Updated April 19, 2023
Introduction to Haskell zip
In Haskell, we have a zip function that is used to merge the two arrays or lists or any data structure. But to merge them directly there is some condition by which they get merged. All the values which get merged with the same position element from the other array or input passed. The zip function in Haskell will merge the array irrespective of the number of arguments present in both the data structure. This zip function can be used with any type of data type available in Haskell. This is an in-built function available in Haskell which means we do not require to import any package to use this while coding in Haskell, in the coming section of the tutorial we will discuss more the internal working and its implementation in detail for beginners to understand it better while coding.
Syntax
As we already know that it is an inbuilt feature of Haskell then can be used directly, let’s take an look at the syntax of this function to get started to see below;
zip [ value 1 ] [ value 2 ]This is the syntax for zip function in Haskell, as you can see it is very easy to use and handle as well. Let’s take a look at the practice syntax for it which will give us the more clear understanding of this function while coding in Haskell see below;
Example:
zip [ 1, 2] [9, 10 ]As it is pretty much clear from the above line of code that it is easy to use, also we have just used to zip keyword to make this work. In the coming section of the tutorial we will see the internal working and also the implementation with some more practical working examples for beginners to make this understand and code efficiency when needed.
How does zip function work in Haskell?
As now it is very clear that to merge the two array we can go for zip function available in Haskell. this function is easy to use and handle as well. Also, it is an in built function of Haskell which is easy to use, we do not require to include any import packages for this to make it work inside the Haskell code. To make it work we can directory write this inside the main module of Haskell. In this section we will first see the function definition of zip given by the Haskell documentation, let’s get started see below;
Function declaration:
[a] -> [b] -> [(a,b)]: This is the official declaration of Zip function by the Haskell community, here we can see that we can pass the two-argument and the resultant will be the one list or tuple. But it follows one approach to merger the values from the different input we provided. Now we will see one sample piece of code to understand t better and we will get the idea how it works internally in Haskell to merge the input and produce the output see below;
Examples:
main = do
print(zip [1, 2, 3] ['a', 'b', 'c'] )As you can see in the above line of code we are trying to use zip function in Haskell, for that first we have written the zip module, inside the module we have used zip function. for that we have created two arrays here the one contain the integer and another one contain the string value here. Now the zip function will pick the first value from the array one and merge it with the first value of array two. Similarly, now it will take the second value from the array one and bind it to the second value of array two and the same process will be repeated until all the elements are bind with each other, and in the end we will have a tuple contain all the elements from both the list and return us.
Return type: Zip function in Haskell, will return us the list of tuples as result after merging the input list or array. This will be the new created tuple without being modified the values of the existing one.
Points to be remembered while using zip function in Haskell see below;
1) zip function is an in-built function in Haskell, we can directly have used it without import statement.
2) to use this function we can simply use the zip keyword before the input passed
3) It will always return us the newly created tuple which will contain the elements from input passed
Examples
In this example we are trying to use the zip function in Haskell and trying to merge the different array or list we have. This is a sample example for beginners to understand it better and start using it when required for better approach.
Code:
main = do
print("Demo to show zip function i Haskell !")
print("calling the zip function here !! ")
let val1 = zip [1, 2, 3] ['a', 'b', 'c']
let val2 = zip [10, 20, 30, 40, 50] [1000, 2000, 300, 400, 600]
let val3 = zip [34, 67, 98, 27] ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e']
let val4 = zip ['A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E'] ['a', 'b', 'c', 'D', 'T']
let val5 = zip ["hello", "world", "to all'"] ["enjoy", "life"]
let val6 = zip [30, 60, 10, 50 , 90] ['a', 'b', 'c', 't']
let val7 = zip [1, 2, 3, 5, 9, 2, 8, 10] [10, 50, 30, 20, 60, 90]
print("printing the result here !!!")
print( "result one is ::", val1)
print( "result two is ::", val2)
print( "result three is ::", val3)
print( "result four is ::", val4)
print( "result five is ::", val5)
print( "result six is ::", val6)
print( "result seven is ::", val7)Output:
Conclusion
By the use of zip function, we can easily merge two array or list in Haskell, this is useful when we want to have a key value pair type of data in Haskell to fulfill some requirement in Haskell. Also it is very easy to use and handle by the developers as well. We have seen some of the practical example for this as well which clear the basic idea for this as well for beginners to start with it.
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