concatenateWithSeparator

ConcatenateWithSeparator is a utility function used in programming to join elements of a sequence into a single string, inserting a specified separator between adjacent elements. It is commonly implemented for lists, arrays, or other iterable collections and is analogous to the join operation found in many languages.

Definition and inputs: The function takes two inputs: a collection of elements and a separator string. Each element is converted to a string as needed. The function returns the concatenation of these strings with the separator between elements. If the input collection is empty, the result is the empty string. Behavior for null or undefined elements varies by language: some implementations convert them to the string "null", skip them, or omit them entirely.

Behavior and edge cases: The separator is not added before the first or after the last element. If there is a single element, no separator is added. If the separator is an empty string, the result is a simple concatenation of the strings.

Performance: The operation is linear in the total length of the output. Time complexity is O(n), and space complexity is O(T), where T is the total length of the resulting string.

Examples: concatenateWithSeparator(["apple","banana","cherry"], ", ") yields "apple, banana, cherry". concatenateWithSeparator([], ",") yields "". concatenating ["1","2","3"] with "-" yields "1-2-3".

Variants: Similar functionality exists under different names, such as join, intercalate, or mkString, depending on language.

See also: join, mkString, intersperse.