Std Lib

The next trait from the top in the collections hierarchy is Iterable. All methods in this trait are defined in terms of an abstract method, iterator, which yields the collection's elements one by one. The foreach method from trait Traversable is implemented in Iterable in terms of iterator. Here is the actual implementation:

def foreach[U](f: Elem => U): Unit = {
  val it = iterator
  while (it.hasNext) f(it.next())
}

Quite a few subclasses of Iterable override this standard implementation of foreach in Iterable, because they can provide a more efficient implementation. Remember that foreach is the basis of the implementation of all operations in Traversable, so its performance matters.

Some common iterables are Set, List, Vector, Stack and Stream. Iterator has two important methods: hasNext, which answers whether the iterator has another element available, and next which returns the next element in the iterator.

val list = List(3, 5, 9, 11, 15, 19, 21)
val it = list.iterator
if (it.hasNext)
  it.next should be(res0)

grouped will return fixed-size Iterable chunks of an Iterable:

val list = List(3, 5, 9, 11, 15, 19, 21, 24, 32)
val it = list grouped 3
it.next() should be(List(res0, res1, res2))
it.next() should be(List(res3, res4, res5))
it.next() should be(List(res6, res7, res8))

sliding will return an Iterable that shows a sliding window of an Iterable.

val list = List(3, 5, 9, 11, 15, 19, 21, 24, 32)
val it = list sliding 3
it.next() should be(List(res0, res1, res2))
it.next() should be(List(res3, res4, res5))
it.next() should be(List(res6, res7, res8))

sliding can take the size of the window as well the size of the step during each iteration:

val list = List(3, 5, 9, 11, 15, 19, 21, 24, 32)
val it = list sliding (3, 3)
it.next() should be(List(res0, res1, res2))
it.next() should be(List(res3, res4, res5))
it.next() should be(List(res6, res7, res8))

takeRight is the opposite of 'take' in Traversable. It retrieves the last elements of an Iterable:

val list = List(3, 5, 9, 11, 15, 19, 21, 24, 32)
(list takeRight 3) should be(List(res0, res1, res2))

dropRight will drop a specified number of elements from the right:

val list = List(3, 5, 9, 11, 15, 19, 21, 24, 32)
(list dropRight 3) should be(List(res0, res1, res2, res3, res4, res5))

zip will stitch two iterables into an iterable of pairs of corresponding elements from both iterables.

e.g. Iterable(x1, x2, x3) zip Iterable(y1, y2, y3) will return ((x1, y1), (x2, y2), (x3, y3)):

val xs = List(3, 5, 9)
val ys = List("Bob", "Ann", "Stella")
(xs zip ys) should be(List((res0, res1), (res2, res3), (res4, res5)))

If two Iterables aren't the same size, then zip will only zip what can be paired.

e.g. Iterable(x1, x2, x3) zip Iterable(y1, y2) will return ((x1, y1), (x2, y2)):

val xs = List(3, 5, 9)
val ys = List("Bob", "Ann")
(xs zip ys) should be(List((res0, res1), (res2, res3)))

If two Iterables aren't the same size, then zipAll can provide fillers for what it couldn't find a complement for.

e.g. Iterable(x1, x2, x3) zipAll (Iterable(y1, y2), x, y) will return ((x1,y1), (x2, y2), (x3, y))):

val xs = List(3, 5, 9)
val ys = List("Bob", "Ann")
(xs zipAll (ys, -1, "?")) should be(List((res0, res1), (res2, res3), (res4, "?")))

val xt = List(3, 5)
val yt = List("Bob", "Ann", "Stella")
(xt zipAll (yt, -1, "?")) should be(List((res5, res6), (res7, res8), (-1, res9)))

zipWithIndex will zip an Iterable with its integer index:

val xs = List("Manny", "Moe", "Jack")
xs.zipWithIndex should be(List((res0, 0), (res1, res2), (res3, 2)))

sameElements will return true if the two Iterables produce the same elements in the same order. The iterator for a set created with less than 5 values will return elements in the order in which they were added, rather than the consistent, hash-based ordering used by iterators for larger Sets:

val xs = List("Manny", "Moe", "Jack")
val ys = List("Manny", "Moe", "Jack")
xs.iterator.sameElements(ys) should be(res0)

val xt = List("Manny", "Moe", "Jack")
val yt = List("Manny", "Jack", "Moe")
xt.iterator.sameElements(yt) should be(res1)

val xs1 = Set(3, 2, 1, 4, 5, 6, 7)
val ys1 = Set(7, 2, 1, 4, 5, 6, 3)
xs1.iterator.sameElements(ys1) should be(res2)

val xt1 = Set(1, 2, 3)
val yt1 = Set(3, 2, 1)
xt1.iterator.sameElements(yt1) should be(res3)

Sections

Iterables