Index Creation Operator: :

Language Reference

Index Creation Operator: :

creates an index vector

value1:value2

The index creation operator (:) creates a row vector with a first element that is value1. The second element is value1+1, and so on, as long as the elements are less than or equal to value2. For example, the statement

   I=7:10;

results in

              I             1 row       4 cols    (numeric)

                         7         8         9        10

If value1 is greater than value2, a reverse order index is created. For example, the statement

   r=10:6;

results in the row vector

              R             1 row       5 cols    (numeric)

              10          9         8         7        6

The index creation operator also works on character arguments with a numeric suffix. For example, the statement

   varlist='var1':'var5';

results in

         VARLIST    1 row       5 cols    (character, size 4)

                    var1  var2  var3  var4  var5

Use the DO function if you want an increment other than 1 or -1. See the description of the DO function later in this chapter.

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