# Length[Range[5]] vs Length@Range[5] [duplicate]

I've looked all over the Wolfram Documentation and done various searches on the web and this site and I can't find an explanation of the single "@" symbol as a means of applying functions.

It seems to perform as an alternate syntax to the full form of a function. I've used it with my own function definitions and with Length, and it seems to work.

What's unnerving to me is that I cannot find a clear explanation in the documentation, any tips on how to better find this stuff in the documentation would be appreciated. Thank you.

• reference.wolfram.com/language/howto/UseShorthandNotations.html Feb 12 '17 at 16:11
• More generally, when there is a symbol you don't understand, highlight it and press F1, bringing you to the documentation. In this case, it brings you to Prefix, which is the full name of the @ symbol. Feb 12 '17 at 16:18
• @bills Generally, selecting it and pressing F1 works, and opens the documentation page of the corresponding function. But this case is a bit more special. Prefix is not the full name of full form of @. In fact @ does not have a "full form" at all. (f@x) is precisely equivalent to (f[x]) in every case. They parse to the same internal representation. Feb 12 '17 at 16:53
• Thank you all. I'll get better at searching. Feb 13 '17 at 1:57
• Since this is a duplicate, should I just delete it? I'm not sure what the etiquette is. Feb 13 '17 at 2:11