Extraction of elements of tuples

Given that you get exactly what you state, a list with one tuple, even easier would be (using element/2)

element(1, hd(L)).

A pattern matching variant like shk suggested is probably even nicer, depending on the context.

Try this:

1> A = [{3,1,1444}].
[{3,1,1444}]
2> [{X, _, _}] = A.
[{3,1,1444}]
3> X.
3
4>