Selection

except

Syntax: x except y

Returns all items of list x that are not (items of) list or atom y.

q)1 2 3 except 2
1 3
q)1 2 3 4 1 3 except 2 3
1 4 1

in, within

first

Syntax: first x (aggregate)

Returns the first item of x.

Returns an atom from a simple list, and otherwise reduces the level of nesting of a list. Often used with each to get the first item of each item of a list, or of each key in a dictionary.

q)first 1 2 3 4 5
1
q)first 42
42
q)RaggedArray:(1 2 3;4 5;6 7 8 9;0)
q)first each RaggedArray
1 4 6 0
q)RaggedDict:`a`b`c!(1 2;3 4 5;"hello")
q)first RaggedDict  / value of first key
1 2
q)first each RaggedDict
a| 1
b| 3
c| "h"

Returns the first row of a table.

q)\l sp.q
q)first sp
s  | `s$`s1
p  | `p$`p1
qty| 300

first is the dual to enlist.

q)a:10
q)a~first enlist 10
1b
q)a~first first enlist enlist 10
1b

@ (index-at)

Syntax: x @ y

Where x is a list or table and y is an int vector, returns items of x selected by y.

q)d:((1 2 3;4 5 6 7);(8 9;10;11 12);(13 14;15 16 17 18;19 20))
q)d@1
8 9
10
11 12
q)d@1 2 / selects 2 items at the top level
8 9   10          11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
q)t:([]name:`bob`ted`dan;age:42 43 44)
q)t@2 0
name age
--------
dan  44
bob  42

. apply

. (index-to)

Syntax: x . y

Where x is a list and y is an int vector, returns items of x selected by y.

Everything starts from a dot. — Wassily Kandinsky

All indexing and application can be done with the . operator.

q)d:((1 2 3;4 5 6 7);(8 9;10;11 12);(13 14;15 16 17 18;19 20))
q)d . 1 2        / same as d[1;2]
11 12
q)d . 1 2 0      / same as d[1;2;0]
11
q)d . enlist 1   / same as d[1]
(8 9;10;11 12)

y[i] selects from the i^th level of x. To index at the top level only, use a one-item list.

inter

Syntax: x inter y

Intersection: returns all items of x found in y, using the result of x in y to select items from x.

q)1 3 4 2 inter 2 3 5 7 11
3 2

Returns common values from dictionaries:

q)show x:(`a`b)!(1 2 3;`x`y`z)
a| 1 2 3
b| x y z
q)show y:(`a`b`c)!(1 2 3;2 3 5;`x`y`z)
a| 1 2 3
b| 2 3 5
c| x y z
q)
q)x inter y
1 2 3
x y z
q)

Returns common rows from simple tables.

q)show x:([]a:`x`y`z`t;b:10 20 30 40)
a b
----
x 10
y 20
z 30
t 40
q)show y:([]a:`y`t`x;b:50 40 10)
a b
----
y 50
t 40
x 10
q)x inter y
a b
----
x 10
t 40

in, within

last

Syntax: last x

Returns the last item of x, or last value where x is a dictionary.

q)last til 10
9
q)last `a`b`c!1 2 3
3

next

Syntax: next x (uniform)

For each item in x, returns the next item. For the last item, it returns a null if the list is simple (a homogeneous list), and an empty list () otherwise.

q)next 2 3 5 7 11
3 5 7 11 0N
q)next (1 2;"abc";`ibm)
"abc"
`ibm
`int$()

Duration of a quote:

q)update (next time)-time by sym from quote

prev

Syntax: prev x (uniform)

For each item in x, returns the previous item. For the first item, it returns a null if the list is simple (a homogeneous list), and an empty list () otherwise.

q)prev 2 3 5 7 11
0N 2 3 5 7
q)prev (1 2;"abc";`ibm)
`int$()
1 2
"abc"

Shift the times in a table:

q)update time:prev time by sym from t

sublist

Syntax: x sublist y

Returns a sublist of y. The result contains only as many items as are available in y.

Where

• x is an integer atom, it returns x items from the beginning of y if positive, or from the end if negative.

q)p:2 3 5 7 11
q)3 sublist p                           / 3 from the front
2 3 5
q)10 sublist p                          / only available values
2 3 5 7 11
q)2 sublist `a`b`c!(1 2 3;"xyz";2 3 5)  / 2 keys from a dictionary
a| 1 2 3
b| x y z
q)-3 sublist sp                         / last 3 rows of a table
s p qty
-------
3 1 200
3 3 300
0 4 400

• x is an integer pair, it returns x[1] items from y, starting at item x[0].

q)1 2 sublist p  / 2 items starting from position 1
3 5

union

Syntax: x union y

Returns a list of the distinct items of its combined arguments, i.e. distinct x,y.

q)1 2 3 3 6 union 2 4 6 8
1 2 3 6 4 8
q)distinct 1 2 3 3 6, 2 4 6 8      / same as distinct on join
1 2 3 6 4 8
q)t0:([]x:2 3 5;y:"abc")
q)t1:([]x:2 4;y:"ad")
q)t0 union t1                      / also on tables
x y
---
2 a
3 b
5 c
4 d
q)(distinct t0,t1)~t0 union t1
1b

in, within

where

Syntax: where x

Where x is:

• a vector of non-zero integers, returns a vector containing, for each item of x, that number of copies of its index.

q)where 2 3 0 1
0 0 1 1 1 3
q)raze x #' til count x:2 3 0 1
0 0 1 1 1 3

Tip

Where x is boolean, the result is the indices of the 1s. Thus where is often used after a logical test:

q)where 0 1 1 0 1
1 2 4
q)x:1 5 6 8 11 17 20 21
q)where 0 = x mod 2        / indices of even numbers
2 3 6
q)x where 0 = x mod 2      / select even numbers from list
6 8 20

• a dictionary whose values are non-negative integers, the result is a list of keys repeated as many times as the corresponding value. (If a list is viewed as a mapping from indices to entries, than the definition for the integer list above is a special case.) q q)d:`amr`ibm`msft!2 3 1 q)where d `amr`amr`ibm`ibm`ibm`msft q)where 2 3 0 1 / usual operation on integer list 0 0 1 1 1 3 q)where 0 1 2 3 ! 2 3 0 1 / same on dictionary with indices as keys 0 0 1 1 1 3

where in q-SQL

xprev

Syntax: x xprev y (uniform)

Where x is an integer atom and y is a list, returns for each item of y the item x indices before it. The first x items of the result are null, empty or blank as appropriate.

Tip

There is no xnext function. Fortunately xprev with a negative number on the left can achieve this.

q)2 xprev 2 7 5 3 11
0N 0N 2 7 5
q)-2 xprev 2 7 5 3 11
5 3 11 0N 0N
q)1 xprev "abcde"
" abcd"