$R(start, end[, exclusive = false]) → ObjectRange

Creates a new ObjectRange object. This method is a convenience wrapper around the ObjectRange constructor, but $R is the preferred alias.

ObjectRange instances represent a range of consecutive values, be they numerical, textual, or of another type that semantically supports value ranges. See the type's documentation for further details, and to discover how your own objects can support value ranges.

The $R function takes exactly the same arguments as the original constructor: the lower and upper bounds (value of the same, proper type), and whether the upper bound is exclusive or not. By default, the upper bound is inclusive.

Examples

$R(0, 10).include(10)
// -> true
 $A($R(0, 5)).join(', ')
// -> '0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5'
 $A($R('aa', 'ah')).join(', ')
// -> 'aa, ab, ac, ad, ae, af, ag, ah'
 $R(0, 10, true).include(10)
// -> false
 $R(0, 10, true).each(function(value) {
  // invoked 10 times for value = 0 to 9
});

Note that ObjectRange mixes in the Enumerable module: this makes it easy to convert a range to an Array (Enumerable provides the Enumerable#toArray method, which makes the $A conversion straightforward), or to iterate through values. (Note, however, that getting the bounds back will be more efficiently done using the ObjectRange#start and ObjectRange#end properties than calling the Enumerable#min and Enumerable#max methods).

Warning

Be careful with String ranges: as described in its String#succ method, it does not use alphabetical boundaries, but goes all the way through the character table:

$A($R('a', 'e'))
// -> ['a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e'], no surprise there
 $A($R('ax', 'ba'))
// -> Ouch! Humongous array, starting as ['ax', 'ay', 'az', 'a{', 'a|', 'a}', 'a~'...]

See ObjectRange for more information.