Question

I want to return all elements in a list like the result below in X

?return_list_members([1,2,3,4,5], X).
X = 1 ;
X = 2 ;
X = 3 ;
X = 4 ;
X = 5.

I have the following code but it also returns the empty list element [] witch is not desirable.

return_member(X, X).
return_list_members([], []).
return_list_members([H|T], X) :- return_member(H, X); return_list_members(T, X).

output when questioned

?return_list_members([1,2,3,4,5], X).
X = 1 ;
X = 2 ;
X = 3 ;
X = 4 ;
X = 5 ;
X = [].

also the true or false at the end values are not desirable at the end.

The goal is to achieve a function witch outputs like the built-in function between/3 to be used in a foreach statement

Answer 1

Note that the procedure you are trying to write is the builtin predicate member/2.

?- member(X, [1,2,3,4,5]).
X = 1 ;
X = 2 ;
X = 3 ;
X = 4 ;
X = 5.

You can also write your own definition, e.g.:

return_list_members([X|_], X).
return_list_members([_|T], X):-
  return_list_members(T, X).

and if you don’t want the interpreter to return ‘false’ at the end, you can add another clause at the beginning (as the first clause):

return_list_members([X], X):- !.

Note however that this clause will have side effects if you call this procedure with the first parameter uninstantiated.