[HARLEQUIN][Common Lisp HyperSpec (TM)] [Previous][Up][Next]


Function POSITION, POSITION-IF, POSITION-IF-NOT

Syntax:

position item sequence &key from-end test test-not start end key => position

position-if predicate sequence &key from-end start end key => position

position-if-not predicate sequence &key from-end start end key => position

Arguments and Values:

item---an object.

sequence---a proper sequence.

predicate---a designator for a function of one argument that returns a generalized boolean.

from-end---a generalized boolean. The default is false.

test---a designator for a function of two arguments that returns a generalized boolean.

test-not---a designator for a function of two arguments that returns a generalized boolean.

start, end---bounding index designators of sequence. The defaults for start and end are 0 and nil, respectively.

key---a designator for a function of one argument, or nil.

position---a bounding index of sequence, or nil.

Description:

position, position-if, and position-if-not each search sequence for an element that satisfies the test.

The position returned is the index within sequence of the leftmost (if from-end is true) or of the rightmost (if from-end is false) element that satisfies the test; otherwise nil is returned. The index returned is relative to the left-hand end of the entire sequence, regardless of the value of start, end, or from-end.

Examples:

 (position #\a "baobab" :from-end t) =>  4
 (position-if #'oddp '((1) (2) (3) (4)) :start 1 :key #'car) =>  2
 (position 595 '()) =>  NIL
 (position-if-not #'integerp '(1 2 3 4 5.0)) =>  4 

Side Effects: None.

Affected By: None.

Exceptional Situations:

Should be prepared to signal an error of type type-error if sequence is not a proper sequence.

See Also:

find, Section 3.6 (Traversal Rules and Side Effects)

Notes:

The :test-not argument is deprecated.

The function position-if-not is deprecated.


The following X3J13 cleanup issues, not part of the specification, apply to this section:


[Starting Points][Contents][Index][Symbols][Glossary][Issues]
Copyright 1996, The Harlequin Group Limited. All Rights Reserved.