
collection_to_list(+Collection, -List)

   Convert a "collection" into a list

Arguments
   Collection          A term to be interpreted as a collection
   List                Output list

Type
   library(lists)

Description
   Converts various "collection" data structures into a list.  Fails if it
   does not know how to do this.  The supported collection types are:

   List
	The list is returned unchanged.
   Array
	The array is converted into a list using array_list/2.
   Subscript reference Array[...]
	subscript/3 is called to evaluate the subscript reference.  If this
	results in a single array element, a one-element list is returned.
	If subscript/3 results in a sub-array, this is converted into a list.
	For multi-dimensional sub-arrays, only the top level is converted
	into a list (no implicit flattening).
   flatten(N, Collection)
	If the collection is nested (multi-dimensional), the top N nesting
	levels of the structure are converted into a flat list.
   flatten(Collection)
	If the collection is nested (multi-dimensional), all nesting
	structure is removed and a flat list is returned.  All subterms that
	look like list or array will be interpreted as such (including []).



Modes and Determinism
   collection_to_list(+, -) is semidet

Fail Conditions
   Collection is not a collection

Examples
      ?- collection_to_list([a,b,[c,d]], List).
   List = [a, b, [c, d]]
   Yes
   ?- collection_to_list([](a,b,[c,d]), List).
   List = [a, b, [c, d]]
   Yes
   ?- collection_to_list([]([](a,b),[](c,d)), List).
   List = [[](a, b), [](c, d)]
   Yes
   ?- A = []([](a,b),[](c,d)),
      collection_to_list(A[1..2,1], List).
   List = [a, c]
   Yes
   ?- A = []([](a,b,c),[](d,e,f)),
      collection_to_list(A[1..2,2..3], List).
   List = [[](b, c), [](e, f)]
   Yes
   ?- collection_to_list(flatten([a,b,[c,d]]), List).
   List = [a, b, c, d]
   Yes
   ?- collection_to_list(flatten([](a,b,[c,d])), List).
   List = [a, b, c, d]
   Yes
   ?- A = []([](a,b,c),[](d,e,f)),
      collection_to_list(flatten(A[1..2,2..3]), List).
   List = [b, c, e, f]
   Yes
   ?- L = [[a,b],[[c,d],[e,f]],g],
      collection_to_list(flatten(1, L), List).
   List = [a, b, [c, d], [e, f], g]
   Yes


See Also
   collection_to_array / 2, subscript / 3, flatten / 2, flatten / 3
