f# - Value of the last element of a list

Question

how to get the value of the last element of a List? I've noted that List.hd (or .Head) return an item, while List.tl (or .Tail) returns a List.

Is rev the List and get the hd the only way around? Thanks.

Answer 1

Try this function. It uses recursion, though it gets optimised to iteration anyway since it's tail recursion. In any case, it is most likely quicker than reversing the entire list (using List.rev).

let rec last = function
    | hd :: [] -> hd
    | hd :: tl -> last tl
    | _ -> failwith "Empty list."

The answer of Pavel Minaev is definitely worth taking into account, however. Nonetheless, the algorithm you have requested may be useful in some rare cases, and is the most efficient way to go about the task.