# What lowers to hvcat(::Int, ...)?
**URL:** https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-lowers-to-hvcat-int/121107
**Category:** Internals & Design
**Tags:** question, syntax
**Created:** [October 9, 2024, 2:04pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-lowers-to-hvcat-int/121107 "2024-10-09T14:04:07Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Tamas\_Papp](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Tamas_Papp)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2024, 2:04pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-lowers-to-hvcat-int/121107/1 "2024-10-09T14:04:07Z")
I am curious what syntax lowers to `hvcat(::Int, ...)`.
Everything I tried lowers into the `hvcat(::Tuple{Vararg{Int}}, ...)` form. An example would be useful.
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### Author:  [@mbauman](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mbauman)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2024, 2:10pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-lowers-to-hvcat-int/121107/2 "2024-10-09T14:10:48Z")
What makes you think something does? And why are you curious? I think it might be vestigial.
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### Author:  [@Tamas\_Papp](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Tamas_Papp)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2024, 2:13pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-lowers-to-hvcat-int/121107/3 "2024-10-09T14:13:56Z")
> [@mbauman](#):
>
> And why are you curious?
I was assuming that it had a purpose but could not figure it out from reading the code.
> [@mbauman](#):
>
> I think it might be vestigial.
In that case, would it make sense to remove it?
(It may look innocuous, but if the user follows the docstring of `hvcat` and defines a method for that, that is wasted effort).
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### Author:  [@mbauman](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/mbauman)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2024, 3:26pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-lowers-to-hvcat-int/121107/5 "2024-10-09T15:26:40Z")
But it’s also an exported and documented function that anyone can _manually_ call, whether it’s generated by some literal syntax or not. And folks [do](https://juliahub.com/ui/Search?type=symbols&q=hvcat&u=use).
Removing that has a nonzero cost, too.
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### Author:  [@Tamas\_Papp](https://discourse.julialang.org/u/Tamas_Papp)
#### Post date: [October 9, 2024, 3:37pm UTC](https://discourse.julialang.org/t/what-lowers-to-hvcat-int/121107/6 "2024-10-09T15:37:25Z")
Thanks for looking into examples, indeed it is used so removing it would not be a good idea.
A PR could just clarify that lowering is always to the other form. I did not open a new issue for this, but added a note to
>
>
> While \`Base.hvcat\` is part of the API, \`Base.typed\_hvcat\` apparently isn't, and …while the manual \[does not mention\](https://docs.julialang.org/en/v1/manual/arrays/#man-array-typed-literal) what \`T\[...; ...\]\` is lowered to.
>
> I propose the following:
>
> 1. add a docstring to \`typed\_hvcat\`, explain what is lowered to it, and make it part of the docs (potentially by not exporting it, \`public\` should be enough),
> 2. mention the lowering in the docs section linked above.
>
> I will wait for comments and then make a PR.