Readable C# equivalent of Python slice operation

Question

What is the C# equivalent of Python slice operations?

my_list = ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g']
result1 = my_list[2:4]
result2 = my_list[1:]
result3 = my_list[:3]
result4 = my_list[:3] + my_list[4:]

Some of it is covered here, but it is ugly ~~and doesn’t address all the uses of slicing~~ to the point of it not obviously answering the question.

Asked By: LJNielsenDk

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Source

Answer 1

The closest is really LINQ .Skip() and .Take()

Example:

var result1 = myList.Skip(2).Take(2);
var result2 = myList.Skip(1);
var result3 = myList.Take(3);
var result4 = myList.Take(3).Concat(myList.Skip(4));

Answered By: Ben

Answer 2

This way you don’t have to subtract

public static IEnumerable<A> Slice<A> (int from, int to, IEnumerable<A> e) {
    return e.Take (to).Skip (from);
}

Answered By: Cristian Garcia

Answer 3

public static T[] slice<T>(T[] l, int from, int to)
{
    T[] r = new T[to - from];
    for (int i = from; i < to; i++)
    {
        r[i-from]=l[i];
    }
    return r;
}

Answered By: Maurits van Riezen

Answer 4

If you have a List GetRange can come in handy.

From MSDN link:

A shallow copy of a collection of reference types, or a subset of that
collection, contains only the references to the elements of the
collection. The objects themselves are not copied. The references in
the new list point to the same objects as the references in the
original list.

The Slice function can then be:

public static IEnumerable<T> Slice<T>(this List<T> source, int from, int to) => source.GetRange(from, to - from);

Negative ranges that python slice supports can also be handled with some loss of cleanliness.

Answered By: bashrc

Answer 5

Write a custom extension:

public static List<T> Slice<T>(this List<T> li, int start, int end)
{
    if (start < 0)    // support negative indexing
    {
        start = li.Count + start;
    }
    if (end < 0)    // support negative indexing
    {
        end = li.Count + end;
    }
    if (start > li.Count)    // if the start value is too high
    {
        start = li.Count;
    }
    if (end > li.Count)    // if the end value is too high
    {
        end = li.Count;
    }
    var count = end - start;             // calculate count (number of elements)
    return li.GetRange(start, count);    // return a shallow copy of li of count elements
}

Some tests:

[Fact]
public void Slice_list()
{
    var li1 = new List<char> {'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g'};
    Assert.Equal(new List<char> {'c', 'd'}, li1.Slice(2, 4));
    Assert.Equal(new List<char> {'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f', 'g'}, li1.Slice(1, li1.Count));
    Assert.Equal(new List<char> {'a', 'b', 'c'}, li1.Slice(0, 3));
    Assert.Equal(li1, li1.Slice(0, 4).Concat(li1.Slice(4, li1.Count)));
    Assert.Equal(li1, li1.Slice(0, 100));
    Assert.Equal(new List<char>(), li1.Slice(100, 200));

    Assert.Equal(new List<char> {'g'}, li1.Slice(-1, li1.Count));
    Assert.Equal(new List<char> {'f', 'g'}, li1.Slice(-2, li1.Count));
    Assert.Equal(new List<char> {'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f'}, li1.Slice(0, -1));

    Assert.Equal(new List<char> {'c', 'd', 'e'}, li1.Slice(2, -2));
}

Answered By: Jabba

Answer 6

As of C#8 slicing becomes a lot easier for indexed data structures.

var result1 = myList[2..5]; // end (5) is exclusive
var result2 = myList[1..^0]; // from index 1 to the end 
var result3 = myList[0..3]; // end (3) exclusive

Read more about Ranges and indices here and here.

Answered By: Ousmane D.

Answer 7

Here’s an extension:

public static IEnumerable<T> Slice<T>(this IEnumerable<T> source, int start = 0, int end = 0)
{
    start = (start >= 0) ? start : source.Count() + start;
    end = (end > 0) ? end : source.Count() + end;

    return source.Skip(start).Take(end - start);
}

Examples:

var input = new[] { 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 };
numbers.Slice(1, 4);    // { 1, 2, 3 }
numbers.Slice(-3, -1);  // { 5, 6 }
numbers.Slice(5);       // { 5, 6, 7 }
numbers.Slice(end:-4);  // { 0, 1, 2, 3 }

Answered By: Alex

Readable C# equivalent of Python slice operation

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