# The filter function is non-intuitive

**URL:** <https://discourse.julialang.org/t/the-filter-function-is-non-intuitive/45674>\
**Category:** Internals & Design\
**Created:** [August 28, 2020, 10:46am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/the-filter-function-is-non-intuitive/45674 "2020-08-28T10:46:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 6

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**Author:** ![StefanKarpinski](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/julialang/user_avatar/discourse.julialang.org/stefankarpinski/32/24_2.png) [@StefanKarpinski](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/StefanKarpinski)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2020, 11:33am UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/the-filter-function-is-non-intuitive/45674/6 "2020-08-28T11:33:08Z")

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This trips me up often as well because I think of the function filtering things out, but as others have said, there’s already a traditional meaning of this higher order function in other languages to consider. What might be more plausible is introducing a `reject` verb and maybe a corresponding `select`, although that already has many other meanings.

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