Negative indexes, closes #274

docs/types/array.md

@@ -22,14 +22,21 @@ notation:
 array[3]
 ```
 
-Accessing an index that does not exist returns null.
+Accessing an index that does not exist returns `null`.
+
+You can also access the Nth last element of an array by
+using a negative index:
+
+``` bash
+["a", "b", "c", "d"][-2] # "c"
+```
 
 You can also access a range of indexes with the `[start:end]` notation:
 
 ``` bash
 array = [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]
 
-array[0:2] // [0, 1, 2]
+array[0:2] # [0, 1, 2]
 ```
 
 where `start` is the starting position in the array, and `end` is
@@ -38,14 +45,14 @@ and if `end` is omitted it is assumed to be the last index in the
 array:
 
 ``` bash
-array[:2] // [0, 1, 2]
-array[7:] // [7, 8, 9]
+array[:2] # [0, 1, 2]
+array[7:] # [7, 8, 9]
 ```
 
 If `end` is negative, it will be converted to `length of array - end`:
 
 ``` bash
-array[:-3] // [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
+array[:-3] # [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]
 ```
 
 To concatenate arrays, "sum" them:
@@ -113,7 +120,7 @@ a # [1, 2, 3, 4, 99, 55, 66]
 An array is defined as "homogeneous" when all its elements
 are of a single type:
 
-```
+``` bash
 [1, 2, 3] # homogeneous
 [null, 0, "", {}] # heterogeneous
 ```

docs/types/string.md

@@ -32,7 +32,14 @@ with the index notation:
 "hello world"[1] # e
 ```
 
-Accessing an index that does not exist returns null.
+Accessing an index that does not exist returns an empty string.
+
+You can access the Nth last character of the string using a
+negative index:
+
+``` bash
+"string"[-2] # "n"
+```
 
 You can also access a range of the string with the `[start:end]` notation:
 
@@ -42,7 +49,8 @@ You can also access a range of the string with the `[start:end]` notation:
 
 where `start` is the starting position in the array, and `end` is
 the ending one. If `start` is not specified, it is assumed to be 0,
-and if `end` is omitted it is assumed to be the character in the string:
+and if `end` is omitted it is assumed to be the last character in the
+string:
 
 ``` bash
 "string"[0:3] // "str"

evaluator/evaluator.go

@@ -1096,7 +1096,7 @@ func evalStringIndexExpression(tok token.Token, array, index object.Object, end
 	max := len(stringObject.Value) - 1
 
 	if isRange {
-		max += 1
+		max++
 		// A range's minimum value is 0
 		if idx < 0 {
 			idx = 0
@@ -1127,8 +1127,23 @@ func evalStringIndexExpression(tok token.Token, array, index object.Object, end
 		return &object.String{Token: tok, Value: string(stringObject.Value[idx:max])}
 	}
 
-	if idx < 0 || idx > max {
-		return NULL
+	// Out of bounds? Return an empty string
+	if idx > max {
+		return &object.String{Token: tok, Value: ""}
+	}
+
+	if idx < 0 {
+		length := max + 1
+
+		// Negative out of bounds? Return an empty string
+		if math.Abs(float64(idx)) > float64(length) {
+			return &object.String{Token: tok, Value: ""}
+		}
+
+		// Our index was negative, so the actual index is length of the string + the index
+		// eg 3 + (-2) = 1
+		// "123"[-2]   = "2"
+		idx = length + idx
 	}
 
 	return &object.String{Token: tok, Value: string(stringObject.Value[idx])}
@@ -1140,7 +1155,7 @@ func evalArrayIndexExpression(tok token.Token, array, index object.Object, end o
 	max := len(arrayObject.Elements) - 1
 
 	if isRange {
-		max += 1
+		max++
 		// A range's minimum value is 0
 		if idx < 0 {
 			idx = 0
@@ -1171,10 +1186,25 @@ func evalArrayIndexExpression(tok token.Token, array, index object.Object, end o
 		return &object.Array{Token: tok, Elements: arrayObject.Elements[idx:max]}
 	}
 
-	if idx < 0 || idx > max {
+	// Out of bounds? Return a null element
+	if idx > max {
 		return NULL
 	}
 
+	if idx < 0 {
+		length := max + 1
+
+		// Negative out of bounds? Return a null element
+		if math.Abs(float64(idx)) > float64(length) {
+			return NULL
+		}
+
+		// Our index was negative, so the actual index is length of the string + the index
+		// eg 3 + (-2) = 1
+		// [1,2,3][-2] = 2
+		idx = length + idx
+	}
+
 	return arrayObject.Elements[idx]
 }
 

evaluator/evaluator_test.go

@@ -1377,9 +1377,25 @@ func TestArrayIndexExpressions(t *testing.T) {
 			nil,
 		},
 		{
-			"[1, 2, 3][-1]",
+			"[1, 2, 3][-2]",
+			2,
+		},
+		{
+			"[1, 2, 3][-10]",
 			nil,
 		},
+		{
+			"[1, 2, 3][-3]",
+			1,
+		},
+		{
+			"[1, 2, 3][-4]",
+			nil,
+		},
+		{
+			"[1, 2, 3][-0]",
+			1,
+		},
 		{
 			"a = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9][1:-300]; a[0]",
 			nil,
@@ -1512,7 +1528,7 @@ func TestStringIndexExpressions(t *testing.T) {
 	}{
 		{
 			`"123"[10]`,
-			nil,
+			"",
 		},
 		{
 			`"123"[1]`,
@@ -1534,6 +1550,18 @@ func TestStringIndexExpressions(t *testing.T) {
 			`"123"[:-1]`,
 			"12",
 		},
+		{
+			`"123"[-2]`,
+			"2",
+		},
+		{
+			`"123"[-1]`,
+			"3",
+		},
+		{
+			`"123"[-10]`,
+			"",
+		},
 		{
 			`"123"[2:-10]`,
 			"",
@@ -1558,10 +1586,6 @@ func TestStringIndexExpressions(t *testing.T) {
 			`"123"[-10:{}]`,
 			`index ranges can only be numerical: got "{}" (type HASH)`,
 		},
-		{
-			`"123"[-2]`,
-			"",
-		},
 		{
 			`"123"[3]`,
 			"",
@@ -1575,12 +1599,12 @@ func TestStringIndexExpressions(t *testing.T) {
 	for _, tt := range tests {
 		evaluated := testEval(tt.input)
 		switch result := evaluated.(type) {
-		case *object.Null:
-			testNullObject(t, evaluated)
 		case *object.String:
 			testStringObject(t, evaluated, tt.expected.(string))
 		case *object.Error:
 			logErrorWithPosition(t, result.Message, tt.expected)
+		default:
+			t.Errorf("object is not the right result. got=%s ('%+v' expected)", result.Inspect(), tt.expected)
 		}
 	}
 }