# Accessing a column from a vector of vectors
**URL:** https://discourse.julialang.org/t/accessing-a-column-from-a-vector-of-vectors/136722
**Category:** General Usage
**Tags:** arrays, vector
**Created:** [April 15, 2026, 11:25am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/accessing-a-column-from-a-vector-of-vectors/136722 "2026-04-15T11:25:05Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Ju\_ska](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Ju_ska)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2026, 11:25am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/accessing-a-column-from-a-vector-of-vectors/136722/1 "2026-04-15T11:25:05Z")
Hi,
I have something like:
```julia-auto
a = [["a", "1" ,"11"],
["b", "2" ,"22"],
["c", "3" ,"33"]]
3-element Vector{Vector{String}}:
["a", "1", "11"]
["b", "2", "22"]
["c", "3", "33"]
```
And I would like to get e.g. the “a, b, c” or “1, 2, 3” vectors.
Tried various [:,:][…] combos with success.
---
### Author:  [@matthias314](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/matthias314)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2026, 11:35am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/accessing-a-column-from-a-vector-of-vectors/136722/2 "2026-04-15T11:35:16Z")
Are you looking for something more sophisticated than the following?
```julia-auto
julia> map(v -> v[1], a)
3-element Vector{String}:
"a"
"b"
"c"
```
---
### Author:  [@Ju\_ska](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Ju_ska)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2026, 11:38am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/accessing-a-column-from-a-vector-of-vectors/136722/3 "2026-04-15T11:38:13Z")
Nope, I wondered if the [:,:] kind of syntax would be usable.
Working fine, thanks.
---
### Author:  [@langestefan](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/langestefan)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2026, 11:38am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/accessing-a-column-from-a-vector-of-vectors/136722/4 "2026-04-15T11:38:40Z")
```julia
julia> getindex.(a,1)
3-element Vector{String}:
"a"
"b"
"c"
```
also works
---
### Author:  [@nilshg](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/nilshg)
#### Post date: [April 15, 2026, 2:27pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/accessing-a-column-from-a-vector-of-vectors/136722/5 "2026-04-15T14:27:12Z")
And in the specific case for the a, b, c vector
```julia-auto
julia> first.(a)
3-element Vector{String}:
"a"
"b"
"c"
```
(or `last` for the last “column”, but `getindex` more generally as mentioned above)
---
### Author:  [@rocco\_sprmnt21](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/rocco_sprmnt21)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2026, 4:51pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/accessing-a-column-from-a-vector-of-vectors/136722/6 "2026-06-01T16:51:19Z")
```julia-auto
[a...;;][1,:]
[a...;;][2,:]
```
---
### Author:  [@Dan](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Dan)
#### Post date: [June 1, 2026, 10:49pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/accessing-a-column-from-a-vector-of-vectors/136722/7 "2026-06-01T22:49:18Z")
Another method could be:
```julia-auto
julia> using IterTools
julia> nth.(a, 1)
3-element Vector{String}:
"a"
"b"
"c"
```
Note the broadcasting used with `nth` (that is `nth.(...)`).
---
### Author:  [@rafael.guerra](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/rafael.guerra)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2026, 9:55am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/accessing-a-column-from-a-vector-of-vectors/136722/8 "2026-06-02T09:55:19Z")
Also:
`stack(a)[1,:]`
And:
```julia-auto
using TensorCast
@cast b[i] := a[i][1]
```
---
### Author:  [@rocco\_sprmnt21](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/rocco_sprmnt21)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2026, 10:22am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/accessing-a-column-from-a-vector-of-vectors/136722/9 "2026-06-02T10:22:48Z")
What are the drawbacks to defining a specific syntax for this case?
For example like `a[:][1]`
---
### Author:  [@eldee](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/eldee)
#### Post date: [June 2, 2026, 10:45am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/accessing-a-column-from-a-vector-of-vectors/136722/10 "2026-06-02T10:45:25Z")
Well, the syntax `a[:][1]` already exists: it copies `a` and then selects that copy’s first element.
More generally, a `Vector{Vector}` is not a `Matrix` (e.g. it can be ragged), so it’s not the natural concept to use when talking about things like columns.