Are there list building macros in PGF/Tikz?

Question

In Mathematica, C# linq, or other languages, we can use auxiliary functions to produce list of certain pattern.

For example:

1. In Mathematica, we can use Table[] or Range[] to produce a list of numbers in the specified pattern.
2. In C#, we can also use Range to produce a list of consecutive integers.

I need this kind of function also in PGF/Tikz to be consumed by \foreach.

Are there list building macros in PGF/Tikz?

Answer 1

TikZ's \foreach accepts a lot of abbreviated lists. Examples include

• \foreach \x in {1,2,...,6} {\x, } yields 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6,
• \foreach \x in {1,3,...,11} {\x, } yields 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11,
• \foreach \x in {Z,X,...,M} {\x, } yields Z, X, V, T, R, P, N,
• \foreach \x in {0\pi,0.5\pi,...\pi,3\pi} {$\x$, } yields 0π, 0.5π, 1π, 1.5π, 2π, 2.5π, 3π,

For more details see “Repeating Things: The Foreach Statement“ in the TikZ manual (its Chapter 56 in the v2.10 manual).