# Get the Nth element of all vectors inside an array of vectors
**URL:** https://discourse.julialang.org/t/get-the-nth-element-of-all-vectors-inside-an-array-of-vectors/49742
**Category:** New to Julia
**Created:** [November 7, 2020, 3:42pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/get-the-nth-element-of-all-vectors-inside-an-array-of-vectors/49742 "2020-11-07T15:42:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@GHRALIMA](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/GHRALIMA)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2020, 3:42pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/get-the-nth-element-of-all-vectors-inside-an-array-of-vectors/49742/1 "2020-11-07T15:42:32Z")
I have a vector of vectors like:
a = [[1,2,3],[4,5,6],[7,8,9]]
When I want the first element of the first vector inside the vector, I simply use:
a[1][1]
But when I try to get the first element of all the vector using
a[:][1]
I get all the elements of the first vector
1
2
3
instead of the of
1
4
7
Is there any way to get the correct elements using something like the simplified notation above or using broadcasting, instead of using a for loop?
---
### Author:  [@Oscar\_Smith](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Oscar_Smith)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2020, 3:52pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/get-the-nth-element-of-all-vectors-inside-an-array-of-vectors/49742/2 "2020-11-07T15:52:39Z")
`getindex.(a,1)` should do what you want here. Unfortunately I don’t think there is a way to do this with `[]`
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### Author:  [@roble](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/roble)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2020, 6:38pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/get-the-nth-element-of-all-vectors-inside-an-array-of-vectors/49742/3 "2020-11-07T18:38:02Z")
> [@GHRALIMA](#):
>
> ts using something like the simplified notation above or using broadcasting, instead of using a for loop?
```julia
julia> a[1, :]
3-element Array{Int64,1}:
1
4
7
julia> a[:, 1]
3-element Array{Int64,1}:
1
2
3
```
Note that a[1][:] does not work. It first does a[1] which is the number 1. Later, it tries to access all numbers [:] of that single number, which results in an error.
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### Author:  [@anon92994695](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/anon92994695)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2020, 6:55pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/get-the-nth-element-of-all-vectors-inside-an-array-of-vectors/49742/4 "2020-11-07T18:55:29Z")
`getindex.(a,1)` works, but I’ll throw out some worthy mentions to share some of the fun of Julia.
`first.(a)`
or
`map(x -> x[1],a)`
or
`[v[1] for v in a ]`
also work but may have performance penalties.
---
### Author:  [@GHRALIMA](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/GHRALIMA)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2020, 11:53pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/get-the-nth-element-of-all-vectors-inside-an-array-of-vectors/49742/5 "2020-11-07T23:53:30Z")
Hi Roble,
That solution works when a is a 2D (3x3) array, which is a little bit different from what I asked. But, yes, I can convert my vector of vectors in an 2D array and that will work.
Thanks!
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### Author:  [@GHRALIMA](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/GHRALIMA)
#### Post date: [November 7, 2020, 11:54pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/get-the-nth-element-of-all-vectors-inside-an-array-of-vectors/49742/6 "2020-11-07T23:54:05Z")
Exactly what I was looking for! Thanks!