p xs == (filter p xs, filter (not . p) xs)

delete x removes the first occurrence of x from its list argument. For example,

 delete 'a' "banana" == "bnana"

It is a special case of deleteBy, which allows the programmer to supply their own equality test.

The \\ function is list difference ((non-associative). In the result of xs \\ ys, the first occurrence of each element of ys in turn (if any) has been removed from xs. Thus

 (xs ++ ys) \\ xs == ys.

It is a special case of deleteFirstsBy, which allows the programmer to supply their own equality test.

The union function returns the list union of the two lists. For example,

 "dog" `union` "cow" == "dogcw"

Duplicates, and elements of the first list, are removed from the the second list, but if the first list contains duplicates, so will the result. It is a special case of unionBy, which allows the programmer to supply their own equality test.

The intersect function takes the list intersection of two lists. For example,

 [1,2,3,4] `intersect` [2,4,6,8] == [2,4]

If the first list contains duplicates, so will the result. It is a special case of intersectBy, which allows the programmer to supply their own equality test.

By convention, overloaded functions have a non-overloaded counterpart whose name is suffixed with `By'.

It is often convenient to use these functions together with on, for instance sortBy (compare `on` fst).