Maintainer: Adriano Ferreira <ferreira@cpan.org> Date: 21 Dec 2007 Last Modified: 21 Dec 2007 Number: 12 Version: 2
Status: Published at ONLamp: published at: 21 Dec 2007 url: http://www.oreillynet.com/onlamp/blog/2007/12/yap6_operator_the_cross_operat.html
Perl 6 provides an operator 'X', the cross operator,
which combines its list operands into a sort of
cartesian product of these arguments.
1,2 X 3,4 # (1,3), (1,4), (2,3), (2,4) 1,2 X 3,4 X 5,6 # (1,3,5), (1,3,6), (1,4,5), ..., (2,4,6)
The 'X' operator returns all possible lists
formed by taking one element from each of its list
arguments. The ordering of the returned lists is such
that the rightmost elements vary fastest. Hence,
<a b> X (1,2)
ends up with
('a', 1), ('a', 2), ('b', 1), ('b', 2)
where the first elements come from <a b> and the second
elements from (1,2).
In @ (list) context, the result becomes a flat list, while
in @@ (splice) context it turns into a list of arrays.
say @(<a b> X 1,2) 'a', 1, 'a', 2, 'b', 1, 'b', 2 say @@(<a b> X 1,2) ['a', 1], ['a', 2], ['b', 1], ['b', 2]
The operator is list associative, so that @a X @b X @c
produce a list of three-element lists.
If any of the lists is empty, you will end up with a null list.
The cross operator also plays nicely with unbounded lists. But only the leftmost argument can be usefully an infinite list, or else some elements (other than the first ones of the next arguments) will never be seen.
Just like the zip operator, the cross operator provides
a handy operation on lists avoiding the need to code it
with basic operations (like nested loops or maps).
That avoids the need for clustered low-level
coding when implementing some high-level algorithms.
For instance, data structures like rectangular boards can be generated from simple Perl 6 expressions, like:
# tic-tac-toe slots 0..^3 X 0..^3 # chess board squares 'a'..'h' X 1..8
$Revision: 109 $