This command can be used to convert a variety of expressions into list form.  The precise form of the result is determined by the input and the nested_op and expected_type options.

The use of the expected_type option enables the convenient extraction of terms, factors or (base, exponent) pairs without worrying about the trivial cases. If expected_type is given and expr is not of type expected_type, expr is interpreted trivially to be of that type: a sum of one term, a product of one factor, or a power with exponent 1. The return value is [expr, 1] if expected_type=`^`, and [expr] otherwise.

The nested_op option is only relevant if the input expr is an rtable (Matrix, Array, or Vector) or array, matrix, or vector.

Note that when converting an rtable to unnested list form, the order of elements in the output list will depend on the storage order of the rtable.

$\mathrm{convert}\left(''abc''\,\mathrm{list}\right)$

$\left[''a''\,''b''\,''c''\right]$

$A≔\mathrm{Array}\left(3..4\,-1..1\,0..3\,\left(i\,j\,k\right)\mapsto \frac{j+k}{i}\right)\:$

$\mathrm{convert}\left(A\,\mathrm{list}\right)$

$\left[-\frac{1}{3}\,-\frac{1}{4}\,0\,0\,\frac{1}{3}\,\frac{1}{4}\,0\,0\,\frac{1}{3}\,\frac{1}{4}\,\frac{2}{3}\,\frac{1}{2}\,\frac{1}{3}\,\frac{1}{4}\,\frac{2}{3}\,\frac{1}{2}\,1\,\frac{3}{4}\,\frac{2}{3}\,\frac{1}{2}\,1\,\frac{3}{4}\,\frac{4}{3}\,1\right]$

$\mathrm{convert}\left(A\,\mathrm{list}\,\mathrm{nested}\right)$

$\left[\left[\left[-\frac{1}{3}\,0\,\frac{1}{3}\,\frac{2}{3}\right]\,\left[0\,\frac{1}{3}\,\frac{2}{3}\,1\right]\,\left[\frac{1}{3}\,\frac{2}{3}\,1\,\frac{4}{3}\right]\right]\,\left[\left[-\frac{1}{4}\,0\,\frac{1}{4}\,\frac{1}{2}\right]\,\left[0\,\frac{1}{4}\,\frac{1}{2}\,\frac{3}{4}\right]\,\left[\frac{1}{4}\,\frac{1}{2}\,\frac{3}{4}\,1\right]\right]\right]$

$\mathrm{convert}\left(\mathrm{Array}\left(\right)\,\mathrm{list}\right)$

$\mathrm{convert}\left(⟨⟨1|2⟩\,⟨3|4⟩⟩\,\mathrm{list}\right)$

$\left[1\,3\,2\,4\right]$

$\mathrm{convert}\left(\mathrm{Matrix}\left(⟨⟨1|2⟩\,⟨3|4⟩⟩\,\mathrm{order}=\mathrm{C\_order}\right)\,\mathrm{list}\right)$

$\left[1\,2\,3\,4\right]$

$\mathrm{convert}\left(f\left(a\,b\,c\right)\,\mathrm{list}\right)$

$\left[a\,b\,c\right]$

$\mathrm{`~`}\left[\mathrm{convert}\right]\left(\left[x^2\,x^2+2x\,x^2+2x+1\right]\,\mathrm{list}\right)$

$\left[\left[x\,2\right]\,\left[x^2\,2x\right]\,\left[x^2\,2x\,1\right]\right]$

$\mathrm{`~`}\left[\mathrm{convert}\right]\left(\left[x^2\,x^2+2x\,x^2+2x+1\right]\,\mathrm{list}\,\mathrm{`+`}\right)$

$\left[\left[x^2\right]\,\left[x^2\,2x\right]\,\left[x^2\,2x\,1\right]\right]$

$\mathrm{`~`}\left[\mathrm{convert}\right]\left(\left[x^2\,2x\,1\right]\,\mathrm{list}\,\mathrm{`*`}\right)$

$\left[\left[x^2\right]\,\left[2\,x\right]\,\left[1\right]\right]$

$\mathrm{`~`}\left[\mathrm{convert}\right]\left(\left[x^2\,x\,1\right]\,\mathrm{list}\,\mathrm{`^`}\right)$

$\left[\left[x\,2\right]\,\left[x\,1\right]\,\left[1\,1\right]\right]$

The expected_type parameter was introduced in Maple 18.

For more information on Maple 18 changes, see Updates in Maple 18.