list and unlist

In which I continue to be confused about ::unlist, but manage to join two lists, as required

# pkgs used
library(tidyverse)

first_list <-
  list(
    a = letters[1:3],
    b = "mittens",
    c = c(TRUE, FALSE),
    d = rnorm(4)
  )

second_list <- 
  list(
    e = "buttons",
    f = letters[1:5],
    g = runif(2)
  )
  

# if I have a list(list, list) how do I get list of the elmenets of hte list? 
# Elements of first list as elements,
# and elements of second list as elements?

unlist(first_list, second_list) %>% 
  dim()

NULL

# huh dim?

unlist(first_list, second_list) %>% 
  class()

[1] "character"

# character?!

unlist(first_list, second_list)

                  a1                   a2                   a3 
                 "a"                  "b"                  "c" 
                   b                   c1                   c2 
           "mittens"               "TRUE"              "FALSE" 
                  d1                   d2                   d3 
"-0.658853976666822"  "-1.29571869155379" "-0.541580614619811" 
                  d4 
"-0.150846740435645" 

# oh it made everything flat, that's not what I want. I still want the elements 
# to remain lists, what about this recursive argument?

unlist(first_list, second_list, recursive = FALSE) 

                  a1                   a2                   a3 
                 "a"                  "b"                  "c" 
                   b                   c1                   c2 
           "mittens"               "TRUE"              "FALSE" 
                  d1                   d2                   d3 
"-0.658853976666822"  "-1.29571869155379" "-0.541580614619811" 
                  d4 
"-0.150846740435645" 

# okay, maybe I'm overthinking this, what happens if I make a list of two lists
list(first_list, second_list)

[[1]]
[[1]]$a
[1] "a" "b" "c"

[[1]]$b
[1] "mittens"

[[1]]$c
[1]  TRUE FALSE

[[1]]$d
[1] -0.6588540 -1.2957187 -0.5415806 -0.1508467


[[2]]
[[2]]$e
[1] "buttons"

[[2]]$f
[1] "a" "b" "c" "d" "e"

[[2]]$g
[1] 0.08550033 0.32802539

# ugh, no I think I ended up with a list of 2 lists
list(first_list, second_list) %>% 
  str()

List of 2
 $ :List of 4
  ..$ a: chr [1:3] "a" "b" "c"
  ..$ b: chr "mittens"
  ..$ c: logi [1:2] TRUE FALSE
  ..$ d: num [1:4] -0.659 -1.296 -0.542 -0.151
 $ :List of 3
  ..$ e: chr "buttons"
  ..$ f: chr [1:5] "a" "b" "c" "d" ...
  ..$ g: num [1:2] 0.0855 0.328

# see I have a list of 4 and a list of 3, I want a list of 7, not a list of 2 
# comprising 4 and 3 ugh

# can I use map to extract the elements?
map(first_list, 1)

$a
[1] "a"

$b
[1] "mittens"

$c
[1] TRUE

$d
[1] -0.658854

# how is this different from first list?
first_list

$a
[1] "a" "b" "c"

$b
[1] "mittens"

$c
[1]  TRUE FALSE

$d
[1] -0.6588540 -1.2957187 -0.5415806 -0.1508467

# oh that's not what I want
# fuck me, I'm going to look this up on the tubes now.

And switch to a post. This is proving to be more involved than I thought.

This post on stackoverflow suggests using ::append, despite the function saying it is for vectors. Worth a try.

append(first_list, second_list)

$a
[1] "a" "b" "c"

$b
[1] "mittens"

$c
[1]  TRUE FALSE

$d
[1] -0.6588540 -1.2957187 -0.5415806 -0.1508467

$e
[1] "buttons"

$f
[1] "a" "b" "c" "d" "e"

$g
[1] 0.08550033 0.32802539

# compare with 
first_list

$a
[1] "a" "b" "c"

$b
[1] "mittens"

$c
[1]  TRUE FALSE

$d
[1] -0.6588540 -1.2957187 -0.5415806 -0.1508467

second_list

$e
[1] "buttons"

$f
[1] "a" "b" "c" "d" "e"

$g
[1] 0.08550033 0.32802539

Huh, well, there you go. So a base function to the rescue.