Thread overview
Multidimensional arrays, foreach loops and slices
May 30, 2012
bearophile
May 30, 2012
Philippe Sigaud
May 30, 2012
Hello all,

A couple of queries.  The first I'm sure has been asked/answered definitively before, but a search doesn't bring anything up: is it possible to foreach() over every element of a multidimensional array, i.e. something like,

    int[3][4][5] a;

    foreach(ref int n; a)
        n = uniform!"[]"(0, 1);

... or is it necessary to do a separate foreach over each dimension?

The second query relates to slices.  Suppose I have an N*M 2d array (let's call it a), and a 1d array of length N (let's call it s) whose elements are unsigned integers whose values fall in [0, M).  What I'd like is to take a slice of a such that I get out a 1d array of length N such that the i'th element corresponds to a[s[i]].

Is this possible?  And if so, how is it achieved?

Thanks and best wishes,

    -- Joe
May 30, 2012
Joseph Rushton Wakeling:

> A couple of queries.

I think you have to write two small generic functions to do those things (or write inline code).

Bye,
bearophile
May 30, 2012
On Wed, May 30, 2012 at 6:15 PM, Joseph Rushton Wakeling <joseph.wakeling@webdrake.net> wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> A couple of queries.  The first I'm sure has been asked/answered definitively before, but a search doesn't bring anything up: is it possible to foreach() over every element of a multidimensional array, i.e. something like,
>
>    int[3][4][5] a;
>
>    foreach(ref int n; a)
>        n = uniform!"[]"(0, 1);
>
> ... or is it necessary to do a separate foreach over each dimension?

When you use foreach on a, it will iterate on a's elements, in this case the bidimensional subarrays. You'll have to foreach separately on each dimension to act on individual, scalar, elements.

Of course, D can automate this for you:

module test;

import std.algorithm;
import std.random;
import std.range;
import std.stdio;

template rank(R)
{
    static if (isInputRange!R)
        enum size_t rank = 1 + rank!(ElementType!R);
    else
        enum size_t rank = 0;
}


/**
Maps fun at depth downToRank inside a range of ranges.
*/
auto depthMap(alias fun, int downToRank = 0, R)(R range)
{
    static if (0<= downToRank && downToRank < rank!R)
        return map!(depthMap!(fun, downToRank, ElementType!R))(range);
    else // rank!R == 0 -> range is a scalar, not a range
        return fun(range);
}

int fill(int _) { return uniform!"[]"(0,1);}

void main()
{
    auto r = [[[0,0,0],[0,0,0],[0,0,0]],[[0,0,0],[0,0,0],[0,0,0]],[[0,0,0],[0,0,0],[0,0,0]]];
    auto d = depthMap!fill(r);
    writeln(r);
    writeln(d);
}


>
> The second query relates to slices.  Suppose I have an N*M 2d array (let's call it a), and a 1d array of length N (let's call it s) whose elements are unsigned integers whose values fall in [0, M).  What I'd like is to take a slice of a such that I get out a 1d array of length N such that the i'th element corresponds to a[s[i]].
>
> Is this possible?  And if so, how is it achieved?

You meant a[i][s[i]], right?


    auto a = [[1,2,3,4,5],[6,7,8,9,10],[11,12,13,14,15]];
    auto s = [4,3,2];
    auto slice = map!( i => a[i][s[i]])(iota(0,3));
    writeln(slice);

This is a lazy range whose elements are a[i][s[i]]. If you're not afraid of allocating everything at once, call std.range.array() on it to transform it into an array:

auto slice2 = array(slice);
writeln(typeof(slice2).stringof);

Philippe