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I'd like to know how, given symbols f and g, and a list {a,b,c,...}, to produce the expression:

f[f[f[g,a],b],c]

I can get the result if I do:

Apply[f,{{{g,a},b},c},{0,2}]

but then how do I manipulate the list {a,b,c} into {{{g,a},b},c}? Is there a better way of doing it?

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  • $\begingroup$ Possible duplicates?: (7924), (25474). (Do we really have so simpler questions dealing with Fold?) $\endgroup$
    – Mr.Wizard
    Jan 29, 2016 at 22:12

2 Answers 2

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lst = {a, b, c, d};
Fold[f, g, {a, b, c, d}]
(* f[f[f[f[g, a], b], c], d] *)
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  • $\begingroup$ Fold. Thank you! $\endgroup$
    – Zorawar
    Dec 8, 2015 at 3:34
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Don't do this at home; use bbgodfrey's solution. :-)

However, Fold is also the answer to your question on how to transform {a, b, c, d, e} into {{{{{g, a}, b}, c}, d}, e}. But you don't have follow with a fancy application of Apply; a simple substitution is all you need.

data = {a, b, c, d, e};
tmp = Fold[List, g, data]

{{{{{g, a}, b}, c}, d}, e}

tmp /. List -> f

f[f[f[f[f[g, a], b], c], d], e]

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  • $\begingroup$ Oh nice. Thanks for the info! $\endgroup$
    – Zorawar
    Dec 8, 2015 at 16:20

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