Simple Cat (revisitied)

\begin{code}

import IO

findM f [] = return Nothing findM f (x:xs) = do { v <- x; if f v then return (Just v) else findM f xs }

isLeft (Left _) = True isLeft _ = False

main = findM (isLeft) (hCat stdin) where hCat h = try (hGetLine h) : hCat h

\end{code}

Seems to me like the name findM could be misleading mapM :: (Monad m) => (a -> m b) -> [a] -> m [b] filterM :: (Monad m) => (a -> m Bool) -> [a] -> m [a] These take a monadic function and a list of elements. Yours works the other way around (takes a function and a list of 'monadic elements'). I'd expect the definition of findM to be: findM' :: (Monad m) => (a -> m Bool) -> [a] -> m (Maybe a) findM' f [] = return Nothing findM' f (x:xs) = do { b <- f x; if b then return (Just x) else findM' f xs } This one doesn't serve your purpose though. J.A.