WOLFRAM

Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center
Wolfram Language Home Page »

Iconize
✖
Iconize

✖
Iconize[expr]

gives an iconized form that can be used to stand in for expr in notebook input.

✖
Iconize[expr,"name"]

displays with the specified name in the icon.

Details and Options

  • The formatted output of Iconize[expr] will evaluate to expr when it is supplied as input.
  • It is common to evaluate Iconize[expr] using Evaluate in Place.
  • On many platforms, an expression selected in a notebook can be iconized using the Iconize menu item in the context menu for the selection.
  • An iconized form can be converted to standard form using Convert to StandardForm.
  • With the default setting Method->Automatic, the expression is written as is into the notebook.
  • With the settings Method->Compress and Method->BinarySerialize, the respective functions are used to compress the expression prior to writing it into the notebook.

Examples

open allclose all

Basic Examples  (2)Summary of the most common use cases

Create an icon that holds the numbers 1 through 100:

In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-mefqe9
Out[1]=1

The icon evaluates to the list when used as input:

In[2]:=2
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-uyg2ep

Create a named icon:

In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-luqqc5
Out[1]=1

The icon can also be used as input:

In[2]:=2
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-p56qru
Out[2]=2

Scope  (5)Survey of the scope of standard use cases

Iconize strings:

In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-h8ma5i
Out[1]=1

Iconize associations:

In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-vd8u22
Out[1]=1

Iconize a general expression:

In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-oyl16e
Out[1]=1

Create named icons:

In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-lylwd6
Out[1]=1
In[2]:=2
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-2bkegg
Out[2]=2

Use the icons in an expression:

In[3]:=3
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-51yct0
Out[3]=3

Iconize an unevaluated expression:

In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-n440ty
Out[1]=1

The icon contains the unevaluated expression:

In[2]:=2
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-sjaiyj
Out[2]=2

Outside of a holding construct, normal evaluation occurs:

In[3]:=3
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-n10g6p
Out[3]=3

Options  (1)Common values & functionality for each option

Method  (1)

Create data:

In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-qobm9h

Iconize the data, storing a reference to the output cell for later:

In[2]:=2
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-e324h
Out[2]=2

Iconize the data but compress it using Compress:

In[3]:=3
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-u8s52d
Out[3]=3

Iconize the data but compress it using BinarySerialize:

In[4]:=4
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-lukk1q
Out[4]=4

Verify that the sizes of the second and third icons in the notebook are indeed smaller:

In[5]:=5
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-1ec3ir
Out[5]=5

Properties & Relations  (3)Properties of the function, and connections to other functions

Iconize evaluates its argument:

In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-c34cop
Out[1]=1

Interpretation allows you to specify an arbitrary appearance of an expression:

In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-ezpc2t
Out[1]=1

The expression is not evaluated by default:

In[2]:=2
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-wn471r
Out[2]=2

Iconize has a unique appearance and evaluates its argument by default:

In[3]:=3
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-byxqj9
Out[3]=3
In[4]:=4
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-dboc27
Out[4]=4

Possible Issues  (2)Common pitfalls and unexpected behavior

The typeset output produced by Iconize is not the same as the result of evaluation:

In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-ke5zpb
Out[1]=1
In[2]:=2
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-f7skap
Out[2]=2

The typeset output evaluates to the first argument of the result:

In[3]:=3
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-ba86ee
Out[3]=3

When using compression, the iconized form may not be fully equivalent to the original expression:

In[1]:=1
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-c7d3rk
Out[1]=1
In[2]:=2
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-ricg42
Out[2]=2

When used inside functions that hold their arguments, the altered expression can be seen:

In[3]:=3
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-vuy0ij
Out[3]=3

The original expression is recovered when the iconized form fully evaluates:

In[4]:=4
✖
https://wolfram.com/xid/0enze6i36-xdzas9
Out[4]=4
Wolfram Research (2018), Iconize, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Iconize.html (updated 2019).
✖
Wolfram Research (2018), Iconize, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Iconize.html (updated 2019).

Text

Wolfram Research (2018), Iconize, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Iconize.html (updated 2019).

✖
Wolfram Research (2018), Iconize, Wolfram Language function, https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Iconize.html (updated 2019).

CMS

Wolfram Language. 2018. "Iconize." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2019. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Iconize.html.

✖
Wolfram Language. 2018. "Iconize." Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Wolfram Research. Last Modified 2019. https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Iconize.html.

APA

Wolfram Language. (2018). Iconize. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Iconize.html

✖
Wolfram Language. (2018). Iconize. Wolfram Language & System Documentation Center. Retrieved from https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Iconize.html

BibTeX

@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_iconize, author="Wolfram Research", title="{Iconize}", year="2019", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Iconize.html}", note=[Accessed: 29-March-2025 ]}

✖
@misc{reference.wolfram_2025_iconize, author="Wolfram Research", title="{Iconize}", year="2019", howpublished="\url{https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Iconize.html}", note=[Accessed: 29-March-2025 ]}

BibLaTeX

@online{reference.wolfram_2025_iconize, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={Iconize}, year={2019}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Iconize.html}, note=[Accessed: 29-March-2025 ]}

✖
@online{reference.wolfram_2025_iconize, organization={Wolfram Research}, title={Iconize}, year={2019}, url={https://reference.wolfram.com/language/ref/Iconize.html}, note=[Accessed: 29-March-2025 ]}