You want to obtain a list without a particular item in it, 'removing' an item from an original list.
Removing the first item from a list is easily accomplished using one of two functions, rest or pop. Both work identically when used on a non-empty list.
(pop '(1 2 3))
;; -> (2 3)
(rest '(1 2 3))
;; -> (2 3)When used on an empty list, the behavior does differ: pop will throw an exception, while rest will return an empty list.
Lists do not support removing items except at the first position. If you need to remove an item in the middle or at the end of a list, you’ll have to do so using the sequence manipulation functions, then convert the result back into a concrete list (if you absolutely need it to be a list, for some reason).
rest is actually a sequence function, used to obtain the tail of a sequence. Since Clojure lists implement the sequence interface directly, using rest on a list will always return another (possibly empty) list.
pop is similar to conj in that it operates on concrete data structures rather than the sequence interface. Like conj, it is polymorphic, and also like conj, the position it removes the item from depends on what’s most efficient for the concrete type.