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_ Drop

Drop items from a list, entries from a dictionary or columns from a table.

x _ y    _[x;y]

Drop leading or trailing items

Where

  • x is an int atom
  • y a list or dictionary

returns y without the first or last x items.

q)5_0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8      /drop the first 5 items
5 6 7 8
q)-5_0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8     /drop the last 5 items
0 1 2 3
q)1 _ `a`b`c!1 2 3
b| 2
c| 3

Drop from a string

q)b:"apple: banana: cherry"
q)(b?":") _ b / find the first ":" and remove the prior portion of the sentence
": banana: cherry"

Drop selected items

Where

  • x is a list or dictionary
  • y is an index or key of x

returns x without the items or entries at y.

q)0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8_5      /drop the 5th item
0 1 2 3 4 6 7 8
q)(`a`b`c!1 2 3)_`a        /drop the entry for `a
b| 2
c| 3

Drop keys from a dictionary

Where

  • x is an atom or vector of keys to y
  • y is a dictionary

returns y without the entries for x. 

q)`a _ `a`b`c!1 2 3
b| 2
c| 3
q)`a`b _ `a`b`c!1 2 3
c| 3
q)(`a`b`c!1 2 3) _ `a`b
'type

Q for Mortals: §5. Dictionaries

Dropping dictionary entries with integer arguments

With dictionaries, distinguish the roles of integer arguments to drop.

q)d:100 200!\`a\`b
q)1 _ d            /drop the first entry
200| b
q)d _ 1            /drop where key=1
100| a
200| b
q)d _ 100          /drop where key=100
200| b
q)enlist[1] _ d    /drop where key=1
100| a
200| b
q)enlist[100] _ d  /drop where key=100
200| b
q)100 _ d          /drop first 100 entries

Drop columns from a table

Where

  • x is a symbol vector of column names
  • y is a table

returns y without columns x.

q)t:([]a:1 2 3;b:4 5 6;c:`d`e`f)
q)`a`b _ t
c
-
d
e
f
q)t _ `a`b
'type
q)`a _ t
'type
q)t _ `a
'type

Drop in place

Assign through Drop to delete in place. 

q)show d:`a`b`c`x!(1;2 3;4;5)
a| 1
b| 2 3
c| 4
x| 5
q)d _:`x
q)d
a| 1
b| 2 3
c| 4