We found this quite useful, but we are not 100% about the name and documentation.

-- | Try—in the 'Alternative' sense—to return all the values in a 'Foldable'

-- container.

--

-- @

-- foldAlt ≡ 'listToMaybe' :: [a] -> 'Maybe' a

-- foldAlt ≡ 'maybeToList' :: 'Maybe' a -> [a]

-- foldAlt ≡ 'MaybeT' . 'return' :: ('Monad' m) => 'Maybe' a -> 'MaybeT' m a

-- foldAlt ≡ 'Pipes.ListT' . 'Pipes.each' :: ('Monad' m) => [a] -> 'Pipes.ListT' m a

-- foldAlt ≡ id :: 'Maybe' a -> 'Maybe' a

-- @

foldAlt :: (Foldable t, Alternative f) => t a -> f a

foldAlt = getAlt . foldMap (Alt . pure)

{-# INLINE foldAlt #-}

I propose adding this to either `Data.Foldable` or `Control.Applicative`. Any thoughts?