Re: A simple swap function
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg2151] Re: [mg2132] A simple swap function
- From: Richard Mercer <richard at seuss.math.wright.edu>
- Date: Tue, 10 Oct 1995 02:36:40 -0400
> I think I must be missing something straightforward. > I want a function to swap the values of 2 lists. I > defined ab={a,b}, and ba={b,a}, and > swap[v1_,v2_]:=Module[{temp=v1},v1=v2;v2=temp;], and I > get an Iteration limit exceeded error. When I look at > ab, it looks like {Hold[a],Hold[b]} (or maybe > {Hold[b],Hold[a], I don't remember), and ba looks > opposite. When I tried to use the same function on > numbers, it didn't work either. What's wrong with what > I'm doing, and how can I do what I want to do? All of this is unnecessary. Assuming the variables a and b have been assigned values, the assignment {a,b} = {b,a} works. Try it! I do NOT recommend this if a and b have not been assigned values! If you want to be ultracareful, you could use swap[v1_Symbol,v2_Symbol]:= If[ValueQ[v1] & ValueQ[v2], {v1,v2} = {v2,v1}]; Richard Mercer Richard Mercer