get a single element of a list from replace

Question

Replace[x, {{x -> a}, {x -> b},{y->c}}] gives {a,b,x}. How to get just {a,b} from the above expression?

Answer 1

I assume you're trying to use this for a more general case. Knowing what the general case is would help me know which solution would be generalizable to your situation.

One way is to use ReplaceList with Flatten:

Flatten[ReplaceList[x, {{x -> a}, {x -> b}, {y -> c}}]]

Or more simply:

ReplaceList[x, {x -> a, x -> b, y -> c}]

Answer 2

Add an extra replacement to each list such that if nothing matches you return Nothing

nullrep = _ :> Nothing
(* _ :> Nothing *)

Replace[x, {{x -> a, nullrep}, {x -> b, nullrep}, {y -> c, nullrep}}]
(* {a, b} *)