---
name: "lindex"
section: "n"
platform: "macos"
package: "tcl"
version: "152"
release: "macOS 26.5"
platforms: ["linux", "macos"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/lindex/n"
---

# lindex(n)

Retrieve an element from a list

## NAME

lindex - Retrieve an element from a list

## SYNOPSIS

**lindex** *list ?index...?*

## DESCRIPTION

The **lindex** command accepts a parameter, *list*, which it treats as a Tcl list. It also accepts zero or more *indices* into the list.  The indices may be presented either consecutively on the command line, or grouped in a Tcl list and presented as a single argument.

If no indices are presented, the command takes the form: lindex list or lindex list {} In this case, the return value of **lindex** is simply the value of the *list* parameter.

When presented with a single index, the **lindex** command treats *list* as a Tcl list and returns the *index*'th element from it (0 refers to the first element of the list). In extracting the element, **lindex** observes the same rules concerning braces and quotes and backslashes as the Tcl command interpreter; however, variable substitution and command substitution do not occur. If *index* is negative or greater than or equal to the number of elements in *value*, then an empty string is returned. The interpretation of each simple *index* value is the same as  for the command **string index**, supporting simple index arithmetic and indices relative to the end of the list.

If additional *index* arguments are supplied, then each argument is used in turn to select an element from the previous indexing operation, allowing the script to select elements from sublists.  The command, lindex $a 1 2 3 or lindex $a {1 2 3} is synonymous with lindex \[lindex \[lindex $a 1\] 2\] 3

## EXAMPLES

**lindex** {a b c}\
       *→ a b c* **lindex** {a b c} {}\
       *→ a b c* **lindex** {a b c} 0\
       *→ a* **lindex** {a b c} 2\
       *→ c* **lindex** {a b c} end\
       *→ c* **lindex** {a b c} end-1\
       *→ b* **lindex** {{a b c} {d e f} {g h i}} 2 1\
       *→ h* **lindex** {{a b c} {d e f} {g h i}} {2 1}\
       *→ h* **lindex** {{{a b} {c d}} {{e f} {g h}}} 1 1 0\
       *→ g* **lindex** {{{a b} {c d}} {{e f} {g h}}} {1 1 0}\
       *→ g*

## SEE ALSO

[list(n)](/list/n.md), [lappend(n)](/lappend/n.md), [linsert(n)](/linsert/n.md), [llength(n)](/llength/n.md), [lsearch(n)](/lsearch/n.md),  [lset(n)](/lset/n.md), [lsort(n)](/lsort/n.md), [lrange(n)](/lrange/n.md), [lreplace(n)](/lreplace/n.md), [string(n)](/string/n.md)

## KEYWORDS

element, index, list