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butlast (FUNCTION)

Format: (butlast <list> ) (butlast <list> <int> )

Required arguments: 1

First argument must evaluate to a list

Optional arguments: 1

<int> must evaluate to an integer

If butlast is used with a single argument then it is equivalent to (reverse (rest (reverse <list> ))). I.e. it will return the list argument with the last element removed.

If butlast is given an integer second argument, it is equivalent to (reverse (nthcdr <num> (reverse <list> ))). I.e. it will remove the number of elements specified from the end of the list.

Examples:

> (butlast '(a s d f))
(A S D)

> (butlast '(a s d f) 2)
(A S)

> (butlast '(a s d f) 0)
(A S D F)

> (reverse (nthcdr 2 (reverse '(a s d f))))
(A S)



© Colin Allen & Maneesh Dhagat
March 2007