Array->rotate

[schwern]

Thinking of an array of strings as rows and columns, flip the columns and rows. So:

my @rows = ("AAA", "BBB", "123");
my @columns = @rows->rotate;  # ("AB1", "AB2", "AB3");

Short rows are filled in with spaces, possible configurable option.

my @rows = ("A", "BBB", "1234");
my @columns = @rows->rotate;  # ("AB1", " B2", " B3", "  4");

See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/3206720/perl-hash-of-hash-and-columns/3206871#3206871 for inspiration.

[schwern]

Would Array->transpose be a better name? Should rotate/transpose work on a 2d array and make array-of-strings rotation into something else?

[Daenyth]

+1 for transpose acting on a 2d array. I don't think it makes much sense to have a built in function like this that acts on a 1d array.

[exodist]

I also say +1 for transpose acting on a 2d array.

As for 1 dimensional, I think it may be more time than it is worth, but otherwise am not apposed. needs a new name though @rows->transpose_text

[hercynium]

I agree that transpose is better than rotate, simply because I think of rotation as just that: put the elements on a wheel and spin $x degrees.

When I think of transposition on an array, I definitely think of it in the mathematical sense, requiring at least a 2D matrix. Therefore, calling the operation you've described above "transpose" just doesn't quite seem right. However, @exodist's suggestion of transpose_text seems to strike the right balance - The semantics that it is special because the contents are text is much more clear.

tl;dr: +1 for transpose_text on a 1d array of text. +1 for transpose on 2d arrays of anything.

[burak]

Hmmm, is there a practical use case for this?