Question

I have the following function which takes a list and returns two sublists split at a given element n. However, I only need to split it in half, with odd length lists having a larger first sublist

splitlist :: [a] -> Int -> ([a],[a])
splitlist [] = ([],[])
splitlist l@(x : xs) n | n > 0     = (x : ys, zs)
               | otherwise = (l, [])
    where (ys,zs) = splitlist xs (n - 1)

I know I need to change the signature to [a] -> ([a],[a]), but where in the code should I put something like length(xs) so that I don’t break recursion?

Answer 1

You can do it using take and drop:

splitlist :: [a] -> ([a],[a])
splitlist [] = ([],[])
splitlist l  = let half = (length(l) +1)`div` 2
               in (take half l, drop half l)

or you can take advantage of the function splitAt:

splitlist list = splitAt ((length (list) + 1) `div` 2) list