(number-sequence): Improve handling of floating point arguments

(suggested by Kim Storm).  Allow negative arguments.

1 files changed, 33 insertions, 12 deletions

diff --git a/lisp/subr.el b/lisp/subr.el
index f5e5891b96..9dc6c2ba6e 100644
--- a/lisp/subr.el
+++ b/lisp/subr.el
@@ -191,20 +191,41 @@ If N is bigger than the length of X, return X."
 
 (defun number-sequence (from &optional to inc)
   "Return a sequence of numbers from FROM to TO (both inclusive) as a list.
-INC is the increment used between numbers in the sequence.
-So, the Nth element of the list is (+ FROM (* N INC)) where N counts from
-zero.
-If INC is nil, it defaults to 1 (one).
-If TO is nil, it defaults to FROM.
-If TO is less than FROM, the value is nil.
-Note that FROM, TO and INC can be integer or float."
-  (if (not to)
+INC is the increment used between numbers in the sequence and defaults to 1.
+So, the Nth element of the list is \(+ FROM \(* N INC)) where N counts from
+zero.  TO is only included if there is an N for which TO = FROM + N * INC.
+If TO is nil or numerically equal to FROM, return \(FROM).
+If INC is positive and TO is less than FROM, or INC is negative
+and TO is larger than FROM, return nil.
+If INC is zero and TO is neither nil nor numerically equal to
+FROM, signal an error.
+
+This function is primarily designed for integer arguments.
+Nevertheless, FROM, TO and INC can be integer or float.  However,
+floating point arithmetic is inexact.  For instance, depending on
+the machine, it may quite well happen that
+\(number-sequence 0.4 0.6 0.2) returns the one element list \(0.4),
+whereas \(number-sequence 0.4 0.8 0.2) returns a list with three
+elements.  Thus, if some of the arguments are floats and one wants
+to make sure that TO is included, one may have to explicitly write
+TO as \(+ FROM \(* N INC)) or use a variable whose value was
+computed with this exact expression.  Alternatively, you can,
+of course, also replace TO with a slightly larger value
+\(or a slightly more negative value if INC is negative)."
+  (if (or (not to) (= from to))
       (list from)
     (or inc (setq inc 1))
-    (let (seq)
-      (while (<= from to)
-	(setq seq (cons from seq)
-	      from (+ from inc)))
+    (when (zerop inc) (error "The increment can not be zero"))
+    (let (seq (n 0) (next from))
+      (if (> inc 0)
+          (while (<= next to)
+            (setq seq (cons next seq)
+                  n (1+ n)
+                  next (+ from (* n inc))))
+        (while (>= next to)
+          (setq seq (cons next seq)
+                n (1+ n)
+                next (+ from (* n inc)))))
       (nreverse seq))))
 
 (defun remove (elt seq)