Add lists:find/2,3

Sean Cribbs <[email protected]>
Newsgroups gmane.comp.lang.erlang.patches
Message-ID <CAHsw=e0Vj6a2trN9dcF=Ur=uqCihhvv7X3jckhUGW7skD_1A7Q@mail.gmail.com>
`lists:find/2,3` returns the first element of the passed list for which the
predicate fun returns `true`. If no elements result in the predicate being
true, `undefined` (/2) or the given default value (/3) is returned.

## Why this new feature?

A common task is to select the first element from a list that matches a
condition, but there is no existing lists function or language feature that
avoids traversing the entire list, while still returning a "safe" value.
`lists:find/2,3` codifies the pattern of a tail-recursive search for the
matching item without resorting to exceptions (used to abort `foreach/2` or
`foldl/3`) and always returns either the first matching item, or an
otherwise safe value.

## Risks / uncertain artifacts

It is unclear the desired order of arguments for the 3-arity version. I
have made the default value the final argument which is consistent with
`application:get_env/3` and `proplists:get_value/3`, but most functions in
lists place the `List` argument last.

## How did you solve it?

Following the patterns of other functions in the lists module,
`lists:find/3` tests the predicate function against the head of the list,
returning the head if the predicate passes, or recursing over the tail if
it does not.

https://github.com/erlang/otp/pull/102

-- 
Sean Cribbs <[email protected]>
Software Engineer
Basho Technologies, Inc.
http://basho.com/

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