Indices

Definition

There are two types of indices: array indices and flat indices. Consider this example (stored in row-major):

#include <xtensor/xtensor.hpp>
#include <xtensor/xarray.hpp>
#include <xtensor/xio.hpp>

int main()
{
    xt::xarray<size_t> a = xt::arange<size_t>(3 * 4);

    a.reshape({3,4});

    std::cout << a << std::endl;
}

Which prints

{{ 0,  1,  2,  3},
 { 4,  5,  6,  7},
 { 8,  9, 10, 11}}

The array index {1, 2} corresponds to the flat index 6.

Array indices

Functions like xt::argwhere(a < 5) return a std::vector of array indices. Using the same matrix as above, we can do

int main()
{
    xt::xarray<size_t> a = xt::arange<size_t>(3 * 4);

    a.reshape({3,4});

    auto idx = xt::from_indices(xt::argwhere(a >= 6));

    std::cout << idx << std::endl;
}

which prints

{{1, 2},
 {1, 3},
 {2, 0},
 {2, 1},
 {2, 2},
 {2, 3}}

To print the std::vector, it is converted to a xt::xtensor<size_t, 2> array, which is done using xt::from_indices.

From array indices to flat indices

To convert the array indices to a xt::xtensor<size_t, 1> of flat indices, xt::ravel_indices can be used. For the same example:

#include <xtensor/xtensor.hpp>
#include <xtensor/xarray.hpp>
#include <xtensor/xio.hpp>

int main()
{
    xt::xarray<size_t> a = xt::arange<size_t>(3 * 4);

    a.reshape({3,4});

    auto idx = xt::ravel_indices(xt::argwhere(a >= 6), a.shape());

    std::cout << idx << std::endl;
}

which prints

{ 6,  7,  8,  9, 10, 11}

Note

To convert to a std::vector use

auto idx = xt::ravel_indices<xt::ravel_vector_tag>(xt::argwhere(a >= 6), a.shape());

1-D arrays: array indices == flat indices

For 1-D arrays the array indices and flat indices coincide. One can use the generic functions xt::flatten_indices to get a xt::xtensor<size_t, 1> of (array/flat) indices. For example:

#include <xtensor/xtensor.hpp>
#include <xtensor/xview.hpp>
#include <xtensor/xio.hpp>

int main()
{
    xt::xtensor<size_t, 1> a = xt::arange<size_t>(16);

    auto idx = xt::flatten_indices(xt::argwhere(a >= 6));

    std::cout << idx << std::endl;

    std::cout << xt::view(a, xt::keep(idx)) << std::endl;
}

which prints the indices and the selection (which are in this case identical):

{ 6,  7,  8,  9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15}
{ 6,  7,  8,  9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15}

From flat indices to array indices

To convert flat indices to array_indices the function xt::unravel_indices can be used. For example

#include <xtensor/xarray.hpp>
#include <xtensor/xtensor.hpp>
#include <xtensor/xstrides.hpp>
#include <xtensor/xio.hpp>

int main()
{
    xt::xarray<size_t> a = xt::arange<size_t>(3 * 4);

    a.reshape({3,4});

    auto flat_indices = xt::ravel_indices(xt::argwhere(a >= 6), a.shape());

    auto array_indices = xt::from_indices(xt::unravel_indices(flat_indices, a.shape()));

    std::cout << "flat_indices = " << std::endl << flat_indices << std::endl;
    std::cout << "array_indices = " << std::endl << array_indices << std::endl;
}

which prints

flat_indices =
{ 6,  7,  8,  9, 10, 11}
array_indices =
{{1, 2},
 {1, 3},
 {2, 0},
 {2, 1},
 {2, 2},
 {2, 3}}

Notice that once again the function xt::from_indices has been used to convert a std::vector of indices to a xt::xtensor array for printing.