Defining the range on a slew of selectors
Different selectors allow you to define a range of desired results, like four specific lines from a table, or the fifth and sixth paragraph from a text. Defining a range is simple, but has some nice features.
Both positive or negative integers can be used as a range delimiter. A positive range delimiter defines where to start counting from the start of the table. A negative range delimiter counts backwards from the end of the table.
In the examples below, we try to handle every possible (meaningful) combination of positive and negative range delimiters.
| range | explanation |
|---|---|
| 1:12 | first twelve results |
| 3:12 | nine results, beginning with the third |
| 1:-1 | all the results (no matter how long the list) |
| 1:-4 | all the results up to the fourth to last |
| 7:-1 | all results up from the seventh |
| -7:-1 | the seven last results |
| -7:-4 | four results from the end of the list, starting at the seventh to last |
What about this case: -10 : 9?
This case could have results: this range results in the intersection of the first nine and the last 10 results. However, it might also not yield anything, if the incoming list of results is bigger than 18.