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I am trying to create a transformation rule that takes a list of non-negative integer values of any length, finds a non-zero entry in the list, adds 1 to all preceding numbers, subtracts 1 from the chosen non-zero entry, and keeps the subsequent values untouched.

As an example, {0,1,0,2,3,0} could be transformed into {1,0,0,2,3,0}, {1,2,1,1,3,0} or {1,2,1,3,2,0}.

I'm looking for a transformation rule, let's call it say desiredrule, such that ReplaceList[{0, 1, 0, 2, 3, 0}, desiredrule] yields those three lists above.

My (failed) attempt at this was along these lines:

ReplaceList[{0, 1, 0, 2, 3, 0}, {x___, y_ /; y > 0, z___} -> {x + 1, y - 1, z}]

which results in:

{{1, 0, 0, 2, 3, 0}, {2, 1, 3, 0}, {4, 2, 0}}

The key issue is obviously the x + 1 but I'm not sure how to correct this.

I know of other ways to achieve this same result without using ReplaceList; I know I could, for example, do the following:

transform[list_] := 
 Module[{nonzeropositions, numberoftransformations}, 
  nonzeropositions = Flatten@Position[list, x_ /; x > 0]; 
  numberoftransformations = Length[nonzeropositions]; 
  Table[list[[i]] + If[i < nonzeropositions[[j]], 1, 0] + 
    If[i == nonzeropositions[[j]], -1, 0], {j, 
    numberoftransformations}, {i, Length[list]}]]

But I'm specifically interested to learn how I could achieve this result via the transformation rule approach I outlined initially.

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1 Answer 1

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ReplaceList[{0, 1, 0, 2, 3, 0}, {x___, y_ /; y > 0, z___} :>  Flatten@{{x} + 1, y - 1, z}]
(*
  {{1, 0, 0, 2, 3, 0}, {1, 2, 1, 1, 3, 0}, {1, 2, 1, 3, 2, 0}}
*)
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  • $\begingroup$ exactly what i was looking for. thank you. $\endgroup$
    – Royce
    Dec 21, 2012 at 19:23

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