Reverse

Template:Primitive is a monadic function which reorders elements of the argument to go in the opposite direction along a specified axis. The name Reverse is typically used for the primitive ⌽, which reverses along the last axis, while ⊖, which reverses along the first axis, is called "Reverse First", "Reverse-down", or similar. In APLs with function axis, either for may use a specified axis which overrides this default choice of axis. In the leading axis model, specifying an axis is discouraged in favor of using ⊖ with the Rank operator.

Examples

Reverse flips a matrix horizontally, changing elements to go right to left, and Reverse First flip vertically, so the elements are reordered top to bottom.

      x ← 10 20 30 ∘.+ ⍳6
      x
11 12 13 14 15 16
21 22 23 24 25 26
31 32 33 34 35 36
      ⌽x
16 15 14 13 12 11
26 25 24 23 22 21
36 35 34 33 32 31
      ⊖x
31 32 33 34 35 36
21 22 23 24 25 26
11 12 13 14 15 16

Since a vector only has one axis, any form of Reverse will reverse along this axis.

      ⌽ 'Backwards text'
txet sdrawkcaB
      ⊖⌽ 'Backwards text'       ⍝ One reverse undoes the other
Backwards text

Reverse with a specified axis can reverse along any of the three dimensions of the array below.

      ⊢a←2 3 6⍴⍳36
 1  2  3  4  5  6
 7  8  9 10 11 12
13 14 15 16 17 18

19 20 21 22 23 24
25 26 27 28 29 30
31 32 33 34 35 36
      (⌽[1]a)(⌽[2]a)(⌽[3]a)
┌─────────────────┬─────────────────┬─────────────────┐
│19 20 21 22 23 24│13 14 15 16 17 18│ 6  5  4  3  2  1│
│25 26 27 28 29 30│ 7  8  9 10 11 12│12 11 10  9  8  7│
│31 32 33 34 35 36│ 1  2  3  4  5  6│18 17 16 15 14 13│
│                 │                 │                 │
│ 1  2  3  4  5  6│31 32 33 34 35 36│24 23 22 21 20 19│
│ 7  8  9 10 11 12│25 26 27 28 29 30│30 29 28 27 26 25│
│13 14 15 16 17 18│19 20 21 22 23 24│36 35 34 33 32 31│
└─────────────────┴─────────────────┴─────────────────┘

The Rank operator can also be used to reverse along a particular axis. While Rank has no effect on Reverse (last), Reverse First with rank k reverses the first axis of each k-cell, or the 1+r-k'th axis of a rank-r array.

      ⌽⍤2⊢a                     ⍝ Same as ⌽
 5  4  3  2  1  0
11 10  9  8  7  6
17 16 15 14 13 12

23 22 21 20 19 18
29 28 27 26 25 24
35 34 33 32 31 30
      ⊖⍤2⊢a                    ⍝ Same as ⌽[2]
12 13 14 15 16 17
 6  7  8  9 10 11
 0  1  2  3  4  5

30 31 32 33 34 35
24 25 26 27 28 29
18 19 20 21 22 23
      (⊖⍤3⊢a)(⊖⍤2⊢a)(⊖⍤1⊢a)
┌─────────────────┬─────────────────┬─────────────────┐
│19 20 21 22 23 24│13 14 15 16 17 18│ 6  5  4  3  2  1│
│25 26 27 28 29 30│ 7  8  9 10 11 12│12 11 10  9  8  7│
│31 32 33 34 35 36│ 1  2  3  4  5  6│18 17 16 15 14 13│
│                 │                 │                 │
│ 1  2  3  4  5  6│31 32 33 34 35 36│24 23 22 21 20 19│
│ 7  8  9 10 11 12│25 26 27 28 29 30│30 29 28 27 26 25│
│13 14 15 16 17 18│19 20 21 22 23 24│36 35 34 33 32 31│
└─────────────────┴─────────────────┴─────────────────┘

Reversing a scalar has no effect: there are no axes to reverse along.

      ⌽1.1
1.1

External links

Lessons

• APL Cultivation

Documentation

• Dyalog
• APLX
• J Dictionary, NuVoc (only first-axis reverse exists)