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TakeDrop[list,n]

gives the pair {list1,list2}, where list1 contains the first n elements of list and list2 contains the rest.

TakeDrop[list,seq]

gives the pair {Take[list,seq],Drop[list,seq]}.

Details
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Basic Examples  
Scope  
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TakeDrop

TakeDrop[list,n]

gives the pair {list1,list2}, where list1 contains the first n elements of list and list2 contains the rest.

TakeDrop[list,seq]

gives the pair {Take[list,seq],Drop[list,seq]}.

Details

  • TakeDrop uses the standard sequence specification:
  • Allall elements
    Noneno elements
    nelements 1 through n
    UpTo[n]elements 1 up to at most n, as available
    -nlast n elements
    {n}element n only
    {m,n}elements m through n inclusive
    {m,n,s}elements m through n in steps of s
  • TakeDrop can be used on an object with any head, not necessarily List.
  • Applying TakeDrop to a SparseArray object normally yields a pair of SparseArray objects.
  • Applying TakeDrop to an Association object yields a pair of Association objects containing elements from the specified positions.

Examples

open all close all

Basic Examples  (2)

Take and drop the first two elements:

Wolfram Language code: TakeDrop[{a, b, c, d, e}, 2]

Take and drop elements at positions 2 to 4:

Wolfram Language code: TakeDrop[{a, b, c, d, e}, {2, 4}]

Scope  (5)

TakeDrop uses the standard sequence specification:

Wolfram Language code: TakeDrop[{a, b, c, d, e, f, g}, 3]
Wolfram Language code: TakeDrop[{a, b, c, d, e, f, g}, -3]
Wolfram Language code: TakeDrop[{a, b, c, d, e, f, g}, {3}]
Wolfram Language code: TakeDrop[{a, b, c, d, e, f, g}, {2, 4}]
Wolfram Language code: TakeDrop[{a, b, c, d, e, f, g}, {2, 6, 2}]
Wolfram Language code: TakeDrop[{a, b, c, d, e, f, g}, All]
Wolfram Language code: TakeDrop[{a, b, c, d, e, f, g}, None]

Take up to 8 elements in the first list, or as many as are available:

Wolfram Language code: TakeDrop[{a, b, c, d, e, f, g}, UpTo[8]]

Use expressions with arbitrary heads:

Wolfram Language code: TakeDrop[h[a, b, c, d, e, f, g], 3]

Use TakeDrop with sparse arrays:

Wolfram Language code: TakeDrop[SparseArray[{2 -> a, 7 -> b}, 10], 4]

Use TakeDrop with associations:

Wolfram Language code: TakeDrop[<|a -> α, b -> β, c -> γ, d -> δ, e -> ϵ|>, 2]

Applications  (1)

Break a list into sublists of given lengths:

Wolfram Language code: FoldPairList[TakeDrop, Array[x, 10], {1, 3, 2, 4}]
Wolfram Language code: Length /@ %

Properties & Relations  (1)

TakeDrop is equivalent to a combination of Take and Drop:

Wolfram Language code: list = {a, b, c, d, e, f, g};
Wolfram Language code: TakeDrop[list, 3]
Wolfram Language code: {Take[list, 3], Drop[list, 3]}
Wolfram Research (2015), TakeDrop, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/TakeDrop.html (updated 2015).

Text

Wolfram Research (2015), TakeDrop, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/TakeDrop.html (updated 2015).

CMS

Wolfram Language. 2015. "TakeDrop." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2015. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/TakeDrop.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (2015). TakeDrop. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/TakeDrop.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2026_takedrop, author="Wolfram Research", title="{TakeDrop}", year="2015", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/TakeDrop.html}", note=[Accessed: 13-June-2026]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2026_takedrop, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={TakeDrop}, year={2015}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/TakeDrop.html}, note=[Accessed: 13-June-2026]}