Is there a scala identity function?

Question

If I have something like a List[Option[A]] and I want to convert this into a List[A], the standard way is to use flatMap:

Answer 1

There's an identity function in Predef.

l flatMap identity[Option[String]]

> List[String] = List(Hello, World)

A for expresion is nicer, I suppose:

for(x <- l; y <- x) yield y

Edit:

I tried to figure out why the the type parameter (Option[String]) is needed. The problem seems to be the type conversion from Option[T] to Iterable[T].

If you define the identity function as:

l.flatMap( x => Option.option2Iterable(identity(x)))

the type parameter can be omitted.