# The first, the last, and everything between

Given two integers, output the two integers, and then the range between them (excluding both).

The order of the range must be the same as the input.

### Examples:

 Input        Output
0,  5   ->   [0, 5, 1, 2, 3, 4]
-3,  8   ->   [-3, 8, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]
4,  4   ->   [4, 4]
4,  5   ->   [4, 5]
8,  2   ->   [8, 2, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3]
-2, -7   ->   [-2, -7, -3, -4, -5, -6]

• I guess we can't take the inputs in pre-ordered order? Nov 8, 2018 at 9:55
• @KevinCruijssen, no, the output order depends on the input order Nov 8, 2018 at 9:58
• @StewieGriffin, the output order has to be the same as the input Nov 8, 2018 at 9:58
• Is this output format acceptable? Note the newline Nov 8, 2018 at 10:48
• @KevinCruijssen Any reasonable I/O is acceptable. Nov 8, 2018 at 13:08

# R, 3933 30 bytes

c(a<-scan(),setdiff(a:a[2],a))


Try it online!

Thanks for saved bytes to user2390246 and J.Doe.

• You could save a few bytes by taking the input as a vector rather than as two separate integers. Nov 8, 2018 at 11:47
• Yeah, that's reasonable, and it actually then becomes even shorter as a full program rather than function. Nov 8, 2018 at 12:04
• You can abuse the fact the : operator uses the first element of both args for 30 bytes Nov 8, 2018 at 12:20

# 05AB1E, 4 bytes

Ÿ¦¨«


Try it online!

Explanation

    Ÿ      # inclusive range [a ... b]
¦¨    # remove the first and last element
«   # append to input


# Python 3, 52484742 41 bytes

lambda a,b:[a,b,*range(a,b,-(a>b)|1)[1:]]


Try it online!

Combined former implementations.

• You can remove the space at or-1 to save a byte. Nov 8, 2018 at 9:56

# Python 2 (Cython), 36 35 bytes

lambda x:x+range(*x,-cmp(*x)|1)[1:]


Thanks to @nwellnhof for golfing off 1 byte!

Try it online!

# Python 2, 37 bytes

lambda x:x+range(*x+[-cmp(*x)|1])[1:]


Thanks to @JonasAusevicius for the port to CPython!

Try it online!

• This can be applied to standard Python 2 at 37 bytes, making it the shortest answer yet: lambda x:x+range(*x+[-cmp(*x)|1])[1:]. Nice solution Nov 8, 2018 at 14:17

# Perl 6, 26 22 bytes

{|@_,|[...^](@_).skip}


Try it online!

### Explanation

{                    }
|@_,   # Slip args a,b into result
[...^](@_)  # Reduce args a,b with ...^ operator, same as a...^b
.skip  # Skip first element
|  # Slip into result


# Python 2, 40 bytes

lambda x,y:[x,y]+range(x,y,-(y<x)|1)[1:]


Try it online!

• Really like -(y<x)|1. very cool but I can't work out why it works! Any chance you can explain it? Nov 8, 2018 at 19:06
• @ElPedro Basically, y<x checks if y is strictly less than x, and returns True if it is, False otherwise. After that, unary - is applied to it, which converts True to -1 and False to 0. The last step is to bitwise OR this number with 1. This obviously leaves 1 (0b1) unaffected, and also leaves -1 (-0b1) unaffected (the sign bit of -1 is set, so it's kept as such). However, it does convert 0 to 1, so that range doesn't complain about me using a step of 0. Nov 8, 2018 at 19:32
• That is seriously cool and very clever. If I could upvote twice I would. Many thanks for the explanation. Nov 8, 2018 at 20:27

# Python 3, 64 62 51 bytes

lambda a,b:[a,b]+[*range(a+1,b)]+[*range(a-1,b,-1)]

Try it online!

# Python 2, 58 45 bytes

lambda a,b:[a,b]+range(a+1,b)+range(a-1,b,-1)

Try it online!

• Because an empty list is falsey, you can remove the a<=b and  from both answers Nov 8, 2018 at 10:03
• You could also use + instead of or  Nov 8, 2018 at 10:13
• @TFeld thank you Nov 8, 2018 at 10:24
• Python 3 down to 47 bytes: lambda a,b:[a,b,*range(a+1,b),*range(a-1,b,-1)] Nov 14, 2018 at 20:48

# JavaScript (ES6), 51 bytes

Takes input as (a)(b).

a=>g=(b,c=b)=>(b+=b<a|-(b>a))-a?[...g(b,c),b]:[a,c]


Try it online!

### Commented

a =>                // main function, taking a
g = (             // g = recursive function
b,              //     taking b
c = b           // we save a backup of the original value of b into c
) =>              //
(b +=           // add to b:
b < a |       //   +1 if b is less than a
-(b > a)      //   -1 if b is greater than a
)               //   (or 0 if b = a)
- a ?           // if the updated value of b is not equal to a:
[             //   generate a new array:
...g(b, c), //     prepend all values generated by a recursive call
b           //     append the current value of b
]             //
:               // else:
[a, c]        //   stop recursion and return the first 2 values: a and c


# Python 2, 4741 40 bytes

lambda a,b:[a,b]+range(a,b,a<b or-1)[1:]


Try it online!

Here's mine, now that a lot of other Python answers have been posted

-6 bytes, thanks to G B

• Taking advantage of the empty range when it's invalid is a smart way to deal with forward or backwards lists. I could see that being very useful and is a nice trick to know exists. Nov 8, 2018 at 12:21
• 41 bytes using a single range: range(a,b,(a<b)*2-1)
– G B
Nov 8, 2018 at 12:35
• a<b or-1 is shorter for the 3rd range parameter. The shortest I got was lambda x,y:[x,y]+range(x+(x<y or-1),y,x<y or-1) Nov 24, 2018 at 4:42

# Japt, 8 5 bytes

âUr!õ


Try it

âUr!õ     :Implicit input of array U
â         :Setwise union with
Ur       :  Reduce U by
!õ     :   Inclusive range

• The 5-byte version seems to now fail for the 4,4 test case... Jan 24, 2021 at 14:12

# Jelly, 4 bytes

,œ|r


Try it online!

### How it works

,œ|r  Main link. Left argument: a. Right argument: b

,     Pair; yield [a, b].
r  Range; yield [a, ..., b].
œ|   Perform multiset union.


# Java 10, 10910810410293 62 bytes

Using a space-delimited String:

b->a->{var r=a+" "+b;for(;a<b?++a<b:--a>b;)r+=" "+a;return r;}


Try it online.

Using a List:

b->a->{var r=new java.util.Stack();for(r.add(a),r.add(b);a<b?++a<b:--a>b;)r.add(a);return r;}


Try it online.

(a<b?++a<b:--a>b can be ++a<b||(a-=2)>b for the same byte-count: Try it online for the String or Try it online for the List.)

Old (109 108 104 102 101 bytes) answer using an array:

a->b->{int s=a<b?1:-1,i=a!=b?(b-a)*s+1:2,r[]=new int[i];for(r[0]=a,r[1]=b;i>2;)r[--i]=b-=s;return r;}


-7 bytes thanks to @nwellnhof.

Try it online.

Explanation:

a->b->{                // Method with 2 int parameters & int-array return-type
int s=               //  Step integer, starting at:
a<b?1          //   1 if the first input is smaller than the second
:-1;           //   -1 otherwise
i=               //  Array-index integer, starting at:
a!=b?          //   If the inputs aren't equal:
(b-a)*s+1     //    Set it to the absolute difference + 1
:              //   Else:
2,            //    Set it to 2
r[]=new int[i];  //  Result-array of that size
for(r[0]=a,          //  Fill the first value with the first input
r[1]=b;          //  And the second value with the second input
i>2;)            //  Loop i downwards in the range [i,2):
r[--i]=            //   Decrease i by 1 first with --i
//   Set the i'th array-value to:
b-=s;       //    If the step integer is 1: decrease b by 1
//    If the step integer is -1: increase b by 1
//    And set the array-value to this modified b
return r;}           //  Return the result-array

• Isn't there anything in Java's standard library for making ranges of integers? Or it is just too verbose to use? Nov 8, 2018 at 11:17
• @Οurous It's indeed too verbose: a->b->{var L=java.util.stream.IntStream.range(a,b).boxed().collect(java.util.Collectors.toList());L.add(0,b);L.add(0,a);return L;} (130 bytes) Nov 8, 2018 at 12:11
• Is it Java 8 or Java 10 ? Because of "var" ^^'
– Neyt
Nov 9, 2018 at 10:45
• @Neyt Ah, fixed. My initial version with the array below didn't use var, which is why I usually put those at 8, and the ones that does use var as 10 (and the ones using String.repeat as 11). :) Forgot to update it after adding the List and String answers, should be corrected now. Thanks. Nov 9, 2018 at 10:51

# APL (Dyalog Extended), 5 bytes

Anonymous infix function.

,,…~,


Try it online!

, the first and last (lit. the concatenation of the arguments)

, and (lit. concatenated to)

… the range

~ without

, the first and last (lit. the concatenation of the arguments)

• Nice, so I assume you're going to be using this for all of your golfing from now on? Nov 14, 2018 at 12:50
• @Zacharý Probably only if the code is significantly shorter or simpler.
Nov 14, 2018 at 12:56

a#b=a:b:[a+1..b-1]++[a-1,a-2..b+1]


Try it online!

• This does not work. GHC interprets b-1 as b $(-1). Use b- 1 instead. Nov 10, 2018 at 20:34 • @MarkNeu: it does work. See TIO link. – nimi Nov 10, 2018 at 21:12 • Oh, sorry! I had NegativeLiterals on. Nov 10, 2018 at 21:15 # J, 26 bytes ,,[|.@]^:(>{.)<.+1}.i.@|@-  Try it online! ## Explanation: A dyadic verb (takes left and right argument)  - subtracts the arguments |@ and finds the absolute value i.@ and makes a list 0..absolute difference 1}. drops the fist element + adds to the entire list <. the smaller of the arguments |.@] reverses the list ^: only if [ the left argument (>{.) is greater than the first item of the list , appends the list to , the right argument appended to the left one  • ,,[:}.@}:<.+i.@-@(+*)@- for 23 bytes and no special casing on relative argument ordering (rather: it's hidden inside the signum *). i feel like this could get down under 20 but i'm tired. Nov 10, 2018 at 6:53 • @Jonah Thank you! Btw FrownyFrog's solution is way better than mine, so I 'm not going to golf it any further. Nov 10, 2018 at 7:30 # Octave, 45 bytes @(a,b)[a b linspace(a,b,(t=abs(a-b))+1)(2:t)]  Try it online! • IF the first is larger than the second, the range must be descending Nov 8, 2018 at 11:03 • Oh man, I can't read Nov 8, 2018 at 11:03 • I ended up changing the language Nov 8, 2018 at 14:33 # J, 13 bytes ,,<.+i.@-~-.=  Try it online!  i.@-~ range [0 .. |difference|-1], reverse if the difference is positive -.= remove the zero (either "=" is 0 or there’s nothing to remove) <.+ to each element add the smaller of the args ,, prepend args  • Nice solution! I totally forgot abouti. with negative argument. Nov 8, 2018 at 17:40 • this is gorgeous! Nov 10, 2018 at 14:55 ## Batch, 107 bytes @echo %1 @echo %2 @for %%s in (1 -1)do @for /l %%i in (%1,%%s,%2)do @if %1 neq %%i if %%i neq %2 echo %%i  Takes input as command-line arguments. Explanation: @echo %1 @echo %2  Output the two integers. @for %%s in (1 -1)do  Try both ascending and descending ranges. @for /l %%i in (%1,%%s,%2)do  Loop over the inclusive range. @if %1 neq %%i if %%i neq %2  Exclude the two integers. echo %%i  Output the current value. # Pyth, 5 bytes +QtrF  Input is a two-element list, [input 1, input 2]. Try it online here, or verify all the test cases at once here. +QtrFQ Implicit: Q=eval(input()) Trailing Q inferred rFQ Generate range [input 1 - input 2) t Discard first element +Q Prepend Q  • Using F instead of .* on 2-element lists is a brilliant trick that I will absolutely be using from here on. Nov 8, 2018 at 16:31 # Red, 75 bytes func[a b][s: sign? d: b - a prin[a b]loop absolute d - s[prin[""a: a + s]]]  Try it online! # Clean, 49 bytes import StdEnv @a b=init[a,b:tl[a,a+sign(b-a)..b]]  Try it online! # Ruby, 33 40 bytes ->a,b{[a,b]+[*a..b,*a.downto(b)][1..-2]}  Try it online! Temporary fix, trying to find a better idea • For [4,4] this gives only one [4] Nov 8, 2018 at 9:36 • You are right, I fixed it. – G B Nov 23, 2018 at 9:32 # Python 2, 5247 41 bytes lambda i,j:[i,j]+range(i,j,(i<j)*2-1)[1:]  Try it online! -5 with thanks to @JoKing -6 by slicing the first element from the range (idea stolen from and with credit to @TFeld) Non-lambda version... # Python 2, 5149 47 bytes i,j=input();print[i,j]+range(i,j,(i<j)*2-1)[1:]  Try it online! -2 with thanks to @JoKing # APL (Dyalog Classic), 29 bytes {⍺,⍵,(⌽⍣(⍺>⍵))(⍺⌊⍵)+¯1↓⍳|⍺-⍵}  Try it online! A port of my J solution • Wow, I'm surprised this is so long for a seemingly simple task. Nov 9, 2018 at 0:43 • @Quintec Probably it can be golfed, or maybe another algorithm will result in much shorter solution. Nov 9, 2018 at 4:35 ## PHP (102 bytes) function t($a,$b){count($r=range($a,$b))>1?array_splice($r,1,0,array_pop($r)):$r=[$a,$b];print_r($r);}


Sandbox

Unfortunately (for golf) PHP has rather verbose function names, which contribute a lot to the length. But the basic idea is to create a range, then pop off the last element and stitch it back in at offset 1. For the 4,4 example I had to add count($r=range($a,$b))>1?...:$r=[$a,$b]; which adds quite a bit, and unfortunately array_splice() is by reference which hit me for a few more bytes ($r= and a ;). All because of that "edge case", lol. Well anyway enjoy! • I dont think that this is a right approach for code golf. Check this one function t($a,$b){$o=array($a,$b);for($i=$a+1;$i<$b;$i++)$o[]=$i;print_r($o);} Nov 10, 2018 at 21:47
• Or something like this function t($a,$b){echo $a.$b;for($i=$a+1;$i<$b;$i++)echo$i}; Nov 10, 2018 at 21:48
• It has to be a function and it has to output an array. If you have a better answer your more then welcome to post it. Nov 10, 2018 at 21:50
• I edited it, is that a valid submission now? Shall I put it as a new answer or what? Nov 10, 2018 at 21:52
• That is entirely up to you, I just wanted to do it without a loop ... lol Nov 10, 2018 at 21:53

# Clojure, 61 bytes

(fn[[a b]](def s(if(> a b)-1 1))(list* a b(range(+ a s)b s)))


An anonymous function that takes a 2-vector as input and returns a list.

Try it online!

## Explanation

(fn [[a b]] ; An anonymous function that accepts a 2-vector as input, and destructures it to a and b
(def s (if (> a b) -1 1)) ; If a > b assigns -1 to s and assigns 1 to s otherwise. This determines the order of the elements of the output list.
(list* a b ; Creates a list with a and b as the first two elements. The remaining elements will be appended from the following range:
(range (+ a s) b s))) ; A range starting at a+s and ending at b with step s


# D, 85 bytes

T[]f(T)(T a,T b){T[]v=[a,b];T c=2*(b>a)-1;for(T i=a+c;a!=b&&b!=i;i+=c)v~=i;return v;}


Try it online!

A port of @HatsuPointerKun's C++ answer into D.

# TI-BASIC, 35 34 bytes

-1 byte from Misha Lavrov

Prompt A,B
Disp A,B
cos(π(A>B
For(I,A+Ans,B-Ans,Ans
Disp I
End

• And one more byte by replacing 1-2(A>B with cos(π(A>B. Nov 8, 2018 at 20:55
• @MishaLavrov seq( wouldn't work for inputs where A and B are the same, unfortunately :( Nov 8, 2018 at 22:33
• True - also, I left out an argument of seq(, so I'm no longer convinced it even is smaller. Still, the cos( trick should help. Nov 8, 2018 at 22:34

# Charcoal, 15 bytes

ＩＥ²ＮＩ…⊕θηＩ⮌…⊕ηθ


Try it online! Link is to verbose version of code. Explanation:

ＩＥ²Ｎ


Print the inputs on separate lines.

Ｉ…⊕θη


Print the ascending range, if any.

Ｉ⮌…⊕ηθ


Print the reverse ascending reverse range, if any.

# Dart, 85 84 bytes

f(a,b)=>[a,b]+((a-b).abs()>1?List.generate((a-b).abs()-1,(i)=>(a>b?-i-1:i+1)+a):[]);


Try it online!

• -1 by going from >= to >