# Is there a keyword opposite of 'end' when indexing
**URL:** https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-there-a-keyword-opposite-of-end-when-indexing/133714
**Category:** New to Julia
**Created:** [November 6, 2025, 5:04pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-there-a-keyword-opposite-of-end-when-indexing/133714 "2025-11-06T17:04:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 3
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Queenvictoria](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Queenvictoria)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2025, 5:04pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-there-a-keyword-opposite-of-end-when-indexing/133714/1 "2025-11-06T17:04:46Z")
name[end] gives you the last value. But when I learned it, I could’ve sworn there was a keyword for the very first value. Obviously you can just index at one, but does that keyword exist? Or did I make it up?
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### Author:  [@braamvandyk](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/braamvandyk)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2025, 5:13pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-there-a-keyword-opposite-of-end-when-indexing/133714/2 "2025-11-06T17:13:10Z")
If I recall correctly, that would be ‘’ `arrayname[begin]`, but checking this on my phone is a bit tricky.
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### Author:  [@NonDairyNeutrino](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/NonDairyNeutrino)
#### Post date: [November 6, 2025, 6:18pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/is-there-a-keyword-opposite-of-end-when-indexing/133714/3 "2025-11-06T18:18:55Z")
While `begin` and `end` are used to create a block of code, they can also be used as “indices” to _safely_ get the first and last elements of a collection. While `Array`s do index starting at 1, that’s not always the case e.g. OffsetArrays.jl or just because [`getindex`](https://docs.julialang.org/en/v1/base/arrays/#Base.getindex-Tuple%7BAbstractArray,%20Vararg%7BAny%7D) is a function for which an abitrary method could be created e.g. `Base.getindex() = 2` (wow I hate that).
From the [documentation](https://docs.julialang.org/en/v1/base/base/#begin)
```julia-auto
begin
begin...end denotes a block of code.
begin
println("Hello, ")
println("World!")
end
Usually begin will not be necessary, since keywords such as function and let implicitly begin blocks of code. See also ;.
begin may also be used when indexing to represent the first index of a collection or the first index of a dimension of an array. For example, a[begin]
is the first element of an array a.
│ Julia 1.4
│
│ Use of begin as an index requires Julia 1.4 or later.
Examples
≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡
julia> A = [1 2; 3 4]
2×2 Matrix{Int64}:
1 2
3 4
julia> A[begin, :]
2-element Matrix{Int64}:
1
2
```
Similarly for [`end`](https://docs.julialang.org/en/v1/base/base/#end)
```julia-auto
end
end marks the conclusion of a block of expressions, for example module, struct, mutable struct, begin, let, for etc.
end may also be used when indexing to represent the last index of a collection or the last index of a dimension of an array.
Examples
≡≡≡≡≡≡≡≡
julia> A = [1 2; 3 4]
2×2 Matrix{Int64}:
1 2
3 4
julia> A[end, :]
2-element Vector{Int64}:
3
4
```