How to compare two lists?

Lennart Öhman lennart.ohman@REDACTED
Mon May 27 17:25:38 CEST 2002


Hi Dariab!

Comparing lists is a process of first comparing the head of
the list, and if no difference seen, comparing the tails of the
lists. This means that "you" have to traverse the list until
you find the difference, or the entire list to establish that
they are equal.

If you have already traversed the list in order to try to see
if they are equal, you shall not do it again to see if they
are not equal.

My suggestion is:

my_func(L1,L2) ->
    if
        L1 == L2 ->
            equal;
        true ->
            not_equal
    end.

Or perhaps:

my_func(L1,L1) -> equal;
my_func(_,_) -> not_equal.


Of course depending on where you are going to use this, but it is often
considered good practise to not assume anything about what the caller
of the function will use the result for. In other words, sometimes
two lists being equal is the desired result, other times the opposite.
That is why I choose 'equal' and 'not_equal' as return values rather
than {error,...}.


Best Regards,

Lennart



Dariab Wahed wrote:
> 
> Hi!
> Can you help me,
> 
> How to compare two lists?
> eg.
> 
> my_func(List1,List2)
> if
>     List1 == List2 -> ok;
>     List1/= List2 -> {error,"error!!!!"};
> end.

-- 
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