first and last index as in matlab

[Rob Williscroft]

Evan wrote in news:1166379931.054933.77450 at j72g2000cwa.googlegroups.com in 
comp.lang.python:

> In matlab I can do the following:
> 
>>> ind = [3,5,7,2,4,7,8,24]
> ind = 3     5     7     2     4     7     8    24
>>> ind(1)      ans =     3
>>> ind(end)     ans =    24
>>> ind([1 end])      ans =      3    24
> 
> but I can't get the last line in python:
> 
> In [690]: ind = [3,5,7,2,4,7,8,24]
> In [691]: ind[0]    Out[691]: 3
> In [692]: ind[-1:]  Out[692]: [24]
> In [693]:  ??
> 
> How do I pull out multiple indices as in matlab?

[ind[0], ind[-1]]

or if you need something that can be generalised:

  [ind[i] for i in [0, -1]]

so if you have:

  indexes_of_ind = [0, 2, -1, -2]

you can write:

  [ind[i] for i in indexes_of_ind]


Rob.
-- 
http://www.victim-prime.dsl.pipex.com/