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Re: Replacement Rule

  • To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
  • Subject: [mg32074] Re: [mg32064] Replacement Rule
  • From: Ken Levasseur <Kenneth_Levasseur at uml.edu>
  • Date: Sat, 22 Dec 2001 04:22:46 -0500 (EST)
  • References: <200112210857.DAA25218@smc.vnet.net>
  • Sender: owner-wri-mathgroup at wolfram.com

Brian:

Pattern matching works from the top and proceeds downward.   Since the
whole expression {{3, 4}, {5, 6}} matches {x_,y_}, you're getting the
first pair, {3, 4}.   One way to fix this if you are working only with
numbers is to use RuleDelayed:
{x_,y_}:>x/;NumberQ[x]

Ken Levasseur
Math Sciences
UMass Lowell



Brian Higgins wrote:

> I have the following list
>
> l1={{1,2},{3,4},{5,6}};
>
> and then I operate on it with the following pattern/replacement rule
>
> In[3]:= l1 /. {x_, y_} -> x
>
> Out[3]= {1, 3, 5}
>
> This is what I would expect. Now consider the following list
>
> In[4]:= l2 = {{3, 4}, {5, 6}};
>
> Then I use the same pattern/replacement rule
>
> In[5]:=l2 /. {x_, y_} -> x
>
> Out[5]= {3, 4}
>
> I was hoping to get
>
> {3,5}
>
> What am I missing? The FullForm of l2 is basically the same structure
> as l1, as far as I can tell....
>
> Brian



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