Map syntax in groovy?

Question

I stumbled across this syntax in a groovy script :

a[x,y]

What does it mean ?

Answer 1

It is a way of slicing with the subscript operator:

The subscript operator is a short hand notation for getAt or putAt, depending on whether you find it on the left hand side or the right hand side of an assignment

You can use it on lists, arrays, maps and also strings:

def a = 'hello'
assert a[0,1] == 'he'
assert a[0..1] == 'he'
assert a[0..2] == 'hel'
assert a[0,2] == 'hl'
assert a[0,2,4] == 'hlo'
assert a[0..-1] == 'hello'
assert a[0..-2] == 'hell'

An example with getAt and putAt:

def list = [1, 0, 3, 0, 5]
list[1,3] = [2,4]
assert list == [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]